Health and Healing Dealing with Trauma and Addictions

It was a typical night for a teen who was visiting with his dad and bonus mom when he decided to go to the store to grab a snack. Returning home on the phone with his girlfriend, he was abruptly approached by a man that was patrolling the neighborhood. 

The kid and the man got into an altercation only after the man called the non-emergency police. Dispatch on the other side informed the man NOT to pursue the alleged suspect; the police would arrive soon. 

Before the police arrived, that altercation resulted in the man sh...

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 an individual's safety or well-being.  

Anxiety can trigger depression and other behavioral, physical, and mental health issues. It is especially hard if you are dealing with other personal, work, relationship, or...

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. Flakka is a highly potent drug that can be snorted, injected, eaten, smoked, or vaporized in e-cigarettes. This is why YOU should be aware of what your children are doing, where they are going, and who they...

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 disorders, but there are factors that may play a significant role. 

Psalm 31:22 NLT states, "In panic I cried out, 'I am cut off from th...

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. government. Their contributions to American history have often been downplayed, despite their significant resistance against oppression and their unique cultural heritage. Instead of becoming more Spanish, Florida increasingly became more "A...

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 and depression often co-occur. No one needs to check every box. If this overlaps with your daily reality, it’s wort...

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 do amazing things in just twelve months. This stress can show up in different ways too. Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he w...

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. 

Evaluate your needs and deal with the criticism. State your needs as openly, honestly, and respectfully as possible. Hold responsibility only for yourself; you are only respons...

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 and prematurely taking a loved one away, or do we tend to blame God for man's imperfections and selfish desires? She dec...

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 aggressive behavior may also contribute to poor sleep, but findings do not support such a view. Sleep is extremely important to humans, and poor sleep can increase hostility in humans, wh...

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 teargassed. 

Failure to hold anyone accountable for Project Coast will grow the culture of impunity in South Africa and is all too familiar acros...

 "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 the U.S. to triple during the early 1900s. Tensions between Mexico and the United States eventually led to violence between white Americans and Mexicans and the lynching of Mexicans. 

Such brutal actions by the...

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 experiences you’ll ever have to endure. Whether it’s a close friend, spouse, parent, child, or other relative, the death of a...

 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 the charts with a megahit by the mid-'80s. Cole died from congestive heart failure on December 31, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. As a f...

 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 programs is extended, kinship circles, where men and boys—sometimes from multiple generations—come together to talk, share in communal ceremonies, and heal racial wounds. The circles create a space for honest sharing about life’s realities, including the internalized experiences of racism...

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 contextual differences.  Black adults living below the poverty line are more than twice as likely to report serious psychological distress as U.S. adults who enjoy greater financial security, according to the U.S...

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 underreported or undiagnosed, unacknowledged, or, most importantly, untreated.  

We should place less emphasis on whether men of color are resistant to therapy and more on understanding the conte...

“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 the disparities in wealth—and that which leads to poverty is a real thing! Just because you haven't lived in poverty doesn't mean it doesn't...

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 the chronic stress of racism can get under the skin and leave a biological residue of enduring health consequences for Americans of color over time, little research has explored the impact of...

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 combined encourage and promote health, and potentially these moments of Love and Connection may help you live longer.  

The popularity of the 5 Love Languages and Attachment Theory may or...

* Warning turbulent turain ahead* 

Opinions and views are those of them speaking in the incerpts. 

 America, The Land of the Free? 

 America is called the land of the free and we are supposed to have enumerable rights. Minorities in this country have to endure many hardships and only when everyone can come together as equals will America be a great country.   The notion that America was built on Christian values is a complex and debatable topic. While some argue that Christianity played a significant role in shaping America culture and tradition, other...

 The Ghetto Informant Program (GIP) was an intelligence-gathering operation run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1967 to 1973.  After the Watts Riots of 1965, and further unrest in Newark and Detroit in the summer of 1967, the US government mobilized to prepare for urban conflict. 

You heard the term, snitches get stitiches! Well there were some snitches in the ghetto. They were FBI informants. 

