Category: Mental Health

Enhance your mental health by finding time for yourself

Sometimes, you may find it difficult to find time for yourself and thus you may result in a bad mental health. Read this to keep yourself entertained, even after a tight schedule

In today’s age of globalization, everybody is busy with their work. In the midst of the work pressure, you may forget to find out time for yourself. There is an old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The mentality of working is good, but do not allow it to change your psychology. You should always find some time for yourself, so that you can enjoy on your own. If you cannot find that, you will not only regret your life when you will grow old, but also, you will not be that successful in your site, which you deserve.

The ways to keep yourself entertained

In a research on https://newspsychology.com, it has been found that, those who have a high work pressure has a poor psychology, compared to those, who have little or no work pressure at their site. It is because, refreshment is a vital thing in everybody’s life. Though it may be tough to find out time for yourself in a tight schedule, if you get a moment when you can enjoy, try to grab the opportunity. If you are working in a sector, where you have to sit in front of a computer for hours, then, the time you get for yourself should be utilized by moving away from a computer or your Smartphone. Spend the time with your loved ones, hangout with your pals, or do something to entertain you.

In a word, the time you get for yourself should be enjoyed in the way, so that you can keep distance from the thing which you need in your job. This is the best way, you can entertain yourself and keep yourself happy. Our research work can help you and give you some tips to keep yourself happy and maintain your job life. 

Moderate Mental Retardation

Moderate Mental Retardation

Moderate mantal retardation (IQ score 35-40) represent about 10 percent of person with mental retardation. There are three test stage for testing moderate mental retardation disorder;

Interview with the parent,  Watching the childiren with disorder and Test

Proberty of MR

• May have important relationship with the people in their life.

• May learn to navigate their community and travel with support

• Can have difficulty planning trip and handling money independly

• May recognize environmental print (Example; signs ,logos,  sight words) in their life.

• May need visual prompts such as daily schedule and pictures of routines.

• Will need support in their daily lives.

• May display independence in certain daily living activities,such as dressing and bathing.

• Most live dependently with their family

• Social works are limited.

• But learning basic skill. Like reading,writing and counting.

Treatment for Moderate MR

Guided therapy and one by one help can do wonders for people with moderate MR disorder. Special education is needed,but if provide, it can really assist with person being able to be more self sufficient in life. Depending on the exact symptoms and the degree of the disability, different methods may be needed, but overall there is a very good chance that help is available.

After weighing strength and weaknesses of a child, a therapist will be able to develop specialized program that can enable a person to be able to function better in life.

 

Teen Drinking: Long-Lasting Genetic Changes

“This may be the mechanism through which adolescent binge-drinking increases the risk for psychiatric disorders, including alcoholism, in adulthood,” says lead author Subhash Pandey, professor of psychiatry and director of neuroscience alcoholism research at UIC.
 
Pandey and his colleagues used experimental rats to investigate the effects of intermittent alcohol exposure during the adolescent stage of development. On-and-off exposure to alcohol during adolescence altered the activity of genes needed for normal brain maturation, said Pandey, who is also a research career scientist at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. The gene alterations "increased anxiety-like behaviors and preference for alcohol in adulthood,” he said.
 
The behavioral effects, he said, were due to "epigenetic" changes — "which previous research has shown can be influenced through environmental substances, including alcohol." Epigenetic changes can be long-lasting or permanent in an individual. Previous studies have shown that some epigenetic changes can be heritable. Epigenetic changes are chemical modifications of the DNA or of the proteins around which DNA is wound, like thread on a spool. Modification of these proteins, called histones, can change how loosely or tightly the DNA is wound. Genes that lie within DNA that is tightly wrapped around the histones are less active than they are if the DNA is loosely wrapped. The looser the DNA is coiled, the more accessible are the genes to the cellular machinery that "expresses" them. Epigenetic changes regulate many processes, including brain development and maturation during adolescence. Changes to the histones expose the genes needed to form new synaptic connections, or to prune unneeded neurons.
 
To model adolescent binge-drinking in humans, the researchers gave 28-day-old rats alcohol for two days in a row, followed by two days off, and repeated this pattern for 13 days. Some rats were followed into adulthood and observed for abnormal behaviors. They were offered both alcohol and water, and their alcohol-drinking behavior was monitored.
Rats exposed to alcohol during adolescence exhibited changes in behavior that lasted into adulthood, long after exposure to alcohol ended. They showed increased anxiety-like behaviors and drank more alcohol in adulthood. 
 
