Omega 3 and the link to depression

Extensive research indicates that Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and help prevent risk factors associated with chronic illnesses. Omega-3 fatty acids are highly concentrated in the brain and are particularly important for cognitive and behavioural functions.

Symptoms of a Omega-3 deficiency are; fatigue, dry skin, heart problems, poor circulation, mood swings and or depression. It is essential to maintain a balance between Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, as the two work together. To maintain a healthy balance one should consume 2-4 times as much Omega-6 fatty acids as Omega-3.

Depression is an complex illness and in many cases there is no psychological factor like a life stressor or genetic failure in the brain that causes the illness. In that case cognitive and or nutritional influences may result in mood swings and or depression in a person. As research continues in this area, it has become that neuro-biology, environment, life stressors, genetics and also a deficiency in nutrients may all contribute that a person feels depressed.

A number of studies have found a lower Omega-3 count in the blood of depressed people. To find out whether you have a deficiency of Omega-3 fatty acids, contact your doctor and ask for a blood test. The test will determine the EFA status in the plasma and red blood cells of your blood.
When however a life stressor or past experience are causing you to feel depressed contact a counselor or psychotherapist.

What is a panic attack and what can you do when the screws come off

What is a panic attack

 Unlike an anxiety a panic attack is reasonable good to treat. You might seem surprised that I say this, but I have experienced two myself within a months time of each other. It was my mother who urged me to seek professional help at a clinic in town. I was lucky and got an appointment the same week, from then on a extremely difficult period of about a year commenced, but never again was I attacked by such a fear as in those panic attacks.

I still don't know how they actually began, but in the middle of the night I was suddenly strangled by a immense fear that seemed to come directly from the devil. I was shaking all over my body and was hot and cold at the same time. The thoughts in my head were so dark that I felt as like being in a never ending whirlpool. It must have stopped at some time, but I do not know how long this took. During an attack people can have a black out, see or hear things that aren't real (hallucinations).

Why do people get panic attacks

We all carry our memories wanted or unwanted with us in our mobile computer the brain. When there are things we rather forget or have hurt us we do our best to cover them up by applying a defense mechanism. This is working in a different way with children because their brain isn't fully developed yet. These coping skills a child learns its self are or might be useful in that particular period, but there comes a time they are outdated and have to be replaced. The transition for the replacement can be started by will, which was the case with me. I will write about this later in another post. However in most cases the transition takes place involuntarily.
Possible triggers:

• the birth of your first child
• a traumatic event 
• the death of a relative or friend
• marriage
• moving out of the parental house
• or any major change in your live

Your brain has being busy over the last couple of years, maybe it was a decade or perhaps it was even longer, but now a few of the screws which were dodgy from the time you had your bad experience come lose and the whole thing gets into a terrible tumult. Of course this is a metaphor. What I mean is that two parts in the brain, the Hippocampus and the Amgdala are sending each other the wrong messages.

The best thing that can be done now is to seek professional help. Unfortunately the waiting lists at the clinics and other free health centres are long and it can be too late for many people before they get the help they need. Many people chose to go to their doctor and he or she often prescribes them an anti-depressant or sends the patient through to a psychiatrist, who then medicates the person with an anti-psychotic drug.
But these medications aren't the answer. You might say they keep the hallucinations and the panic away. They might but the underlying cause is still there and the patient has to take the medication for the rest of his or her life and has many side effects, like shaking and weight gain. I have a lot more to say but I leave that for another day.

How to deal with the loss of a loved one (the stages of grief)

As we get older we all experience loss throughout our life. Death is as much a part of reality as life itself. Although live can bring us many surprises and many choices have to be made along the path of existence, there is one thing we cannot choose; the time of our death and the fact that a friend or family member once must die as well. This unfortunate faith is in the best of times hard to accept. It is not uncommon that people no matter how strong they might have been have difficulties coping with a loss. It is of great importance that after someone lost a loved one the mourner accomplice the process of grieving.

Task one: Acceptance the reality of loss.


The first task is to accept that the person has died. The person is gone and will not come back. In the beginning, just after the death it is quite normal to put a plate out for the deceased or to make a telephone call to tell the deceased some news. We need to get used to what happened. Everyone is different and need more or less time to go through this stage than others. As long as the mourner realizes that person is not longer alive anymore. It takes time to come to terms with what happened. Rituals like the funeral may help mourners to move towards acceptance.

