Tips For Managing Situational Depression in the Second Half of Life

Recently I read a statistic about depression that surprised me. I had not been aware that 17% of people in the US are on anti-depressant medication. That means approximately one in 7 adults is relying on some help from medication to get through the day. I have no idea how many of these people are in their second half of life. It does indicate that a good number of people are turning to their doctors for help with symptoms of overwhelm and sadness for which anti-depressants provide relief.

Anti-depressant medications have made a big difference for people who struggle with biological depression. It has given many people the opportunity to function successfully in their lives. My focus in this article is on the people who are depressed because of the life situation they find themselves in. These are the people for whom anti-depressants indeed provide help but unless they take care of the underlying concerns their life situation will not improve.

For instance, anyone who is living in a home where there is addiction present - alcohol, drug, prescription drug- will feel oppressed by its presence. The longer the addiction continues the greater the effect will be on everyone. The addicted person will also suffer with depression because that is the effect of the substance. In both cases if the underlying problem of addiction is s not addressed the symptom of depression will manifest itself .

Relationships organize people. Anyone who has ever been in a job situation that is negative will feel helpless. Likewise couple relationships where one cannot freely be oneself can become stifling and lead to depression. Again, in both of these examples anti-depressions will give relief but they will not take care of the underlying problems. In order to address them there has to be a willingness to start grappling with how to change the situation that is upsetting.

I have found, in addition, to the two examples just mentioned, that in the second half of life people may become depressed because some medications for physical problems have depression as a side effect. There is one other area that I see frequently. When lives have become routine and there is no newness people feel bored and become lethargic. The answer to this state of depression is to start doing new things. Take a course, move to a new area, read to kids,open a business, walk regularly, meditate - anything that will interrupt the monotonous and introduce vitality and excitement. I have found that the people who introduce newness into their lives have, after a while, been able to go off anti-depressants because their new zest in life has naturally lifted their spirits.

Manic Depression Treatments

Depression is of two types one is Major Depressive Disorder and the other Bipolar Disorder. Both these disorders need different treatments. The symptoms of both disorders involves sorrow, exaggerated weeping, loss of pleasure, sleeping too much or too little, low get-up-and-go, uneasiness, difficulty in concentrating, temper, loss of appetite or overindulging, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, feelings of physiological problems that are not made by physical sickness or injury like head aches, digestive problems, painfulness and thoughts of dying or self-destruction.

Bipolar disorder involves episodes of depression and also episodes of mania like inappropriate sense of exhilaration, fearless behavior, low rest needed, excessive energy, rushing thought processes; speaking too much, out of control spending, trouble concentrating, irritability, abnormally elevated activity including sexual activity, poor judgment, competitive behavior, exaggerated temper or out of control conduct.

These episodes can last a long very long time, some for a amount of weeks, months. Both disorders vary quite a bit when it comes to the treatments.biologic elements, stress and anxiety play a big part in the causes of manic depression or bipolar disorder.

For the people who have been inflicted with either bipolar disorder or main depression, antidepressant medications are often extremely effective and they must be taken regularly for three to four weeks, sometimes even longer, before the full reaction is seen.

Manic Depression Treatments can be found online in the form of self help methods these methods can help a great deal in reducing the symptoms.

Good ways to combat manic depression include: getting a healthy diet, exercising regularly and getting some relaxation time.

3 Ways to Help a Depressed Teen Boy - Get This Right and He Will Grow Into a Well Balanced Adult

Given that depression can be cured but suicide can not, a depressed teen boy should never be left to fend for himself. Teen depression should never be brushed under the carpet. Many parents do that because they do not know enough about depression and have no idea where to start.

Let us start with an alarming statistic. In the USA, suicide is the third cause of death for adolescents and young adults in the 15 to 24 age group. Also, boys are more likely to commit suicide than girls. These figures have been released by the CDC, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

As regards self inflicted injuries or self harming, the figures for the State of California show that 3,356 children and adolescents were hospitalized. Self injury is often considered an obscure effect of depression but it is much more common than we think.

Here is the first way we can help a depressed teen boy. The first is to get help from a doctor or health professional once we are fairly certain that there is a problem. Signs of depression in a teen boy could range from an eating disorder, trouble at school, withdrawal from activities and oversleeping or suffering from insomnia. There may also be guilt, anger, anxiety and thoughts of suicide. Sometimes even doctors do not realize that depression is the problem and tend to treat only the physical symptoms.

The second way to help is that once treatment is discussed, talk to your depressed teen boy about what he wants to do. It could be talk therapy or medication or just a combination of the two. Actually some kind of therapy is important so that the teen can understand what is going on so that he can get off the meds as soon as possible. Some teens are on these meds for years and become really dependent on them.

The third way to help is to think of some relaxing activities and physical fun activities like dancing, yoga or skateboarding so that stress is minimized and also the endorphins, the good mood hormones get a chance to kick in. The effects of any good workout or game can last up to half a day. This is so important and can help you to reduce media time as well which can be debilitating.

If you think that your teenage depressed boy would be much better off without anti depressants and you are worried about him becoming dependent on them, there is another solution. That is to consider carefully whether a herbal remedy may be the answer. The side effects are much less dramatic and the results are comparable if not better than the anti depressants. Why not check it out? This could be the best way to help your depressed teen boy to put all that behind him and grow up into a well balanced happy adult.

Depression - Home Remedies For Cure

We should consider depression as a disease just like any other disease whether it comes in for a short or long period. First of all, when we understand that we have depression or are informed by our well-wishers, please do not hesitate to accept it. It is just like, when we suffer from any disease; do we ever feel shy about it and not tell people? So the first thing is to recognize that we have some problem and we need help. Acknowledging is the beginning of its cure.

When we have physical ailment, we go to consult a doctor. When this ailment remains unattended, it leads to a disease and then we are forced to see a professional specialist doctor. He prescribes us with some medications and but medicines only bring temporary relief. Those medicines may not cure from inside. To cure from inside we need to fight within. When depression increases we need psychologist to help because beyond a limit it can lead up to suicidal tendency. Therefore, it certainly needs immediate attention. In most cases depression evolves due to chemical imbalance arising because of one of many reasons e.g. a serious loss, death of loved one, divorce, break up of a relationship, having an affair, financial break down or loss of job, bad academic results or fear of not being able to do well etc. Sometimes guilt or regrets owing to hurting others or crime also leads to depression. Once we understand the reason of a depression and we recognize those factors, we can plan our recovery and try come out of it soon.

I suggest below some of home remedies for helping the people who are suffering from this mental illness called Depression:

1. Just talk about it: share your problems and sorrows with good friends who have positive attitude of mind. Trust me it really helps. When we share, we feel half of our problems dissolves naturally.

2. Be with Nature: Try to be with the nature as much as possible. Feel the early morning fresh air, listen to birds chirping, see the greenery and smell the fragrance of flowers. It may not cure instantly but this will give a pleasant feeling and will make our mind open to accept things clearly.

3. Take more rest: Take more rest, sleep more and drink plenty of water.

4. Resist more eating: In depression, there is a tendency to eat more. The more is the depression the unhealthier food intake starts. High calorie food like potato or cold drinks or sweets really help us feel at ease but it has long lasting bad effects. The excessive intake of un-healthy food leads to various kinds of physical disorders and diseases and a person gets more depressed.

5. Avoid watching TV for long hours: When we feel depressed and watch TV, we start indulging into sad or emotional stories and begin correlating ourselves to the sadness of the fictitious characters of the drama in the TV. We forget that it is just a drama not a reality. The more we watch more the sadder and more depressed we feel. Therefore, watch some healthy fun movies, cartoons, shows or interesting quiz that can help you laugh.

6. Let us WRITE -- When we feel sad or depressed everything around seems dull and sad, but then try to think if there is anything still good happened in recent times. Was there any event that made us smile or excited about future. And if there is something like this comes to your heart then try write about it. Among 100 bad things, there is at least one good deed. Write about your problems and sorrows. What is that really bothering us?? What is our main purpose of life??? What we really want from the life. I am very sure that as we write, we will realize that some of the things that were bothering us were not so problematic or big. It is our phobia and ignorance that made us felt like that.

7. Let us READ -- Read good quality books and inspirational thoughts and quotes. This motivates a lot. Have faith, as reading positive and uplifting thoughts slowly and gradually brings changes.

8. Let us TAKE HELP-- We can take help of those people around us who are well balanced in themselves and have crystal clear thoughts. Talking and sharing our thoughts with positive people can help us cut the negativity of our thoughts with much ease, compared to our struggling alone with our problems.

9. Let us be more social: Come out of your shell and see the world outside and observe their problems and miseries and realist how small is our own hurt and misery.

10. Let us try to solve others' problems: just try to forget about your own hurts for sometimes and think how can we help others to come out of their problems or sorrows. Try to help them to recognize their goals in life. Be part of their dreams forgetting about your own momentary desires and inspire others to something great in life. Everybody goes through ups and downs and feeling of hurt or guilt or depression, but one who comes out of it is a Real Warrior and Winner.

11. Let us now smile and have fun and learn together: Let us reach to people who need help, and spread our message to people that we are here to help them.

12. Be a part of the SOLUTION: If we try, we can surely come out with some solutions for people. Let us try to keep our body and mind in perfect shape by joining YOGA and spiritual practices like meditations.

