Anxiety and Depression Treatment - How to Find the Best One?

With the rising complexity of life and people getting too much involved in fussy activities, the number of people suffering from anxiety and depression is increasing rapidly. Just visit any psychiatrist and you will come to know how many people visit them just only to find the reliable anxiety and depression treatment. The main reason behind this upsurge in the number of patient is the changing lifestyle of people. We as humans are here in this world to live happily. We often forget this and take too much tension related to our daily activities including office, family, home, market, and many other things.
In earlier days, there were not so many patients for depression. This is because there were not too much worried at that time. What is anxiety? Anxiety is only a term used to describe the mental situation where in a person feels extreme sadness and hopelessness. The term anxiety is very much similar to depression which also refers to negative feeling and thinking. The best thing about them is that both are treated in similar ways. Although there are a large number of options available, it's crucial to get a perfect diagnosis from an experienced psychological counselor. It's also to be noted that you visit your medical doctor, if only to eliminate physical causes that may have triggered the anxiety depression.
There are specific types of medications known as SSRI or Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors that work to increase the serotonin levels in your brain. These antidepressant medicines have been able to be used successfully to treat many of the more commonly found anxiety disorders. Although cbt depression is generally recognized as being caused by low levels of chemicals in the brain, it seems to respond well to medication regimen. This in turn can help with various anxiety symptoms even though anxiety is more closely related to phobias and fears.
One of the most effective counseling techniques is known as cognitive therapy. This behavior therapy is a kind of psychotherapy that helps a person to determine the thinking patterns that may have caused the anxiety disorder or depression. Psychotherapeutic counseling is indeed effective with various phobias also to ensure proper anxiety and depression treatment.
Before you choose a particular anxiety and depression treatment, it is often suggested that you do a comprehensive market research to find the best depression treatment. I am sure you would be able to reach to a reliable solution to your disease.

Mental Illness: Trashing What We Thought We Knew

Let's take the whole bucket of what we think we know about mental illness, turn it upside down, and start all over again. What we consider psychopathology is most often an attempt to deal with somebody else's craziness. The big problem is that there is no normal way to react to craziness.
There is no such thing as a disturbed child who is not trying to survive either outright abuse or some other absurd treatment by people who are supposed to love him. Children do not have mental illnesses that grow out of a vacuum. Their behaviors are set by the way they are cared for, not cared for, or tormented.
Abuse is the strongest form of communication there is. Child abuse is a rape of the soul. Maltreatment of a child gives him a false idea of who he is. Whether physical, sexual, or emotional, child abuse implants lies deep within the psyche, or soul, of the little boy or girl. Rather than fade with age, these lies grow as the little human grows, as initials carved in the bark of a tree grow as does the tree. Rather than shrinking, the letters get bigger and easier to see. They are the lies that bind. They force conformity to a misconception of who we are.
In adulthood, it is of little importance whether someone has a positive self image or a negative one, for each is a delusion. Self image is a construct that is formed through other people's expressed opinions earlier in life, combined with the experimentation of rotating personalities during the teenage years. Teens try to find the pretended "self" that will be best accepted by the people in his life. Therefore, early opinions plus experimentation form what I term the "adopted self". Most adults believe that this flimsy concept is who they really are.
When a patient comes to me with a sense of low self-esteem I tell him he has made a good start on grasping reality. Since the "self" is already damaged and minimized it is easier to throw away altogether. The goal is not to have good self-esteem but to have no self-esteem. What needs to be done is to drop the whole idea of self, to take it off and drop it like an old coat.
Christianity is not a self-improvement program. It is a self-replacement program whereby the lies we have absorbed about our personhood are thrown off and replaced with a strong and joyful sense of becoming; that is, growing into the person our Creator intended. Once we have disposed of the chains of original sin through baptism we attain a potential that flourishes through God's glorious plan for us and our willingness to cooperate with His grace. In His Kingdom, He does not choose those who are worthy but those who are willing.
Judaism holds the same premise, that God has a plan for our life. When we discover our calling, we begin an introduction to our own soul: the real and true self already created by God since before the beginning of time.
The lies implanted by child abuse are so deeply convincing that God's intentions for His child are thwarted. It is the interference with the will of God that makes abuse not only devastating but literally evil. Blocking a soul from realizing God's love for him and from accepting divine nourishment in the form of grace is every bit as evil as murder.
The nurturing and the healing of souls are rightfully the work of the church and synagogue. Priests, rabbis, and ministers who know nothing about psychology have been short-changing their flocks. The healing of injured souls has always belonged to the medical profession and later to professional psychologists and mental-health counselors, whether or not any of these practitioners have any concept of what a soul is.
The task of pastors is to connect people to God in a life-enhancing relationship that leads to eternal life. Our pastors may or may not be well steeped in the study of divinity; that is, theology. But they are ignorant about the nature of people; that is, psychology. There exists an abyss between the two fields of knowledge.
Some seminaries do include a course or two in pastoral counseling in their basic curriculum preparing students for ordination, but the subject matter has little depth. A pastor should at least be able to recognize when a member of his church has a mental disorder that requires expert treatment, and he should know how to conduct a group therapy session.
Well-educated and experienced mental-health professionals will always be needed by society, as will knowledgeable pastors. The point is that there is much knowledge to be shared between the two.

