High Blood Pressure - Hypertension

Hypertension is not just a disease of aging. Young men and women can suffer from its damaging, sometimes killing, effects. Please do not take this condition lightly. Get it treated as soon as possible before it creates lasting damage and adversely effects your life as you do age.

High blood pressure can be a very dangerous, and often untreated, symptom of stress. In fact, perhaps 70% of all high blood pressure problems are related to emotional responses to difficult or dangerous situations. When this response becomes habituated by your body, the prolonged high blood pressure can lead to long term permanent physical damage such as hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), heart, strokes, liver, or kidney damage. These can be very serious and very scary, but many people do not know they have high blood pressure or do not treat this potential killer disease.

Medications and physician care is the most immediate and important way to begin to control this problem before it can cause permanent, irreversible damage! The expense of medication and its side effects can make this difficult, however, there are other things you can do to minimize the dangers of hypertension and learn to control your body's response to stress so it will not make you ill or debilitate you! Especially, if you are in the 70% of high blood pressure suffers who have not yet been damaged irreversibly.

The keys to controlling high blood pressure are:

• Breathe slowly/diaphragmatically
• Regular deep relaxation with Biofeedback Temperature monitoring
• Use the special relaxation tape regularly!
• Learn to warm your hands and feet
• Avoid caffeine and stimulants
• Regular aerobic exercise
• Remain in the present... in your body, in a positive way
• Taper your high blood pressure medication after you have mastered the relaxation- biofeedback, under your physician's care.
  

Learn to breathe diaphragmatically

Place a hand over your upper abdomen
Push it OUT as you inhale
Let in move IN as you exhale
Let your chest, shoulder, neck, and back relax as you breathe
Only on a very deep breath should these parts move in the breath. This may be the most important Hypertension Technique you can learn!

If you link taking one deep breath to a reoccurring work event like a telephone ringing or checking the time, you could remember to take these slow deep breaths throughout your work schedule and keep yourself from letting the tensions build to painful or distracting levels. The secret is check in with your body in the present moment, relax your major muscles, and slow and deepen your breath, This simple exercise can have miraculous results.

Other breathing techniques involve a short series of deep slow breaths, where you count as you breathe. Try counting slowly 1-4 as you inhale, pause and hold your breath as you count 1-4, and then release slowly, but completely, as you count 1-8. After four of these breaths, you will be breathing better and more in control of your body's pattern of holding tension. This can help teach you how to control your hypertension.

Eat Regular Meals

Low fat and complex carbohydrates are better than fast foods with lots of sugar. AVOID CAFFEINE and other stimulants. Caffeine is found in coffee, black teas, cola drinks, chocolate, some over-the-counter pain medications, and other foods/drugs. Read labels. Eating as closely as you can to natural foods (lots of: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc.) will benefit any one.

Positive Thoughts

Many people with high blood pressure have trouble maintaining their thoughts in present time or focusing on their bodies in positive ways. Fears or angers from the past or apprehensions about the future seem to take up too much of their conscientiousness. Living in the present, letting go of negative emotions, and letting life's daily dramas roll off you are all important skills to develop.

Regular Exercise

Regular exercise will help you to work off the effects of life's stresses. 3-5 times per week of regular exercise that can elevate your heart rate for 15-45 minutes would be best. Check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program if you have been inactive for a long while. Even though elevating your heart rate can be a little scary, the release of tensions and the strengthening of your cardiovascular system will have great benefits. This can improve circulation and so can help to reduce your blood pressure.

Stress Management Tapes

Use the Stress Management for High Blood Pressure tape 1-3 times per day for 8-12 weeks. Please visit our secure shopping cart to order a copy of our Stress Management for High Blood Pressure CD at Shop Dstress.com Use a temperature trainer on your hands to learn how to warm your hands with relaxation. When you can consistently get above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (93-95 degrees is ideal) then you can begin to master warming your feet to 90 degrees. See the article on temperature training at http://www.dstress.com/tempbft.html.
When you can "let go" by relaxing and warming your hands and feet, you will be able to control if not prevent your panic episodes. Then you must develop the confidence in your control so the high blood pressure will not control your life.

Taper Medication

Taper your high blood pressure medication after you have mastered the relaxation - biofeedback, under your physician's care. After you have learned to "let go" through relaxation and biofeedback training, you can monitor your blood pressure at home. When you have developed the skills of hand and foot warming, you will find that your blood pressure can begin to drop down in more normal ranges. Write these regular home blood pressure readings down to show your doctor. In the doctor's office your blood pressure may still be higher than you like! Many people have "white coat syndrome" where their blood pressure will be 10-15 points higher in the doctor's office than it normally is at home. With your doctor's agreement and assistance you may be able to begin reducing your high blood pressure medications. Any changes to your normal medication may elevate your blood pressure, so reduce these medications slowly, in gradual steps.



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Intuition of Business

by: L. John Mason, Ph.D. - 1997

Do you ever hire or put work teams together? Are you ever developing relationships with clients, advisors, supervisors, or your staff? Do you ever have to make career choice decisions? Are you ever in position to decide about a new product and what quantities to produce, distribute, or acquire? Do you have to stay ahead or at least up with the trends? If you answered yes, then you may want to read on and explore how you can tap your deepest and strongest levels of wisdom...