13. Love is best medicine as ever: Love, care, affection and sharing our thoughts with depressed person can do wonders. Let us make use of this free medicine of love & caring that has magical effects and is the best and sure shot medicine of all times.

14. Last but not the least, very important point, do not feel shy to share your experiences of recovery. It is my personal experience of getting out of long time depression with the help of my friend Sanjib and his positive thought and sharing all my fears with him. So I strongly believe that anyone can come out of depression. The need is just to recognize the depression, accept it and then builds a will and a strong desire to come out of it, get cured by getting right kind of help at right time. So, feel fearless in sharing your experiences of getting cured out of this deadly disease depression.

Our sharing of coming out of depression, gives hope to many and inspire them to follow the suite to come out of their sufferings. Give hope to others, give them smiles and make your own life happier and more cheerful.

Get Cheap Individual Disability Insurance Quotes

Unexpected medical problems can affect your finances. These could be pregnancy, depression, injuries or recuperation from surgery. If you have any of these, you will have a hard time working for a period of time. There are times you wouldn't even be able to work at all.

If the latter happens, how would you pay your bills? If you have a family, how would you support them?

This is the very reason why more and more people are opting for individual disability insurance. They are preparing themselves for that situation. If that does happen, then they are prepared.

Individual disability insurance replaces a percentage of your salary if you become an invalid or disabled. Either way, you cannot work. If you don't have this, you may spend your savings. You might even dig into your retirement fund or what you've allotted for your children college fees.

Having an individual disability insurance means you don't have to get the funds from your everyday expenses to pay for your debt. You can still earn even when you're not working.

This is the very reason why employees work for corporations that offer this kind of benefit. They see the individual disability insurance as some kind of health plan. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

At least with the individual disability insurance, one does not have to worry where to get the finances to pay for the mortgages, daily expenses, and other bills - even when one is not working.

But before you sign up for any individual disability insurance from an insurance company, you should be smart enough to get the facts straight. Make sure what their coverage is and how many percentage they would get from your salary.

If you are comfortable with their policies and believe that you will not be in the losing end, then go for it.
You can also speak to a licensed financial professional to guide you in this agreement that you will make. Have him explain the benefits and policy provisions.

Since this will involve a deduction from your payroll, you should know where your money goes right? If there are exclusions in the contract, check which ones apply.

If the policy gives you with the basic hospital needs in addition to the individual disability insurance (some insurance companies do that), check whether they are offering the basic medical insurance or major medical insurance.

You wouldn't have a hard time determining this because it is already indicated in the policies.

The 5 Stages of Grief Explained

Grief is a complicated and very powerful emotion. Unfortunately, it is very likely that at some point of your life you will go through it. In any case, the stages are nearly exactly the same for each person.

Some people go from one stage to another quickly, or skip some of them. Others get stuck and need help to go on.

Knowing the stages of grief, knowing what to expect, can help you to deal with your emotions.

Once you are faced with your own personal loss and grief, it helps enormously to know what is going on. It does not matter if what you experience is slightly different than the theory. It will also give you a sense that you are not alone with your pain. Others have gone through it and survived it. So will you.

Knowing the stages of grief also helps when you are trying to help a person you care for to deal with his or her grief.

Each stage of grief has a meaning. When going through them, your goal is to process each stage with all its issues and move on to the next. Until you are able to accept your loss and can move on with your life.

These are the 5 classic stages that affect everyone who encounters a loss of some kind. They are just guidelines, not strict rules. I hope that they will help you to go through the pain of your loss. I also hope that what you learn and what you experience will make you stronger. One day you will need that knowledge and that strength to help with someone else's grief.

1. Shock and Denial

The first reaction of most people when hearing the news of a devastating loss is shock. Frozen disbelief and denial follow. If someone brings the news to you that someone very close to you has passed, it is very likely that you will react with shaken "no, no, no." Your mind is simply not able to process such horror and is protecting you by completely denying the reality. You might decide to believe that someone is making a practical joke. Or you might even laugh when hearing the news, the way children laugh in the dark to dispel fear.

The numbness follows. It is the nature's way of letting you deal only with emotions you are capable of handling.

Denial is a very helpful stage of grief. But, at some point, you will be ready to face the reality. Reality means a range of very painful emotions that will follow.

There is no rule how long should you be in denial. There is no rule that everyone has to go through the denial stage. You might be able to jump straight into highly emotional stages such as anger or guilt.

If you persist in denying the reality of your loss, you need help. It can be a close friend or a relative who knows you. Sometimes the help of a trained therapist or a grief counselor might be necessary. You need to accept that the loss is part of life and that the pain that comes with loss will slowly pass. The love you feel will remain. You will always have the memories. You need to let yourself continue to grieve, in order to reach the acceptance. Only then the life can go on.

2. Pain and Guilt

Once you get out of the denial and face the reality, the pain will hit you will full blast. It might feel overwhelming at times. It is very tempting during this stage to try to dull the pain with drugs or alcohol.

But, the pain can be healing. Like the pain of birth, it results in the new reality, the reality of your new life.

The feeling of guilt is very common during this stage. It may come from unresolved issues. It can be the guilt of surviving, especially if the loss you experienced is the loss of someone younger. You might feel guilty for not showing your love while you could, or showing proper appreciation.

The excruciating pain experienced during this stage may lead to anxiety, especially with more emotional people.

While the feeling of guilt will pass once you are able to think rationally, the pain will remain. It will be part of your life throughout the grieving process, and beyond.

But, slowly, you will be able to function and live with your pain and the reality of your loss, and move on.

3. Anger and Bargaining

Your overwhelming pain takes many forms. It is very common that people feel powerful feeling of anger. Anger against doctors who could not do more, against relatives who did not give more time, against God or destiny. Why me? How could this happen to such a nice person?

Anger is healthy after the destructive feeling of guilt in the previous stage of grieving. Pain leaves you without anchor. You feel totally out of control of your life. Anger puts you back in control - we are trained to control anger from very early age. Anger gives practical outlet to your devastating pain.

It is very important not to vent your anger to those closest to you. They are also grieving. You need them. You do not want to lose them. You have lost enough already.

The stages of grief do not follow each other in the same order for each person. Anger can easily combine with guilt and turn on yourself. Even when you lash at others, deep down you might feel that you failed your loved one in some way.

If someone you love is terminally ill, you might try bargaining. You might try to bargain with God, or with destiny. You might promise to be a better person, or to stop smoking or to be more generous, if only...

Bargaining is particularly powerful stage of grieving for people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Bargaining for your own life can offer hope, or a channel for pain that gives more control.

As with other stages of grief, anger and bargaining can last a short time, weeks, months, or you might skip them altogether. It is important to look for signs of uncontrolled anger which can irreparably damage your relationships with those closest and dearest to you.

4. Depression and Loneliness

All the powerful emotions that follow denial are exhausting, but they represent hope. Strong emotions are one way your pain shows its ugly face. But, at some point, the hope fades and you face the reality. The reality is devastating. The loved one is really gone.

There is no way to change that fact. The life will never be the same. You are left alone. You might feel that the life makes no sense any more. The depression sets in.

Feeling depressed is normal reaction to a devastating loss. In a way, if you do not get depressed, you are not really facing your loss.

Those around you might have difficult time seeing you so low. "Snap out of it' you will hear a lot. You will be offered anti-depressants and phone numbers of therapists.

Your priest will offer counseling. Your friends will offer numerous casseroles. Everyone wants you out of the blues.

At some point, you will start noticing that life goes on. The depression will slowly start to lift. The pain will remain, but with less intensity and with less hopelessness.

Sometimes the depression continues to deepen and you might refuse to fight the hopelessness. Thoughts of suicide start intruding. That is the time when help is necessary. People who suffer from deep clinical depression they cannot shake are not able to look for help. The help has to come to them. Family members and friends need to be on the lookout for the depression that keeps getting worse instead of better and look for professional help.

There is no rule how long should you allow depression to wash over your soul. Days, weeks, it depends on your personality, the enormity of your loss and the support you have from those that love you. Alone or together, you need to rejoin the life with all its pain and memories. Don't forget, it will get better in time.

5. Acceptance

Accepting your loss does not come in a moment of epiphany. It is a slow and painful process. It is the result of all the stages your grief went through. It is the new form your pain takes, the form that will be part of your new life.

Accepting your loss does not mean that you are through with it. It just means that you accept that death is part of life. You accept that you are starting with the new life. One enriched by the person who was part of your previous life. The life that you will build on the ashes on the previous one. The life that will celebrate the loved one you lost and not mourn.

There will be times months and even years after your loss when you will revert to one of the stages of grief, for a moment or two, or even longer. There will be painful reminders which will drag you back into the depths of your despair. But, they will be rare and you will be strong enough to deal with them.

Holidays will be for ever painful for you, because they will remind you how they looked like when you celebrated them with the person you lost. You can prepare for them and deal with them in your own way.

Understanding the Lithium Interaction With SSRIs and Your Health

Overview of Lithium SSRI

Over the last few years the Lithium SSRI combination has been accepted by the medical community for treatment of Bipolar Type II Depression, also called BD II and Type II Depression, but with reservations due to problems with SSRI's. BD II is one of the less severe forms of Bipolar Disorder. Symptoms are more likely to be anxiety or irritability than actual mania. BD II is, however, very capable of interfering with a person's ability to live a normal life.

