It is doubtful that cats or dogs will ever be recognized as preferred providers by guarnatee companies. But more and more hospitals, rest homes, and therapists are employing the use of animals as co-therapists in some fashion. This may be relatively new in the United States, but not so elsewhere. The belief that animals are good companions for those who are sick has a long history. A Long
History of Companionship
Britain has been more progressive in the therapeutic use of pets than has the United States. In the 1790s, a Quaker stepping back town encouraged its patients to spend time touching and interacting with the roaming farm animals at the facility. The staff believed this would enhance the mental state of the population more than the archaic treatments used for the mentally ill at that time. Animal-assisted therapy for real had its beginnings with therapeutic horseback riding programs in Germany during the 1960s. It wasn't until the 1980s that the use of animals in therapeutic settings became more coarse in the United States. Animals used in the discrete visitations and therapy settings can vary dogs, cats, horses, Capuchin monkeys, and some varieties of birds are used. Collective workers and physical therapists have led the way more often than not in employing animals to sustain in helping patients.2
Personal Discovery: In the late 1960s, I stumbled on the therapeutic use of dogs in my own counseling practice. At that time, I had an office in my home. When counselees came to the door, my two gregarious shelties were there first. It became a ritual for every person to meet them. I soon discovered how influential pets were in the lives of these people. Some refused to leave until they said good-bye to my dogs. Others seemed more relaxed when one of the dogs sat next to them during the session. At times, I observed a quiet, reserved man come to be more outgoing and expressive when greeting a dog. I noticed his wife's reaction to this response, especially when they had rarely experienced such an expressive chance in their own interaction. Of course, this became a helpful topic of consulation during the session. When I opened a counseling center, the process continued. Tropical fish in the waiting room entertained and relaxed children as well as adults. As I made the transition from raising shelties to golden retrievers, new opportunities arose to use a dog as an assistant. With Sheffield, my retriever, we had a natural greeter at the counseling center. He was kept in the front office, descriptive to all who entered. I discovered those who needed his services and those who were not as responsive to dogs.
In many sessions, Sheffield's proximity in the counseling office was a source of comfort. I also used some of his qualities to explicate ways of responding to others. When someone is struggling through the grieving process, the use of an animal has proven beneficial. The touching of the dog as well as his sensitive concern to the persons crying has been beneficial in eliciting responses from the counselee in the ensuing discussion.
Benefits to Consider: Why would anyone want to use animals in his or her counseling practice? What are the benefits? consider the following findings. Therapists have discovered that having an animal in the office, whether it be a cat, a dog, or fish in a tank, is relaxing. Animals help soothe agitated feelings. They can be used as a way to make contact with a reserved client or a hesitant child. An animal may serve as a bridge to person-to-person interaction. If a someone is paranoid, he or she may have mystery connecting with you, whereas the animal acts as a go-between.3 A study of a twice-weekly animal visitation program in rest homes using experimental and operate groups showed a considerable convert in residents functioning. Those who received visits experienced statistically considerable decreases in depression, anxiety, and confusion.4 A year long study of nearly 1,000 elderly members of a Los Angeles condition maintenance society discovered that those who owned dogs sought medical care 20% less often than those without pets.
Studies also indicated that visitors to nursing homes who were accompanied by an animal drew more distinct interactive responses from the residents than those who came without them. The residents who were exposed to pets smiled more, were more alert, and were physically less aggressive. Patients were noticeably more tolerant of others standing near them when an animal was present.5 Often animals are used with Alzheimer patients. Many had a dog or cat when they were children. The renewed contact with an animal helps them to recall those memories. We have friends in Colorado who raise horses. Each Wednesday a group from the Alzheimer facility is brought to their ranch for a weekly ride. These patients have mystery remembering their daily routines. Yet each Wednesday morning, they can be found in the lobby wearing their extra riding hats, waiting for the days events to begin. No one has to remind them of the weekly ride. Adolescents from a residential care home are also brought in to help with the horses and the riders. contact with the animals has had a distinct result on the teen's outlook as well. Dogs have been used for years with the sight impaired. Now, with the hearing impaired, dogs are used to alert their owners to sounds such as a babys cry, phone, doorbell, alarm clock, or smoke detector.6 Some dogs have rare abilities to help their owners. For instance, Walton, a Labrador-mix assistance dog, is a seizure-alert dog, able to warn his owner of impending epileptic attacks before they strike. Once his owner, Emily, has had a seizure, the dog is very protective and won't allow her to exert herself the next day.7 Dogs, as well as Capuchin monkeys, are used with the complicated handicapped. Canine companion dogs are trained to do 89 separate tasks for their owners, thus enabling owners greater opportunities for being independent.
Animals give unconditional acceptance, especially dogs. They do not care if youre on drugs, inebriated, or Hiv positive. When that animal walks up to you, you study that someone wants to associate with you regardless of your circumstances. Dr. Ashok Bedi, a psychiatrist in inexpressive practice at Milwaukee sychiatric Hospital in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, has recommend that animals can fulfill the needs population have to feel considerable and lovable and to sense that they belong and are competent. Animals do not talk back, criticize, or give orders. Disturbed children of all ages who have quarterly visits by animals act up less often. The animals seem to add a sense of predictability to their lives and thus growth their self-control. There are also considerable physiological effects as well. A persons heart rate is lower when he or she sits quietly or reads aloud in the proximity of a cordial animal than when doing so alone. The survival rate for heart surgery patients is higher for those who have pets in their homes than for those who do not. Those who own pets tolerate stress good and have lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels. A study by Karen Allen, Ph.D., and James J. Blascoush, Ph.D., showed that dogs were for real a good source of Collective preserve than spouses. Two-hundred forty population participated in this stress study, which showed that participants stress response was top when spouses were gift and lower only when their pets were there. The windup was drawn that its probably because dogs are non-judgmental or perceived that way. Find a therapist to get solutions to your problems.
Is Pet Therapy for You?