An executive buyer for a national retail chain of full service department stores played a "hunch" and created huge profits and national recognition for her stores. She had learned her job over several years and understood her customers but when it came to predicting the fashion trends she was still more guessing than using statistical analysis. Her intuition told her that an overlooked style would be a "hit" and proceeded to order the dress in certain fabrics and in large quantities. The manufacturer, being an honorable business associate, tried to dissuade her knowing that every other major buyer had overlooked or discounted this particular style. The buyer being strong willed and very strong on this "gut feeling" maintained her large order. A large promotional campaign was launched and to everyone's surprise, except the buyer, the dress sold out rapidly causing every other major store chain to demand this product. Thousands of this dress style were sold and the buyer's reputation was elevated by this business decision. Though it seemed to go against logic and current reasoning, this bold act sent this retail market spinning in a new and profitable direction. This buyer developed many unexplainable projects in her successful career and she still considers her intuition responsible for much of the recognition that brought her to the very top of her profession.

Recently an increasing number of reports are pouring in, unexplainable situations of great decision making that appear to be "lucky guesses." Executives who did not play the "odds" and chose instead untested teams of people or products that overnight created huge growth and huge profits for the developers and investors. Some new technologies are so "cutting-edge" that no one can accurately predict the direction and outcomes of these activities. This includes investing in high-tech, foreign markets, trends of the national market, world political trends, and the needs for NEW products and services. Who could have predicted that that within the past ten years products and services like: cellular phones, pagers, E-mail, faxing, the internet, bio-technology, even Dilbert, would be the necessities of business executives competing for world business. Trends are evolving but being ahead of the trends takes, guts, fortitude, and a deep insight that accurately can feel the "right" directions for the future.

The story about the buyer has been repeated in every industry. The "gut feeling" decisions that have lead to success seem to be increasing with the advent of new technologies and the "uncharted" arenas that must be negotiated. With no "track record" many business decisions must be made quickly and without historical support. Executives with good instincts are driving the explosion of instant millionaires that many industries, particularly "high tech" businesses, in the past decade.

Have you ever experienced ultimate satisfaction in a business activity or decision? Have you ever "played a hunch" and had it come out better than your expectations? Have you ever experienced being totally "connected" or "in synch" with your client or team and had profound results? Were you ever "in the groove" with your sales and marketing activities? Most importantly, did you ever have a "Gut Feeling" about a decision that was so powerful it could even override prevailing thought or certain statistical facts, and achieve great results? Did you ever "know in your Gut" that you had chosen the "right" people for the project even though they were relatively new, inexperienced, or had never worked together before, they just developed the "Right chemistry" to make "it" happen?

Sometimes, for a not fully explained reason, an executive will make great decisions that far exceed expectations. For some managers this happens only rarely, and their track record may show that they are careful and do not take risks. This has been a successful strategy for some managers. But increasingly, business is moving into new areas, perhaps uncharted territory, and the smaller companies who play the "hunches" may wind up winning, creating large payoffs in these new arenas. Some executives have the reputation for "big wins" and develop a track record that make their hard work and great "guesses" produce big leads over their competition. These "guesses", "hunches," and "gut feelings" separate the innovators from the managers that follow the leaders. "You can make dust or eat it!"

Customer service also can rely on special qualities where salespeople, managers, or executives can "connect" in a special way with their customers and create a relationship of trust and rapport that develops special loyalty and long term success. People who are "good" with people as managers or in providing customer service produce good returns on the company's bottomline.

Many executives when in training, in teaching, or in business activities use metaphors from sports. They play aggressively. They "have their head in the game." They are "in the groove," "hitting on all cylinders," and sometimes totally in the "zone." Athletes describe "being in the zone" where their perceptions are so sharp that time seems to slow down. Their decisions are so clear and precise that they can surgically pick apart the other team's defense and score in the almost impossible ways. Examples of this abound, where a quarterback, or point guard, or sales executive, intuitively knows what his teammate/client will do, and in a split second delivers the "ball" to the perfect position for it to be received, "in stride," to complete the drive for a score! This "state of being" is a rare pleasure to experience under any circumstance. When you feel this on the field or in business, it adds to the satisfaction of the experience. In its way it has addicting qualities that brings you back time and time again. This can motivate an executive, letting him/her feel that they are at the very "top."

Too often we wait for these situations to manifest. We are not proactive in creating the proper emotional, mental, and physical environment to perform at this level and with this satisfaction. Some experienced veterans can pull these qualities out in key situations and use them with great aplomb. Some younger, creative executives seem to have these abilities and can "hit a homerun" early-on. But this is an experience that is an emotional skill that can not happen upon command, consistently, without proper training and nurturing of this skill.

Every competitive company and executive leader wants every advantage that they can develop. Consultants and trainers showcase the latest business techniques. Most business management techniques can be taught through normal teaching methods in classes or through verbal instructions. The "Gut Feelings" of a clear intuitional decision is derived in an entirely different way. It comes through a special "connection" or "feeling" that can not be taught in normal teaching methods. The experience must be provided, guided, enhanced, supported, and nurtured for its full development in a consistent trustworthy "feel-set" (skill-set with feeling.)

Major disruptions to intuition and focus occur in the presence of stress and fear! Controlling fears, insecurities, and your stress response is the first step to preparing for the connection with your intuitive insights. In other words, you must control the background noise and distraction that we most often feel when we are not "in the present moment" and not "in our bodies" in a healthy way. Much has been written about stress management for business and optimum performance can be achieved for athletes or business people through the focus of relaxation and then the special visualizations of success and "peak performance" programming.

