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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Basic Facts of Sociophobia

Home | Health | Mental Health

Basic Facts of SociophobiaBy: Abbey Grace Yap

Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder is a kind of mental disorder wherein a person experiences an intense or unreasonable fear of social gatherings where there is a possibility that one may get embarrassed or ridiculed. This mental condition is also known as social phobia. Most of the time, these anxieties arise from an intense fear of being observed and scrutinized. This may range from simple things like the way a person walks, talks or acts; to important job functions like performing in front of a crowd, giving presentations, or finishing an interview for a job application.

Symptoms
Social phobia disrupts a person's normal life because it makes sufferers avoid doing things that require social contact in fear of embarrassment, and situations where they might become the center of attention. People with social phobia manifest two general symptoms:
1. Emotional symptoms which may include the following:
· An overwhelming fear of being put into situations where one is surrounded by strangers
· Being extremely scared of being in situations where the sufferer may be judged
· Worrying excessively about embarrassing or humiliating one's self
· An baseless fear that others will notice that you look anxious
· Severe anxiety that can disrupt one's daily routine, work, school or other activities
2. Physical symptoms include:
· blushing
· profuse sweating
· trembling or shaking
· nausea
· stomach upset
· difficulty talking
· shaky voice
· muscle tension
· confusion
· palpitations
· diarrhea
· cold and clammy hands
· difficulty making eye contact

Mental health professionals say social anxiety disorder is closely related to shyness. However social phobia differs in the sense that this disrupts normal socializing functions. It is true that everyone goes through a stage of shyness in their life, overcoming it is a different thing. When it becomes too much that it interrupts your daily life and relationships to the point where you are sick with worry, it is time to seek counsel. It is good to know the signs and symptoms of social anxiety disorder to be able to determine and treat this said condition before it worsens.

Social anxiety disorder sufferers always think that other people are more confident that they are, that other people are better than them. They feel uncomfortable being around people that it makes it difficult for them to eat, drink, work, asking questions, asking for dates, even going to the toilet, when other people are around.

Treatment
Fortunately for people with social phobia, a combination of treatments and therapies are available to help them get over this kind of anxiety disorder. Mental health professionals have been using a combination of talk therapy and medications to minimize, if not fully get rid of, the effects of having social anxiety disorder.
Different prescription drugs are being used to help people with social phobia. Certain anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications, and beta-blockers help sociophobes to balance certain brain chemicals and reduce instances of having panic attacks during periods of heightened anxiety.
Counseling, or talk therapy, helps people with social anxiety disorder by teaching them how to react to situations that trigger their anxiety. Therapists help patients confront their negative feelings about social situations and their fear of being judged. This helps patients understand how their thought patterns contribute to the symptoms of social phobia and gives than an idea on how to change the way they think to make the symptoms begin to lessen.
Being diagnosed as a sociophobe doesn't have to mean you have to stay as one. It is nothing to be ashamed of and should be tackled head on. After all, with the presence of advanced medicine and a good counselling session, you'll slowly be able to outgrow this mental condition and socialize and function normally within a group without being too anxious.

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Unlocking the Mysteries of Depression and Bipolar Disorder

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Unlocking the Mysteries of Depression and Bipolar DisorderBy: Monch Bravante

New measures are being explored to help patients with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, to cope with their crushing illness. Surprising options are being tested as possible treatments for this disorder, such as motion sickness patches, a drug used to treat Lou Gehrig's disease and a device that produces an electric field around the brain.
Bipolar disorder is a complex and mysterious illness characterized by severe mood swings, from mania to depression. A sufferer can experience periods of increased energy, over-activity, irritability and sometimes delusions during the manic phase, and low mood, reduced concentration, disturbed sleep and ideas of self-harm during the depressed state. This condition can ruin careers and split marriages apart. Extreme cases of depression can even drive desperate people to commit suicide.
Despite years of study, researchers have yet to develop a medication specifically for bipolar disorder. Anti-depression medicines currently sold in the market do help reduce symptoms, but often fall short of complete treatment.
Nothing is certain about the latest batch of possible treatments that includes even the breast cancer drug tamoxifen. Approaches were identified by logic, and others by pure chance. However, scientists already have early evidence that someday these treatments may prove useful against bipolar disorder.
Individuals having episodes of mania may experience periods of boosted energy and restlessness that can run for a week or more, resulting to sleeplessness as well as extreme irritability. During this episode, a person may exhibit unusual behavior, such as rage and promiscuity.
On the other hand, episodes of depression characterizes the other face of the bipolar coin, a period of boredom, sleepiness and lack of energy, which may last a week or more. Again, even thoughts of suicide may enter the picture.
Current bipolar treatments include a variety of drugs including lithium and other anticonvulsant and antipsychotic medications that can stabilize mood. Psychological therapy and patient education greatly boost the effectiveness of these drugs.
What makes bipolar disorder harder to treat is that its depressive episodes are more severe and more resistant to therapy than ordinary unipolar depression. Some current bipolar medications have side effects including weight gain, sleepiness, tremor, and the sense of feeling "drugged."
As in the case of lithium, the new batch of possible treatments for bipolar disorder have revealed their potential only by chance. Take the experience of National Institute of Mental Health researchers Maura Furey and Dr. Wayne Drevets with the drug scopolamine, which is normally used to keep people from getting seasick or carsick. When they were studying whether scopolamine could improve memory and attention in depressed people, they noticed an odd thing as the patients started feeling less depressed the night after the injections, a remarkable thing since most antidepressants take weeks to kick in.
In October 2006, after Drevets and Furey changed their research focus to test the drug's effect on depression itself, they published an encouraging, though preliminary, result with a small group of depressed patients, some of whom had been diagnosed bipolar disorder.
Furey is now leading a study using scopolamine skin patches --- like those that travelers wear to prevent motion sickness --- to treat depression in bipolar disorder as well as ordinary depression. For now, people shouldn't try patch treatment for depression on their own, she said.
A similar incident happened at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., in 2001 when depressed bipolar patients who were getting their brains scanned for a study on brain chemistry suddenly felt a lot better. And in 2004, they published their conclusion that the electric fields produced by the brain scans might help lift depression.
But not everything is being based on luck. Apart from luck, researchers have taken advantage of the few insights they have into bipolar disease to develop potential treatments. Scientists say the real key to unlocking the mysteries of bipolar disorder - and thereby open the way for the development of new drugs - lies in a new generation of research into DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, which could possibly be the key to discovering an effective treatment for bipolar disorder.