Lithium is a mood stabilizing drug often used to treat mania and less frequently to treat depression. SSRIs are a class of anti-depressants that are, among other things, also used to treat depression and anxiety.

The most current research suggests that SSRIs, on their own, do little to help with MD II, and one study even compares them to sugar pills. Use of SSRIs by themselves, in this context, can even be dangerous. It can lead to increased manic episodes and in extreme cases suicide, especially when used over long periods. SSRIs can also cause the manic/depression cycle to accelerate.

The preferred treatment for MDII is Lithium or a similar mood stabilizing drug. It takes time for the medicine to work. A couple weeks is common. Then the dosing must be adjusted, possibly several times. With some trial and error it will usually work.

When it does not, in some cases, the addition of an SSRI will help. The SSRI supports what the Lithium is already doing by attacking the same problem from a slightly different direction.

Lithium does not negate the risks that come with the use of SSRIs alone. It does allow the SSRIs to be used in lower dosage, which minimizes the danger. Unfortunately, periodic treatment with SSRIs does not work. Giving SSRIs to a patient currently in a depressed state will not alleviate their immediate problem.

The answer generally recognized is to give the SSRI only when it is clear Lithium alone will not end a person's cycle of moods. When taken its use must be regular, but it is temporary. Once the patient's moods are stabilized the SSRI is discontinued.

Lithium and SSR's are both strong and dangerous drugs that should only be taken under supervision of a doctor. In addition to the problems already mentioned, each has powerful potential side effects of its own.

Some of the side effects of either Lithium or SSRIs may be more annoying than problematic. Others are serious and require immediate medical attention. Be sure to get, and study, a full list of side effects from your doctor.

Summary of Lithium SSRI

Marcus Aurelius and Acceptance

Dealing with the difficulties of life is what makes life difficult.

And for a great many of the world, life is difficult. They try so hard and work so hard, and yet are never able to find happiness. Because whenever they are at last feeling good about their situation or about their life, SOMETHING happens; some problem arises or some situation ends, or some condition changes. And all they loved and worked for in their life is different If not worse.

And no one likes different.

Different is scary. It's rarely prepared for and so infrequently expected. They just thought their life would continue as it is; that their relationship would last "forever" and their job was guaranteed. They thought their health was a certain and their success a given.

But that's not the case.

The world lives by change. And so the greatest cause of our collective depression is the inability to cope with this change. It's the inability or unwillingness to ACCEPT that things are different and that they must be so.

We fight it. We resist it. That resistance is depression; the idea that we can make it all better if only we do this, or that we can change it if only we can manage that. All because we refuse to accept change as reality, and instead cling to whatever past happiness we had, or future happiness we hope.

The Roman philosopher and Emperor Marcus Aurelius once said that we must accept all that comes to us, because what could we have needed more?

What he means is that everything happens as it should, and because it DID happen, then it was the RIGHT thing to happen. It is useless and depressive to think otherwise, to fight and struggle against the reality we refuse to see and the change we refuse to accept.

Acceptance is the key to life and to all that happens to us, may happen to us, or will inevitably happen to us. Break ups. Illness. Age. Death. We must all endure these trials, and if we're to endure them at all we must accept them. We must learn to live with them and move on, because the universe will move on, whether with us or without us.

Better to go with the flow of life than against it. Better to love your life now than to pine for the past. Better to take this challenge and all challenges and defeat them, rather than resist them.

Truly Inspirational Leaders Are Selfless

They Take On The Burden And Share The Credit

I wandered into the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara the other day, and decided to treat myself to a full tour. If you're ever in the area, and you are a fan of President Reagan (or of conservative American principles), I highly recommend a visit to the center. It's a glimpse into the kind of man Ronald Reagan was. Some of the exhibits feature Reagan in his own words - interviews he granted, addresses he gave. Others share the perspectives of people who knew the president personally, such as Secret Service agents and others who worked at the Ranch, and people who were Reagan's friends. What surprises you is how little ego Reagan had, especially considering he was a broadcaster, movie star, governor, and president.

A typical quote from a Reagan staffer was along these lines: "When things went wrong, the president would call us together and apologize, saying 'that was all my fault.' But when things went well, he always found someone else to give credit to. He had no ego." And you can see this in some of Reagan's self-deprecating humor. He once quipped that Thomas Jefferson said a president is not judged by his age, but by his deeds... "And ever since he told me that, I've stopped worrying about it." A typical quote from the president himself ran something like this: "Government does not create wealth. It only consumes wealth." He had a way of boiling things down to simple truths that people could understand.

When asked on "60 Minutes" in 1975 why he would consider running for president (and challenging a sitting president in his own party, Gerald Ford), Reagan said he just wanted to be of service. Sure, any politician would say that. But what strikes you is that he really seems to have meant it. The interviewer went on to challenge him, asking what great things the elderly Reagan could still accomplish. "The great leader is not the leader who does great things, but the leader who can get the people to do great things," he responded.

Reagan narrowly lost the Republican nomination to President Ford the next year, but five years later, as the 40th president, Reagan pushed through the greatest tax cut in U.S. history, and as the 1980s unfolded, America started to believe in itself again. People got away from buzz words that had dominated the short-lived Carter administration, such as "malaise," "stagflation," "misery index," and "energy crisis"... terms my kids probably never heard of (thanks to Reagan) but terms with which my generation was intimately familiar. Rather than sit around wondering where we stood on the "misery index," Americans decided they could start a business, get an education, stand up to evils like communism... do great things.

Someday (hopefully in the not-too-distant future) there will be a museum, or presidential library, or some place far-left zealots can go to remember the legacy of Barack Obama's presidency. Obama, who has had the audacity to liken himself to Ronald Reagan (though not lately), has governed in exactly the opposite way from the way Ronald Reagan ran the administration. When things go wrong, it's always someone else's fault - we all know that either the GOP minority in Congress, or his long-gone predecessor George W. Bush, are his favorite scapegoats. Obama wants big taxes and big government spending, claiming that this will somehow create jobs and make us all more prosperous - we all know he's undertaking the opposite of Reagan's actions, which actually did create jobs and prosperity (and Reagan inherited a much worse economy than did Obama).

And though the country doesn't want them, Obama and his Democrat friends in Congress have rammed through stimulus spending bills, bail-outs, government health care, financial over-regulation, government takeovers of industry, and all sorts of controls on daily American life. He governs as though he does not fundamentally believe Americans can do great things, and it is up to him to do them (even when most of us agree the things he's doing are not all that great).

Jimmy Carter governed from the left, and the country suffered enough to finally wake up and find the Reagan in its midst. Barack Obama makes Carter look like a right-winger... so maybe we can take hope in knowing that, somewhere out there, there's a truly great leader who can fix this mess by freeing us up to do great things again. I'll close with an update of one of my favorite Reagan quips, with apologies to the late Gipper: A Recession is when your neighbor loses his job... a Depression is when you lose yours... and a Recovery is when Barack Obama loses his.

Some Famous People With Schizophrenia

When we find out that a person suffers from schizophrenia, we get afraid for the person and ourselves. We know that schizophrenia is a mental disorder, but many of us are not sure what this disorder is all about. People, who suffer from schizophrenia, experience hallucinations and delusions, and do not have organized speech or thoughts. Along with the mental disorder, many schizophrenics also suffer from anxiety problems and depression. They are also known to be suicidal and because of this the life span of schizophrenics is not very long.

While schizophrenia can cause a lot of problems in a person's life, there have been famous personalities who have managed to somehow overcome the disorder and still carve a niche for themselves in their chosen occupation.

John Nash was a mathematician who was responsible for the differential game theory. While he was studying in college, he shows symptoms of being a schizophrenic. It was only later that a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was made. However, he did not let this come in his way. He went on pursuing his interests in math and was awarded the Noble Prize in math in 1994. He is also the proud recipient of Leroy P. Steel Prize and the John von Neumann Theory Prize. A movie entitled Beautiful Mind was made on his life. The movie clearly highlights his intelligence and his continuous struggle with the disorder.

Imagine being a surgeon and Oxford English Dictionary contributor, and yet having schizophrenia? The person in question was William Chester Minor. He was in the Union army and took part in the American Civil War. However, after the war ended, he was known to frequent prostitutes. Thereafter, his condition deteriorated and as result he was committed to a mental asylum. In an incident of paranoid delusion, he ended up shooting a man because he believed the man was trying to break into his room. However, Minor was found not guilty on account of insanity. Minor's condition kept going from bad to worse and ultimately he passed away in 1920.

Natural Cures for Depression Explained

In this short article I want to cover three questions that may be in your mind when you think about natural cures for depression:

1. Why is a natural cure a good choice?

2. What different cures are there?

3. Will they help you or not?

Are you depressed and looking for a cure? These days doctors automatically subscribe medication which may or may not work for you. Counselling may also help but again it may only be a short term solution as the problem causing the depression needs a cure not just talking about or dealing with. If counseling takes this into accont and aims to get at the central problems and causes fine but this is after a kind of natural cure in itself.

Medication carries with it lots of side effects but natural cures for depression do not.

What different kinds of natural cures are there available?