The next steps involve immersion through ritual and developed exercises that reconnect you with certain quiet parts of yourself. Physical and emotional blocks need to be circumvented through awareness, acceptance, and then re-channeling of consciousness. A sensitivity to these feelings must be established and then honed to gain the "clarity" that will make this more consistent, trustworthy, and predictable. This phase is not the easiest. It requires diligence and practice. The skill of being able to "let go" physically and emotionally takes some time. It takes mastery of fear to trust that the unconscious forces can give special protection and then guidance. Then the levels of self-awareness and acceptance lead to self-confidence in the special way that successful, creative producers have achieved (for consistent success.)

The phase of balance and grace is a rewarding and beneficial achievement. No matter what the activity you participate within, these levels of focus and of being centered, create the proper internal environment for success. These attributes are not just for business but for all life activities and pursuits. Most people never take the time to achieve these states and never find the deeper satisfaction with their lives. Relationships, families, health and business can suffer from the lack of balance and grace. At a universal level, the world would have more peace, less crime, and fewer environmentally stupid occurrences if balance and grace were honored and cultivated.
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10 Tips For Improve Quality of Life and Enhance Performance Through the Holidays

Remember the things that are the most stressful are the things that you care the most about, but have the least control over.
World events, the economy, the way people respond, and our families (and children) are major stressors that we wish we could control, but often can not.

1. Schedule Time for Self-Care!
Regular exercise and time for stress management are a must. Find what techniques work best for you, and use these tools.
This is non-negotiable time devoted for your health and well being.

2. Eat Well
Moderation is the key. Do not use alcohol or drugs for stress management. Do not "over" celebrate. Avoid fast foods.

3. Avoid Caffeine
Minimize the impact of caffeine on your life.

4. Plan the Holiday... Set some limits
Do not over spend your financial and emotional resources.

5. Control Your Expectations of:
Happiness, Joy, Sadness, and Loneliness

6. Be Nice to Others
Give compliments and smile. Around negative, anxious, or rude people, take a breath and remember that you do not need to
get pulled into other people's holiday misery or their craziness.

7. Reach Out for Support
Talk with "stable" friends or family, or clergy, or mental health counselors.

8. Humor Helps... Have Fun
Laugh daily, if possible.

9. Stay in the Present!
Mentally and emotionally, do not be consumed by things that happened in the past or fear events in the future.
Enjoy the people you are with and make the very best of the situation that you are in.

10. Find the True Spirit of the Holidays
Share "the Spirit" of this holiday with those people who you love or care about. Give love and support to the people of the world.
Volunteer or go out of your way to be thoughtful and kind. A smile or a hug can go a long way. Sometimes it is just listening...
Show others that they have value and that you are aware of their special qualities.
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Ergonomics of Computer Stress

by L. John Mason, Ph.D.

Ergonomics: the study of the problems of people adjusting to their environment; esp. the science that seeks to adapt work or working conditions to suit the worker.

By its very nature, "High Tech" means constant transitions and change, and this means consistently high levels of stress from adapting to these changes. Our primitive mechanisms for adjusting to change are often over-whelmed by the High-Tech world of change that we need to live and work within. Virtually everyone agrees that negative transitions such as; job insecurity due to downsizing ("right-sizing," etc.), or financial insecurities (ie credit card debt, mortgages, college fees, stock market swings, etc), or health challenges (ie, sickness, chronic illness, injury, emotional symptoms of stress, etc.), or relationship insecurities (divorce, dating, family role changes, two income families), and international or regional political upheavals (as presented "up close and personal" in our homes by TV,) are viewed as stressful with potential downsides to your health and well-being.

"Good" Change: Same Results

Transitions and change are not always bad. However, even positive change can create responses within our primitive response mechanisms that can lead to negative symptoms of physical and emotional stress. Just in the past ten years, the high-tech advances have increased expectations of productivity and often time commitments to responding to the pressures from work. Do you remember life before: Fax machines, Voice Mail, E-Mail, Cellular Phones, Cellular Faxes, Instantaneous International Business Requests, and yes, even the Internet???? Sure you can turn them off, ignore them, control them(???,) but the pressures of response and keeping up with the changes of hardware/software technologies are still there, even if you do bury your head in the sands of DENIAL....

To prove a point about how positive change/stress can be dramatically bad for your health, I want to tell one brief story. When I was growing up, I read a newspaper account of a man who suffered from good fortune! The story read that a man had won the Irish Sweepstakes. He had won a fortune.... $100,000, which back in those days was a lot of money! He was so overjoyed with his good luck that he celebrated in an unfortunate way... he died of a heart attack! How many people do you know who get a new job or relationship, and wind up paying the price of this positive stress?

In the past ten years, people are developing new symptoms of this technology. Eye strain, back strain, wrist/hand strain, neck problems, even weight and substance abuse increases can be loosely linked to long hours in the world of computers and technology. There are even new industries cropping up to take advantage of the needs for the health and safety of the daily computer user and high tech workers.

Who reading this article can say that our primitive response to stress from millions of years of adaptation and survival has been able to keep up with these past few decades of change? Have you evolved a new midbrain response to the old Flight/Fight Response? If we can not change the world around us, or the people with whom we do business, or the people we have to live with, or the global changes that affect us, then we can at least become aware of this dilemma and avoid becoming a VICTIM to these changes! We do have CONTROL over the way WE RESPOND to these changes.