What can you do with the use of pets in your practice? Be sure you enjoy Animals and can bond with them. You can't force this. You need an animal that is people-oriented and responsive. Not all cats and dogs are. distinct breeds of dogs work good than others. For example, knowing the separate personality types of dogs is Important. (I do not mean using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator even though I have typed both of my retrievers!) Researchers have found that matching the personalities of population and dogs is an prominent step. If you are interested, the following old_resources would be considerable reading.
Preamble
Barack Obama is a highly intelligent, well schooled President-Elect of the Usa. But he has stated that One person whose life/works he studies intimately to ensue in his chosen work is Abraham Lincoln - who paradoxically, boasted few months of schooling, and spent over 30 years of his life failing Before becoming president of The Usa.
A check reveals that Lincoln - among other things - was self-taught, and reportedly walked miles to and from the library Daily to borrow books to read. That is what Obama and Lincoln have in base - great proficiency in learning by reading. In my Free book and One Hour talk on this subject, I share anecdotes about Thomas Edison, Daley Thompson, Mary Lou Retton and others to help you understand why your child may Not be the dullard you (or his/her teachers make you) think s/he is.
And if your child is said to - or seems to - be doing well, what I share in this write-up may help you peruse early adequate why That may not mean s/he is for real being taught How To Learn effectively, in a way that will enable him/her ensue later on in life!
Are you a parent to a school age child? Have the teachers in your child's school been complaining to you about his/her performance? Does the child seem to frequently struggle to learn thing that other children in the same class seem to have no problems with? Does s/he for instance have problems recognizing letter of the alphabet, tend to read/write them in reverse (or mixes up some that appear similar e.g. B and d)? Does the child have a tendency to "forget' what s/he learns after sometime even though the instructor has gone through numerous repetitions?
If any of the above or similar problems are what you find with your child, then you will do well to read this report right to the end.
Rote learning Is Bad - And Makes citizen Dislike Studying
Our original teaching methods destroy our children's potential to learn. By original methods, I refer specifically to the base custom in most of our schools where teachers emphasise learning by rote instead of teaching children to understand meanings in learning. A descriptive example of the negative impact of this method on our children is what happens at Schools Debates. The fixed stares in the children's eyes as they recap their consider "arguments" is only broken when the child misses a "line" in the recitation.
Leaning by Rote discourages Thinking. Reasoning requires the use of the brain and the mind. The brain is just like any other muscle in the body. The more it is exercised, the more it develops.
Therefore teaching whatever to understand meaning will ensue in production the person one who seeks to understand by thinking. Subsequently, s/he will learn to apply that Reasoning potential to other uses - and at last become creative. The Oxford industrialized Learners' Dictionary defined "rote" as the process of learning by repeated study rather than by comprehension the meaning.
That is how many of us Nigerian adults we taught to learn. And that's also why many of us today are not exactly keen on Reasoning and reading. The truth is that rote learning is difficult, unpleasant and for children, can be especially painful, particularly if the child happens to be one of those who lack the aptitude to cope with that method of learning.
So in our case, as adults since that's how we were taught to learn, most of our memories of school are unpleasant. And that explains why the mean adult Nigerian typically announces s/he has done "learning" upon graduation. Try and get that person to do any focused learning and you'll meet stiff resistance.
The only other time s/he returns to learning is for a higher qualification, and evidence abounds to show that very often, s/he looks for the easiest and quickest way to get it over with - sometimes via "shortcuts". If learning had been made pleasurable for Nigerian adults, they would not seek to avoid it so much.
Some children a naturally gifted at rote learning, and so tend to excel in it. But there are some who do not have the natural routine towards learning by rote i.e. Children who have been described as Visual, Spatial, Right Brained, 3D etc Learners. They belong to an elite minority group of citizen who have the unusual potential to learn by finding things from a multi-dimensional rather than linear perspective.
For them rote learning is torture - and when forced on them makes them hate learning/school, plus they may become withdrawn or introverted or in obvious cases, they could rebel and become difficult to control in class. Teachers in industrialized societies described many children who reacted like these as having disorders like Add, Dyslexia, etc. It is children like these that I refer to when I talk about "Educational Dyslexia".
Your child may be one of them - and if you stay insensitive to what I say here, s/he may suffer needlessly in the course of learning!
But What Is Dyslexia?
For most parents who are not necessarily customary with healing terminology, the Oxford industrialized Learner's dictionary offers an easy to understand definition: "a limited disorder of the brain that causes strangeness in reading and spelling". There are numerous Internet resources dedicated to providing sustain for children with Dyslexia. Some are maintained by explore organizations, government bodies, incommunicable institutions and even individuals.
What is ironic is that many children who failed or refused to learn in these original ways often ended up becoming highly successfully later on in life - sometimes in fields that wish formal schooling or literacy, and in obvious enthralling instances, without even having continued with formal schooling.
An example is Albert Einstein, whose teachers described as "dull-witted" and "would never amount to anything". But we all know Einstein etched his name in history as one of the greatest scientific minds the world has ever seen.
Thomas Edison's teachers had done he was "addled". Think this Oxford industrialized Learners' dictionary application of this adjective(used derogatively to mean "confused"): His brain was addled from years of drug abuse. That means the teachers believed Edison's brain was not functioning normally. But thankfully his mom refused to accept what they told her. If she had, we probably would not have his 1091 inventions - including the light bulb and electricity.
Here's an citation from an online biography about Edision: "Edison was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called Edison "addled," his furious mom took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Edison said many years later, "My mom was the production of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint." - citation from "The Life of Thomas Edison" (Online Biography)
Tony Buzan in his Speed Reading Book described some base Reading Problems which he said in 90% of cases were due to wrong methods citizen were taught to read rather than the "illnesses" they were attributed to. It was also the parents of both Daley Thompson (World/Olympic No.1 Decathlete for 10 years - chattering all old world record) and Mary Lou Retton(Los Angeles Olympics Gold Medallist) who refused to accept what teachers said about their children's difficulties with learning to read/write in school.
In the case of these two individuals, teachers had complained of their inattentiveness and hyperactivity, and recommended use of tranquilizing drugs to get them to be more subdued like other children. Instead the parents asked the schools to find ways to help the children put their extra vigor to productive use. This led to each child being introduced to sports. The rest is history.
