Archive for the ‘Happy Mind’ Category
Characteristics Of ADHD Test
Diagnosing ADHD is usually done with an ADHD test. It has nothing to do with blood work because ADHD is a mental disorder, not diagnosable through standard medical tests.
The American Psychiatric Association
The Association of American Psychiatric or APA has made a list of fourteen behavioral checkpoints to test for ADHD. According to the APA checklist, a kid must show at least eight of the checkpoints to be diagnosed with ADHD.
Observation Test for Problems with ADHD Behavioral
Many children are misdiagnosed as having ADHD. One of the main reasons that ADHD is often misdiagnosed is that testing is purely observational and therefore subjective.
A psychiatric giving the test may be less able to abide certain behavior than any other psychiatric would be and may be say it as a problem when another psychiatric would consider it alright. For this reason, ADHD testing is pretty much done as a collaborative attempt where doctors, parents and teachers all give their views about a child’s behavior.
It is not uncommon for parents to judge that their kid has ADHD just because they are with them more often, and regular ADHD behaviors can be difficult to deal with. A child can only be judged to have a trouble when they are showing a sign frequently on everyday life.
Sample ADHD Test
Here is a sample checklist items that is found on a comprehensive ADHD test:
* Is not working to potential at school
* Learning problems, substance abuse, or family history of ADD or ADHD
* Easily unfocused
* Cannot pay attention to any detail
* Plain writing
* Cannot listen
* Forgetfulness
* Problems with learning new things
* Appears restless
* Anxious and nervous
* Poor interaction skills
* Controlling impulses problems
* Easily getting bored
* Speaks without thinking
* Irritated
* Makes careless troubles
* Cannot organized
Tags: anger management, blogs, depression, diseases, Grief Loss, health, health and fitness, home and family, kids and teens, medicine, men's issues, mental health, parenting, stress management, women's issues
Understanding Younger Students
This should be the motto of any dance school that you want to enroll your child in. After all a dance school should never be in business just for monetary gain. Your child’s success is important to you and the school you enroll them in should have the same attitude.
What a school should ideally be is an institution that cares about the individual student’s needs rather than treat them as one group. They should hire professional dance teachers instead of what many do and use their older students to teach the younger pupils in their spare time. These teachers should have a thorough knowledge of what they are teaching and be in tune with current trends and strategies of learning.
All too often schools concentrate on older students and reserve the skilled professional teachers for them. They then hire student teachers for the younger pupils. This is a great mistake as younger students often require more skills in teaching than the older ones. To really teach younger students effectively you need creative teachers who have experience in teaching younger children dance.
Teachers with creativity and flair work hard to bring out the best in young students and it’s something that doesn’t happen by accident. Younger pupils have a tendency to lose interest fast so a teacher who is specifically trained to teach young children knows exactly how to keep them thinking. Basic things, like how long a session should be before boredom starts to take over and strategies to use with difficult children, are only going to be available from qualified trainers that have spent a great deal of time perfecting their skills.
Children learn through play and a good teacher will be able to blend entertainment with learning. Some teachers are not very experienced at this and overdo the play part. This results in the child not being able to learn much at the dance school. This can be disappointing to you.
In order to judge a school, ask to be allowed to observe some dance classes that your child will be attending before you enroll them. In this way you will be able to assess the school before you sign any contracts.
A good quality dance school will want their students to have a high success rate. The better the success rate the more the people will want to enroll their children in the school. It also puts the school in a good position to apply for grants.
You can judge a school through the performances they put together. Dance schools will have performances on a regular basis and often open them to the public as well as parents of prospective students. The standard of the public performances will help you to determine quite a bit about the school.
With these points in mind you will find it easier to choose the best dance school for your child that will really have the right attitude to their students. Take your time and do your research. In this way you will get the best school for your child that really cares about your child’s success and will instill a love of dance in them.
