While ADHD and anxiety are not the same condition could they be linked? Some experts believe the answer is yes.
According to the AMA ADHD is defined as a mental illness characterized by difficulty paying attention and a high degree of restlessness and impulsive behavior. Symptoms begin before the age of 7, cause problems in at least two different environments, and last for at least six months.
According to the AMA Anxiety is defined as a general feeling of uneasiness, dread, uncertainty, and fear in response to or in anticipation of a real or imagined threat.
While it might be difficult to draw a comparison between ADHD and anxiety by simply comparing definitions there are two areas where some correlations and associations can be drawn; biological causes and secondary symptoms.
Biology: Both ADHD and anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder both are believed to have a biological component involving imbalances of two or more brain chemical messengers (dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin). These brain chemicals, and the way they interact with each other, are responsible for self regulation and mood. Let’s take each one individually. Read more…
1. Baby us – I understand that I am sick and you are trying to help but by treating me like an infant reinforces my own thoughts that I am basically useless
2. Speak louder then normal – I have severe depression, post traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and generalized anxiety disorder none of which affect my hearing or will get your advice/suggestion/support through quicker Read more…
During my first admission the doctor told me that he believed that ECT might be good for my situation and he said I should go forward with it. I replied that is good what the heck are you talking about? ECT is Electro Convulsive Therapy or shock treatments and when he said this all I pictured was the scene from “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” so I was not exactly thrilled with this suggestion but the mental place I was in at the time was eating me alive so I said what the heck thinking I would just pull out at a later date if things became to hairy.
First things first they need a second doctor to check you out to make sure that you are a good client for this treatment. The guy met me and a minute later he stamped his sign of approval. Then they get you to watch the movie on how the procedure works and what to expect, it is not a pretty picture but I was really glad to find out I would not be conscious for it. How it works is your brought down to the room where they give you a combination of meds, then you are told to bite down on this piece of rubber and then you breath the sleeping gas until you fall asleep a few moments later. There are two types of ECT one is bilateral which is they put two pads on each temple and the second is unilateral where both pads are on one side of your head. There are a number of people in the room and they each grab a limb then the doctor nods his head and a short blast of current is passed between the two pads putting your body into a convulsion. There are apparently good convulsions and bad convulsions determined by the time they last, the positive one I believe is somewhere over thirty seconds or so. Read more…
Before you begin on your journey to building high self esteem there are some simple things you should do. First, listen to what your body may be telling you. If you are consistently tired and always feeling sad, this may be a symptom of depression and needs to be treated by your health care professional. Once it is determined that this is low self esteem, it is time for you to start taking care of yourself. Take that long, warm bubble bath that you love, or begin an exercise program. The latter in itself is a great beginning in building up your self esteem. Exercise gives you that boost of energy and with each day of exercise you will see yourself becoming stronger and more confident. If your face is always sagging, so will your body, so start fixing both with exercise and positive thoughts.
Overcome all those negative thoughts that plague you once you start your program in building high self esteem. Try charging yourself a quarter every time you hear yourself saying, “I am such a jerk!” When you see the money building up, you will begin to understand yourself better. Then, when you can say “I am not a jerk” or I can do that and I deserve it, take away a quarter. When you say negative things about yourself you begin to believe it and it makes things worse. Begin spouting only positive things about yourself. Set goals for yourself that are reasonable and where you feel you can achieve success. Each time this occurs, your self confidence gets stronger and stronger. When a problem arises, set out to solve that problem by looking at it closely to see how this can be achieved. Do not avoid the problem but go at it head on. Read more…
We develop as people as we experience different things and as we mature we become flexible enough to learn from our experiences and change our behaviour to better cope with life. However, people who have a personality disorder find this difficult. Their patterns of thinking, their feelings and behaviour remain fixed and so they will present with a much more limited range of emotions, attitudes and behaviours, thus finding it difficult to cope with everyday events.
As you would imagine, this can lead to distress and a fear that you do not experience life as others do. Read more…
In this article I am aiming to enlighten people about the different treatments of depression under Psychotherapy. There are three major treatments that are mostly used by the experts, these are: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT, Interpersonal Therapy and different combinations of therapies. Depression needs treatment. This kind of episode is recurrent and is best treated with short-term interventions partnered with ongoing maintenance therapy.
