psycho management | psycho tips for daily

20 Things To Make Someone Smile

2007-07-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here are 20 ways to turn that frown upside down.

1. Send some flowers to your partner at work.
2. Compliment a friend or work colleague on their appearance.
3. Donate something to charity.
4. Take a friend out to lunch.
5. Hug your partner for no reason.
6. Leave a joke on a friends answer machine.
7. Let someone know you miss them.
8. Make a surprise telephone call to your partner at work, just to say hi.
9. Hold a door open for someone walking behind you.
10. Send a card to a friend letting them know what a good friend they are.
11. Give up your seat on the train to someone when there aren't any left.
12. Share your umbrella on a rainy day.
13. Ask a friend if they need anything while you're out shopping.
14. When it's raining, plan an indoor picnic with your children.
15. Leave a love letter somewhere where your partner will find it.
16. Send someone an unusual and unexpected gift like sex toys.
17. Tell your child you're proud of them.
18. Tell someone you thought about them the other day.
19. Cook a surprise meal for your partner one night, especially if they normally do the cooking.
20. Tell your partner you love them.

Did you know it takes only 17 muscles to smile, but 43 to frown. Why waste all that energy frowning when you could just smile.

Here are 5 more facts about smiling.

1. Women smile more than men.
2. Smiling releases endorphins that make us feel better.
3. We are all born with the ability to smile, it's not something we learn from others.
4. A smile is a universal expression of happiness.
5. A smiling person is thought to be a more pleasant, attractive, sociable, sincere and competent than a non-smiling person.
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5 Ways to Get Yourself Motivated to Clean

2007-07-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

1. Invite Someone Over To Your Home

How It Helps

Inviting someone to come over to your home, can be a great motivator to get things clean. Knowing that someone will be showing up at your home can give you a deadline to get things done. Suddenly you begin to look at your home as a guest might, and the undone tasks stand out waiting to be accomplished.

How It Might Backfire

If you invite someone to come over and don't give yourself enough time to accomplish the things you need to do, you can end up with an embarrassing situation. Make sure your deadline for yourself is realistic.

2. Try a New Cleaning Product

How It Helps

Trying a new product or cleaning gadget can be a lot of fun. Instead of looking at a chore as work, it can seem like an opportunity to discover a new tool that lightens your load.

The next time you've got a job you are procrastinating, search for a new product that might help you get it done.

How It Might Backfire

Although cleaning gadgets are fun and interesting, make sure you get rid of products or gadgets that don't perform the way you want them to. A cleaning pantry can quickly be filled with unwanted items that create clutter and prevent the useful tools from being easily accessed.

3. Try a New Scent

How It Helps

If you don't want to try an entirely new product, try a new scent. Scent makes a big difference in our mood and attitude. Try a new one and you may find yourself more excited and motivated to accomplish your chores.

How It Might Backfire

Watch out that you don't combine too many different scents. Scents can sometimes trigger irritation from guests and family members. Combining too many different kinds increases the chances that someone may react badly to one, or the combination of several in your home. Change scents slowly to find the right one for your family.

4. Clean Out Some Clutter

How it Helps

Even if you find only a small space or area to rid of clutter, the feeling of watching unwanted items being removed from your home is invigorating and freeing. Even cleaning out a small area can help you get motivated to tackle bigger projects. Use the 4 container method for projects large and small.

How It Could Backfire

Make sure that you limit yourself to a contained area or section of your home at one time. Trying to clear clutter from your entire home in one sitting is liable to be a big job and leave your home messier than when you began. Start in one room, or section of a room and get it clutter free and put back together before you begin a new project. Your motivation will keep you going, and it will be easier to leave off in the middle of a project and pick it back up later.

5. Rearrange a Room

How It Helps

Rearranging a room is a great way to create a fresh perspective and motivate yourself to clean and organize. Do a 15 Minute Cleanup in the room before you begin. Rearrange the furniture, rugs, artwork, and decorative items. Changing up a room often gives you more motivation to keep it clean and uncluttered. Seeing the results can often let your cleanliness spill over into other rooms of your home.

How It Can Backfire

Don't be fooled. To really get a fresh perspective by rearranging items, you'll need to do some cleaning. You'll be surprised what moving furniture around can lead you to find. If rearranging seems like too big a job, consider switching out just a few components of the room. You'll be surprised what just a small amount of changes can motivate you to do.
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If You Think It, It Will Come

2007-07-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

Maybe you’ve heard the comment, “People don’t change.”
Well, in my business, people DO change. For the better.

I believe it is a 3-step Process:

1. Becoming aware of the need for change
2. Ready and willing to change
3. Taking action

That is all you need to transform your life. Your willingness to look at the inner working of your own mind, your ability and desire for change, and your commitment to a process and a practice, are the required elements for achieving your goals.

The movie, The Secret has gained a lot of attention and popularity. ”The Secret” that they’re referring to is the law of attraction. Thought is creative. Every thought you think and every feeling you feel is either bringing you closer to the things you want, or keeping them away. On a deeper level, not just your conscious thoughts, but your subconscious beliefs about yourself and what you deserve, is what creates your life situation. That’s where hypnotherapy comes in. Both your conscious and subconscious mind needs to be in agreement for you to see your dreams and desires manifesting in your life.

Hypnotherapy can assist in revealing ideas and beliefs you may not be aware of on a conscious level. If your subconscious belief system does not allow for abundance, love, prosperity or good health, it will block you from attaining your life goals. Most people would say that they want to be healthy, wealthy and wise, loved and understood. But how many of us truly are? Long-held subconscious beliefs are powerfully influencing. And they were established when you were a child, with the mind of a child. With the help of hypnosis and hypnotherapy, old thought patterns can be uncovered, explored and transformed into new, healthy positive beliefs that support you in achieving your goals and dreams.

There are two levels of mind: conscious and subconscious, and they have two separate functions. Your conscious mind is analytical, logical, and rational. It’s your ability to choose, and your will power. It is your thinking, reasoning mind. Your subconscious is your operating system. It’s the belief system you run on, and the seat of your emotions. It is your image and idea of who you are. Everything you’ve ever seen, heard and experienced is stored within your subconscious. Your deeper mind runs your body and maintains your habits. Whatever ideas you accept as truth, and impress upon it, will be accepted into your memory bank and acted upon. For example, if your programming is you’re not very bright, untalented and not good enough, it is highly unlikely that you will go after that dream job, big money, take risks or follow opportunities.

How do we get hypnotized? Hypnotic programming is al around us. The constant repetition of commercials and slogans encourage us to buy a product or service. Authority figures such as doctors, business leaders, or someone we know whom we admire and respect, can be very influential in convincing us what to do and be. In highly emotionalized states, we are open to receiving and creating beliefs about ourselves. This can work either for or against us. Think of a motivational speaker getting the crowd revved up. Excited and inspired, the crowd is susceptible to receiving and internalizing the speaker’s words.

Conversely, in the heat of an argument or traumatic event, negative words can pierce your heart and leave their mark on your psyche. Those words become the internal dialogue we listen to all our lives. Unfortunately, we are conditioned and programmed as young children, with out fully mature reasoning capabilities. Events occur, we interpret them, and make decisions about whom we are. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “Show me the child at seven and I’ll show you the man.” Those same ideas, decisions and beliefs accepted as a child, continue on and are reinforced and played out as we grow and develop. Hence, if you’ve decided you can never have what you want, you are “stuck” in a mediocre job, unfulfilling relationships, and a general lack of motivation to go after your dream.

Only once you’ve changed those beliefs about yourself on a deeper level, will you see change occurring in your life. As you modify and update how you perceive yourself, the right people, opportunities and circumstances will present themselves. Positive self-talk and the power of strong emotion, propel you toward attaining your goals. See yourself as you’d like to be, picture it in your mind. Feel yourself having what you want, get excited about what could be, and claim it as your own. The power to be who you truly are is within your grasp and within your own mind. Your ability to choose and reconstruct your life is true freedom and empowerment.
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Children With Cerebral Palsy Have Similar Quality Of Life To Other Children

2007-07-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Professor Allan Colver, Sir James Spence Institute, Newcastle University, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, UK and colleagues selected 1,174 children with cerebral palsy in seven European Countries, of which 818 participated in the study. Of these, 318 with severe intellectual impairment could not self-report (and will be subject to a separate study later), but 500 children self-reported their QoL using KIDSCREEN, an instrument which assesses quality of life across 10 categories.

The researchers found that for children with cerebral palsy, type and severity of impairments did not affect QoL for in six KIDSCREEN categories: psychological wellbeing, self-perception, social support, school environment, perception of financial resources, and social acceptance.

However they found that specific impairments were associated with poorer QoL in four catgories. Children with poorer walking ability had poorer physical wellbeing; children with intellectual impairment had lower moods and emotions and less autonomy, and children with speech difficulty had poorer relationships with their parents. Further they found that pain reduced children’s QoL across all categories.

The authors say: “Whereas specific domains of QoL with cerebral palsy are associated with specific impairments, QoL on most aspects of life is not associated with impairments and is therefore likely to be determined largely by social and environmental factors, although these might differ between children with cerebral palsy and those with no disability.”

From the point of view of a non-disabled adult, it may seem surprising that children with cerebral palsy view their QoL as similar to children in the general population. However from the child’s perspective, their impairment is incorporated in their sense of self from birth, and they embrace growth, development and living with the same excitement as non-disabled children.

The authors say: “Parents can be upset when their child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but they can now be reassured that most children with cerebral palsy who are capable of providing information when 8-12 years old experience similar QoL to that of other children their age.”

They conclude by saying that there is widespread acceptance of the need for disabled children to be integrated fully into society. They say: “The change now needed concerns attitudes. Pity and sorrow should not be directed to disabled children because our findings indicate they experience most of life as do non-disabled children. Therefore, maximum effort is needed to support the social and educational policies that recognise the similarity between the lives of disabled children and those of other children, and that ensure their rights as citizens, rather than as disabled children, to participate in society as fully as other children.”

In an accompanying Comment, Dr Olaf Dammann, Department of Pediatrics, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, USA and Dr Michael O’Shea, Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, say: “The efforts of Dickinson and colleagues to understand quality of life in children with cerebral palsy are commendable. Their findings offer both reassurance to parents of children with this disorder and potential strategies to clinicians seeking to improve the quality of life for affected children.

“Moreover, in their study Dickinson and colleagues provide food for thought for clinicians who offer guidance to parents of newborn babies at risk of cerebral palsy.”

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by The Lancet.
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Reading Emotions Through Expression and Body Language

2007-07-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

Effective communication does not just mean knowing the right words to say. Emotions and body language also play a very important role in getting your message across. In fact, body language says a lot about what you're feeling and thinking as of the moment. People who are transparent could get themselves in trouble.

How do you know if somebody is anxious, angry, happy, surprised, or sad by judging only his body movements? Here are some ways you can read emotions by observing body language.

If a person is happy he...

- smiles a lot. We might even find him doing a little skip as he walks.
- has relaxed facial muscles and fluid movements
- hums or sings to himself

If a person is surprised he...

- suddenly opens his mouth (hence, the expression 'my jaw dropped')
- suddenly takes a step back
- widens his eyes or clamps his hand over his mouth

If a person is anxious he...

- has a pale face and dry lips
- starts perspiring profusely
- fidgets a lot and has shifty eyes
- keeps shaking his leg or tapping his foot
- makes sudden movements after a while of being still
- stutters

If a person is angry he...

- pounds his fist on the table and uses a loud voice to speak
- clenches his fist and leans forward when talking to you
- bares his teeth and appears to be snarling as he talks
- has tense muscles

If a person is sad he...

- has trembling lips
- is not able to look you straight in the eye and sometimes even has tears forming
- slumps his body
- uses a rather flat or weak tone of voice

These are only a few of the indicators of the key emotions any human being feels. Some might even overlap. For instance, a person with shifty eyes may be either lying or just nervous; so, in order for you to effectively interpret what he is feeling, you have to take the context of the conversation in point.

When you think about it, part of body language reading is skill and part is sensitivity. There really is no clear-cut rule as to what kind of body language pertains to what emotion, but there are general signals that can be found in most people.

In short, reading body language does not take knowledge of rocket science. Because body language is part of daily living, anybody who does not exhibit any kind of body language is considered wooden, as with a mannequin that has just one expression and pose all throughout. Because we are humans, we succumb to our emotions sometimes.
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Creating the Elusive “Lunchtime Facelift”

2007-07-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

The "lunchtime facelift" has been the holy grail in plastic surgery for quite a while. The idea of providing facial rejuvenation with no downtime appeals to both plastic surgeons and patients. Get your treatment, look improved and freshened, and immediately go back to work, out on the town or, for some of our entertainment patients here in Beverly Hills, head over to the red carpet at an awards show. Who wouldn't want to get their facial rejuvenation and then have no recovery?

Essentially all of the so called "no downtime facelifts" or "lunchtime facelifts" simply did not live up to their billing. As a plastic surgeon, I know that surgery involves recovery. It is just the way the body responds to a surgical procedure. Traditionally, if the body did not react to the procedure, nothing much was really done and few changes were visible when all was said and done.

But now we have many nonsurgical techniques that can create instant facial freshening -- removing or smoothing wrinkles, plumping lips -- with no recovery. Botox, Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse, Sculptra and other new products provide facial rejuvenation and do not create scars or undue swelling. They can help achieve that elusive goal of improvements without downtime. This is perhaps the biggest revolution in plastic surgery in thirty years.

These products work very differently. When we do Botox Beverly Hills we are using the medicine to paralyze some of the tiny muscles in the face. The twitching of these muscles creates a skin wrinkle on the skin that lies above it. If the muscles lay quietly, they do not tense and cause a wrinkle in the skin above.

Botox is extremely safe, its results are predictable, and it can create fantastic improvements in facial appearance. My sister recently had it for the first time, and it dramatically improved and freshened the look of her face – just like I have seen it do for countless other of my patients.

The we use Beverly Hills skin fillers skin fillers such as Restylane and Juvederm we work to provide bulk under the skin to fill in wrinkles from below. They are very effective for both small lines and larger ones, such as the nasolabial folds which run from the sides of the nose toward the outside edges of the side of the mouth and the so-called marionette lines that go along the side of the chin.

Each person's face is different, so each person will do best with a different noninvasive treatment and nonsurgical skin rejuvenation. But the various procedures do provide fast changes with little or no recovery. Where in the past the “weekend facelift” was illusory, it is now possible to create dramatic changes without downtime.

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Methods to cope Insomnia - Rozerem

2007-07-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sleep is the most mysterious process of body and can be described as a periodic state of rest during which a person remains unconscious of the activities of the world. However, in today's stressful times, many people suffer from inadequate or lack of sleep. This state is also referred as insomnia.

Factors that cause insomnia:

1. Regular use of alcohol and stimulants, waking during erratic hours, changes in the schedule of sleep and wake or inactive behavior lead to unrest sleep.

2. Light, noise, extreme changes in the surrounding environment shall lead to sleepless nights.

3. Insomnia is also known to be caused by depression and contributes to anxiety or post-traumatic stress.

4. Women facing menopause are also likely to face insomnia because of hot flushes that occur during sleep.

5. Other illness and medical problems are also factors resulting in insomnia.

Sleep medications such as rozerem (FDA approved medication) is used as a method of treating the disease. The good part is that this medication has not shown any evidence of abuse or dependence.

Better sleeping habits can help:

Your bed should be large and comfortable: If you are disturbed by a restless bedmate, switch to a queen- or king-size bed. Test different types of mattresses, pillows, or cotton sheets you feel comfortable with.

Your bedroom should be a place to sleep: It is not good to use your bed for paying bills, doing work, etc. Help your body recognize the place for rest or intimacy.

Bedroom should be peaceful: Make sure your room is well ventilated and the temperature consistent. You need to keep it quiet.

Hide your clock. You should place your clock so you cannot see the time when you are in bed. This is because it will distract you from the state where your brain instructs you to sleep.
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How can I relieve stress and anxiety naturally?

2007-07-01T22:30:00.002-07:00

First we must examine what exactly stress is and what happens to the body during stress. Stress is something everyone experiences every day and a natural part of life. The body responds to stress by releasing adrenaline and corticosterone giving you the so called “Fight-or-Flight” response, this occurs automatically. Your adrenal glands produce these hormones which include cortisol, adrenaline, and corticosterone which give you an energy boost to fight or run away. These hormones boost energy, increase awareness and focus which happen whether it’s a physical threat or emotional stress. Some stress in life is good for us. Stress helps keep us focused while there is an emergency; however, it’s chronic stress that causes a problem.

When stress becomes chronic, elevated stress hormones can be a problem. These stress hormones effect inflammation, immune system response, and metabolism. When our bodies are continually stressed these hormones are continually high and can affect the nervous system causing anxiety and depression, suppress the immune system which can lead to sickness or disease, or effect the digestive function causing over eating and weight gain. Although we don’t want to turn off the stress mechanism, we don’t want to remain in a state of constant stress. (1-3)

There is hope, Holy basil is an herb found in India used for more 3000 years for medicinal purposes. Holy basil is a member of the mint family. Closely related to the sweet basil we cook with. Holy basil is native to tropical regions of Asia and can now be found throughout the tropical parts of the world. Holy basil is a strong antioxidant that demonstrates antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. (4-6) Holy basil has been used to treat everything from the common cold to bronchitis and even fever. Holy basil has been used as a digestive aid and can be good for ulcers. Let’s examine how modern science has taken a closer look at this herb.

In the past ten years scientific studies have focused on the benefits of holy basil consumed orally. These studies have revealed great promise and suggesting holy basil may indeed provide effective relief of those previously mentioned customary uses. Studies have even suggested that holy basil can be taken with radiation therapy to help fight side effects, and even good for diabetes. (4,5,7-9) Holy basil’s greatest potential is in the area of stress relief and relaxation.

Holy basil is an adaptogen, enhancing the body’s ability to cope with physical and emotional stress. Adaptogenic herbs help the body function at optimal levels during stress with out effecting mood. Several studies examining holy basil have found this amazing herb to lower corticosterone levels. Lowering corticosterone can improve mental clarity and memory and help reduce age related mental disorders. 10 Lets look further to see how this actually works.

Holy basil has various compounds that provide health benefits. Such as, eugenol and caryophyllene which are aromatic compounds that are pleasing fragrant scents said to boost mood and spirit. Studies suggest that eugenol helps combat stress and enhance mental clarity. Triterpenoic acid an isolate of holy basil has been shown to improve the body’s response to stress. Several studies have examined the anti-stress effects of the different components of holy basil. When isolated and examined individually, the eugenol and caryophyllene significantly reduced the corticosterone level and helped the body cope with stress, elevate mood and improve mental clarity. (12-14)

If you are looking for a good brand of holy basil, look for a product that is standardized to the active ingredients eugenol, caryophyllene and triterpenoic acid, in the form of ursolic and oleanolic acid. These components differ significantly in their chemical structure, different extraction methods are needed to get the most beneficial components out of holy basil. There are three extraction methods that are most common, steam distillation, alcohol extraction, and super critical (CO2) extraction.

Steam distillation breaks down plant tissue and pulls out the essential oils and key components released into the steam and collected when cooled.

Alcohol extraction is a bit more complex and the most frequently used form of extraction. The plant is complete dissolved and distilled for purification. Then alcohol is applied to remove the insoluble plant constituents, and then the solution is distilled to remove the alcohol leaving only the active components.

Finally, supercritical extraction has become popular, where carbon dioxide (CO2) under extreme pressure to removed the active components of the herb. This process is executed at low temperature which preserves the components ensuring that the components aren’t damaged by high temperature. High temperatures can alter or damage the components of holy basil and this is why CO2 extraction is becoming more popular.

Stress can be triggered at any time in life both physical stress and mental stress. Over time the negative effects of stress can affect our health through our immune system, digestion, or nervous system. Figuring out what is causing stress in life and working to eliminate this stress can ultimately bring healing to your body, holy basil can help aid in the process by reducing the stress hormones and help in recovery for quick relieve of your daily woes.

References:
1. Dallman MF, Pecoraro N, Akana SF, La Fleur SE, Gomez F, Houshyar H, Bell ME, Bhatnagar S, Laugero KD, Manalo S. Chronic stress and obesity: a new view of "comfort food". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Sep 30;100(20):11696-701.
2. Sapolsky R. Stress, Glucocorticoids, and Damage to the Nervous System: The Current State of Confusion. Stress. 1996 ;1:1-19.
3. Elenkov IJ, Chrousos GP. Stress hormones, proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and autoimmunity. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Jun;966:290-303.
4. Gupta SK, Prakash J, Srivastava S. Validation of traditional claim of Tulsi, Ocimum sanctum Linn. as a medicinal plant. Indian J Exp Biol. 2002 Jul;40(7):765-73.
5. Uma Devi P. Radioprotective, anticarcinogenic and antioxidant properties of the Indian holy basil, Ocimum sanctum (Tulasi). Indian J Exp Biol. 2001 Mar;39(3):185-90.
6. Geeta, Vasudevan DM, Kedlaya R, Deepa S, Ballal M. Activity of Ocimum sanctum (the traditional Indian medicinal plant) against the enteric pathogens. Indian J Med Sci. 2001 Aug;55(8):434-8, 472.
7. Prakash J, Gupta SK. Chemopreventive activity of Ocimum sanctum seed oil. J Ethnopharmacol. 2000 Sep;72(1-2):29-34.
8. Vrinda B, Uma Devi P. Radiation protection of human lymphocyte chromosomes in vitro by orientin and vicenin. Mutat Res. 2001 Nov 15;498(1-2):39-46.
9. Agrawal P, Rai V, Singh RB. Randomized placebo-controlled, single blind trial of holy basil leaves in patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1996 Sep;34(9):406-9.
10. Montaron MF, Drapeau E, Dupret D, Kitchener P, Aurousseau C, Le Moal M, Piazza PV, Abrous DN. Lifelong corticosterone level determines age-related decline in neurogenesis and memory. Neurobiol Aging. 2005 Jun 10.
11. Sembulingam K, Sembulingam P, Namasivayam A. Effect of Ocimum sanctum Linn on the changes in central cholinergic system induced by acute noise stress. J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Jan 15;96(3):477-82.
12. Sembulingam K, Sembulingam P, Namasivayam A. Effect of Ocimum sanctum Linn on noise induced changes in plasma corticosterone level. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 1997 Oct;41(4):429-30.
13. Archana R, Namasivayam A. Effect of Ocimum sanctum on noise induced changes in neutrophil functions. J Ethnopharmacol. 2000 Nov;73(1-2):81-5.
14. Sen P, Maiti PC, Puri S, Ray A, Audulov NA, Valdman AV. Mechanism of antistress activity of Ocimum sanctum Linn, eugenol and Tinospora malabarica in experimental animals. Indian J Exp Biol. 1992 Jul;30(7):592-6.
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How can I relieve stress and anxiety naturally?

2007-07-01T22:30:00.001-07:00

schizophreniadiaries.com - Schizophrenia Stories of Mental Illness

2007-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

This site was based off the 2 year diary of a real life Schizophrenic, James Caldwell. His True Diary of Psychological Episodes takes you along the journey of a mad man who struggles to get stabilized on medicine. His diaries of psychosis talk about everything he was hearing, tasting, smelling, and seeing during these encounters at the time, Hallucinating. He will take you through his fears, thoughts, and feelings. His original handwritten notebook has been transcribed to digital.

Mental illnesses are misunderstood and stigmatized all too often. SchizophreniaDiaries.com offers insight into what it's like to live with one of the most common mental illnesses of our time. Many regular and great people suffer from this illness. The numbers come out to be about 1 in every 100 people. It is more common than most people think.

If you're looking for a interesting, inspirational stories or have something to contribute to a community taking a unique look at the schizophrenic condition, this is the place.

They want as many people as possible to be made aware of the causes of schizophrenia, how people with schizophrenia survive, and what it's like to be schizophrenic. You really live another life thru the writings of these people.
http://schizophreniadiaries.com/

Coping With Stress

2007-07-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Now you must make one more note here is that you must not stop ,decrease or change any medication without consult your family physician because coping with stress by changing your self may take some time and lot effort from your side so you must take medication prescribe to you and gradually start efforts to change your self. In the process regularly consult your physician and change or decrease medication under his able observation

Now come to point about coping with stress what I am going to tell may not mentioned in any books but these are time tested principles which never let you down. Please note that stress can manage via medication, exercise, yoga, meditation we will talk about it in separately but point is exercise may fine with someone and help and no effect on other one same true with medication, yoga, mediation. One more thing they are not helping you to coping with stress permanently.

Now you wonder I have some magic stick to coping with stress but that is not case. It demand much more effort because any change made by us in our habits, schedule, thinking resisted by body and mind. Now let us come to point

Try to remain neutral in every situation arise. Means in happy situation don’t be over exited and in sad situation don’t be so much sad. Accept both situation as a part of life and two side of coin Eradicate every bit of anger you have from life, yourself, spouse, boss, colleagues or xyz. Just say bye to agitation.