Tags: arts, ballet, dancing, education, entertainment, hobbies, learning, lessons, studios, teachers, teaching students, young children
Healing Childhood Abuse Issues
I could tell you horror stories from my childhood. Im guessing that these days, the majority of us could. I could be wrong, but I doubt any of us escaped childhood without scars from some sort of dysfunction. I will just say that I endured abuse.
My father has always been an alcoholic. Rather than being angry with him, I felt a bit sorry for him. He is a good father to the extent that he can be. He taught us some good values. But, his addiction and relative lack of social skills led him to be distant, unreliable and angry. My mother was perpetually depressed about the whole family situation, and was therefore not very emotionally present herself. As the oldest of 6 children, I felt responsible for everyone’s happiness and well-being. I’m not looking for sympathy. Actually, I am grateful for my trials and the empathy and determination they have given me. I won’t deny that my childhood left me with scars, however.
My fist marriage was ruined by my lack of self-love and trust issues. Then, the divorce, nearly killed me. I had sworn that my children would never have to endure divorce, but didn’t know how to do anything different. The truth is that we only know what we live until we learn something new, and we either change or cave. The pain made me cave, and then change.
Getting rid of the insecurities and fears of my ego will be a lifelong process. But I can say that I can talk about my past now without tears. And, in contrast to the average 2nd marriage stats, mine is going really well. I credit this to being willing to look at my own faults.
Although I have always recognized my severe insecurities of being less-than or unlovable, I had no idea how to actually change them. I turned to my Christian beliefs first. Trusting in Christ while also being open to new teachings and methodology that aligned with my beliefs offered hope.
It’s funny how life throws things your way at just the right time. I had found yoga, meditation, service, loving 8 kids unconditionally, and endurance events helpful. But it wasn’t until I learned and applied the principles of the Law of Attraction in my business that so many of my fears and limitations were lifted.
Healing really only takes a decision. It sounds too simple, I know. It’s changing your beliefs so that you can make the decision to be happy that takes the time and effort (well for most). It’s that we get some sort of “peanut prize” for not letting our offenders off the hook by being totally free of the harm they’ve done. Well, guess what? You are not hurting them by holding on. You didn’t put them on the hook, and you can’t let them off. You can however, let yourself off, and decide to be happy. Be grateful for the good things, and move forward.
Yes, we all have something to be grateful for on any given day, and probably any given hour. When you start thinking negatively again, think of the 5 billion people in the world right now that you wouldn’t trade places with!
Just in case you think happiness is not a choice, visit a third-world country. Maybe only through books or the internet. I traveled to Ethiopia to adopt our two youngest children, and it changed my life. Living conditions, AIDS, the orphan epidemic, and lack of food didn’t stop most of these people from feeling joy and hope. They had learned to rely on the universal truth that we are human BEINGS rather than DOINGS. Think outside of yourself for a while. Things you have or even do will never define YOU. Just be. Find joy. It has always been there within you from the beginning of your creation, and you can’t change it. Just recognize it, and find purpose!
Believe me, I am not judging anyone who may be depressed, or has gone through difficult circumstances and is not happy. I have been there. I know that pain, and the work it sometimes takes to get through. I’m just hoping that my experience will help someone get to joy a little faster. It is how life was meant to be lived. “Men are that they might have joy.
Tags: abundance, creating joy, gratitude, happiness, healing, healing from abuse, health, Law of attraction, self help, wellness
Help For Depression – The Box We’re Stuck In
Obviously, one of the issues to consider about depression is difficult emotions. Feeling unpleasant about oneself. And when you do consider it, you can see that we all operate from a box or paradigm about our own emotions. A very simple box or paradigm.
What are some emotions you like having? The usual list is Love
Joy
joy
Enthusiasm
Excitement
Love
cheerfulness
These feelings we all call “good emotions.” We like feeling them and want to do so all the time. However, what are some feelings we don’t want to feel? Consider if a lot of these emotions fit in that category for you;
Fear
Sadness
Fear
anxiety
Hate
Anxiety
Meaninglessness
shame
These feelings we call “bad emotions” and we try to avoid or stay away from them as much as we can. If we must feel them, we try to get away from them as fast as we can.
