Teamwork on the Trail

Recovery is a term frequently used by people with mental health issues to describe their efforts to live meaningful and satisfying lives. Colorado Recovery approaches mental healthcare based on a path of self-reliance through developed practiced skills. This non-institutionalized social recovery offers comprehensive levels of care supported by an expert medical and clinical team, engaging patients in increasing community participation.

One important element of this approach is the great outdoors surrounding the Colorado Recovery campus in Boulder. “It’s important to get people out of their comfort zone,” says interim executive director Terry Stiven. 

In August, Stiven and vocational rehabilitation specialist Peter Kamback accompanied some Colorado Recovery clients on a fairly challenging three-day excursion up and around the Buchanan Pass area in Colorado. 

Good preparation was key, as clients were asked to hike for miles with a fifty-pound pack on their backs and set up a campsite. “We talked about teamwork,” remembers Stiven. “Who’s going to make meals? What kind of meal are they going to make? Who is responsible for clean-up?”

“The thorough preparation paid off,” says Kamback. “They met this challenge really well—we didn’t get a single complaint from anyone. They were real troopers out there.”

“We took our time on day one,” he remembers. “We hiked out there and set up a campsite—a great team-building exercise. Everybody helped out and later in the evening contributed to the meal. It was a real group effort.”

As a matter of principle, meals were pretty basic on this trip: oatmeal and breakfast bars in the morning, sandwiches for lunch, rice and pasta dishes in the evening—nothing fancy. 

“Everyone was excited to get moving again the next day,” recalls Kamback. “We hiked to a lake under blue skies. Terry brought fishing gear and some of us jumped into the lake’s cold water. Everyone had a lot of fun.”

The weather changed on the way back to camp. First, there was a light drizzle, followed by a storm in the evening—again a valuable experience for our clients. “They had to deal with the unexpected,” says Kamback. “Fortunately, we were able to have dinner before the storm hit. We then sat out the storm in our tents and there was light rain throughout the night but it didn’t affect their mood. The whole group handled it together but they had to push their boundaries and comfort limits a little bit.”

An attitude of team spirit prevailed as everybody felt they were all together in this adversity. The next day was bright and sunny and the team packed up and started the hike back. “The backpacks felt lighter this time because it was mostly downhill now,” says Kamback who was impressed by one patient in particular. “One client took on a leadership role on the way back. He turned out to be a fast hiker and he did an incredible job making sure we all stayed together.” 

“There were smiles on the trail, they showed good communication and worked as a team, Kamback says. “They took every opportunity to enjoy the landscape and overall it was a big confidence booster for our clients. It was just a great experience for everyone and they all voiced interest in doing it again. This was clearly the highlight of their year so far.”

At Colorado Recovery, our mission is to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

 

Medication Adherence in Patients With Serious Mental Illness 

Colorado Recovery provides psychiatric care to adults diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, depression with or without psychotic features, dual diagnosis of mental illness with substance misuse, and other psychotic disorders.

Every new client gets an immediate and thorough psychiatric evaluation by one of our psychiatrists and a therapist which includes gathering full details on the person’s life, their experience of illness, prior treatment efforts including medications, assessment of physical health and substance abuse, and social and vocational functioning. 

We involve close family members in the process of gathering this information. After assessing the client to get a complete clinical picture of their schizophrenia, bipolar diagnosis, or other diagnosis, the treatment team gives an initial diagnostic impression and makes recommendations about further assessment and treatment. The client’s previous diagnosis may change at this point or later, after further assessment.

A careful evaluation of the correct diagnosis and most effective treatment plan is central to the success of care at Colorado Recovery. We provide psychiatric rehabilitation services throughout the treatment process, with an emphasis on getting clients back to work or to schooling.

Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner Lynn Bodensteiner joined the Colorado Recovery team in March. She likes the core aspects of the Warner treatment model: Comprehensive levels of care that result in a path to self-reliance and community engagement for connection and a feeling of contribution. “The focus here is on re-integration, which is great,” she says.

Bodensteiner, who has a doctorate in nursing practice, also works part-time at the Stout Street Health Center, a facility of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless—often a more challenging environment. “It’s good to see Colorado Recovery patients taking their meds and getting better, this is often not the case with unhoused clients,” she says. “At Colorado Recovery, there is actually less emphasis on meds, and patients are encouraged to volunteer or get jobs.”