When the researchers analyzed tissue from a part of the brain called the amygdala, they found in the exposed rats that the DNA and histones appeared to be tightly wrapped. They also found increased levels of a protein called HDAC2, which modifies histones in a way that causes DNA to be wound tighter around them. These epigenetic changes in turn were linked to lowered expression of a gene that nerve cells need in order to form new synaptic connections. Pandey believes the lowered activity of this gene may be due to the tighter winding of its DNA. The diminished expression of the gene persisted in adulthood, even if alcohol exposure was stopped weeks before. The researchers observed diminished nerve connectivity in the amygdalae of these affected adult rats.
 
“Our study provides a mechanism for how binge-drinking during adolescence may lead to lasting [epigenetic] changes … that result in increased anxiety and alcoholism in adults,” Pandey said. Intermittent alcohol exposure "degrades the ability of the brain to form the connections it needs to during adolescence.”
 
“The brain doesn’t develop as it should, and there are lasting behavioral changes associated with this.” But a pharmacological experiment hinted at the possibility of a treatment. When adult rats that had been exposed to alcohol during adolescence were given a cancer drug known to block the activity of HDAC2, the drug restored expression of the gene needed for synapse formation. The DNA was observed to be less tightly coiled, as expected. Most importantly, the rats exhibited less anxiety and reduced alcohol intake.
“We aren’t sure if the drug needs to be given long term during adulthood in order to completely reverse the harmful effects of adolescent alcohol exposure,” Pandey said. Further experiments with this and other epigenetic drugs are planned. Amul Sakharkar, Lei Tang and Huaibo Zhang of the UIC College of Medicine are co-authors on the paper.
 
The research was funded by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grants AA-01997 (Neurobiology of Adolescent Drinking in Adulthood Project), AA-010005 and AA-013341, Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Grant I01BX000143, and by a Research Career Scientist Award to Subhash Pandey.
 
Story Source
  1. The above story is based on materials provided by University of Illinois at Chicago. The original article was written by Sharon Parmet. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference
  1. Subhash C. Pandey, Amul J. Sakharkar Lei Tang Huaibo Zhang. Potential role of adolescent alcohol exposure-induced amygdaloid histone modifications in anxiety and alcohol intake during adulthood. Neurobiology of Disease, 2015 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2015.03.019

Is somatic disorders syndrome or physical illness?

Somatic symptom disorder is feeling pain on the body depending on mental health problems. A person feeling pain in their part of body but no physical cause can be found. This disorder begin at the middle-ages. And culture is effective this disorder. Somatic symptom disorder occurs more offen in collectivistic culture than individualistic culture. Additionaly somatization occurs more offen in women than man. But there are any difference high educated people. 

Stigmatization may be cause somatization especiallyin collectivistic culture.

Somatic symptom disorder to be seen which physical part, people heartbreak in here. Example, if someone talk to you heartbreaker, you will feeling pain in your heart. Because there is relationship between brain and body. Brain cope with this mental problem which send to pain your hearth. 

The psychological benefits of alcohol consumption

The relaxed feeling you can get when you have that first drink is due to the chemical changes alcohol has caused in your brain. For many of us, a drink can help us feel more confident and less anxious. That’s because it’s starting to depress the part of the brain we associate with inhibition.

Researchers at the University of California have discovered that drinking a glass of red wine with dinner boosts the immune system.  Your immune system is located in your gut.  Alcohol may control bad bacteria in your gut which can affect your immune system. And since depression anxiety is an immuno-inflammatory condition, anything that boosts your immune system, will help your depression anxiety recovery.

Finally, if you already drink alcohol or plan to begin, keep it moderate—no more than two drinks a day for men or one drink a day for women and make sure you get plenty of folate, at least 600 micrograms a day. If you don’t drink, there’s no need to start.

How to boost your energy?

The next thing that helps you to increase your energy is to have a cup of green tea. One of the reasons individuals feel as if they have low energy is that they’re seriously dehydrated and require gaining more water. Remaining hydrated is a natural energy booster. Sipping a cup of green tea or white tea, which is the younger plant of green tea, can be helpful to replenish the fluids. Furthermore, drinking water regularly can increase the amount of hydration in your body.