Accept principle of high thinking and simple living. You must try your best to achieve you goal but never blame your self or situations around you. If you fail then accept it as a part and parcel of the life.

Money is one of most important factor in life but not only one so tries your best to earn it but never be mad for it.

Never ever blame your self or situation or people around you for failure, accept it in good spirit and never stop trying

To coping with stress you must eradicate every bit of jealousy you have for your friends, colleagues or anyone because it doesn’t harm anyone but yourself. It will eat you.

Helping other who are in need if possible

To coping with stress you must accept that you are unique individual in world and like everyone you have some good and some bad points

To copping with stress you must leave any addiction like cigarette ,tobacco, alcohol ,drugs

Getting early from bad and leave early for bad

To coping with stress you must start from your self. Never demand from world to change for you but you much change for better

Never erase line of other but draw you line big

These are the principles you can trust to coping with stress. One eastern proverb is “control your self and you will be control the world”
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Physical Relaxation Techniques

2007-06-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

These three useful physical relaxation techniques can help you reduce muscle tension and manage the effects of the fight-or-flight response on your body. This is particularly important if you need to think clearly and perform precisely when you are under pressure.

The techniques we will look at are Deep Breathing, Progressive Muscular Relaxation and “The Relaxation Response”.

Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a simple, but very effective, method of relaxation. It is a core component of everything from the "take ten deep breaths" approach to calming someone down, right through to yoga relaxation and Zen meditation. It works well in conjunction with other relaxation techniques such as Progressive Muscular Relaxation, relaxation imagery and meditation to reduce stress.

To use the technique, take a number of deep breaths and relax your body further with each breath. That's all there is to it!

Progressive Muscular Relaxation
Progressive Muscular Relaxation is useful for relaxing your body when your muscles are tense.

The idea behind PMR is that you tense up a group of muscles so that they are as tightly contracted as possible. Hold them in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds. Then, relax the muscles normally. Then, consciously relax the muscles even further so that you are as relaxed as possible.

By tensing your muscles first, you will find that you are able to relax your muscles more than would be the case if you tried to relax your muscles directly.

Experiment with PMR by forming a fist, and clenching your hand as tight as you can for a few seconds. Relax your hand to its previous tension, and then consciously relax it again so that it is as loose as possible. You should feel deep relaxation in your hand muscles.

The Relaxation Response
‘The Relaxation Response’ is the name of a book published by Dr Herbert Benson of Harvard University in 1968. In a series of experiments into various popular meditation techniques, Dr. Benson established that these techniques had a very real effect on reducing stress and controlling the fight-or-flight response. Direct effects included deep relaxation, slowed heartbeat and breathing, reduced oxygen consumption and increased skin resistance.

This is something that you can do for yourself by following these steps:

* Sit quietly and comfortably.
* Close your eyes.
* Start by relaxing the muscles of your feet and work up your body relaxing muscles.
* Focus your attention on your breathing.
* Breathe in deeply and then let your breath out. Count your breaths, and say the number of the breath as you let it out (this gives you something to do with your mind, helping you to avoid distraction).

Do this for ten or twenty minutes.

An even more potent alternative approach is to follow these steps, but to use relaxation imagery instead of counting breaths in step 5. Again, you can prove to yourself that this works using the biofeedback equipment.

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Managing Stress With Regular Exercise

2007-06-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by unfitness, it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.

Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:

It improves blood flow to your brain,
bringing additional sugars and oxygen
that may be needed when you are thinking
intensely.
When you think hard, the neurons of
your brain function more intensely. As
they do this, they can build up toxic
waste products that can cause foggy thinking
(you may have experienced the feeling
that your brain has "turned to cotton
wool"). By exercising, you speed
the flow of blood through your brain,
moving these waste products faster.
Exercise can cause release of chemicals
called endorphins into your blood stream.
These give you a feeling of happiness
and positively affect your overall sense
of well-being.

There is also good evidence that physically fit people have less extreme physiological responses when under pressure than those who are not. This means that fit people are more able to handle the long- term effects of stress, without suffering ill health or burnout.

There are many wrong approaches to exercise. Some traditionally recommended forms of exercise actually damage your body over the medium- or long-term. Your doctor is a good starting point for recommending good forms of exercise.

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Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

2007-06-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

The issue of absolute certainty about a certain knowledge or fact is traced back to traditional Aristotelian logic. His works are the oldest known official studies of knowledge that were ever found that still share a lot in common with current theory of logic. Basically, there are two basic ways a person can decide if a certain assumption is a fact or it has to remain an assumption – through deductive and inductive reasoning. Speaking about the subject of certainty in knowledge, we will mention deductive reasoning. Then we will move our focus to present-day inductive reasoning that is established on 20th century association.

Aristotle’s subject of logic progresses essentially around deduction. The primary principle of deduction is that assurance about a given fact can be guaranteed if it is resulting from the necessity. The essential circumstances are called the premise, whereas the result is the conclusion. Even though Aristotle accepted induction as the kind of knowledge his works were fundamentally centered on deduction. To make sure that deduction works, the consequences of the necessity have to be essentially diverse from what has been supposed. By itself, two identical conclusions can not exist. Grounds that superfluous or inconsistent are barred from the reasoning. For a time, there was a belief that our sensory data – color, sounds and the like –are possible to be acquainted with, while the rest of our acquaintance can be inferred to with use of reasoning. It has been pointed out that differentiations between physical and mental worlds are illogical and can be condensed to simple forms. There was a concept that an fundamental usual language statements’ “logical form” could be searched in the analysis and that way uncertainty in language could be prevented. For example, by examining all various meanings of a word and giving them reasonable notations, a person can also learn other ontologically major differences being aware of the accurate logical form of a specified sentence. The method of analysis contains valuation of problematic presuppositions and evidence by using first order logic and decrease of sentence structure to the primary “logical form”.
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The Effects Of Anger And Stress On Your Health

2007-06-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Recent studies on emotional state and health suggest keeping a positive emotional balance is as important as a healthy diet. Experts at the University of California discovered the anger you keep inside, along with other emotional unbalances trigger complex biochemical reactions in the body that leave us more susceptible to sickness and disease. Holding in anger over time can cause depression and people who hold in a lot of anger are more at risk for illnesses, especially immunological disease (auto immune diseases), including rheumatoid arthritis.

A test was performed on subjects at UCLA with anger and response. Those subjects who kept their anger inside experienced a decrease in immune system activity, but those who expressed their anger showed no chemical change in their bodies. Pent up anger is not the only kind of anger that is dangerous to your health, according to Duke University, students who had low hostility scores had one quarter less chances of having coronary heart disease then those who scored higher in hostility levels.

Those who response violently to stressful situations experienced biochemical changes that are just as destructive to the body and these violent reactions may elevate serotonin levels in the body. Studies with mice and serotonin levels showed that mice with higher levels of serotonin were more aggressive than those with lower levels; more studies need to be done to determine if humans respond in the same way but theoretically speaking serotonin can increase aggressiveness in humans as well. One study on students at Harvard Medical School that was going on for forty five years suggested that health and happiness in older age was directly related to how well those individuals got along with their parents while they were younger. Those students who had a stronger family relationship were happier forty five years later when the University followed up on how they were doing later in life.

Researchers suggest that individuals should reduce their stress levels, keep family relationships going strong and spend more time socializing with friends. Pent up anger can cause a lot of stress on a person and stress can cause health issues as well. Stress can cause all sorts of problems starting with migraines, headaches, digestive problems and memory loss. Depression from pent up anger will cause stress, which in turn can disrupt sleep pattern s and eating habits further stressing the body. To combat stress and anger, exercise on a regular basis. Also, taking brief five minute breaks after someone made you angry to reflect and relax before continuing the day at work or home. Writing down your thoughts on paper can help release some of that pent up anger some researchers say.

If you work in a high stress job, taking supplements like a b complex can help restore the adrenal glands. Your adrenal glands produce the fight of flight hormones, continuous anger and stress will tax the adrenal glands and a b-complex vitamin can help restore those over worked adrenals naturally. Supplementing with herbs such as St. john’s wort and kava kava can help reduce stress and anxiety. Excess stress and anger can lead to anxiety as well. Always consult your doctor if you have questions about herbal supplements and medication. Stop into your local health food store or shop online for supplements like St john’s wort, b-complex vitamins, or other stress supporting supplements.
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8 Things You Need To Know Before Manifesting

2007-06-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

Manifesting is a wonderful gift to help us achieve our ultimate potential. History has shown us the men & women who achieved more than we thought possible. They were not specially favored; the only difference is that they know how to use the power of their minds. This knowledge had been known for centuries & had been used to attract success & abundance.

1. Reflection. Start with a reflection of what you wish to manifest. Ask yourself if this is what you really want. Some people tend to wish haphazardly. While I do not doubt that you will eventually get what you wish and the universe will not complain with all the orders you send, the fulfillment of your wish may cause some negative effects in your life. It may cause you grief, unhappiness & frustration. So before writing down your order, reflect on it first. If you are just starting out, make some simple wishes.

2. The illusion of control. Another thing to keep in mind before you start manifesting is avoid making a wish where you wish to take control of someone else’s life. Each one of us has been granted a free will, to attempt to control another person is a clear violation of that person’s right. Imagine how it would feel if you were manipulated by another person.

More so, if you maintain a thought of becoming in control you will end up becoming controlled yourself. The more you keep obsessing a thing or a person, the more you will be controlled such that all your decisions, choices and actions are made with much consideration of that thing. Even if you know that you will not benefit from that action, you will still do it if you think it is a way of controlling the situation.

3. All creations start with a thought. It originates in the mind. Nothing can be made without it being visualized in the mind first. Once you start to think a thought and put a very powerful emotion with it, it is already a combination that will start a chain reaction towards its fulfillment. No this is not to say that it will just assemble itself into something tangible, its creation will come about by a set of orchestrated designs through opportunities. So open your self to opportunities, do not hold on to a design on how it should be done.

5. Openness. Whatever you desire will be manifested in ways which you may not expect or planned. Your job is just to make known what you want to manifest, how it is going to be manifested is the job of the universe, God or whatever power you conceive the “source” to be. You can only think of one, two or three ways but the “source” can find or design so much more. So be open and do not limit yourself to what is present in your reality.

4. The subconscious. Our mind has 3 levels of consciousness. The one we are in when we are awake is the conscious mind. The conscious mind is filled with active thoughts passing every second. If you have noticed, there is never a moment that your mind is not thinking. We think all the time and the quality of these thoughts has a profound effect on our entire life. Most people’s thoughts is on problems & lack, no wonder most people at poor, over stressed & over worked.

The 2nd level is the subconscious mind. The subconscious is the gateway to the realization of your creation. Whatever thought it is fed will become the reality of that person. The subconscious operates when the mind is relaxed such as during meditation or hypnosis. It is the principle being used in self-improvement or to treat smoking through hypnosis. In hypnosis, the subject is put into a trance. In this state, the conscious mind is at rest making the subject open to suggestions.

The subconscious will accept anything that it is being fed. Even during waking hours, the constant repetition of a thought will cause it be embedded or retained by the subconscious mind. Constantly thinking of lack coupled with constant complains & verbalization of lack will lead the subconscious to a belief that there is indeed lack. You will create what you always think about. Lack = lack. Lack cannot be equal to abundance.

You do not need to be in a relaxed mind in order to program yourself for lack. You know why? Because most of us made a habit of thinking only this negative thought. In addition to that, we affirm it daily with our complaints and power it with emotions of frustrations. On the other hand, a positive thought is just so hard to believe in the midst of our conceived reality. If we so believe in the present reality, it is hard to think abundance without saying “Yeah right!”

6. Giving. In order to receive you, must give. The mechanism that triggers the act of receiving your desires is the act of giving. If you give more, you are creating a consciousness of “having more” because you are giving. The “having more” consciousness will manifest in your reality as abundance.

7. Let Go. I have read that manifesting is like planting a seed. If you keep on digging it to check on its development, it will never grow. Seeds need to be planted on a good soil, watered frequently, given sunlight & be allowed to grow. Same with a wish, once you have already sent it out let it manifest on its own. Give it the time to grow and become what it is suppose to be.

8. Give thanks. Make a habit of giving thanks for whatever you receive, however small. A certain author of a book mentioned that whenever she had to write a check to pay her bills she would put a message of thanks because she can pay her bills. Be grateful for the things you receive & be grateful for the things you have to give. Most of all, be grateful for the things you can conceive with your mind even if you cannot conceive it with your senses yet.
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Be a Person of Integrity

2007-06-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Integrity is the foundation of character, and character development is one of the most important activities you can engage in. Working on your character means disciplining yourself to do more and more of those things that a thoroughly honest person would do, under all circumstances.

Integrity is a value, like persistence, courage, and industriousness. Even more than that, it is the value that guarantees all the other values. You are a good person to the degree to which you live your life consistently with the highest values that you espouse. Integrity is the quality that locks in your values and causes you to live consistently with them.

To be impeccably honest with others, you must first be impeccably honest with yourself. You must be true to yourself. You must be true to the very best that is in you, to the very best that you know. Only a person who is living consistently with his highest values and virtues is really living a life of integrity, and when you commit to living this kind of life, you will find yourself continually raising your own standards, continually refining your definition of integrity and honesty.

You can tell how high your level of integrity is by simply looking at the things you do in your day-to-day life. You can look at your reactions and responses to the inevitable ups and downs of life. You can observe the behaviors you typically engage in, and you will then know the person you are.

The external manifestation of high integrity is high-quality work. A person who is totally honest with himself will be someone who does, or strives to do, excellent work on every occasion. The totally honest person recognizes, sometimes unconsciously, that everything he does is a statement about who he really is as a person.

When you start a little earlier, work a little harder, stay a little later, and concentrate on every detail, you are practicing integrity in your work. And whether you know it or not, your true level of integrity is apparent and obvious to everyone around you.

Perhaps the most important rule you will ever learn is that your life only becomes better when you become better.

All of life is lived from the inside out. At the very core of your personality lie your values about yourself and life in general. Your values determine the kind of person you really are, what you believe has defined your character and your personality. It is what you stand for, and what you won’t stand for, that tells you and the world the kind of person you have become.

Ask yourself this question: what are your five most important values in life? Your answer will reveal an enormous amount about you. What would you pay for, sacrifice for, suffer for, and even die for? What would you stand up for or refuse to lie down for? What are the values that you hold most dear? Think these questions through carefully and, when you get a chance, write down your answers. Here’s another way of asking that question: what men and women, living or dead, do you most admire? Once you pick three or four men or women, the next question is, why do you admire them? What values, qualities, or virtues do they have that you respect and look up to? Can you articulate those qualities? What is a quality possessed by human beings in general that you most respect? This is the starting point for determining your values. The answers to these questions form the foundation of your character and your personality.

Once you have determined your five major values, you should now organize them in order of importance. What is your first, most important value? What is your second value? What is your third value? And so on. Ranking your values is one of the very best and fastest ways to define your character.

Remember, a higher-order value will always take precedence over a lower-order value. Whenever you are forced to choose between acting on one value or another, you always choose the value that is the highest on your own personal hierarchy.

Who you are, in your heart, is evidenced by what you do on a day-to-day basis, especially when you are pushed into a position where you have to make a choice between two values or alternatives. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Guard your integrity as a sacred thing.” In study after study the quality of integrity, or a person’s adherence to values, ranks as the number one quality sought in every field. When it comes to determining with whom they will do business, customers rank the honesty of a salesperson as the most important single quality. Even if they feel that a salesperson’s product, quality, and price is superior, customers will not buy from that salesperson if they feel that he or she is lacking in honesty and character.

Likewise, integrity is the number one quality of leadership. Integrity in leadership is expressed in terms of constancy and consistency. It is manifested in an absolute devotion to keeping one’s word. The glue that holds all relationships together—including the relationship between the leader and the led—is trust, and trust is based on integrity.

Integrity is so important that functioning in our society would be impossible without it. We could not make even a simple purchase without a high level of confidence that the price was honest and that the change was correct. The most successful individuals and companies in America are those with reputations of high integrity among everyone they deal with. This level of integrity builds the confidence that others have in them and enables them to do more business than their competitors, whose ethics may be a little shaky. Earl Nightingale once wrote, “If honesty did not exist, it would have to be invented, as it is the surest way of getting rich.” A study at Harvard University concluded that the most valuable asset that a company has is how it is known to its customers: its reputation.

By the same token, your greatest personal asset is the way that you are known to your customers. It is your personal reputation for keeping your word and fulfilling your commitments. Your integrity precedes you and affects all of your interactions with other people. There are several things you can do to move you more rapidly toward becoming the kind of person that you know you are capable of becoming. The first, as I mentioned, is to decide upon your five most important values in life. Organize them in order of priority. Then, write a brief paragraph defining what each of those values means to you. A value combined with a definition becomes an organizing principle, a statement that you can use to help you make better decisions. It is a measure and standard which enables you to know how closely you are adhering to your innermost beliefs and convictions.

The second step to developing integrity and character in yourself is to study men and women of great character. Study the lives and stories of people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony, and Margaret Thatcher. Study the people whose strength of character enabled them to change their world. As you read, think about how they would behave if they were facing the difficulties that you face.

Napoleon Hill, in his book The Master Key to Riches, tells about how he created an imaginary board of personal advisors made up of great figures of history. He chose people like Napoleon, Lincoln, Jesus, and Alexander the Great. Whenever he had to make a decision, he would relax deeply and then imagine that the members of his advisory council were sitting at a large table in front of him. He would then ask them what he should do to deal effectively with a particular situation. In time, they would begin to give him answers, observations, and insights that helped him to see more clearly and act more effectively.

You can do the same thing. Select someone that you very much admire for his qualities of courage, tenacity, honesty, or wisdom. Ask yourself “What would Jesus do in my situation?” or “What would Lincoln do if he were here at this time?” You will find yourself with guidance that enables you to be the very best person that you can possibly be.

The third and most important step in building your integrity has to do with formulating your approach based on the psychology of human behavior. We know that if you feel a particular way, you will act in a manner consistent with that feeling. For example, if you feel happy, you will act happily. If you feel angry, you will act angrily. If you feel courageous, you will act courageously.

But we also know that you don’t always start off feeling the way you want to. However, because of the Law of Reversibility, if you act as if you had a particular feeling, the action will generate the feeling consistent with it. You can, in effect, act your way into feeling. You can “fake it until you make it.”

You can become a superior human being by consciously acting exactly as the kind of person that you would most like to become. If you behave like an individual of integrity, courage, resolution, persistence, and character, you will soon create within yourself the mental structure and habits of such a person. Your actions will become your reality. You will create a personality that is consistent with your highest aspirations.

The more you walk, talk, and behave consistently with your highest values, the more you will like yourself and the better you will feel about yourself. Your self-image will improve, and your level of self-acceptance will go up. You will feel stronger, bolder, and more capable of facing any challenge.

There are three primary areas of your life where acting with integrity is crucial. These are the three areas of greatest temptation for forsaking your integrity as well as the areas of greatest opportunity for building your integrity. When you listen to your inner voice and do what you know to be the right thing in each of these areas, you will have a sense of peace and satisfaction that will lead you on to success and high achievement.

The first area of integrity has to do with your relationships with your family and your friends, the people close to you. Being true to yourself means living in truth with each person in your life. It means refusing to say or do something that you don’t believe is right. Living in truth with other people means that you refuse to stay in any situation where you are unhappy with the behavior of another person. You refuse to tolerate it. You refuse to compromise. Psychologists have determined that most stress and negativity come from attempting to live in a way that is not congruent with your highest values. It is when your life is out of alignment, when you are doing and saying one thing on the outside but really feeling and believing something different on the inside, that you feel most unhappy. When you decide to become an individual of character and integrity, your first action will be to neutralize or remove all difficult relationships from your life.

This doesn’t mean that you have to go and hit somebody over the head with a stick. It simply means that you honestly confront another person and tell him that you are not happy. Tell him that you would like to reorganize this relationship so that you feel more content and satisfied. If the other person is not willing to make adjustments so that you can be happy, it should be clear to you that you don’t want to be in this relationship much longer anyway. The second area of integrity has to do with your attitude and behavior toward money. Casualness toward money brings casualties in your financial life. You must be fastidious about your treatment of money, especially other people’s money. You must guard your credit rating the same way you would guard your honor. You must pay your bills punctually, or even early. You must keep your promises with regard to your financial commitments.

The third area of integrity has to do with your commitments to others, especially in your business, your work, and your sales activities. Always keep your word. Be a man or a woman of honor. If you say that you will do something, do it. If you make a promise, keep it. If you make a commitment, fulfill it. Be known as the kind of person that can be trusted absolutely, no matter what the circumstances.

Your integrity is manifested in your willingness to adhere to the values you hold most dear. It’s easy to make promises and hard to keep them, but if you do, every single act of integrity will make your character a little stronger. And as you improve the quality and strength of your character, every other part of your life will improve as well.

You can control Yourself!, isn't it?

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Time Management for Single Moms – How to Save Hours in a Day

2007-06-16T15:36:00.001-07:00

Time management can daunting for single moms. As breadwinners of the next generation, single moms often engage in stressful multi-tasking, but they still lack time to do everything that needs to be done. If you think it's tough being a mom, try being a working mom. If you think it's tough being a working mom, try being a single mom.
There are methods that can be applied to time management, especially for single moms. If you want to know the secrets of time management suited for single moms, read the following tips:

Tip # 1: Plan and Organize.

Your days should be mapped out to maximize time. At the start of every phase in your life, a new job, a new year, after your birthday, etc., plan how your days go. Scheduling is imperative, if you seek to do the most that you can with every hour that you're given. Stick to your schedules, giving allowances only for priorities and your children.

Tip # 2: Prioritize.

If, for example, something comes up, or too much is on your schedule for the day, bump off a few tasks. Prioritize the most important tasks that you really have to do today, and spread out the rest to do for the next few days.

Just list down everything you need to do, and then rank them up by urgency. Limit yourself to ten per day, and tick off these tasks as you finish them. If something comes up that you also must attend to, prioritize only the most urgent and most important tasks to fill your day with. Remember, you are no Superwoman. Take care of your sanity too.

Tip # 3: Delegate.

When you know that you can't do everything on your schedule, you need to ask for help and give some of your tasks to others. Remember that you're only human. You need to have time for yourself, too. You also shouldn't let yourself get run down by multi-tasking. If you can't mind the kids because you have to work, get daycare. You could also look for a babysitter.

But if you worry about your kids' security, it would be best if your office has daycare facilities. At least your kids will be near you and you can work with less worry, knowing they are safe and nearby.

Living the life of a single mom can become fun and enjoyable, if you apply these tips. Time management for single moms is easy; you just have to start by admitting that you can only do so much in a day.

Time management is a skill that single moms must learn, and learn well. With the dual role you have (and who knows what other things you’ll be able to do), being able to plan, prioritize, and delegate your tasks are essential to maintain your sanity.

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Save Your Child Before It Is Too Late

2007-06-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Most of us carry childhood traumas made acute with the rise in child psychology. This has resulted in us trying to become the friends of our children, but not just that. We try to do everything for them under the excuse that our parents did not do these things for us. But is this the right way to bring up our children. What is the Butterfly System? Fact: Most know that the butterfly is a transformation of a caterpillar which itself comes from an egg. But, did you know that for the caterpillar to become a butterfly it has to form a cocoon. When it turns into a butterfly, it has to struggle to open the cocoon, and it takes them hours to manage to break that open. Once they do, they emerge, spread their wings and fly off.

Hypothesis: If you try and cut open the cocoon to help the butterfly emerge, you will destroy it. It will be too weak to fly. So, even if you put it in front of you and even if its in your power to cut the cocoon open, you won't because you are thinking about the best interests of the butterfly. Lesson: Just like you would leave the butterfly trapped inside the cocoon, you have to learn how to let your children fight through life by themselves. Yes, at first, they will not succeed, and may even fail badly. You will want to help them. You might even know how to help them. But, please, do not! The Toughest Part: The lesson is easily understood, but it is very difficult to start acting like that. We, as parents, have to realize that our duty is not to have fun with them or to ensure that they succeed, but to guide them so that they learn how to succeed. Lessons for the Future: We have to start goading our kids to success. Yes, we all love it when our kids do well, but its more important that they learn how to succeed even if that means that they fail again and again. Sometimes, the kids do well. That is great, but again, we have to watch how they do it. If they cheat, its our duty to guide them. This might seem trivial, but how many times have you helped your child do his or her homework or class project just so that they will get a good grade. Is that what parenting is all about? Good grades and tons of awards in the closet? No! Remember that if your children do not learn how to succeed when they are young, they will not pick it up as they grow older. What to Remember: Answer the following for me: Do you want your child to do well now? Or do you want your child to succeed when he grows up? Remember that you have to choose one. If you are lucky you might get both, but what I am saying is that you have to focus your parenting on one goal only. Jack Reider has two children, and he raises them according to the butterfly principle. One has gone on to become the CEO of an online casino and the other is on his way to banking glory.