Task two: Work through the pain of grief.

It is necessary to acknowledge and to go through the psychological pain. If this is delayed or ignored the person will manifest symptoms and behaviors, like depression, anger, psycho-somatic pains, or other. Therefore a bereaved person should not be afraid of his or her emotions in the days after the death has taken place. A perfect option to express these feelings is at the funeral and directly after one hears the bad news. At the wake or after the funeral is good to talk to the people attending, in order to console each other.

However not everyone is able to do this and has difficulties expression themselves. These are usually the people who keep busy with tending to the guests and hid themselves in the kitchen to tidy up, or sit quietly in a corner. They might think that they have to keep it together for the ‘weaker’ members of the family, like the children, but nothing is further from the truth. By denying their feelings they only prolong the process and in the long run it’s not only themselves that suffer but also the children. It is at stage two that many people get lost with a severe depression as a result. When involved in a depression it is far more difficult to work through the pain of bereavement.

Task three: Adjusting to the environment in which the deceased is missing.

Depending on the relationship the mourner had with the deceased this can be a very daunting task. Often one has to learn new skills such as dealing with the finance, learn how to cook or talking with authority figures. Other practical adjustments when losing a partner have to be made as well, like sleeping alone in a big cold bed, or cooking less food. A person might have to learn new social skills, as the lost of a partner or close friend might leave the person on its own or with little or no friends. The longer the relationship the harder this is. Therefore it might be necessary to seek help with this task. One can seek help for the practical things and do a course and one can become a member of a group in order to get support and assist each other.

Task four: To emotionally relocate the deceased and move on with life.

As the title suggest; in this task the survivor learn to give the deceased a different place in their heart. Some people say, “He still has a special place in my heart.” That is good, because there is no need to forget the person you loved, although one cannot reach or touch that person any longer and therefore room must be made for other people or for another special person. It is impossible to forget a deceased there will always be memories of this person and it is alright to think and talk about the deceased from time to time. Another thing which is good is keep a photograph of this person in the living room. It might take some time before a survivor is ready to emotionally relocate the deceased and this task should not be rushed by outsiders.

This last task can be hindered when people want to hold on to the past. For many people this is the most difficult task to accomplish, they get stuck in this task and in the past. Nevertheless there is enough place in our heart to love a new person and doing so doesn’t mean that we forget the deceased.

When is mourning finished?

The process of mourning is finished when the survivor is able to think and talk about the deceased without emotional pain. How long this will take depends on the relationship.

Calm After the Storm
by A.N. Flores

darkness fades
suns rise
skies clear
storms die

wounds heal
spirits fly
souls hope
hearts sigh

stories end
dreams die
you're gone
I survive

More poems

Why does a woman gain weight during the menopause

Researchers are unsure why so many women gain weight during menopause. Lowered estrogen and testosterone levels may contribute to added pounds although a direct correlation has yet to be determined. Certainly fluctuating hormones cause cravings and the stress of hot flashes, mood swings, and insomnia can make women turn to food for a quick pick-me-up.
Metabolic rate may be a factor in menopausal weight gain. Dr. Nanette Santoro, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reports that “metabolic rate slows with age. This means that a woman eating the exact same number of calories a day will maintain her weight at age 20 but will gain weight at age 50.” The loss of muscle mass, which happens as we age, changes how fast your body burns calories. Genetics play a role in weight gain too

Move: Find exercise you enjoy such as walking, dancing, swimming, or just do the house keeping. Yes housekeeping can help you burn calories.

Strength Train: Exercises such as weight lifting can boost your metabolism, as well as increase muscle mass and strengthen bones. Building muscle mass is also more likely to protect against future weight gain

Choose Food Carefully: Select foods that pack a nutritious punch. Be careful of empty calories. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Watch portion size as well as mindless eating such as snacking while you watch TV.

Be Good to Yourself: Menopause is a time for treats (just not high-calorie treats). Indulge. Feed your senses. Hike in the hills. Have a cup of tea with a friend and share a scone instead of having one each.

 Can't do it yourself? 

Before the memo pause a woman goes through the perimemopause.  Do a quiz to see if you are. The perimenmopause cause start already in your thirties.  

What causes Schizophrenia? Is it a brain deficit that needs to be replaced with a drug? Or is the illness caused after a person experienced a stressful period in his/her life?