Now you are ready to understand the box we operate from about our emotions. The box is that there are “bad” emotions and “good” ones. Kinda obvious, right? All of us just “know” that when it comes to emotions there are bad ones and good ones. Further, we know that part of the point in life is to feel good ones and avoid bad ones. This goes unexamined in our lives because it is so obvious and plain. Of course the way to deal with emotions is to feel good ones and avoid bad ones!
Therefore, all the feelings that go with the condition of depression we classify as “bad” emotions, to be gotten rid of as quickly as we possibly can. Thus the box we’re stuck in around depression is that depression is “bad.” And we believe we should avoid or resist all the emotions that go with depression.
But there is an underlying problem to this approach of trying to avoid or get rid of all the feelings that go with depression. It is founded in an “emotional mistake” we make every day. This mistake is about not trying to feel bad emotions.
Consider the idea that we all, each of us, have an emotional body, just like we have a physical body and a mental body. And your emotional body has a purpose and function, which is to simply feel feelings. All of them. Good emotions like joy and happiness, and “bad” ones like fear and anger. Its job is to feel feelings. You can’t actually keep your emotional body from feeling feelings.
Notice that your emotional body is a lot like the organ of your skin. You can’t stop your skin from feeling soft or rough sensations, cool or warm. Our skin feels whatever it comes in contact with. In exactly that way our emotional body feels all emotions. You can’t just feel only the good feelings. When you try to suppress bad ones, you only cause your feelings to get stuck. Then these bad feelings tend to stick around much longer, because they are “stuck.” So trying not to feel the difficult emotions that go with depression is actually a way to keep the depression around, keep it from passing through!
Therefore, to get out of the box of depression, one way is to discover more emotional intelligence so that you can process difficult feelings more efficiently and quickly so that they don’t stick around. There’s no room in this article to get into the details, but just a few minutes a day of not resisting but exploring difficult emotions can begin to provide some real depression help.
Tags: bad emotions, depression, depression treatment, disease and illness, feelings, good emotions, health, natural remedies
Do You Use Your Subconscious Mind To Achieve What You Want?
The subconscious mind is one of our greatest assets. It is the home of our intellectual factors that include: reason, intuition, imagination, perception, memory and the will. When we use the subconscious mind correctly, we can create anything that is in harmony with natural universal law.
The subconscious mind is completely deductive in nature, unlike the conscious mind, which is both inductive and deductive. The subconscious mind will believe anything that is impressed upon it with emotion in a consistent manner. It will even believe a lie if it is repeated often enough. Understanding this concept represents the first step in taking control of your subconscious mind so you can pursue your dreams.
The next step to effectively use your subconscious mind is to know exactly what you want and why you want it. This process of conceptualization and clarification is critical, because the subconscious mind only gets involved when it is sure you mean business! Being serious about a goal prompts an emotional response inside you. It is when emotion mixes with clarity that the subconscious mind can act on your desires. Answer these critical thinking questions:
Do you really know what you want? Can you see it clearly in your mind down to the smallest detail? Have you written it down in a clear and concise manner? Do you know why you want it? Do you believe you can obtain it? Are you willing to do whatever it takes legally and ethically to cause the manifestation of the goal?
To move forward you must be able to answer the above questions with a resounding YES! Next you want to clearly see on the screen of your mind your objective. You must begin the process of associating deeper emotions with the objective. Deep emotions can be created through using your five senses and the process of autosuggestion.
Let me give you an example of how this works: Lets suppose you want a new car. You must see the car, feel the car, drive the car, listen to the stereo, touch the soft leather and enjoy your favorite beverage while in the car to create an emotionalized memory. You might even want to rent the car so that you can actually feel the experience of driving it and really fix in your mind what it would be like to own it.
An emotionalized memory will last for a period of time as you go about your daily business. To enhance and feed your mind more emotional fuel, it is wise to take pictures, video and record your thoughts about the experience so that you can strengthen your emotionalized memory of the experience. Daily, spend time impressing these thoughts and feelings upon your subconscious mind including, what you want and why you want it. Do this with a loud confident voice as you relive the newly created memory.
