Archive for the 'Mood Disorders' Category

Tips For Living With a Bipolar Person

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

Struggling with mental health conditions had seemed to be something so difficult when you stop by so many books and so much internet diagnosis that would lead you to a desperate non-conclusive idea.

So, ok, our relative or friend had something that caused no fever, no physical pains and not even a sign of physical problem, yet he could be really sick.

Once more you were called to stay calm and to try to understand the symptoms as the preview of some type of storm coming through your Island. Danger? no, it would depend on the intensity of winds (humour in this case).

Thus we learned some tips that were like anchor handles not only for us but also for our loved one who felt so lonely if we could not enter with him in such a scaring tale. And that was true for all, yet, it could be changed.

If your loved relative or friend happens to be diagnosed with Bipolar syndrome, please take it as any other illness that you may hear or almost not hear about in your daily routine.

These tips I hope you will just consider them as a help reminders to make your life and his/her, easier:

– Manic episodes are not suddenly visible, indeed, it may surprise you how good your friend looks and how active he is; too much, though it might be strange he or she does too many things at a time without finishing one;

– Your loved friend or relative may talk much more than before, and that may be easy to verify; phone always busy, excessive phone bill, interrupting him might be impossible, not so easy either to talk to him between one phone and the other,

– If he loves you a lot, going into a manic episode he will sometimes hurt you or even shout at you with no real reason; and that may be difficult to bear though you must remember he is not feeling that well, his “fever” is going up,

– When manic relapse begins you will see him really cheerful, much more than before, enthusiastic for improbable projects, too “coloured” (colours are definitely a sign of your loved one going-up), music becomes real high and volume never goes done until he goes to sleep; but, he or she won’t accept it and even discuss about it.

– Expect a manic episode, once begun, to fly over one’s control in a few hours or day..and you must be willing to help him, even with hospitalization, for your loved ones welfare, though painful, you must not risk his health or life.

– Remember he or she loves you and that may fight at you or shout unreal things; they are only crying for help. Please remember that.

– Depression, when it comes, it is so painful for them that they would not like to make you suffer, they feel guilty about it, they love you, please remember that too.

– Depression comes softly but walks rather slow and constantly and if the medicines are not suitable for that episode, it may last too long. Take care of him/she, do not leave them on their own. They do not deserve it, they love you so.

– Trying to make them feel as if the relapses, whether up or down, were easy for them to control is not real. They are sick and it is not their fault. You would never ask a broken leg friend to stand up or walk for hours. You know he would not feel good about it or even been capable of doing it. So, think about bipolar as if some accident happened to your beloved one and pretend just what is reasonable from him and not anything more.

Our loved people with any sort of mood disorders sometime suffer so much just because we are not ready to deal with their conditions or, do not have patience to learn about them and act with compassion, and not with rules or pretensions that are out of they understanding in that moment.

Life is beautiful and mood disorders usually are present in very sensible and loving persons that ache to prove that they are normal as anyone of us.
Living with someone you love and that unexpectedly begins to suffer from mood disorders opens your mind to a real world of sensibillity and intelligent attitudes that you maybe never thought that could exist. Though difficult at the beginning, it is one of the most challenging tasks to overcome due to prejudice and lack of knowledge.

Panic Away Review

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

Here is my detailed review of Panic Away Course, does it live up to the hype? Find out below…

This program allowed me to get relief from panic attacks in about 8 weeks. Believe me I had tried other programs before that I invested more time in but that did not give me results. Then I would feel worse than before I tried them due to the fact that I knew they would continue to be a problem for me. Following this course is going to completely transform your life, and I am hoping you will get started right way!

What I found to be so exciting about Panic Away is that I was able to implement the process right away. I was able to gain control of the situation from the very start. I did not have to wait to see if this would work. That was a common frustration working with my doctor and my therapist. I did not like taking medications and those breathing techniques that I was taught just were not enough to deal with a full blown panic attack.

  • Panic Away is a course that was created by Joe Barry.
  • He used to suffer from panic attacks and has managed to get rid of his anxiety.
  • He finally came up with a new method called the ‘One Move’ Technique.

