Lifestyle Choices

Consultation Room Etiquette

Need for Privacy

If the patient seems hesitant about speaking to the psychiatrist, it could be that there are things he wishes to discuss in private. If you sense this could be the case, excuse yourself from the consultation room. Your presence may hinder disclosure of sensitive information. It goes without saying that after the consultation, you should not check with the professional what had been discussed in your absence. Most, if not all, caregivers I have dealt with do not have such a problem. (more…)

There are many self-help activities that can help elevate the mood of seniors:

• Mild exercise — going for a walk is a pleasant way to pass time and keep the blood circulating and the joints supple.
• Music — listen to one’s favourite songs and sing along. Better still, invite friends for a sing-along session. It is more fun when done in the company of others.

(more…)

Fungi

Several fungi can infect human skin, nails and hair. Those fungi which normally live in the soil or on animals tend to produce inflammation as well as scaling but those which are specifically human fungi give rise to little reaction on the skin. The term ringworm is used because many fungal infections produce a circular rash.

Ringworm

Ringworm on the foot is also called athlete’s foot and it is the most widespread form of fungal infection. It is easily spread from one person to another and swimming baths and changing rooms are likely sources of infection. The usual changes are redness, scaling and maceration in the space between fourth and fifth toes, and it may be accompanied by small blisters. It may remain like this for years causing no discomfort, however, it may itch and spread to the other web spaces or other body sites. (more…)

Many of us never worry about our health until we are in danger of losing it. Then we are willing to pay any price, pouring out the savings of a lifetime in a vain attempt to try to win it back again. Our health is our greatest possession. Why should we throw it away through ignorance? There is no substitute for good health. We must take care of it while we have it. Our whole future depends upon our maintaining a sound mind in a healthy body.

Hospitals all over the world are filled with people who have disregarded the laws of health. Some may not have realized their danger. Others knew but did not care. They evidently thought that they could dodge the consequences. Perhaps they did for a while. But eventually even the strongest constitution will break if we continue to disregard the laws of health.

Many a chronic invalid might have enjoyed good health all through his life if he had only known how to keep well. Instead of living a happy life, free from sickness, he has become a burden to himself and perhaps to the community as well. Prevention is always far better than cure. Knowing how to live will keep us out of trouble. It will enable us to live out our years in peace and contentment, free from unnecessary pain and illness. (more…)

Like good breathing, yoga can also make you beautiful. And I don’t mean by simply trimming a flabby thigh or flattening a neglected stomach. Of course, it will do these things too. But what I mean is more fundamental. The meaning of the word yoga is “union,” or in modern terms, “integration.” Practicing yoga regularly can bring a sense of calmness, poise, and detachment that eliminates the negative effects of stress and clears away tensions that stifle the full expression of your individuality— intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It can also help bring together these four parts of a woman so she functions as a whole. (more…)

Breakfast smoothie

A complete meal in a glass, blended so that you can drink it justbefore rushing out of the door. Vary the fruit you use (although choose low-GL ones such as apples, peaches, oranges, plums and apricots, and keep within 10D per person) to keep it interesting and to get a range of different nutrients.

SERVES 1

1 tbsp seeds (such as linseeds, pumpkin, sunflower or sesame seeds) (optional)

150g (5¹/2oz) live, organic natural yogurt, or soya yogurt ¹/2 banana

1 punnet of berries, about 1 00g (31/2oz) (use frozen berries when fresh ones are out of season)

A little lemon or apple juice (if necessary) (more…)

Each of these breakfasts provides 10 GL to comply with the GL guidelines for main meals. They are designed to fill you up rather than fatten you. I f you lack inspiration or energy in the morning, the low-gl Get up and go is a great solution.

Porridge

Oats are full of soluble fibre for healthy digestion and release their energy very slowly to keep you filled up all the way through to your snack and lunchtime.