Some of the strauma and struggles in the American Africans communities are because of distrust. "Black cannot get along" they say goes way back, in dealing with infiltration of others incl...

Romantic relationships have a special way of enriching our lives through intimate companionship and connection. For many, the desire to find a partner stems from the hope of sharing life’s journey, with all of its triumphs, struggles and quiet moments and noisy pursuits, with someone who is there for both the highs and the lows, the good and the bad. 

 Research shows that long-term relationships offer something fleeting connections cannot. Here’s what makes people want to fall in love? 

2 Things That Partners Value Most in Relationships— 

1. Being ‘Loved Right’ In Relationships. 

2.  Receiv...

Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Americans awoke to the aftershocks of an electoral earthquake. 

Democrats’ electoral coalition finally fractured, costing them the popular vote for only the second time since 1988.  

The reasons are obvious. Democrats turned inwa...

Because of the resurrection, nothing we do is useless. Sometimes we become apathetic to serving or hesitate to do good because we don't see the results. Knowing Christ won the ultimate victory should affect the way we live right now. 

Being honest, it's clear Tora has been apathetic. God has called her to do certain things, but her interest wasn't there. Each of us can be apprehensive about completing a task Father instructed us to finish. There's a divine purpose for you, and He will see it through—you can run, but you can't hide. 

Ther...

The concept can be traced way back in the old times, when men were portrayed as warriors, rulers, and providers of their kingdoms. Does this mean that a man's personal identity is based solely in social norms and expectations, say, defined by Alpha or Beta? 

Submissive men are not what you always thought them to be. They are more than betas; they have traits that are respected and admired. Submission is not just a female virtue. It's a believer's virtue. Light is to be recognized in a very dark place. Leaders in churches, homes, and communities are v...

Emotional literacy is regarded as an ability to understand one’s own emotions, feelings, and ways to communicate one’s emotional pattern.

 Before getting into the broader understanding of emotional literacy, we need to have an idea about the term "emotional literacy." 

*  Knowing your feelings 

* Having a sense of empathy 

*  Learning to manage your emotions 

*  Repairing emotional problems and 

* Emotional interactivity 

What then is "emotional literacy"? The ability to listen to others, empathize with their emotions, and express emotions productively.

Are you an emotionally in...

 It's been 24 years since September 11, 2001, which will forever live in the collective consciousness of those who witnessed four commercial jetliners converted into weapons of terror to target innocent Americans on a beautiful Tuesday morning. 

There was one plane still unaccounted for—Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey—slowly advancing toward the heart of Washington, D.C., carrying 40 innocent souls. In the face of death, these ordinary men and women devised an extraordinary plan to deny evil and their final destination, serving as a lasting reminder that the United States will never yield to forces of evil. 

Ye...

If you or someone you know is caring for a loved one or a person with dementia, it poses many challenges. People with dementia from conditions such as Alzheimer's and related diseases have a progressive biological brain disorder that makes it more and more difficult for them to remember things.

They fear the loss of memory, which is understandable and reasonable; they fear the loss of their ability to think clearly or their thinking skills, to include communicative skills. Ask yourself why your loved one may be behaving in such a way. This behavior is telling you...

 On Aug. 11 and 12, 2017, the so-called Unite the Right rally protesting the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a park turned violent when neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and others linked to far-right groups clashed with leftist counterprotesters. One self-identified white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of people, killing one and injuring at least 19. 

The protestors of the then-president of the United States of America was widely criticized for repeatedly placing blame for the violence, proclaiming there are "good people on both sides." 

"Stand back and stand by" was his ord...

 The subject of mental health and gun violence is often multifaceted, encompassing not only the effects of gun violence on mental health—both for survivors and for communities at large—but also the stigmas and misconceptions existing regarding individuals with mental illness. To thoroughly explore this topic, it may be beneficial to further explore each aspect in more detail. It may be helpful to have an overview of the relationship between mental health and gun violence on both a broad and individual level.

 While some may argue mass shootings would be prevented if attackers had better access to the...

