Hearing Inner Voices

Simple tips to Handle Betrayal and Hearing Voices

Betrayal harms us more than anything else in the world.  It can go down till the deepest parts of us. Yet it is possible to reach those inner dark places which hide the darkest fears and desires. It is possible through gentle love and listening.

Whether it is a child suffering from sexual abuse or a partner dealing with domestic violence, the trauma is overwhelming since it involves someone with intimate relationship. Since you are dependent on the other person for food, shelter, emotional wellbeing, support, etc. the suffering received is also severe in the case of abuse.

In the cases of abuse and betrayal, many times people start hearing their names being called out from the back. When they turn around, there is no one. This hearing of voices if happens more than 2-3 times a week, is not normal and comes under the category of issue called hearing voices which has its roots in the betrayal and abuse you had suffered from deep inside.

When our experience of hearing voices goes beyond hearing names, then we tend to feel concerned. These in other words are also called auditory hallucinations which may not necessarily always be abnormal.

Differences in Voices origin

Different people hear voices from different places. Sometimes the voices appear to come through ears and sometimes, it is like coming from inside the head. There could be many voices or single voice coming from these places.  These voices can be both encouraging or intimidating coming either from someone you know in your life or from someone you never heard of.

Betrayal trauma can lead to visual and auditory hallucinations such as victims hearing the voice of their abuser.

Advice for those hearing voices

The following advice can help you recover from the deep hurt from these voices:

Acceptance

Accepting your voices and stop battling with yourself to avoid them, will make you in better position to understand them.

Control

There are different ways you can gain control over your voices. You can distract yourself from the voices by listening to music through headphones. You can also start a dialogue with the voices you hear. If the voices you hear are threatening, tell them that they have no power over you.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy – DBT for BPD and Mental Health Problems

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of CBT (cognitive behavioral treatment) that was initially developed to treat chronically suicidal individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). It has been over the time recognized as the gold standard psychological treatment for this population.

It is also effective in treating a wide range of other disorders such as substance dependence, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders.

Although, DBT is the brainchild of Dr. Marsha Linehan, a clinical psychologist from Seattle, many others have contributed and the development of the treatment continues.

DBT has four sets of behavioural skills.

  1. Mindfulness – the practice of being fully aware at the current moment
  2. Distress Tolerance: tolerating pain in difficult situations, not change it
  3. Interpersonal Effectiveness: How to maintain self-respect
  4. Emotion Regulation: how to control emotions when you want to control them.

General Characteristics of DBT

 

DBT help the patient identify his or her strengths and build on them.

Cognitive-based – This type of therapy helps people find about their thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions that make life harder for them.

Collaborative: It requires constant attention to relationships between clients and staff. In DBT people are encouraged to work out problems in their relationships with their therapist and the therapists to do the same with them.

Diary cards

Specially formatted cards for tracking therapy interfering behaviors that distract or hinder a patient’s progress. Diary cards can be filled out daily, 2-3 times a day, or once per week.

 

Limitations of DBT

There are a few criticisms and limitations, if using DBT for treatment of depression and allied illnesses.

  1. Much of the available research on the efficacy of DBT included small sample sizes and focused on a specific sector of the mental health population. Critics argue more research should be done to determine whether DBT works well for those with varied or complex mental health concerns.
  2. DBT uses a detailed manual and requires solid training to implement. In many of the research studies where DBT was found to be effective. This does not necessarily indicate a weakness in the model itself but underscores the intensive amount of training required to deliver the services as designed. Therefore, expanding the availability of comprehensive training could be useful for community mental health organizations.

Depression makes world look Dull

Depression literally converts the world in all shades of Gray and Black

A depressed person often says that the world looks dull and gray and flowers no longer smell sweet. He might seem to speak figuratively, but now there is some truth in it. According to two recent studies conducted in Germany there are concrete evidences that sensory perception is diminished in depressed individuals.