Teaching Your Children Emotional Intelligence

As parents, we all want our children to succeed in both the academic and the emotional realms of their lives. Oftentimes parents and teachers become so focused on the academic realm that they neglect the emotional one.  He wrote a groundbreaking book titled, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ. In his book Goleman redefines what it means to be smart and how we can teach our children emotional skills very early in their lives. He also explains why new brain research indicates that children's ability to deal effectively with emotions (E.Q.) can be a better indicator of life success that their intelligence (I.Q.)
This article will address ideas on how to help increase children's emotional awareness so they can increase their chances for a more fulfilling life.. This includes happiness and success in every aspect of life from career and personal relationships to health and well-being. We can teach our children how to be more emotionally intelligent.
Emotional Intelligence consists of five characteristics. These are (1) emotional self-awareness, (2) managing feelings or self-regulation, (3) self-motivation, (4) empathy and (5) relationship skills.
The first one, self-awareness, is about knowing oneself- knowing ones feelings, knowing what one likes,, wants, feels comfortable about and in general being attuned to one's needs. People who are smart about this make better decisions about who they marry or what job they take. These are decisions that can affect one for a lifetime. We can promote self-awareness by respecting children's feelings, taking feelings seriously, listening and trying to understand what the child communicates both verbally and non-verbally. This helps the child feel valued, validated, understood and raises self-esteem and self-acceptance.
The second characteristic is self regulation and managing one's feelings. This involves handling one's emotions, especially anger, anxiety, and frustration. Adults can be good role models for how to appropriately and effectively handle these emotions. Accepting children's feelings (this does not mean accepting inappropriate behaviors) is very helpful to children in learning how to self-soothe and calm themselves and relax. Children need to learn that emotions have a function and need to be managed effectively and how to bounce back from setbacks and upsets. They need help learning how to move beyond rumination of feelings to developing an effective action plan. We need to discuss and talk about this repetitively and encourage children to seek and use help and support from others. We can also encourage a sense of humor about life's small upsets. Learning these skills can help alleviate feelings of chronic stress and development of illnesses related to stress.
The third characteristic, self-motivation, is critical for success in life. It is difficult to achieve in life without motivation and persistence in the face of setbacks. Self-motivation skills involve self-control, delaying gratification, controlling impulsiveness and promoting persistence. We need to help children set realistic goals and meet them. Optimism and hope can be modeled and an attitude of "you can make things happen" and "I believe in you" are important messages for parents and teachers to impart.
The fourth characteristic is empathy, the ability to recognize emotions in others and take on their perspective as well as show concern and caring for them. This is about the ability to read others both verbally and nonverbally and tune in to them and mirror them. We need to encourage children to put themselves in others shoes to promote morality and altruism which helps not only in personal relationships but in creating a better world.
The fifth and final characteristic is relationship skills. This involves social competence, making friends, becoming leaders, learning to compromise, problem-solve, and resolve conflicts. Children need adults to teach and model these skills as well as encourage them to be assertive, skilled communicators, cooperative, helpful and sharing. They need coaching to be able to give compliments, apologize when wrong, appreciate others and develop a sense of humor.
In summary these five characteristics are predictors of how successful children will be at work, in relationships and with their own health. We have the opportunity to teach, model and nurture emotional intelligence. It is important to begin as young as possible because childhood lessons will become lifelong habits. Upsets and acting out behaviors are golden opportunities for us to act as emotional coaches. In so doing, we will be able to take children's feelings seriously and understand why something is upsetting them. Parents, teachers and other adults can help children find positive ways to self-soothe and become comfortable with handling life stresses and frustrations.

