Several decades have gone by since treatment for depression was no longer believed to be treatable by psychotherapy alone. Research made it clear that a combination of medication and either psychotherapy or behavioral therapy was the most effective treatment. Clinical depression is on a spectrum of intensity. Given the number of neurotransmitters humans have, as well as hormones, endocrines, and other balances effecting our moods, treatment is still not a simple matter.
Any licensed physician can prescribe psychotropic drugs but, unless they have been well trained and are current, they can do more damage than good. The patient is always the one at risk. Many areas have no one sufficiently trained to treat properly. When medication doesn't work, some have prescribed raising the dosage. A medication has a 'window ' of effectiveness. More is not at all necessarily better. More, in fact can be toxic and make a patient worse.
Each year medications are being improved and their targets more refined. Yet, the treatment of Affective Disorders (uncontrollable mood changes), particularly the Bipolars, requires great medical skill. Our society nis still in the dark ages holding onto the belief that people should be strong and solve their own 'problems'. Patients still express fears that admitting to psychotropic prescriptions will damage their trustworthiness, employability, and will be seen as 'mental'.
The current state of mental health is described in a Harvard Medical School article in its Family Guide. When the entire population can understand both the disorders as well as the treatment, people will be more comfortable talking about their diagnosis, symptoms and treatment so that it will help others. The course of bipolar disorder is not a straight line, usually. There are peaks and valleys which we call 'episodes'. No one can predict how long anyone's episode may last. We only know that a depressive episode is stressful and the stress hormone, cortisol, is toxic to the brain over the years sometimes shortening one's life
Research now correlates chronically elevated levels of cortisol with blood sugar problems, fat accumulation, compromised immune function, exhaustion, bone loss, and even heart disease. Memory loss has also been associated with high cortisol levels. Continual stress can indeed have a negative impact on your health. To learn more about the impact of high stress levels of cortisol for prolonged periods, click here. .
Hard work harms people far less than worry and continued stress. All those lovely little messages about stopping and smelling the coffee, taking time out to smell the roses and many more suggestions to lower stress may not work as a panacea for all but the thought is in the right direction. Calm down!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
FOXES IN THE HEN HOUSE AGAIN
Justice Roberts will go down in history books with as much admiration as GW, #43. To allow foreign governments to donate to our political campaigns and call this free speech is beyond a hundred years with better constitutional scholars than he weighing in on it. For him to overturn keeping America's ballots an American's right is, to my way of thinking, akin to treason but, alas, I may stand in a minority view.
It is not in the interests of the Democrats who are for the middle class and common man, it is in the interests of those who are trying to control the American economy and bring it further to its knees than it is currently. Hopefully, Americans, regardless of the money being thrown into the campaigns, will see through this. However, it is clear that many, especially those in the south where much of what they are allowed to see or hear by the control of their media, is to their disadvantage, Obama's speech, at the time of this Supreme Court decision, predicted the disastrous results and pointed to the wrongness to our electoral system that it now allows.It is up to the Legislature to make new laws to disallow foreign corporations to donate so heavily, which they seem loathe to want to do.
This will only change if people vote for candidates who care for this country and not their own pet issues of religion, discrimination, maintaining themselves in office, or are biased but do not actually think of the good of the country and the wishes of the majority, just the richest 2%.
How long will the sabotage of our democracy go on before people who can make themselves heard can offer solutions. We need to change the amount of money that can be given in campaigns...campaign financing as an issues has been stalled for too long. We need to ferret out those who say they are for this country but who clearly are not making votes and decisions to back those statements up. If I feel like a lonely voice in the wind, how many other lonely voices will it take before someone hears us?