To make things simple, the One Move method helps people get rid of their constant fear of having new attacks. It has been worldwide proven that when you fear something, you reinforce the possibility of that thing to happen. The One Move method is based on that fact and having it accepted by people. Once the fear is gone, the new life can carry on, panic attacks free.

The one move method allows people to break the cycle of anxiety and return to normal everyday living. It is also effective for the treatment of General Anxiety Disorder.

What Makes this Technique So Special?

The One Move method has been working for thousands of people and is still being used every day to cure persons suffering from panic attacks.

Joe Barry started to study the panic attacks and anxiety fields because he was suffering from it himself. This is why he decided to study psychology and finally found a technique that he decided to test. Amazingly this technique worked, that is when he decided to develop it to make it more understandable for others. The One Move technique is special because it is several years of experience, and there are lots of testimonials to prove it is really working.

For More information about panic away review visit my site.
Alex Travis is happy mother with two children. She had suffered from panic attacks for over many years, but fortunately found help and cured herself permanently. She is now helping other panic and anxiety sufferers get the info that they need to acquire ultimate freedom.

Dealing OCD Disorder

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

There’s nothing wrong with double-checking the wires if they are left unplugged before leaving the house with no one in it. Of course you would want to be precautious about negligent things and circumstances that could lead into devastating outcomes which could affect you. But what if this kind precaution would go on and recur in every minute every second of every time? Then there might be something wrong with you. You might have an OCD disorder. If you have this, then you better find a way to overcome it or it will interfere into your daily activities and worse, it could render you into a helpless unfortunate condition. Although you have to understand that it’s quite difficult to shake OCD disorder off from your system and it would require an ample amount of time to finally overcome one.

If you have an obsessive-compulsive disorder or your love one has it, it would be natural that you feel alone and helpless and isolated. But nevertheless, there is still help out there where you can make use of to get rid of it. There are many existing self-help strategies and treatments at large, you can just easily pick one that will best work for you.

But what is OCD?

OCD or Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder best explained or characterized by relentlessness, uncontrollable impulses and irrational reactions. They become repetitive and you can’t somehow get rid of it or set it aside even because you realistically feel compelled to obey them. When you have an OCD, it would be likely that you are at the same time conscious of what’s happening and aware that what you are doing is irrational. But even if that’s the case, you still are unable to fight it against it and break loose.

Like faint stain of an ink blot on a metal surface, when you have an OCD wiping it off once will not be enough to make you believe that the results are satisfactory, although you are already aware that the blot is no longer there and the surface is already clean. You will repetitively do the wiping as you would perceive it to be necessary although you already know that it is not. Your brain signals you this kind of urge and will make you do the same thing all over and over again. That’s why a person with OCD feels like a prisoner, helpless in his situation.

What you need to know about obsession and compulsion

Obsession is unwanted involuntary thoughts, images or urge that repeats itself every time. It recurs again and again in your head and you just can’t shake it off no matter how much you want to get rid of it. As a corollary consequence, your reactions would cater to the unnecessary urges or your obsession making you do things corresponding to your urge.

Compulsions are basically behaviours or rituals that you feel you compelled to execute repetitively. Compulsions are often the result or the actions you would have to take to get rid of obsessions. But as obsessions never go away, your compulsions remain and executed again and again.

Emotional Self-Management

Monday, June 7th, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

As a creature more animal than plant you are a biological meaning machine and you are reading this to see if it gives you any additional beneficial meanings to add to the meanings you already contain.

What is ‘Meaning’?

Meaning is about sense of direction. When we look for the meaning of a thing we are asking what direction, if any, we should take in regard to how we deal with it

While all plants need to remain in a fixed position in order to stay alive adult animals die if they do not move.

To aid them in deciding what directions they should go in when they do plan to move nature provides animals with two major tools:

  • brains
  • emotional response systems.

Brains are cellular mapping devices that record landscapes travelled using the process of memory (our brains can also record imagined landscapes travelled).