The mental wounds from school shootings ripple through the nation. Over and again, school shootings break Americans' hearts. It's traumatizing to know that innocent babies lose their lives based on a person who has issues, problems, and hate in their heart. Just because something didn't go their way or they feel defeated, maybe because of what they believe and no one shares in their belief, or whatever it was, it didn't work out for them.

We all have troubles, some worse than others—why do we have to purchase weapons (guns) to shoot innocent people and cowardly ki...

Grief is difficult enough. "What is it like to grieve after you have healed?" 

Several questions may arise from those who are grieving. And many attempt to answer the question compassionately. Sure, we want the bereaved to feel whole and well again. Please be aware, it is important to acknowledge and be familiar with grief and the process of grief. We all grieve differently. 

Each of us must go through the process of the death of a loved one and can go through the 5 dimensions of grief: intellectual, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual. Also, most lo...

Being clumsy equates to awkwardness. Clumsy is defined as awkward movements or actions, without skill or grace. In the system of religion, many are moving in their belief falsely and trusting in false teachers. 

If you ask yourself what is wrong with God, you will discover that nothing is wrong with God. If you ask yourself what is wrong with you—if you are created in the image and likeness of God—then the answer is a resounding nothing. The problem is that this fallen world is dark and sin-sick. Yes, we're moving in this world, navigating throu...

Can you know what God is going to do for you? He may reveal His plans for you, and He may not. 

When God is doing something, it is our responsibility to listen and accept that all will work out for the good. It is not ours to say what God will do. Simply we stand up, take up, and walk. 

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

Anxiety can tr...

People with ADHD have differences in how the brain develops and works. This disorder is characterized by an ongoing pattern of one or more systems. 

* Inattention—having difficulty paying attention 

* Hyperactivity—excessively moving around 

* Impulsivity—intruding and interrupting  

These habits are often common in children. But did you know adults are living with undiagnosed or underdiagnosed ADHD? Adult ADHD presents differently from children, and the characteristics do as well. 

Because they both have trouble focusing or concentrating, they both can suffer in silence. Children may not be able to articulate...

 As we will see, trauma changes a person's personality. It's characterized by:

* A loss of capacity to use community support.

* Chronic recurrent depression with feelings of despair. 

* Emotional anesthesia or blocked ability to react affectively. 

* Alexithymia, or inability to recognize and make use of emotional reactions. 

The list of secondary reactions to psychological trauma includes emotional construction, sensational-seeking reenactment, and drug and alcohol abuse. This affects children and adults alike, and if not dealt with, our children will carry these traumas and behaviors into adulthood. Go with me as we l...

In these times finding love is a challenge. Too many distractions, negativity, and self-interest. Maybe you're not searching for love, that's ok too. With rejection of traditional marriage, and true relationship status as the world turns many are forbidden to marry based on the ways of the society that has destroyed the institution of God! 

Yes, you can do bad by yourself, but what about doing good, progression and advancement with someone? Think about it; two are better than one! Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all relationship are made in heaven, but all divine r...

As parents, we want to eliminate as much pain, stress, and suffering as possible for our children. Yet, we don't have a magic wand, nor do we anticipate they will suffer greatly. We carry the anticipation that we as parents have done great jobs rearing them and given them all the resources to achieve life goals. 

Anxiety in teenage children ages 13-18 is a real thing; these groups are struggling to cope with the pressures they are facing in healthy and productive ways. That equates to 33 percent equaling millions. 

The real work in youth ministry be...

As we will see throughout trauma changes a person's personality. It's characterized by:

* A loss of capacity to use community support.

* Chronic recurrent depression with feelings of despair. 

* Emotional anesthesia or blocked ability to react affectively. 

* Alexithymia, or inability to recognize and make use of emotional reactions. 

The list of secondary reactions to psychological trauma as being emotional construction, sensational-seeking reenactment, and drug and alcohol abuse. This affects children and adults alike, and if not dealt with, children will carry these traumas and behaviors into adulthood. Go with me as...