The study was conducted by neuropsychiatrist Ludger Tebartz van Elst of the University of Freiburg. He tied up depressed patients and controlled subjects to a pattern electroretinograph which is a device to measure electrical signals in the retina. When viewing black-and-white checkerboard images, people who had depression showed lesser electrical impulses as compared to the other controlled subjects.

As per Tebartz van Elst, using this technique, it would be easy to diagnose depression without the need of the patient to open up verbally. They just need to keep their eyes  open and the test can be performed.

Top findings of this Study on Depression grays and blues

 

In the study below are the key findings which the scientists measured:

  1. People with major depression were not able to detect differences in black-and-white contrasts on the checkerboards.
  2. People with no depression were able to identify the changes in pattern and contrasts on checkerboard very effectively.
  3. The level of activity on the retina was lowest in the person with worst depression.
  4. The depressed patients had dramatically lower retinal responses to the varying black-and-white contrasts than healthy individuals.
  5. The results held regardless of whether patients were taking antidepressants.

The retina ECG shows the response of neurons inside the retinal cells. It is not the conscious vision, but a very much earlier response of the retina to changing patterns.

Best tips to Deal with Depression and its Gray World

Everyone wants to know the ways to get out of the blues and gray of depression and conquer it from the bottom. But, rarely, we find something which can do this miracle. Here are some tips to perform this action with ease and speed.

  1. Bond with mother nature

Do not ever underestimate the healing power of the natural world. You need to be connected to Earth and it is crucially important to restore the energy levels by staying connected.  The great outdoors is a very precious stress-free zone. Without a wifi zone, cell phones buzzing, cameras, noise, etc. all around us, we are bound to get the time of the day.

Few tips to consider is to head to a park during lunch, exercise outside rather than in a gym, and plan regular weekends away to escape the oppressive urban jungle.

 

  1. Turn off the TV

Switch off the idiot box to stop feeling like an idiot all the time.  TV according to many studies is like a drug which can change your brain chemistry. If you can’t stop watching TV altogether at least, try to cut down on your consumption. You should see positive, funny, uplifting or educational stuff on TV sometime, but limit that too.

 

  1. Get involved

 

There is nothing which can be achieved by sitting and cribbing about global issues and concerns at hand. There are many such issues from which you can choose one and concentrate your energy in that cause instead of putting only thoughts on multitude of issues. Dwelling on the many urgent global issues isn’t going to help you or anyone else. If you care or concern about animal cruelty, you could offer to help out at your local shelter.

So stay involved and do not doubt about the things which a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can do to change the world.

  1. Nurture yourself

Believe in yourself and always do things to reward and nurture yourself. Exercise, sleep and eat well. Do what you love. Give yourself a break. Be your own best friend. Dancing around your living room to uplifting music will give you an instant energy and endorphin boost. Sing in the shower. Smile even if you don’t feel like it.

Using Many Social Media Platforms Linked With Depression, Anxiety Risk

While time spent on social media is considered a risk factor for mental health problems, the more important factors may be related to which platforms are used and the user’s online experiences.

social media mobile

Research has suggested a link between spending extended time on social media and experiencing negative mental health outcomes. New evidence suggests that whether it’s distracted attention from using multiple social media outlets or the emotional consequences of a negative online experience, it’s the quality—not so much the quantity – of social media engagement that may affect mood and well-being.

A study published online in Computers in Human Behavior on December 10, 2016, found that the use of multiple social media platforms is more strongly associated with depression and anxiety among young adults than time spent online.

These findings come from a national survey of 1,787 young adults that asked about their use of 11 popular social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine, and LinkedIn.

The analysis showed that people who reported using the most platforms (seven to 11) had more than three times the risk of depression and anxiety (odds ratio of 3.08 and 3.27, respectively) than people who used the least amount (zero to 2 platforms).

These increased odds held true even after adjusting for the total time spent on social media and other factors such as race, gender, relationship status, education, and income.

As to why using more platforms might be detrimental, lead author Brian Primack, M.D., Ph.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, suggested several reasons.

One possible mechanism is that people who use many different platforms end up multitasking, such as frequently switching between applications or engaging in social media on multiple devices. Studies have found that multitasking is related to poorer attention, cognition, and mood.