Emotional response systems are designed to initiate emergency reactions; to move animals away from unexpected threats and towards reward opportunities whenever they arise in the external world. They also provide map-connected alert systems by attaching emotional reflections to specific memories in our mental maps. They inform future decision making by rising up into our conscious whenever we move towards these external landscapes to remind us of our previous experiences.

Most of our decision making is made on the basis of these emotionally mapped alerts.

How do I think versus how should I think; how do I feel versus how should I feel; how do I behave versus how should I behave – these are all questions based around need for changes in direction.

When we ask ‘what does this mean?’ what we are asking is ‘what direction do I now go in, having received this new information, and what can I expect to receive as a result?’.

When We Come Across a New Thing or a Known Thing Changes We Ask Meaningful Questions

  • Will it eat me or should I eat it?
  • Is it controlling me or am I controlling it?
  • Is it something I should not react to at all – should I stop seeing it?
  • Do I move away from or towards it or do I just stay where I am?
  • Once we have taken a close enough look at the new or changed thing and decided our direction of thinking, feeling and physical behaviours we tend to just keep on travelling in the same direction decided until the pressure to change direction again dictates otherwise.

Meaningful Cycles

Meaningful cycles have a standard model for animals:

  • we leave from a safe starting point
  • we journey outwards into a usually well-mapped territory collecting resources and experiences
  • we return to the safe starting point and discharge our ‘excess to requirements’ resources and experiences.

This is meaning in action – where am I going; what will I do; how do I get back home and what will I return with and offload when I get home?

We may not really notice the presence of one of these ‘meaning cycle maps’ until it is taken away from us or we are blocked from completing the full cycle in some way.

When we cannot complete our meaning cycles we feel frustrated and uneasy. Take the external territory away and we react as if we are on the brink of starvation. Take the ‘safe home’ away and we lose our reason for being in the territory – we feel lost (this is the cause of an identity crisis, by he way – we temporarily believe we have lost us).

Fail to complete your meaning cycles for long enough and you start to feel disconnected from who you truly are.

Your emotional meaning cycle is biologically programmed into you. When you do not meet the needs of this cycle you can expect to get an outcome as reliable as if you did not eat food. If you do not pay attention to your emotional world you will become emotionally ill.

Society is lying to you when it tells you it is possible to remove strong emotional responses using thinking. Thinking can alter the rate you produce and build up energy levels but if you have already produced emotional energy in relation to an experience you must discharge it.

No amount of thinking can alter this unless the thinking is designed to get itself out of the way so emotional release can take place.

You do not control your emotional cycle – it controls you. At least, it does until you discharge the energy contained.

I remember telling a counsellor several years ago I had just that week realised nature had designed my emotional system and I had to surrender to this fact. It really hurts to know this! All you control here is when you will accept and allow yourself to be taken through the cycle. You have no say in whether or not the cycle affects you.

Just as if you do not eat you die of starvation, if you do not discharge the emotional reactions you produce and collect when dealing with ‘out there’ you become emotionally ill and this changes both your thinking and behaviours as a result.

Emotional Disorders Block Our Inner Return Home

Your Conscious Point of Focus goes out into the world. Its home is your brain. Your body is home to your brain – your brain never gets to go out.

For your Conscious mind to be at peace when it returns home your body must also be emotionally peaceful. A brain in an emotionally overcharged body is an unhappy home for your Conscious.

If your body is flooded with negative hormonal chemicals your brain is is in turn also flooded with a different set of negative chemicals and these dominate your thinking ‘mood’. A negative mood produces a negatively thinking mind.

Your brain consists of ‘you and your brain family’ with ‘you’ being an information processing point known as your ‘Conscious Point of Focus’ and your family consisting of the other minds living in your brain. Your You observes and processes information (thinks) at a rate of 4 to 11 bytes per second.

Whatever you consciously think about is ‘you’ at that time. This bit of ‘you’ likes to go outside of your body, collect little bits of electrical information, then return home with it intending to distribute the content so the rest of your brain and your body will benefit. We call this ‘learning’ and it contributes to our ‘personal growth’.

We like personal growth. It feels good sometimes because we get external social acceptance when we do it and the occasional physical reward. In most western cultures we are trained to see personal growth as something to be found out there.

