Archive for the ‘psychotherapy’ Category

Motivation’s Effect On Mental And Physical Health

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

By Dr. Isaac Schumann

Many studies have been done to research the effects of motivation and mental health. As the implications of helping those with negative self-esteem, depression and anxiety are immense this is certainly an area of research that deserves a great deal of attention.

Psychology Online reports on a study investigating the differences between INTERNAL and EXTERNAL MOTIVATION. The report states that “Although our society is largely extrinsically-motivated by external rewards such as money, fame and power, research has indicated those who are intrinsically-motivated by inner desires for creativity, fulfillment and inner satisfaction are psychologically healthier and happier.”

How can this help you?

The study of health psychology seeks to understand how our ability to cope with stress can help us to prevent illness and promote health. Some of these coping mechanisms are naturally inborn but may be taught to those who lack them. Motivation is one of the tools that researchers are trying to use as a combatant of negative stress reactions.

Motivation is something that we use every day. It’s what enables us to survive – to get food because we’re hungry, to go to work to pay the bills or to educate ourselves in order to pursue a higher goal in life.

How we respond to life’s demands can affect our overall health. How are you classified?

The same report on Psychology Online identified those who respond to life with negativity or anxiety as most likely to deal with the physical affects of anger, guilt, nervousness, frustration and fear. These emotions can cause hypertension and high blood pressure which can lead to heart attack or stroke. Other complications include ulcers, arthritis, asthma and kidney disease.

Some therapists suggest that by using positive self-talk and trying to restructure the WAY we look at events can offset the physical and mental effects of dealing with negative or stressful events in life.

Interestingly, people who tend to focus on themselves as the controller of their fate – in fact ‘self-motivated’ – are more likely to feel a sense of control when stressors affect them. Instead of blaming something or someone else they have the motivation to deal with a problem and look for a reasonable solution. This positive behavior helps them to achieve goals and find personal contentment.

Therapists try to teach patients how to emulate this positive reaction to stress and use their motivation as a source of empowerment. Learning to manage stress and using motivation to set goals, work through a problem or fix it can in turn promote better mental and physical health.

About the Author: Dr. Isaac Schumann brings to you a life time of experience in the mental health field
http://www.depressionhelpguides.com

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Living Together Without Marriage Improves Men

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

By Jeffrey Broobin

When a man lives with a woman, without benefit of marriage, it will improve a man’s health, but for women being married, will make them happier.

A study in England of thousands of women and men found that people who went through the good and bad times with the original mate and stayed together were much happier mentally.

It was also found that men who played the field got over the relationships when they ended much quicker then women did. Women who stay single who once had a great love that did not work out tended to be mentally stable.

The fact that women who live with a man without benefit of marriage are not as happy as the men is because there is no financial protection for them when the relationship ends. Security is everything to women and marriage represents

stability and although the relationship can end they will have some rights. This explains why women who are married are more mentally stable then if they simply lived together.

Women have children and need a stable lifestyle and a strong desire to protect themselves and their kids. So marriage is very important financially and also there is the question of respect that everyone needs. If a women has her own career and here own money these thing may be less important.

From a man’s point of view and if he’s over 25 security is not very important. But most men don’t want to be squeezed into a relationship by the women he loves. He want’s it to be his idea. The trick for a woman is to make him believe it is His Idea.

Being married has always been associated with greater mental and physical health. Bachelors don’t live, as long, at least that’s what the myth indicates. In the past studies have shown married men live a longer life with greater psychological happiness.

There was an English study for 10 years ending in the millennium of 10,000 adults. Both men and women were interviewed and asked a series of questions about being depressed or anxious.

Long-lasting relationships that have weathered the storm provided excellent mental health.

People that had failed relationships and were now alone had combinations of grief and anger and were often depressed. Both men and women had poor mental health after this experience. But for those who could move on to new relationships, much of the damage was somewhat reversed. Although women seemed to have a harder time of letting go than men did.

Women’s mental health progressively deteriorated with the more break-ups they experienced.

