How does a focus on gratitude impact mental health? Research shows it can reduce stress and improve physical and psychological health. “Gratitude can provide benefits to people’s physical and mental health and improve their relationships,” wrote Nicole Tetreault, PhD, recently in Psychology Today. “The holiday season offers the perfect opportunity to stop and express thankfulness […]

“Mindfulness has been theoretically and empirically associated with psychological well-being,” wrote Keng, Smoski, and Robins in their 2013 study on the effects of mindfulness on psychological health. “The elements of mindfulness, namely awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance of one’s moment-to-moment experience, are regarded as potentially effective antidotes against common forms of psychological distress—rumination, anxiety, worry, fear, […]

When working with our clients, we continually stress that their illnesses can be managed and that they can maintain a sense of normalcy in their lives if they work on five basic skills that contribute to managing their conditions. Sleep Diet Exercise Staying on medications and collaborating with their care provider Staying off addictive substances  […]

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, an opportunity to update your knowledge about alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the adverse impact of alcohol misuse on health and society. Alcohol-related problems continue to take a heavy toll on individuals, families, and communities. Researchers estimate that each year there are more than 178,000 alcohol-related deaths, making alcohol a […]

One of the main objectives of the Colorado Recovery program is for patients to achieve a certain degree of social independence. Our recovery model is a holistic, patient-centered approach to mental healthcare. This model is based on the simple premise that it is possible to recover from a mental health condition. Not that long ago, […]

Being in nature always provides an opportunity to slow down, breathe deeper, and open up to the beauty of our surroundings and the world at large. “When we embark on a hike we must attune our senses to the world around us,” says Peter Kamback, a vocational rehabilitation specialist and community organizer for Colorado Recovery. […]

The recovery model is a holistic, patient-centered approach to mental healthcare. It has been the foundation of Colorado Recovery’s non-institutional approach to living with mental health disorders for years. Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner used empirical evidence to challenge the previously prevailing view of schizophrenia and other disorders, which suggested that psychosis was strongly characterized […]

A team of researchers has developed a new way to study how genes may cause schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders by growing tiny brain-like structures in the lab and tweaking their DNA. These so-called “assembloids,” described in the journal Nature in September, could help researchers in the future develop targeted treatments for schizophrenia, autism spectrum […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the US since 1949. Every year during the month of May, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) joins the national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Together, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public, and advocate for policies that support the millions of people […]

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)—also known as “social phobia”—is a longstanding and excessive fear of social situations. According to the Mental Health Foundation, “the average age of onset of SAD is between 10 to 13 years, and SAD is rarely diagnosed after the age of 25.” “In social anxiety disorder, fear and anxiety lead to avoidance […]

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness in which people interpret reality abnormally. “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 […]

Schizotypal personality disorder (STPD)—also known as schizotypal disorder—is a mental health condition marked by a consistent pattern of intense discomfort with relationships and social interactions. People with STPD have unusual thoughts, speech, and behaviors, which usually hinder their ability to form and maintain relationships. While patients frequently present with similar symptoms to schizophrenia and schizoaffective […]

One of the main treatment goals at Colorado Recovery is to have patients achieve a certain degree of social independence. Our recovery model is a holistic, patient-centered approach to mental healthcare. This model is based on the simple premise that it is possible to recover from a mental health condition. Not that long ago, schizophrenia, […]

In September, Colorado Recovery teamed up with the Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center (CTRC) in Longmont—the oldest therapeutic riding center in the Centennial State which has been operating since 1980. Equine-assisted therapy incorporates horses into the therapeutic process, offering a valuable additional service to Colorado Recovery clients. People engage in activities such as riding, grooming, feeding, […]

“Problems abound in defining schizophrenia,” wrote the late Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner in his book The Environment of Schizophrenia. Symptoms can vary in type and severity over time, with periods of worsening and remission of symptoms. It’s frequently difficult to distinguish between symptoms of bipolar disorder for schizophrenia.  The cause of the illness is  […]

Nauman Hanif Taj, MD, is the new medical director at Colorado Recovery. Dr. Taj has a long, impressive track record as a board-certified adult psychiatrist.  Following his medical training at Tufts University in Massachusetts, Dr. Taj was awarded a fellowship at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the third oldest psychoanalytic institute in the United […]