An individual who has depression may even acquire chronic mental illnesses that demands for the team of medication and psychiatric expertise. Psychotherapy techniques would always include counseling. The therapy’s duration can be from 2-3 weeks, and may even extend to twenty weeks, depending on the progress of the client. In this approach, the family is also involved in the therapy. This is done to help the patient as well as his / her loved ones to cope with the stress of the disorder. First on the list is Cognitive Behavior Therapy or CBT, this intervention focuses on the thinking or thought process of the patient. Read more…
Sleep panic attacks are not as uncommon as one may think. Although they may seem to have no apparent cause, they are usually the result of stress during the day. Like any form of panic and anxiety, there is a root cause, whether it be a traumatic event, ongoing stress, or change in life like moving house. It is likely that this cause is being ignored while awake and not faced up to and so they are upsetting the sleep and causing panic at night.
If panic attacks while sleeping become a frequent occurrence, they can lead a person to develop other problems. The person can start to fear going to bed and sleeping, which may lead to insomnia. The panic attacks may be waking them up and disturbing the natural sleep routine already. All this will lead to tiredness, more stress, and more risk of anxiety. Read more…
If you are like most people, you have experienced shyness at some point in your life. It is estimated that 50% of people would describe themselves as being shy now, or at one time in their lives. But, unfortunately, when it comes to shyness, misery does not love company. Shyness can not only result in a lack of interpersonal relationships, but can have a negative impact on your job as well. The key to overcome shyness, is first of all, to understand what is likely causing it. Rather than mere inexperience in social settings, a strong feeling of self-consciousness is often the culprit. This explains why teenagers are often plagued with episodes of shyness, as this age group is hyper focused on their appearance, and they often want nothing more than to blend into their surroundings.
Therefore, the first step you need to take to overcome shyness, is to take the focus off of yourself, and be mindful in trying to keep it off. Develop good listening skills, so that when someone is speaking, you are paying 100% attention, and will block out any unpleasant thoughts about how you might be perceived. Even if it is as simple as noticing their eye color, speech dialect or body language will help to direct your thoughts away from yourself. This will have the added benefit of giving you plenty of options to respond, as you will have paid such close attention to the conversation. Focusing intently on others will also stop you from comparing yourself to everyone else, which often serves to magnify your feelings of shyness and inadequacy. Read more…
There are other theories such as the cause of depression arises from genetics. It is considered that it is the family and their behavior that has a predisposition towards depression. There are numerous studies and research that has shown family members who are affected by depression have a genetic makeup that is very different from family members who are unaffected by depression. A depressive disorder is a mental disparity exemplified by a pessimistic sense of insufficiency. A person commonly suffers from feelings of gloom and sadness, downturns in mood, despair, feelings of low self-esteem, guilt, self-pity, and loneliness.
Depression is not just a temporary or situational sadness, but a persistent and pervasive feeling of melancholy or hopelessness that is often associated with weight loss or gain, sleep disturbances, constipation, disturbances of sexual function, and feelings of remorse or self-blame. It also results into withdrawal from interpersonal contact, psychomotor retardation and continuous agitation. Read more…
There are many different symptoms which may vary from each individual person suffering from this disorder. No matter which category you fall into, everyone is looking for the same answer – to be rid of their many symptoms and live a normal life free of OCD. With the correct treatment, you can be rid of your symptoms forever. How wonderful would that be. Read on to find out how this dream can become a reality.
Firstly, let me tell you about some typical personality profiles of OCD sufferers.
1 Washers and cleaners – have an irrational fear of being contaminated by everyday things. They will often bathe, shower or wash their hands several times a day to free themselves of germs or some terrible disease they think they will catch as a result of contamination. They will also clean their houses or clothes constantly.
2 Checkers – have an irrational fear of some terrible fate occurring due to a lack of responsibility on their part. They will constantly check that doors and windows are locked, household appliances and water taps are turned off , ashtrays are emptied. These rituals can become a very lengthy, time-consuming part of their daily tasks. Read more…