SERVES 1

35g (11/4oz) whole porridge oats

225ml 18fl oz) water (the guide is two parts water to one part oats)

1 tbsp seeds (such as any combination of pre-cracked linseeds, sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds)

A little xylitol to sweeten or a sprinkling of Solo or other low-sodium salt, to taste (optional)

1. Place the oats and water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer, stirring, until the porridge thickens and the oats soften.
2. Stir the seeds into the porridge and spoon into a bowl.
3. Sprinkle with xylitol or the salt, if using.

(more…)

When you experience the death of someone close to you, or when you have lost somebody who has gone away or whom you have left, it is natural to grieve. In fact, a process of mourning is necessary in order for you to come to terms with the loss and adjust yourself to a life without the dead person.

GRIEF

Grieving openly is an acutely painful process which is not usually encouraged in western cultures. Even when people believe that grieving and openly demonstrating your feelings are good for you, their fear of the sheer power of the feeling of grief often makes them try to stop you or calm you down. The commonest alternative to grief is the prolonged numbness of depression which, unfortunately, can last years. Although the expression of grief differs in different individuals, there is a pattern to grief that is fairly common, consisting of three basic stages: numbness, despair and detachment. (more…)

Lack of stimulation in life, with day following day in endless repetition, eventually leads towards apathy, a feeling of pointlessness and, ultimately, a desire to give up. A boring job or a boring home environment often lead to a feeling of hopelessness. On top of this, loneliness may create despair. Although it can be tempting to stick to the security of a well-known path, endlessly retreading that path creates a rut; the rut can sometimes become so deep you can no longer see over the edges or believe you can get out of it.

Loneliness

For those who live with others but with little real contact, life can also become very meaningless. You may not be aware of being lonely and yet somehow you do not feel emotionally fed by those around you, so that you feel a sense of dissatisfaction and emptiness which may be with you most of the time. Others seem distant, or else they do not seem to really understand, or perhaps you feel they do not like you. The causes of this problem can lie either with you or with them. You may be a person who has difficulty making warm human contact, in which case you feel somewhat alone in any situation. Perhaps the person or people you live with are different from you and, through no fault of their own, relate to you on a level that simply does not satisfy you. (more…)

The balance of achieving your potential is delicately perched between the depression of feeling unfulfilled and the stress and anxiety of trying to do too much. The problem is that there are no rules to tell you just what your potential is. It is easy to assume that your potential is similar to your mother’s if you are a woman, or your father’s if you are a man. You may assume that your potential is similar to that of your peers, or you may believe what your teachers at school told you.

Cultural expressions

Barry Sheene, world champion motor-cyclist, was told at school that he would never get anywhere so long as he wasted his time fiddling with motor cycles, and Winston Churchill`* failed most of his exams. Sometimes very intelligent children cannot tolerate the tedium of rote-learning. Others have an intelligence that is not suited to the style of learning of most schools, but may be highly successful, if they can ever get over feeling inadequate because the school learning-systemdid not suit them. Many are pushed by a cultural expectation to do well in a certain manner, to learn by rote, pass exams and think with a particular kind of restricted logic. (more…)

Any severe illness and some medical measures, such as operations, radiotherapy and the use of some drugs, may deplete energy and therefore mimic depression. At the same time the prospect of long-term illness or of facing life with debility creates all kinds of feelings which may be repressed.

Losing the function of part of your body, being permanently debilitated, losing part of your body through amputation, or knowing you are going to die naturally cause grief. An initial numbness or disbelief about your condition may sometimes amount to a complete denial of the facts. Sometimes people who are told they have cancer manage to block the fact so effectively that they have no memory of knowing or of ever being told. More often the fact is known but there is remarkably little worry, or an unrealistic optimism. Some degree of denial may continue for a long time. (more…)

When you have dealt with some of the doubts that stoppedyour feeling, you may find that you can allow the feeling to “live” within you without repression. Often, however, it is helpful to find a way of expressing the feeling. You do not necessarily need to know what the feeling is in advance. If you are mindful of the possibility of the feeling arising and free to let it arise if it will, you will find that some of the following activities can create an opening for the rediscovery of the feeling you stopped. If you don’t feel anything, don’t worry,the exercise itself is helpful. Try one of the following suggestions, depending on the nature of the feeling.