Food. Bananas, soy foods, turkey, low-fat dairy foods can help improve your mood by lifting the levels of seratonin in your brain. Omega 3 foods such as tuna and other fish, purslane, nuts and oils can reduce tiredness and stress. The fewer refined foods you eat the better, natural foods are healthy and will help lift your depression.

Herbs like St. John's Wort work wonders and can in a matter of days give you a natural lift. It's certainly worked for me!

Exercise is hugely effective and actually makes you happy. Fight the urge to be lazy and demotivated and push yourself to exercise.

Supplements. You can take B vitamins, Omega 3 oils and other substances to help.

Depression is a disorder that one way or another lives in your brain so it stands to reason that anything you can do to help your brain work better will help. How do you help your brain? Food we've already talked about but there's also the matter of resting the brain and protecting it from stress. Stress really comes from the brain's reaction to what is happening to you. It is related to your thinking. So relaxing your thinking and slowing down your thoughts can have a great benefit.

Meditation is fantastic. It relaxes you and takes you away from unrelenting negative thoughts and refreshes you.

Yoga can help combat stress and make you feel physically alive and well.

Sunshine gives you vitamin D and unleashes a peaceful, happy mood within you.

These are not the only natural cures for depression but are the ones that are most well-known because they actually work.

Learn to Know the Signs of Depression and Treatments For Depressed Women

Did you know that women are twice as likely to experience a period of major depression in their life than men? Depression may occur among women from all walks of life and of all ages. Depression may be one of the conditions that represent the biggest burden to women in the world.

What is the burden of major depression? This serious condition decreases a woman's social, mental and physical ability to function in the environment in which she lives. This is bad since women perform various critical functions in the social, family and business world.

Women developing depression disorder do not always exhibit the same symptoms. Here are a few signs of depression to give you a general idea:

* Physical symptoms such as unexplained pains, headaches or digestive problems
* Restlessness and irritability
* Reoccurring feelings of sadness, guilt and worthlessness
* Negative thoughts and pessimistic attitudes
* Loss of appetite or eating too much
* Constant fatigue
* Concentration problems
* Sleeping too much or too little (sleep disorders)
* Suicidal thoughts or a suicide attempt

Antidepressant medication is a common way to treat woman suffering from depression. Many women may find relief although it is estimated that almost a third do not respond well to treatment with antidepressant medication. They may find a solution to their problems in psychotherapy. Clinical trials has found that the following types of psychotherapy are effective in treating depressed women:

* Interpersonal therapies
* Cognitive behavioral therapy
* Marital and family counseling

Depressed women often have to cope with negative thoughts and thinking styles. Cognitive behavioral therapy may help them to overcome this problem. Other popular natural remedies for depression may include the following:

* Herbs such as St. John's Wort
* Exercise
* Meditation and relaxation
* Acupuncture

I have also read about a study that suggested that depressed women may have up to 30% more sex than women who do not suffer from depression. A possible reason for this may be that having sex helps them to feel more loved and secure. However, sex should not be seen as a possible treatment for depression. Keep in mind that a decline in sexual desire and activity may also occur in some women.

Women are unique entities and there are biological, hormonal and social factors that may explain the higher incidence of depressive disorders amongst this group. Women are particular susceptible to depression in the weeks after childbirth due to physical and hormonal changes. Having to care for a helpless baby may also add more stress to an already stressed body and mind. It is no wonder that certain women develop postpartum depression.

How to Prevent and Treat Depression Naturally

Depression is a condition that affects millions of people, and can be quite debilitating. Everyone has episodes of sadness and feeling down from time to time, but depression goes beyond this. Those who have prolonged episodes of hopelessness, feeling alone, low self-esteem or lack of interest may be suffering from clinical depression, which must be treated. Here are a few ways to treat - or prevent - depression.

What Causes Depression?

There are a few theories about what exactly causes one to become depressed. The main theory suggests that there is an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the individual, such as epinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric. Many medications or anti-depressants out there have been formulated to correct this imbalance.

Other theories state that depression is a direct symptom of a devastating event, such as the loss of a loved one, serious financial distress, or divorce. This aggression is then turned inward by the person, causing them to become depressed. Other theories even suggest that depression can be caused by a pattern of helplessness as a learned behaviour, or from lowered/elevated activity in certain parts of the brain.

Natural Ways to Treat and Prevent Depression

Besides pharmaceutical medications, there are a few things that you can do naturally to lessen depression. They may work for some, and may not work for others. They are worth giving a try.

Increase Omega-3 Consumption
Omega-3's are an essential component of the nerve cells and brain's membranes. These can increase brain and nerve function by ensuring that neurotransmitters are functioning properly. The best source of omega-3's are from fish, in particular wild deep-water fish like salmon and cod. They can also be found in abundance in flax seeds and walnuts.

Decrease Your Refined Sugar and Simple Carbohydrate Intake
Refined sugar has many negative effects on the body - including on the brain. Simple sugars elevate the blood sugar levels quickly, which then fall rapidly soon after. This has many negative effects, such as lethargy, irritability, anxiety and depression. Limiting your intake of these substances can help alleviate feelings of depression.

Increase Exercise
Exercise has been known to stimulate the release of natural endorphins, which naturally affects your mood. Since exercise also keeps your body in shape, it can also have an indirect affect on your mood when you're healthy and fit.

Take Supplements and Eat Vegetables
Many vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals, which many depressed people are lacking. Vitamins such as B6, B12, folic acid and iron have positive effects on neurotransmitters in the body. If you find it difficult to get these nutrients from food, then take supplements to ensure you are getting enough of these vitamins.

Lower Your Consumption of Alcohol
Alcohol is nothing more than a toxin for your body. It acts as a brain depressant, which increases cortisol in your body. Lowering your alcohol consumption can have a positive effect on your mood in the long run.

There are many ways to help treat and prevent depression. Medications and therapy are all very helpful and useful in this department. You can also help to combat the effects of depression with simple dietary and exercise changes as well. In combination with other types of therapy and treatment, depression can be beat.

Love Test - What's the Real Cause and Cure of a Man's Mid-Life Crisis?

A middle-age man often blames his wife for his own unhappiness and negative feelings. He may look outside the marriage to feel young again. His new love usually doesn't make him happy. This common scenario was described by Dr. Daniel Amen, a world-renowned psychiatrist, best-selling author and TV producer.

Who or what is the real culprit behind a man's mid-life crisis?

Usually it is not his wife. Dr. Amen says the significant cause of mid-life crises and divorce is low testosterone levels, which decline with age and bring on feelings of negativity.

Likewise, low testosterone levels have been associated with low libido, depression, memory problems. Dr. Amen suggests these are symptoms of male menopause, which we are only beginning to talk about. Yet it is a real issue that needs to be treated for many men.

Is there a cure for male-menopause and a man's mid-life crisis?

In Dr. Amen's Brain Health Report, he suggests that taking testosterone under a Doctor's supervision can make a big difference for a man's manhood, memory, mood and marriage.

Dr. Amen warns against taking anti-depressants as a one-size fits all treatment for depression because it doesn't work and often comes with dangerous side effects. Along with testosterone supplementation to relieve depression, he also recommends talk therapy and trying natural therapies like SAMe and St. John's wort, exercise, correcting negative thinking patterns and supplementation with fish oil.

How does this health news affect women?

A similar program can be used by mid-life women under supervision by a health practitioner to boost her libido, improve mood and relieve menopause symptoms.

Since hormones are heavily involved in making us who we are, these hormonal shifts often cause seismic problems in relationships. Dr. Amen says that carefully testing and treating hormonal issues for men and women is critical to brain health and the health of your relationships.

I suggest you use these smart health tips to bullet-proof your relationship against a mid-life crisis that often leads to break ups and divorce court.

Sad Poems

Sad poetry are often written by people. The cause for a writer to write sad poetry can be because of depression, the death of someone or the feelings of anger. A lot of times people like to read sad poems because they can relate to it.

When a person is feeling depressed they may turn to writing sad poetry. Their depression can come from a number of things such as loneliness, failure or desires. Poems about loneliness are usually based on the writer having few to no friends. Because so many poets in the world deal with loneliness this type of poem is often written. When writers fail in something such as a test, a game or fail to impression somebody it can cause them to write sad poetry. When most people write a sad poem about failure they describe what the failure was about which can help someone who reads the poem identify why the writer wrote the sad poem. When people want something such as a new car but cannot afford to buy one it can lead to them writing a sad poem because of their desires.

People write poems about the death of a family member or somebody they knew a lot. When it comes to these types of poems they may be about the poet's grandmother or grandmother. Even though it is sad poetry a lot of times in the poem will be good things that the writer has remembered about their family member. So some sad poems can be both sad and happy. When poets lose someone that they knew such as a friend it can cause them to write sad poetry. These types of poems may both describe the person and how they died. Because most people lose friends to death in their life time a poem such as this can be easy for the readers to relate to.

When people get angry about something it can cause them to write sad poetry. The cause could be something simple or something major. Many times when this is the reason behind them writing a poem the poem may not even be about what got them sad but about something completely different. People get angry all the time For many different reasons. A small thing such as a disagreement in opinions with another person can lead a poet to writing a sad poem based on those angry feelings. When a person becomes angry over something that is major in their life such as a relationship break up it can easily cause them to write poem describing the break up.