It is not in the interests of the Democrats who are for the middle class and common man, it is in the interests of those who are trying to control the American economy and bring it further to its knees than it is currently. Hopefully, Americans, regardless of the money being thrown into the campaigns, will see through this. However, it is clear that many, especially those in the south where much of what they are allowed to see or hear by the control of their media, is to their disadvantage, Obama's speech, at the time of this Supreme Court decision, predicted the disastrous results and pointed to the wrongness to our electoral system that it now allows.It is up to the Legislature to make new laws to disallow foreign corporations to donate so heavily, which they seem loathe to want to do.
This will only change if people vote for candidates who care for this country and not their own pet issues of religion, discrimination, maintaining themselves in office, or are biased but do not actually think of the good of the country and the wishes of the majority, just the richest 2%.
How long will the sabotage of our democracy go on before people who can make themselves heard can offer solutions. We need to change the amount of money that can be given in campaigns...campaign financing as an issues has been stalled for too long. We need to ferret out those who say they are for this country but who clearly are not making votes and decisions to back those statements up. If I feel like a lonely voice in the wind, how many other lonely voices will it take before someone hears us?
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
WHAT HAPPENED TO WOMEN LIKE THOSE WHO STARTED THE WOMAN'S MOVEMENT IN THE 60'S?
The women in the Teaparty and some of the Republican leading lights like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are making a mockery of everything today's woman over 60 fought for all her adult life to achieve. The older generation of woman fought for more equality, equal pay in the workplace, and the right to some independence. No longer was she expected by most to be a simple slave to her husband and home but allowed to realize some personal potential. Boys of that generation thus had mothers who taught them to respect women as partners, not as chattel. Rape was seen as a violent act and a women (or girl as was often the case) was not expected to bear and deliver an unwanted child from that contact. Today there are Teapartiers and Republicans who are trying to bring women back to a place prior to this century.
Betsy Reed writes an excellent article about some of the GOP women in the Nation. In it, she writes: " A movie just released by the conservative group Citizens United tells this happy tale: Fire From the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman features Michele Bachmann and Ann Coulter, among others."For
For a historical perspective on where women were before the movement and how far they have come today, you might like to take a refresher history, brief course. Among many other reasons, it grew out of the revolt against Freud's misogynistic view about women. He accused any woman with an opinion of her own, and the assertiveness to express it, as having Penis Envy. (Women replied with the truth of their feelings, Penis Pity) They were happy to be the bearers of children. Being born with male genitalia does not equip one with intelligence, understanding, compassion, or a wish to be equal to woman in a society that had for centuries viewed him as superior. Most women like to bear their children and raise them, nurture them. However, the warring and greedy men with no ability to work for the future of all, forced women to work outside the home to survive and made a mess of our country's economy and system..
This brings us to today when science has made it possible to have a child and raise it without benefit of having a man to boss it all. It is a rare man who can see man's responsibility for that change and usually blames women for thinking they can do without men and ruining the family unit. They do not consider men who abuse, commit adultery, are inadequate providers for the children they conceive, or even those who commit incest and conceive children their daughters must bear unless abortion is permitted....currently being fought as a right by some of the Teapartier candidates.
It would seem that a vote for a Teapartier is a vote to turn the clock back 100 years or more, yet it is equally surprising that there are people (men and women) out there who are falling for their rhetoric.
Betsy Reed writes an excellent article about some of the GOP women in the Nation. In it, she writes: " A movie just released by the conservative group Citizens United tells this happy tale: Fire From the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman features Michele Bachmann and Ann Coulter, among others."For
For a historical perspective on where women were before the movement and how far they have come today, you might like to take a refresher history, brief course. Among many other reasons, it grew out of the revolt against Freud's misogynistic view about women. He accused any woman with an opinion of her own, and the assertiveness to express it, as having Penis Envy. (Women replied with the truth of their feelings, Penis Pity) They were happy to be the bearers of children. Being born with male genitalia does not equip one with intelligence, understanding, compassion, or a wish to be equal to woman in a society that had for centuries viewed him as superior. Most women like to bear their children and raise them, nurture them. However, the warring and greedy men with no ability to work for the future of all, forced women to work outside the home to survive and made a mess of our country's economy and system..