Medication adherence can be a challenge for mental health patients. “Non-adherence is highly prevalent, ranging between 63–74 percent in patients with schizophrenia and about 50 percent in patients with bipolar disorders,” wrote Loots, Goossens, et al. in a 2021 study on medication adherence. “About 25 percent of patients discontinue their medication within the first week after discharge from inpatient treatment. Non-adherence puts patients at risk for exacerbations of psychosis and relapse resulting in hospital visits and admission.”

“Adherence is important for medications to work correctly,” recommends the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). “Not being adherent with your medications could result in a worsening of your medical condition, a decrease in your quality of life, and a need to go to the hospital or clinic more often.”

Colorado Recovery utilizes a whole range of treatment modalities, only one of which is medications when appropriate for the patient. In addition to medication management and monitoring, Colorado Recovery provides psychiatric and other services, including individual and group therapy, socialization and recreational activities, and psychosocial rehabilitation.

These specialized services cover the full spectrum of client needs from symptom control to functioning at work and in social situations. Our treatment facility provides the services needed to address schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illnesses specific to each individual. Call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help. 


The Power of Giving Thanks

“In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness,” according to Harvard University’s Health Beat. “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives. “With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, being grateful also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.”

In a 2021 article for PsychCentral, Andrea Rice explained how one can “rewire” the brain for positive thinking with “mature gratitude” and reap the benefits of developing your own practice.

“Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to form new neural connections. This ‘rewiring’ effect can lead to positive growth and change. When the brain’s circuits get caught up in negative narratives, your thoughts might skew toward the negative.”

The negativity bias is our tendency to be more attracted to negative stimuli than positive but it is possible to move beyond that negativity bias and pay more attention to the positive aspects of life. 

Negative thinking can be deliberately countered with a “mature gratitude practice that includes kindness, being thankful for life, and a higher power,” Rice suggested. Research shows that practicing gratitude can be good for heart health and inspire happiness, satisfaction, and general well-being.

“Cultivating an attitude of mature gratitude through actions of kindness, expressing being thankful for life and God, and enjoying all the small things in life helps in coping with the current threats of COVID-19 and building lifelong resilience for the future,” Lilian Jans-Beken wrote in her study on mature gratitude in 2021 during the global pandemic.

Rice suggested a number of ways you can practice gratitude depending on what works best for you. “You might practice gratitude first thing in the morning or just before bed at night. If you’re busy, your commute to work might be an ideal time for reflection.”

Here are a few other ideas to consider:

  • gratitude journaling and writing
  • expressing what you’re thankful for on social media
  • sending someone a text to let them know you appreciate them
  • writing down three things that you’re grateful for
  • creating a collage of all the things that you’re grateful for

Gratitude practice can also have a positive impact on people with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses. In 2017, Miran Jung and Kuemsun Han explored the “effectiveness of gratitude disposition promotion program on depression and quality of life of chronic schizophrenic patients.”

They noted that about 80 percent of schizophrenic patients experience depression, and 20–50 percent attempt suicide in an acute psychotic state or in a chronic depressive state.

“Depression, among the many factors affecting the quality of life of schizophrenic patients, has a great influence on the subjective quality of life,” they wrote. They found that gratitude intervention is effective in reducing depression and improving the quality of life in schizophrenic patients.

“In this study, we newly developed a gratitude disposition promotion program for promoting gratitude disposition, reducing depression, and improving quality of life of chronic schizophrenic patients in community and verified its effect,” the authors concluded. “The study results indicated that gratitude disposition promotion program was a useful intervention to raise the gratitude disposition and quality of life of chronic schizophrenic patients in community.”

“Remember that gratitude is a practice—not a quick fix,” Rice reminded her readers. “Taking the time each day to reflect, be mindful, and savor the positive stories and experiences all around us can help rewire the brain for positive thinking.”

Colorado Recovery has emphasized the importance of compassion, respect, and social connections in its groundbreaking approach to mental health treatment for many years. The treatment model developed by our founder Richard Warner is based on a warmer and more human familial setting, comprehensive levels of care that result in a path of self-reliance, and community engagement for connection and a feeling of contribution.