Awareness is half the battle! Know how YOU respond to stress and what in your life is causing this transitional stress.... THEN, you must develop daily habits of wellness to keep you backed away from the "edge" of falling into the negative physical and emotional responses to stress. You can GET BACK in CONTROL! You can prevent, or at least minimize, symptoms of stress such as: headaches, backaches, neck aches, high blood pressure, panic, anxiety, many stomach problems, sexual dysfunctions, possibly reduce auto-immune problems like allergies or some forms of arthritis, sleeping problems, bruxism, TMJ, etc.... The emotional symptoms such as: loss of concentration, withdrawal (depression), anxiety, being accident prone, memory loss, poor motivation, poor communication, poor performance, some learning disabilities, etc can be linked to stress and reduced, if not eliminated, by awareness/lifestyle changes. Key employees can be given executive/personal coaching and this can prevent them from becoming liabilities due to inefficiency, poor productivity, or worse re-training replacements for these key people. This is as true for families as it is obviously true for companies.

The remedies are as wide as the variables that have created the problems. However, most people perform their functions better when they involve themselves in regular (daily) self-care that often includes: Relaxation (stress management (tapes, exercises, individual counseling)), Physical exercise (5x/wk for 30 minutes+), and proper nutrition (that includes supplementation of minerals and anti-oxidants that are NOT easily found in useable forms in the high-tech processed or mass produced foods that we eat.
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Rest And Sleep

Sleep deprivation isn't just bad for us, it's also bad for people around us: tens of thousands of traffic accidents are attributed to sleepy drivers every year.

But the average night's sleep in the UK now averages about 90 minutes less than it did in the 1920s, when it was nine hours a night.

What is sleep?

Sleep is made up of different stages. The ten-minute period of light sleep (drifting off from wakefulness) is called Stage One. Stage Two is deeper and lasts about 20 minutes. Stages Three and Four come after this, and are types of deep sleep.

Deep sleep is the part of sleep that our body and brain needs to recover from the day. It's sometimes called delta sleep, after the delta waves the brain generates. We don't dream during this time. After about 90 minutes of deep sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep begins.

During a normal night, people usually cycle through the various stages several times. Problems arise when the pattern of cycles is broken.

Are we getting enough?

Those of us who don't have the luxury of an afternoon nap still tend to get sleepy at about this time. Interestingly, people who increase their night-time sleep find that this afternoon 'dip' disappears. A ten-minute nap at lunchtime is just as effective.

Sleep problems, including dozing off, can be a symptom of many other conditions, from problems with the thyroid gland to depression - and even occasionally rare sleep disorders such as narcolepsy. So it's important to speak with your GP if you're currently experiencing insomnia or another sleep problem, since it could be indicative of another condition.

Sleep and mood are interlinked in intriguing ways that are still not understood. But a satisfying sleep, like a satisfying meal, can leave one happy and content - with room perhaps for just a little more.

Remember to use your bedroom primarily for sleeping, making it as comfortable, airy and dark as possible. via

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About Relaxation

Planned relaxation calms anxiety and helps your body and mind recover from everyday rush and stress. Music, a long soak in the bath, or a walk in the park do the trick for some people, but for others it's not so easy. If you feel you need help with learning to relax, try a relaxation or meditation class. Your GP and local library will have information about these.

1. Choose a quiet place where you won't be interrupted.
2. Before you start, do a few gentle stretching exercises to relieve muscular tension.
3. Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down.
4. Start to breathe slowly and deeply, in a calm and effortless way.
5. Gently tense, then relax, each part of your body, starting with your feet and working your way up to your face and head.
6. As you focus on each area, think of warmth, heaviness and relaxation.
7. Push any distracting thoughts to the back of your mind; imagine them floating away.
8. Don't try to relax; simply let go of the tension in your muscles and allow them to become relaxed.
9. Let your mind go empty. Some people find it helpful to visualise a calm, beautiful place such as a garden or meadow.
10. Stay like this for about 20 minutes, then take some deep breaths and open your eyes, but stay sitting or lying for a few moments before you get up.

Before using the bbc.co.uk/health desk relaxation routine, please read the directions below. The routine offered here is a 'quick fix'. You can use it in two ways: to head off a crisis in its early stages or use as a top up two or three times a day

Either way, it's best not to use it on its own. It's important that you make time to practise a more thorough routine on a regular basis. There are plenty of resources out there to help you do this - the anxiety section lists just a few.

This routine is designed for you to use at your desk. If you're in an open plan office you will need to use headphones. Also, it may not be easy for you to loosen tight clothing and close your eyes. Don't worry, just loosen what you can, and focus your attention on one object on your desk or screen instead. It might be worth trying a screensaver of a restful image to focus on.

If you decide to download this routine and transfer it to another format - DO NOT play it in your car. If you're stressed when driving, try to pull over and then practise breathing exercises until you're calm enough to continue your journey.

Try our desktop relaxation routine. Relaxation is one of the most effective self-help activities for mental health. It can be a useful addition to any other form of treatment as well as being an effective measure to prevent the development of stress and anxiety.