For men that had several different experiences it seemed the opposite was true. Men who had more then one relationship and moved on seemed to be in excellent mental health. Those men that had only one relationship and not moved on were not as mentally stable.

Women who never married but lived with their mate were in great mental health unlike men in the same situation.

About the Author: Jeffrey Broobin is a free-lance writer on family and finance issues; his main goal is to help people during their complicated period of life. Website: http://www.legalhelpmate.com Email: jeffreyb@legalhelpmate.com

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How Internet Affects Mental Health

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

By Charles Leigh Moore

The lives of millions of people around the world have never been the same since the advent of the internet. It has breached the barriers of commerce and built bridges for global collective research and education. It has greatly modified public communication, information acquisition and amusement. Sending of important information or simple personal greetings is made possible in the fastest way through e-mail.

These days you do not have to spend hours in the library to gather information for research work as everything is already simplified for you through the internet. All you have to do is open your laptop, type in what you are looking for and then indulge in the overflow of information. Most people will just tell you to “Google It” when you ask them about something. Moreover, people miles apart can conduct conferences as if they are just conducting it on one table.

The above mentioned are only a few the wonderful advantages offered to us by the internet. However, these advantages also have its positive and negative effects on people. This article will particularly discuss the effects of the internet to the mental status.

Sure, being afflicted with diseases is one cause why people use the internet to look for health information. But recent studies reveal that most people who search the web for health information are healthy people and that they are usually looking up information for a loved one or simply to be informed.

These people may have all the good intentions, but little did they know that what they are doing may bring harm to their mental stability. Knowing too much about health conditions may cause rumination thereby triggering anxiety or hypochondriasis which is the over-preoccupation of having severe illness. Obtaining too much information about diseases may bring about pointless concerns for their own health or for their family. Otherwise healthy people may encounter problems in their psychological state.

Additionally, an increase in incidences of depression have been related to excessive participation in online games, gambling and even window shopping.

In relation to this, researchers found out that sadistic online games influence hostility to players specifically children and teenagers.

On the brighter side of things, easy communication brought about by the internet augments social ties and creates new ones. Distance does not anymore prove to be a barrier for loved ones to bond. The effect is greater positive affect, low levels of stress and generally good psychological functioning.

On the other hand, people who have reduced social communication due to their distance are observed to have poor psychological functioning and high stress levels. But be warned as well, because online communication with strangers through chat sites may also not be good to your psychological and emotional health.

To some extent, the internet offers so many forms of entertainment that it is the easiest and most attainable form of reprieve from the stresses of the real world.

These things do not necessarily happen to everyone using the internet as they are all but possibilities. How it affects you will still rely on the way you use it. To help you with, just remember that the real world is outside and that too much of anything is generally not good. Enjoy the real life…go on a picnic, go camping, laugh, love, live…

About the Author: Charles Leigh Moore writing for Vuyanilodge.com which offers safari holidays in south africa and african safari honeymoon as well as a host of additional services.

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How to Choose a Mental Health Clinic

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

By Christine Crotts

The process of choosing a mental health clinic begins by first identifying which kind of clinic you wish to opt for. There are various options of clinics to choose from such as – a mental health clinic that only caters to outpatients and is run by a privately owned organization or clinics which offer inpatient facility or a day patient facility, most of which are usually run by the government or the clinics run by health services or communities. Depending on what exactly are your needs, you can choose a particular kind of clinic.

The next important factor to be considered before selecting a clinic is whether the clinic accepts insurance or any other form of medical payments. Also, find out about the services being offered at the clinic, in detail. If you are not sure about the insurance coverage, then consult your insurance provider and find out about the mental health clinics covered by them or just go online to your insurance provider’s website and you can get these details. If you can, it is better to get a referral from your family doctor or the health care provider you have been visiting. Otherwise, you can speak to your friends and family members and ask for their inputs too. Since insurance policies on providers of mental health vary widely, always check your coverage details beforehand.