The treatment program at Colorado Recovery aims to empower adults with mental illness, and those who support them, with an unrelenting optimism for recovery, purposeful involvement in the community, and an enhanced sense of meaning in life.

Our treatment facility provides the services needed to address schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illnesses which are specific to each individual. Call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

How Hiking the Rockies Can Improve Mental Health

Being in nature can boost your mood and improve your mental health. Spending quality time in the great outdoors reduces stress, calms anxiety, and can lead to a lower risk of depression, according to a 2015 study by researchers at Stanford University. 

In addition to having mental health benefits, being outdoors opens up your senses to your surroundings and improves your sensory perception. Taking in the sights, smells, and feelings of nature has numerous health benefits.

The treatment team at Colorado Recovery understands these benefits well and—with a campus only a short distance away from the spectacular landscape of the Rocky Mountains—has utilized the great outdoors as part of our treatment programs for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses. Exposure to the healing power of nature is part of our treatment philosophy. 

In a few days, some of our clients will undertake a hike that will be both challenging and deeply rewarding. “They are going on a three-day excursion up and around the Buchanan Pass area,” says Terry Stiven, MA, LPC, outpatient and transitional living manager at Colorado Recovery. “We’re gonna hike in four miles, they’ll see beautiful fields with the mountains in the background, and we will set up our base camp there.”

“The first day is about acclimating and setting up our space with the opportunity to do an afternoon hike to get to know the area.” Day two will be a pretty rigorous hike. “We’ll hike up to a lake and hang out there.”

Participating clients have been preparing for the excursion. “A certain level of commitment was required,” explains Stiven. “We’ve been doing weekly hikes to prepare and we had meetings with them to talk about the gear.” 

Good preparation is key, as clients are expected to be able to hike four miles with a fifty-pound pack on their back. “We also talked about teamwork: who’s going to make meals? what kind of meal are they going to make? Who is responsible for clean-up? There is a nice level of working as a team.”

Meals will be basic: oatmeal and breakfast bars in the morning, sandwiches for lunch, rice and pasta dishes in the evening—nothing fancy. At the end of the experience, clients are supposed to feel good about themselves. “There may be some level of anxiety about getting out of your routine but getting out of one’s comfort zone is part of the deal,” says Stiven. “Getting back to nature also means working through that. You’re not in the comfort zone of your room.”

“Having a sense of accomplishment and being able to carry what you need for the next three days on your back and get by is huge,” explains Stiven. “This will significantly boost our clients’ self-esteem.” 

The self-esteem necessary for clients to succeed in the wider community can be strengthened on a wilderness trail. At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.



Exposure to Nature is Part of the Program

Nature can improve mental health and sharpen our cognition. “From a stroll through a city park to a day spent hiking in the wilderness, exposure to nature has been linked to a host of benefits, including improved attention, lower stress, better mood, reduced risk of psychiatric disorders, and even upticks in empathy and cooperation,” wrote Kirsten Weir on the website of the American Psychological Association in 2020. “Nature comes in all shapes and sizes, and psychological research is still fine-tuning our understanding of its potential benefits… Experimental findings show how impressive nature’s healing powers can be—just a few moments of green can perk up a tired brain.”

The campus of Colorado Recovery is only a short distance from the spectacular landscape of the Centennial State. The great outdoors around Boulder can be both challenging and have a calming effect on our clients—utilizing it is definitely part of our treatment programs for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses.

After initially working in transitional housing at Colorado Recovery, Peter Kamback recently took on his new role as a vocational rehabilitation specialist. “Most clients are from out of state and have not experienced a spectacular environment like the Colorado Rockies,” he explains. “We have hiking trails within walking distance of our campus—trails that accommodate all hiking levels and difficulties.”

Kamback values the human connection with clients such outings can offer. “We are able to expose them to things they haven’t seen before and enrich their lives that way. These kinds of activities give them direction and purpose and enhance things that are good in their lives. We shift focus to wellness away from thinking about their illness all the time.”

Vocational services include socialization and recreational activities such as weekly hikes, game and movie nights, talent shows, community and relationship building, as well as opportunities for teamwork and conflict resolution.