But while your Conscious Point of Focus is out there your ‘family at home’, your other brain parts, are processing information your Conscious Point of Focus has made itself deliberately unaware of.

‘Moods’ are emotional responses to our environment for which we cannot immediately identify the trigger. We know we feel bad but we cannot pinpoint why. Moods are the result of not paying conscious attention to the information entering the rest of our brain and body. When our body and our unconscious minds have been picking up information we could do with paying conscious attention to, but have not, they communicate it to us with moods.

While your Conscious Point of Focus processes information at 4 to 11 bytes a second, the rest of your brain receives it at 2’000’000 bytes (two million) per second – that information is going somewhere.

While your Conscious Point of Focus can be controlled in such a way as to deliberately ignore, for example, abusive environments, your other organic mechanisms do not have this ability. They absorb the information and then later try to tell your Conscious about it and the need for you to deal with it.

They need your Conscious Point of Focus to go into the mood itself in order to discharge the feelings involved and complete the meaning cycle. This will also result in deciding on any new directions needed to resolve the cause. Quite often the only thing needed is to observe the mood at close quarters for the whole thing to discharge and disappear.

You need to be returning to your inner world on a regular basis or, at some point, you are going to have a huge experiential backlog to catch up on.

Scenario – imagine you are an international salesperson

You leave your family at home while you travel abroad and what you expect to be paid in, and take home for your hard work at the end of your working period, are little boxes of electrical energy you think will make all the difference back home.

You have been away a while when you get a text from your partner at home, it says: ‘honey, a really large box of energy has arrived, think you should come home to process it. We do not need those little boxes at the moment’.

You text back: ‘Sorry honey, am too busy getting this little bit of energy out here for you, you know we talked about this.’

  • ‘Honey, another big box of energy has arrived. I really need you to come home; stop trying to get the little boxes of energy out there when we have got these big boxes to deal with!’.
  • ‘Honey, you are being silly. You know we need these little boxes of energy. Do you know how hard I have to work to get these little boxes of energy out here?’
  • ‘We now have ten very large boxes of energy needing your attention here. COME BACK HOME IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE SUCH A HELL YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO COME BACK HOME EVER!! DO YOU HEAR ME!!

Well, that one gets your attention. You go home – but as you get home what you find is a home so hostile with kids so mean you no longer want to go home again. It has become a really painful place to go – you are not ready for this. You turn and decide you are going to stay out there.

But if you are ever going to be happy again you have to turn and go home at some point because, like all the other meaning maps in our lives – the only way to complete this cycle is to return home.

Between you and your happy home though lie several layers of emotional pain to work your way through.

We Should Base Our Meaning Cycles on Our Own Inner World First in Order to Prevent This Problem Arising

Valuing your own internal emotional meaning cycle above everything else is the most important thing you can do in maintaining emotional well-being.

If you do not know you need to stick to a regular habit of returning to yourself you lose the ability to quickly return when a problem ‘at home’ arises.

Returning to yourself is essential for emotional well-being. You know that sense of being distanced from who you really are? It is not an illusion. In depression, for example, brain scientists tell us there is an actual withdrawing of thinking from the upper brain. We have the ability to physically cordon off our thinking and feeling centres.

How Do Emotional Disorders Develop?

Emotional disorders arise when we get so desperate not to return to our inner home we attempt to set up a secondary home outside. To keep us held in this new place we produce emotional responses designed to resist the continual call from our Unconscious reminding us we need to return to our true inner self in order to complete emotional release.

All we see now when we look back is emotional predators lurking in the shadows of our inner world, blocking the way. We do not really believe ‘home’ is there any more.

But, if we are lucky, one day the pull to return to our true selves gets so overwhelming we finally give in to our organic emotional process and start to tackle the internal predators, one by one, to get back there.

‘OK, honey, you win. I’m coming home’. Now that means something.

Panic Attacks in Children

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

What could be more painful for a parent than to see his or her child suffering from panic attacks? I know that knocked you off your seats for a while but it is really true that panic attacks in children prevail. It is also alarming that the children affected by this disorder are growing in numbers; and more and more doctors are baffled by this very disappointing statistics.