Now in all the cases described above, the Parents played a crucial and decisive role by influencing the manner in which their children were given formal schooling. They did not leave their children at the mercy of teachers who already felt overburdened with the responsibility of attending to many children. Teachers who as a ensue of their workload, among other things would not spare the time to try and understand the child and peruse why s/he was acting different.
Why You Are Your Child's Best Teacher
It is instructive to note that very often, these children who struggle with learning like this for real come over in all other areas as salutary and highly intelligent. That makes it even more difficult - for the teacher/others - to understand why they find it difficult to learn the way their peers do. These children only stand a opening when person who truly cares takes out time to help them.
That's why the parents have a crucial role to play. They are often their child's only hope. But sadly, many Nigerian parents think their most prominent role is to pay for the school and leave the teachers to do the rest. When the child starts getting battered with negative comments about his/her doing or ability, the child is unable to muster the courage to tell the overworked, over-busy and absent-mi9nded parent what s/he is going through(that is if s/he is not too young).
When the parent learns of the child's poor performance, the fear of 'embarrassment" of friends and relatives learning that the child is doing badly in school makes them put pressure on the child, threaten etc. Very rarely does that help. Most times, the child struggles through that phase, but emerges with a badly battered self-image, which in adulthood reflects in a weak, introverted personality, and with few exceptions, poor academic performance.
You Need to stop being scared of how your child's supposedly poor doing makes You look and focus on Helping him/her overcome any obstacles s/he faces in learning effectively.
Children Are Not Poultry Broiler Chicks or Catfish Babies
Broilers are hybrid poultry birds that are fed with market rations by farmers to get them to grow together - swiftly - from day-old chicks to 2kg market/table bird size in 4-6 weeks. Catfish babies(or fries) are also fed formulated rations with a similar objective of accelerating their increase to physical maturity faster than would usually have occurred if nature were allowed to take its course.
Unfortunately, our children have distinct rates of learning, and distinct "strengths" which tend very often to resolve how fast they improve in distinct endeavours. That's why Dr. Bruno Bethlehem's explore findings (mentioned in Robert Kiyosaki's book titled "If You Want To Be Rich & Happy, Don't Go To School?") that some children may not be Ready to read until they are twelve (12) years old are quite instructive and worthy of note - for the wise parent. Stop trying to force your child(ren) to move at the same rate/pace of learning in the same areas as others. Help him/her/them find their natural learning style, pace, and interest, and Build on it in a way that ensures success in adulthood.
How Do Nigerian Schools Teach Reading/Writing? Holistically Or Phonetically?
The teaching methods/techniques employed by schools and/or teachers resolve to a great extent how well children learn - especially children that are visual-spatial, wholistic or 3D learners.
Most Nigerian schools have followed the look-say method of associating words with images or pictures. Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of six books on education, including How to Tutor and Alpha-Phonics, widely used by American home schoolers in teaching their children to read phonetically. He also authored a book on the reading problem, The New Illiterates, in which he revealed the true origin of the look-say as Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet's method of teaching the deaf to read.
It was in Blumenfelds' report that I first encountered the "educational dyslexia," that is, dyslexia, or reading disability, caused by the teaching method. And that was when it struck me that some children who struggled to learn the way schools teach could be doing poorly more because the teaching method conflicted with their preferred learning style than because they were less enthralling or academically capable than their peers.
Don't Let Your Child's School Turn Him/Her Into A Sight Reader
It has been said that phonetic readers become good, independent readers because they have industrialized a phonetic reflex which makes them read/write effortlessly. A holistic, sight reader, on the other hand, must rely on memorization of individual word forms and use all sorts of contextual strategies to get the word right.
I end this by request you to spend plenty of time in helping your child(ren) manufacture a strong phonetic reflex that will make them more productive learners inside and surface the classroom.
Does Your Child Have Educational Dyslexia?Whether our addictions have to do with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling, emailing, or shopping, the addictive behavior is often preceded by some triggering event that sets off a flurry of uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and sensations, prominent to cravings and urges to engage in the addictive behavior. An prominent part of salvage is being able to identify our triggers and how cravings and urges manifest in our bodies and minds. The convention of Mindfulness gives us a unique tool to slow time down and bring awareness to the thoughts, feelings, and sensations associated with the triggering event while it is occurring.
As soon as we bring awareness to the moment, we have stepped out of auto-pilot, giving the selection over our behavior back to us and in turn giving us the capability to gain back operate of our behaviors and our lives. Often, cravings and urges are our longing for things to be separate than the way they are in the moment. Dr. Alan Marlatt, the Director of the Addictive Behavior investigate center at the University of Washington, defines a craving as the desire to feel the effects of provocative in the addictive behavior, while an urge is a relatively sudden impulse to engage in an act such as drinking, shopping, or gambling - feeling the high.
Urges and cravings often feel like they attack without warning, but with a mindful lens, we can institute a sensitivity to the internal and external cues and an openness to the present-moment feel that counteracts our addictive behaviors. Dr. Marlatt proposes a few ways urges and cravings can be triggered. The first is straight through a lack of understanding into the body-feeling state such as sadness, anxiety, or guilt that manifest as bodily sensations in the body. The second is straight through defensive and distorted styles of thinking, such as denial, rumination, or catastrophizing. The third is straight through our automatic negative interpretations of events such as attributing a relapse to personal weakness. In practicing mindfulness, we are not trying to get rid of or avoid these difficult experiences, but instead instill an openness and curiosity about them, learning how to write back them and spin to them differently, breaking the cycle of relapse. Take a occasion right now to bring awareness to how your emotions, distorted idea styles, and automatic interpretations of events, can feed into cravings and urges.