“On a weekly basis, one day is designated for hiking, one for the art group, one for health and wellness, and so forth,” Kamback says. “Outdoor activities allow them to relax and let down their guard a little bit and really enjoy being in scenic Colorado. Being able to offer these outdoor activities is a huge value for our clients.”

Clients even get to make arrangements to hike with their peers without Colorado Recovery staff coming along. “I think that’s huge for them,” says Kamback. “All the benefits of nature while being more present and calm gives them a little more confidence to interact with others.”

Excursions to the local art museum can be equally therapeutic.  They are great opportunities “to see clients in a more natural setting and get a better sense of them as persons rather than patients,” says Kamback who has an art degree. “You experience them as people in a public location and also note how they interact with each other.”

Empowering clients is central to the treatment model developed by Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner. “Treatment should include social rehabilitation,” wrote Dr. Warner in The Environment of Schizophrenia. “People with schizophrenia usually need help to improve their functioning in the community. This can include training in basic living skills; assistance with a host of day-to-day tasks; and job training, job placement, and work support.”

And the self-esteem necessary to succeed in the wider community can be built up on a wilderness trail. At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

A Groundbreaking New Study Shifts the Genetic Narrative of Schizophrenia 

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling psychiatric disorder that affects approximately two million Americans in any given year. Despite extensive research, the causes of schizophrenia are still unclear. “There is no single organic defect or infectious agent which causes schizophrenia, but a variety of factors increase the illness—among them genetics and obstetric complications,” wrote the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner, MD, in his influential book The Environment of Schizophrenia. “Relatives of people with schizophrenia have a greater risk of developing the illness, the risk being progressively higher among those who are more genetically similar to the person with schizophrenia.” 

Genetics is only part of the story, though. “Since the identical twin of a person with schizophrenia only has a 50 percent risk of developing the illness, we know that genetics alone do not explain why someone gets the illness,” wrote Dr. Warner. “Other powerful factors have to play a part; one of these factors is problems of pregnancy and delivery. The risk for people born with obstetric complications, such as prolonged labor, is double the risk for those born with none.” 

But which genes exactly are responsible for the increased risk? Most scientists have always assumed that genes linked to schizophrenia were primarily, if not entirely, related to the brain. 

An interesting new study conducted by the Lieber Institute for Brain Development suggests that the risk of schizophrenia is primarily due to the role of over 100 associated genes in the placenta, rather than in the developing brain. The research by Ursini, Weinberger, et al., published in Nature Communications, highlights a more substantial involvement of the placenta in the origin of the illness than previously recognized.

“The secret of the genetics of schizophrenia has been hiding in plain sight—the placenta, the critical organ in supporting prenatal development, launches the developmental trajectory of risk,” said Daniel Weinberger, MD, senior author of the paper and director and CEO of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development in Baltimore. “The commonly shared view on the causes of schizophrenia is that genetic and environmental risk factors play a role directly and only in the brain, but these latest results show that placenta health is also critical.”

The researchers found that “schizophrenia genes influence a critical function of the placenta to sense nutrients in the mother’s bloodstream, including oxygen, and exchange nutrients based on what it finds,” explains an article in SciTechDaily. “The schizophrenia risk genes are more lowly expressed in the cells of the placenta that form the core of this maternal-fetal nutrient exchange, called trophoblasts, negatively affecting the placenta’s role in nurturing the developing fetus.”

The study also identifies several genes in the placenta that are causative factors for diabetes, bipolar disorder, depression, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the researchers found far more genetic associations with genes for schizophrenia than for any of these other disorders.

The researchers also discovered that the risk genes for schizophrenia found in the placenta may have a relatively greater effect on heritability, the likelihood of illness inherited from ancestors, than risk genes found in the brain.

“Targeting placenta biology is a crucial new potential approach to prevention, which is the holy grail of public health,” said lead author Gianluca Ursini. “Scientists could detect changes in placental risk genes decades before the possible onset of a disorder, possibly even in the mother’s bloodstream during pregnancy. If doctors knew which children were most at risk of developmental disorders, they could implement early interventions to keep them healthy.”