Relaxation exercises can be divided into two broad categories: those for the body and those for the mind. Body-centred exercises also have an effect on the mind. Having a relaxed body may not prevent a constant flow of anxiety-inducing thoughts but it's a good basis for getting some control of them. So for best results try to combine the two techniques. via

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Abortion and American Psychology

By Warren Throckmorton, PhD
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Fri, May. 11 2007 09:05 AM ET

The Supreme Court’s recent decision banning partial-birth abortion renewed public interest in abortion politics and policy. Despite the infrequency of late-term abortions, the ban is significant because it strikes at one rationale for the general availability of abortion – potential negative mental health consequences for women of carrying a child to term. Many late-terms abortions are performed for such reasons. For instance, in 1999, mental health concerns were cited by the abortion provider in all 182 partial-birth procedures in Kansas.

Thus, both pro-choice and pro-life camps are gearing up for more debate over the mental health consequences of abortion. In a fight, political or otherwise, it is good to have influential allies. In the abortion debate, pro-choice advocates historically have counted on the support of the powerful American Psychological Association.

Abortion and the APA have a relationship that predates Roe vs. Wade. Rewinding to 1969, the APA became an early player in the public debate with the following resolution:

…WHEREAS, termination of unwanted pregnancies is clearly a mental health and child welfare issue, and a legitimate concern of APA; be it resolved, that termination of pregnancy be considered a civil right of the pregnant woman, to be handled as other medical and surgical procedures in consultation with her physician...

Fast forward to 2007; the APA recently convened a task force called the Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. According to APA spokesperson, Rhea Farberman, the committee will conduct an updated review of the published scientific literature on the potential impact of abortion on women’s mental health. The committee has met once and is slated to report its findings in 2008.

Does the appointment of this committee signal a possible change in APA policy toward abortion? Very likely, the answer is no.

Periodically, pro-life psychologists have urged the APA to examine claims abortion may lead to negative mental health consequences for some women. In 1989, the APA convened a task force to review research on the topic and found little risk of psychological harm. However, just over a year ago, a pro-choice researcher, David Fergusson, of New Zealand released a study that re-ignited the debate over the mental health effects of abortion.

In a well-designed longitudinal study, Dr. Fergusson found abortion was associated with depression, and other negative mental health outcomes. Dr. Fergusson’s team criticized the APA’s position statement on abortion consequences which read in part,

Well-designed studies of psychological responses following abortion have consistently shown that risk of psychological harm is low. Some women experience psychological dysfunction following abortion, but post-abortion rates of distress and dysfunction are lower than pre-abortion rates.

Professor Fergusson believed the APA position ignored results of studies such as his which found contradictory results.

For a 2006 article, I interviewed Dr. Nancy Russo, long time APA luminary and defender of abortion rights, about Dr. Fergusson’s criticism of the APA position, she first asserted that the evidence about mental health outcomes was of clinical interest but had no bearing on abortion as a civil right. In other words, no matter what the consequences, abortion should be legal.

In addition, she said the APA statement was accurate but that the APA’s Internet page on the subject should be updated. Within days, that website was removed and is still not available.

So it is not surprising that the APA appointed a task force. However, the circumstances surrounding it have raised questions.

One APA psychologist who is concerned about the objectivity of the task force is Dr. Rachel MacNair, author of Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress: The psychological consequences of killing. Dr. MacNair says she is a “pro-life feminist” who “sees all violence as connected and wrong, with abortion being one kind of violence.”

Why is Dr. MacNair concerned? She said, “Although the APA included two experts on the trauma of domestic violence and an expert on methodology, three members have clearly stated ideological commitments to the "pro-choice" perspective. The voice of the woman who believes that she has problems caused by her abortion is absent.”

Speaking about the APA’s current stance, Dr. MacNair says, “Women who wish their therapists would take their abortions seriously as a possible cause of traumatization have faced being told that the APA has decided otherwise.”

Dr. MacNair believes the committee’s credibility would have been strengthened by including members with opposing perspectives. She observes, “Only if the report comes out with conclusions opposite to what one would expect with the ideological commitment of half of its members would it have credibility; if it comes out as would be predicted, the absence of balance on the task force will be a problem for its scientific credibility.”

In fairness, Dr. MacNair doesn’t assume that the APA will disregard all research that associates some type of harm with abortion. She explains, “I have been told that the report of the task force will be going through a vigorous review process before being accepted. If that happens, then perhaps the voices that are absent now can still be heard.”

No matter what results are reported, Dr. MacNair raises provocative questions about the role of political philosophy in the construction of professional policies. The historical position of the APA on abortion, the method of the current task force’s formation and the ideological leanings of half of the members all create legitimate concerns about the ability of the APA to objectively review the evidence on abortion and mental health. On this committee, or indeed on any task force regarding issues of social controversy, scholars with contrasting professional, religious and cultural perspectives should be appointed. Only in this way will the APA's statements on socially divisive issues be taken seriously across the political spectrum.
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Starbucks' Psychology

If you think there's already a Starbucks coffee shop on every corner, just wait: The company hopes to eventually run 40,000 of these latte-serving storefronts.

But how can the company sustain so many shops, with one just a few blocks away from its rival?

It has everything to do with the marketing strategy behind this designer coffee chain, which devised a clever way of creating its own community. It also pinpointed one key aspect of caffeine shoppers: They want their coffee immediately.

"Because it's a cup of coffee, you can get it in a lot of places, and so we won't go very far … and they know that," said author Karen Blumenthal, who chronicled Starbucks for a year in "Grande Expectations."

In Seattle, the birthplace of coffee culture, there are 60 of the shops downtown. And within 20 miles of the downtown area, the suburbs house 300 additional Starbucks.