Other potential problems of using multiple platforms include an increased risk of anxiety in trying to keep up with the rules and culture associated with each one and more opportunity to commit a gaffe or faux pas since attention is divided.

It is important to note that this study provided just a one-time snapshot of these people’s moods, said Joanne Davila, Ph.D., a professor of clinical psychology at Stony Brook University with a specialty in interpersonal relationships among adolescents and young adults.

“Using multiple platforms might lead to these changes in mood, but it could also be that people who are depressed or have a propensity for depression use more social media sites,” she said. “In this area of research, we have to think about what’s causing what.”

Some of Davila’s studies on social media and behavior support a causal role for social media use. Her research has not focused on how many platforms people use, but their overall experiences. In one study, she surveyed a group of volunteers three weeks apart to look at short-term behavioral changes and found that time spent online was not strongly linked with subsequent depressive symptoms. Rather, having negative experiences—which included gaffes, unwanted contacts, or cyberbullying—increased the risk for depression.

Davila suggested that these experiences lead to rumination in the users, who may start thinking of themselves in a negative light.

Samantha Rosenthal, Ph.D., M.P.H., a research associate in the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, also found that the nature of social media interactions is a significant factor for mental health outcomes. In a study published last November that surveyed 264 young adults, she and colleagues explored how negative Facebook experiences influenced depression risk. The survey revealed that these negative events are common—more than 80 percent of the participants had at least one negative experience on Facebook, and 60 percent had four or more.

After adjusting for other factors, Rosenthal found that negative Facebook experiences were independent predictors of depression risk. The precipitating event did matter, as bullying or other mean behaviors were associated with about 3.5 times higher risk, while unwanted contact was associated with about 2.5 times higher risk. Frequency of negative events contributed to risk as well, though even one instance of bullying could increase the risk of depression.

The participants in this project were already enrolled in another family study, and the researchers knew their health status dating back to 2002. This provided more reliability that the negative Facebook events were contributing to an increased risk of depression as opposed to reflecting depression.

Understanding how social media can lead to depression is one thing; using that knowledge to help people is another. The use of social media is an integral part of being a citizen in today’s modern world, said Primack.

He pointed out that the 11 platforms in his study serve many personal and professional functions, and some individuals may need to use all of them. “I don’t think we need to start quantifying social media use in a depression screen, nor will I tell patients that they are limited to a maximum of two social media platforms.”

Nonetheless, discussing social media use with patients is important, emphasized Primack, who is a family medicine physician. It is analogous to asking people with depression or anxiety about their experiences when they go out in public.

“These are virtual spaces, but they still create real emotions,” he said. “By making a patient more aware of what to expect and the possible pitfalls, it can improve their chances of having positive interactions as opposed to negative ones.”

Yoga for health

Yoga is a practice that connects the body, breath, and mind. It uses physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation to improve overall health. Yoga was developed as a spiritual practice thousands of years ago. Today, most Westerners do yoga for exercise or to reduce stress.

yoga

Benefits of Yoga

Yoga can improve your overall fitness level and improve your posture and flexibility. It may also:

  • Lower your blood pressure and heart rate
  • Help you relax
  • Improve your self-confidence
  • Reduce stress
  • Improve your coordination
  • Improve your concentration
  • Help you sleep better
  • Aid with digestion

In addition, practicing yoga may also help with the following conditions:

  • Anxiety
  • Back pain
  • Depression

Who Should use Caution

Yoga is generally safe for most people. But you may need to avoid some yoga poses or modify poses if you:

  • Are pregnant
  • Have high blood pressure
  • Have glaucoma
  • Have sciatica

Make sure to tell your yoga instructor if you have any of these conditions or any other health problem or injury. A qualified yoga teacher should be able to help you find poses that are safe for you.