The scientists also found interesting sex-based differences in the placenta risk genes. Different genes were associated with schizophrenia risk based on whether the placenta came from a male or female child. In pregnancies with male children, inflammatory processes in the placenta seem to play a central role. Previous research has shown males are more vulnerable than females to prenatal stress. Generally speaking, developmental disorders such as schizophrenia occur more frequently in men and boys.

The Lieber Institute researchers hope their ongoing study of the genes of the placenta will one day lead to new treatment and diagnostic tools, perhaps revolutionizing the field of prenatal medicine.

Recovery from a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia requires that people experiencing the disorder retain a sense of empowerment—a belief in their ability to take charge of their lives and manage the complex demands and consequences of the illness.

Colorado Recovery has been utilizing the Warner method to empower adults with mental illness for many years now. Our program approaches mental healthcare based on a path of self-reliance through developed practiced skills. Recognizing the importance of empowerment for recovery, our non-institutionalized philosophy offers comprehensive levels of care supported by an expert medical and clinical team, engaging patients in increasing community participation. 

Our treatment facility provides the services needed to address schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illnesses. Call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.


How Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia Can Interfere With Real-World Functioning

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness with symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, social withdrawal, apathy, and disorganized thinking and behavior. “Schizophrenia is a psychosis,” wrote the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner, MD, in his influential book The Environment of Schizophrenia. “It is a severe mental disorder in which the person’s emotions, thinking, judgment, and grasp of reality are so disturbed that his or her functioning is seriously impaired.”

One of the functions seriously impaired by schizophrenia is cognitive control. “Cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia include difficulties with attention, working memory, learning, and processing speed,” explained psychiatry professor Eugene Rubin in Psychology Today. “These deficits interfere with real-world functioning. They are associated with increased hospitalization, longer hospital stays, and decreased compliance with treatment.”

It has been known for over half a century that people with schizophrenia often perform poorly on most cognitive tests. “Significant cognitive impairment is common in schizophrenia, affecting up to 75 percent of patients,” wrote  Talreja, Shah, and Kataria in their 2013 study of cognitive function in schizophrenia. “A wide range of cognitive functions are affected; particularly memory, attention, motor skills, executive function, and intelligence.”

If untreated, cognitive impairment presents “a major contributor to illness-related disability, defined as an inability to work productively and/or live independently,” wrote Professor Rubin. “Psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia, are among the leading causes of disability across the human lifespan.”

A 2019 study by Zanelli, Mollon, et al. published in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests “that while a substantial proportion of the cognitive impairment seen in adult patients with schizophrenia, as well as in other psychoses, is already present at the first episode, these patients continue to experience cognitive decline after illness onset.”

Effective treatment needs to work against this decline. “Knowing which specific cognitive deficits an individual with schizophrenia is experiencing can assist caregivers in tailoring psychosocial management,” wrote Rubin who expects that advances in neuroscience will eventually result in an improved understanding of the nature and causes of schizophrenia. “This should lead to advances in novel drug development. Together with increased attention to psychosocial interventions, these advances should aid the development of integrated, personalized treatment approaches to improve the everyday functioning and life satisfaction of those suffering from this devastating psychiatric disorder.”

Personalized therapy to improve everyday functioning and life satisfaction as well as fewer and shorter hospitalizations are hallmarks of the treatment philosophy at Colorado Recovery. Dr. Warner considered schizophrenia a bio-psycho-social disorder significantly affected by the environment surrounding the person with the mental health condition on multiple levels.

Colorado Recovery approaches care for mental health based on a path of self-reliance through developed practiced skills. This non-institutionalized philosophy offers comprehensive levels of care supported by an expert medical and clinical team, engaging patients in increasing community participation.

Our treatment facility provides the services needed to address schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illnesses which are specific to each individual. Call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

How Art Can Harness the Healing Power Within Us

“Art can harness the healing power within each of us and help bring us into community with one another,” wrote educator Jackie Armstrong in the magazine of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. “When in front of an artwork, we are connected to the artist and to others who have experienced it. And connection, to ourselves and others, is at the core of art and healing. Healing isn’t a destination with a fixed timeline or endpoint but rather a path—or many paths. Just like each visit with a favorite work of art is a new experience with new insights, healing is a journey with possibilities stretching out in all directions.”