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Teenage Depression

2007-06-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Teenage Depression Signs

It’s very important to be able to spot behavioral warning signs. Note that some mood changes are more extreme than most, and that one shouldn’t immediately jump to conclusions when trying to deal with a teenager’s emotions. Being observant and having the ability to differentiate between mood swings and negatively, destructive behavior is a key element in dealing with teenage depression.

What are the symptoms that indicate that a teenager is experiencing depression? A few telltale signs of this condition include:

• long periods of irritability
• feelings of hopelessness
• social isolation
• excessive crying and feelings of sadness
• physical and/or verbal aggression
• loss of pleasure in one’s normal routine and activities
• constant feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy
• deteriorating performance in school
• suicidal thoughts

Depressed teenagers may also exhibit destructive behavior and use activities such as alcohol and drug abuse, as well as self-injury, as an outlet for their feelings.

Teenage Depression Causes

As mentioned earlier, peer pressure and parental expectations play a large part in a teenager’s feelings of self-worth and behavior. Once he feels that he is unable to keep up with all the expectations and live up to other people’s standards, this will cause him to doubt himself.

Young people also place a high premium on being accepted. When a teenager fails to fit in, this contributes to stronger feeling of inadequacy. After all, for many young people, being alone, different, and unpopular is a terrible thing.

Family problems can also give rise to teenage depression. Young people may harbor feelings of guilt and start questioning themselves, wondering if they somehow contributed to the problems, especially if they’re also the constant targets for criticism. They will start thinking that their presence at home is unnecessary and that everyone’s life will be better if they disappeared.

Performance in school is another trigger for teenage depression. With academics becoming more difficult at this age, teenagers may not be able to keep up with schoolwork as well as they used to, and would therefore experience failures from time to time.

Frustration with schoolwork, fear of disappointing parents, and dismay at one’s self can all lead to feelings of worthlessness. In Japan, for example, there was a time when suicide among students was on the rise, especially among those who performed poorly in school.

Teenage Depression Treatments

Clearly, teenage depression is not a joke and certainly not just the dramatic whimpering of young people. It’s a major problem that deserves the fullest attention of one’s friends and family.

That’s why it’s very important to be very supportive and attentive. Rather than being impatient with the young person’s behavior, parents in particular should pay careful attention and take the time to really understand what their children are going through. It would be a great help if they are able to convey to their child that he is loved and that he is a promising individual with lots of potential. Young people need encouragement and support to get through this difficult time in their lives.

Family and friends of a depressed teenager can also get help from counseling services and organizations that specifically deal with teenage depression. Some may also choose to enlist the help of professionals.

Coping with the issue of teenage depression is a daunting task for many, but the results are worthwhile once the teenager is able to overcome it. It will take a lot of time and effort for everyone involved and the important thing to do is to work hard and do everything possible to ensure that your child will find satisfaction and fulfillment in his teenage years.

Teenage depression hits 5% of children and adolescents, as reported by experts. Teenage depression is serious and needs to be addressed when symptoms start to show.

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Payback Time - Surviving Adolescence

2007-06-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Parents from children or teens mat have said, "you'll get yours!" Or used such terms as "payback time." That cuddly little baby came along and you made it through the "terrible two's" and early parts of childhood. You went through the potty training. You survived the tantrums while shopping when the little ones wanted everything they saw and would start screaming when they didn't get it. You tried shouting at your child and found that this works as well as driving your car with its horn. Soon things are going much smoother and you are finding it easier to love your child. You are now thinking that "payback time" was not so bad. It looks as if you have trained some very well mannered children that know you are the boss and they better listen up or else. Once again, I hate to remind you folks but you also have the joy of puberty and adolescence to look forward to. Now, I realize you were a perfect child and never gave your parents a bit of trouble. You never back-talked, fibbed, snuck out of the house or did anything else that your parents should be upset about. I understand just where you are coming from, for I was a perfect child too. Now my brother and sisters, I know they gave our parents plenty of trouble but me, I was just the one that got grounded or spanked when they did something wrong. Now with your child it will be different than it was with you.

As your cute little darling is going through the adolescent years you are going to have some very trying times. Adolescence is the age at which children stop asking questions because they know all of the answers. This is the time they are going to do all of those things that we don't want to admit that we did. You will tell them not to snack before supper and a little while later you catch them with a cookie and soda pop in their hand. "But mom, I caught the dog with the soda and cookie and I was just putting them away." You catch them sneaking into the house at midnight when you had sent them off to bed at 9PM. "But dad, I heard a noise outside and was just checking on the cat." You ask, "Did you do your homework this afternoon?" "Oh yes," they reply, but the next day you get a call from the school, only to find out that no homework has been turned in for the last two weeks. Over time, you try all types of punishment from taking privileges away, grounding and spanking (yes, the good old spanking does still go on in some homes, but nothing seems to work. Suddenly you are starting to think that my parents were right and I am getting mine.

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The adolescent continues to defy you and you keep fighting back. Remember this is adolescence, an age when the children are trying to bring up their parents. Don't fret, you are lucky, for in 8 to 10 years they should be through this stage, and time does seem to go by fast when you are having fun.

While puberty and the teen years are often spotted with periods of hell for the parents, it is also a magnificent time. A time when what was once no more than just a seed (egg) and a bit of fertilizer (sperm) has started to develop into a beautiful flower. I know you will have days when you think of them more as a vegetable or weed than a flower but this is normal, so don't fret, just survive.

If we can think back as far as our own puberty and adolescent years, we will remember that there were periods of hell for us, too. Our bodies were making some horrific changes that we probably did not completely understand. In all honesty, if we were placed under hypnosis, we would probably find out that we, too, were rebellious.

It isn't easy to change from a child to an adult, something that we didn't choose. The chemicals in our bodies called hormones made this choice. As we are going through these changes we are doing a lot of questioning, we start to get a bit of hair under our arms and on our crotch and we think that we are now grown up and should be treated as an adult. We want to do things our way and not be told how we should to it. The word "no" is not in our vocabulary, at least when our parents or other adults tell us that we shouldn't do something.

You will have times when your teenager has episodes of anger and negativity in which they slam doors and scream tirades. According to experts, most puberty-driven "snit fits" last and average of 15 minutes, it just seems like longer because they are doing it off and on for about 15 years. I think my parents were right and there is such a thing as "payback time!"

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Psychological Bullying Hits Just As Hard

2007-06-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

School bullying doesn’t have to leave physical bumps and bruises to contribute to a hostile and potentially dangerous school environment. Behavior that intentionally harms another individual, through the manipulation of social relationships (or ‘relational aggression’), is just as significant a concern for adolescent psychosocial development and mental health, according to Dr. Sara Goldstein from Montclair State University and her colleagues from the University of Michigan.

Their study shows that adolescents exposed to high levels of relational aggression perceive their school to be less safe, and are less pleased with the general social atmosphere of the school. Adolescent boys who are exposed to relational aggression are also more likely to carry a weapon to school. This is not the case for girls.

A total of 1,335 African American and European American adolescents, aged 11 – 19 years, from a public school district in Detroit, Michigan, took part in an Internet survey which looked at how relational aggression at school is associated with adolescents’ perceptions of, and participation in, a hostile school environment.

Respondents were asked about their direct experience of being victims of both relational aggression (e.g. How often in the last month have students told stories about you that were untrue? How often in the previous month did students not include you in joining in what they were doing?), and overt aggression. Respondents were also asked about their experience of witnessing both relational and overt aggression.

Most of the research to date looking at aggression in schools has focused on physically and verbally harmful behaviors, such as hitting, pushing, and name calling. This study looks at how other forms of aggression that target victims’ relationships and peer standing can lead to school-related problems. Contrary to other work in this field, it also looks at the effect of witnessing relational aggression, rather than simply focusing on victims. There is already strong evidence to link relational aggression with social anxiety, loneliness and depression, peer difficulties and substance use.

The authors conclude that the impact of school aggression is such that it calls for “creative means to (a) detect relational aggression, and (b) address it in a manner that respects adolescents’ need for autonomy over their peer relationships but also discourages relationally aggressive behavior.”

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Springer.

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Parents And Siblings See Imbalances In Parents' Attention Differently

2007-06-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Laurie Kramer, a U of I professor of applied family studies said, "You'd think it would be clear when a child is receiving more positive or negative attention, and why that might be happening, but families don't seem to talk much about these differences unless someone complains,".

The study, conducted with Amanda K. Kowal and Jennifer L. Krull of the University of Missouri, included 74 two-parent, middle-class families with one child between the ages of 11 and 13 and a teen sibling who was two to four years older. Parents and siblings were interviewed individually about family interaction.

Even when children reported that they and their siblings were treated differently, they often didn't agree about exactly how or why they were being treated differently, Kramer said. One thing, however, was clear: siblings got along better if they had a shared understanding of why parents treated them differently and believed the treatment was fair.

"That means it's important for families to talk about these issues, and for mothers and fathers to really listen to what their kids are telling them about how their actions are affecting them," said Kramer.

An earlier study by the researchers showed that siblings understand when differences in treatment occur if there's a good reason for it. "For example, if a child is having trouble in school, parents may spend extra time with that child helping with homework and encouraging him. A brother or sister can usually understand that even if it means that they get less parental attention," Kramer said.

Parents can often squelch feelings of disadvantaged treatment by simply explaining the motivation behind their actions, she said. "Say, for example, 'I bought Joe a car when he was 17 because he was working after school and needed transportation. I didn't get one for you at this point because you're working downtown and don't even have a place to park a car."

"If that goes unsaid, the child who doesn't get a car at 17 may make assumptions that just aren't valid. Many families have limited financial resources or other good reasons for making such decisions. It's usually not 'Mom likes you best,'" Kramer said.

Kramer said that differential treatment performed by mothers may have a greater impact on teens' sibling relationships than fathers' differential treatment. "Children tend to closely monitor the ways in which mothers treat them and their siblings differently, and when they feel they have been unfairly treated, they may react with greater dissatisfaction than when fathers treat kids differently," she said.

The study appeared in a recent issue of Social Development. Funding was provided by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Recent Dating Violence and Sexual Assault Among Urban Teen

2007-06-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

"Suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents," according to background information in the article. "In 2003, 6.5 per 100,000 U.S. teenagers aged 14 to 19 years committed suicide." In 2005, more than 8 percent of high school students reported one or more suicide attempts in the previous year. Childhood sexual assault has been linked with depression, alcohol use and violence, making it a likely risk factor for a suicide attempt. "Dating violence has also been shown to be associated with depressive symptoms and multiple health-compromising behaviors," the authors write.

Elyse Olshen, M.D., M.P.H., of Columbia University Medical Center, New York, and colleagues analyzed self-administered, anonymous questionnaires completed by 8,080 students (age 14 and older) from 87 New York City public high schools in 2005. The surveys measured different risk behaviors such as use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, unintentional injury and violence, sexual behaviors, dietary behaviors and physical activity. Students were also asked how many times they had attempted suicide, if they had experienced dating violence and if they had been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months.

Females made up 51 percent of the students and those who responded were primarily not white (40.1 percent Hispanic, 36 percent black, 16 percent Asian/other and 7.9 percent white). "Persistent sadness (feeling sad or hopeless daily for two weeks in a row during the past year) occurred in 40.2 percent of female students and 24.2 percent of male students; also, 19.9 percent of females and 10.3 percent of males reported suicidal ideation [suicidal thoughts or behaviors] or seriously considering attempting suicide in the past year."

A lifetime history of sexual assault was reported by 9.6 percent of the females and 5.4 percent of the males in the study. In the past year, 10.6 percent of the girls and 9.5 percent of the boys reported that they had experienced dating violence and 11.7 percent of adolescent girls and 7.2 percent of adolescent boys reported that they had attempted suicide one or more times. For girls, violence in the past year was associated with suicide attempts, while lifetime history of sexual assault was not.

Other significant factors influencing suicide attempts among females included sexual orientation, persistent sadness, disordered eating, feeling unsafe at school, being in a physical fight and binge drinking. For male students, lifetime history of sexual assault was associated with suicide attempts, while dating violence in the past year was not. Other factors influencing suicide attempts among boys included sexual orientation, persistent sadness, disordered eating, drug use and gun possession.

"While our study focused on public high school students in a single urban area, our results are likely generalizable to urban youth across the United States," the authors conclude. "Questions about violence, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicidality are all extremely important and should be included as part of a comprehensive health assessment of adolescents. Furthermore, clinicians, educators and other professionals working with youth should be trained to routinely screen for violence victimization and should have a low threshold for referring these at-risk teenagers for mental health services."

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by JAMA and Archives Journals.
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Divorce Puts Children at Higher Risk of Ritalin

2007-06-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Dr. Lisa Strohschein found that there is a "significantly higher" risk of Ritalin use--nearly twice as high--for children whose parents divorce compared to children whose parents remain together. It is the first study to follow children over time and evaluate whether experiencing parental divorce increases the risk for subsequent Ritalin use, a drug commonly prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Previous studies have only compared the proportion of children taking Ritalin in two- biological parent homes versus single parent households. While such studies showed that living in a single parent household was a risk factor for Ritalin use, Strohschein suggests that a snapshot comparison across different family types provides an incomplete picture. There are a number of other ways--including being born to a never-married mother--that a child can come to live in a single-parent household.

"So the question was, 'is it possible that divorce acts a stressful life event that creates adjustment problems for children, which might increase acting out behaviour, leading to a prescription for Ritalin"'" said Strohschein.

She was drawn to look at Ritalin usage because prescriptions to children for Ritalin have skyrocketed over the past two decades, leading to concern over whether it is being appropriately prescribed.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) from 1994 to 2000, Strohschein restricted her sample to almost 5000 children who, at initial interview, lived in a two-biological parent household and were not Ritalin users. Between 1994 and 2000, 633 of these children (13.2 per cent) experienced the divorce of their parents. The percentage of children taking methylphenidate, or Ritalin, during that time was 3.3 per cent for children whose parents remained married and 6.1 per cent for children whose parents divorced during this time period. The findings complement previous research by showing that it is not just living in a single parent household, but parental divorce that is associated with greater risk.

One potential explanation for the higher use of Ritalin could be that divorce is stressful and some kids develop mental health problems and are then appropriately prescribed the drug, says Strohschein. "But a second possibility could be that ADHD has a genetic component so the association between parental divorce and Ritalin use in children exists because parents themselves have personality features that make it less likely their marriages will last," she said. "On the other hand there is also the very public perception that divorce is always bad for kids and so when children of divorce come to the attention of the health-care system--possibly because parents anticipate their child must be going through adjustment problems--doctors may be more likely to diagnose a problem and prescribe Ritalin.

"If this latter case is the real explanation, then there is the possibility that Ritalin is being prescribed inappropriately."

The message, says Strohschein, is to educate parents and doctors that not all kids develop mental health problems when their parents divorce. Instead, there is a need to look at the circumstances in the child's life before, during and after the divorce event to determine if the child is actually having problems coping. "In other words, it's too extreme to assume all children are adversely affected by divorce," she said. "We want to be very careful in ensuring that children who really need help receive treatment and avoid giving medication to kids who may not be well served by it."

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Common Treatment For Methamphetamine Overdose May Damage Brain Cells

2007-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

A common antipsychotic drug used in emergency rooms to treat methamphetamine overdose damages nerve cells in an area of the brain known to regulate movement, a new study shows.

The findings, derived from experiments with rats, indicate that only the combination of the medication, haloperidol, and methamphetamine causes the destructive effects, not either one alone. Senior author Bryan Yamamoto, PhD, and his team at Boston University School of Medicine suspect the damage results from the exaggerated stimulation of cells by the amino acid glutamate, which proves toxic to cells producing the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Their results are published in the May 30 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

"This work in laboratory animals raises immediate concerns that a standard treatment for methamphetamine overdose in humans might worsen drug abuse-related brain injuries," says William Carlezon, PhD, at Harvard's McLean Hospital, who was not affiliated with the study. "A crucial next step is to determine how atypical antipsychotic medications would affect methamphetamine toxicity in the same model."

The rats in the experiment were injected with either methamphetamine or a saline solution over a period of eight hours. When the rats were given haloperidol before and nearly halfway through the eight-hour period, Yamamoto and his colleagues noted more than a fivefold rise in base levels of glutamate in the substantia nigra, a part of the brain known to play a role in movement disorders such as Huntington's disease.

After examining the long-term effects of the combination, they found that glutamate concentrations in the substantia nigra were twice as high in methamphetamine-treated rats as in saline-treated ones two days after injections. Yamamoto and his colleagues were able to link this rise in glutamate to the death of GABA-containing cells in one part of the substantia nigra. This may predispose some people who have been treated for a methamphetamine overdose to seizures and the development of movement disorders, they say, although the study did not measure movement specifically.

In addition to future studies of other antipsychotic medications, says Yamamoto, "we hope to examine if the loss of cells results in abnormal involuntary movements resembling Tourette's syndrome and Huntington's disease."

The work was a supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and a gift from Hitachi America.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Society for Neuroscience.

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How to Lose Belly Fat Fast

2007-06-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Just imagine how good it feels to be the envy of everyone and have their eyes staring in amazement at the sight of your outstanding body figure. Studies have also shown that having less belly fat means lower blood pressure and improves performance in school or at work.

It’s time to stop dreaming and start applying these powerful tips to lose belly fat fast to improve your sense of well being and gain the respect of everyone.

1. Eat 5 to 6 times a day to lose belly fat fast.

Does that sound like a dream come true to food lovers out there? Well, not exactly. You see, you are not allowed to pig out and eat all you can for 5 to 6 times a day. That’s insane!

You should just eat smaller portions more often. Many believe that eating fewer times in a day would make them slimmer. Not a chance! When you eat only about 3 times a day, you will tend to binge when you finally get to eat. Binging is one of the worst things you can do if you want to lose belly fat fast.

Regular eating 5 to 6 times a day prevents you from overeating as a result of missed meals. It also boosts your metabolism due to the burning effect of the foods you eat.

Although you are eating 5 to 6 smaller meals a day, it is highly recommendable to eat the most during the start of the day and eat less as the day comes to an end.

2. Eat fat burning foods more often to lose belly fat fast.

Eat foods that contain lots of proteins, and those with less carbohydrates and saturated fats.

Here we go. The healthiest fat burning foods to lose belly fat fast include brown rice, oats, bran, whole grain/whole wheat foods, vegetables, natural fruits that are not canned or sweetened (like apples, oranges, and banana), skim milk, chicken breast and other lean meats, egg whites, and seafood.

Foods you should avoid to lose belly fat fast include the ones that are the most tempting to eat (how ironic can it be). These includes the usual pizzas, hamburgers, ice cream, french fries, all oily or deep-fried foods, bakery foods (including pies, cakes, white bread, pastries, and donuts), chocolates, fatty meats, foods that contain lots of sugar, potato chips and junk foods.

It is perfectly fine to indulge two times in a week because not eating “satisfying” foods for a long time may alarm your body to store body fat to prevent itself from going into starvation mode. So this is your ideal excuse to enjoy some great-tasting foods once in a while without the guilt. Hey, you don’t have to worry about it if you know the proper way on how to lose belly fat fast.
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Think Positive With Five Spiritual Steps

2007-06-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Where we get into trouble is giving up our freedom to make new choices based upon the present. Every day is new, no matter how you slice it. The sun comes up in spite of our mistakes or the despair we must face. But we are meant to continually move forward. Getting stuck in the past holds us behind, as prisoners within an incredible universe of opportunity. True empowerment stems from living now, not reacting to now from a mindset of the past or living with worry about what might happen tomorrow, next month, or next year. What can we do every day, no matter what has happened to in the past, to begin painting a positive life on a fresh, new canvas?

Classify the Past

The past is a collection of our emotions, experiences, and thought patterns as a result of living life. As adults, when we feel an emotion, it’s often based upon past experience. Life events trigger our emotional collection, and we interpret our current experiences through this lens. The problem is the value we take away from the past. When we allow only the good to shine through, we are able to live in the present. When we worry about the future, or agonize over the past, we are not fully engaged in life. The trick is to stay focused on your capabilities to address the present. View your past as a wonderful, robust course in life and stop agonizing over your mistakes or what someone said.

Examine Emotional Carryover

Changing a negative outlook takes a bit of discipline because you have to deeply resonate with the idea of what you want in the present moment, and accept it as already happening. When you attune to an idea, goal, or state of mind, you want to attract it now, not in the future. It takes a lot of self-reflection.

Do some simple mental housecleaning to discover if what you are feeling now is being embroidered upon by the past. If you’re discouraged, shift your thinking to the “today” setting and stop dredging up all sorts of feelings from the last twenty years – about your parents, jobs that no longer matter, or even people who let you down. Release those people and circumstances and be free. If you carry so much heaviness, you’ll never get out from under water. The past is over. Do yourself a favor and lighten your load – buoyancy guaranteed!

Release Fear and Self-Doubt

I think we are often fearful of believing we can have anything we want. When we look at the world, we see so much lack, unhappiness, war, starvation, pain, struggle, limitation. We begin to believe in it, and then we give those ideas power. With the number of people we see every day immersed in those conditions, it seems nearly impossible to trust that the normal human experience can be one of abundance, joy, peace, fulfillment, health, and ease. We’ve been told since childhood that “nothing’s perfect.” Nothing is worse than this type of programming, because we’re never going to realize our full human potential until we release our former ideas of what is possible. Life is a beautiful, perfect, glorious miracle. We choose our situations, our families, our painful experiences in order to evolve.

As we observe the full range of everything from despair to triumph, we see the huge opportunity that exists to make change. Despair challenges our perception of what can be. With fear and self-doubt in our toolkit, our capability to produce change is diminished. In the big picture, life is perfect because it is giving us room to grow. A little bad weather makes us sturdier. We need the rain, and even a cold winter solidifies us, making us more receptive to spring. But, sure as anything, we are going to grow despite our circumstances. There should be no fear of growth. We should be proud of surviving, overcoming, beating the odds, not living in fear of more to come, and especially proud of not dragging ourselves down, together with those around us, with emotions like fear and self-doubt that do nothing but keep us in the dark.

Be Inspired by Everyone

Life has many meanings but often we’ve got the definition backwards. As an exchange with others, life isn’t all about taking it in. It’s mostly about what you give out. This I know to be true, based upon my observations of many people who are critically ill yet have fantastic attitudes about sharing themselves with others.

If you visit a pediatric cancer ward, you will see children who are physically challenged beyond words but are still an inspiration to everyone around them. Despite their prognosis, their light shines bright with hope because they are living one day at a time. They seem illuminated and, thankfully, keep the rest of us going. Quite frankly, they are among the most inspirational people we have on earth, because they make everyone stop and think, “If life can be good despite those circumstances, then why am I holding myself back?” I believe part of their purpose is to give the rest of us a wake-up call to change our outlook. And if we find ourselves in the same boat, we too can keep everyone else going strong while we test our own abilities to stay in the present moment.

Consciously Create Your Day

Over the years, I have experimented with ways to release the past and move forward, living life in the present moment. I’ve noticed that when I start my day without any clear direction of how I choose to think, I don’t get the results I want. I used to spend years regurgitating old problems. Without establishing my expectations of the universe as to how I desired my day to unfold, I discovered I would replay those same issues over and over again. So I began to make a supreme effort to move disappointments, loss, and feelings of non-success farther from my mind each day.

Now, before I get up in the morning, I lie in bed for a few minutes and create my day by using a series of affirmative statements that are designed to do three things: they are positive, present-moment statements about what is, not what will be; they address some element of my life that needs improvement; and they get me to completely identify with the power within to manifest my circumstances. To manifest means to bring into our immediate experience, and make that which is created by the mind into a tangible or observable reality. The power is derived from spirit, or the Divine, which pervades every inch of the universe. To achieve this goal, I say my affirmative statements with love, grateful to be alive and to have my chosen learning opportunities. Then I focus on being open to positive change.

I also visualize life being unfolded to me in creative ways and ask the universe to show me its perfection in ways I would not expect. I make a point of saying this because I think we can better understand the co-creative relationship we have with spirit when we release overly specific intentions and let the power of our own thoughts return to us in ways that give us feedback on our desires. When mentally creating my day in the morning, I’ve had new people walk off the street and become my employees because I saw a need in our organization. Abundance has arrived in the form of revenue streams I did not expect. When I see myself as a co-creator of the universe each day, I’ve attracted great results.