Introduction
If we have to believe the handbook and guidance guide from Schizophrenia Ireland, now called Shine, there is no cure for the disease. They claim that, ‘ Although as many as three in four people with Schizophrenia improve significantly or recover, there is no known cure to the illness. The only way to control the symptoms is with anti psychotic medication, combined with other non- medicine supportive therapies.’
This support and guidance guide is sponsored by two large pharmaceutical companies. Their power and influence within the research of Schizophrenia is far extending. They have been involved from the very beginning the illness got its name.

Schizophrenia is a old as the world it self, only people did call people who behaved out of the ordinary mad then. What causes the illness. Is it a brain deficit that needs to be replaced with a drug? Or is the illness caused after a person experienced a stressful period in his/her life?
A person with Schizophrenia can have positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. The negative
symptoms combined with the cognitive are very similar to the ones you find in a depressed person.
Positive symptoms can involve; hallucinations, delusions and paranoid thoughts. Cognitive symptoms can involve; problems with concentrating and short term memory loss.
Schizophrenia is the collective name of the above symptoms. Symptoms can be treated. A person can
learn to understand what is behind the voices s/he hears. One can learn to understand his or her own ’disturbing’ behaviour. Schizophrenia is a label which is put on millions of people who didn’t fit the norm.

In ‘On Psychotherapy’, Freud (1905) expressed the hope that psycho analytic therapy would benefit
schizophrenic patients in the future. Fifty years later, Carl Jung repeated that schizophrenia can be
completely cured using psycho dynamic theories. The Medical and Social Models have divided the
mental health world, the big losers are the patients/clients. People have the right to know there are other options. The health policy, “ A Vision for Change”, launched by the Irish government in 2006, called for the mental health patients to be accepted as active participants in their care and recovery plan. However not much has changed. John Saunders of Schizophrenia Ireland, said that 76 out of the 78 community mental health teams are totally understaffed.
Even though there are other theories which explain the cause of Schizophrenia, the two most common models used are the Medical or Disease Model and the Social Model. The Medical model claims that a biological defect in a persons brain is responsible for the illness. The Social Model claims that when a person is confronted with an extremely stressful event, his/her mind puts a defense mechanism in place.
In this paper, I will discus what these two models are about.

THE HISTORY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Fear to lose authority over other people has been there since time began. There is no need to go all the way back to Genesis to illustrate this. Neither is there any need to stray too far from Ireland. The role the Church played in Ireland in suppressing a whole nation is well known, even out side the country. But not only in Ireland people had to be kept in check.
In the 1700’s, the Hospital General in Paris housed people from all ages and sexes, because they were
considered inconvenient; poor, invalid, or a threat to those in power. The ‘patients’ were diagnosed as
being mad.They had some barbaric treatments in those days, like force feeding a patient soluble tartar, chimney soot, woodlice or soap.

 

Throughout time people who were different from the norm were seen as risks to people in power full
positions. They didn’t quit know how to control those people, so they locked them away.
Falret (1794-1870), suggested replacing the term ’mental disease’ with ’mental alienation’. He was
drawing attention to the process in which people can become disconnected from other people. Members of the medical profession turned a blind eye to his suggestion.
When Bayle discovered a genuine biological cause for one form of madness in 1822, hope was fuelled that other mental illnesses with a biological cause might be uncovered.
Decades past and no proof of a biological cause for madness was found. By the turn of the century, it was Kraepelin who claimed he had discovered an incurable, degenerating illness. Kraepelin repeatedly changed the rules for who had the illness. ‘ The causes for Schizophrenia are at the present time still wrapped in penetrable darkness.’ (Kraepelin)