Art is also part of the healing process facilitated by the treatment team at Colorado Recovery. After initially working in transitional housing at Colorado Recovery, Peter Kamback, MFA, had the opportunity to lead an art group before taking on his current role as a vocational rehabilitation specialist. He feels art is too often sidelined in our society and delights in allowing mental health patients to express themselves through art. Kamback likes to incorporate his art background in his current role and build on his experience with groups.

Colorado Recovery’s approach to treatment is about nurturing an environment of inclusivity, socialization, and community building. Clients are encouraged to take part in activities out in the community and within our own community as well.

A recent trip to the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is a good example. “It’s a great opportunity to see clients in a more natural setting and get a better sense of them as persons rather than patients,” said Kamback. “You experience them as people in a public location and also note how they interact with each other.”

BMoCA in downtown Boulder is easily accessible for Colorado Recovery patients. “It’s a small building but they utilize the space well,” Kamback remembered. “They featured three different artists that none of us—myself included—were familiar with. It was good to come in fresh and let clients explore the space. The museum wasn’t too busy so they were really comfortable with that. On this particular excursion, I specifically encouraged them to wander around and look at all the art on display, and then choose a favorite.”

After they got back to the campus, they got together and discussed the artwork they had viewed and which one they liked the best. “We had a sort of debriefing: ‘What drew you to this particular piece?’ and then others could chime in and we talked about feelings and emotions—what it was like to be at the museum.”

Because of his art background, Kamback excels at organizing and processing this kind of outing. He knows where to draw the line and not exhaust clients too much and make them lose interest. “We had a good time on this trip. This was a great opportunity for them to be in a public space. We used public transport to get there and they had good interactions the whole way. The whole trip is the experience, not just the museum visit.”

Trips to the art museum, hikes, game and movie nights, and other socializing activities are all part of the groundbreaking approach to mental health treatment pioneered by Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner.

Recovery from serious mental illness requires that people with such a condition retain a sense of empowerment—a belief in their ability to take charge of their lives and manage the complex challenges of their illness.

At Colorado Recovery it is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

How Bipolar Disorder Affects Body Image

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mental illness characterized by psychosis in which a person’s ability to recognize reality and emotional responses, thinking processes, judgment, and ability to communicate are so affected that their functioning is seriously impaired. Hallucinations and delusions are common features of psychosis.

Bipolar disorder caused extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression). When people with BD (formerly called manic depression) become depressed, they may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most activities. When their mood shifts to mania they may feel euphoric, full of energy, or irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior, and the ability to think clearly.

But bipolar disorder affects more than the psyche of the patient. People with BD also face elevated physical health risks. According to a study published last year in Psychosomatic Medicine, they are more likely than other people to experience a major adverse cardiac event, for example. Another common side effect of BD is weight gain.

“Nearly 70 percent of people who seek treatment for bipolar disorder are overweight or have obesity,” reported Stephanie Watson on PsychCentral in March. “Weight gain is a side effect of many medications that treat bipolar disorder. Other factors related to having bipolar disorder, like depression and substance use, also can lead to excess eating and weight gain.”

Managing the psychiatric symptoms of bipolar disorder with appropriate medications is very important, of course, but so is maintaining a healthy body weight. A 2017 study indicated that an elevated body mass index (BMI) may impact brain chemistry in ways that could worsen bipolar disorder symptoms.

And it may have a negative effect on body image, i.e. the impression a person has of their physical appearance. BD “symptoms and the possible weight gain related to treatment often affect body image,” Watson wrote. “For example, if you notice a major change in your body size after starting treatment, this might change the way you feel about or perceive your body. Obesity is linked to more body dissatisfaction, worse self-esteem, and greater rates of depression.”

Which in turn does not exactly help to counteract the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Body dissatisfaction is a major driver of eating disorders and many BD patients also have an eating disorder. As Watson explained in her article, “eating disorders can look very different among individuals with bipolar disorder. Mania and depression can fuel various features of eating disorders, such as restrictive diets or overeating. Binge eating disorder and bulimia may be more likely to coexist with bipolar disorder than anorexia nervosa.”