If a patient is quite unstable and requires hospitalization, then it is advisable to opt for a mental health clinic operated by government, as they have direct link ups with government mental hospitals, it is a better choice. However, even private clinics have their own advantages such as they may house a number of psychiatrists and therapists who work together and render their services to the patients, this way, if a patient requires the services of therapist and psychiatrist, then he can get that in a single place. Moreover, few of these clinics may have mental health practitioners who have specialization in certain kinds of clients or therapies, such as a a child psychiatrist or a couples therapist in particular, etc. Payments for services such as therapy for an individual or for groups can be very expensive, hence never forget to contact your insurance provider before you sign up for any of these activities.

Finding the best mental health clinic, requires considerable amount of effort, since not all the clinics cater to all kinds of requirements, you have to do intense research to narrow down onto the clinic that is the best for you. Especially for people who are not residing in urban areas, there might not be much choice, since there may or may not exist a mental health care center in their neighborhood. For most of these people, it is better if they can get a referral and then find out about the clinic before making any efforts of visiting the clinic.

You might not really realize the various kinds of options available in mental health clinics, until the day you start your search. Hence, keep the above mentioned factors in mind, before you begin searching.

About the Author: Christine Crotts likes to travel a lot and makes sure that her dog can travel with. Christine has written a site containing reviews on small pet carrier models, as well as a pink pet carrier.

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Aerobics For Lasting Mental Health

Friday, February 25th, 2011

By Mike Cosentino

It’s a fact, exercise like aerobics not only has a positive effect on your body as a whole, but also on your brain in particular. Exercising is a great way to increase your positive outlook on life, by boosting production of the “gang of four” hormones and neurotransmitters in your brain, namely dopamine, serotonin, melatonin and norepinephrine. Between them, these natural chemical substances can make life seem more enjoyable, less stressed and better focused.

However, aerobics also has longer lasting benefits as well. Besides the immediate effects of stimulating the right chemical production in your brain, aerobics also promotes mental health on a long-term basis, when done regularly and under the right conditions. It’s a link that is regularly reinforced by scientific research on the subject, which also shows that diet is an important factor as well. Brainpower and brain fitness can suffer not only from a lack of oxygen-enriched blood that exercise brings, but also from eating too many high-sugar foods. Although the brain needs glucose in order to function at optimal capacity, it is the body’s job to manufacture this to order when you eat the right foods, rather than trying to inject sugar directly into your system.

Avoiding Alzheimer’s

The longer lasting benefits of better blood flow keep you mentally active and healthy. The right amount of oxygen in the blood getting to the right parts of the brain make you more alert and better equipped to answer questions, solve problems and stay on top of things that relate to overall brain fitness. They help to keep mental illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and general dementia away. While a person is active in a professional capacity for example, these illnesses may not seem to be a risk. Daily use of one’s brain, exercising ones “mental muscles”, affords a certain amount of protection. But when a person is no longer active professionally, there needs to be some replacement activity or else blood flow to the brain seizes up and the way is open for the mental illnesses mentioned.

Aerobics stimulates deep breathing, which is one of the key factors in enriching the blood supply with oxygen to the right level. Deep, steady breathing is associated with a number of fitness activities including long distance running and slow steady swimming. These exercises make the most of the capacity of your lungs to breath in, exchange respiratory waste products for oxygen laden fresh air and fix the oxygen in your blood for it to be transported all around your body. This ultimately gets to the brain and leads to brain fitness.

Aerobics and its relations

People who practice aerobics sometimes find themselves in a state of mental clarity and focus similar to that produced by meditation. This is no coincidence, as the same breathing techniques exist in both cases. If you have already done yoga, you will know what importance is attached in yoga to deep breathing in conjunction with the other physical activities. Both yoga and simple walking have the same positive effects as aerobics in terms of breathing deeply, and provide good options or additional exercise as well.

About the Author: Mike Cosentino is a professional development expert, entrepreneur, and a top sales trainer read more of his topics or subscribe to his free newsletter at http://www.mikecosentino.net

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