This brings us to today when science has made it possible to have a child and raise it without benefit of having a man to boss it all. It is a rare man who can see man's responsibility for that change and usually blames women for thinking they can do without men and ruining the family unit. They do not consider men who abuse, commit adultery, are inadequate providers for the children they conceive, or even those who commit incest and conceive children their daughters must bear unless abortion is permitted....currently being fought as a right by some of the Teapartier candidates.
It would seem that a vote for a Teapartier is a vote to turn the clock back 100 years or more, yet it is equally surprising that there are people (men and women) out there who are falling for their rhetoric.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
UNDER THE SEA...SO MUCH TO FIND
While mankind is working hard at ruining the seas as they are above ground, some of mankind is working to try to preserve what is there. New species are constantly being found.
Click for a site that addresses some of the more recent observations. It reads:
The chasms and trenches of the great oceans are mostly unexplored territory.
Disney made a documentary and the companion book, OCEANS, came out in March of 2010. Amazon carries the book though I have not yet read it.
While deep sea may resemble amniotic fluid and calmness to some, frighteningly it is nothing like it.
Click for a site that addresses some of the more recent observations. It reads:
The chasms and trenches of the great oceans are mostly unexplored territory.
Research is only just beginning to uncover some of the secrets that lurk in their mysterious abyssal depths.
Disney made a documentary and the companion book, OCEANS, came out in March of 2010. Amazon carries the book though I have not yet read it.
Monday, October 4, 2010
KEEPING THE WORLD ON THE DEFENSIVE
Osama bin Laden has the world on the defensive again. I'm always suspicious that he likes it to be that way and the threats are deliberate to obfuscate what his real intentions are.
Today the London Tube system will be shut down on strike. People will be scrambling to get to work by bus but few will be able to afford to drive. There is a toll of somewhere near the equivalent of $28 to jujst be able to drive into the city.
It was kind of the US to warn its travelers to take precautions. If I were traveling, that isn't easy or cheap to re-arrange travel reservations. Not all travelers have flexibility and not all are tourists. People should remember the last bombing in the London Tujbe system. The world was shocked to see people taking the Underground the next day as though nothing had happened...and , in fact to date, nothing has. However, on some level we all live in a world of Russian Roulette.
None of us anywhere can be assured we will live to see tomorrow. Some of us just have better odds of making it by where we are at any given time.
Even if Europe has been alerted, can we be sure that bin Laden's plans really don't focus elsewhere? I can't say I was comfortable the other day driving through New York until I had gotten off the George Washington Bridge. As ludicrous as that may be, I still fear driving through tunnels and over bridges knowing all the while that anything can happen anywhere. If it isn't terrorists that will get me, it might be Mother Nature or my health. Whoever or whatever might be the final threat is a speck of chance in a vast ocean of threats. I suggest we all keep aware and alert and, most of all, calm and not hysterical..
Today the London Tube system will be shut down on strike. People will be scrambling to get to work by bus but few will be able to afford to drive. There is a toll of somewhere near the equivalent of $28 to jujst be able to drive into the city.
It was kind of the US to warn its travelers to take precautions. If I were traveling, that isn't easy or cheap to re-arrange travel reservations. Not all travelers have flexibility and not all are tourists. People should remember the last bombing in the London Tujbe system. The world was shocked to see people taking the Underground the next day as though nothing had happened...and , in fact to date, nothing has. However, on some level we all live in a world of Russian Roulette.
None of us anywhere can be assured we will live to see tomorrow. Some of us just have better odds of making it by where we are at any given time.
Even if Europe has been alerted, can we be sure that bin Laden's plans really don't focus elsewhere? I can't say I was comfortable the other day driving through New York until I had gotten off the George Washington Bridge. As ludicrous as that may be, I still fear driving through tunnels and over bridges knowing all the while that anything can happen anywhere. If it isn't terrorists that will get me, it might be Mother Nature or my health. Whoever or whatever might be the final threat is a speck of chance in a vast ocean of threats. I suggest we all keep aware and alert and, most of all, calm and not hysterical..