In terms of emotions, a growing estimate of investigate is pointing to an unquestionable association in the middle of negative emotions and relapse. The internationally acclaimed Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh speaks to the point of being aware of our difficult emotions and even approaching them with compassion rather than suppressing them. It is the natural policy of emotions to come and go as it is for thoughts, bodily sensations, and just about all else. Think about if you have ever felt the emotion of sadness or joy. Did the feeling at last pass? However, with uncomfortable emotions we often try to ignore or avoid them. It is in this struggling and avoidance where we find our many suffering and in turn, our many triggers, cravings, and urges. Mindfulness gives us the capability to become aware of our emotions and as soon as this happens, we move from auto-pilot to the present-moment and procure the capability to be in control. As we do this, we growth our awareness of the impermanence of emotions, cut cravings and urges, and become less fearful and more safe bet that we can do it again the next time without resorting to addictive behavior.So what do we do, how can mindfulness help?
In concert with the underlying principle of impermanence found in mindfulness literature, Dr. Marlatt industrialized a technique called "urge surfing" which uses mindfulness and breath-focused meditation to help us ride out the urge. An urge to engage in an addictive behavior can be seen as an ocean wave in that it starts small, gets bigger, crests, and ultimately subsides. Urge surfing teaches us to use the focus of our breath as a "surfboard" for riding the wave of uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and sensations rather than struggling or giving in to it. Although ideally it is best to be guided straight through this, here are a few steps you can try to get started: First do a brief convention where you sit, stand, or lie down and notice your breath coming in and out of your body. You can think of it as retention your breath company. This is good first convention so when an urge comes you'll be more likely to remember to do this. As you have the urge, you can bring awareness to the breath and let it surf the wave of the sensations associated with the urge. Noticing the bodily sensation of the impulse as it changes and intensifies in the body. You may notice sweating, salivating, tightening of the muscles, or constriction of the chest. Be aware of any thoughts that arise in the mind and also be aware how they come and go as well. Many habitancy can testify to the idea that an intense urge only lasts about 20-30 minutes, so notice the urge as it at last falls like a wave in the ocean. As I mentioned earlier, it helps to be guided by a live man or a Cd, but this is a good start.
May you be well, may you be at peace, may you be healthy, may you be free from suffering!
Addiction, Triggers, Urges, and Cravings - How Using Mindfulness and Urge Surfing Can Help Now!Prescription drug abuse, which I term healing drug addiction, like all addictions including alcoholism, (addiction to ethyl alcohol), though more widely recognized nowadays, is still not widely understood. And of course, combining the abuse of designate drugs, (obtained legally or not), with "street drugs", maybe adding alcohol to the mix, though highly hazardous is ordinary too. My substance abuse Professor, James Crossen Ph/D, coined the generic term "Drugoholism" to cover all Chemical Dependency Issues, because though they have exterior differences, most of the basal downward spiraling progression process, towards greatest destruction and death, is the same. Poly-substance Abuse is the technical term.
According to the Drug enforcement Administration, nearly 7 million Americans are abusing designate drugs, more than the numbers who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and ecstasy combined. The Dea says the amount of painkiller addicts has nearly doubled from 2000, when 3.8 million Americans were hooked, designate and illegal drug overdose is the second foremost cause of accidental death in the United States, agreeing to the Centers for Disease Control. "Nearly all poisoning deaths in the United States are attributed to drugs," agreeing to the Cdc, "and most drug poisonings corollary from the abuse of designate and illegal drugs." designate drug overdoses now kill more habitancy than homicide.
How do we reconcile these facts with the prolonged over-prescription of these drugs, and the lasting high profile celebrity deaths, only the more illustrated tip of this heavy iceberg? assess the two following statements. "He was rocketed to stardom, but unable to deal with the pressures of money and fame, he turned to drugs." Or, "His vocation was going downhill, and unable to deal with the pain of failure, he turned to drugs." As a young man stated on the phone to me as a "hotline" counselor, "I only drink when I have problems." I replied, "It seems to me that life is full of problems, so that means you will all the time be drinking!" Appalled silence on the other end, then a small voice, "I never notion about it like that." Really!!
Similarly, "He is drinking because his wife died." What about the majority whose wives have died, who are not? Mistaking effects for causes, and vice-versa, in the self-feeding reciprocating cycles of Drugoholism, is usual rather than an exception. "Often what happens is someone experiences discomfort, anxiety, or pain. They start being treated with medicine, and need more," said Dr. Steven Juergens, an assistant clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington and a incommunicable addiction expert in Bellevue, Washington. "They feel best when using the medication and often feel like "they need it,"" "I'm not an addict, I never took a drug to get high," maintained Michael Jackson. Dr. Paul, other Psychiatrist, reports in his hilarious history of personal Drugoholism, titled "Doctor, Addict, Alcoholic," "I never took a pill I didn't have the indication of illness for." From the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous." whatever who is in the position of refuting that they have a problem commonly has one. By the time any examine comes up, some kind of difficulty has commonly begun. When was the last time your Sunday Church going, one sherry at Christmas Great Aunt Maude, had to disprove ideas she has might have a problem?
What is missing in most media reportage on celebrity addiction is that The someone is the addict, and more specifically, the person's choices have come to be dominated by addictive thinking. All chosen behavior is the corollary of thinking, so addiction is in the addict's head, not in the pill or bottle in their hand. Recently I read on the web other hypnotherapist's statement, "After twenty five years of practice, my consideration is that addiction is 10% physical and 90% psychological." Otherwise those leaving incarceration, rehabs, or hospital detoxification units, who are physically sober, would never relapse! Right! One client I was counseling, an early stage milder case, could not "get it" until I said, "You are dependent on changing your mood with a chemical to get straight through the day." His eyes focused and lit up. "That's me," he exclaimed, and his resistance to recognizing his alcohol abuse evaporated. This was despite being comfortable with the notion of addiction, as applied to his intermittent cocaine binges. A facet of the times perhaps, or it's relative undeniability in his case, as he hated the effects of his cocaine use, while still clinging to the far slower destructive direction of his alcohol consumption.