Sad poetry can be found all over the world. Such as in cards, on pictures, and books. Sad poems can also be found on the internet. Poets may write sad poetry online so that it can be read by others and so that they can receive feedback in many cases. Even though it may not be the most searched for poetry it is one of the most commonly written form of poetry.

Unusual Signs of Depression

Apart from the normal range of depression symptoms there are some that can be experienced in rare cases.

These are:

- Forgetfulness. This is something your friends or loved ones will be able to pick up really easy. Missed appointments, broken promises, repeating of the same stories, not remembering what you've said or done.

- Extreme irritability. Sudden rage, inadequate anger in response to some innocent actions or words. Although you might be recommended to go through anger management program, it's worth checking if the cause of your inadequate responses lies in depression disorder.

- Physical pain. Sometimes brain feels overloaded with too much mental pain and anxiety and transfers it into physical pain, stomach ache, and recurring headaches. All this often puzzles doctors as they can not find any physical explanation for your discomfort.

- Psychosis. In rare cases you can get something which is called psychotic episode where you can hear voices and suffer from hallucinations. Unfortunately doctors often mix it up with schizophrenia and put you on anti-psychotic medications rather than on antidepressants. As a result they treat the psychosis but not the depression itself which caused it.Obviously, it goes without saying that a diagnosis of depression is better for your state of mind and social acceptance than schizophrenia, so better check twice before agreeing with a diagnosis from A Beautiful Mind.

On the other hand these signs of depression can indicate an onset of a major physical illness, especially if you experience confusion, sleep all day and feel very weak. There are some neurological problems, multiple sclerosis, liver and pancreas disease, cardiovascular illnesses, Parkinson's disease which can also trigger depression.

I would recommend you to document all your symptoms daily in a journal, and when you go to your doctor, be honest with them and tell them exactly how you feel. If you are too anxious and afraid, bring your partner with you and let them help you with additional explanations to make sure you didn't miss anything.

Don't be afraid to seek a second opinion if you disagree with the diagnosis. Listen to your body and you mind which tell you that something wrong, doctors are not gods (although they do have that attitude sometimes), they can make mistakes.

Most of all, please share your experience with us!

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe and Thinking Well of Yourself

There are a lot of bad things that could happen to us in our lifetimes. An infinite number of things even. More than we could ever imagine, and more than we would ever care to recognize.

We spend a great deal of our lives worrying and fearing these things - of what today may bring; of what new problem will burden us or obstacle will obstruct us.

But none of these things are so ruinous to our lives really. Whether hurt, or lost, or left, we have the same opportunity to live happily and confidently. Only one problem could truly prevent it. Only one evil could ever prevent us from being our best selves.

Write and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said that no worse thing could happen to someone than he should begin to think less of himself.

It's so true.

What worse COULD happen? What other fate can so easily affect and ruin so totally every aspect of our lives? What else could TRULY kill our happiness?

Nothing. Nothing like thinking we're nothing.

Our self esteem is the only part of ourselves that protects us from the world around us. It is all that saves us from the evils of the world and the problems of the world - of people who leave, of health that's fleeting, of a world so challenging.

Between the problems life presents you and the solutions you are capable of lies your self esteem. It is the difference between the worst problem and the greatest solutions. It is the anchor in an otherwise treacherous sea. It is all that holds you together.

Without it, what remains? What is possible? What are you but sad and sorry and weak?

There is nothing worse, then, than that someone should think ill of themself; that they should be unconvinced of their power or ability, of their potential and worth, of what they can do in life, and can overcome in life. No problem equals this, and yet so many choose this problem. They allow the withering of their self esteem through the many other problems which they encounter, rather than strengthen it in the face of these problems.

They spend their life worried of these other problems, ignorant or oblivious to their greatest problem of all - the one that slowly grows in their self and slowly decays their self.

But there is nothing worse than that someone thinks ill of themself. All else is made worse by it. All else is ruined by it.

Health Benefits of Melatonin Supplements

Unknown to many, the health benefits of melatonin are more than just a good night's sleep. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain. The pineal gland is a small, light sensitive gland in the brain that produces melatonin only during darkness. This brain secretion is responsible for setting and regulating the timing of your body's circadian rhythm, such as waking up and sleeping. Melatonin supplements is generally used as a sleep aid or to manage insomnia, but research suggests that there's more to melatonin than being a sleep inducer. It has been known that low levels of melatonin have been associated with depression, fibromyalgia, insomnia and other conditions. With this, let me share to you some of the other health benefits of melatonin supplements.

1. It can help treat mild depression. A number of researches suggest that taking melatonin supplements can help treat mild depression, including depression that is related to menopause as well as pre menopause. Disruption of the body's normal circadian rhythm can worsen depression so regulating the melatonin levels in the brain can help manage and even treat depression. However, there are also a number of research that shows that it can aggravate depression symptoms in some people, so it's really a case to case basis.

2. It can help reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases such as cancer. Melatonin is a potent antioxidant, which means it can stimulate the body's immune system to increase its ability to fight chronic diseases and infections. It also has good anti aging effects on the skin too.

3. It can help relieve pain associated with cluster or "stabbing" headaches. Some reports suggest that melatonin might be an effective treatment for frequent stabbing headaches, which could make it an good alternative to indomethacin because it has fewer adverse side effects.

4. It can help decrease symptoms in people who are in the process of quitting smoking. It has been known that regular intake of melatonin supplements right after quitting smoking can help reduce anxiety, restlessness, irritability and cigarette craving.

5. It can help overcome jet lags quickly. Melatonin can help improve certain symptoms of jet lag such as alertness and movement coordination. It can also help improve other jet lag symptoms such as sleepiness during the daytime and lethargy. Contrary to popular belief, melatonin is not effective in shortening the time it takes for people with jet lag to fall asleep.

The Investigation Into the Life Insurance Business

The marked depreciation of urban real estate, farm lands, and bond values called for the rearrangement of the investment portfolio of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

President Ecker, with his long and varied experience in this field, addressed himself to the solution of this problem, made particularly difficult by the continued decline in opportunities for the profitable investment of insurance funds. Money was accumulating in the treasury because it was almost impossible to find proper investment channels.

Under these conditions and with a consciousness of civic responsibility, Mr. Ecker turned his attention to the field of moderate rental housing. At the age of 70 he launched a building program unprecedented in social character and magnitude, to provide homes for persons of medium income in New York City.

He located a large tract in The Bronx, guided the planning of adequate buildings and services, and saw step by step the fulfillment of his hopes in the completion of a model community, Parkchester. By the early 1920's, 36,000 people lived there, a splendid contribution to the moderate priced housing program of the city and the Nation.

Similar housing developments were undertaken under Mr. Ecker's direction both in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and later in Alexandria, Va. Such building programs, without precedent in the United States for a private company, were recognized by national and private agencies as an important contribution to the housing problem in the period of war emergency.

At the same time, they served as an excellent investment field for the company. During the period of financial depression there were criticisms of every business; and the business of life insurance, homeowner's insurance, and even automobile insurance in general and the Metropolitan specifically were not exempt.

Notwithstanding the splendid record of the major companies, various movements for investigating the life insurance business and health insurance providers were initiated in Washington. In 1938 the Congress of the United States responded to a message from President Roosevelt and included among the subjects to be investigated by the Temporary National Economic Committee certain investment phases of the business of life insurance.

The investigation was assigned to the newly created Securities and Exchange Commission. Those responsible for gathering evidence to submit to the T.N.E.C. lost no opportunity to seek out material for criticism in the business and directed much of their attention to the Metropolitan. The company took a firm stand in behalf of its policyholders and presented voluminous documentary evidence to show that it had conducted its many activities in the public interest, and that its size had not involved any abuse of economic; that its position as investor of trustee funds as prescribed by Statute precluded such power.

Nor had its size interfered with its effectiveness as a social organization. In fact, the company had increased in initiative and in service as it had grown. After the conclusion of the hearings, the comment of the Chairman of the T.N.E.C. was that the life insurance business had come through with flying colors.

The failure of the effort to find serious fault with the administration of life insurance in general is best evidenced by the character of the recommendations which were made by the Temporary National Economic Committee. These, for the most part, had to do with a number of suggestions as to modifications in the practice of State supervision. The impression made on the public by these hearings is to be measured by the fact that, during their progress and after their close, the amount of new insurance written by the companies and the lapse rate were exceedingly satisfactory.

This was particularly marked in the case of the Metropolitan, which in 1941 reached the total of more than $25,000,000,000 of insurance in force, issued more business in both the Ordinary and Industrial Departments than in several years past, and achieved in both departments the lowest lapse rates on record.

But if the insurance companies came through this Federal and other investigations unscathed, it must not be supposed that this business has been without its trials and tribulations. No human institution has ever sprung into perfection, like Athena from the head of Zeus; and the life insurance business has had its growing pains.

Early last century, life insurance companies and private health insurance, including the Metropolitan, were launched as purely competitive business ventures with the profit motive well in the foreground, entirely in keeping with the aggressive, individualistic spirit of the times. Naturally, contracts at the beginning were not as liberal as they are today. Agents frequently were poorly trained and did not fully measure up to the responsibility of their calling. As a result, insurance was sometimes written in amounts disproportionate to the family income, haphazardly distributed, causing high lapse rates and excessive expense and loss.