By following this process, you will take your burning desire and turn it into a white hot burning desire as Napoleon Hill likes to say. This white hot burning desire together with your subconscious mind will increase your awareness for people and things that can help you move in the direction of your dreams. I have used this technique for 20+ years and it works like clockwork. Give it a try today!
Tags: career, finance, goal setting, Happy Career & Business, ilg, job search, network marketing, personal development, reprogram the mind, self help, self improvement, Stress, success training, successful thinking, wealth
Symptoms of Chronic Depression
Chronic Depression is also known as Dysthymia. This disease can be serious, although not as serious as attacks with major depression.
Someone who knows you may have chronic depression, but you have no idea.
Having a regular life is very possible for people with this condition. They go about their daily lives, going to work or school without creating even a ripple in the water.
This is due to the fact that the signs caused by this illness do not appear on the outside of the body but on the inside. Both physical and mental effects may still be the result.
Tremors, dizziness, or a fever won’t result from Chronic Depression. Your body won’t break out in a rash.
Still a person with chronic depression may well feel helplessness, worthlessness and hopelessness.
You can also experience problems with sleeping like insomnia.
Constant feelings of sadness and emptiness can also occur.
Death and suicide are considerations that a person with chronic depression will have .
Normally those with Chronic Depression do a good job of concealing these symptoms.
When an illness is born mentally you often have to look very closely to catch these symptoms. It may not always obvious.
When you are looking at an illness such as Chronic Depression there are a few major options for treatment.
One of the more popular treatments is Psychotherapy. You confront the mental ailment with a mental solution.
Through psychotherapy the doctor seeks the cause of depression and to create a positive outlook for the patient.
Anti-Depressants are another option that help to stem the spread or worsening of the condition.
Psychotherapy and drugs are generally used in combination to treat chronic depression.
Although Chronic Depression is not Major Depression it can certainly lead to it.
Early detection is one of the most powerful tools in fighting this as is the case with many illnesses.
Chronic Depression has definitely become a problem when it causes problems in day to day life.
Something must be done when it impacts your ability to work or to relate with other people.
Chronic Depression doesn’t mean people afflicted are ready for the funny farm.
A great deal of care is recommended when approaching the problems that cause this disease.
Everyone is susceptible to the possibilities of confronting this disease.
Therefore, knowing what it is may one day assist you in facing it personally for yourself or for someone you love.
Tags: causes of depression, cures for depression, depression, low energy, mental anxiety, mental disease, mental health, negative thinking, symptoms of depression
Information on ADHD – What I Have Learned
One can never have enough information on ADHD. What I have learned is there are several different causes, types, and treatments for ADHD. Keep in mind what you may not be aware of, may lead you to make the wrong decisions.
ADHD is short for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This disorder is most commonly found in boys rather than in girls. ADHD is a pattern of impulsiveness, inattention, and/or hyperactivity. About 10-40 percent of children with ADHD will carry it into adulthood.
Treatments for ADHD would be medications and behavior therapy. If those don’t work there are other treatments available such as life style changes, counseling, and/or behavior modifications. Pre-schoolers should never take medication; however talk to their doctor for other helpful ideas.
Although there haven’t been any studies for taking medications for three years or more, it may not be wise to do so. They aren’t sure whether it might cause long-term behavioral problems or any other sort of problems. If a person is taking medication and has for a couple years or more, they might want to talk to a doctor.
Impulsiveness is the tendency to interrupt during a conversation, disorganization, acting before thinking of consequences, and/or jumping from one activity to another.
Inattention is where the person has difficulty listening and paying attention, is easily distracted, and doesn’t finish work.
If your child has the inability to sit still, fidgets and squirms, is restless and has restless sleep or climbs on things, he or she could have hyperactivity.
These three things are all related to ADHD behavior in one way or another.