1 Difficulty in expressing anger:

• Take part in an aggressive sport like squash or football.
• Hit a punch-ball, imagining each blow is directed at the person or the situation (if that is easier) that makes you angry. Use all your force and with each blow, grunt. After some practice, try hitting and grunting with your mouth wide open and then increase the volume of sound till you are yelling at the top of your voice. All this can be done equally well hitting a cushion, a pillow or a bed. As you get more into it, tryputting words to each blow, for example, “I’m sick of dirty nappies!” or “I’ll smash your face in!”.

(more…)

Disguised depression

Living with someone who is depressed can be an exasperating and difficult experience. If you are honest and tell the depressed person how exasperating he is, he agrees with you, feels confirmed in his negative view of himself and gets even more depressed, which makes you even more exasperated. It seems there is nothing you can do to help and that everything you do is wrong. What to do depends, to some extent, on thelevel of depression.

Sometimes depression is completely denied. The first sign of disguised depression may be resigning from a job for no very good reason, drinking more alcohol, or feeling physical pain— perhaps an old injury or ache getting worse. If you suspect something is wrong with your partner or friend, try to get him to talk. In his desire not to drag you down or not to admit to himself how bad he feels, he may try to talk on the bright side. It may be helpful to ask, “But in your darkest moments what are your worst fears or your worst thoughts?” This way you may learn the reality ofthe situation. (more…)

The Problem With Techniques

The ideas described in the section on Gestalt are not peculiar to it and are found in many of the more modern therapies. Although founded on an attempt to find more vitality, they can be misused, because as soon as any technique becomes inflexible it creates an act rather than a vital expression. Because the techniques are exciting, some people also use them to get a temporary “high” on human experience, rather than to learn to be more themselves. The important point is that any technique is only a tool of the trade, a “gimmick” to get through to the more alive part of a person. Tools can be used in many ways, and some tools work better in some people, and in some eras, than others. What is most important to you as a client is the skill with which the tool is handled and the integrity of the handler. (more…)

Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), a pupil of Freud, extended analytical ideas on repression of thought and feeling to include the physical level. He showed that people literally tense against an uncomfortable or socially unacceptable thought,by tensing muscles and thereby creating an “armouring”, rendering the body physically less vulnerable. When the body is harder, the person feels less vulnerable emotionally. Many people are aware of their bodies tensing in a tense situation, for instance, their necks stiffening in a moment of anxiety. Lowen and Pierrakos, both patients and pupils of Reich, took the best ideas of Reich and developed what they called “bioenergetics“. In this form of psychotherapy they made use of physical movement to help release old tension patterns, which Reich had recognized to be related to old patterns of thought and feeling. (more…)

For most people, however, repression is less necessary than is often taught. It is nearly always possible to find ways of expressing feelings which can create more contact and understanding, or which at least are not destructive. Some of these ways are mentioned in the self-help section (see Express the feeling, page 122). The following section explores the area between holding back entirely which is likely to make you depressed, and letting go indiscriminately which is likely to have repercussions beyond your desired result.

Containing feelings

Expression or repression are not the only two alternatives. It is also possible to contain feeling so that it is not expressed, yet not avoided, but remains simmering below the surface. Repression involves making the feeling unconscious by a process of diminishing body energy and feeling, whereas containment involves no deadening of feeling but a “movement” of feeling within. Containment is not related to depression. (more…)

The support of family and friends can be of great importance in fat control.

In Concept 18, the importance of family and friends to successful exercise adherence was emphasized. Family and friends can also help you in changing and adhering to healthy eating practices. It is known that parents who overeat have children who eat more than normal. In these cases, it is important for the entire family to participate in a program to control fatness. Family and friends should provide support for the person trying to gain or lose fat by helping them follow the guidelines presented in this Concept, rather than tempting the person to eat improperly. (more…)