How to Cope With Depression After a Break Up With Your Partner

When the beautiful day ends, what follows is a dark night; when a love relationship breaks up, what follows is a long period of brooding, frustration and depression. If you have recently gone through this terrible experience of a break up, you must be upset, feeling an acute sense of loss and possibly spiraling into a period of acute depression. At a time when you should be concentrating on taking steps to revive the relationship or building up a new one, this depression can be devastating indeed. You need some constructive suggestions about how to steer clear of this break up depression.

First of all, you must be able to recognize the symptoms of this break up depression so that you know when they are serious enough to require professional help. Bio-chemically, depression occurs as a result of some chemical imbalances in the brain which may be brought about by several causes. A sudden, traumatic event is one of the most potent ones and can have very serious consequences for you.

Symptoms of break up depression are - an ever present fatigue, irritability over trifles, decreased appetite, a lowered interest in the things that pleased you or activities you enjoyed, and sleep disturbances. You are constantly haunted by an uneasy feeling that things will not change now, they will not be any better. These feelings are not uncommon in the normal course of life; most people experience these to, a greater or lesser extent, at some point in their life and recover without any professional help. However, if they are very strong, have begun to interfere with your normal life, or producing thoughts of taking some drastic step like harming yourself, then you do require professional help.

It is somewhat difficult for a person affected by break up depression to tell the symptoms of depression from the normal feelings of frustration and loss that usually accompany a break up. So ask your friends whether they think you have drastically changed from your normal self. Conversely, if some of your friend has recently broken up, see whether he or she sees to be completely different from what they used to be. If yes, it is certainly time to seek professional help.

Professional help may include counselling as well as medication. If you are put on medication, do not feel bad about it. It is as much normal to take anti- depressant or other medication for mental illnesses as for physical ones, and depression is nothing but a mental illness. In fact, you will be surprised if you get to know how many of your friends and acquaintances have taken anti-depressants at some or the other point in their life.

In the same way, do not feel bad about seeking help and support from your friends and people close to you in order to get through these difficult times. After all we deal with every other crisis in our life on the strength of our loved ones' support; so why not this?

At the same time take some other steps that would help you come out of it faster. If older pastimes no longer seem fun, try some new ones. Did you fancy joining some hobby class or a club earlier? Well, go ahead now. Find excuses to be out of the house with your fiends and things that require you to focus your mind on. Work your way out of depression in a health club on the treadmill, or doing any other exercise you prefer. Besides relieving stress, exercise will improve your health and appearance and knowing that you are now fitter and more beautiful than you were when you were in that ill-fated relationship, can work wonders with your mood.

So, don't confine yourself to your house brooding in despair if you have broken up recently; get professional help, seek the assistance of friends and loved ones, find new interests and activities and work to rejuvenate your health and shape up your figure. You will find after a few days that you are again fresh and vibrating with life.

My Experience With Clinical Depression and the Positive Side of It!

I have experienced depression twice in my life. I won't lie, it is the worst feeling and pain that I have ever experienced. However, there is a bright side about that experience that even makes it worth going through.

Every time I have overcome depression I have felt stronger and undefeatable. I have felt like embracing life like never before, it has made me value the little things that bring me joy and cherish every second of my existence.

Depression can come as a blessing to us, if we pay attention to the lesson we need to learn from it. Our body is wise and will tell us when we are doing something wrong. In my case the cause of my depression was the emotional baggage and pain that I carried with myself, without expressing it, without allowing myself to feel what my body and spirit needed to feel, It wasn't until I uncovered my core beliefs that were instilled in my childhood, worked with the emotions stored in my body that were causing pain and unhappiness, slowly released them and consciously changed my compensatory behaviors, when I started feeling free, truly love myself and improve the quality of my life and relationships with myself and others.

My second experience with depression has been a lot shorter and milder than the first one, despite the fact that I am by myself, away from home and family, and as I go through my recovery I am starting to feel so much more alive and fulfilled that I want to do more and be more every day. I don't think I will experience depression again, but although it is painful I wouldn't be scared if I had to go through it again, because I know three things for sure: First, I know I can get over it, and second I will come out an even better and stronger person than I am now. Third, life will seem a lot more enjoyable and worth living.

Clinical depression is very different from sadness; clinical depression normally requires the advice and guidance from a professional, appropriate medication can help for faster recovery, in addition to other things we can do to help ourselves and actively participate in our process of recovery. Accumulated stress and emotional pain are the cause of many types of illnesses, such as depression. Medication helps us in balancing proper amount of chemicals in our brain such as serotonin, but ultimately the long term recovery is in our hands, it is necessary to work on the core of the problem, the real cause of our physical discomfort. Consciously observe our compensatory behaviors and change them until the emotional pain leaves our body.

Mind, body and spirit are interconnected and emotional energy in our body will eventually turn into matter, and will manifest physically. There are many techniques that I have learnt in order to learn to live with our emotions, flow with them and use them to our advantage, instead of escaping from them and fear facing them.

Alzheimer's Disease: Differentiating Dementia From Normal Memory Loss

As we age we are susceptible to increasing illness and eventually death. Perhaps the most feared illness is descending into Alzheimers's disease. By the age of 85 it is estimated that half of all Americans would have evidence of this condition. Fears have increased as news of the disorder spreads. The death of Ronald Reagan with Alzheimer's Disease emphasized our vulnerability and helped bring the disorder into greater public view.

Cliff, a spry 67 year-old man, was referred to me to help him overcome a belief that he was developing a rapid and early onset of Alzheimer's disease. He first noticed his condition about six months ago and it had progressed to its current more "advanced" stage. He had become depressed as he perceived that his memory was rapidly declining despite psychological tests and a neurological clinical evaluation that said he was normal for his age. He had become obsessed with the fear of his descent into the Alzheimer abyss, as he put it. "My memory is so bad, I know that it is the beginning of Alzheimer's, no matter what anyone has told me to the contrary."

He was afraid that losing his memory would cause him to lose control of his life. He worried about his declining memory's impact on his day's activities, the effect on his family, especially his wife and his fear of having a shortened life span. He gave me many examples of things he forgets to do, how he continued to misplace objects and forget appointments. "No matter what tricks I use I always forget where I put my keys."

I performed a few clinical tests that clarified that his memory was fully intact, which I immediately told Cliff. Such tests are simple to perform as illustrated:

• I asked Cliff to elaborate on something I had told him ten minutes earlier to determine if he remembered the subject and our previous discussion.

• I asked him to see if my memory was intact by seeing if I could repeat five to seven digits that he would give me. I deliberately made one mistake to see if he caught it. It would immediately be apparent if he knew my error since he would have had to also recall the numbers.

• I reversed the procedure and asked him to repeat a different series of numbers that I gave him.

• I gave him a series of nouns and told him to remember them since I would ask him to recall them later.

Advanced testing:

If anxiety interfered with the testing and if further reassurance was needed that he was not becoming senile, I performed an additional test to show him the intactness of his memory.

I gave Cliff a list of commonly known numbers, such as Social Security, license plate, telephone number, driver's license, telephone number of best friend, business telephone, etc and asked him to select one so I could check his memory of the numbers backwards. That tested both his recall of the list and also his selection of a memorized number that he should know perfectly. Whatever he picked out I knew his memory had to be fairly intact, otherwise he would not have remembered the list.

Also, repeating a well-known number backwards is normally not difficult, but it does require an intact memory. I again reassured him that my objective appraisal indicated that his memory was normal.

If the testing indicated a real possibility of mental decline there would have been a need of further testing of brain function, either performed by a neurologist or geriatric specialist.

You can use these tests to evaluate your own fears of losing your memory. Although Alzheimer's disease becomes fairly common when we reach our eighties many people live into their nineties and beyond with intact brain functions. Your objective is to live as well as possible based on your actual mental state.

A Review of Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment

Treatment of any kind of psychological disorder is a hard issue. It comprises many things and it should be done by highly professional people. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is acute mental suffering, which includes a lot of severe psychotic attacks. Also known as bipolar- disorder, BPD mostly consists of deficieny in cognitive sphere and of emotional overreacting.

BPD harms the emotional sphere of human psyche, making it vulnerable and prone to unstableness. Terms such as emotional imbalance or inappropriateness are often used to illustrate the outcome of bipolar disorder. Patients suffering from emotional incompetence, are often prone to controversial emotional responses: their behavior varies depending on the specific mood and emotion, which has captured them. Bipolar disorder patients have problems in controlling their emotions: one day they can act as extremely aggressive, the other can be subdued and meek.

Lack of emotional control is caused by cognitive incompetence: bipolar disorder affects the cognitive sphere, so that patients cannot control their behavior, and have vague ideas about what is proper or not. They more often depend on their mood swings and feelings to tell them how to act. This can be very dangerous, especially with integrating these people in society. This disease has several nuances, there are similarities with manic-depression disorder, but any professional can distinguish between the both.

There are two ways to treat borderline disorder: and the first one is psychotherapy. The therapy should be done by a professional, who acts as a consciousness of the patient. Another way to cure this disorder, is by using drugs. But sole medication cannot make amends in the whole cognitive sphere, so drugs are more often combined with therapy to acquire greater results. People suffering from BPD are often prescribed a great quantity of drugs, which can be really depressing.