Across the United States, there are 9,814 stores with a total of 13,728 worldwide. The Starbucks management has watched coffee drinks, and figured out exactly what people will and won't do for coffee.

"We actually study traffic patterns," said Starbucks CEO Jim Donald. "If it's in a downtown area, we study foot-traffic patterns."

Company officials also managed to get customers comfortable, paying up to six times as much for Starbucks coffee as they could pay elsewhere.

"Not everyone can shop at Tiffany's, but everyone can afford a cup of coffee -- even if it's $2, $3 or $4," Blumenthal said. "You can do something nice for yourself by buying yourself a good cup of coffee every day."

Home Away From Home

People are ordering so many of these beverages. The average Starbucks sells $1 million of coffee a year, and more than half of the coffee is sold before noon.

While 80 percent of the sales are takeout, they're still delighted to have customers stay and sit with their computers for hours to make the place feel lived in.

The tables are also rounded to give it a comfortable atmosphere. As Blumenthal explained, round tables are more welcoming than those with square edges, and people look "less alone" while seated at a round table.

Blumenthal also noted the Starbucks menu vocabulary, with its "frappucino" and "half-caf" orders, was a clever way to add to the store's appeal.

"It did seem to be nuts, but it worked," she said. "It felt [like] sort of a special language -- like you were part of a special community when you could walk into a Starbucks."

It's all part of their strategy to make Starbucks a third primary "place" in the day of Americans.

"We say the first place is home, second place is office, and then Starbucks is a third place," Donald said. "They use our stores for gathering spots, and we think that that that's what makes that whole experience what it is today." via
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Sports Psychology Techniques Help Cancer Patients Cope With Stress

Top athletes want to get in the zone and stay there. "Learning how to stay calm, relaxed, confident, optimistic, focused on the positive and in the present can be useful skills for a golfer, tennis player or a cancer patient," according to Dr. Jay P. Granat.

On Friday, May 11, 2007, Jay P. Granat, Ph.D. will conduct two workshops for cancer patients who are members of The Gilda's Club in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Dr. Granat, author of 21 Creative Ways To Conquer Stress And 18 Ways To Relax With Self-Hypnosis, Visualization and Meditation and How To Get In The Zone And Stay In The Zone With Sport Psychology And Self-Hypnosis, will show members how to use simple and basic techniques to alleviate the stress they may be experiencing.

"Some cancer patients understandably are quite frightened. In some instances, they live from medical test to medical. Anything that can help them to remain hopeful, relaxed and can enable them to enjoy life on a daily basis is useful, says Dr. Granat."

Jay P. Granat, Ph.D., is a Psychotherapist and Licensed Marriage and Family Counselor in River Edge, New Jersey. Dr. Granat has authored several books and many journal articles and has developed several self-help programs for stress management for peak performance in sports. A former university professor, he writes a weekly column for three newspapers and has appeared on Good Morning America, ESPN Radio, in The Star Ledger, Golf Digest, Tennis Magazine and The Bergen Record. He is the founder of StayInTheZone.com. Granat received his graduate education at The University Of Michigan and he is Past Vice-President of The New York Society For Ericksonian Psychotherapy And Hypnosis.
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What is bulimia?

Bulimia nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by overeating (bingeing) and then purging to get rid of the calories consumed. A person with bulimia fears gaining weight, yet has an uncontrollable compulsion to binge on foods. After bingeing, the person employs unhealthy methods to rid the body of the calories: vomiting; frequent use of laxatives, water pills, or enemas; fasting; or extreme exercise. Purging after bingeing begins as a means of weight-control, but the bingeing and purging behaviors paradoxically become habitual and out of control.

Signs and symptoms of bulimia?

People who have bulimia are very secretive about their bingeing and purging, so others may not notice the signs and symptoms of the eating disorder. Some symptoms of bulimia are so subtle that only a medical professional would notice them. Surprisingly, being underweight is not a characteristic sign of bulimia, even though people with bulimia are afraid of being too fat. Individuals with bulimia often are of normal weight or overweight because they eat a lot.

The warning signs and symptoms of bulimia include:

• Secrecy surrounding eating and the time period after eating, to allow for bingeing and then purging. Frequent trips to the bathroom after meals, signs and/or smells of vomiting, evidence of laxatives or diuretics. Going to the kitchen after everyone else has gone to bed to binge. Going for unexpected walks or drives at night. Excessive desire for privacy in the bedroom or bathroom.
• Odd eating behaviors, such as avoidance of eating with others; unpredictable and sudden dietary likes and dislikes; skipping of meals; taking very small portions when eating with others; consuming a lot of water or diet soda (to make vomiting easier); cutting food into very small bites; chewing food excessively; separating different types of food on the plate; strange pairings of foods.
• Eating unusually large amounts of food, with no apparent change in weight. The disappearance of large amounts of food, or numerous empty wrappers or containers in the garbage.
• Excessive, rigid exercise regimen – However, it is difficult to distinguish a serious athlete from an athlete with bulimia. Both may train excessively and not eat enough to compensate for the caloric usage
• Complex lifestyle schedules or rituals to make time for binge-and-purge sessions. Typical behaviors are using mints or gum to cover up the smell of vomit, running water in the bathroom to conceal the sound of vomiting, or always going to the bathroom after meals.
• Poor body image; preoccupation with body weight, weight loss, dieting, and control of food – Wearing of baggy clothes to hide the body. A distorted body perception. Avoidance of looking in mirrors.
• Discolored or callused finger joints or backs of the hands – Jamming the fingers down the throat to induce vomiting may damage the outer surfaces of the hands.
• Tooth and mouth problems, such as discolored and decalcified teeth, and sensitive, swollen, and bleeding cheeks and gums. These are caused by vitamin deficiencies and by the stomach acid that comes up with vomit.
• Stomach pain and intestinal irregularities, such as constipation and diarrhea.
• Irregular or nonexistent menstrual periods (in females).