As a parent you want the best for your child – the best education, the best shelter, and most importantly, the best childhood experience. But how can they when children panic attack is becoming more common? Are you still puzzled on how and why this is possible? Do not fret because I will give you a detailed discussion of the disorder.

To begin with, you have to know that although panic attacks can be transmitted from one generation to another, not all panic attacks in children are hereditary. Yes that is entirely true; in fact, some children who have this disorder are the first in their family. With that said, there is a big chance that the cause of the disorder is their environment or the way they were raised.

As a very good affirmation that this disorder can be caused by the environment, is the attack caused by separation anxiety. Studies have revealed that the more you sneak out behind your child’s back every time you go out of the house, the more you feed on your child’s fear of being separated from you. So in order for you to erase the child’s fears, always inform them of your whereabouts and when they can expect you to be back. That sense of assurance will gradually remove or prevent your child’s attacks.

Then there is always the general anxiety disorder for children as one of the cause of their attacks. There is no clear cause for this but there are some children who are simply gloomy. This may possibly be caused by peer pressure, difficulties in school or domestic problems. Whatever the reason is, you must get to the bottom of it and resolve the issue with your child.

Drugs can also be the cause of your child’s attacks. There are some known drugs that have a side effect of developing the disorder. Just make sure that you are careful with the drugs you are giving your child as it may cause more damage than cure.

Lastly, panic attacks in kids can also be cause by their personality. Either your child is naturally aloof, or you raised him or her to be that way, that kind of personality can actually lead to the disorder. When a child is aloof, he or she will find it difficult to express him or herself. When a child has no means of releasing his or her anger, negative emotions pile up and will cause them a lot of stress.

A child is meant to run free in the playground, not cowering behind the bushes scared of having another panic attack. One of the best gifts you can give to your child is a happy childhood; stop him from having a panic attack and you give just that.

Stop Having Panic Attacks

Friday, May 28th, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

Stop having panic attacks and start living was the best piece of advice I got. It meant, yes, there is a cure, you do not have to live like this for ever. Thousands of people all around the world suffer from anxiety attacks and are not aware there is a cure and that lots of people have the same problem.
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Hi, my name is Cindy and having panic attacks was a major part of my life for 3 years. Fortunately that is in the past and I want to share with you how I got control back again.

Very early on I decided that I was not going to have my life changed dramatically because of anxiety attacks that sent shock waves of panic through my body. You will understand what I mean by the blind panic of having your body going into overdrive, heart pounding, sweating, head aching and feeling like you cannot breathe.

It all changed when I stopped worrying about what might happen (and that took awhile until I learnt an easy technique) and I decided to be in charge of the anxiety attacks. If I could not stop them at least I would dictate what would happen and only allow them to occur for a very short time.

It was getting rid of the feeling that it was happening to me and I could do nothing to stop it that made me feel much better.
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Having the attitude that if a panic attack happened, I would survive because I was more powerful lead to me worrying less about what might happen. Because I knew what would happen. I would be OK.

The mind is so powerful and can make our bodies do remarkable things, but it can also let us believe some very scary things. Taking small steps can stop attacks. The funny thing is if you tell yourself to have a panic attack, you normally cannot, but if you tell yourself not to have an attack you will still have one.

That is the secret, learn how to break the cycle of constant worry about having another attack and do not try to avoid a panic attack, just make sure you control what happens when you have one, if for example you break into a sweat go with it, even encourage your body to sweat more. The result will amaze you. You will feel in control for the first time.

Herbal Remedy For Panic Attacks

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

The use of herbal remedy for panic attacks has become one of the more common methods employed today. This is because, unlike the use of drugs and other forms of medication, herbal remedies for panic attacks are not accompanied with any unwanted side effects. People do not have to worry about a dryness of mouth, dizziness or a change in appetite which they often experience with drug use. They also are able to benefit from many other positive effects by using herbal remedies.

There are many herbal treatments available for people who experience panic attacks. The decision of which of these will be used will depend on the needs of each individual.