Remember, when you release the past, consciously create your day, and have the mental discipline to think positive, you’ll see results. Through constant awareness (aligning with powerful and positive ideas) you’ll begin to see a difference. A big part of conscious awareness and living in the present moment is about being open to the feedback the environment is providing. Be open to positive change and deeply love life. Be perceptive and positive!
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Fill Your Body With Chemicals Of Pleasure, Without Drugs

2007-06-03T01:44:00.000-07:00

During the stress response, many chemical reactions occur in the body preparing it to what is known as the fight or flight response. During prehistoric days as cave dwellers, we had the opportunity to burn off our stress when an animal attacked, as it was a means of survival. We were able to run away or fight the threat immediately.

In today's society, we do not have to fight a bear or tiger, so we do not have much of an outlet readily at hand to burn off the stress or pent up negative emotions. Therefore, we carry it with us creating emotional and physical problems. Exercise can help by providing an outlet for negative emotions such as worry, irritability, depression, hostility, anger, frustration, and anxiety. You can dissipate these feelings by simply taking it out on the tennis court, by running, or punching a bag. Regular exercise provides the opportunity to manage the fight or flight response and helps the body to return to a homeostasis or balanced state more quickly.

Exercise can also improve self-esteem and self worth by realizing that you are benefit directly. You may feel more outgoing and social because of the increased energy and also a better physique creating more confidence and positive self image. Your self-esteem may be enhanced by taking on exercise challenges or goals, giving you a feeling of accomplishment and reward.

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Exercise:
Aerobic exercise is an activity that uses major muscle groups such as walking, running, swimming, and cycling. This type of exercise strengthens your cardiovascular system by increasing your heart and respiratory rate and brings in more oxygen into the body. To reap the full benefits of aerobic exercise, you must be at 60%-80% of your target heart rate for at least 20 minutes, between three and five times a week.

To calculate your target heart rate use the following formula:
Take 220 - (subtract) your age X (multiply 60%, or 70%, etc. intensity rate.) = Target heart rate (divide by six for a ten second pulse count. Take your pulse for ten seconds and gage where you are during the workout. Speed up the pace if you are below 60%.

Aerobic exercise is key to lose weight as it burns calories which are the energy consumed and adds fat to our bodies. Combined with a healthy diet it is a sure way to lose weight. One pound of body fat is equivalent to 3500 calories. To lose one pound, you must burn 3500 calories. It is easier to combine aerobics and create a small caloric deficit in your diet than to do one or the other solely.

Anaerobic exercise builds muscle strength and power. Isotonics and Isometrics are two kinds of anaerobic exercises.

Isotonics uses your muscles to contract against an object with movement such as weight lifting (also called strength or resistance training.) The benefits of isotonic exercises are stronger muscles, stronger bones, tone, prevent injuries, and condenses and shapes muscle for better esthetics.

Isometric exercise is contracting your muscles against resistance without movement. Such as lifting an object like a dumbbell and holding a position. You are isolating that muscle.

Use both types of anaerobic exercises to maximize your strength to build healthy, lean, and strong muscles.

Select exercises that you enjoy and can do for at least 20 minutes, three to five days a week. Exercise does not necessarily mean hitting the gym and making an ordeal out of it. It can simply be a walk around your neighborhood or dancing to some tunes. Try to think "activity" verses "exercise". When you are in an active mind-frame, you will purposely park a little farther, do stretches at the computer, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc.

Commit that you will begin to be more active and stick to your exercises or activities for 21 days. Why 21? Research has showed that it takes about 21 days to create a habit. Document how your feel after the 21 days. Your stress levels should be lowered, you should feel more energized, and see some physical changes such as a slimmer physique.

You may already know the benefits of exercise but are you doing it? So start by making a decision, begin slowly, then gradually work up to more and longer workout sessions. Know what you can handle and stick with it. Soon you will be addicted to the pleasure chemicals of a good workout. An addiction that can help you live longer and healthier.
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3 Tips To Take Control Of Your Stress

2007-06-03T01:27:00.000-07:00

Tips #1: Releasing Yesterday

Resolve right now to release every thought from yesterday and be only mindful of the now.... this thought only...this breath...this moment. Take in three very deep breaths and slowly release each one.

Use this special time and place to be calm. Free your mind and body of all worry, all regret, all disappointment, all anger and grief.

Now go to your inner quiet place. Go deep inside to a place where you feel that you are at peace and then just relax and breathe in deeply and enjoy the feeling of being at one and at peace within yourself.

At the same time feel each and every concern, each and every problem, and each and every unresolved moment, begin to dissolve. You can deal with them at a later time. For now, you are only to be in this very moment.

Tips #2: Clean Up Your Diet

The very best thing that you can do for yourself is to eat, drink and rest - to your health!

Stress is easily brought on by not eating and drinking properly. When you don't get the number of hours of sleep that you need each night, you are only setting yourself up for additional stress.

Limit the amount of salt, sugar, caffeine and alcohol in your diet. Drink plenty of clean, pure water each day and do at least moderate exercise each day. This will breathe new life into your skin, hair and will nourish all of your vital organs.

Tips #3: Take Control

Often times when we have too much stress, we want to just give up. We must always hope for something better! When we give up our fight-or-flight seems to just fizzle and we become caught up in a maze of one unfortunate event following another.

You can take control today! Isolate only one particular stressor in your life and then work on it until you regain control. At the very least, have some new hope!

Being hopeful is a quiet confidence that eventually, all will be well. Write out a plan today about how you will tackle just one major problem in your life. Write it out step-by-step. Make an action plan about how you will tackle each of those points.

Slowly, as you begin to work on your problems, you will start to see that there is hope for a brighter tomorrow. You must believe that, otherwise, you will feel defeated before you even begin.

To actualize the hope you feel, sit in a comfortable chair and close your eyes. Take your mind to a place that pleases you and begin to feel every one of your muscles begin to relax. Command each muscle to relax. Constrict and then relax each of your muscles.

Have a beautiful picture in your mind. Imagine you are a part of that beautiful picture now and imagine that as you work on your problems you will become that beautiful picture. Your life will become that beautiful picture.

Sit and relax, deep breathing, seeing only that beautiful picture. See all of your most pressing problems resolved. See how you will work to resolve each of your problems.
When you sit up from your relaxed state, write out how you will tackle the problems you have just imagined.

Now, go about doing what you have written one step at a time. The ability to relax, meditate, imagine and plan to resolve a problem is a proven stress buster. You can take control of each and every problem in your life that causes you undue stress.
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Depression from a Spiritual Perspective

2007-06-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

This article about the intense subject of depression anticipates two ways of reaction. The question is: Will it be - in your case - shock or relief?

When you read about depression, you will encounter many passages like the following:

"These brain chemicals - in varying amounts - are responsible for our emotional state. Depression happens, when these chemical messages aren't delivered correctly between brain cells, disrupting communication."

What could be probably wrong with that statement?

It is based on the unquestioned belief that human beings are machines. Although this assumption is widespread, it is simply not a fact. Machines are built, operated and cared for by conscious human beings. In an analogous way our body and mind exist because of our existence as conscious beings.

It is not matter, which builds consciousness, but it is consciousness, which forms matter. That is actually our observation everywhere.

The matter of depression must be totally reevaluated from this new perspective. It is not a fact that brain chemicals are responsible for our emotional state, but vice versa. Our emotional state leads to the production of certain chemicals in our brain and body.

Of course there is an interlink between the two planes. Emotional states can definitely be influenced by certain chemical substances. But there is some substantial loss of information, as the "positive" state induced by chemicals cannot be compared with a natural positive state derived from the firm foundation in the conviction that life is wonderful.

Here we have arrived at a crucial point.

Depression is not caused by chemicals in the brain, but rather causes chemicals in the brain. Depression is a state of mind, wherein the affected human being has lost his/her connection to the original quality of life, which is bliss, knowledge and eternity.

Neither will medication help to overcome depression, nor superficial psychological treatment. The only way to help the depression sufferer is by unalloyed love, which is rare in this world. This sort of love will not further push him into the state of a helpless and powerless victim, but will empower him to take his fate into his own hands.

In this way the person suffering with depression will be given the chance to see live from a new perspective. He will learn to love himself despite of any shortcomings, because - by feeling appreciated and loved - he will come to love his real spiritual personality, which is always beyond the polarity of material despair and happiness. When he finds shelter in the ultimate quality of pure consciousness, which is unconditional love, he will feel the natural bliss of life.

Consequently this article ends with a request to doctors and psychologists: Become unconditional lovers! All other cures are temporary, like shifting a hurting heavy weight from one shoulder to the other. If you want to solve the root problem, you have to solve it first and foremost in yourself.
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Girls

2007-06-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

DR S M AHMAD, MRCPsych
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

DR D ANDERSON, MRCPsych
Staff Grade Old Age Psychiatry

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most commonly diagnosed neuro-behavioural disorder. It is now increasingly recognised that ADHD is a life-span condition that can have a devastating impact on the daily lives of individuals and their families. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are paramount for a better prognosis. Without prompt intervention consequences such as anti-social behaviour, aggression, poor self-esteem, alcohol and drug problems and self-harm can occur during the developmental trajectory into adulthood. It is well recognised that most of the focus has been on hyperactive boys and girls with ADHD are under-recognised, under-diagnosed and under-treated (Biederman et al, 2005). There are millions of females worldwide with ADHD who are suffering silently and represent a major public health concern. The prevalence of ADHD in children is between 8-10% and declines in adulthood to 2-3%. In terms of female prevalence out-patient samples estimate it to be between 6:1 and 9:1, with community samples at 3:1 (Gaub and Carlson, 1997).

Recent work to examine gender differences proposes that these differences are not due to actual phenotypic variation but due to bias in those referred. Few studies, as identified in the meta-analysis of Gaub and Carlson, included sufficient numbers of females. It has been hypothesised that such apparent differences may be due to the referral source. Work on clinic-referred samples does not seem representative of the population of ADHD in girls, when compared to non-referred samples. ADHD does present commonly in girls but not as frequently as boys. Its presentation is subtly different to the classic description given to boys. In non-referred samples they tend to show lower levels of hyperactivity, fewer conduct problems and lower levels of externalising behaviour (Gaud and Carlson, 1997).

Most diagnostic criteria were originally formulated from predominantly male cohorts (Rielly et al, 2006). Such research has been overshadowed by the phenotypic expression in boys of hyperactivity and impulsivity. Gender specific variations influence clinical practice in a way that may adversely affect the recognition of ADHD in girls. Boys tend to present with symptoms such as hyperactivity, externalising behaviour, oppositional and defiant behaviour, verbal and physical aggression and substance misuse. Girls however present with inattention, internalising behaviour, leisure time and opposed to classroom impairment, anxiety and depression, lowering of self-esteem and feelings of guilt (Rielly et al, 2006). Most differences between genders tend to be small, but seemingly the most common symptoms in boys are “easily distracted” and “hyperactive” and with girls the most common symptom is “difficulty sustaining concentration”. It may be that referral bias is skewing results as some differences are mediated by referral source (Gaud and Carlson, 1997).

It has further been noted in parenting styles between genders that mothers of ADHD boys tend to be less authoritarian compared to mothers of girls and this may also affect the threshold for referral (Rielly et al, 2006). Another potential skew may arise from teachers. It has been suggested that teachers under-recognise inattention in girls, perhaps due to the greater impact of hyperactive behaviour often shown by boys upon the classroom. Several other potential factors have been hypothesised including comorbidity, developmental problems, diagnostic procedures and the effects of rater source (Gaub and Carlson, 2006).

These differences may lead to differing treatment styles. It can be hypothesised with boys that psychosocial interventions focusing more on aggression and with girls focusing more on anxiety might seem sensible. Parent training with girls might also aim to improve inattention but with boys such training might focus on hyperactivity and disruptive behaviour. Management plans may also need to take into account likely prognoses. Girls seem to have a higher risk of adult psychiatric admission than boys and comorbidity with conduct disorder may increase this risk (Dalsgaard et al, 2002). Further research into the reasons for this may create particular emphases in management during adolescence. Adolescent girls also seem more likely to present with personality disorder, which again will require particular attention in assessment and management (Burkett et al, 2005). Otherwise few differences between genders exist with regards to comorbidities during childhood (Biederman et al, 2005). Girls do not differ from boys in response to methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine (Sharp et al, 1999).

The neglected status of gender-differences in ADHD raises a number of questions, for example can diagnostic criteria inferred from studies of boys be routinely applied to girls with ADHD? Without a better understanding of the aetiology of these differences it is impossible to determine if diagnostic criteria in DSM-IV and ICD-10 are fully valid for girls. Despite a recent focus on gender differences in the clinical presentation of ADHD the disorder remains a hidden morbidity in girls and is associated with significant functional impairment across a life-time. It appears that attributional errors and personal prejudices on the part of parents, teachers and clinicians hinder recognition and treatment. In clinical practice out-patient referred ADHD girls are generally not representative of ADHD girls. It does seem that only the most severely affected girls are being referred for treatment and the majority of ADHD girls suffer silently. ADHD in both genders is associated with high levels of psycho-educational impairment. There is an urgent need for appropriate epidemiological studies examining gender differences in ADHD. There should be increased emphasis on education and training of clinicians, teachers and parents to spot symptoms in girls with ADHD.

References

Biederman J, Kwon A, Alreadi, M et al. (2005) Absence on gender effects on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: findings in non-referred subjects. American Journal of Psychiatry; 6; 1083-89.

Burket R, Sajid M, Wasiak M et al. (2005) Personality comorbidity in adolescent females with ADHD. Journal of Psychiatric Practice; 11; 131-36.

Dalsgaard S, Mortensen P, Frydenberg M. (2002) Conduct problems, gender and adult psychiatric outcome of children with ADHD. British Journal of Psychiatry; 181; 416-21.

Gaub M, Carlson, C. (1997) Gender differences in ADHD: a meta-analysis and critical review. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; 8; 1036-45.

Rielly N, Craig W, Parker K. (2006) Peer and parenting characteristics of boys and girls with subcultural attention problems. Journal of Attention Disorders; 9; 598-606.

Sharp W, Walter J, Marsh W et al. (1999) ADHD in girls: clinical comparability of a research sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; 38; 40-47.
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Depression Can Affect Anybody

2007-06-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Depression affects millions and millions of people each year. It happens to be a condition where the brain's neurotransmitters go off balanced and then a person's mood will change. Many people think that they can snap out of a depression, but they can't. A truly depressed person would not be able to get themselves out of the phase, until they have sought medical treatment. When you have a chemical imbalance you will find that nothing will help you unless you see a doctor.

There is medication to help a person feel better about themselves. Severe depression makes things a little bit more difficult. Some people may end up becoming catatonic where they do not even blink and then there are some that will become ill from their depression. Depression affects everyone differently and you'll find that not only will you feel sad for no reason, but you'll also feel literally sick.

When a person is so depressed that they cannot live a normal life they are sent to a hospital where they can get the medical attention that they require. For cases where you become physically sick you are not only going to need to be placed on certain medications, but you will also need to attend therapy.

When you mix medication with therapy you'll be able to keep the true reasons for your depression at bay. People who are manicly depressed need to make sure that they are monitored daily so that they do not harm others or themselves. It is important that if you notice that someone is changing and seems depressed that you tell someone so that they can help him or her. Everyone has hard times, but it is those who have friends and family that can make it past the hard times and see themselves through to the good times.

People who suffer from depression are not just sad, but they can become lost. They may end up losing themselves and losing all meaning for life. They may lose all interest in all the things that they once loved and they may have long periods of unhappiness. They can also become very difficult to be around. You will find that depressed people can become violent and very angry.

They will also become different in the way that they carry themselves. They will begin to move and walk slower and they will also become hunched over. They will end up seemingly hopeless and may even express thoughts of suicide, however, not all depressed people are suicidal.You may find that they have simply given up on life.

If you know someone who has a problem with depression you may want to keep a close eye on them and try to connect with them. With a connection you may be able to convince them to get help, but you may also need to take steps for them to get the help that they need.
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When Exercise Can Lead to Better Mental Health

2007-06-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

Exercise does wonders for the mental and emotional, as well as the physical. The way cardio and aerobic sets can sculpt the muscles into optimal condition, so goes the effect on the brain and nervous system. Endorphins, euphoria inducing natural chemicals, as well as other exercise-produced chemicals have positive effects on the aging brain in the areas of improved memory and staving off dementia. Other advantages of exercise are as follows:

A person suffering from some sort of mental ailment like anxiety or depression would have the option of taking in fewer medications. Evidence shows that some antidepressants increase the same chemicals in the brain that exercise does. If exercise has been proven to be same in effects as antidepressants, then medication side effects can become a thing of the past, if not at least subside somewhat. Side effects of medication can sometimes feel like they are causing more harm than good. The fatigue, fluctuating weight, energy loss etc. experienced from side effects can be remedied with regular exercise.

Furthermore, the medications used to treat depression and other mental illnesses tend to have an adverse affect on a person's weight, which can then attribute to a worsening of the mental illness in the first place. And to combat extreme weight gain or loss due to medication is tremendously hard to do because the medication would be fighting the efforts. Exercise in conjunction with medication could be a challenge worth doing, teaching a person determination and resolve thus aiding in the healing of their mental illness along with therapy.

Because depression can affect the whole body, mental and physical; appetite, concentration, and exercise can work against these ill effects by acting as a stress reliever and appetite increaser. But also, pain like back aches can be a part of depression, as well as a part of aging. Natural relievers can be released during exercise that can ease specifically back pain.

Also, because drug abuse and overeating are one and the same in that they can change the mental state for the worse, exercise can work against the need to do either. Because it improves overall health, a person could actually become less inclined to do something that goes against the positive effects of exercise- or at least put up a stronger effort not to do so than they might have before. Self esteem, or lack thereof, is sometimes central to why someone uses drugs and/or overeats, but exercise can be a great enhancer of self-confidence.

Additionally, a lack of concentration to goals or everyday tasks that can lead to drug abuse and overeating can be corrected with exercise. Some people abuse Ritalin or crystal methamphetamine just to get through the activity of work, school, etc. Exercise is more mental than it is physical in that it can teach discipline and routine. In accomplishing a set of exercises a person is telling themselves consciously or subconsciously that another goal, no matter what it is, can be attained.

Finally, the ways in which exercise would enhance a person's romantic life is almost self-evident. A better, more appealing physique, more energy, better muscle tone- all of it would be conducive to a higher quality romantic life. Aerobic and cardio exercises would provide for higher energy and endurance levels for tasks as diverse as work and sport hobbies. Exercise can be beneficial in so many areas of a person's life that there are hardly any reasons that anyone could have not to begin an exercise regimen today.
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Insomnia: Dangers & Treatment of Sleep Deprivation

2007-06-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Do you suffer from sleep deprivation? You know by now how you feel without a good night sleep: tiredness, irritability and a loss of concentration are high on the side effects list for insomnia. Therefore, it is very important that you find your cause of insomnia and an insomnia cure as soon as possible.

Sleep deprivation and sleep apnea affects our nervous systems by leaving us drowsy and unable to concentrate. Even losing sleep a few nights a week can significantly impair your ability to function and decrease the quality of your life. Not getting enough sleep also leads to poor memory. If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings will develop. In the same vein, sleeping problems are common in both mental and physical disorders including schizophrenia and depression, stroke, cancer, and head injuries.

Insomnia treatment and cure: For getting a proper sleep at night, do the following:

Sleep only when sleepy. This reduces the time you are awake in bed.

If you can not fall asleep within 25 minutes, just get up and do something boring until you feel sleepy. Sit quietly in the dark listen to some nice relaxing music. Do not expose yourself to bright light while you are up.

Do not take naps. This will make you tired at bedtime. If you just cannot make it through the day without a power nap, sleep less than one hour, before 4 pm.

Go to bed and get up the same time every day. When your sleep cycle has a regular rhythm, you will feel much better.

Refrain from exercise at least four hours before bedtime. Regular exercise is recommended to help you sleep well, but the timing of the workout is important. Exercising in the morning or early afternoon will not interfere with your sleep.

Develop sleep rituals. Listen to relaxing cds, read something soothing for twenty minutes, have a cup of warm milk, and do relaxation exercises.

Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol at least four hours before bed. Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants that interfere with your ability to fall asleep. Alcohol may seem to help you sleep in the beginning as it slows brain activity, but you will end up having a restless night.

Have a light snack before you go to bed. If your tummy is too empty, that can interfere with sleep. However, if you eat a big meal before bedtime, that can interfere as well.

Take a hot bath ninety minutes before bedtime. This will relax your body and will help you fall asleep.

Make sure your bedroom and bed are quiet and comfortable.

Getting a good night's sleep is as important as having a proper healthy diet and exercising to keep a healthy body. A good night sleep makes your skin look fresh and it also helps make your brain more alert. Though in a busy lifestyle we always try to sacrifice sleep for work but it is very important that you set aside enough hours for some good old-fashioned beauty sleep. The average person needs eight hours of sleep, while infants need sixteen hours of sleep, and teenagers need about nine hours.

Scientists believe that sleep maintains and repairs our bodies and minds. Every night we cycle through three stages of sleep ranging from light sleep to deep sleep, and finally, to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A complete sleep cycle takes ninety to one hundred minutes on average. While we sleep our brains are using important neuronal connections that might otherwise get worse from lack of activity. During deep sleep, brain activity that control emotions, decision-making processes, and social interaction stops, allowing us to maintain optimal emotional and social functioning when we are awake. Cell repair and cell growth takes place to combat the affects of stress and UV rays in this stage as well. Hence, deep sleep is really beauty sleep.

Sleep also strengthens our immune system and helps our bodies fight infection. This is because our immune system releases a sleep inducing chemical while fighting a flu or an infection. Sleep helps the body conserve energy and other resources that the immune system requires to mount an effective attack. Start your insomnia treatment as soon as possible to prevent sleep deprivation.
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How To Find Hope In Overcoming Infertility Depression

2007-06-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

Infertility depression is a real issue for couples struggling to conceive and affects both men and women in different ways.

For women, being unable to conceive is depressing enough but this can be exacerbated even further during assisted reproduction programs. The stress associated with ongoing treatment can build to high levels and if the process ends in failure, infertility depression can then become a major problem.

Infertility and depression in men is also very real. Men will usually try to handle depression differently such as spending more time at work or getting involved in community related areas as a way of overcoming their feelings of inadequacy or guilt. Men will often have feelings of failure which is a common male response because of the fact they won't be able to continue on the family tree.

Emotional Effects Of Infertility Depression

Emotionally, infertility can be crippling. A combination of sadness, frustration and angry feelings from both partners will ultimately strain relationships if proper help is not sought. This is the tragic wash up in many infertility cases as one or both partners withdraws into a state of depression.

Seeking Help For Infertility Depression

Getting help for depression as a result of infertility may seem the obvious course of action however, feelings of self pity and consignment to the fact that conceiving a child will not be possible, often acts as a barrier between infertile couples seeking much needed support.

It's important for couples to realise that all is not lost. In the past, medical support was the common avenue to pursue but into the 21st century, and with the internet available to most people around the globe, support forums for infertile couples have provided a worthwhile option
to:

1. Discuss their infertility issues with like-minded people and
2. Possibly seek alternative forms of treatment when traditional methods have failed.

Support Forums For Infertility Depression

Online support forums are an excellent alternative to live support groups especially for those couples who want to remain anonymous. Most will have given up the possibility of conceiving a child at this point but there still maybe some hope left. You'll hear good news stories of couples in a similar position and what they did to get over "this bump in the road" and more importantly, receive emotional support from others who have a complete understanding of your situation.

