Health and Healing Dealing with Trauma and Addictions

Trauma and crisis are two terms that are often used interchangeably, yet they possess distinct differences. Exploring their impact on mental health, a traumatic event can trigger a crisis situation, and a crisis situation can potentially lead to lasting trauma. 

"Trauma" refers to the lasting emotional and psychological effects of a distressing or disturbing event.

"Crisis" denotes an immediate threat or danger to...

The "flakka drug," or "flakka zombie drug," is an artificial stimulant that falls under the category of synthetic cathinone, commonly referred to as "bath salts." Law enforcement agencies and health care providers have expressed significant concerns about the widespread use of flakka.

Various instances of "Man on Flakka" have been captured in videos on news channels and social media platforms....

A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger. You may experience a complete loss of control, feeling as though you're on the verge of collapse. 

Panic disorder often begins in late teen years or early adulthood. Women are more prone to panic attacks than men. What causes panic attacks? Rechearse says it's unclear what causes these attacks or disorde...

The Black Seminoles are one of the prominent Black American tribes whose history has been overlooked and suppressed, alongside other indigenous groups like the Gullah/Geechee and the Washitaw Nations. 

The Black Seminoles are descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped plantations and allied with the Seminole Nation in Florida. They played a significant role in resisting slavery and fought in the Seminole Wars against the U.S. gove...

Anxiety and depression are like two sides of the same coin. Your nervous system is just doing what it can with the stress, trauma history, and pressure it's carrying. A lot of people live quietly with both anxiety and depression at the same time. 

Why Do They Show Up Together? Because your body comes equipped with a built-in alarm. Anxiety is the "fight or flight." Depression can look like "freeze." 

Anxiety ...

How New Year's Resolutions Can Be a Dilemma. (Proverbs 3:4-6)

The most common New Year's resolutions are usually concerning career advancement, fitness goals, learning new skills, and weight loss. Many of us make New Year's resolutions, setting big goals as we're filled with excitement and anticipation. 

What is New Year's resolution stress? It's when we put pressure on ourselves to make big changes and ...

Why Highly Sensitive People React So Strongly to Criticism. 

Criticism is inevitable.  Those with HSP reactions are wired deeply in their brains. The emotional brain is where their databank of triggers and past emotional memories are stored.  For sensitive people, even when they logically know that criticism is invalid, they still need to process their emotions that arise.  If you’re highly sensitive, check this podcast out. 

Evaluat...

In 1842 deep in the heart of Georgia’s cotton empire, a widow chose the unthinkable; she desired to continue a bloodline that she thought was a chosen bloodline from God. Due to the fact, her late husband didn't leave her with a son to carry on the bloodline, she decided to develop a twisted plot so the Whitfield's name and legacy would continue. 

As the story continues, does God make mistakes by choosing boys over girls a...

Are you getting a good night's sleep?  Good sleep is paramount to the healthy functioning of our brains and bodies. As sleep plays an important role in the physical and mental health of individuals, studies are thought to uncover the causal relationship and mechanisms between sleep quality and aggressive behavior to raise public awareness of the importance of sleep. 

Some researchers have suggested that high levels of aggressiv...

Many are unaware that Project Coast was the successor to a limited post-war Chemical Biological Weapon CBW program that mainly produced the lethal agents CX powder and mustard gas, as well as non-lethal tear gas for riot control purposes. This is also why a great deal of money was spent developing new forms of tear gas and investigating whether street drugs could be used to ‘calm’ crowds. Today in many places, rioters have been tea...

 "The Massacre," or "The Slaughter," was a period of anti-Mexican violence in Texas, including massacres and lynching, between 1910 and 1920 in the midst of tensions between the United States and Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. 

La Matanza Many Mexican Americans know this story.  Mexican refugees, looking to escape the violence of the revolution, began migrating to Texas, causing the Mexican population in t...

Few things compare to the pain of losing someone you love. While there’s no way to avoid intense feelings of grief, there are healthier ways to come to terms with your loss. 

Bereavement is the grief and mourning experience following the death of someone important to you.  Death is an inevitable part of life, something that virtually all of us go through at some point—losing someone you love can be one of the most painful experience...

 Who was Natalie Cole? 

She was an American singer-songwriter, daughter of mid-century crooner Nat King Cole, and was best known for her Grammy Award-winning songs. Cole's career took flight, and throughout the 1970s, she turned out four gold and two platinum records. 

Cole hit a lull in her career in the early 1980s due to her struggle with drug addiction. Yet she returned after rehab. She began recording again and was back on ...

 Psychologists are leaving standard treatment modalities and venues behind entirely and bringing interventions into communities that embrace the background, culture, and challenges of men of color. Research has shown that positive interventions in barbershops, churches, and other social meeting places demonstrate they're powerful vehicles for encouraging healthy and help-seeking behaviors. 

 As the central format for these prog...

To understand the psychology behind deadbeat behavior, we need to examine many factors that can influence a father’s decision to provide or withhold financial provision. These factors can be divided into three broad categories: individual, social, and economic, all previously discussed.  

Black men’s mental health matters.  While Americans Africans experience similar rates of mental illness as other Americans in general, there are c...

Police brutality toward men of color (particularly Black men), as exemplified by the murder of George Floyd (yes, we’re still talking about these brothers, and it should be a continued conversation in America) under a White officer’s knee, highlighted the particular range of mental stressors men of color experience. All men suffer mental health and police brutality. Yet in the community of men of color, mental health goes underrepo...

“One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty." 

Children growing up in low-income and now many middle-class families face challenges that children from more advantaged families do not. childhood, and the association between these patterns of poverty in early and middle adulthood, are devastating.  

Far too many are still in denial and want to push back relating to th...

Health risk of trauma and racism: 

Black women who experience racism experience trauma-like effects and are at higher risk for future health problems. Women of color who have experienced more racism throughout their lives have stronger brain responses to threat, which may hurt their long-term health, according to a new study conducted with a clinical neuropsychologist and others. 

Although research has consistently demonstrated that ...

There are five love languages. Each of these love languages is a way to communicate your love to your romantic partner. Putting love languages into action is believed to increase relationship happiness. 

Despite how popular love languages are, there is little research to support the framework. The popularity of the theory of love languages, only a handful of studies have been conducted. Attachment Theory and 5 Love Languages combine...