Last year, Colorado Recovery expanded services outside the signature continuum of care, and started admitting directly into our intensive outpatient program (IOP) clients who may be ready to begin their recovery at the IOP level of care, or for those in the process of stepping down from another program.  Community integration and social engagement continue […]

Seasonal changes can be tough for people with mental health disorders. Summer days with warm temperatures and long hours of daylight can have an intensifying impact on manic episodes in bipolar disorder.  People with bipolar disorder may be affected by seasonal changes in multiple different ways. A 2015 study found that most admissions for mania […]

Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions (psychosis), and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania. As the Mayo Clinic explains, there are two types of schizoaffective disorder: bipolar type, which includes episodes of mania, and sometimes major depression, and […]

A warm familial setting, comprehensive levels of care leading to a path of self-reliance, expert staff to improve diagnoses and treatment plans, and community engagement for clients—these are the hallmarks of the Warner model utilized at Colorado Recovery. And that warm familial setting starts right at the admissions process. “We carry that welcoming family feel, […]

As of the end of February, more than 78 million people have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 945,000 people have died in the United States—roughly 16 times the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) has not only attacked the lungs and other organs of infected […]

After suffering through two years of COVID-19, the mental health of many Americans is in a bad place. According to the just-released Mental Health Index: US Worker Edition, cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and addiction are soaring amid the current Omicron surge of the pandemic. An alarming one in four American workers screened […]

Research shows that up to 20 percent of adults living with bipolar disorder (BD) also have a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).   ADHD and bipolar disorder have similar symptoms—so much so that they’re often confused with one another. Symptoms such as impulsivity and inattention can overlap. This makes it difficult to tell […]

The recovery model is a holistic, patient-centered approach to mental healthcare. This model has gained momentum in recent years and is based on the simple premise that it is possible to recover from a mental health condition. That may not sound too surprising two decades into the 21st century but not that long ago, schizophrenia, […]

Bipolar disorder and major depression share some similarities. They are sometimes confused because both can include depressive episodes, but there are some key differences.  The main difference between the two is that depression is unipolar, meaning that there are no periods of abnormally elevated mood, while bipolar disorder includes symptoms of mania. In a recent […]

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a serious mental illness. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “people with bipolar disorder experience intense emotional states that typically occur during distinct periods of days to weeks, called mood episodes. These mood episodes are categorized as manic/hypomanic (abnormally happy or irritable mood) or depressive (sad mood). People with bipolar disorder […]

Having a job, receiving a paycheck, and being able to support themselves can significantly improve the quality of life for people with mental illness. Meaningful employment is an important aspect of the treatment model originated by Colorado Recovery founder, Richard Warner. “Work is central to the development of self-esteem and in shaping the social role […]

Speech and language disturbances have been recognized as core components of schizophrenia since the early days of modern psychiatry. In his description of “dementia praecox,” which is often credited as the first modern characterization of schizophrenia, German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin described both positive (e.g. incoherence, derailment, stereotypy, neologisms) and negative symptoms (e.g. mutism) associated with […]

People with schizophrenia can be treated effectively in a variety of settings with hospitalization mostly reserved for acute cases. Outside of a hospital environment, treatment should include social rehabilitation. People with schizophrenia typically need help to improve their functioning in the community. This can include training in basic living skills, assistance with a host of […]

“Since first being diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety in my early 20s, I felt the stigma of being considered ‘abnormal,’” remembered journalist and author Steven Petrow in a recent article in the Washington Post. Petrow often used to hear friends use pejorative words like “nuts,” “psycho,” “schizo,” “insane” and “looney tune” as general insults to […]

Colorado Recovery is now expanding services outside our signature continuum of care. We are admitting directly into our intensive outpatient program (IOP) clients who may be ready to begin their recovery at the IOP level of care, or for those in the process of stepping down from another program. One of the offerings now available […]

Schizophrenia is a mental health condition that affects about one percent of the US population. That means approximately 3.3 million people nationwide currently live with the condition. It typically starts in late adolescence or early adulthood. “Schizophrenia is a psychosis,” explained Colorado Recovery founder Richard Warner, MD, in his book The Environment of Schizophrenia (2000). […]

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. Empowerment is essential if people with a mental illness are to overcome the many prejudices that too many Americans still […]