Infertility depression doesn't have to dominate your life. While it's tough to deal with at the time, taking some positive steps to overcome it may be just a keyboard search away.
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Tips For to Show You Love Somebody

2007-06-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

1. Tell the other person that you love them
2. Give a special present
3. Give or get a hug
4. Kiss when people are looking
5. Kiss when people aren't looking
6. Tell the other person that you care
7. Hold hands
8. Go for a long bike ride
9. Go out for a meal
10. Be there when they need a friend
11. Spend time together
12. Go to see a film
13. Walk arm in arm in the woods
14. Make a special tape of love songs
15. Talk about your feelings
16. Share dreams with each other
17. Snuggle up together
18. Sit together in the park
19. Take a walk together
20. Make sure the other person feels important and respected
21. Have a picnic
22. Give compliments
23. Play a game of frisbee
24. Relax in a jacuzzi
25. Go swimming
26. Just be close
27. Go shopping for food
28. Cook a meal together
29. Touch each other in a loving way
30. Do homework together
31. Plan and go on a trip together
32. Throw a party together
33. Bake a cake
34. Go to the library
35. Browse in a museum
36. Just be there
37. Find out what's special for the other person - and do it
38. Exercise together
39. Gaze at each other
40. Wash each other's cars (or bikes !)
41. Go fishing
42. Talk to each other
43. Listen to worries
44. Cut each other's toenails
45. Choose a special favourite song
46. Listen to joys
47. Hold one another close
48. Catch their eye
49. Write one another letters
50. Talk on the telephone
51. Trust one another
52. Give or receive a ring
53. Meet each other's family
54. Go hiking together
55. Make sacrifices for each other
56. Send chocolates
57. Respect each other
58. Go for a moonlight walk
59. Hide a love note where the other will find it
60. Write a poem
61. Give each other sexy looks
62. Send flowers
63. Eat dinner by candlelight
64. Go to a concert
65. Watch the sunrise together
66. Remember anniversaries
67. Give each other pet names
68. Go sightseeing
69. Rent a video
70. Do things for each other without being asked
71. Propose marriage
72. Whisper something nice into the other's ear
73. Be best friends
74. Have fun together
75. Go out dancing
76. Play music together
77. Flirt with each other
78. Laugh at something funny together
79. Be faithful
80. Impress each other
81. Make a list of things you like about each other
82. Read a book and discuss it
83. Meet each other's friends
84. Go horse riding
85. Cook each other's favourite food
86. Find out what makes each other happy
87. Make presents for each other
88. Wash each other's hair
89. Watch the sunset
90. Go for a bus trip
91. Have a request played on the radio
92. Send a funny card
93. Share your plans for the future
94. Play footsie
95. Share private jokes
96. Think about each other
97. Find out what makes the other sad
98. Go skating
99. Swap rings
100. Share an ice-cream
101. Have your picture taken together
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High Blood Pressure - Hypertension

2007-05-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

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

About Relaxation

2007-05-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

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

Abortion and American Psychology

2007-05-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

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

Sports Psychology Techniques Help Cancer Patients Cope With Stress

2007-05-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-05-06T05:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

Mental ways of beating insomnia

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.
Avoid caffeine, especially from late afternoon onwards, as it has a stimulating effect for up to 6 hours.
Avoid using alcohol to sleep - it produces a shallow, un-restful quality of sleep.
Decide bed is for nothing other than sleeping (and making love) - so avoid eating, watching television, telephoning, knitting, having serious discussions, etc.
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!
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.
Avoid rewarding middle-of-the-night waking with food, drink, cigarettes, etc.
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.)
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.
Use your relaxation skills - before sleep or if you wake.

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Some common causes of insomnia

2007-05-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

Learn to Relax

2007-05-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

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:

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.
Pay attention to what you can see, hear, and feel.
Close your eyes. This gives your brain a break by reducing the amount of incoming data it has to process.
Now pay attention to what you can see, hear and feel with your eyes closed.
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.
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

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.
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.
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.
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).
There is no right way to relax! So rather than attempting to `get it right' experiment to discover what works best for you.
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.
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.
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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Adult Children of Depressed Parents Have Higher Risk of Mental and Physical Illness

2007-04-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

As children of depressed parents enter adulthood, they continue to suffer greater risk of mental disorders and begin to report more physical illnesses than grown-up children of non-depressed parents. Researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), published their findings from a 20-year follow-up study on offspring of depressed and non-depressed parents in the June issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

At the 20-year follow-up, the average age of the study participants was 35. Those with at least one depressed parent had about a threefold higher risk for developing mood disorders (mostly major depressive disorder) and anxiety disorders (mostly phobias), more than twofold greater risk for alcohol dependence, and sixfold greater risk for drug dependence. Though occurring at greater rates in children of depressed parents, the peak ages of onset for mood and anxiety disorders were similar to those seen in children of non-depressed parents.

Major depressive disorder peaked between ages 15–20, with females comprising the majority of cases; males showed a gradual increase between ages 15–30. The incidence of anxiety disorders was much earlier than for major depressive disorder, peaking before age 10 and tapering off. A second smaller peak in incidence between ages 28 and 32 in offspring with at least one depressed parent was largely attributed to panic disorders among females. Substance dependence among children of depressed parents also peaked between ages 15–20 and was largely attributed to males.

Overall, the offspring of depressed parents showed lower functioning, greater use of outpatient mental health treatment, and more continuous mental health treatment (over the course of months or years), although more than half of the subjects received no psychiatric treatment. In addition to mental disorders, they reported more medical problems, particularly cardiovascular problems with a fivefold increase, and an average age of onset in the early to mid-30s.

This report builds upon findings from similar studies that emphasize the importance of treating depressed parents to benefit their offspring, and for detecting and treating mental disorders early in life to offset or prevent the long-term effects of these chronic disorders.
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The Psychology of Baseball

2007-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

By Ian Herbert

It’s the seventh game of the World Series — bottom of the ninth inning, your team is down 4-3 with runners on second and third — and you’re on deck. You watch as your teammate gets the second out. That means you’re up with a chance to win a championship for your team...or lose it.

You’re known as a clutch hitter, and you’ve hit safely in 22 straight games — an impressive streak to be sure. But as you step into the batter’s box, your hands are sweating and your mind is racing. You think about the last time you faced this pitcher and the curveball he threw to strike you out. You look at him standing on the mound and he looks tired. You try to pick up clues from his body language. How fast is his fastball today? Will he tempt you with that curveball again?

Psychologists are asking different questions: Does your recent hitting streak really matter? Is there even such a thing as a clutch hitter? Will the pitcher’s curveball fool you? And then there are the more basic questions: How is it possible to hit a 100 m.p.h. fastball without being able to see it for more than a split second? How is it that even sandlot players — mere children — can intuitively do the complex geometry needed to get to precisely the right spot to catch a fly ball?

University of Missouri psychologist Mike Stadler uses research from dozens of behavioral scientists, plus some of his own, to try answering these complicated questions in his new book, The Psychology of Baseball. “Baseball turns out to be a good laboratory for studying psychological phenomena,” Stadler says, “because you’re pushing the human system to its limits. And that’s a good way to see how the system works.”

Psychologists have been studying baseball players almost as long as the Red Sox had been disappointing fans in Boston, and much of the attention has naturally focused on the most heroic part of the game: hitting. Baseball’s great sluggers, such as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Albert Pujols, make it seem so effortless, which makes it hard to accept the scientific consensus that hitting is basically impossible. That’s right, impossible. Why? A ball thrown by a major league pitcher reaches speeds of 100 m.p.h. and an angular velocity (the speed in degrees at which the ball travels through your field of vision) of more than 500 degrees per second. A typical human can only track moving objects up to about 70 degrees per second. Add to this the fact that it takes longer to swing a bat than it does for a pitch to go from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s mitt, which means a hitter must start his swing before the ball is released and has less than a half a second to change his mind. All that equals impossible.

Not surprisingly, professional baseball players are able to keep their eye on the ball longer (up to 120 degrees per second) than the average human being. In one study, pro players who were asked to keep their eyes on the ball did one of two things. They either watched the pitch until it reached speeds too fast to keep track of — the farthest a player could track a pitch was 5.5 feet in front of the plate — or, less commonly, they watched for the first few feet and then quickly moved their line of vision to where they thought the ball would end up and watched it as it crossed the plate.

So it turns out that your little league coach’s advice — watch the ball until it meets the bat — is actually physically impossible. But even the worst Major League hitters succeed two out of every 10 trips to the plate. Are the hits they get just pure luck? Not exactly.

“I guess what interests me most in some ways is that even though we have the perceptual limitations and even though we have the reaction time limitations, there’s still enough mental machinery there to help us solve the problem,” Stadler says.

Hitters must make some assumptions and guess where the ball is going to be and when it is going to be there in order to make contact. Because the barrel of the bat is long enough to cover the entire plate but is only a few inches thick, predicting where the ball will end up horizontally across the plate is much less important than predicting where it will be vertically. And a large portion of predicting at what height it will cross the plate has to do with predicting the speed of the ball.

Arizona State’s Rob Gray has used a virtual hitting simulation — something he describes as a “purposefully simplified” video game — to help determine what cues help hitters make contact with the ball. In a 2002 study, he varied the speeds of the virtual ball randomly from about 70 to 80 m.p.h., and hitters failed miserably, with batting averages of about 0.030. That’ll get you cut from a T-ball team.

But in the same simulation, hitters fared much better — with batting averages of 0.120 — when pitches were thrown at just two different speeds: slow (75 m.p.h.) or fast (85 m.p.h.). It’s the randomness, not an overpowering fastball, that fools hitters. Gray’s conclusion: “It is clear that successful batting is nearly impossible in the situation in which pitch speed is random and in which no auxiliary cues (e.g., pitcher’s arm motion or pitch count) are available to the batter.”

So, back to you now in the batter’s box. You can at least take comfort in knowing that the pitcher you’re facing only has a few pitches: a fastball, a changeup, and maybe a slider or a curveball. You’ve practiced hitting each of those pitches thousands of times during your career, and can draw on your knowledge of those at-bats. There are also cues like the pitcher’s arm speed and the rotation of the ball that help you make an educated guess about what pitch is coming. You may need to get used to a pitcher’s speed, but you have a decent idea of where the ball is going — at least enough of a good idea to succeed at your job 30 percent of the time.

Now the question is: Are you going to perform in this clutch situation, with the game and the championship on the line, or will you choke? Research dating back to a 1984 study by Florida State’s Roy Baumeister (an APS Fellow) and including work by Michigan State’s Sian Beilock suggests that if you put a player in a pressure situation, he develops a greater than normal self-focus — what we colloquially call trying too hard. When you learn a process like a baseball swing, it is important to practice it step-by-step, and novice hitters actually think through their actions of shifting their weight, rotating their hips, and so forth. But experts do this naturally. Indeed, Gray used his hitting simulation to show that when expert hitters were asked to focus on a particular part of their swing, it adversely affected their performance.

“If we force you to go back and think about each stage of what you’re doing, you actually start interfering with this procedural knowledge, this motor memory, and you start messing it up,” Gray says. “It’s like tinkering with a machine that’s running really efficiently. You start trying to control everything yourself and it messes it up and it hurts your performance.”
It’s hard to imagine a more pressure-filled situation than the World Series, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to think the hitter might overthink his swing. But what if he’s a clutch hitter? What if he’s been on a hot streak the last few weeks? The scientific consensus is that there is no such thing as a streaky hitter; though try telling that to anyone who’s been on the losing end of one of David Ortiz’s 15 walk-off hits with the Red Sox or Derek Jeter’s 14 consecutive World Series games with a hit. Still, the statistical analysis seems to show that streaks and clutch hitting could just be a result of simple probability.

Physicist Ed Purcell of Harvard did a statistical analysis and concluded that all streaks and slumps except for Joe DiMaggio’s remarkable 56-game hit streak fall within what could be expected by chance. Think of it this way: If you flip a fair coin a couple million times, it’s not hard to imagine that there might be times when it comes up heads 20 times in a row.

There is additional support for this view. Dick Cramer, baseball statistician and founder of STATS, Inc., hypothesized that if baseball did have clutch players, they would be consistent from year to year — much like the league’s best home-run hitters are consistent across years. What he found in fact is that a player might be one of baseball’s best clutch hitters one year, then plummet to the bottom the very next year.

Not everyone is ready to discount clutch hitting. Gray, for example, thinks clutch hitters might know how to relax and not try too hard in situations where there is a lot on the line. So maybe it’s not so much being a clutch hitter as it is being a nonchoker. A study of bowlers lends support to this idea. Professional bowlers, the study showed, are much more likely to bowl a strike after a series of strikes than they are to bowl a strike after a series of nonstrikes. That was true for weekend sports, like horseshoes, as well.

It could be that too much of baseball is decided by factors other than the hitter — the pitcher and the fielders certainly have some influence — to be able to accurately determine whether hitters are clutch or streaky. What happens when a “streaky” hitter comes up against a pitcher who’s also on the top of his game? Or what if the hitter makes good contact during two of his at-bats but is robbed by spectacular fielding plays both times?

“Everything ultimately comes down to the hitter succeeded or he didn’t,” Stadler says. “But there’s a lot more behind that number in the box score that the box score just doesn’t capture.”

So, let’s say you’re back at the plate, and you’ve fallen behind in the count 2-2. The next pitch comes and, like you predicted, it’s another curve ball. You’re ready. You give a good swing. The ball sails deep into the outfield. The centerfielder takes off to his right immediately, tracking the ball with ease. He’s not actually computing any complicated formula in his neurons while sprinting, but he seems completely sure about where the ball is going to land. Then, whack! He runs straight into the outfield wall, and the ball flies over his head for a game-winning home run.

Like hitting, fielding also seems like it should be a mental and physical impossibility — which makes it fascinating to psychology researchers. If you put a player in the outfield and make him stay put, he is actually quite bad at predicting where a ball is going to land, yet he will run effortlessly to that spot when allowed to do so. How?

One of the first theories developed to explain fly-ball catching was developed by physicist Seville Chapman, who hypothesized that fielders used the acceleration of the ball to help them determine where the ball will land. To simplify the problem for experimental purposes, balls were only hit directly at the fielders, who then moved either forward or backward in order to keep the ball moving at a constant speed through their field of vision — so, they started with their eyes on home plate and then moved in a way that kept their eyes moving straight up at a constant speed until they made the catch. If they moved too far forward, the ball would move more quickly through their field of vision and go over their head. If they moved too far backwards, the ball would appear to die in front of them.

This theory seemed too simple to Mike McBeath, a psychologist at Arizona State. For one thing, Chapman’s model predicted that fielders would use the same process for balls hit to their left or right, simply making a sideways calculation along with the basic speed calculation. But that would mean balls hit to the side should be harder to catch, and McBeath (and every sandlot outfielder) knows that’s simply not the case. Any outfielder will tell you that a ball hit directly at him is the most difficult to catch, so McBeath reasoned instead that, when a ball is hit directly at a fielder, the fielder lacks some crucial bit of information for making the catch.

He came up with a method that was similar to Chapman’s but included an extra piece: He hypothesized that fielders kept the ball moving through their field of vision in a straight but diagonal line. So if the outfielder is looking at home plate when the ball is hit, he then keeps his eyes on the ball and runs so his head moves along a constant angle until the ball is directly above him, which is when he snags it. To test this, McBeath had fielders put video cameras on their shoulders, and the cameras moved in this manner.

Yet ask any Major Leaguers about this, and you’ll get blank stares. McBeath did talk to pro outfielders, and responses ranged from “Beats me” to “You’re full of it.” That’s because there’s no conscious processing involved; it’s all taking place at the level of instinct, even though the geometry is sophisticated.

It turns out that outfielders aren’t the only ones who operate according to McBeath’s strategy. Dogs use it to catch Frisbees, bats and insects use it to catch prey, infielders use the model — only upside-down — to field ground balls, and now robots use it, too. Because the algorithm for catching fly balls is actually so simple, McBeath has been able to work with robotics experts to program robots to catch fly balls. (Or at least to get to the right spot; catching is a different problem for a robot with no hands.)

“It’s neat,” says McBeath, an expert on perception. “It’s not always true that the way humans and animals do things is the best way. The geometry of a moving fielder from the perspective of the fielder seems like it would be a nightmare of a formula. But what we’ve shown is that we can reduce it down to this really simple geometric solution.”

Chapman’s model is still used to describe the special case of catching balls hit directly at the fielder. Both fly-ball catching theories require that the fielders make adjustments on the go, which explains why we’re so bad at predicting where a ball will go if we stand in one place.

It also explains why our World Series outfielder ran straight into the wall when tracking the game-winning home run. Using McBeath’s method, players tracking a fly ball only know that they are capable of getting to the spot where the ball will land. This intuitive geometry offers no insight into whether that ball is going, going … gone. via

Deep Brain Stimulation Can Boost Memory

2007-04-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) appears to help improve memory in people with severe psychiatric disorders such as tough-to-treat depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, a U.S. study finds.

DBS involves the implantation of electrodes in the brain that are connected to a battery-powered "pulse generator" placed in the chest wall.

The Cleveland Clinic study included 10 people with obsessive compulsive disorder and eight people with treatment-resistant depression. They received DBS near brain regions thought to play an important role in emotional behavior and in different aspects of thinking such as planning, attention and memory.

The participants completed tests to assess their thinking skills before and after DBS. After the treatment, the patients showed significant improvements in their recall of prose passages.

The study was slated for presentation Monday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Washington, D.C.

"The placement of DBS electrodes in specific motor and psychiatric circuits in the brain has previously been shown to improve the symptoms of patients with movement or psychiatric disorders," study author and neuropsychologist Cynthia S. Kubu noted in a prepared statement.

"The findings of this most recent study need to be replicated, and more studies are planned to further understand our results," she added.

DBS has been used for decades to treat persistent pain and, more recently, has been used to treat Parkinson's disease symptoms such as tremor, stiffness and rigidity.
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Video Games and Children

2007-04-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Since video games were first introduced in the 1970s they have become a popular pastime for children and teens as well as quite a few adults. Parents should consider two basic issues when providing guidance to their children and teens regarding the use of video games. (1) Parents should be aware of the content of the games and question whether it is appropriate for the age and developmental level of their child. (2) Parents should monitor how much time their children spend playing video games as well as other activities. It is true that you can have "too much of a good thing."

Evaluating the appropriateness of Video Game Content

Parents have the responsibility of helping their children select books, toys, television programs and movies that are appropriate for each particular child. Entertainment materials should be fun, engaging and spur creative fantasy. Hopefully, they will not be overly frustrating, and they will not present information or images that could be so overly scary they might spawn excessive worry or anxiety or nightmares or too advanced as to create questions or interests that the child is not intellectually or emotionally ready to handle.

Given what seems to be an increase in violent acts by children, the media and video games have been identified as possible causes for this phenomena. Research has not fully supported this notion. It is known that SOME children are more likely to act out what they see than others. Some children may have a poor understanding of the difference between reality and fantasy. Others may have poor impulse control and become overly intense in their acting out of violent scenes. On the other hand, some children may be emotionally disturbed for any number of reasons and may gravitate to this material as a result of the disturbance. Parents should have a good knowledge and understanding of each child so that they can assist them in selecting appropriate play materials.

Children and adults have always found some amount of violence to be entertaining. Certainly many stories contained in books have violent themes and depict violent scenes. Many of the original Grimm Fairytales had some very violent scenes. Certainly violence in movies has become more graphic. However, the mind is very capable of creating very vivid violent scenes from reading a book.

Children have always engaged in some form of aggressive play. Often it involves portraying roles from one form of literature or another. In the olden days it was "cops and robbers," "cowboys and Indians," "Superman," "Prince Valiant," "Space Patrol," or "Flash Gordon" to name a few. Much of the action today is the same but with different fictional characters. Many parents from the "baby boomer" generation decided to not buy guns or war toys for their kids only to find them using tinker toys or other materials to construct guns and other weapons.

For a more thorough discussion of this subject we suggest looking at Video Game Violence: What Does the Research Say? by David Walsh, Ph.D. (President, National Institute on Media and the Family) and/or Media & TV Cautions provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Again, parents may want to help their children and teens select play and entertainment materials that are balanced in content. Some can be educational while others are just plain fun. By the way, it is thought by some child psychologists that some fantasy video games may help children develop cognitive skills such as the ability to plan ahead as well as develop visual spatial and eye-hand coordination skills.

Parents should spend time playing the games with their children as well as talking with them about the child's thoughts, feelings and perceptions related to playing the game. They can also engage in a discussion of values that may guide the child down a path that is safe and leads to the development of a sound moral character.

Parents can visit the website of the Entertainment Software Rating Board and use their search page to look up any video game and view it's rating.

Effects of Other Characteristics of Video Games

Some adults believe that video games offer benefits over the passive medium of television. Among mental health professionals, there are those who maintain that in playing video games, certain children can develop a sense of proficiency which they might not otherwise achieve. However, other authorities speculate that performing violent actions in video games may be more conducive to children's aggression than passively watching violent acts on television. According to this view, the more children practice violence acts, the more likely they are to perform violent acts (Clark, 1993). Some educational professionals, while allowing that video games permit children to engage in a somewhat creative dialogue, maintain that this engagement is highly constrained compared to other activities, such as creative writing (Provenzo, 1992).

Another problem seen by critics of video games is that the games stress autonomous action rather than cooperation. A common game scenario is that of an anonymous character performing an aggressive act against an anonymous enemy. One study (Provenzo, 1992) found that each of the top 10 Nintendo video games was based on a theme of an autonomous individual working alone against an evil force. The world of video games has little sense of community and few team players. Also, most video games do not allow play by more than one player at a time.

The social content of video games may influence children's attitudes toward gender roles. In the Nintendo games, women are usually cast as persons who are acted upon rather than as initiators of action; in extreme cases, they are depicted as victims. One study (Provenzo, 1992) found that the covers of the 47 most popular Nintendo games depicted a total of 115 male and 9 female characters; among these characters, 20 of the males struck a dominant pose while none of the females did. Thirteen of the 47 games were based on a scenario in which a woman is kidnapped or has to be rescued.

Studies have indicated that males play video games more frequently than females. Television program producers and video game manufacturers may produce violent shows and games for this audience. This demand for violence may not arise because of an innate male desire to witness violence, but because males are looking for strong role models, which they find in these shows and games (Clark, 1993). via

What is autism?

2007-04-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Autism is not a disease, but a developmental disorder of brain function. People with classical autism show three types of symptoms: impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication and imagination, and unusual or severely limited activities and interests. Symptoms of autism usually appear during the first three years of childhood and continue throughout life. Although there is no cure, appropriate management may foster relatively normal development and reduce undesirable behaviors. People with autism have a normal life expectancy.

Autism affects an estimated two to 10 of every 10,000 people, depending on the diagnostic criteria used. Most estimates that include people with similar disorders are two to three times greater. Autism strikes males about four times as often as females, and has been found throughout the world in people of all racial and social backgrounds.

Autism varies a great deal in severity. The most severe cases are marked by extremely repetitive, unusual, self-injurious, and aggressive behavior. This behavior may persist over time and prove very difficult to change, posing a tremendous challenge to those who must live with, treat, and teach these individuals. The mildest forms of autism resemble a personality disorder associated with a perceived learning disability.

What are some common signs of autism?

The hallmark feature of autism is impaired social interaction. Children with autism may fail to respond to their names and often avoid looking at other people. Such children often have difficulty interpreting tone of voice or facial expressions and do not respond to others' emotions or watch other people's faces for cues about appropriate behavior. They appear unaware of others' feelings toward them and of the negative impact of their behavior on other people.

Many children with autism engage in repetitive movements such as rocking and hair twirling, or in self-injurious behavior such as biting or head-banging. They also tend to start speaking later than other children and may refer to themselves by name instead of "I" or "me." Some speak in a sing-song voice about a narrow range of favorite topics, with little regard for the interests of the person to whom they are speaking.

People with autism often have abnormal responses to sounds, touch, or other sensory stimulation. Many show reduced sensitivity to pain. They also may be extraordinarily sensitive to other sensations. These unusual sensitivities may contribute to behavioral symptoms such as resistance to being cuddled.

How is autism diagnosed?

Autism is classified as one of the pervasive developmental disorders. Some doctors also use terms such as "emotionally disturbed" to describe people with autism. Because it varies widely in its severity and symptoms, autism may go unrecognized, especially in mildly affected individuals or in those with multiple handicaps. Researchers and therapists have developed several sets of diagnostic criteria for autism. Some frequently used criteria include:1

Absence or impairment of imaginative and social play
Impaired ability to make friends with peers
Impaired ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
Stereotyped, repetitive, or unusual use of language
Restricted patterns of interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus
Apparently inflexible adherence to specific routines or rituals
Preoccupation with parts of objects

Children with some symptoms of autism, but not enough to be diagnosed with the classical form of the disorder, are often diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDD - NOS). The term Asperger syndrome is sometimes used to describe people with autistic behavior but well-developed language skills. Children who appear normal in their first several years, then lose skills and begin showing autistic behavior, may be diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD). Girls with Rett's syndrome, a sex-linked genetic disorder characterized by inadequate brain growth, seizures, and other neurological problems, also may show autistic behavior. PDD - NOS, Asperger syndrome, CDD, and Rett's syndrome are sometimes referred to as autism spectrum disorders.

Since hearing problems can be confused with autism, children with delayed speech development should always have their hearing checked. Children sometimes have impaired hearing in addition to autism. About half of people with autism score below 50 on IQ tests, 20 percent score between 50 and 70, and 30 percent score higher than 70. However, estimating IQ in young children with autism is often difficult because problems with language and behavior can interfere with testing. A small percentage of people with autism are savants. These people have limited but extraordinary skills in areas like music, mathematics, drawing, or visualization. via

Understanding Alcohol Use Disorders and Their Treatment,

2007-04-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

When does drinking become a problem?