In our present times we are still in the dark. Kraepelin received $ 575,000 for research in Europe from the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefelller owned the petroleum industry and had recently discovered that by products of petroleum could be used to produce medicine.
In 1911 Bleuler published ’Dementia Praecox or the group of Schizophrenia’s.’ Inconvenient or
different behaviour like: homosexuality, laziness, rebellion and remembering too intensely were but a
few of the symptoms a patient could have. And what do you think of this one: ‘Many Schizophrenics
display lively affects at least in certain directions, among them are active writers, the world improvers, the health lunatics, the founders of new religions.’ (Bleuler 1911:41)
In 1929 Denmark became the first European nation to pass an eugenics inspired sterilization law.
(Hansen 1996) In 1935 Finland passed the sterilization Act, which allowed the compulsory sterilization and castration of idiots, imbeciles, the insane, people diagnosed with Schizophrenia or manic depression. (Hemminiki et. Al. 1997; Hietala 1996)
By 1933 the law in Germany allowed the compulsory sterilization of Schizophrenics, manic depressive, hereditary- epilepsy- blindness- and deafness, severe physical deformity and severe alcoholism. Soon other European countries followed in this crusade.
In 1938 one found that sterilization was no longer enough and although the murder on these people had started that year, the plan to kill all ‘mental’ patients began in 1939. These ‘mercy’ killings as they were called, were done in gas chambers, which were later shipped to the well known concentration camps.
In the 1940’s psychologists developed test to try to improve diagnostic procedures. Only the procedures weren’t too precise validated. One of the largest reliability studies undertaken using the test-retest approach, found that consistency for Schizophrenia was only 37%.
In 1968 psychologist Don Bannister questioned the matter that when one person manifests symptoms A and B he is diagnosed with Schizophrenia, while another person manifests symptoms C, D and E is also diagnosed with the disorder. The diagnosing of patients remains precarious in the 21st century

To be continued.

7 benefits of exercise

We all know the drill I should be more active but how active and how much exercise do I need? And what is it good for? Below you find seven reasons to exercise. But don’t worry it won’t take much of your time. However walking in a natural environment does everybody good.

7  benefits of exercise

1.    Reduce the risks of developing heart disease

2.    Reduce  high blood pressure

3.    Reduce  high cholesterol

4.    Reduce the risks of colon and breast cancer

5.    Reduce the risks of developing diabetes

6.    building and maintain healthy muscles and joints

7.    reduce feelings of mild depression and anxiety

When you exercise your food will pass slower through your digestive system. Your stomach empties more slowly and you feel fuller for longer.

Short burst of activity releases stored energy from your tissues, so that the glucose levels remain stable and you don’t feel hungry. This means you don’t have to run for an hour to lose that tire around your waist. You’ll better go flat out for a few minutes.

Rope skipping is a cheap and easy way to get your heart rate up. This will burn more calories than when you go for a jog.

Chemicals that control hunger and appetite are made in a small gland called the Hypothalumus, which is located in the back of the brain.

The Hypothalumus controls the release of Neuropetite Y and Peptide YY in the gut. These two chemicals send a signal to our brain saying we are full or we need to eat more.

This said, being active is good for you and it makes you feel better.   But don't feel guilty when you go to the next BBQ party this summer. And you don't have to eat salads only.

Anxiety what can you do

Anxiety is one of the most complicated mental issues a person can have. We all understand that when we are having a job interview or a meeting with a doctor that we might be nervous for this. This is perfectly normal. In a situation like that or when we feel we are in danger it is a normal reaction to protect our self from the unknown and for potential treats to our health, whether it is psychological or psychical. The fact that we can't control the situation is making us vulnerable. In the case of doing an exam it is of the essence that the examine has prepared her or himself and studied the topics so that there is a good chance to succeed. This way one can take easily control over the situation, however there are people who done all this and when the moment of truth is there they have seemly forgotten what they have learned. In those cases it might be appropriate to ask your doctor for a mild sedative. This type of anxiety will wear off.



When is anxiety more than a temporary thing?

When a person feels tense, irritable, nervous for no particular reason, there might be an underlying cause for the ailment. Strangely enough it isn't always so easy to anxiety identify anxiety. Most of the time long term anxiety goes hand in hand with depression and psychosomatic pains or ailments, like irritable bowel syndrome, head ages, or other pains or illnesses. Long term anxiety can be caused by a trauma in the past, for example an accident or abuse when the person was a child. Even when the person has been treated for the trauma in hospital or had sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist the anxiety can linger and may eventually go and live a life of its own. Especially when the the person was a child the brain had not been fully developed at the time of the trauma. The result might be that the brain gives the wrong information to the patient. For example it says that the person is in danger all the time, the result being that he or she is vigilant all the time.
If a person has been to counselling sessions and have worked through their trauma and he or she is still having re-acquiring symptoms of depression and anxiety, it might be time to consult the family doctor and ask for medication. Needless to say is that all medications have pros and con's and drugs should always be the last resort.