So the persons chosen response to inner and outer "stress" is the missing link, this is what creates a drugoholic. An addiction to the "quick fix", to the easy way out, ensues. This, apart from any other factors, becomes an ingrained addition habitual response, including response the real or imaginary stress created by the addiction itself. One of the many self-feeding cycles of addiction, independent of the "host" personality. Part of the cognitive, (thought), behavioral habit apparatus, known as psychological habituation in Drugoholism. And the alterations of cognitive processes and perceptions produced by ongoing use, whether physical, due to chemical toxicity in the brain, or psychological, from the addictive process itself, continues to in effect create and additionally amplify perceived stress, as the condition, (the dis-ease) progresses. So there is an addition belief on chemicals for stress relief, and addition amounts of stress, real or created mentally, to relieve. This process underlies the obscuring created by focusing on any combination of chemicals, or circumstances, at any given time.
All of this mentality applies to the relinquishment physiology of the body, when a drugoholic initially attempts to "clean up". So this becomes a major source of the drugoholic's terror at the idea of, or results of withdrawals, rather than the withdrawals themselves. This is irrespective of the fact that with severe physical, (metabolic) dependencies, that may be both physically and psychologically horrendous. The problem is not the preliminary withdrawals, for a true drugoholic, insurmountable as they might seem. The problem is studying to live a life on an ongoing daily basis without resorting to chemicals to escape/recoil/retreat from inner and outer reality in any way.
How much of Michael Jackson's "weirdness" and reports of him being a "complicated" person, were not due to his personality, but were in fact his response to healing drug addiction I wonder? And the degeneration into, histrionic emotionalism and other forms of narcissistic immaturity, that so often accompanies the uncut deterioration of Drugoholism, as exhibited by Anna Nicole Smith too. Even worse, many categories of psychiatric drugs can cause potentially horrendous reactions. Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Xanax, Lithium, Zyprexa and other psychiatric medications may spellbind patients into believing they are improved, when too often they are becoming worse, without the individuals realizing that their medications are semi-permanently deforming their way of mental and feeling.
There are many reasons for this obscuring nearby Drugoholism. Myth, misinformation, misunderstanding and ignorance, using a true meaning of the word which is, "lacking information", abound. In "The First Session with Substance Abusers." Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph/D, quotes studies that show Md's identify .05% of alcohol/drug problems in those who cross their door, while those well trained in Chemical Dependency identify 100%! Two hundred times more! Psychologists and other allied professions fare not much best in my taste and opinion. The science of mind of addiction is a specialized field. Though Md's and clinical psychologists are highly respected and often quoted authorities, unless they have this specialized education, it is more likely to be a case of the blind foremost the blind.
The current usual attitude to designate drugs blinds Md's to what is happening. How many times is a new wonder drug trumpeted abroad? Sleep aids, Barbiturates etc., (Mebaral and Nembutal). Stimulants, ("uppers" such as Dexedrine, Adderall, Ritalin and Concerta). Tranquilizers, (Benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax). Painkillers from Oxycontin type opioids on down? These are now the source of endless drug problems. I never tire of reminding people, "The first healing use for Heroin was as a cure for Morphine addiction." So when healing habitancy proclaim the latest painkiller or anti-anxiety medication as non-addictive or non-habit forming, I retort, "Except for those persons with lasting long-term anxiety, or lasting long-term pain." This is in respect of any combination of these factors, plus those induced by the medications themselves, addictive, real or imagined of course.
As Drugoholism is stigmatized, habitancy are loath to attribute a bad "character flaw" to another, especially those idolized and famous for other genuine talents. And the ongoing mental, emotional and physical deterioration/degeneration process of Drugoholism is attributed to other sources to excuse the addicts again, in order to avoid personally "denigrating" them. This goes hand-in-hand with the addicts blaming defences. In actuality, the vulnerability to addiction in recent, (2009) studies increasingly reveals a 50% genetic/biochemical basis. There is also other further constellation of factors that are exterior the person's current will power or control, from pre-verbal cellular level infantile trauma, to role modeling from early childhood onwards. And there are many others too. Current psychic pain, "His wife died..." is the last and perhaps least factor, as is blaming it on childhood pain. Again, there are many with severe childhood pain that display no addictive tendencies whatsoever.
Another source of obscuring is the actual disinformation put out by the psychiatric-medical-pharmaceutical complex. This has been rigorously documented by the psychiatrist Peter Breggin, Md., dealing with the healing bureaucracy at its top levels. He reports how the drug manufacturer Eli Lilly was taken to court for offences tantamount to criminal fraud in this regard. In the mid 1990's, his "Toxic Psychiatry." outlined the growing problem of healing addiction. "The commonest drug addict in America is a female in her mid forties, addicted to barbiturates and a benzodiazapine," he stated at the time. The record of negative aspects of ordinarily prescribed psychiatric medications above, is taken from his website, http://www.breggin.com. He exposes the growing propaganda infused into the healing community, including the Fda, which diminishes, sidesteps or flat out denies the negative effects of ordinarily prescribed psychoactive drugs.
This is partly responsible for the idea that healing drugs are not as harmful as other drugs, and are legitimate, so those hooked on them are not real addicts. Also a suitable denial for the drugoholic themselves. In fact, being 100% pure, it needs to be stressed they can be worse. Oxycontin from the physician is as bad, If Not Worse, than heroin from the dealer. It is similar to the obscuring nearby alcohol, other socially accepted drug. Many can drink with enjoyment and impunity. But once the ominous earmarks of the addictive process begin to appear, a trained advisor can identify the condition years before the final accelerating deteriorative spiral.
Due to the subconscious nature of much denial, and the stigma and ignorance surrounding this process, those close to the addict are often the most totally blind to the malady. The fact that Elvis Presley obtained Five Thousand pills from Doctors in his last months was invisible to his personal staff. The unavoidable obscuring corrupting interlinked interpersonal influences of fame, power, status and money, as the deteriorating celebrity surrounds themselves with yes men, are a extra factor for the wealthy and those in the collective eye. But how many alcoholics leave a complaining spouse to later marry someone with fewer objections, often an alcoholic themselves.