For most adults, moderate alcohol use-no more than two drinks a day for men and one for women and older people-is relatively harmless. (A "drink" means 1.5 ounces of spirits, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer, all of which contain 0.5 ounces of alcohol.) Moderate use, however, lies at one end of a range that moves through alcohol abuse to alcohol dependence:

Alcohol abuse is a drinking pattern that results in significant and recurrent adverse consequences. Alcohol abusers may fail to fulfill major school, work or family obligations. They may have drinking-related legal problems, such as repeated arrests for driving while intoxicated. They may have relationship problems related to their drinking.
People with alcoholism-technically known as alcohol dependence-have lost reliable control of their alcohol use. It doesn't matter what kind of alcohol someone drinks or even how much: alcohol-dependent people are often unable to stop drinking once they start. Alcohol dependence is characterized by tolerance (the need to drink more to achieve the same "high") and withdrawal symptoms if drinking is suddenly stopped. Withdrawal symptoms may include nausea, sweating, restlessness, irritability, tremors, hallucinations, and convulsions.
Although severe alcohol problems get the most public attention, even mild to moderate problems cause substantial damage to individuals, their families, and the community.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 1 in 13 American adults is an alcohol abuser or alcoholic at any given time. A 1997 government survey revealed that drinking problems are also common among younger Americans. For example, almost 5 million youths aged 12 to 20 engage in binge drinking, which involves females consuming at least four drinks on a single occasion and males at least five.

What causes alcohol-related disorders?

Problem drinking has multiple causes, with genetic, physiological, psychological and social factors all playing a role. Not every individual is equally affected by each cause. For some alcohol abusers, psychological traits such as impulsiveness, low self-esteem, and a need for approval prompt inappropriate drinking. Some individuals drink to cope with or "medicate" emotional problems. Social and environmental factors such as peer pressure and the easy availability of alcohol can play key roles. Poverty and physical or sexual abuse increase the odds of developing alcohol dependence.

Genetic factors make some people especially vulnerable to alcohol dependence. Contrary to myth, being able to "hold your liquor" means you're probably more at risk-not less-for alcohol problems. Yet a family history of alcohol problems doesn't mean that children of those with alcohol problems will automatically grow up to have these problems-nor does the absence of family drinking problems necessarily protect children from developing these problems.

Once people begin drinking excessively, the problem can perpetuate itself. Heavy drinking can cause physiological changes that make more drinking the only way to avoid discomfort. Individuals with alcohol dependence may drink partly to reduce or avoid withdrawal symptoms.

How do alcohol-use disorders affect people?

While some research suggests that small amounts of alcohol may have beneficial cardiovascular effects, there is widespread agreement that heavier drinking can lead to health problems. In fact, 100,000 Americans die from alcohol-related causes each year. Short-term effects include memory loss, hangovers, and blackouts. Long-term problems associated with heavy drinking include stomach ailments, heart problems, cancer, brain damage, serious memory loss, and liver cirrhosis. Heavy drinkers also markedly increase their chances of dying from automobile accidents, homicide, and suicide. Although men are much more likely than women to develop alcoholism, women's health suffers more, even at lower levels of consumption.

Drinking problems also have a very negative impact on mental health. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can worsen existing conditions such as depression or induce new problems such as serious memory loss, depression, or anxiety.

Alcohol problems don't just hurt the drinker. According to NIAAA, more than half of Americans have at least one close relative with a drinking problem. Spouses and children of heavy drinkers are more likely to face family violence; children are more likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse and neglect and to develop psychological problems. Women who drink during pregnancy run a serious risk of damaging their fetuses. Relatives and friends can be killed or injured in alcohol-related accidents and assaults.

When should someone seek help?

Individuals often hide their drinking or deny they have a problem. How can you tell if you or someone you know is in trouble? Signs of a possible problem include having friends or relatives express concern, being annoyed when people criticize your drinking, feeling guilty about your drinking and thinking that you should cut down but finding yourself unable to do so, and/or needing a morning drink to steady your nerves or relieve a hangover.

Some people with drinking problems work hard to resolve them, and often, with the support of family members and/or friends, these individuals are able to recover on their own. However, those with alcohol dependence usually can't stop drinking through willpower alone. Many need outside help. They may need medically supervised detoxification to avoid potentially life-threatening withdrawal symptoms such as seizures. Once people are stabilized, they may need help resolving psychological issues associated with problem drinking.

There are several approaches available for treating alco-hol problems. No one approach is best for all individuals.

How can a psychologist help?

Psychologists who are trained and experienced in treating alcohol problems can be helpful in many ways. Before the drinker seeks assistance, a psychologist can guide the family or others in helping to increase the drinker's motivation to change.

A psychologist can begin with the drinker by assessing the types and degrees of problems the drinker has experienced. The results of the assessment can offer initial guidance to the drinker about what treatment to seek and help motivate the problem drinker to get treatment. Individuals with drinking problems definitely improve their chances of recovery by seeking help early.

Using one or more of several types of psychological therapies, psychologists can help people address psychological issues involved in their problem drinking. A number of these therapies, including cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatment and motivational enhancement therapy, were developed by psychologists. Additional therapies include 12-Step facilitation approaches that assist those with drinking problems in using self-help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). All three of these therapies-cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatment, motivational enhancement therapy, and 12-Step facilitation approaches-have demonstrated their effectiveness through well-designed, large-scale treatment trials. These therapies can help people boost their motivation to stop drinking, identify circumstances that trigger drinking, learn new methods to cope with high-risk drinking situations, and develop social support systems within their own communities.

Many individuals with alcohol problems suffer from other mental health conditions, such as severe anxiety and depression, at the same time. Psychologists can be very helpful for diagnosing and treating these "co-occurring" psychological conditions when they begin to create impairment. Further, a drinker in treatment may receive services from many health professionals, and a psychologist may play an important role in coordinating these services.

Psychologists can also provide marital, family, and group therapies, which often are helpful for repairing interpersonal relationships and for long-term success in resolving problem drinking. Family relationships influence drinking behavior, and these relationships often change during an individual's recovery. The psychologist can help the drinker and significant others navigate these complex transitions, help families understand problem drinking and learn how to support family members in recovery, and refer family members to self-help groups such as Al-Anon and Alateen.

Because a person may experience one or more relapses and return to problem drinking, it can be crucial to have an appropriate health professional such as a trusted psychologist with whom that person can discuss and learn from these events. If the drinker is unable to resolve alcohol problems fully, a psychologist can help with reducing alcohol use and minimizing problems.

Psychologists can also provide referrals to self-help groups. Even after formal treatment ends, many people seek additional support through continued involvement in such groups.

Alcohol-related disorders severely impair functioning and health. But the prospects for successful long-term problem resolution are good for people who seek help from appropriate sources. Psychologists are applying the substantial knowledge they have to help people resolve alcohol problems, and they are working to make treatment services available wherever needed.

The American Psychological Association Practice Directorate and the APA Practice Organization College of Professional Psychology gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Peter E. Nathan, Ph.D., John Wallace, Ph.D., Joan Zweben, Ph.D., and A. Thomas Horvath, Ph.D., in developing this fact sheet.

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Children and Television Violence

2007-04-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Violence on television affects children negatively, according to psychological research.

The three major effects of seeing violence on television are:

Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
Children may be more fearful of the world around them.
Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive ways toward others.

Studies by George Gerbner, Ph.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown that children's television shows contain about 20 violent acts each hour and also that children who watch a lot of television are more likely to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place.

Children often behave differently after they've been watching violent programs on television. In one study done at Pennsylvania State University, about 100 preschool children were observed both before and after watching television; some watched cartoons that had many aggressive and violent acts; others watched shows that didn't have any kind of violence. The researchers noticed real differences between the kids who watched the violent shows and those who watched nonviolent ones.

Children who watched the violent shows were more likely to strike out at playmates, argue, disobey authority and were less willing to wait for things than those children who watched nonviolent programs.

Field studies by Leonard Eron, Ph.D. and his associates at the University of Illinois, found that children who watched many hours of television violence when they were in elementary school tended to also show a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. By observing these youngsters until they were 30 years old, Dr. Eron found that the ones who'd watched a lot of television when they were eight years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.

Questionable Influences

For most of television's early years, it was difficult to find role models who would inspire young girls in the viewing audience.

In the mid-1970s, a new genre of programs such as "Charlie's Angels," "Wonder Woman," and "The Bionic Woman" entered the scene.

Now, there were females on television who were in control, aggressive and were not dependent upon males for their success.

Conventional wisdom might suggest this phenomena would have a positive impact on younger female viewers. But, a recent study by L. Rowell Huesmann, Ph.D. -- a psychologist at the Aggression Research Group at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research -- refutes that premise.

Huesmann's research states that young girls who often watched shows featuring aggressive heroines in the 1970s have grown up to be more aggressive adults involved in more confrontations, shoving matches, chokings and knife fights than women who had watched few or none of these shows.

One example cited by Huesmann is that 59 percent of those who watched an above-average amount of violence on television as children were involved in more than the average number of such aggressive incidents later in life.

Huesmann says that ages six to eight are very delicate and critical years in the development of children. Youngsters are learning "scripts" for social behavior that will last them throughout their life.

Huesmann found those "scripts" didn't always have happy endings.

In the onset of his research -- which took place between 1977 and 1979 -- Huesmann asked 384 girls in the first through fifth-grades in Oak Park, Ill. about their viewing habits.

In his follow-up between 1992 and 1995, he tracked down 221 of the original subjects and collected information on their life histories. Huesmann had subjects enter responses into a computer and as an accuracy check, Huesmann got information about each subject from a close friend or spouse.

What Is Being Done About The Problem

The television industry took steps toward implementing a ratings system for its programming at a meeting with President Clinton in late February.

The policy is to develop a ratings system for television programs that will give parents an indication of content not suitable for children.

The rating system may use letter codes (such as PG-7 for programs deemed suitable for children aged 7 and up, PG-10, PG-15, etc.), or the television industry may develop a short description of content which would be broadcast prior to the program.

Unlike the Motion Picture Association of America, which uses an independent third-party board to rate films, television networks will rate their own programs.

"I agree with President Clinton's and the industry's decision to promote some sort of ratings system and the use of the V-chip," said Dorothy Cantor, PsyD, former president of the American Psychological Association. "We live in an era where both parents are often working and children have more unsupervised time. Parents need help in monitoring the amount of television and the quality of what kids watch while they're young."

According to recent studies, the following steps can help parents maintain some control in shaping their child's viewing habits.

Watch at least one episode of the program your child views so you can better understand the content and discuss it with them.
Explain questionable incidents (e.g. random violence) that occur and discuss alternatives to violent actions as ways to solve problems.
Ban programs that are too violent or offensive.
Restrict television viewing to educational programming and shows or programs which demonstrate helping, caring and cooperation.
Encourage children to participate in more interactive activities such as sports, hobbies or playing with friends.
Limit the amount of time children spend watching television.

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Healthy marriages have healthy boundaries

2007-04-14T06:52:00.000-07:00

Healthy marriages are characterized by healthy boundaries. A boundary is something that separates one thing from another. When two people are in an intimate relationship (like a marriage) we can think about that relationship as being bounded. The two relationship partners share secrets and experiences with one another that are not shared with other people as though there is a literal boundary or barrier that keeps these secrets and experiences within their mutual private domain.

The boundary around a healthy marriage is a flexible thing; it needs to be able to bend but it should never break. Although there may be strain that develops within a marriage, a healthy couple ultimately continues to act as a unit (or at least to act in concert with one another's desires) despite the best efforts of the world and others around them to pull them in different directions. For example, a healthy couple doesn't allow parents who are critical of their union to break that union in two, nor will they allow their child to play them against each other. A healthy couple will not break confidences or promises they have made with and to each other. Maintaining the boundary around the marriage means making the welfare of the marriage first priority, even in the face of other 'first priority' activities such as parenting.

At the same time that healthy married partners keep their marriage as their number one priority, they are also not enmeshed; not joined at the hip. Each partner participates in relationships outside the marriage (family, friends, employment, etc.) and allows themselves to be influenced by those other relationships. The healthy marriage boundary can stretch to accommodate this activity. However, if push comes to shove, healthy married partners close ranks and act as a unit independent of outsiders (In-laws and even children are considered outsiders in this context!).

Healthy marriage partners act positively towards each other

Marital satisfaction is affected by how frequently partners get into conflicts, but not by whether they get into conflicts at all. Marriages vary widely in terms of how much conflict the partners tolerate. Partners in a volatile marriage are highly expressive and willing to give and take a fairly large amount of conflict, whereas partners in a conflict-avoiding marriage, by definition, try to minimize clashes and downplay displays of emotionality. What distinguishes these two groups most starkly is the vigor with which partners attempt to change their partner's minds. The varying tolerances for displays of emotionality, expressive persuasions and outright conflicts observed across different marriages derive from the constituent partner's personalities and temperaments. These differences in willingness to bicker and fight appear to be normal variations in how partners communicate and are not particularly significant in themselves. It is only when bickering and fighting between spouses results in lasting contempt or hurt feelings that it suggests anything about the health of the relationship.

If the extent to which partners are willing to conflict with one another doesn't tell you much about the health of their relationship, the relative amount of time they spend in conflict with one another vs. having more positive interactions does. Healthy stable couples are observed to produce about five positive (happy, pleasant) interchanges for each negative (angry, hostile, upset) one. Couples whose marriages are in trouble are substantially less positive towards each other than couples with healthier marriages. These findings suggest that it is not how willing one partner is to attack the other that indicates problems within the marriage; it is the frequency of those attacking episodes that is associated with marital problems.

Marriages wax and wane with regard to closeness

Marital satisfaction is never completely constant, even in healthy marriages. All marriages tend to be experienced as becoming less satisfying as time passes. As one would expect, marital happiness and satisfaction are highest during the first several 'honeymoon' years of togetherness, and tend to drop to lower but still satisfying levels as time passes. The initial drop in marital satisfaction that is so commonly experienced appears to occur as each partner develops a more realistic appreciation of what they can expect and not expect from their spouse, and also as young children are introduced into the marriage. Major family changes and disruptions such as the birth of children and transitions of children into and out of school are particularly stressful times for most marriages, as reflected by partners' decreased satisfaction ratings.

The generalized lowering of marital satisfaction level over time notwithstanding, mild waxing and waning affection and attentiveness levels spouses may have for each other appear to be a normal part of married life and nothing to overly worry about. Cause for concern only occurs when partners' periods of detachment extend for very long periods of time via

Relationship Problems

2007-04-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

While thinking about the divorce rate is often depressing, there are developments that are more happy to contemplate. Scientists have been hard at work for years now studying the ways that marriages can come apart and much has been learned. As it turns out, most relationships fail in predictable ways. Reasonably effective therapy strategies based on the knowledge that has been learned are now available for partners who recognize they are in trouble and want help. The various sections of this document will provide an overview of what is now known about how relationships fail, and a brief survey of some of the techniques that one might encounter in a state-of-the-art marital therapy situation. Not all troubled marriages can be saved, but perhaps with what is now known, more have a chance to survive than before.

If your relationship is in trouble, we want you to know two things: one, that help for your marriage is available to you and your partner if you seek it out, and two, that you can survive whatever the outcome of your marital difficulties. Relationships are organic living things that grow up between individuals over time. Like any living things, relationships can be healthy and live a long life, or they can get sickly and die. If your relationship dies, this doesn't mean that you too will experience the end of your life. When a relationship between two people becomes unworkable, each person may be crushed, but they are not necessarily defeated. It is important to keep in mind that in crisis, there is also opportunity for new growth. If a given relationship ends, it is possible and even probable that new satisfying relationships can be born in the future. It is also possible that, if there is still a mutual spark between you and your partner, that spark can be fanned back into a healthy flame; that your relationship can be repaired if you are both willing to compromise, seek help, and work hard to make your relationship work. via

Smoking in pregnancy tied to mental problems

2007-04-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

Mental health problems, such as anxiety disorders and depression, are common in women who smoke during pregnancy and may be part of the reason they do so, researchers have found.

"Given the decades-long campaign to get women to stop smoking during pregnancy, the persistence of the problem is vexing," lead investigator Dr. Renee D. Goodwin told Reuters Health. "The high rate of depression among nicotine-addicted pregnant women could shed new light on this persistent problem, and bring needed help to the women and their babies at risk."

Goodwin and colleagues at Columbia University, New York, analyzed data based on interviews with 1516 women who took part in a survey involving alcohol use. All said they had been pregnant in the past year.

A total of 22 percent reported that they smoked cigarettes, and 12 percent were could be classified as being nicotine dependent, the team reports in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. Almost half of cigarette smokers (45 percent) had a mental disorder such as depression or panic disorder, as could 57 percent of those with nicotine dependence.

"Health professionals with pregnant patients who smoke, but can't seem to quit, need to know that depression and anxiety might actually be the bigger problem standing in the way of their patients' efforts to quit," Goodwin said.

"And for them, some form of mental health treatment, such as behavioral or supportive therapy, in addition to a smoking cessation plan may be a much more effective treatment plan than a simple nicotine patch," she concluded.

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology, April 2007. via

Take Time to Make the Right Decision For Sex

2007-04-14T06:13:00.000-07:00

The word sex is used in a lot of ways. It can mean what sex you were born (male or female) or physical appeal (being sexy). It can also mean a wide range of sensual activities, like kissing, touching or "making out."

When people talk about having sex, they usually mean sexual intercourse, which is penetration of the vagina by the penis. You're a virgin if you haven't had sexual intercourse. You're not a virgin if you've had sexual intercourse.

All my friends are having sex...

Don't assume that "everybody's doing it." Your friends might say they're having sex, but they may just be bragging to sound cool or to be popular. They may be stretching the truth, or they may be making stuff up from what they've seen in magazines, on TV or on the Internet.

Don't give in to peer pressure about sex. Nobody can tell you what to do with your body or when to do it. Having sex to fit in won't make you feel cool or grown up. And you can get a reputation for being "fast" or "easy," which may make you feel uncomfortable. Whether you have sex or not is private. You don't have to share that kind of information with friends if you don't want to.

What are the risks of having sex?

Some of the health risks include pregnancy and catching one or more sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like herpes, chlamydia, genital warts, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV. Having sex before you develop physically can also hurt. Girls who start having sex before age 18 tend to have more health problems, including a higher risk of cervical cancer.

Sex also has some emotional risks. If you have sex when you're not ready or because someone is pressuring you, you may feel bad about yourself or wonder if your partner really cares about you. You may have to deal with consequences you hadn't thought of, such as pregnancy or an STI.

What is abstinence?

Abstinence means choosing not to have sex, and it isn't an outdated idea. It's an important option to think about. A lot of young people like you make the choice to wait. Some people abstain because of religious or spiritual beliefs or because of personal values. Others abstain to avoid pregnancy or STIs, or just because they aren't ready to have sex. If you abstain, that's great. You should feel good about your choice. And if you have a friend or partner who abstains, give him or her your support.

I had sex, but now I wish I hadn't.

Maybe you made a decision you regret, and now you know you weren't ready to have sex. You've learned something about your feelings. Now you can make better choices in the future, which may include deciding not to have sex again until you're older. You might want to talk about your feelings with someone you trust.

How will I know if I'm ready to have sex?

Figuring out when you're ready can be hard. Your body may give you signals that seem to say you're ready. That's natural. But your body isn't the only thing you should listen to. Your beliefs, values and emotions play a bigger role in when you choose to have sex.

One sure sign that you're not ready is if you feel pressured or if you feel really nervous and unsure. Take a step back. Try to figure out what you really want. Talk to someone you can trust, like your parents, a counselor, a teacher, a minister or your family doctor.

"You'd do it if you loved me."

Don't let anyone use this line to push you into having sex. Even if you really like the person, don't fall for it. Having sex to keep a partner usually doesn't work. Even if it does, you might not feel good about your decision. If someone wants to break up with you because you won't have sex, then that person isn't worth your time in the first place.

Don't use this line on someone else, or you risk losing the person and feeling bad about yourself. Respect your partner's feelings and beliefs.

What if I decide to have sex?

If you're going to have sex, or if you're already having sex, you should be as safe as possible. (Remember, though, the "safest" sex is no sex.) To protect yourself and your partner, use a latex condom. Condoms offer the most protection against STIs. Using a spermicide with condoms can offer better protection against pregnancy, but may not be right for everyone. For example, spermicides containing nonoxynol-9 can cause genital irritation and may increase your risk of catching an STI. Remember that condoms won't work if you don't use them correctly every time. Read the packages to figure out how to use them, or go to your family doctor or a health clinic so someone can help you figure it out. via

Tips on dealing with your emotions

2007-04-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

Learn to express your feelings in appropriate ways. It's important to let people close to you know when something is bothering you. Keeping feelings of sadness or anger inside takes extra energy and can cause problems in your relationships and at work or school.
Think before you act. Emotions can be powerful. But before you get carried away by your emotions and say or do something you might regret, give yourself time to think.
Strive for balance in your life. Make time for things you enjoy. Focus on positive things in your life.
Take care of your physical health. Your physical health can affect your emotional health. Take care of your body by exercising regularly, eating healthy meals and getting enough sleep. Don't abuse drugs or alcohol.

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Keeping Your Emotional Health

2007-04-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

Good emotional health

People who are emotionally healthy are in control of their thoughts, feelings and behaviors. They feel good about themselves and have good relationships. They can keep problems in perspective.

It's important to remember that people who have good emotional health sometimes have emotional problems or mental illness. Mental illness often has a physical cause, such as a chemical imbalance in the brain. Stress and problems with family, work or school can sometimes trigger mental illness or make it worse. However, people who are emotionally healthy have learned ways to cope with stress and problems. They know when they need to seek help from their doctor or a counselor.

What about anger?

Mental Health: Keeping Your Emotional Health
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What is good emotional health?
People who are emotionally healthy are in control of their thoughts, feelings and behaviors. They feel good about themselves and have good relationships. They can keep problems in perspective.

It's important to remember that people who have good emotional health sometimes have emotional problems or mental illness. Mental illness often has a physical cause, such as a chemical imbalance in the brain. Stress and problems with family, work or school can sometimes trigger mental illness or make it worse. However, people who are emotionally healthy have learned ways to cope with stress and problems. They know when they need to seek help from their doctor or a counselor.

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What about anger?

People are sometimes not aware of what causes their anger, how much anger they are holding inside or how to express anger. You may be angry about certain events or your own or other people's actions. Also, many little things can build up to make you feel that life is unfair.

If you find yourself becoming increasingly irritable or taking unhealthy risks (like drinking too much or abusing drugs), you may have a problem dealing with anger. It's very important to talk with your doctor or a counselor about getting help.

What can I do to avoid problems?

First, notice your emotions and reactions and try to understand them. Learning how to sort out the causes of sadness, frustration and anger in your life can help you better manage your emotional health. The box to the right gives some other helpful tips.

How does stress affect my emotions?

Your body responds to stress by making stress hormones. These hormones help your body respond to situations of extreme need. But when your body makes too many of these hormones for a long period of time, the hormones wear down your body -- and your emotions. People who are under stress a lot of are often emotional, anxious, irritable and even depressed.

If possible, try to change the situation that is causing your stress. Relaxation methods, such as deep breathing and meditation, and exercise are also useful ways to cope with stress.

Can emotional problems be treated?

Yes. Counseling, support groups and medicines can help people who have emotional problems or mental illness. If you have an ongoing emotional problem, talk to your family doctor. He or she can help you find the right type of treatment.
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Salaries And Earnings for Psychologists

2007-04-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

Median annual earnings of wage and salary clinical, counseling, and school psychologists in May 2004 were $54,950. The middle 50 percent earned between $41,850 and $71,880. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $32,280, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $92,250. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of clinical, counseling, and school psychologists in May 2004 were:

Offices of other health practitioners - $64,460
Elementary and secondary schools - $58,360
Outpatient care centers - $46,850
Individual and family services - $42,640

Median annual earnings of wage and salary industrial-organizational psychologists in May 2004 were $71,400.

The middle 50 percent earned between $56,880 and $93,210. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $45,620, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $125,560.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Psychologists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos056.htm via

Nature of Psychology Work

2007-04-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

What Do Psychologists Do?

Psychologists study the human mind and human behavior. Research psychologists investigate the physical, cognitive, emotional, or social aspects of human behavior. Psychologists in health service provider fields provide mental health care in hospitals, clinics, schools, or private settings. Psychologists employed in applied settings, such as business, industry, government, or nonprofits, provide training, conduct research, design systems, and act as advocates for psychology.

Like other social scientists, psychologists formulate hypotheses and collect data to test their validity. Research methods vary with the topic under study.

Psychologists sometimes gather information through controlled laboratory experiments or by administering personality, performance, aptitude, or intelligence tests. Other methods include observation, interviews, questionnaires, clinical studies, and surveys.

Psychologists apply their knowledge to a wide range of endeavors, including health and human services, management, education, law, and sports. In addition to working in a variety of settings, psychologists usually specialize in one of a number of different areas.
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Working Conditions of Psychologists

2007-04-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

A psychologist's subfield and place of employment determine his or her working conditions. Clinical, school, and counseling psychologists in private practice have their own offices and set their own hours. However, they often offer evening and weekend hours to accommodate their clients. Those employed in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities may work shifts that include evenings and weekends, while those who work in schools and clinics generally work regular hours.