Some of the more common herbs used include:

Chamomile: The use of Chamomile has been in use for many years. The effect of Chamomile tea loosens the muscles of the body leaving people feeling relaxed and refreshed. The actions of Chamomile can therefore be highly beneficial when taken by people who are experiencing anxiety attacks. Chamomile also helps combat many of the digestive problems that occur during panic attacks. For example, it is effective in curing instances of nausea.

Lavender: Considering that Lavender is such a lovely smelling herb, it is not surprising that its use can significantly improve the spirits of people who are depressed. Lavender can be used as an aromatherapy herb in a warm bath or mixed with massage oils. The simple sweet smelling presence of lavender in a room can also successfully lift the spirits of people around.

Passion flower: One of the common symptoms of panic attacks is a condition known as sleep apnea. This is characterized by rapid and labored breathing when people are asleep. People who suffer from this type of attacks often wake up suddenly in the night unable to breathe. The use of passion flower can easily prevent this. The passion flower herb acts as a mild sedative thereby allowing people to have a calmer experience while sleeping. It also ensures that people sleep for far longer hours, allowing their bodies efficiently recharge and rebuild energy levels.

There are many stores which offer Herbal remedy for panic attacks on-line. However, with most sources on the Internet, it is always important that people only buy their herbs from proven on-line sources. Panic attacks are unpleasant experiences which can creep up suddenly on anyone. With the use of the right herbs however, they can also just as easily be cured.

Panic Attacks in Children

Sunday, March 14th, 2010 No Commented
Under: Mood Disorders

Panic attacks in children can be scary for anyone to deal with but mostly especially the children themselves may be scared by what they are feeling. If your child suffers from them, the best thing you can do for them is to learn all about the attacks so you can give them the power to cope when it strikes. Without some kind of intervention from you, the panic attacks are going to worsen and take total control over your child’s life.

What are the signs of panic attacks that you should look for in your child? What will they experience? The signs are no different for a child than they are for an adult. They’ll experience hot flashes, fear of losing control, feeling like they are crazy, chills, shortness of breathe, paranoia, fast heartbeat, dizziness and more.

Three Tips On How To Handle and Cope With Panic Attacks In Children

When children are suffering attacks, parents don’t often know what to do or where to turn to. If you’re finding that you’re in this boat, you’ll be glad to know that there are several things you can do for your child. Remember panic attacks in children can lead to self-esteem issues, depression and, in worst-case scenarios, suicide, if left untreated.

Tip 1 – Seek Out Advice From A Professional

When you notice your child is having difficulty coping with stress and anxiety, seek out the advice of a therapist. With your help, the therapist can narrow down what the triggers are that set your child off. This means you’ll need to be observant all the time (before an attack, during the attack and after the attack is done). You and the therapist will notice patterns emerging that envelop the attacks. If the child goes to school and/or daycare, the administrators/providers will need to document this all as well.

Your child’s therapist will take all the information he/she has learned and come up with a treatment that will best suit your child. A therapist may choose the psychotherapy method, which enables the therapist and the child to recognize the attack triggers and find ways to empower the child to get past the fears. This is also seen as a behavior modification technique.

The therapist can also teach them deep breathing and meditation exercises to help them through their panic attacks. He/she should also inform your child that exercising every day is beneficial to getting past the panic attacks.

Tip 2 – Parents Should Seek Out Support

Again, panic attacks in children can be very scary and parents should seek out the assistance of a support group to help them through this difficult time. Parents often blame themselves for their children’s behavior, good or bad. No doubt, parents are going to blame themselves for the panic attacks in their children. The support group can help parents get a grip on their emotions; thus allowing the parent the ability to help their child out.

Tip 3 – Reassure Your Child

Many times panic attacks in children occur because they’ve had a blow to their ego or self-esteem. You want to let your child know that, no matter what they are going through, it’s not their fault. When they are having an attack, it’s best you stay back as they may accidentally hit you thrashing about. Let them work through their emotions and implement the techniques their therapist taught them.

Panic attacks in children can be a very frightening thing, both for the child and for the parents. However, by using the three tips above, you can learn how to get your child and yourself past the attacks and lead a happy, normal life again.