Other Disorders Related to ADHD
ADHD is associated to other disorders. These disorders include oppositional defiant disorder/conduct order, primary disorder of vigilance, bipolar disorder, and anxiety disorders. These disorders along with ADHD have things to do with the behavior of a person and how much control they have over it, which generally isn’t a lot.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures.
Conduct Disorder is behavioral problems such as physical aggression, destructiveness, truancy, lying, vandalism, stealing, and cruelty to that of humans and animals.
Primary Disorder of Vigilance is the same as ADHD but with the person appearing to be hyperactive to stay alert. Over time the symptoms become worse.
Bipolar Disorder is where the person has episodes of abnormally elevated moods. This is clinically referred to as mania, or if it is milder, then it’s called hypomania.
Anxiety Disorder is a persistent or irrational fear that could be accompanied by headaches, sweating, hypertension, and/or palpitations.
ADHD and Its Causes
Genetics is also to blame for 75 percent of the cause of ADHD as well as the environment. While in some places the air is clean, other places the air is polluted and holds toxins, which could cause brain damage.
Yet the biggest influence doctors believe to be the cause of ADHD is pregnancy. Any chemical the mother gets near during pregnancy could cause damage to the unborn baby’s brain. Drinking and smoking while pregnant can cause things to go wrong in the unborns’ brain that the mother could have avoided.
Tags: acting up, ADHD, Attention Deficite Hyperactive Disorder, child health, child problems, health, hyper activity, hyperactivity, learning problems, mental disorder, mental problems, sleeping problems, social problems
Causes and Cures For Depression
There are many varied types of depression. Without realizing it or accepting it, many Americans suffer from some sort of depression.
Depression afflicts about 14 million Americans. |It is also estimated that less than a third of those affected will ever seek treatment|Fewer than 4.7 million of those, about 1/3, will seek checkup help|Unfortunately only a very small percent, less than 1/3, will go for treatment. What are the reasons? Perhaps it is because clinical depression is classified as a mental illness. That label is one people tend to avoid.
People who suffered from mental illness were, at one time in history, ridiculed by society. When depression became apparent in people they were often sent away to clinics for the mentally ill. The good news is things have become different. But the old stereotypes are still with us. This influences many Americans to keep their illness to themselves.
Many factors contribute to depression. Diagnosis isn’t simple. Chemical balance in the brain, DNA, biology and even environment have to be considered. Drugs, alcohol and stress all can play a major function in the development of depression. These are all factors in causes depression.
In what ways can those who suffer from depression be treated? There are many options for treatment and even cure, just as there are many causes for depression.
Which option is the best for someone who suffers with depression may be dependent on each individual on a case-to-case basis
Many claim they have a cure for depression. A cure for depression is realistic when safe and effective treatments are considered. When considering which option is best there are a few considerations that must be examined.
Here are some of the factors considered when these options are examined. Has the method being considered been clinically proven to be effective in the treatment of depression?
Does it have an appropriate dose to be effective if a drug or herb? Have high quality control standards been used when accepting the method? Let’s examine some of the more popular cures.
For years the typical treatment for many forms of depression has been prescription drugs and psychotherapy. Prescription anti-depressants like SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are often prescribed as a treatment for depression.
One of the most popular, Prozac, was first used in the United States in 1988. Drugs like Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro, Celexa, and Luvox as well as others are also used. Case history shows all of these to be effective. However, prescription drugs are expensive and offer many side effects.
Becoming more common are natural treatments. St Johns Wort extract is one herbal cure gaining popularity quickly. It must have between three and five percent hyperforin to work.
Studies and actual cases show it to be as effective as Prozac but with fewer side effects. As important as it is to find a cure-it is impossible to do so if those who suffer do not seek it.
If you or someone you know suffers from depression seek medical attention immediately.
Tags: anxiety, causes of depression, cures for depression, depression, health, mental anxiety, mental health, symptoms of depression
Lynne McTaggart and “The Field” of Health
Lynne McTaggart is an investigative journalist whose award winning books include “The Field” and “The Intention Experiment”. Not only is she a writer, but she was also a star in the film “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and is an international spokesperson for health.