A therapist would be helpful in these situations: someone to console the patient and assure him or her of the positive outcome of the process. The medication treatment requires taking anti-psychotics, neuroleptics, and/or anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medicines. There are a lot of drugs which can be easily found and proved working.

Therapy process must be done so that a patient is obstructed from doing harmful things. A suicidal BPD requires urgent therapy from a highly competent professional. An external aggressive patient needs help from a strict therapist, one who is not lenient with all the patient's anti-social activities.

The symptoms of bipolar disorder are really very tough, and a competent help is required at any level. Patients should regularly take their pills, and should participate in the most suitable form of therapy. The cognitive sphere is what is mainly affected with these people, so that they should be looked upon very strictly in order to prevent negative reactions. The BPD patients are often unpredictable: one cannot tell what their reaction will be. To avoid anyone being hurt, they should be carefully scrutinised.

Meditation, Using Brainwave Entrainment, Is Good For Memory Loss

When we think of stress, most of the time, we think of the physical effects it produces, like tension in the neck, back and shoulders, a rapid heartbeat, a tight throat, cold sweaty hands and feet, clenched fists, ulcers, high blood pressure, and a deep furrow between the eyebrows.

However, it's our emotional response to stress that can be positively impacted by using meditation, which in turn, positively affects, diminishes or eliminates the physical effects of stress.

Our conscious perceptions cause stress and thereby produce emotional problems. Changing our conscious perceptions can change the patterns of emotional responses and behaviours we have hard-wired into our subconscious mind.

In a study from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, it was determined that Kundalini meditation-mantra based chanting, had a positive impact on the emotional response to stress, fatigue and anxiety in adults with memory impairment or loss.

After 12 minutes of meditation a day, for eight consecutive weeks, the subjects with mild age-associated memory impairment to mild impairment from Alzheimer's disease, showed significant increases in cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal, superior frontal, and superior parietal cortices as well as huge improvements in cognitive function.

Cognitive function refers to a person's ability to process thoughts like memory, the ability to learn new information, speech and reading comprehension and in a diseased or impaired mind, will be marked my memory loss, inability to process thoughts or communication, and loss of reading and speaking ability.

When one experiences memory loss, whether age related or disease related, cognitive impairment is accompanied by depression, anxiety, and changes in mood.

Meditation has been proven to improve symptoms of anxiety, fatigue, depression, anger and confusion, and mood.

A specific brainwave frequency, in alpha, has been reported to stimulate the amygdala, an area of the brain responsible for the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events; caudate, an area that is involved with learning and memory; prefrontal cortex associated with depression; interior frontal lobe, parietal region, and cingulated cortex correlated with feelings of tension.

Meditation significantly improves the symptoms of confusion, depression, and memory loss.

Meditation is a practice that may take years to master, but with the accompaniment of brainwave entrainment, can be used faster and in more efficient way, to improve the emotional response to stress, in people with memory impairment.

Brainwave entrainment is a clinically proven technology that uses audio and/or visual pulses to stimulate the brain to follow a specific pattern, with the intention of changing its state of consciousness.

Meditation, along with brainwave entrainment, can increase blood flow to areas of the brain necessary for mood and emotional response, removing anxiety for those with memory loss.

The brain can be changed, for the better.

Brainwave entrainment speeds up the benefits of meditation, so that memory loss symptoms of depression and anxiety, can be diminished or eliminated more quickly.

Causes of Depression Disorder

Medical scientists have contributed a lot to our understanding of depression disorder but no one has still found out the mechanism which makes the brain unstable and cause the individual to become depressed. Previously, specialists thought that the cause of depression was the troubling thoughts that occupy the minds of people but recently, it is discovered that there are three main factors that make a person depress. These factors can be inherited, biological or environmental.

BY INHERITANCE:

Many researchers have found out that depression can also be caused by genetic factors. If both of your parents or other relatives have a vulnerability to depression disorder, then you are also likely to have it. In identical twins, if one person is suffering from depression then there are seventy percent chances that his or her twin will also be facing the same issue. Besides that, parents who adopt children can also face depression problems in their adopted child.

BIOLOGICAL CAUSE:

Depression can also be caused by chemical imbalance in the brain of the person. This imbalance can cause the level of hormones to increase and decrease causing symptoms of depression to show. Our brain is the most complex part of our body; there are certain types of chemicals in our brain, which circulate through neurotransmitters. Our body is dependent on four types of neurotransmitters, neropinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine. Depression is caused by implication of serotonin and neropinephrine. Serotonin is linked with our sleeping habits and lack of serotonin causes the person sleeping problems, irritability, and fear. Similarly deficiency in neropinephrine cause people to get sick, lose their focus and fatigue.

EMOTIONAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSE:

This cause plays the main role in depressing the people. Many times, people experience emotional problems in their lives, which change their emotional and physical reactions. People keep thinking about these problems and damage their brain, which in result adrenaline or other stress hormones. Emotional problems include; family problems, unstable personal life, financial crisis, abuse, death of a loved one etc. This increases the burden on the mind, which then starts to work abnormally causing anxiety, headaches, and sleeplessness. This abnormality of the brain also affects other parts of the body like heart and liver.

It is necessary to consult with a doctor when one experiences the symptoms of depression, so that they can help to cure it before it gets exacerbate. In worse cases, depression can also lead patients to harm others or themselves and can even result in suicide attempts.

What I've Learned About ME, CFS and Fibromyalgia

The very first thing I learned when I became sick two years ago, was, that making any sense of ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - the new name for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) or Fibromyalgia is extremely complicated. I quickly discovered that these were unlike any diseases I knew. There didn't seem to be any consensus in the medical community regarding causes or treatments for them and there wasn't a blood test or any test for that matter, to positively prove their existence. I came to realize that the diseases were phantom-like and existed to my doctors and family purely through my descriptions. I suddenly felt desperate to prove that the pain and extreme fatigue I was feeling was real and not a figment of my imagination or an exaggeration of a milder condition.

To complicate matters even further, it seems, that like snowflakes, no two patients are alike. Symptomology, ranges in severity, from, for example, mild pain in the joints to an inability to get out of bed or remember how to count to ten. The symptoms are so wide-ranging that they seem to have nothing in common. Some that have been associated with ME/CFS and/or Fybromyalgia are: weakness in the joints and muscles, fever, overwhelming fatigue, need for excessive amounts of sleep, body aches, joint and muscle pain, sore throat, shortness of breath, chest pains, heart arrhythmias, sleep disturbances, insomnia, eye pain, profuse sweating, flu-like symptoms, skin rashes, headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, cognitive impairment, painful trigger points (Fybromyalgia only), hoarse voice, depression, anxiety and more I'm sure. Not every patient has all of these symptoms, of course, and may only have two or three. The two or three symptoms one person has though, may become debilitating. Others are diagnosed quickly, find relief with one of the treatments that are currently available and go on to live fairly normal lives.

There are currently very few, if any, clinical tests that definitively prove the existence of either of these diseases. When symptoms are reported, a doctor will usually run a battery of blood tests to rule out illnesses like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Sjogrens Syndrome, Lyme Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and others that are found in the blood. When those results come back negative, things really start to get frustrating and confusing. A General Practitioner may refer the patient to a Rheumatologist at this point if they don't have enough experience treating ME or Fibromyalgia. If the person is like me, they begin researching the subject on the internet and read dozens of articles, becoming even more confused. I read articles about causes and treatments for ME and Fibromyalgia that included theories about Gulf War Illness, Delayed Pattern Food Allergy, HHV-6 virus, XMRV virus and B Cell depletion to name a few. Many of these ideas are new and clinical trials are ongoing. As a result, most doctors, even Rhumatologists sometimes, aren't aware of the newest research.

I have learned that sufferers of ME and Fibromyalgia really must keep current on the outcomes of clinical trials and research in this field. Sometimes the best sources of information are other ME and Fibromaylgia patients who have formed a strong alliance and are passionately spreading awareness about the seriousness of these diseases.

Most doctors now acknowledge that ME and Fibromyalgia are legitimate diseases and no longer write them off as hypochondria or depression, but convincing friends and family is another subject. Many people suffer with these illnesses and have little or no support from their spouse or family. They are in pain and feel alone and unloved. Until causes and effective treatments for ME and Fibromyalgia are discovered, this may, unfortunately, be the fate for many people.

Is Depression Being Mistaken For Old Age?

Depression disproportionately affects the elderly. Unfortunately many times the signs of depression can be confused with signs of aging. In order to properly diagnose and treat depression in the elderly, individuals, their care takers and health care providers need to be vigilant in looking for the signs and symptoms. Depression in the elderly can be debilitating and effect other areas of health. Determining if depression is involved is an important part of the health screening process.