 In the current paper, eating high-energy foods is the subsequent technique to regain energy. Remember that we’re not talking about power bars or energy drinks. While they can cater quick energy, they also can cause you to crash when they vanish. As a replacement, select high-energy foods that have fundamental vitamins and minerals such as Vitamins B1, B2, and B6 that specially help your body transform carbohydrates into energy. For instance, foods full of B vitamins that will work as pick-me-up snacks include yogurt, whole grains, and sunflower seeds. Minerals in nuts, whole grains, and dairy products also raise energy by assisting metabolism. Other edibles such as cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, lean meats, salmon and etc. can also be applicable.

Taking a power nap is the other method you can choose to enhance the lost energy. A power nap or siesta will help you feel refreshed. However, there’s no need to get into deep sleep especially in the afternoon, or you’ll be drowsy afterward. Majority of people believe that 20 minutes is ideal and just enough to refresh your body’s systems.

Generally speaking stepping outside is favorable for different styles that can be the next method of this paper. Sunshine gives you energy because you’re getting vitamin D and vitamin D can help boost your mood and mental performance. However, keep your face out of the sun and don’t bake. Remember always protect yourself from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Taking just 10 to 15 minutes to step outside for some fresh air and sunshine can get back the lost energy to go work feeling refreshed and energetic. 

Taking the stairs can be the next useful way to raise energy. Instead of using lift in your office building or flat, a quick flight up the stairs will provide aerobic exercise and help you feel more energetic. Doing exercise not only assists your body function better, it also enhances the amount of oxygen in your blood and causes your heart to beat faster, which increases blood flow to your muscles and back to your lungs. It also releases endorphins, hormone-like substances that further an increased sense of contentment.

The last method we’re going to state is to stop multitasking. Individuals are seriously doing themselves a disservice by attempting to do too much at the same time. Consequently they’re causing way too much stress on themselves and they’re not able to focus on giving each task their undivided attention. Furthermore, if they do their daily activities at once, they can dedicate more energy to each one. Eventually, it will make you feel as if you have more energy overall and seem to look exhausted and bored.

Social relations are another natural energy booster and it is proven that individuals gain huge amounts of energy from having friends, helping others, and giving of themselves. For instance, phoning a friend is one of these methods. So if you’re feeling down or have low energy, take a few minutes to call someone whose voice will perk you up. Moreover, doing positive things and voluntary works can be useful to regain your energy.

Another method for increasing the energy is Meditation. Researches are shown that a mini-meditation break of 5 to 10 minutes can be a great natural energy booster. There is a lot of clinical evidence that people who meditate are less stressed and have higher energy levels. As a result you can feel refreshed and more energized after meditating.

You can easily insert these natural energy boosters in your daily schedule and prioritize one of them to regain your energy day by day.

Alternative therapies for smoking cessation

There is never a bad time to stop smoking because your lungs will immediately begin to repair the damage the cigarette smoking has caused. Smoking cessation decreases the risk for lung cancer and other cancers, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular diseases, and chronic lung diseases.

 Natural approaches to smoking cessation adapted from an Eastern perspective can help to curb the cravings and assist in overcoming addiction.These include acupuncture, herbal therapy and hypnosis.

Acupuncture’s origin is embedded among traditional Chinese medicinal concepts,the acupuncture needles used are usually hair-thin, and they are inserted into various points in the ear where they remain for about 20 minutes. For help in between sessions, many acupuncturists provide tiny balls that are taped with invisible tape to the ear. When a craving for cigarettes hits, the smoker is instructed to press gently on the ball, which stimulates the acupuncture point.

Herbal support is designed to aid in tissue repair caused by dryness and degradation, as well as withdrawals that lead to emotional unrest, irritability, and nicotine cravings.

One of the most common herbal remedies used to control cravings is green tea. The tea keeps the system flooded with elements that are thought to prevent the urge to smoke.

The herb lobelia has been promoted to help people fight the effects of nicotine withdrawal and is found in many anti-smoking products. The active ingredient in lobelia, lobeline, is thought to have similar actions on the body as nicotine.Lobelia tea is often used in combination with green tea to assist during the detoxification period. Lobelia is a toxic herb, and should not be used unless under the supervision of a qualified health practitioner.

Ginseng has been shown to prevent the nicotine-induced release of the neurotransmitter dopamine.Ginseng is one of the most popular herbal remedies in the world today and is believed to restore and enhance normal well-being.A teaspoon of ginseng powder added to your breakfast cereal or morning health shake should help alleviate the number of cravings.

