Eating disorders are a group of mental health conditions that disrupt a person’s eating habits and the way they think and feel about food. The common denominator in eating disorders is that people who have them tend to be obsessive in monitoring their weight and the way their body looks. Millions of people struggle with eating…
Becoming an athlete takes years of training, practice and endurance combined with a healthy lifestyle and innate talent. Professional sports players are some of the most popular celebrities. But there’s a dark side to the lifestyle of being a star athlete — substance abuse. Many of today’s top athletes have struggled with addiction to drugs or…
Chemical dependency can creep up on you. For example, you may have had a great reason to start reaching for alcohol or benzos. However, it eventually turns on you. Case in point is the relationship between mental health and substance abuse. Because ultimately, the drugs hook you, there’s help in the form of dual diagnosis…
During the month of June, there’s concerted outreach to inform people about post-traumatic stress disorder. It culminates in PTSD Awareness Day on June 27. Although many of these efforts originate from veterans’ organizations, you don’t have to be a military member to experience it. In fact, there are many people who never saw combat who…
When you care about someone, it can be hard to see them down or depressed, especially if you’re not sure how to help. A quick Google search — “how to help my girlfriend with depression” comes back with more than 77 million results, and sorting through them, it can be challenging to separate fact from…
May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and reducing stigma. To start our month-long conversation about mental health, we started asking some questions: Mental Health Awareness Month Millions of people in the United States deal with mental health disorders. Yet less than half receive help. Chances are you know someone with…
Dr. Roueen Rafeyan has worked as chief medical officer of Gateway since 2016 and has been a trailblazer in the field of Addiction Medicine for over 20 years, having served as a medical director for psychiatric and substance use programs at leading Illinois healthcare institutions including Rush, Michael Reese, Resurrection and Presence Behavioral Health. In…
There’s a strong correlation between trauma and addiction. Learn why you or a loved one should immediately seek help for both issues to experience dual recovery. What is Trauma? Trauma can occur following any highly stressful or life-threatening event. Traumatic events can fall into several categories including, natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes, man-made catastrophes…
Low self-esteem, a perception that one is inadequate, unlovable, unworthy and/or incompetent. It often stems from exposure to dysfunctional behavior as a child. When children bear the brunt of anger, abandonment, abuse, neglect or continual negative criticism, it can lead to feelings of low self-worth. Low self-esteem isn’t limited to individuals who have suffered trauma…
People who experience both mental health and substance use disorders don’t need treatment for one disorder and then the other. Instead, they need treatment for both disorders at the same time. For this reason, Gateway offers dual diagnosis treatment in a truly integrated manner. We use an interdisciplinary, team-based approach that includes doctors, psychologists, and licensed clinical…