Styles of Yoga

There are many different types or styles of yoga. They range from mild to more intense. Some of the more popular styles of yoga are:

  • Ashtanga or power yoga. This type of yoga offers a more demanding workout. In these classes, you quickly move from one posture to another.
  • Bikram or hot yoga. You do a series of 26 poses in a room heated to 95°F to 100°F (35°C to 37.8°C). The goal is to warm and stretch the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, and to purify the body through sweat.
  • Hatha yoga. This is sometimes a general term for yoga. It most often includes both breathing and postures.
  • Integral. A gentle type of yoga that may include breathing exercises, chanting, and meditation.
  • Iyengar. A style that places great attention to the precise alignment of the body. You may also hold poses for long periods of time.
  • Kundalini. Emphasizes the effects of breath on the postures. The goal is to free energy in the lower body so it can move upwards.
  • Viniyoga. This style adapts postures to each person’s needs and abilities, and coordinates breath and postures.

How to get Started

Look for yoga classes at your local gym, health center, or yoga studio. If you are new to yoga, start with a beginner class. Talk with the instructor before the class and tell them about any injuries or health conditions you may have.

You may want to ask about the instructor’s training and experience. However, while most instructors have had some formal training, there are no certified yoga training programs. Choose an instructor you enjoy working with who does not push you in ways you are not comfortable.

What to Expect

Most yoga classes last from 45 to 90 minutes. All styles of yoga include three basic components:

  • Breathing. Focusing on your breath is an important part of yoga. Your teacher may offer instruction on breathing exercising during the class.
  • Poses. Yoga poses, or postures, are a series of movements that help boost strength, flexibility, and balance. They range in difficulty from lying flat on the floor to difficult balancing poses.
  • Meditation. Yoga classes usually end with a short period of meditation. This quiets the mind and helps you relax.

How to Prevent Injury

While yoga is generally safe, you can still get hurt if you do a pose incorrectly or push yourself too far. Here are some tips to stay safe when doing yoga.

  • If you have a health condition, talk with your health care provider before starting yoga. Ask if there are any poses you should avoid.
  • Start slowly and learn the basics before pushing yourself too far.
  • Choose a class that is appropriate for your level. If you are not sure, ask the teacher.
  • DO NOT push yourself beyond your comfort level. If you cannot do a pose, ask your teacher to help you modify it.
  • Ask questions if you are not sure how to do a pose.
  • Bring along a water bottle and drink plenty of water. This is mostly important in hot yoga.
  • Wear clothing that allows you to move freely.
  • Listen to your body. If you feel pain or fatigue, stop and rest.

Valentine’s month: Tell us your love stories

Valentine’s Day is just a week away. Love is in the air, well actually airwaves.
Happy Valentines Day
Our screens bombard us with images of bouquets of red roses, strawberries dipped in chocolate and French perfumes. Overnight, stores and shop fronts are filled with pink and red window displays heralding the arrival of Valentine’s Day: A celebration of love, romance and friendship.
Well, we at depression-guide thought we’d celebrate the season of love little differently. Instead of putting up typical lists of mushy love movies to watch or romantic books to read love stories of fictional characters, we want to put up real love stories of real people.

So send us your love story of how the two of you meet? Was it love at first sight? Was yours an arranged marriage? Who proposed and how? We’ll feature the best stories on depression-guide this Valentine’s day.

Don’t forget to send us a sweet picture of the two of you along with your story.

Email us at:mailto:publications@depression-guide.com

Does spending thousands on your college education worthy?

Barack Obama hinted one controversial statement when he said in January that “folks can make a lot more by learning a trade than they might with an art history degree. Although he was forced to apologies by an angry professor of history, he was every word right.
college

According to research conducted, the center found that out of 11.6 million jobs created in the post-recession economy, 11.5 million went to people with at least some college education.

Out of these 8.4 million went to workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher. People with a high school diploma landed to just 80,000 jobs in the recovery.

Does the degree you select has a role in Success?