Licorice is also an antismoking aid.You can keep a stick of licorice root handy and suck on it in place of a cigarette. It works by helping to satisfy the oral cravings people who are addicted to cigarettes.

As one of the best dietary sources of dopamine, fava beans might help alleviate nicotine cravings. Scientists showed that within the brain the    area which plays an important role in emotions, is affected by dopamine. Dopamine is linked to the euphoria created by nicotine. Bupropion is an expensive drug, a dopamine-enhancer, which approval for quit smoking. Fava beans with similar activity might be cheaper, safer and more effective.

Valerian is one of the premier sedative herbs used to aid people with anxiety, stress, and insomnia. Valerian is clearly one of the herbs of choice in smoking cessation to deal with the issues of insomnia, restlessness, and anxiety.

 

St. John’s Wort is effective for addressing symptoms of anxiety, depression, nervousness, and insomnia. St. John’s Wort is uniquely formulated to help smokers “kick the habit.”  It helps quench the desire for tobacco, stimulates circulation and respiration, expels phlegm, calms the nerves, and relieves withdrawal symptoms.  
Researchers suspect that St. John’s Wort might help restore the balance of the neurotransmitter serotonin and dopamine during the time when smokers have their first craving of the day.  This would help them replace the morning coffee and cigarette with a hearty breakfast.

Hypnosis is another natural therapy for smoking cessation.Hypnotherapy works by putting you in a deep, relaxed state where your mind is more open to suggestion. At this point your hypnotherapist will look to change your thought patterns by making suggestions such as 'I do not want a cigarette' or 'I am repelled by the smell of cigarette smoke'. For many people, just one session is enough to quit smoking however some may benefit from a follow-up session.

Hypnosis, in general, does not work for everyone. About one in four people are not able to be hypnotized. When successful, the intensity of hypnosis can vary from person to person.

Avoiding cigarettes and cigarette smoke in the first place is the first line of defense, so if you can quit you may be saving your own life and the lives you love. In the meantime, give your body a fighting chance with some of nature's boosters.

Why some people lie others don't

Some people believe you need lies to survive in a relationship. I would argue that this is untrue. Misleading a person distorts their reality and makes them feel crazy, which is one of the most unethical things you can do to another person. So what can you do to be more honest? You can begin by being honest with yourself.

People who lie in relationships are divided into two categories, the ones who lie hoping to rescue the relationship and the ones who lie to cover their mistakes.

I personally don’t agree with both groups as lying will only solve problems on the short term but will ruin things on the long term especially if the lies were discovered. A third category includes those who cheat. people who cheat in a relationship will usually want to hide every possible trace they left and that's why they lie.

How you can avoid it:

Think long-term. When you’re attracted to be less than honest, consider your final goal: to have a happy marriage, say, or a solid friendship. Then, when torn between fact and fiction, ask yourself, “Which will put me closer to my goal?” Usually the choice is clear.

Keep it simple. Most of the time, a short apology is all that’s required, and you can omit some details without sacrificing the truth. 

Caffeine addiction

Caffeine is a drug, it is a stimulant and it is a highly addictive substance and along with nicotine and alcohol, is one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide. Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid. Its effects are mediated not only by the mesolimbic dopaminergic system but also by its ability to block adenosine receptors in the CNS. Endogenous adenosine has sedative, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant effects which are blocked by caffeine.

 About 10 billion pounds of coffee are consumed yearly throughout the world.

Low to moderate doses (30–200 mg/d) tend to improve some aspects of performance (eg, vigilance). The approximate content of caffeine in a (180-mL) cup of beverage is as follows: brewed coffee, 80–140 mg; instant coffee, 60–100 mg; decaffeinated coffee, 1–6 mg; black leaf tea, 30–80 mg; tea bags, 25–75 mg; instant tea, 30–60 mg; cocoa, 10–50 mg; and 12-oz cola drinks, 30–65 mg. A 2-oz chocolate candy bar has about 20 mg. Some herbal teas (eg, "morning thunder") contain caffeine. Caffeine-containing analgesics usually contain approximately 30 mg per unit. Symptoms of caffeinism (usually associated with ingestion of over 500 mg/d) include anxiety, agitation, restlessness, insomnia, a feeling of being "wired and somatic symptoms referable to the heart and gastrointestinal tract. It is common for a case of caffeinism to present as an anxiety disorder. It is also common for caffeine and other stimulants to precipitate severe symptoms in compensated schizophrenic and manic-depressive patients. Chronically depressed patients often use caffeine drinks as self-medication. This diagnostic clue may help distinguish some major affective disorders. Withdrawal from caffeine (> 250 mg/d) can produce headaches, irritability, lethargy, and occasional nausea.