Psychologists employed as faculty by colleges and universities divide their time between teaching and research and also may have administrative responsibilities; many have part-time consulting practices.

Most psychologists in government and industry have structured schedules.

Increasingly, many psychologists are working as part of a team, consulting with other psychologists and professionals. Many experience pressures because of deadlines, tight schedules, and overtime. Their routine may be interrupted frequently. Travel may be required in order to attend conferences or conduct research.
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When Your Child Comes Out: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Trans

2007-04-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

What Do You Do?

What do you do when your child comes out to you as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender?

How can you be supportive of your GLBT son or daughter?
Whether your child has come out to you, of if you found out unintentionally that your son or daughter is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, your child needs you now. Every child's worst fear is that by coming out their parents will reject them. No matter what your beliefs, fears or prejudices, you need to let your child know that you love him.

Your child is the same person she was before coming out of the closet. Remember, someone's sexual orientation is just one part of who they are. Your child who loved pro wrestling and The Beatles is still the same kid you've loved since birth. Nothing about her has changed. You just have more knowledge about her life.

Take this opportunity to connect as you did before you knew she was gay. Was there a meal you liked to cook together, a favorite TV show you watched? Make sure you continue to do the things you did as a family.

Show an Interest in Your Gay Child's life

Talk to your son or daughter. If you feel comfortable asking questions about her sexual orientation, do so. But you don't need to focus on sexual orientation. Talk to her about school, her job, other activities and interests. Studies show that children whose parents take an interest in their lives are less likely to engage in risky behavior.

What You May Be Going Through

You may blame yourself for your child’s homosexuality. Don’t. It’s not your fault. Most scientists and psychologists agree, people are born gay or lesbian. It is not something that you could have influenced.

You may feel depressed and isolated, like you have no one you can talk to. Find yourself a supportive counselor if you need it. Log onto the Lesbian Life Forum and talk to lesbians who may have some advice for you about what your child may be going through and how to be supportive.

Things will be different now then perhaps you hoped for you child. Most parents believe their children will grow up to be heterosexual, get married and have children. Letting go of that dream for your child can be hard. Remember though, that was your dream. Your child may still choose to spend their life with one partner and have children. Gay marriage may even become legal in his lifetime. Even though your child did not choose to be gay, they may make some life choices you do not agree with. Although this may be hard for you, remember, it's their life and they have the right to live it as their own.

What Your Gay Child is Going Through

When people come out, they often question their place in society. They wonder how they will fit in with the family. Will they still have a family? Get married, have children? How will their church or faith community accept them? Will their friends accept or reject them?

You have a choice. You can help your child feel accepted and loved, or you can add to their feelings of isolation. Make sure your child knows they still have a place in the family, no matter what the outside world tells them.

You can help your child connect with a supportive community. Many cities have support groups for gay and lesbian youth. First check the group out. Offer to drive your child to a meeting. Your local PFLAG (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapter can offer support to both your and your child.

Support your child if someone makes a disparaging remark against gays. If she is a victim of harassment or homophobia, stand by her side.

Who Can I Tell?

Who to come out to is ultimately your child's choice. Who you tell can have a consequence on his life. On the other hand, you might need to talk to someone and don't want to keep such important information to yourself. It's important that you be able to get the support that you need. Check in with your son or daughter before you tell anyone about their sexual orientation. Let her know you need to be able to talk to people to get support for yourself.

If Your Religion Says Homosexuality is a Sin

Some religions call homosexuality a sin. Others are more open and accepting of gays and lesbians. The debate is still out on this topic and probably will be for a long time. If your child was raised in the same religion as you she is probably having lots of conflicting feelings. Take a look at the work of some Biblical scholars who have a different interpretation of the Bible. What the Bible Really has to Say About Homosexuality is a great place to start.
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Mobilize Against Depression

2007-04-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Mainstay treatments for depression—psychotherapy and prescribed drugs—are extremely effective. But there are also things you can do for yourself to feel better, and one of the best of these is exercise.

While exercise cannot take the place of medical care and therapy, it often is highly beneficial. Studies have shown that regular physical activity can brighten mood, increase energy, and improve sleep. It may not work this way for everyone, but most exercisers of all ages increase their stamina and reduce their risk of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Especially when you are depressed, it is good to know that you are taking positive action for your health.

What Kind of Exercise?

No one form of exercise has been shown to be superior for depression. Aerobic activities (for example, brisk walking, jogging, swimming, and biking) and nonaerobic activities (stretching and weight training) are both beneficial. Walking at any pace, the most readily available exercise, may be an especially handy option.

What is important is to choose a physical activity that you enjoy—and to do it regularly. You do not need to push yourself to extremes. In fact, studies have shown that moderate exercise improves mood more than excessively long, hard workouts. Your goal should be to feel pleasantly tired, a normal feeling after any physical activity.

A program that many people find easy, pleasurable, and valuable is 30 to 45 minutes of walking, three to five times a week. The American College of Sports Medicine also recommends strength training two to three times a week and flexibility workouts two to three times a week.

But if you are not used to exercise, you may need to work up to this level gradually. Just a few minutes of walking (or other exercise) is a good place to start, and you may find that in a few weeks you want to do it longer and more often.

Be Realistic

Many people who have depression experience a lack of energy, fatigue, and difficulties with motivation, which can present significant exercise hurdles. The key is to start slowly and be patient with yourself: Time is on your side. As your depression lifts with the help of treatment, you will probably find it easier to exercise. The half-hour walk that looks impossible today may feel invigorating 3 weeks from now.

Don't let exercise become a burden. Try to fit it into your schedule as much as you can: Taking a 15-minute walk at lunchtime may make a lot more sense than getting up an hour earlier for a morning workout. You get similar fitness benefits when you break your exercise into smaller, more manageable chunks throughout the day.

Maximize the Pleasure

What kind of exercise is most enjoyable for you? Choose activities and settings that will increase the fun. Here are a few things that others have found useful:

Make it social. Exercise is a good way to spend time with other people. Join an aerobics class or a regular walking group, or simply arrange for a lunchtime stroll with a health-minded coworker.

Exercise outdoors. Trees, grass, pleasant surroundings—nature has a way of lifting spirits and putting things in new perspectives. Outdoor light has been shown to improve mood, especially during the winter months.

Create a positive environment. Put on your favorite music while you work out at home, or wear headphones when you jog or stroll, as long as you're away from heavy traffic.

Remember: This information is not intended as a substitute for medical treatment. Before starting an exercise program, consult a physician.via

Visualization in Sport

2007-04-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Imagery can improve performance

Many athletes use visualization techniques routinely as a part of training. There are stories and examples of how such techniques provide not only a competitive edge, but a renewed mental awareness and sense of well-being.

Visualization has also been called guided imagery, mental rehersal, mediation, and a host of new names. Generally speaking, visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention, of what you want to happen or to feel.

An athlete can use this technique to 'intend' and outcome of a race, training session or simply rest in a feeling of calm and well-being.

By imagining a scene, complete with images or movies, of a previous best performance or a new desired outcome, the athlete will simply 'step into' that feeling. While imagining these scenarios, the athlete should try to imagine the detail and the way it feels to perform in the desired way. These images can be visual (images and pictures), kinesthetic (how the body feels), or auditory (the roar of the crowd). Using the mind, an athlete can call up these images over and over, enhancing the skill through repetition or rehearsal, similar to physical practice. With mental rehearsal, minds and bodies become trained to actually perform the skill imagined.

Both physical and psychological reactions in certain situations can be improved with such visualization. Such repeated imagery can build both experience and confidence in an athlete's ability to perform certain skills under pressure, and in a variety of possible situations. The most effective visualization techniques result in a very vivid sport experience in which the athlete has complete control over a successful performance and a belief in this new 'self.'

Guided imagery, visualization, mental rehersal, or whatever you like to call it, can maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your training. In a world where sports performance and success is measured in one hundredths of a second, most athletes will use every possible training technique at hand. Visualization is used by many to gain that very slim margin. via

The Irritable Heart

2007-04-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Using open source data from a federal project digitizing medical records on veterans of the American Civil War (1860-1865) called the Early Indicators of Later Work Levels, Disease, and Death Project, researchers have identified an increased risk of post-war illness among Civil War veterans, including cardiac, gastrointestinal, and mental diseases throughout their lives. In a project partly funded by the National Institutes of Aging, military service files from a total of 15,027 servicemen from 303 companies of the Union Army stored at the United States National Archives were matched to pension files and surgeon's reports of multiple health examinations.

A total of 43 percent of the men had mental health problems throughout their lives, some of which are today recognized as related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most particularly affected were men who enlisted at ages under 17. Roxane Cohen Silver and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine published their results in the February 2006 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

Studies of PTSD to date have connected war experiences to the recurrence of mental health problems and physical health problems such as cardiovascular disease and hypertension and gastrointestinal disorders. These studies have not had access to long-term health impacts, since they have been focused on veterans of recent conflicts. Researchers studying the impact of modern conflict participation report that the factors increasing risk of later health issues include age at enlistment, intimate exposure to violence, prisoner of war status and having been wounded.

The Trauma of the American Civil War

The Civil War was a particularly traumatic conflict for American soldiers. Army soldiers commonly enlisted at quite young ages; between 15 and 20 percent of the Union army soldiers enlisted between ages of 9 and 17. Each of the Union companies was made up of 100 men assembled from regional neighborhoods, and thus often included family members and friends. Large company losses--75 percent of companies in this sample lost between five and 30 percent of their personnel--nearly always meant the loss of family or friends. The men readily identified with the enemy, who in some cases represented family members or acquaintances. Finally, close-quarter conflict, including hand-to-hand combat without trenches or other barriers, was a common field tactic during the Civil War.

To quantify trauma experienced by Civil War soldiers, researchers used a variable derived from percent of company lost to represent relative exposure to trauma. Researchers found that in military companies with a larger percentage of soldiers killed, the veterans were 51 percent more likely to have cardiac, gastrointestinal and nervous disease.

The Youngest Soldiers were Hardest Hit

The study found that the youngest soldiers (ages 9-17 at enlistment) were 93% more likely than the oldest (ages 31 or older) to experience both mental and physical disease. The younger soldiers were also more likely to show signs of cardiovascular disease alone and in conjunction with gastrointestinal conditions, and were more likely to die early. Former POWs had an increased risk of combined mental and physical problems as well as early death.

One problem the researchers grappled with was comparing diseases as they were recorded during the latter half of the 19th century to today's recognized diseases. Post-traumatic stress syndrome was not recognized by doctors--although they did recognize that veterans exhibited an extreme level of 'nervous disease' that they labeled 'irritable heart' syndrome.

Children and Adolescents in Combat

Harvard psychologist Roger Pitman, writing in an editorial in the publication, writes that the impact on younger soldiers should be of immediate concern, since "their immature nervous systems and diminished capacity to regulate emotion give even greater reason to shudder at the thought of children and adolescents serving in combat." Although disease identification is not one-to-one, said senior researcher Roxane Cohen Silver, "I've been studying how people cope with traumatic life experiences of all kinds for twenty years and these findings are quite consistent with an increasing body of literature on the physical and mental health consequences of traumatic experiences."

Boston University psychologist Terence M. Keane, Director of the National Center for PTSD, commented that this "remarkably creative study is timely and extremely valuable to our understanding of the long term effects of combat experiences." Joseph Boscarino, Senior Investigator at Geisinger Health System, added "There are a few detractors that say that PTSD [Post-traumatic stress disorder] does not exist or has been exaggerated. Studies such as these are making it difficult to ignore the long-term effects of war-related psychological trauma."
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Teenage Depression

2007-03-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

The symptoms may be harder to spot than obvious blues. The following are some of the signs of teenage depression, and are most significant when they occur in combination and over a period lasting more than two weeks.

Sadness, anxiety and hopelessness.
Lack of interest in food or compulsive overeating with resulting weight loss or gain. Or, night time insomnia and daytime sleeping.
Social isolation. Friends are important to teens and if your child is withdrawing from friends, this is a sign of trouble.
Sudden drop in grades, cutting school, or relentless rebellion.
Psychosomatic complaints - headaches, stomachaches, low back pain and fatigue. These can plague depressed teens.
Alcohol, drug use or sexual activity can be ways of coping with depression. Suicidal feeling and behavior are a sign of serious depression and a real cry for help via

Treatment for Depression

2007-03-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Having depression doesn't mean that a person is weak, or a failure, or isn't really trying... it means they need TREATMENT.

Most people with depression can be helped with COUNSELING, provided by a professional psychologist, and some are helped with Counseling and Medicine.

COUNSELING, or psychotherapy, means talking about feelings with a trained psychologist who can help you change the relationships, thoughts, or behaviors that are causing the depression. Think about it, you feel depressed because you think your life is bad. What if you're wrong? What if you're missing all the good things around you? What if your future holds a lot more promise than you think? When you're depressed, you're in a rut, and you can't see anything good. You need to talk to someone who can help you get out of that rut! Don't wait, ask your parents, or your school counselor for help today.

MEDICINE is used to treat depression that is severe or disabling. Antidepressant medications are not "uppers" and are not addictive. When depression is so bad that you can't focus on anything else, when it interferes with your life in an overwhelming way, medication might be necessary, in addition to counseling. But most often, counseling alone is sufficient.

With treatment, most depressed people start to feel better in just a few weeks.

So remember, when your problems seem too big and you're feeling low for too long,

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
There's help out there and you CAN ask for help. And if you know someone who you think is depressed, YOU CAN HELP. Listen and encourage your friend to ask a parent or a responsible adult about treatment. If you friend doesn't ask for help soon, talk to an adult you trust and respect-- especially if your friend mentions suicide. Your friend's life is more important than keeping a secret!
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Causes of Depression

2007-03-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

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Causes of Depression

Depression has no single cause; often, it results from a combination of things. You may have no idea why depression has struck you.

Whatever its cause, depression is not just a state of mind. It is related to physical changes in the brain, and connected to an imbalance of a type of chemical that carries signals in your brain and nerves. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters.

Some of the more common factors involved in depression are:

Family history. Genetics play an important part in depression. It can run in families for generations.
Trauma and stress. Things like financial problems, the breakup of a relationship, or the death of a loved one can bring on depression. You can become depressed after changes in your life, like starting a new job, graduating from school, or getting married.
Pessimistic personality. People who have low self-esteem and a negative outlook are at higher risk of becoming depressed. These traits may actually be caused by low-level depression (called dysthymia).
Physical conditions. Serious medical conditions like heart disease, cancer, and HIV can contribute to depression, partly because of the physical weakness and stress they bring on. Depression can make medical conditions worse, since it weakens the immune system and can make pain harder to bear. In some cases, depression can be caused by medications used to treat medical conditions.
Other psychological disorders. Anxiety disorders, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and (especially) substance abuse often appear along with depression. via

Symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder

2007-03-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

ndividuals with antisocial personality disorder:

* May begin displaying symptoms during childhood. Such behaviors include fire setting, cruelty to animals, and difficulty with authority.

* Often have legal problems resulting from failures to conform to social norms and a lack of concern for the rights of others.

* Often act out impulsively and fail to consider the consequences of their actions.

* Display aggressiveness and irritability that often lead to physical assaults.

* Have difficulty feeling empathy for others. This inability to consider the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of other people can lead to disregard for others.

* Display a lack of remorse for damaging behavior.

Treatments for Antisocial Personality Disorder

* Those with antisocial personality disorder rarely seek out treatment on their own.

* Individuals generally receive treatment only after some type of altercation with the legal system.

* Cognitive therapy can be useful in helping individuals gain insight into their behaviors and to change maladaptive thought patterns.

* Effective results usually occur only after long-term treatment.
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Impact of Age and Mood on Information Processing

2007-03-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

A new study published in the journal Psychology and Aging suggests that the effects of mood on information processing may be impacted by age.

In the study, negative and positive moods were induced in younger and older participants, who were then asked to interpret the actions of others. Older adults were more likely than younger adults to attribute another’s actions to the individual rather than attributing actions to situational factors.

Based upon the results, researchers suggest than older adults are more concerned with suppressing negative emotions than younger adults. Researchers suggest that because attention is focused on regulating negative emotions, older adults have difficulty processing external information.

"It may be the case that older adults in a negative mood state are more motivated to downgrade their negative emotions and, thus, not allocate enough processing time to focus on the details of the situation.

So this needs to be taken into consideration when imparting information to older adults,” said Fredda Blanchard-Fields, professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Psychology.
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Types of Therapy

2007-03-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

The popular conception of therapy is that of the classic talk therapy; a client, a couch, and a psychologist with a notepad and pencil in hand. While some approaches do utilize this method, there are numerous types of therapy that can be used to help a client overcome problems. In all cases, the goal of therapy is to provide a nonjudgmental environment that allows the client and therapy provider to work together towards a mutually agreed upon set of goals.

Psychoanalytic Therapy
What is Psychoanalytic Therapy

Psychoanalytic therapy is one of the most well-known treatment modalities, but it is also one of the most misunderstood by mental health consumers.
Founded by Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic therapists generally spend time listening to patients talk about their lives, which is why this method is often referred to as "talk therapy." The therapy provider will look for patterns or significant events that may play a role in the client’s current difficulties.

Psychoanalysts believe that childhood events and unconscious feelings, thoughts, and motivations play a role in mental illness and maladaptive behaviors.

Benefits of Psychoanalytic Therapy

While this type of therapy has many critics who claim that psychoanalytic therapy is too time consuming, expensive, and generally ineffective, this treatment has several benefits as well. The therapist offers an empathetic and nonjudgmental environment where the client can feel safe in revealing feelings or actions that have led to stress or tension in their lives. Oftentimes, simply sharing these burdens with another person can have a beneficial influence.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
What is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive therapists tend to focus on specific problems. These therapists believe that irrational thinking or faulty perceptions cause dysfunctions. A cognitive therapist may work with a client to change thought patterns. This type of therapy is often effective for clients suffering from depression or anxiety.

Behavioral therapists work to change problematic behaviors that have been trained through years of reinforcement. A good example of behavioral therapy would be a therapist working with a client to overcome a fear of heights. The therapist would encourage the client to gradually face their fear of heights through experience. The client might first imagine standing on the roof of a tall building or riding an escalator. Next, the client would slowly expose themselves to greater and greater levels of their fear until the phobia diminishes or disappears entirely.

Benefits of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive and behavioral approaches can be highly effective when treating specific problems. Oftentimes, cognitive and behavioral approaches are combined when treating a disorder. A therapist treating a client with social anxiety may help the client form more accurate thinking patterns as well as focusing on specific behaviors, such as social avoidance.
Group Therapy
What is Group Therapy?

Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy where two or more clients work with one or more therapists or counselors. This methods is a popular format for support groups, where group members can learn from the experiences of others and offer advice. This method is also more cost effective than individual psychotherapy and is oftentimes more effective.

Benefits of Group Therapy

It is common for those suffering from a mental illness or problem behavior to feel alone, isolated, or different. Group therapy can help clients by providing a peer group of individuals that are currently experiencing the same symptoms or who have recovered from a similar problem. Group members can also provide emotional support and a safe forum to practice new behaviors.
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Top 10 Influential Psychologists

2007-03-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

Psychology is a broad and varied subject. This breadth and diversity of thought can be seen by looking as some of the best known thinkers in psychology. While each theorist may have been part of an overriding school of thought, each brought a unique and individual voice and perspective to the field of psychology.
A study that appeared in the July 2002 issue of the Review of General Psychology created a ranking of the 99 most influential psychologists. The rankings were mostly based on three factors: the frequency of journal citations, introductory textbook citations, and the survey responses of 1,725 members of the American Psychological Association.
The following list provides an overview of 10 psychologists from this ranking survey. These individuals are not only some of the best-known thinkers in psychology, they also played an important role in psychology’s history and made important contributions to our understanding of human behavior.

This list is not an attempt to identify who was the most influential or which school of thought was best. Instead, this list offers a glimpse of some of the theoretical outlooks that have influenced not only psychology, but also the larger culture in which we live.

1. B. F. Skinner:

In the 2002 study ranking the 99 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century, B.F. Skinner topped the list. Skinner’s staunch behaviorism made him a dominating force in psychology and therapy techniques based on his theories are still used extensively today, including behavior modification and token economies.

2. Sigmund Freud:

When people think of psychology, many tend to think of Freud. His work supported the belief that not all mental illnesses have physiological causes and he also offered evidence that cultural differences have an impact on psychology and behavior. His work and writings contributed to our understanding of personality, clinical psychology, human development, and abnormal psychology.

3. Albert Bandura :

Bandura’s work is considered part of the cognitive revolution in psychology that began in the late 1960s. His social learning theory stressed the importance of observational learning, imitation, and modeling. "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do,” Bandura explained in his 1977 book Social Learning Theory.

4. Jean Piaget:

Jean Piaget's work had a profound influence on psychology, especially our understanding children's intellectual development. His research contributed to the growth of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, genetic epistemology, and education reform. Albert Einstein once described Piaget's observations on children's intellectual growth and thought processes as a discovery "so simple that only a genius could have thought of it."

5. Carl Rogers:

Carl Rogers’s emphasis on human potential had an enormous influence on both psychology and education. He became one of the major humanist thinkers and an eponymous influence in therapy with his ‘Rogerian therapy.’ As described by his daughter Natalie Rogers, he was “a model for compassion and democratic ideals in his own life, and in his work as an educator, writer, and therapist.”

6. William James:

Psychologist and philosopher William James is often referred to as the father of American psychology. His 1200-page text, The Principles of Psychology, became a classic on the subject and his teachings and writings helped establish psychology as a science. In addition, James contributed to functionalism, pragmatism, and influenced many students of psychology during his 35-year teaching career.

7. Erik Erikson:

Erik Erikson's stage theory of psychosocial development helped create interest and research on human development through the lifespan. An ego psychologist who studied with Anna Freud, Erikson expanded psychoanalytic theory by exploring development throughout the life, including events of childhood, adulthood, and old age.

8. Ivan Pavlov:

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist whose research on conditioned reflexes influenced the rise of behaviorism in psychology. Pavlov's experimental methods helped move psychology away from introspection and subjective assessments to objective measurement of behavior.

9. Kurt Lewin:

Lewin is known as the father of modern social psychology because of his pioneering work that utilized scientific methods and experimentation to look as social behavior. Lewin was a seminal theorist whose enduring impact on psychology makes him one of the preeminent psychologists of the 20th-century.

10. Reader’s Choice:

Following the examples of Eugene Garfield’s 1977 ranking list and Haggbloom’s 2002 ranking, the final position on this list has been left blank in order to allow “the reader’s best case for a psychologist who should have made the list” (Haggbloom, 2002).
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Lewin's Leadership Styles

2007-03-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

In 1939, a group of researchers led by psychologist Kurt Lewin set out to identify different styles of leadership. While further research has identified more specific types of leadership, this early study was very influential and established three major leadership styles. In the study, groups of schoolchildren were assigned to one of three groups with an authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-fair leader. The children were then led in an arts and crafts project. Researchers then observed the behavior of children in response to the different styles of leadership.
Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic)
Authoritarian leaders provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done.

There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.

Researchers found that decision-making was less creative under authoritarian leadership. Lewin also found that it is more difficult to move from an authoritarian style to a democratic style than vice versa. Abuse of this style is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and dictatorial.

Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group.
Participative Leadership (Democratic)
Lewin’s study found that participative (democratic) leadership is generally the most effective leadership style. Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members. In Lewin’s study, children in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a much higher quality.

Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative.
Delegative (Laissez-Fair)
Researchers founds that children under delegative (laissez-fair) leadership were the least productive of all three groups. The children in this group also made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation, and were unable to work independently.

Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

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Research Areas in Social Psychology

2007-03-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Now that you have a better understanding of what social psychology is (see previous article: What is Social Psychology?), we are going to look at some of the major research areas of interest to social psychologists. Many of these topics are related to social influence, social perception, and social interaction. The following are just a few of the areas of interest within social psychology.

1. Social Cognition:

Social cognition is concerned with the processing, storage, and application of social information. Related to the field of cognitive psychology, this research area focuses largely on the concept of schemas. Schemas are our general ideas about the world, how things are, and how things work. These mental shortcuts allow us to function without constantly stopping to interpret everything around us. We develop associations between related schemas, which plays an important role in social behavior and thinking.

2. Attitudes and Attitude Change:

The study of attitudes is one of the major research areas in social psychology. Social psychologists are interested in the components of attitudes, how attitudes develop, and how attitudes change. Researchers have described three core components of attitude: an affective component, a behavioral component, and a cognitive component. Often referred to as the “ABC’s of attitude,” these elements describe how we feel, behave, and understand.

3. Violence and Aggression:

What causes violence and aggression? Social psychologists are interested in how and why people engage in violence or act aggressively. Research in this area looks at numerous factors that may cause aggression including social variables and media influences. Researchers often look at the role social learning plays in producing aggressive behaviors and actions.