Types of bulimia

There are two types of bulimia, based on how the person with bulimia compensates for the binge eating:

• Purging type of bulimia - The person induces vomiting or uses a diuretic, laxative, or enema to purge food from the body, as a compensation for bingeing.
• Nonpurging type of bulimia - The person with bulimia does not purge food from the body, but instead fasts or engages in excessive exercise to use up calories.

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About Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety Disorders affect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18%) in a given year, causing them to be filled with fearfulness and uncertainty. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event (such as speaking in public or a first date), anxiety disorders last at least 6 months and can get worse if they are not treated. Anxiety disorders commonly occur along with other mental or physical illnesses, including alcohol or substance abuse, which may mask anxiety symptoms or make them worse. In some cases, these other illnesses need to be treated before a person will respond to treatment for the anxiety disorder.

Effective therapies for anxiety disorders are available, and research is uncovering new treatments that can help most people with anxiety disorders lead productive, fulfilling lives. If you think you have an anxiety disorder, you should seek information and treatment right away.
This booklet will

• describe the symptoms of anxiety disorders,
• explain the role of research in understanding the causes of these conditions,
• describe effective treatments,
• help you learn how to obtain treatment and work with a doctor or therapist, and
• suggest ways to make treatment more effective.

The following anxiety disorders are discussed in this brochure:

• panic disorder,
• obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD),
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
• social phobia (or social anxiety disorder),
• specific phobias, and
• generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Each anxiety disorder has different symptoms, but all the symptoms cluster around excessive, irrational fear and dread.
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Mental ways of beating insomnia

Mental ways of beating insomnia

1. Your body likes routine so aim to go to bed at the same time nightly. Begin winding down about an hour before you go to bed.
2. Avoid caffeine, especially from late afternoon onwards, as it has a stimulating effect for up to 6 hours.
3. Avoid using alcohol to sleep - it produces a shallow, un-restful quality of sleep.
4. Decide bed is for nothing other than sleeping (and making love) - so avoid eating, watching television, telephoning, knitting, having serious discussions, etc.
5. Keep clocks out of sight! Many people create a mini-neurosis through lying awake and checking the clock every few minutes to calculate how much sleep they are missing!
6. Never stay awake in bed for more than about 30 minutes. Have a list of boring/unpleasant tasks beside your bed. Get up and do something from this list if necessary. The idea here is to break the association between being in bed had experiencing insomnia.
7. Avoid rewarding middle-of-the-night waking with food, drink, cigarettes, etc.
8. To get better continuous sleep you may need to temporarily deprive yourself of sleep, at first. Get up a little earlier each day - till you are sleeping as you would like. Then gradually extend the length time you are in bed, once again. (For example, you might begin by getting up 15 minutes earlier every three days - while still going to bed at the same time - until eventually your mind-body "allows you" to get to sleep more quickly at night. Generally this process takes a few weeks to produce results.)
9. Avoid day-time naps. Sleep requirements vary so if you don't need a lot of sleep why not use the time constructively - study, hobby, voluntary work, etc.
10. Use your relaxation skills - before sleep or if you wake.

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Some common causes of insomnia

Cause 1- Ineffective stress management

Insomnia is frequently a symptom of ineffective stress management. The more stressed you become, and the more active your mind becomes in endlessly going over things, the more difficult it is to switch off and get to sleep, to remain asleep, or sleep deeply and restfully.

Cause 2 - Putting things off

Insomnia can be caused by, or exacerbated by, excessive procrastination. We often procrastinate because of the endless succession of unfinished business that runs through our mind as we try to get to sleep. Or because we have let matters get into such a mess that we do not know where to begin to deal with them. This produces mass of un-dealt-with issues in `the back of the mind'.

We may well be able to block these issues out of our minds in the bustle of everyday life - but they continue to affect us emotionally, in the background, producing higher and higher levels of emotional stress. Then, just as we begin to relax fully and drift off to sleep, we suddenly find ourselves coming fully alert and awake - and the misery of insomnia begins once again. (Incidentally, this is also a common reason for early-waking, too.)

Cause 3: poor preparation for sleep

Even if we are not particularly stressed we may also accidentally develop the insomnia habit following one or two occasions when we have difficulty in getting to sleep. This might be caused by result from drinking caffeine in the evening, having too interesting an evening, pleasurably anticipating something, worrying about having to get up early the next day for a special event, and so on. If a bout or two of such quite normal insomnia results in the expectation of insomnia then we can easily develop the habit of expecting to not sleep well which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Cause 4 - Worrying about insomnia

Most adults have interrupted sleep; to briefly wake up on occasion during the night is quite normal. But if we then begin worrying that we may have insomnia this creates an alert state of mind and makes it difficult to get back to sleep again. May instances of insomnia are caused by this worrying about insomnia.