Physical and psychological addiction can result from excessive caffeine intake. It is now termed as one of the fatal addictions because it is playing a major role in fabricating most of the heart and bones’ diseases. In an interview, Roland Griffiths, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that studies had demonstrated that people who take in a minimum of 100 mg of caffeine per day (about the amount in one cup of coffee) can acquire a physical dependence that would trigger withdrawal symptoms that include headaches, muscle pain and stiffness, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, depressed mood, and marked irritability. Continued exposure to caffeine will lead the body to create more adenosine receptors in the central nervous system which makes it more sensitive to the effects of adenosine in two ways. Firstly, it will reduce the stimulatory effects of caffeine by increasing tolerance. Secondly, it will increase the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine as the body will be more sensitive to the effects of adenosine once caffeine intake stops. Caffeine tolerance develops very quickly. Tolerance to the sleep disruption effects of caffeine were seen after consumption of 400 mg of caffeine 3 times a day for 7 days, whereas complete tolerance was observed after consumption of 300 mg 3 times a day for 18 days.

In all the American and European states special counseling center have been developed to treat caffeine addiction and caffeine withdrawl as their fast paced environment is more prone to it. An institution Holistic Addiction Treatment Program not only cures other addictions but has started treating this addiction as well.

Caffeine addiction, if unwrapped to brutality causes different cancers. Thus, a timely diagnosis of this (so-called) disease is very important for one’s successful recovery and prevention from any fatal disease. Most of us don’t even know that even non-caffeinated products do contain some sorts of stimulants which can turn a normal person into an addict.

Withdrawal symptoms begin 12 to 24 hours after the last caffeine intake and become most severe after a couple of days. The symptoms die away over two to nine days:

Headache, Fatigue or drowsiness, Depressed or irritable moods, Anxiety, Difficulty in concentrating, Work difficulty, Nausea, Muscle pain or stiffness, Reduction in physical and cognitive ability.

Removing Caffeine Addiction can be problematic.  Because caffeine can cause both Chemical and  Psychological addiction patterns.

Brain study reveals the roots of chocolate temptations

Researchers have new evidence in rats to explain how it is that chocolate candies can be so completely irresistible. The urge to overeat such deliciously sweet and fatty treats traces to an unexpected part of the brain and its production of a natural, opium-like chemical, according to a report published online on September 20th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

This means that the brain has more extensive systems to make individuals want to overconsume rewards than previously thought," said Alexandra DiFeliceantonio of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "It may be one reason why overconsumption is a problem today."

DiFeliceantonio's team made the discovery by giving rats an artificial boost with a drug delivered straight to a brain region called the neostriatum. Those animals gorged themselves on more than twice the number of M&M chocolates than they would otherwise have eaten. The researchers also found that enkephalin, the natural drug-like chemical produced in that same brain region, surged when rats began to eat the candy-coated morsels, too.

It's not that enkephalins or similar drugs make the rats like the chocolates more, the researchers say, but rather that the brain chemicals increase their desire and impulse to eat them.

The findings reveal a surprising extension of the neostriatum's role, as DiFeliceantonio notes that the brain region had primarily been linked to movement. And there is reason to expect that the findings in rats can tell us a lot about our own binge-eating tendencies.

"The same brain area we tested here is active when obese people see foods and when drug addicts see drug scenes," she says. "It seems likely that our enkephalin findings in rats mean that this neurotransmitter may drive some forms of overconsumption and addiction in people."

The researchers now hope to unravel a related phenomenon that some of us might wish we could do more to control: what happens in our brains when we pass by our favorite fast food restaurant and feel that sudden desire to stop.

 

Journal Reference:

  1. Alexandra G. DiFeliceantonio, Omar S. Mabrouk, Robert T. Kennedy, Kent C. Berridge. Enkephalin Surges in Dorsal Neostriatum as a Signal to Eat. Current Biology, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.014