4. Prosocial Behavior:

Prosocial behavior is another major research area in social psychology. What is prosocial behavior? Prosocial behaviors are those that involve helping and cooperating. Researchers often look at why people help others, as well as why they sometimes refuse to help or cooperate.
Much of the research in this area was prompted by the murder of a young woman named Kitty Genovese. This case captured national attention when reports revealed that neighbors had witnessed her attack and murder, but failed to call the police for help. Research inspired by the case produced a great deal of information on prosocial behavior and how and why people choose—or sometimes refuse—to help others.

5. Prejudice and Discrimination:

Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes exist in any social group. Social psychologists are interested in the origins, causes, and effects of these types of attitudes and social categorizations. How does prejudice develop? Why are stereotypes maintained in the face of contrary evidence? These are just a few of the questions social psychologists seek to answer.

6. Self and Social Identity:

Our perceptions of social identities and ourselves are another important research area in social psychology. How do people come to know and understand themselves? How do these self-perceptions affect our social interactions? Social psychologists are interested in learning more about how this inner life influences our outer lives and social world. Self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-expression are just a few of the factors that influence our social experience.

7. Group Behavior:

The behavior of groups is one of the largest research areas in social psychology. Most people realize that groups tend to behave differently than individuals. These group behaviors are sometimes beneficial and positive, but they can also be detrimental and negative. Social psychologists often look at topics such as group dynamics, leadership, group decision-making, conflicts, cooperation, and group influence.

8. Social Influence:

Social psychologists are also interested in the role that social influence has on behavior and decision-making. Topics such as the psychology of persuasion, peer pressure, conformity, and obedience are just a few of those studied in this area of social psychology. Research has helped reveal the power of social influence and has uncovered ways to help people resist influence.

9. Interpersonal Relationships:

Social relationships play a major role in shaping behavior, attitudes, feelings, and thoughts. Social psychologists study how these interpersonal relationships affect people by looking at attachment, liking, love, and attraction. How do close relationships affect individuals? How important are these interpersonal relationships? These are just a few of the questions social psychologists seek to explain.
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Identity Crisis - Theory and Research

2007-03-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

What is an Identity Crisis?
Are you unsure of your role in life? Do you feel like you don't know the 'real you'? If you answer yes to the previous questions, you may be experiencing an identity crisis. Theorist Erik Erikson coined the term identity crisis and believed that it was one of the most important conflicts people face in development.

According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself. Erikson's interest in identity began in childhood. Raised Jewish, Erikson appeared very Scandinavian, and felt that he was an outsider of both groups. His later studies of cultural life among the Yurok of northern California and the Sioux of South Dakota helped formalize Erikson's ideas about identity development and identity crisis.

Erikson described identity as "a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in a young person who has found himself as he has found his communality. In him we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given--that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals--with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made, and first sexual encounters." (Erikson, 1970.)
Research on Identity
In Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, the emergence of an identity crisis occurs during the teenage years in which people struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion. Researcher James Maria (1966, 1976, 1980) has expanded upon Erikson's initial theory. According to Marcia and his colleagues, the balance between identity and confusion lies in making a commitment to an identity. Marcia also developed an interview method to measure identity as well as four different identity statuses. This methods looks at three different areas of functioning: occupational role, beliefs and values, and sexuality.
Identity Statuses

* Identity achievement occurs when an individual has gone through an exploration of different identities and made a commitment to one.

* Moratorium is the status of a person who is actively involved in exploring different identities, but has not made a commitment.

* Foreclosure status is when a person has made a commitment without attempting identity exploration.

* Identity diffusion occurs when there is neither an identity crisis or commitment.

Researchers have found that those who have made a strong commitment to an identity tend to be happier and healthier than those who have not. Those with a status of identity diffusion tend to feel out of place in the world and don't pursue a sense of identity.

In today's rapidly changing world, identity crises are more common today than in Erikson's day. Exploring different aspects of yourself in the different areas of life, including your role at work, within the family, and in romantic relationships, can help strengthen your personal identity.

References:

Erikson, E.H. (1970). Reflections on the dissent of contemporary youth., International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 51, 11-22.

Marcia, J. E. (1966) Development and validation of ego identity statuses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.

Marcia, J. E. (1976) Identity six years after: A follow-up study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 5, 145-160.

Marcia, J. E. (1980) Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. New York: Wiley.
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Theories of Intelligence

2007-03-24T05:24:00.000-07:00

While intelligence is one of the most talked about subjects within psychology, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes 'intelligence.' Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability, while other believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills, and talents.

The following are some of the major theories of intelligence that have emerged during the last 100 years.
Charles Spearman - General Intelligence:

British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945) described a concept he referred to as general intelligence, or the g factor. After using a technique known as factor analysis to to examine a number of mental aptitude tests, Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar. People who performed well on one cognitive test tended to perform well on other tests, while those who scored badly on one test tended to score badly on other. He concluded that intelligence is general cognitive ability that could be measured and numerically expressed (Spearman, 1904).
Louis L. Thurstone - Primary Mental Abilities:

Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887-1955) offered a differing theory of intelligence. Instead of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability, Thurstone's theory focused on seven different "primary mental abilities" (Thurstone, 1938). The abilities that he described were:

* Verbal comprehension
* Reasoning
* Perceptual speed
* Numerical ability
* Word fluency
* Associative memory
* Spatial visualization

Howard Gardner - Multiple Intelligences:

One of the more recent ideas to emerge is Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Instead of focusing on the analysis of test scores, Gardner proposed that numerical expressions of human intelligence are not a full and accurate depiction of people's abilities. His theory describes eight distinct intelligences that are based on skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures.
The eight intelligences Gardner described are:

* Visual-spatial Intelligence
* Verbal-linguistic Intelligence
* Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence
* Logical-mathematical Intelligence
* Interpersonal Intelligence
* Musical Intelligence
* Intra personal Intelligence
* Naturalistic Intelligence

Robert Sternberg - Triarchic Theory of Intelligence:

Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as "mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-world environments relevant to one’s life” (Sternberg, 1985, p. 45). While he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a single, general ability, he instead suggested some of Gardner's intelligences are better viewed as individual talents. Sternberg proposed what he refers to as 'successful intelligence,' which is comprised of three different factors:

* Analytical intelligence: This component refers to problem-solving abilities.
* Creative intelligence: This aspect of intelligence involves the ability to deal with new situations using past experiences and current skills.
* Practical intelligence: This element refers to the ability to adapt to a changing environment.

While there has been considerable debate over the exact nature of intelligence, no definitive conceptualization has emerged. Today, psychologists often account for the many different theoretical viewpoints when discussing intelligence and acknowledge that this debate is ongoing.
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Career Profile - Industrial-Organizational Psychology

2007-03-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

What is industrial-organizational psychology?: Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is concerned with the study of workplace behavior. I-O psychologists often apply research to increasing workplace productivity, selecting employees best suited for particular jobs, and product testing.
What do industrial-organizational psychologists do?: I-O psychology is a diverse field with opportunities in several different areas. Many I-O psychologists work in business in positions dealing with worker productivity, employee training and assessment, and human resources. Other I-O psychologists work in research or academic positions. Specific specialty areas in I-O psychology include human-computer interaction and human factors. Consulting opportunities are also available for experienced I-O psychologists.
How much do industrial-organizational psychologists typically earn?: Typical salaries for I-O psychologists vary considerably depending upon such factors as the type of degree held and type of employer. According to the Society for Industrial (SIOP) and Organizational Psychology:
Starting salary for Master’s graduate - $38,750
Starting salary for Ph.D graduate - $55,000
Median salary - $80,000
University professors - $70,000
Private sector - $100,000
Highest earners – Top 5% of SIOP members earn from $250,000 to several million each year.

What type of degree is needed?: There are a number of university programs that offer Bachelor’s degrees in industrial-organizational psychology. People with a Bachelor's degree typically work in human resources, although there are some opportunities in other areas. Those looking for greater job opportunities and higher pay may want to consider continuing their education at the Master’s level.
There are many opportunities for job candidates with Master’s degree’s in I-O psychology. These individuals often work in human resources, consulting, government, and positions in the private sector. The growing demand for I-O psychologists had led to an increase in the number of universities offering Master’s degrees in I-O psychology. Those with doctorate degrees in I-O psychology have the highest amount of opportunity and pay.
What is the job outlook for industrial-organizational psychologists?: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook states that:

Industrial-organizational psychologists will be in demand to help to boost worker productivity and retention rates in a wide range of businesses. I-O psychologists will help companies deal with issues such as workplace diversity and anti-discrimination policies. Companies also will use psychologists’ expertise in survey design, analysis, and research to develop tools for marketing evaluation and statistical analysis.

Is a career in I-O psychology right for me?: Before you decide on a career in I-O psychology, there are a few factors you should consider. Do you enjoy research? Are you comfortable with statistics? If not, I-O psychology might not be the best choice for you. Those working in business, government, and academic positions often spend considerable time conducting research. If you prefer working one-on-one with people, you might find that clinical or counseling psychology is a better match for you.
One of the great things about I-O psychology is that many positions encompass topics and skills from many different areas of psychology. Personality psychology, social psychology, experimental psychology, and statistics are just a few of the subjects that I-O psychologists might deal with on a regular basis. If you enjoy finding practical applications for psychological research, industrial-organization psychology might be a good match for you.
What are the pros and cons of a career in industrial-organizational psychology?:
Pros of a Career in I-O Psychology

* Many career opportunities with a Master’s-level degree.
* Diverse career paths (i.e. private sector, consulting, government, education.)
* Opportunities for self-employment.

Cons of a Career in I-O Psychology

* Clients and projects change often.
* Research can often be tedious and burnout can occur.
* Many positions require doctoral degrees.

References: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Psychologists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos056.htm
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Think Positive To Live Longer

2007-03-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

Be Positive and Add 7.5 Years to Your Life:

Research shows that how you perceive aging effects how long you will live. In a study of 660 people, those with more positive perceptions of their own aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer. This effect remained after other factors such as age, gender, income, loneliness and health status were controlled.

Look Forward to Aging While You Are Young:

The study compared death rates of the 660 study participants to their answers to a survey 23 years ago. Therefore, adjusting your perception of aging while you're still young can have a tremendous effect on your life expectancy.

Improving Resiliency:

No one knows for sure why a positive attitude seems to lead to a longer life. Researchers believe that positive thinking about aging can increase a person's will to live, making him or her more resilient to illness and more proactive about health. Another explanation given was that mental stress of aging is lower for people who have a positive attitude. Positive thinking and stress reduction have also been linked.

Finding Insight as You Age:

What's so great about aging? Good question. Our society prizes youth and beauty above all. Messages about aging tend to emphasize the negative aspects. But, like fine wine, people should get better as they age. Experience, combined with maturity, gives older people great insight. Older people are more in touch with spirituality and the priorities which have true depth. By following a simple, healthy lifestyle you can preserve your health and energy your whole life.

How Positive Attitudes Compare to Other Longevity Boosters:

Here is a brief list of the number of years that each of these health factors are believed to add (remember these numbers are for mortality and do not consider the quality of life):

low blood pressure: 4 years
low cholesterol readings: 4 years
healthy weight: 1-3 years
not smoking: 14 years
regular exercise: 1-3 years
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10 Tips For Improving Memory

2007-03-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

There are a number of tried and tested techniques for improving memory. These strategies have been established within cognitive psychology literature and offer a number of great ways to improve memory, enhance recall, and increase retention of information.

Focus your attention on the materials you are studying. Attention is one of the major components of memory. In order for information to move from short-term memory into long-term memory, you need to actively attend to this information. Try to study in a place free of distractions such as television, music, and other diversions.
Avoid cramming by establishing regular study sessions. According to Bjork (2001), studying materials over a number of session’s gives you the time you need to adequately process the information. Research has shown that students who study regularly remember the material far better that those did all of their studying in one marathon session.
Elaborate and rehearse the information you are studying. In order to recall information, you need to encode what you are studying into long-term memory. One of the most effective encoding techniques is known as elaborative rehearsal. An example of this technique would be to read the definition of a key term, study the definition of that term, and then read a more detailed description of what that term means. After repeating this process a few times, your recall of the information will be far better.
Relate new information to things you already know. When you are studying unfamiliar material, take the time to think about how this information relates to things that you already know. By establishing relationships between new ideas and previously existing memories, you can dramatically increase the likelihood of recalling the recently learned information.
Visualize concepts to improve memory and recall. Many people benefit greatly from visualizing the information they study. Pay attention to the photographs, charts, and other graphics in your textbooks. If you don’t have visual cues to help, try creating your own. Draw charts or figures in the margins of your notes or use highlighters or pens in different colors to group related ideas in your written study materials.
Teach new concepts to another person. Research suggests that reading materials out loud significantly improves memory of the material. Educators and psychologists have also discovered that having students actually teach new concepts to others enhances understanding and recall. You can use this approach in your own study by teaching new concepts and information to a friend or study partner.
Pay extra attention to difficult information. Have you ever noticed how it's sometimes easier to remember information at the beginning or end of a chapter? Researchers have found that the position of information can play a role in recall, which is known as the serial position effect. While recalling middle information can be difficult, you can overcome this problem by spending extra time rehearsing this information or try restructuring the information so it will be easier to remember. When you come across an especially difficult concept, devote some extra time to memorizing the information.
Vary your study routine. Another great way to increase your recall is to occasionally change your study routine. If you are accustomed to studying in one specific location, try moving to a different spot to study. If you study in the evening, try to spend a few minutes each morning reviewing the information you studied the previous night. By adding an element of novelty to your study sessions, you can increase the effectiveness of your efforts and significantly improve your long-term recall.

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Meditation Results in Brain Growth

2007-03-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Do you meditate? We've known that meditation results in reduced stress, improved attention, and increased relaxation. New research out of Yale University has found that regular meditation practice results in increased thickness of grey matter in the cortex of the brain. The increases were found in areas that are involved in sensory, cognitive and emotional processing.

The study involved 20 participants with extensive training in "Buddhist Insight meditation." They meditated an average of 40 minutes per day.

Magnetic resonance imaging found that regular practice of meditation was specifically associated with increased thickness in brain regions related to sensory, auditory, visual and internal perception, such as heart rate or breathing. It also appears that regular meditation practice may slow age-related shrinkage of the frontal cortex.

Changes were greatest in the right hemispheres of subjects' brains.

The authors of the study believe that other forms of yoga and meditation likely have a similar impact on brain structure, although each tradition would be expected to have a slightly different pattern of cortical thickening based on the specific mental exercises involved. via

The Psychology of Art

2007-03-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

by Sheldon Litt

Ever since Freud first ventured into the problems of creativity, psychoanalysis has stressed the darker, negative aspects of art. Plato, long ago, noted that the artist was divinely inspired and therefore mad. Freud's classical theory of the psychogenesis of art – that art arises from sublimation of sexuality – is now well-known and respectable. But is it accurate in today's world?
The creations of the artist, in Freud's view, are primarily an expression of the creator's unresolved neurotic conflicts – usually sexual conflicts. The artist is pictured as a sexually-frustrated childish neurotic, who weaves his wild fantasies as a substitute for his unsuccessful attempts at fulfilment in the Real World. His painting may, in the Freudian interpretation, be compared to the symptoms of the neurotic. For Freudians, the artwork is ultimately a mere manifestation of a neurosis, and the artist is always a sick man.
That art has a neurotic source may be readily observed in some instances but obviously there are great artists, the lives of whom reveal little evidence for the universality of this conception. Thus, while Rembrandt's tragic suffering points in this direction, the happy un-neurotic life of Rubens give us a contradictory example.
Following Freud's theory (while overlooking the exceptions), many writers have consequently sought to explain a work of art by delving into the disturbed emotional life of the artist. In their view, the theme of composition is always autobiographical and reflects the artist's own unresolved sexual problems. Freud started this trend with his epochal study of Leonardo da Vinci, which traced the relationship between Leonardo's inverted sexuality and his art.
Yet the point must be emphasised here that many people, not only artists, have endured suffering. A biographer who digs enough can always locate evidence of emotional instability and a pained psyche in everyone. Man's existential Angst is universal. But not all of us utilise this feeling for creative purposes. Why then seek the origin of art in the endless cesspool of man's constant anxiety?
The true well-spring of art come forth from sources deeper than the neurotic symptom, and is the common denominator of our basic humanness. The artist doesn't produce art because of his sickness; his artistic capacity is there first, as a natural development that emerges in spite of his neurosis.
Although this Freudian motif of art as grounded in illness has wide acceptance, many significant objections can be raised against it. Are artists really sexually frustrated? A Kinsey report on artists might actually produce astounding results weighing in the other direction. True, some artists may fit the notion of subliminated sexuality, but these few ascetics do not generally produce great masterpieces. Their creations are more likely to be weak, over-sentimentalized spiritual fabrications.
Another common sense and traditional view of creativity, diametrically opposed to the psychoanalytic mode holds that strong eroticism leads to powerful art. Thus, Renoir is reported to have said, "I paint with my penis". Baudelaire and Heine had similar notions. Modern literature, from Henry Miller to Norman Mailer, gives ample evidence for this hypothesis.
It can thus be argued that the psychoanalytic position fails to do justice to the artist. If one compares people from various occupations today, it is difficult to reconcile the analytic opinion of the artists's frustrations with observable reality. Creative people especially artists – can hardly be said to suffer from a lack of sexual or other satisfaction. Picasso, for example, was a man who had a hearty appetite for sex and life, even into his 80s. In all fields of the arts, one can point to those who have shown signs, not of frustration, sickness or lack of zest for life, but on the contrary, many who have carried the full expression of sexuality and richness of life's experiences into their older years: Casals, Kodaly, Victor Hugo, Degas, Goethe, Matisse, just to name a few names.
With this in mind, it might even be said that the creative artist has a rounder, not a sicker attitude toward sex and life. Is it perhaps analysts' Victorian middle-class morality that has shielded this salient fact from them? In order to explore this problem thoroughly, a broader concept of normality is necessary.
Instead of seeing the artist as a maladjusted neurotic monstrosity who has been rejected by the world of "normal" people, we need to turn around this usual categorisation to perceive the artist as the healthiest individual who rejects the limited aspirations of the mundane normal existence: healthy because he is first an individual...and moreover an individual who can create and achieve fulfilment from his productivity. Generally speaking, he is healthier and more sexual than others. If he has been set apart from "normals", it is because they are repressed. Cut off from realising their creative potential, they limit growth and expansion by this loss of a vital developmental function.
The roots of creativity need not be sought in the artist's unconscious, because the act of creation is not, as is widely held, an abnormal function, but a basic natural potentiality of human existence. Creation is found at all levels of life and should be interpreted as indication of vigorous self-expression rather than a compulsive act of warped sexuality. The artist, instead of being a driven, unsatisfied person may be more correctly regarded as one who is fulfilled, who sees more profoundly into life. The true artist can communicate his vision to others; the neurotic, on the other hand, cannot. He tries, but his conflicts prevent him from adequately formulating and communicating his ideas. Even the neurotic, however, may be considered "healthier" than so-called "well-adjusted" normal people.
The neurotic, whatever his hang-ups, is at least striving for growth and fulfilment, which places him in a sense above the "normals", who have given up and lost their capacity for self-expression. They have become merely part of the mass who take things as given. Passively accepting all, the dull normals of society merely go along with the conceptual framework imposed by the social environment. The neurotic (who is a kind of "failed artist") rejects this framework in an attempt to construct his own system of ideas.
The artist, rejecting the "normal" foundation, replaces it by building his own individualised vision of life, which he can then successfully express to others.
By taking a broader, phenomenological perspective of the function of creativity, it is possible to avoid Freud's mythological reductionism and pose an alternative theory. via

New Research Suggests Of Psychological distress

2007-03-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of British Columbia reviewed the results of 15 studies published between 1972 and 2000 that assessed the link between psychological distress and hypertension development. The studies measured subjects' levels of anger, anxiety, depression, defensiveness, social support, hopelessness and other psychological factors, and then looked at whether the subjects later developed high blood pressure.

None of the subjects initially had hypertension, and each study followed the subjects for at least one year. Although the 15 studies' methods, populations, and definitions of hypertension varied widely, most of them found associations between psychological factors and blood pressure levels.

Looking at all of the studies, the researchers assert that the risk of developing hypertension was about 8 percent higher among people who had high psychological distress than among people who had low psychological distress.

"Given the prevalence, clinical repercussions, and medical costs associated with hypertension, a factor disposing a risk increase of this magnitude could be considered highly important to clinical health experts," write researchers Thomas Rutledge, Ph.D., formerly of the University of Pittsburgh and now at the University of California, San Diego, and Brenda E. Hogan, M.A., of the University of British Columbia. Their study is published in the September/October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

The researchers also suggest that the apparent association between anger, anxiety and depression and the risk of hypertension "compares favorably with better established predictors of hypertension such as obesity and physical activity." Therefore, more research into the relationship of psychological factors and hypertension development is warranted.

The 15 research studies reviewed for the analysis included between 78 and 4,650 subjects, most of whom were white and male. However, four studies reported separate results for African Americans. Like other subjects, African Americans with high psychological distress from depression, anxiety, and anger had a higher risk of developing hypertension.

The review study is the first major quantitative look at prospective research focusing on psychological predictors of high blood pressure. via

Mental Health Affects Heart Risks

2007-03-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Several different psychological factors can take a toll on heart health, and each factor seems to act at different stages through different mechanisms, research suggests.

Willem J. Kop, Ph.D. summarized studies on mental health and heart health in a 2003 issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. He classifies psychological risk factors for coronary disease into three categories - chronic, episodic and acute - based on their duration and closeness in time to the haeart problems.

Chronic psychological factors that are those associated with increased risk of a first heart attack. These include long-term, stable characteristics such as a hostile personality, Type A behavior or low socioeconomic status. These factors have been shown to play an important role in early disease stages when the build up of artery-blocking plaque is beginning.
Research has found that fat deposits, inflammation of the arteries and higher white blood cell counts all result from these psychological traits by way of the nervous system.
Low socioeconomic status, for example, correlates with increased exposure to bacteria and viruses, to higher level of proteins that regulate the immune response (cytokines) and to elevated C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.
A similar pattern holds true for episodic risk factors like depression or exhaustion, which can last from several weeks to two years. Episodic mental health conditions may lead to the creation of unstable plaques. Stable plaques partially intrude into arteries; while unstable ones threaten to break off and completely block critical blood vessels in the heart, causing heart attacks.
C-reactive protein rises in people with depression and in exhausted individuals over 65. Depression also correlates with elements of the immune system, including increased cytokines, lymphocytes and white blood cells. Being overweight strengthens the connection between depression and inflammatory markers.
Acute psychological risk factors can directly trigger heart attacks once coronary artery disease has reached advanced stages. Outbursts of anger can double the risk of heart attack by reducing blood supply to the heart and promoting plaque rupture. Stress has been shown to impair heart function in 30 to 60 percent of patients with coronary disease.The mind and the body are one system. This research strongly supports the idea that psychological factors are involved in cardiovascular disease. Learning to better manage stress, depression, and hostility may pay dividends in better heart health.

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Basic Concepts in Social Psychology

2007-03-18T04:41:00.000-07:00

Our perception of ourselves in relation to the rest of the world plays an important role in our choices, behaviors, and beliefs. Conversely, the opinions of others also impact our behavior and the way we view ourselves. Social psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how social phenomena influence us and how people interact with others. There are some basic aspects of social behavior that play a large role in our actions and how we see ourselves.

Social behavior is goal-oriented. Our interactions function to serve a goal or fulfill a need. Some common goals or needs include the need for social ties, the desire to understand ourselves and others, the wish to gain or maintain status or protection, and to attract companions.
The interaction between the individual and the situation determines the outcome.
In many instances, people behavior very differently in various situations. The situation plays an important role and has a strong influence on our behavior.
People spend a great deal of time considering social situations. Our social interactions help form our self-concept and perception.
One method of forming self-concept is through a reflected appraisal process in which we imagine how other people see us. Another method is through a social comparison process whereby we consider how we compare to other people in our peer group.
We also analyze and explain the behavior of those around us. One common phenomenon is expectation confirmation, where we tend to ignore unexpected attributes and look for evidence that confirms our preexisting beliefs about others. This helps simplify our worldview, but it also skews our perception and can contribute to stereotyping.
Another influence on our perceptions of other people can be explained by the theory of correspondent inferences. This occurs when we infer that the actions and behaviors of others correspond to their intentions and personalities. While behavior can be informative in some instances, especially when the person's actions are intentional, it can also be misleading. If we have limited interaction with someone, the behavior we see may be atypical or caused by the specific situation rather than by the persons overriding dispositional characteristics.

Studying social psychology can enrich our understanding of ourselves and of the world around us. Explore other links in this section to enrich your understanding of social behavior. via