Mental Illness Among Children Turning Into An Epidemic

The alarming rise in the number of children suffering from mental illness has led professional psychologists to probe into the causes of the problem. Research conducted by them revealed that an array of reasons starting from biological problems to environmental cause to psychological problems can result in the psychological disorientation of the children. Most often it can be seen that kids suffering from such conditions behave wildly. The parents should keep an eye on the behavior of their wards. If they observe that they is no change in the conduct of their son or daughter for a long time, they should take recourse to professional help as soon as possible.

If the kid is suffering from a psychological problem due to biological factors prenatal injury, infection, nerve problem or any other similar problems the parents should consult a specialist in this genre, get a proper diagnosis and start the treatment as soon as possible. Apart from these, it is repeatedly seen that kids especially adolescents suffer from mental illness due to various psychological factors like harassment in the school, physical abuse, hostility in the family, divorce and similar problems. Even environmental causes like shifting to a new school or if the child feels inadequate and incompetent can lead to serious psychological disorder. If these issues are not treated immediately it may gradually take up a monstrous shape and result in further complication.

A dynamic change is visible in the society of the 21st century which has also unknowingly contributed to the rising rate of Mental illness in children. Depression is one of the mental sicknesses that are affecting many children. While mood swing is a very common phenomenon, but when this condition continues to persist in the kids for an extensive span of time, the parents should immediately consult a psychologist and seek for his professional help. It is not possible to single out any particular cause behind depression. Accumulation of series of social and environmental causes ultimately results in such a serious problem. The cut throat competition of 21st century along with the increasing expectation of the parents has a direct impact on this particular variety of psychological distress. But these are not the only factors resulting in depression, low self esteem, negative incidents and events in one's life has also contributed to such psychological state.

Poverty among children among from underprivileged background may also result in serious mental trauma. The delicate mind of the young ones can either become exceedingly strong when it encounter such problem or else result in depression or any other kind of psychological problem. Physically abusing the child, neglect and even sexual abuse are some of the serious dilemma that is faced by many children in their tender age. Any kind of abuse has a direct impact on the psychological conditions of the kids. The parents should communicate freely with their children. If they are find out any abnormality in their behavior, they should take serious steps to find out the reason behind it.

Many psychiatric centres especially for the children are present for treatment of Mental illness in children. If the problem is serious, the kids should be admitted in these centers to recover fully. Moreover, these institutes are affiliated to schools as well. So the overall well being of the child is taken into consideration.

PTSD Prevention

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a normal response by normal people to an abnormal event. The severity of the exposure to the event represents a threat to their physical or psychological well-being. As such, the traumatic event overwhelms normal coping responses and challenges their ability to cope. The result is traumatic stress.
These types of events include rape or other types of assault, childhood sexual or physical abuse, family violence, accidents and other life threatening situations. Common responses are anxiety about a possible recurrence, confusion, difficulty in concentration, memory problems; temporary mood swings, general changes in temperament and irritability; flashbacks or reliving the event emotionally; sleep problems and/or nightmares; a change of appetite; emotional distress caused by events that remind you of the traumatic event; a desire to avoid anything that might remind you of the traumatic event; diminished interest in significant activities (work, social, or family); feeling depressed, detached, or estranged from others; shortness of temper, angry feelings, or a lack of patience with yourself or others; increased health problems; increased use of alcohol or drugs; depression, decreased energy, tearfulness, and loss of pleasure.
If several of these symptoms are present, it is advisable to seek professional help. Unresolved trauma can have a tragic impact on the life and choices made by the individual exposed to these types of events. For many, the painful feelings can continue for a long time despite attempts to cope. Others seem to manage well for a time and then find themselves distressed months or years later.
Early intervention, ideally during the first three months, is key to returning to a normal life that avoids PTSD. Treatment will be shorter and save the individual the pain of symptoms and choices that can have a negative affect on their life. While it is preferable to get professional help within the first three months, those who find themselves struggling with stress due to a traumatic event can find help through internationally recognized therapies for PTSD, such as EMDR.
As with all mental health issues, finding a qualified therapist who specializes in this particular disorder is important. Finding networks or specific organizations or practices that have providers trained in PTSD therapies is ideal. It is usually best to choose a therapist who is licensed by the regulatory board in your state. Licensing typically ensures that a therapist has obtained a graduate degree and one or more years of post-licensure training and supervision. It also gives recourse to the regulatory board should a question of poor treatment or ethical misconduct arise.