Sunday, October 3, 2010
CYBERWARS
Matt Frei has written an article in the BBC News about the Stuxnet worm written, apparently, specifically to 'snafu'. He goes on to say, ",,,this is a computer "worm" especially designed to disable software for power companies made by the German electronics giant Siemens and used by Iran's nascent nuclear industry.". He believes that the sophistication of the worm suggests it must be from only the resources afforded by a nation state. He adds, "If this is all true -and I cannot completely banish the suspicion that this might be some elaborate hoax- then we have indeed entered an era of cyberwar."
Mr. Frei writes excellent articles as a rule but that last thought makes me wonder where he has been for the past few years on the cyberwar front. There have been cyberwars for years. It is not something new. Like all wars, we are not going to be hearing a lot of detail about them. It is imperative that we stop thinking of war as something done only with guns, tanks, bombs, and death. The War on Terrorism should have alerted even those who still think that Evolution is a theory, that the definition of war should be rewritten. Wikipedia describes it as: " War is a phenomenon of organized violent conflict,[1][2] typified by extreme aggression, societal disruption and adaptation, and high mortality."
This definition is as fitting in today's world as the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as the origin of man on earth. It no longer can be taken as literally accurate. We know too much.about secrecy involved in sabotage, revenge, desire to cripple institutions, grasp of power, and all the reasons that, in the past, have led us to open warfare. There was a time, when men totally ran the world, that nothing but brute strength could be conceived as warring and winning. We have become sufficiently civilized and our technology has advanced such, that power is won tactically as much as through brute force and killing more of the enemy than is lost on your own team.
.There are people writing books on cyberwar. To see some, click here. Our world can no longer ignore the power of the Internet and Computers. We are as dependent on computers as we are on the government there to protect us and act as guardians of our liberty, economy, education, health, infrastructure and all those issues that should be foremost of any candidate's political platform today.. Software piracy is nothing new. Anyone who has had a computer for any length of time knows that none are safe from intrusion onto private computers from outside hackers. Without 'ports' we wouldn't be able to receive anything on the Internet. People are getting far richer on security for computers than they are on home security these days..Ports have to be protected and we know that there is always someone hacking the best protected systems.
We have been at war on many fronts for many years; drug trafficking, illegal immigration, sabotage, terrorism, invasions of all sorts and so much more. There is little indication that it will lessen in our future.
Mr. Frei writes excellent articles as a rule but that last thought makes me wonder where he has been for the past few years on the cyberwar front. There have been cyberwars for years. It is not something new. Like all wars, we are not going to be hearing a lot of detail about them. It is imperative that we stop thinking of war as something done only with guns, tanks, bombs, and death. The War on Terrorism should have alerted even those who still think that Evolution is a theory, that the definition of war should be rewritten. Wikipedia describes it as: " War is a phenomenon of organized violent conflict,[1][2] typified by extreme aggression, societal disruption and adaptation, and high mortality."
This definition is as fitting in today's world as the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as the origin of man on earth. It no longer can be taken as literally accurate. We know too much.about secrecy involved in sabotage, revenge, desire to cripple institutions, grasp of power, and all the reasons that, in the past, have led us to open warfare. There was a time, when men totally ran the world, that nothing but brute strength could be conceived as warring and winning. We have become sufficiently civilized and our technology has advanced such, that power is won tactically as much as through brute force and killing more of the enemy than is lost on your own team.
.There are people writing books on cyberwar. To see some, click here. Our world can no longer ignore the power of the Internet and Computers. We are as dependent on computers as we are on the government there to protect us and act as guardians of our liberty, economy, education, health, infrastructure and all those issues that should be foremost of any candidate's political platform today.. Software piracy is nothing new. Anyone who has had a computer for any length of time knows that none are safe from intrusion onto private computers from outside hackers. Without 'ports' we wouldn't be able to receive anything on the Internet. People are getting far richer on security for computers than they are on home security these days..Ports have to be protected and we know that there is always someone hacking the best protected systems.