An eating disorder can obviously complicate BD management and should be addressed as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. The Colorado Recovery treatment model created by our founder Richard Warner is based on a warmer and more human familial setting, as well as  comprehensive levels of care that result in a path of self-reliance, improved self-esteem, and community engagement for connection and a feeling of contribution.

Since Dr. Warner’s passing in 2015, we have continued to innovate based on these core principles. It is our mission to help adults with serious mental health issues stabilize their illness, minimize symptoms, improve functioning, and enhance each person’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.

The Connection Between Cannabis Use Disorder And Genetic Predisposition to Schizophrenia 

The number of Americans who believe that regular marijuana use can be harmful has been steadily decreasing in recent decades and 22 US states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the recreational use of cannabis products. Self-reported use in the US increased from 9.9 percent in 2007 to 15.3 percent in 2017 with the most increase in cannabis use among high school students although they are not legally permitted to use marijuana.

“Excessive cannabis use is known to associate with psychotic-like experiences, schizophrenia symptoms, cognitive impairment, and emotional distress,” reported Sanchari Sinha Dutta, Ph.D., in April on News Medical. “Studies have shown that the administration of psychoactive constituents of cannabis can induce acute psychotic-like experiences, including unusual thoughts, paranoia, disorganized thinking, and in some rare cases, auditory and visual hallucinations.”

A new study published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin shows that genetic risk factors for schizophrenia can increase the possibility of experiencing cannabis-related psychotic symptoms in regular marijuana users. “Among individuals who regularly use cannabis, genetic liability for schizophrenia—even in those without clinical features—may increase the likelihood of reporting unusual experiences related to cannabis use,” the authors wrote. “Cannabis use disorder (CUD) was prevalent in this analytic sample (70 percent), with 40 percent classified as mild, 25 percent as moderate, and 35 percent as severe. Polygenic risk for schizophrenia was positively associated with cannabis-related paranoia, feeling depressed or anhedonia, social withdrawal, and cognitive difficulties, even when controlling for duration of daily cannabis use, CUD, and age at first cannabis use.”

The average age of first-time marijuana use was sixteen years. About three-quarters of the enrolled participants reported using other illicit drugs.

“The study reveals that regular cannabis users with higher pre-existing genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia are at higher risk of experiencing cannabis-related psychotic experiences, including hallucination, paranoia, depression, cognitive difficulties, and social withdrawal,” Dr. Dutta wrote in the News Medical article. “Moreover, excessive and early-onset cannabis users are more likely to report unusual cannabis-related experiences. As mentioned by the scientists, the study involved ascertained individuals with a high prevalence of cannabis use disorder and use of other illicit drugs.”

Cannabis use and schizophrenia seem to have a close relationship, wrote Patel, Khan, et al. in their 2020 study on the association between schizophrenia and cannabis use. “Schizophrenia and psychosis walk hand in hand alongside with cannabis use,” they wrote. “When a healthy person uses cannabis, he experiences relaxation, euphoria, and a decrease in anxiety and boredom. However, they might also have some undesirable effects like paranoia, grandiosity, agitation, hallucination, cognitive impairment, disorganized thinking and behavior, and depersonalization. People predisposed to the development of psychotic illness are more vulnerable to the psychotomimetic effects of cannabis, more specifically, THC” (the primary psychoactive component of cannabis).

The research suggests that it is a bad idea to try alleviating schizophrenia symptoms with cannabis products. Patel, Khan, et al suggest that “chronic cannabis use in schizophrenic patients has a detrimental effect on brain morphology.”

Mental health conditions and substance use disorders such as CUD are frequently co-occurring because many people with addiction are primarily misusing addictive substances to self-medicate emotional pain caused by serious mental health disorders. Colorado Recovery understands the importance of coordinated and integrative treatment care and provides substance use services to all clients who require them as part of a specialized dual diagnosis track.

At Colorado Recovery, mental health treatment is focused on stabilizing illness, minimizing symptoms, improving functioning, and enhancing each patient’s social inclusion, quality of life, and sense of meaning in life.

If you have questions about our recovery model or our services to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and similar mental illnesses, call us at 720-218-4068 to discuss treatment options for you or the person you would like to help.