Severe Schizophrenia Improves with Cognitive Therapy

I've seen many cases where health care staff give up on clients that do not show improvement in their cognitive functioning within a certain time frame, leaving us with the message "if they don't improve now, they never will". This is a very exciting article that gives light on the best treatments for one of the most severe and disabling mental disorders, Schizophrenia. Read it to discover when hope, unconditional positive regard and persistence supersede the disbelief that people with low functioning Schizophrenia cannot become contributing members of society again.


Click HERE for article

This is a brief article on the detriments of taking anti-depressants. Despite their purpose to decrease or alleviate depressive symptoms, these drugs have offered the contrary in many circumstances. As a person diagnosed with depression since early teens, I have had first-hand experience of the wonderful opportunities anti-depressants have provided me and also the impeding and destructive side-effects. I am not anti-anti-depressants, they are very much needed for many people but I believe its very important to do your own research and identify if taking these drugs is right for you as an individual.

Click here for article 

I need to change! Do you?

Change is probably the most difficult thing a human does. Specifically, I mean changing behaviours. For years I have wanted to change the way I eat (reduce the 'excessiveness' of my eating) and change how I spend time (less unproductive, more outcome oriented). I believe I have developed a lifestyle that centers around health and wellness by being very active in exercise and eating healthy food, everything which my doctor said are the fundamentals to a quality life. Although I have those two criteria well integrated into my life regime, something had been missing. The whole time I struggled to feel the happiness, the balance, the feeling fulfillment I was supposed to receive when acting as a healthy person living a healthy lifestyle. I felt flashes of disappointment, frustration and blame on the self. I was missing something much more elemental and I couldn't bring myself to admit and face what it was until I walked on the Camino de Santiago. The 'thing' was emotional associations with these two criteria. Despite the knowledge of the many benefits eating healthy and exercising I still have negative attachments that impede me from feeling stress-free and liberated. I know that when I exercise I constantly look at the calories burned and wonder if it is "enough" relative to the calories consumed the day previous. I also think about how much I don't want to eat the bar of healthy dark chocolate in my cupboard but the thought alone drives me into the kitchen...and nothing can stop me from diving into other fun snacks nearby. Of course guilt and disappointment ensue and I think about what I need to add to my next workout. One should not think this way! Many people have this mentality and it can lead to very dangerous and destructive pathways. How do we change this? How do we disconnect the deep link between neurons that have for so long been best friends? I am aware of cognitive behavioural therapy and have used it in other areas of my life and received great benefit. If anyone out there is struggling with such an issue like this, have a look into CBT. Here is a quick link to CBT information. I know the changes I need to make. Now the hard part comes...actually changing! Wish me luck. 

How Not to Hurry

I enjoyed reading this blog from zenhabits.net as I am in this wonderful transition of slowing down. My busy life several years ago had me working full time as a manager while in full-time university courses....even throughout the summer terms. I was "accomplishing so many things" yet throughout that journey I constantly felt incomplete, that there was a missing element to my insane schedule. I realize now via the ability to slow down and reflect that I was, because of my productivity pace, taking on too much and subsequently never deeply learning and understanding what it was I was doing. In this western culture we see one's insane schedule as a good thing, an ideal example of a highly contributing member to society. This may not be the case all the time. Probably even most of the time. I say this in reflection of my past definition of busy. It seemed that anything to do with work (your 9-5 work) was a priority. You needed to compete against the best and defeat the best in order to know you were the best...and all resources were put towards this. We all know what happens to the other components of your life...without attention and effort, they suffer. That is not, according to our need and strive for balance, productivity in any sense. Productivity, according to the current me, contains all aspects of my life that are appreciated, needed and attended to and as a result comes the homeostatic satisfaction we all strive to feel. Enjoy reading this blog!:
http://zenhabits.net/no-hurry/

Autism Now, a personal view by Robert MacNeil

This is one of six reports by MacNeil. Watch this to get a great synopsis of Autism and how it changes the family dynamic.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1884325580

A film for all to see...