We have been at war on many fronts for many years; drug trafficking, illegal immigration, sabotage, terrorism, invasions of all sorts and so much more. There is little indication that it will lessen in our future.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
WHEN THINGS STOP WORKING
There are various categories of things that 'work' for us in our life. Mechanical, electrical, technical, utilitarian articles are all supposed to work. We rely on them. When they stop working we can only grumble if we can't get them replaced immediately. In today's world, an exact replacement is rarely possible. Companies change the model every three minutes. You will see this if you ever try to get an exact replacement of a printer. Likely, if it is five years or older, as my HP Laser Jet 1250 purchased in 2005, it is no longer mentioned on the usual list for drivers. In March I was told a fix would be available in May. Not being able to be without a printer I, of course, had to buy another. I have yet to try to get the 'fix' for my 1250 which has a perfectly good toner cartridge, cost $140 or so and is nearly new. I believe when that marketing ploy was invented, it was known as planned obsolescence....and probably still is.
When you have to replace a car, stove, or many other appliances, be prepared to give up some features you liked and get some new ones you may and some you may not like. Having to start from scratch finding new service people is equally frustrating; changing doctors, dentists, plumbers, electricians, etc should go very high on the priority scale of stressors. They have a way of changing professions, moving away, retiring, or even dying! Replacement parts don't come from a warehouse that can cheerfully say, "Oh, we no longer stock those parts." Of course they don't. When parts change every fifteen minutes they couldn't make a warehouse big enough to fit them all.
However, worst of all is when personal coping skills no longer work. People who smoke to calm themselves, alcoholics who drank to numb themselves or manics who drank to slow their brains down, people who use denial but things eventually can no longer be denied or put off, those lying awake when sleep used to be best calmer, all these can fail. Those who use drugs to tune out, miss opportunities for resolving rather than ignoring problems.
It is not difficult to realize that having to give up alcohol, drugs, exercising, lose a beloved pet, or any of the things that kept stress level low, necessarily have their stress level rise (not a healthy thing) until a new coping mechanism can be found and put into place. In the event of a death of a beloved, divorce or other breakup, it is not as simple as purchasing a replacement. For alcoholics it often means changing total lifestyle and friends.
For someone who lived on the endorphin kicks from jogging or stress exercise, who suffers a physical restraint to continuing, it is not easy to find a replacement that is not addictive.
People do not seem to understand that replacements can be on a physical or psychological level. When some casually say, "Get a life" or "Get on with your life"they are oblivious to the uselessness of their advice. Prescribing a result rather than a means to reach it is the only thing that can be helpful but most people don't think that way. If a friend describes a relationship dilemma, the frequent reply giving is "dump him/her', "get a divorce", "move away" or similar advice, impossible to achieve.a desired result.
Does it mean we should never listen to advice. Not really. It means we should be our own advocates and feel gifted if we have the mental capacity and inquiring minds to do so. Too many peolple are ill-equipped to take care of themselves and cope with the strain of today's life. When things stop working they go into 'stun' mode. People have asked me what they should do and , most of the time, I know they will not follow my advice. If they were capable of my reasoning, they would probably have thought of the cure themselves. Actually, as a therpist for years, I refrain from giving advice and solutions that I might have made. The friends who ask get tired of my making them talk through their problems to reach their own solutions.when what they want is a 'quick fix' that they can then say they didn't follow because they'd decided it just wouldn't work for them.
Life survival is not contained in one do-it-yourself ' book. Coping skills are developed through experience , often painful ones. When they work more often than fail, we have reached a comfortable place in ' I don't pray; I just wait, watch parameters, and make moves when I find them.
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