The plain answer to this question is yes, it does. There are many degrees which pay for themselves while some others does not pay. Some other interesting facts:
1.College graduates aged 25 to 32 who are working full time earn about $17,500 more annually than their peers who have only a high school diploma.
2.Not all degrees are equally useful.
3.A residential four-year degree can set you back as much as $60,000 a year

Hard subjects pay off

Engineering or other had to learn subjects surprisingly fetches far more returns as compared to simpler to learn subjects.
In addition to this data, the research conducted by one company said that the average return on college is falling. In 2010, students could expect to break even within eight years of finishing school. Since then, that has increased to nine years. And if this trend continues, students who start college in 2030 without scholarships or grants, it said, may not see a return on investment until age 37.

Study conducted by Goldman Sachs for Economic Returns of Degree

Goldman Sachs tried to find the economic return on college education as the total all-in cost of college (net of grants and scholarships) and the wages foregone during the 4 years of study versus the wage premium that undergraduate degree holders enjoy versus high school graduates over their working life.

The Dissolving Nuclear Family and The Decline Of The West

On the fold of last century and all throughout the last one, there were predominantly joint families which moved to nuclear families. This trend is also changing in the recent times where one parent households, cohabitation, same sex families, and voluntary childless couples are increasingly becoming common.

family

As you might know, the term nuclear family refers to the family group which comprises of parents and children. Extended families on the other hand have those with kinship ties. Since families has been the basic social unit for the expression of love between man and woman raising of children since ages, changes in its structure is definitely bringing lot of changes we are going to experience.

Ideal families are in-existent all across the modern history, although the nuclear families are also on a decline. All being said and done, the three-generational family, which includes grandparents in addition to parents and children, has the greatest support for raising children and continuation of the family lineage.

The nuclear family is a historical aberration and ultimately doomed to fail.

Below are some of the latest trends in the families and their structure which is fast growing at least in the west.

1.One recent trend mentioned the changing nature of families where there is a prevalence of single-parent entities.
2.Cohabitation or live in relation has common living place without the benefit of legal, cultural, or religious sanctions.
3.Formal marriages between homosexual partners also started getting popularity
4.Voluntary childlessness in women is also seen proliferating in current times.

The nuclear family is unsustainable economically

Re-emergence of the extended family in the West focuses on the fact that it is expensive to live apart and how living together is cheaper for everybody.
History Future Now is not so sure.
Some of the measures of the government in recent times has changed the way economics work for current nuclear families:
1.Childcare – The government currently provides childcare for young families.
2.Retirement homes – The government currently pays for retirement homes for people who are retired and are unable to live on their own.
3.Pensions – The government currently provides pensions for its retired citizens.
4.Unemployment and housing benefits – The government currently provides benefits for people who are unemployed and housing for those who are in need of housing.

Since the last 70,000 years of human history we have lived very successfully in extended families and it is only since last 100 years we have been trying something different which is showing its issues and concerns. Nuclear families were a norm, but now the pace has been against it.

Top reasons on why stress will increase in the next decade and later

Why Stress is Likely to Soar in the next Decade
According to the first-ever historical analysis of stress and its effects on people, Americans are much more stressed today than three decades ago. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University analysed data from 1983, 2006 and 2009, and concluded that the self-reported stress levels have raised by almost 30% in last 3 decades or so.
The present generation are spectator of a time different from past generations; a time which is never enough for doing anything you want.

Who are the most vulnerable lot of people?

Women, young people in their teens especially and low-income Americans are the most affected ones due to stress. The Journal of Applied Psychology has stated in one of their research studies journal.
But man are catching up fast and it has increased rapidly rising 25% yearly as compared to 18% in women.
The high stress is often linked to many health conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Checking on the stress levels in different demographics help identify populations at greater risk for physical and psychological health problems. Researchers also suggest that people with less education, low income levels, etc. can experience high levels of stress.
The only good news about old age and stress is that stress went down as people got older.
Thirty-year-old have less stress than 20-year-old and so on.

In the past, people spent much time at home with their family rather than now. This indicates togetherness as a main pillar of communication could be typically maintained as one of the solutions to reduce the sufferer of life.

Why people suffer from stress?

People spend much time in the office in which interpersonal relationship is massively built. This means many activities inquire regular contact with other people at work. Partnerships with companions in the office and/or management could be a potential source of tensions.