Warning Signs of Depression

When dealing with the elderly and depression, some detective work is often needed. It is important that the elderly and their caretakers know the signs and symptoms of depression. As the elderly tend to have a lot of confounding factors coming into play at the same time which affect their health, symptoms of depression are easily masked as signs of aging. Symptoms of depression vary from person to person.
Some common signs are:

o Tiredness and lack of energy
o Difficulty focusing, remembering and staying on task
o Irritability
o Feelings of guilt, emptiness or helplessness
o Sleeping too much or insomnia
o Eating more or less than normal
o Loss of interest in activities that were enjoyed before
o Crying for long periods of time
o Thoughts of suicide

While these are only a few of the possible symptoms, one can readily see how depression can easily be mistaken for signs of aging, precisely because these symptoms are so prevalent among the elderly. Mental and physical sickness and "old age" are often considered to be one in the same. According to the Rotterdam Scan Study, people with an early onset of depression had an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease. The study also found that the depression symptoms did not have to be obvious to run this risk. This study highlights the fact that early detection and treatment of depression in the older population is vital in the fight to lower the risk of Alzheimer Disease. Much more research is being done to investigate the link between the two. It is clear however, that the two are linked.

What You Can Do to Improve Quality of Life

One thing is certain: the earlier depression is diagnosed and treated, the greater the chance a person will recover and regain a healthy lifestyle. There are many treatments available for depression. Once diagnosed a referral should be made to a geriatric psychiatrist. This is a specialist who is trained to treat depression in the older population. The treatment can vary from things as simple as talk therapy, diet changes and exercise to medication. A combination of all these methods is often used.

It should be understood that the elderly deal with problems that younger generations do not. They are often dealing with deaths of loved ones, illness and retirement. They may suffer financial burdens, not to mention a sense of loss of control over their lives. These may be issues they have never dealt with previously and will need to learn new methods to deal with them emotionally.

Diet is an important factor in dealing with depression in the elderly. Older people may not be eating like they should. They may be living alone or on a limited income. Their diets should be carefully analyzed. While there is no one food that will "cure" depression, as the saying goes, we are what we eat, and food does often affect how we feel. Plenty of whole fresh fruits and vegetables are essential. These will provide essential vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants. Carbohydrates in small amounts can have a calming effect. Whole grains are especially important for heart and digestive issues. Good sources of protein, especially those with Omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish and legumes, are recommended.

Exercise is an excellent way to make anyone feel better. During exercise, the brain releases a neurotransmitter called serotonin as well as endorphins. These are the body's natural "feel good" chemicals. They help a person sleep better, stabilize the mood and even affect appetite and cell generation.

Exercise does not have to be an intense workout at the gym. It can be something as simple as a brisk walk through the park for 10 to 15 minutes. Elderly people could be encouraged to take a dance class or a fitness class with other seniors. This will provide exercise and also give them needed social interaction.
Getting the elderly population involved socially is also an essential part of depression treatment and prevention. Many elderly people withdraw. They may have experienced the loss of a loved one or friends and feel they are alone. Getting them back out in the community and involved in activities that they find enjoyable is helpful.

As you can see, communication and education are vital in detection of depression in the elderly. If you believe an older person you care about may be suffering from depression, bring it to the attention of a health professional. Effective treatment may make a significant improvement in the elder person's overall health.

One Sided Love Can Hurt

This love business can be a darned nuisance, can't it? Mind you, at my age, it really doesn't affect me anymore. I suppose there's always a chance that a gorgeous young lady of about 35 with the figure of a goddess might come along and sweep me... get real, you silly old fool.

Now, I'm very happy to say that it's never happened to me. Oh, I used to see some beautiful young girl and start daydreaming. Surely we've all done that. Ladies, too, are no different. They see some magnificent hunk and start wishing he'd take her in his strong arms. The chances are, though, it stops there.

Unfortunately, there are a minority of cases where it doesn't stop there. I read of a case where this lady fell madly in love with this chap at work. She made no attempt to approach him. They were both married, but this poor woman became besotted with the man.

She reported that she'd dream of him at night. Oh, they were on speaking terms. He was always very polite, a thoroughly nice chap. Her one-sided love for him, though, caused her actual physical pain. One sided love can hurt. This lady genuinely used to do her best to dodge him, try not to see him, because once she did, she'd be unable to eat, sleep or concentrate on work.

Now, although this unrequited love can hurt terribly, it's most unlikely that there's any physical danger involved. Depression and anxiety are two other conditions that may arise because of unrequited love. Most certainly depression, because you'll be brooding about one thing, one person, and there isn't a thing you can do about it.

This can become very serious and end up with you in hospital, suffering from clinical depression.

There's always the risk of obsessive love, man for woman. If this man is normal in every other way, and simply broods over the woman with whom he thinks he's in love, then that's fine. But he may not be normal. In his mind, this woman should have thrown herself into his arms by now, but she hasn't. More direct steps must be taken.

He starts following her home and this could lead to an actual physical attack.

But let's go back to our little lady who's madly in love with her colleague at the office. Obviously, he's handsome, or at least has a very pleasing face, to her, anyway. But what are his hobbies? What's he like as a friend? Is he kind and gentle? Oh, in her mind, of course he is, but is he in reality?

There's going to come a time when she really does start to feel ill. At that point, she has simply got to do something positive about it. One of the best ways is with self hypnosis. Project your mind into the future. See what's going on there. Then look back on the present, and you'll really wonder why you're throwing your life away.

Treatment Of Anxiety And Depression With Prescription Medications - The Pros And Cons

Have you recently been diagnosed with anxiety or depression? Have you and your doctor been considering prescription medications as treatment for anxiety and depression? The decision to use prescription drugs is largely a personal choice. It's important to weigh all of the options before deciding to use prescription medications, or avoid them all together.

Treatment for anxiety and depression can come in many forms. Often a combination of treatment options brings you the best results. For example, therapy, prescription medications, and alternative treatment options all have their positives and negatives. Again, such a combination might be the best solution for you.

The thought that a pill a day keeps anxiety and depression away may be a tempting marketing slogan. Although prescription medications can have positive results, they typically will not alleviate all symptoms associated with anxiety and depression.

What are some of the "cons?"

Realistically, prescription drugs take time. It can take four weeks or more for the medication to reach its full potential. In other words, it takes that long for the patient to feel the full effect of the medication. Furthermore, finding just the right medication, or combination of medications, is not usually accomplished on the first attempt.

The process of finding the proper dosage can be a series of trial and error before your doctor finds the treatment that works best for you.

But before taking a new medication as treatment for anxiety and depression, educate yourself about potential side effects. Antidepressant medications typically have a number of potential side effects.

And some patients find these side effects are significant enough that they stop taking the medication. Symptoms can vary from person to person. Severity can be as serious as suicidal tendencies, or as mild as dry mouth.

On the "pro" side, cognitive therapy seems to have a higher success rate for patients as treatment for anxiety and depression than medication alone on a long-term basis. For this reason, patients may choose to create a treatment plan that couples therapy and medication for even greater results.

The medication can help to provide quicker results, but the therapy will be the catalyst that brings relief on a more permanent basis. Only you and your doctor can decide together what treatment options are best for you.

When the right balance of prescription medications and other treatment options is used, patients often feel a great sense of relief, joy, and overall improvement in their lives. Proper treatment can make all the difference in the world.

There's no single right or wrong answer when it comes to the personal decision you're trying to make about your treatment for anxiety and depression. Create a plan with your doctor and recognize that it's a guideline for progress. Should you change your mind at a later time about your treatment options, that's acceptable and quite common.

And please, always speak to your doctor before beginning or ceasing a new treatment for anxiety and depression. Only you and your doctor know what's best for your specific circumstances.

Austin Insurance

Austin cars are a now defunct British motor car manufacturer having first been formed in the early days of motorcar manufacture and coming into existence from 1905 and achieving the status of large car manufacturer with the later Austin motor company merger with the British Morris motor car company in 1952.

Austin motor company was formed by the later knighted Sir Herbert Austin in 1905 Herbert Austin was the then manager of the Wolseley Tool and Motor Company based in Worcestershire.

Early Austin motorcars were of a standard for the day design consisting of a four-cylinder five-litre engine with a chain driven transmission.

Only 200 or so Austin motor cars were built in the early days from 1905 to 1914 but with the advent of World War 1 production was expanded enormously due to government backed orders for all kinds of thins from Aircraft to Artillery.

Shortly after the end of WW1 Herbert Austin went into mass production of one model starting with a design based around a 3620cc engine. The order book was however never enough to fill the capacity of the large Austin factory as it had been built during the war and Austin faced an uncertain time eventually falling into receivership in 1921. However the company was saved and restructured and went on to become a much stronger and more successful motor car manufacturer a lot of Austin's success during in this period has been attributed to the appointment of Ernest Payton as the new finance director. And Carl Engelbach as works director.

Austin Motorcar Company expanded their range to include small and more economical cars for a growing market and branched out into America with the formation of the US based subsidiary American Austin Car Company. Austin as well as all companies had to weather the storm that was the great depression but by the end of the 1930s sales were growing especially with the introduction of the very successful Austin seven models and its spin offs.

Austin continued to make cars throughout World War 2 but branched out into making military vehicles and trucks for the war effort.

By the early 1960s Austin had decided on creating a range of small economical cars to cater for the growing car market but by the start of the 1970s Austin along with many other British carmakers had been part nationalised and run under the banner of British Leyland. By the end of the seventies Austin along with British Leyland were in trouble however Austin regained some ground by the design and manufacture of the innovative Austin Metro again by the late 1980s Austin had merged with Rover to create Austin Rover but it wasn't long before Austin was removed leaving only Rover as the makers name.

Many people will remember with affection Austin motorcars and there are still many whom collect and restore for these people it is essential to find the best. Austin insurance