So now I hope it becomes more obvious that addictive processes include designate drugs in exactly the same way as with illicit ones, and that celebrities are not exempt from the selfsame states of mind and body that occur in these circumstances. Definite drugs may have distinct results, but the inexorable addictive process will take its toll in similar ways for the rich and famous, just as the scythe of Drugoholism cuts down the ill-educated poverty stricken ghetto street addict. If this record helps one person, I deem it a success, though I do of course hope for more.
Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Anna Nicole Smith - Death is the Prescription, How Many More?We live in a society where faster is better. From instant noodles to fast food, high-speed computers to rapid transit, speed has come to be an foremost part of our culture.
Physically, many find it hard to keep up to our modern, frenetic pace. So they take over-the-counter pep pills, down loads of caffeinated colas or drink triple Mocha Lattés with giga-jolts of caffeine.
When these no longer work, some turn to more sufficient stimulant drugs. Why not, they're fast and they're potent, right? Yes, but they're also unsafe. They are a complex group of chemicals with one thing in common: the quality to wreck your life.
Ironically named speed, methamphetamine gives many the added energy they crave. Not only are more habitancy using it, they're using the most potent and hyper-charged form: crystal meth. This drug, as cheap as it is toxic, has come to be the remedy of selection for a new generation of speed chasers.
A 2004 Canadian Addiction contemplate measured the use of speed in Canadians aged 15 and older. Results show that 6.4% of respondents reported using methamphetamines at least once in their life.
Another contemplate fascinating four B.C. School districts showed that up to 8% of students in grades 6-12 narrative having tried crystal meth in the 2005 school year.
Combined, these might not be earth-shattering statistics, but experts state that 90 percent of users are addicted after the first hit. Even one use of crystal meth can cause immediate, chronic corporal and mental damage.
Still, such advice deters few. They smoke it, snort it, pop it or shoot it. Yet many don't understand what's in it. The folks who cook their meth aren't exactly government stylish pharmacists. They are more likely to be sleazy individuals huddled over a bathtub mixing their poisonous brew in filthy conditions.
Lethal ingredients
An August 2004 Cbc News narrative stated that clandestine labs have been found in homes, garages, motel rooms and even vehicles in middle class neighbourhoods. Meth can be artificial in a short duration of time, with a modest estimate of materials. Basic ingredients from chemicals, solvents and tool can be purchased in many stores.
Unlike legal drugs, the illicit type has no quality control, so users can never be sure of impel or purity. Ingredients vary in combination and are never exactly the same, says the Canadian Aids Society. Ephedrine (from over-the counter cold medicine), Drano, battery acid, insecticides, solvents, anhydrous ammonia, paint thinner and muriatic acid are among the mix.
These toxic substances form what some have described as a volatile mix of laundry detergent and lighter fluid. All that matters microscopic because both those who use it, and those who build it have a relationship. One party gets high and the other gets rich. Police say an venture of about 0 can yield up to ,000 worth of the drug.
The attraction
Imagine a euphoric flood coursing through your body; an intensely super focused outlook, and infinite enthusiasm; manufacture everything a riveting experience. That's the appeal of this drug to many partiers, or those seeking long term energy for mundane tasks.
A 2005 New Yorker narrative stated that methamphetamine is a mood elevator, and is known to induce bursts of euphoria, growth alertness, and sell out fatigue. In slightly less concentrated forms, the drug has been used by truckers trying to drive through the night, by workers struggling to quit an extra shift, and by habitancy seeking to lose weight.
It's not costly either. One can obtain amounts as small as one tenth of a gram, known as a point, for as microscopic as five dollars. This is enough to give the user an intense high for up to 24 hours.
Considered trendy and popular as a club drug, meth has a strong proximity in dance clubs, parties and raves. It provides gargantuan energy to keep gyrating all night to the pounding rhythms of the dance floor. It makes one feel full of life, great and sexual, shifting the libido into overdrive.
The risks
Crystal Meth is more toxic than crack and more addictive than heroin, and it genuinely fries your brain cells, say experts. If smoked or injected, the user experiences a great high called a flash. The first rush is all the time the most intense and chasing that first feeling causes dependence quickly. More of the drug and higher doses are needed as the addiction progresses.
Such speed runs, over days and weeks, give microscopic rest to body or mind. Typically, while this stage, the abuser has not slept from in the middle of three to fourteen days. At the end of the high, the user undergoes tweaking; feeling miserable, and uncomfortable, as well as perhaps violent.
Chronic behavioural problems such as social isolation and retirement are compounded by extreme depression and suicidal ideation. Agreeing to the San Francisco Aids Foundation, the long term effects of methamphetamine use are horrendous.
The sores often seen on the bodies of users are from picking at the skin, due to the feeling of bugs crawling underneath. The obsession to dig or gouge them out is incessant. Some will use knives, glass, pins or needles to pick away for up to ten hours or more. Even when it becomes apparent that no bugs are there, the urge remains. The skin becomes infected and is extremely nasty looking.
Then there's the danger of meth teeth, the follow of poor oral hygiene by users. Brittle and cracked teeth, gum infections, disease, and normal decay are rampant among users. Unless seen, it is hard to perceive the total dental destruction of long term abusers. Teeth are so brittle, that even eating ice cream may cause them to fall out.
A November 2005 Washington Post narrative states that the drug causes chronic changes in brain chemistry, particularly in the neurotransmitter systems. Notably, the churning out of huge amounts of dopamine seems to work on cognitive abilities such as memory, judgment, reasoning, and verbal skills.
Dr. Paul Thompson, an scholar on brain mapping at the University of California, Los Angeles, proved huge brain damage using high-resolution M.R.I. Studies on habitancy addicted for up to ten years.
Quoted in a 2004 New York Times article, he said he predicted some brain changes but didn't expect so much tissue to be destroyed.
The image, published in the June 30 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, shows the brain's surface and deeper limbic system, which is complex in drug cravings, mood and emotion, lost 11 percent of its tissue.
The hippocampus, the part of the brain that deals with memory also lost 8 percent of its tissue. The narrative states that this is comparable to brain deficits in early Alzheimer's cases. Heavy users can perceive psychotic episodes, characterized by paranoia and auditory and optic hallucinations, Agreeing to arresting Source Bc.