See this preview for Wretches and Jabberers. I hope it inspires you to see it in theaters (AMC launches it in April 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWesQK0rtc8&feature=player_embedded

Autism and Resilience

I have been paying attention lately to how the children I work with have poor resilience. To the average person, when something doesn't go right or to their expectations, they can often shake it off and think "its better than nothing" or "next time will be better if I practice more". This process of accepting an outcome different than what was expected is limited in children with Autism. I can recall many (it feels like thousands) of times when executing a common task with a child and one simple error or slip causes an emotional upset. This can be caused by actions such as misspelling a website URL, putting the wrong mitten on, dropping food, tripping, the inability to grasp, etc. How can I prevent the child from becoming upset? Seems that no type of reassurance seems to help, only distraction or time passing. I wonder what happens internally with the child's thoughts. Do they blame themselves for lack of skill when they make a 'mistake'? Do they put negative blame on the person or object for not 'working' properly? What type of long term effects to these thoughts pose? This must effect how they cope in the future. You and I experience imperfect and upsetting moments to learn that not everything goes to plan. That is a process the brain goes through in order to gain coping skills which ripple into the emotional and intellectual aspects of being human. It is an integral component to maturing, connecting/relating with others, adapting to new environments, the willingness to try novel things and most importantly: self-efficacy (writer's opinion!). Focusing on resilience is a priority trait for children with Autism. Any increase in their resilience level means a decrease in negative thoughts and therefore behaviour.

*Note: I am not stating facts but reporting my observations in this post. The lacking of resilience is a known characteristic in people with Autism.*

A thought on Autism

I work with children who have issues coping with their emotions. Many of them have autism and the ability to communicate may be very difficult because of the way they think and interact. Often, when a child I am with is in a state of anxiety and anger I have no idea what triggered the upset feelings as the slightest thing could have been the cause. A flickering light, a sound, clothing that feels itchy to them....any type of sensory pain and they can show some intense anger. (It is important to understand here that these children are NOT spoiled or short tempered. What may be a minute bother to us may be extremely painful and unpleasant experience). As a worker who works with the child, it is my goal to understand what makes each child tick and what their likes and dislikes are. A new client may take a long time to figure out. Any information, even if it seems like nonsense (ie "doesn't like to wear gloves but will wear mittens") can be a very important piece of information that will make your job easier and the child considerably happier. 

Everything you HAVE TO KNOW about dangerous genetically modified food:

This dude talks about GMO's and the way he has made changes in the food industry by public awareness of what GMOs really are. He begins to talk about the elimination of rBGH in milk ingredients in at least 40 power companies like WalMart, Starbucks, Krogers, Costco  etc. and he attributes this change to a concept termed The Tipping Point aka the consumer threshold. Watch this video because it is very informative about how genetically modified 'foods' have been marketed to deceive us from the havoc they cause to our environment, ourselves and our children (to be). Don't worry, it has a very positive and inspiring spin to it!

p.s. rBGH  = recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone....and its in more foods than you'd think.

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/MediaCenter/Videos/index.cfm

What Do You Love About Your Body?

A short and simple thought to put into your head. What do you love about your body that you absolutely cannot give up? I'm not talking about the external parts of us we see in the mirror, lets get beyond that topic and move to something much deeper. I'm talking about what it is that you appreciate about your body that makes it tick the way it does, that lets you move about and do every-day-things simply because 'it' is there. I'll start first: I love my right foot! I don't think I could do much without it! Last week I jammed up my right set of toes and since then I have been in considerable pain when I move about, especially walking. For a while I was almost getting used to the feeling of having a 'disability' but as the pain wore off and the healing began, I noticed how much more in a day I could do when my foot had felt better than the previous. Because of this injury I have become so appreciative of my right foot and all of the ways it gives me my liberty. I don't know what I would do without it. Additionally, today a friend told me she lost her mother to kidney failure. Such a sad, sad experience. I thought about my kidney's all day and made sure my brain told them how much I love and appreciate them. I decided to treat them to a day of very low sodium and zero alcohol because they deserve a vacation. After all, I couldn't live if they decided to give up! I hope they got the message. Having thought about all of the body parts I have that work so hard to keep me at homeostasis, I think I will dedicate an entire month to my body, each day focusing on two or three particular parts or aspects and thanking them for such an impressive effort, for never letting me down. So maybe you should try to do the same. What is a body part you appreciate today? Try to think of at least 5 reasons why you love it and think about how your life would alter if it didn't work the way it does now. Tomorrow think of two and so on and so on...Enjoy the thoughts!