“Honesty is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self. The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties: all of us are afraid of loss, in all its forms; all of us, at times, are haunted or overwhelmed by the possibility of this.” (Whyte, D. 2015. Consolations. Many Rivers Press, Langley, Washington). I attended an AA meeting last Sunday morning where the subject of the meeting was honesty. Interesting questions were posed such as: “What is honesty?” “Did you have a time in your life when honesty was completely
Tag: substance abuse
Mental Illness Can Have More Impact on Life Expectancy Than Smoking
According to researchers at Oxford University, mental illness has an effect on life expectancy that is equivalent or greater than smoking. A great deal of effort and spending has been invested into smoking cessation programs and smoking awareness campaigns. This new research should prompt the government, health care and social services to shift their focus in an effort to increase life expectancy for those living with mental illness.Researchers reviewed 20 review papers from clinical studies that reported mortality risk among mental health problems, substance and alcohol abuse, dementia, autistic spectrum disorders, learning disability and childhood behavioral disorders. These studies included over 1.7 million individuals and over 250,000 deaths. They also used studies and reviews that reported life expectancy and risk of dying by suicide. All results were compared to