The long-term corporal toll may also consist of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, lowered resistance to disease, and organ damage, particularly to the lungs, liver, and kidneys. The vicious cycle also may damage blood vessels in the brain, which can cause strokes, or lead the heart to beat irregularly. Cardiovascular collapse and death have been known to happen.
Quitting is not easy
It's about as easy to quit crystal meth as trying to stop a runaway train. The San Francisco Aids Foundation states that after stopping the drug, the user experiences a profound dullness and depression, as the body no longer stimulates enough to perceive pleasure. This can come to be so overpowering, suicidal thoughts may be thought about to ease the pain.
Crashing often entails severe lack of energy, and a huge lack of motivation to achieve normal tasks. The day after advent down, the user feels sick, depressed, guilty, ashamed and angry. He wants to quit, but the cravings are unnaturally strong. The only thing that takes them away is more crystal meth. But soon the high becomes disappointing; euphoria turns to numbness, focus is replaced by confusion, and productivity disappears.
According to a former addict, "It's more than something that you come to be addicted to. It becomes your whole presume for living. You just want it so much that you'd give anyone for it. You can't impart it, unless you've seen it. You can't elucidate it, unless you've done it. You can't imagine it, unless you've been there. Then, it never goes away."
Recovery
If you're a junkie, you have to hit rock lowest before you can climb back up. Experts say that crystal meth is one of the most addictive street drugs and one of the hardest to treat. The relapse rate of 92 per cent is worse than cocaine. In Canada, provincial condition assurance and government salvage programs contribute help and assistance for the addict to recover.
But the retirement symptoms, especially depression and corporal agony, cause many to drop out. The simplest and most sufficient strategy is not to get addicted. This is not an easy sell for young people, but can be effectively illustrated by those who have experienced an addiction. The struggles of peers are starkly more great than simple messages quoting the dangers.
The farranging message to habitancy is that crystal meth wrecks lives; abuses health, and destroys families. Ultimately, the need for speed kills. And what it doesn't kill, it burns out. Get the message?
Crystal Meth - The Dance Of DeathIntroduction
Whether you're just starting out in a new connection or have been long-term partners for many years, how does a gay concentrate articulate their connection over the long haul and preserve that "magical spark" that drew them together in the first place?
Relationships do need attentiveness and focus, and this description will gift five deadly mistakes that you can make that can wreak havoc in your partnership, practically ensuring friction and unhappiness. Remedies will also be offered, and retention these points in mind can help stave off connection discord--and even forestall a inherent breakup from ever being considered!
The Deadly Mistakes
Deadly Mistake #5: Getting into predictable, monotonous routines.
Once you get into the groove of your relationship, you can begin to feel comfortable with the safety and familiarity it breeds. However, in the long run, this can generate a stale environment of boredom and "same-ness", prominent many couples to feel restless, unfulfilled, and "itching" for a change. Break out of that rut by bringing more spice and novelty to your relationship. Shake things up a minuscule bit and dare to be different! Surprise your lover with a night out on the town to break up the mundane workweek. Introduce more creativity and collection into your sex life. Keep him guessing and on his toes for what's coming next. By bringing in a minuscule more excitement and stimulation, the chemistry between the two of you will be nourished, reaffirming your connection and strengthening your bond.
Deadly Mistake #4: development assumptions about what your partner thinks and does.
Interpreting your partner's thoughts and behavior through your own lens can spell disaster, especially when you make decisions based on these judgments. You cannot read minds and jumping to conclusions will only erode the trust and safety of your relationship. Even if your guy has a history of responding in a determined way in given situations, it would behoove you to not jump to conclusions and generalize his actions, as he may alter his responses or have a different mindset. Always check things out with your partner to make sure you're both "on the same page." This will save you from a world of grief and insecurity.
Deadly Mistake #3: Not updating your connection vision.
Relationships grow and change over time, and so do the individuals in the partnership. Revisit from time-to-time with your partner about your hopes, dreams, aspirations, and goals for your connection and yourself. This will help troubleshoot any "growing apart" tendencies by retention the transportation open. For example, with monogamy, some couples change their views on the role this plays in their relationship. If you're in a monogamous connection and want to open it up, don't just act upon it without dialoguing about it with your partner first. And if you have an open relationship, don't assume you and your partner share the same views about it as time goes on. Revisit your "relationship contract" to ensure genuine deal still exists, avoid development assumptions, and don't be afraid to bring up difficult topics of discussion. It's better to hash it out than to act it out to safe the foundation of trust you've built.
Deadly Mistake #2: Not attending to each other's needs.
We all have needs, and relationships are a great source for meeting the needs for belonging and attachment. through transportation and life taste with your partner, you'll learn what matters most to him. Many couples destroy their relationships by taking each other for granted and failing to attend to the needs of the other in the ways he likes them to be met. Program a "family meeting" with your partner at least once a month to talk about your connection and how it's going. What's going well? Not so well? Are you in alignment with your connection vision? Make a list of your needs and share them with your partner, development a known endeavor to be more attentive and proactive.
Deadly Mistake #1: Not development your connection a priority.
Life is stressful. between the demands of work, family, friends, school, hobbies, and all the other obligations you may have, your connection with your partner can assuredly take a hit. Those couples who take their connection for granted are writing a prescription for its demise. Try to work hard at creating more life equilibrium to juggle all the roles you have to avoid neglecting your relationship. Imagine your connection with your partner is a nucleus. You must safe your nucleus from all external, face forces. Don't allow them to lanch through or you risk jeopardizing the condition and wellness of your relationship! Your partner is your home and haven. Let him be your number one priority above all else. Make him feel extra and appreciated. Program "date nights", surprise him with gifts of adoration, plan a commitment ceremony, etc. Do whatever you're comfortable with that will validate and affirm your connection as the blessing it is--and cherish it!
Conclusion
So there you have it--five deadly mistakes that can compromise the success of a gay relationship. By applying some of these inherent solutions and brainstorming some of your own, you'll be demonstrating your commitment to your connection and honoring it in the way it deserves. This will promote more gratification and functionality in your partnership, solidifying your bond as a couple, and creating a level of bliss unlike no other. Cheers to your success!