Cause 5 - Trying too hard to get to sleep

Sleep comes naturally and effortlessly when we mentally and physically switch off. So it is best approached as a passive process, rather like relaxation. You cannot force things or make yourself go to sleep any more than you can force or make yourself relax. When you re-develop this habit of passively allowing sleep to occur, or not to occur, sleep is likely to occur more easily, because you are not mentally or physically striving

Cause 6 - Unrealistic expectations

As we get older we require more rest and less sleep. The amount of sleep you need depends on a range of factors including your physical health, the amount of mental or physical activity you engage in, you expectations of how much sleep you need, and so on. However it is unlikely that in your 30's or older you will still need the eight or nine hours sleep that you may have needed as a teenager. And you can easily get that extra rest from regular relaxation sessions. via
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Learn to Relax

The ability to relax, or practise simple meditation, is a natural and valuable ability which we all possess, even though we may not have practised it.

Why (re-)learn to relax?

• Relaxation enables you to take an break and switch off from the stresses of life whenever you wish.
• It provides a few precious moments in which to re-charge your mental and physical batteries.
• Relaxation is the bed-rock of effective stress management.
• It enables you to stand back and switch off from problems - so that, often, when you return to them you can perceive solutions that had previously escaped you.
• If you have intense fears or phobias you will find your relaxation skills essential for using methods such as systematic desensitisation to dissolve your fears.
• Relaxation has been scientifically proven to be health enhancing (See Beyond the Relaxation Response, by Herbert Benson & William Proctor).

How to relax - with a relaxation tape

Get a good relaxation tape and spend a few weeks becoming skilled at switching off and deeply relaxing whenever you wish.

at first it may be helpful to use a tape with a spoken commentary since this will take you through a series of steps to help you become deeply relaxed. However once you have learned, in this way, the physical routine for switching off and relaxing you may find it best to use a music-only tape and to use your own imagination to relax deeply and to actively utilise imagery during the session.

How to relax - without a relaxation tape

The following is a simple method of relaxing which you can develop by using mental imagery aided, perhaps, by soft relaxing music:

1. Make yourself physically comfortable. Initially shrug, stretch, and then sit comfortably upright with hands resting on your thighs or lap. Use a few long exhales to help you settle. Keep your eyes open for now.
2. Pay attention to what you can see, hear, and feel.
3. Close your eyes. This gives your brain a break by reducing the amount of incoming data it has to process.
4. Now pay attention to what you can see, hear and feel with your eyes closed.
5. Do five long exhales (see next section below). With each exhale relax, in turn, a different part of your body as follows (1) Your feet and legs, (2) Your hands and arms, (3) Your torso, (4) Your head and neck, (5) Your entire body. Pay attention to the relaxing effect of each of these out-breaths.
6. Now continue to allow yourself to switch off - breathing normally - paying attention to how your body can relax a little more each time you exhale.

The breathing method when relaxing

• Breathe in through your nose fully but not deeply
• Hold the air for no more than one or two seconds
• Allow the air out through your nose - prolong the out of breath so that it is long and slow
• Pause... while you wait for your body to naturally and easily inhale once more (again through the nose).

This method of breathing is key to enjoying a wonderful relaxation session. It is meant to be quite slow and completely effortless. No breath holding, no straining, no counting - just discovering the rhythm that is right for you, personally.

In particular pay attention to the pauses -- the brief pause at the end of your in-breath and the longer pause at the end of the out-breath.

Why relax in a sitting position?

Because, initially, many people find relaxing to be quite soporific. Having been deprived for so long deprived of the quality of the deep rest which relaxation evokes, your mind-body can relax so deeply that you slip into natural sleep.

There is nothing wrong with this. In fact it’s a great way of getting to sleep at night.

However it is a good idea, in the beginning, to train yourself to relax in a sitting position so that you will be able to relax at will just about anywhere and for just a few minutes e.g. in the dentist chair, while waiting for a train or plane, before an important interview or presentation, etc.

Tips for your Relax Session

1. Years of `normal' stressful living undermine our natural ability to switch off and relax anywhere, anytime. You are now simply re-learning this natural ability.
2. Relaxation is something you allow to happen. You cannot force the issue. It is a gradual process of discovering your personal forms of emotional and physical tension and then discovering the ways of releasing these which work best for you.
3. At first most people find it much easier to relax the body rather than the mind. This is normal. You can certainly learn to allow your mind to become quieter - it simply takes a little longer.
4. For the first few weeks relax in a sitting position. It is easier to relax lying down but if you make yourself too comfortable you risk falling asleep or becoming too drowsy and this negates some of the benefits. (See previous section, too).
5. There is no right way to relax! So rather than attempting to `get it right' experiment to discover what works best for you.
6. The quality of your relaxation will vary considerably during any session. One moment you may think you are losing the experience and the next you may be even more relaxed than before. So if you think it is not working decide to calmly stay at ease for another minute or so. Then, if necessary, give up and have another session 30-60 minutes later.
7. There is no `right' time to relax. Take a break any time you like - especially when you notice tension or a negative mood beginning to build up. For the first few weeks you may find it more beneficial to take lots of short 3-5 minute breaks. Most people find it useful to have a relaxing session at the beginning of the day.
8. Initially your tension level may rise again soon after a session and you may wonder what is the point in relaxing. Here remind yourself that had you not taken a break the tension would now be much higher - and that these breaks are conditioning your body/mind to react differently to pressures.

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