Lynne is mostly interested in alternative medicine, as she is an editor of the health and spiritual newsletter “What Doctors Don’t Tell You”. Lynne is also co-executive director of the UK’s most successful publisher of health newsletters, Conatus PLC.
Passion leads Lynne McTaggart on her daily walk through life. Her passion for health started as a result of an illness in the 1980’s. She saw many doctors, both traditional and alternative, but none was able to help her. Finally, she took her health into her own hands.
Lynne’s health journey ended when she finally found a great doctor – one who treated her as a partner. Regaining her health was the pivotal moment that led her to “What Doctors Don’t Tell You”. It also led her to want to study spiritual healing.
As she was studying spiritual health, she often wondered, “If this is true, if one person can send a thought to someone else and make that person better, then our understanding of the world is incomplete.” Lynne’s wonder turned into a passion just as strong as her passion for health. Her new passion was “the field”.
What is “the field” exactly? Contrary to popular science, “the field” suggests that we’re all connected. We aren’t separate beings with our own laws within time and space. With this connection, “the field” also assumes that we all have an effect on each other. Relationship is reality, and “the field” is like a tape recorder of all information.
Like “the field”, science also believes homeopathy can’t work. Homeopathy is a substance that has been so diluted with water that little or none of the original state exists. However, since our bodies are more energy than chemistry, homeopathy also works like a tape recorder. Traces of the original, potent substance are all the body needs sometimes to regain health.
You can learn more about “the field” by reading Lynne McTaggart’s book, also called “The Field”. Lynne was a journalist and writer long before her passion for health emerged, so she purposely wrote the book in a way that average people could read and enjoy it. Sure it talks about quantum physics, but you don’t need to be a physicist to have great health!
Tags: health, lynne mctaggart, spiritual healing, what the bleep
Are You Sinful or Saintly: Taking Time for You
You may think it’s more important to tend constantly to the needs of other people rather than yourself. This appears at first glance to be the selfless, even saintly, way to behave. Aren’t mothers supposed to put the needs of their family first?
In actuality, you will care for your loved ones better by taking time to refill your own well. If you are constantly on call, with no time for yourself, you will eventually run out of energy. Giving yourself a brief time to tune in and recharge will help ensure you are able to respond to the very real needs of your children as well as the rest of your family.
One thing you may not have considered is that you are a role model for your children from the day they are born. As such, you have a responsibility to show them how to care for themselves by taking care of yourself. Mothers have wept over the realization that they had modeled a lack of self-care for their daughters until it was nearly too late. Our children learn far more from our actions than from our words. If you want your children to take healthy time and space for themselves as adults, you need to show them how.
So how do you go about taking time for yourself? Some people recommend mediation, which has been proven to be extremely effective for stress management and overall health and well-being, but this is just one way to help. All you need is a few quiet moments for yourself every day. You can walk, sit, gaze at something beautiful, or just close your eyes. You can even lock yourself in the bathroom for a short time to get a little time away from everyone. It doesn’t really matter how or where you decide to take time for you, as long as you follow through with a regular commitment to yourself.
If you are a stay-at-home mom who is normally with your child (or children) 24 hours a day, I encourage you to find a creative way to take an hour or two away at least once a week while your baby is being properly cared for by another adult. This will allow you some mental and physical decompression time. It’s amazing how much more you can appreciate the miracle of life that you helped create when you have a small amount of space that other people take for granted. Just being away for a short time can open you up to wholeheartedly enjoying your family even if you thought you were too tired to do so.
When your inner self begins to realize that you are consistently taking a little bit of time and space for yourself, you are likely to find your overall mood and body image improving. There is something extraordinarily healing about saying that it is O.K. to take up some room in the world, that it is O.K. to be. This simple act can create a positive upward spiral into a healthier sense of well-being. Therefore, taking time for yourself is a proactive way to become a healthier, better adjusted, more response-able human being, mother and partner.
Tags: home, new mother advise, postpartum, time for self. rest and relaxation, tips for new moms