©2006 Brian L. Rzepczynski
Want To Use This description In Your E-Zine Or Website? This description can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire description and this reserved supply box are included:
5 Deadly connection Mistakes That Gay Couples Can MakeIt is mentioned in songs, Tv shows, and movies. Celebrities use it, get addicted to it, and go to rehab to get off of it. Some 20 tons of it are reportedly produced each year. Hydrocodone is one of the most abused of all prescription drugs. In the 2006 Monitoring the future study from the University of Michigan, one brand of this single pain drug ranked second only to marijuana in the top five drugs used by 12th graders in the past year.
Hydrocodone is a narcotic-type painkiller generally prescribed for the short-term management of intense pain from injury or surgery. Hydrocodone is an opioid-meaning it acts on the body similar to the narcotic opium. It binds to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal chord, where it interrupts or alters the perception of pain.
Hydrocodone also increases the operation of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, producing a euphoria similar to that produced by other narcotics such as morphine or heroin. This is the customary speculate for the prevalence of abuse.
Dependency and Withdrawal
Prolonged use of opioids can succeed in a corporeal tolerance, meaning higher doses are required to achieve the same effects. It also leads to corporeal dependency, wherein the body adapts to the drug and relinquishment symptoms occur if it is stopped. Drug detox in a rehab center is the safest route down at that point.
The symptoms of opioid painkiller relinquishment may include restlessness, fever, sweating, chills, goose bumps, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, involuntary leg movements, sneezing, watery eyes, runny nose, irritability, panic, depression, persistent headache, and greatest sensitivity to light and sound.
Side Effects
Sometimes the opioid, hydrocodone is combined with an additional one drug, acetaminophen, which is the active ingredient in Tylenol. The expanding of acetaminophen acts to growth the analgesic effects and limit the intake of hydrocodone. At higher than prescribed doses, acetaminophen can cause unpleasant and often unsafe side effects together with damage to the liver.
Common side effects of hydrocodone include dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. Some less coarse side effects are allergic reaction, blood disorders, changes in mood, reasoning fogginess, anxiety, lethargy, strangeness urinating, spasm of the ureter, irregular or depressed respiration, and rash. Euphoria and drowsiness are the coarse side effects that have led to the medication's illicit use.
Overdose symptoms
With the uncontrolled use of euphoria-causing narcotics comes a high possible for overdose. The overdose victim may be lost in the euphoria of the drug and fail to consideration the symptoms or seek help. Symptoms of a hydrocodone overdose may include slow breathing, cold and clammy skin, constricted pupils, tiredness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, sweating, weakness, confusion, loss of consciousness and coma. Overdose can be fatal.
As with any drug, it is important to be fully informed. Even when prescribed and needed, painkillers should be used with caution. Where their abuse has reached the dependency stage, medicine in a detox rehab center is often the safest and sometimes the only route to sobriety.
As with abuse or addiction to any risky drug, seek the guidance of a grand medicine center as soon as the qoute comes to light, in other words, as soon as possible.
prescription Painkiller Abuse and AddictionDrug abuse is nearly always carried on in secret. The abuser is trying to hide the drug use activities from parents, the spouse, the school or any authorities such as the police. Because of the legal and social consequences of drug abuse, it is often difficult to learn with certainty that the question exists, at least until the question is so large that it can no longer be hidden.
To settle if there is a drug problem, look for the symptoms and signs, both bodily signs and behavioral signs. Look straight through the following signs and symptoms and if you find several, the chances that there is an actual substance abuse question growth with every yes answer.
Behavioral signs and symptoms:
These will normally be the first alerts when drugs are present. It might take a long time for the bodily changes to manifest themselves, but changes in attitude and behavior can occur overnight.
Changes in sleep habits
This does not mean a small convert in sleeping hours, or falling asleep on the couch for a change. These changes can be severe. No sleep for a integrate of days, a former early riser sleeping till 3 Pm regularly, or man who was always a light sleeper now being nearly impossible to awaken.
Altered eating habits with resultant weight changes
Many drugs, when abused, sell out the user's appetite so fully that they will begin to waste away right before your eyes. The brain is getting a false signal, constantly saying, "You are full, stop eating!" This leads to many very unhealthy conditions which can continue to intensify the drug problems.
Other drugs, in some individuals, might cause over eating. This results in weight gain. There can also be alterations in metabolism because of drug use, which might cause changes in eating habits and weight in some users.
Mood swings
Drug abuse affects the emotional stability of the abuser and can have severe, even disastrous effects on the addict's feelings and sense of well-being. Too often, these mood changes are not attributed to the drug abuse, leading some users into a tail-spin of introversion and even depression.
Physical signs and symptoms:
Physical symptoms are reliable indicators of an ongoing drug problem. While not infallible, these are by all means; of course clues that something is wrong.
Redness in the eyes or nearby the nose
Redness or soreness in the nasal area is a tasteless sign of abuse of several drugs. Meth, cocaine and designate drugs are often "snorted" into the nose to be absorbed into the nasal and sinus tissues.
Needle marks
Marks like small sores on arms or other places where needles have punctured the skin, normally over veins are distinct flags of drug abuse. Because this is so positively spotted, addicts often find more obscure places on their bodies to shoot drugs into a vein, or they take to wearing long-sleeve shirts and long pants in all weather conditions in order to hide the evidence of their drug use.
Pupils dilated or constricted
This might seem harder to spot, but when the pupils are so wide that they nearly cover the whole eyeball, or when they are uncomplicated pin-points, it is very obvious.
There is a road out of this mess. With proper guidance, anything can work their way back to sobriety and reclaim their lives.
These are only some of the signs of drug abuse, but they are pretty reliable. And if two or more of these changes are present, the likelihood that you have a drug question on your hands increases. So being alert to the signs and symptoms of drug abuse and addiction could, actually, save a life by helping man find the needed treatment before it is too late.
Signs and Symptoms of Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction - Know Them