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Quarter Life Crisis: The Great Ambition Killer

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Quarter Life Crisis: The Great Ambition KillerBy: Abbey Grace Yap

Quarter life crisis is a common occurrence to people in the mid to late 20s. Young adults feel obsessively depressed about a lot of things. This ranges from physical, emotional, financial insecurities that they start facing once they enter the real world.

To a lot of these troubled young adults, it starts as a general feeling of having no sense of direction regarding where they want their lives to go. Most adults go through this after graduating college. This is the stage where they have to prove true every theory taught to them during their academic years. Many young men and women who are fresh graduates are idealistic in picking work at this stage of their lives. They feel a need to prove to others, most especially to themselves, that they are going to be able to apply everything they've learned from school on the job they've chosen.

Disappointments start setting in once they're rejected from their chosen jobs. Young people have a tendency to start sour-graping about jobs that are rejected them. This is a typical defense mechanism by young people to protect their broken ego. They either give excuses that the job that rejected them wasn't intellectually-stimulating enough, or that the compensation was not enough for their talents.

Emotional insecurities also come into play during quarter life crisis. Young adults start questioning themselves whether they're good enough to be with somebody. Some would start questioning their own identity and sexual preference. Some would start seeing every little thing as their fault and start blaming themselves for everything that goes wrong. Young adults who are unable to cope start getting into bouts of depression and eventually end up as recluses from society, afraid and always on guard.

Most people who experience quarter life crisis are often achievers as children. They tend to obsess at what they've achieved in the past, what they're doing in the present, and what they will be doing in the future. These people usually dwell on what they have been able to establish in the past, and wallow at the thought of how they can't seem to make the same accomplishments in the present. They start worrying if they'll ever be able to come back to the achiever they were before. They start doubting their ability to make their goals materialize.

Usually, young adults are able to pick up the pieces and start moving forward. They recover from whatever insecurities they may be feeling and start taking charge of their lives. Unfortunately, not everybody is strong enough to go back to riding the same horse that they fell from. Some people are simply unable to cope and just decide to stay on the ground and mourn over what's already lost. Some decide to stay in a state of denial and justify everything that's happened. Some will resort to taking medications to calm down or even forget.

A lot of mental health professionals suggest taking anti-depressants to help people who have been suffering from quarter life crisis for a long time already. Anti-depressants are medications commonly used as prescription for people suffering from depression. It is used to treat certain psychological conditions such as anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders and chronic pain. It is also commonly misused to generate a false sense of calm for people who think they're lives are worst that everybody else's. Of course, anti-depressants should only be used when it is prescribed by a trusted doctor as it may have side effects to your body in the long run.

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Music For The Restless Mind

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Music For The Restless MindBy: Abbey Grace Yap

The origin of music as of late has not yet been dated as it is said to have been existent long before recorded history. Historians say it may hav originated from naturally occuring sounds like the sound of thunder, or the rhythm of a flowing stream. Human music may have started from primitive men trying to mimic these sounds using patterns, repetition, and tonality. Even at present, certain cultures utilize music that imitate naturally occuring sounds. Apart from the usual bird song and animals tapping on hollowed logs to mark their territory, man's voice is said to be the first musical instrument.

Music, in the olden days, was said to have been used mainly for shamanistic practices and beliefs,. Apart from religious practices, it was also used for entertainment and/or practical functions. Music is present during times of feasts and festivities, it is used as a form of praise and worship. Men and women also used it to while away idle time. Hunters used music to lure animals right into their traps. Music has served a lot of function in primitive society.

Due to music's functionality to sharmanism, it was believed that music's main use was to be a means of communication to the spirit world. Primitive people believed that spirits of different beings: nature, animal, or men, play vital roles in human lives. People also used to believe that their physical well-being is connected to the spirit, that illnesses and diseases were related to an imbalance in the harmony of the body and soul. Shamans, or what we call witch doctors in present times, were the healers, gurus and magicians of their tribe. They are responsible for getting rid of illnesses by uttering chants, singing, dancing, meditating and drumming.

At present times, music is still being used as a form of therapy to provide stress relief and treat people with anxiety disorders among other mental conditions. It is more popularly known as music therapy. The form of therapy is at least as old as the writings of Aristotle. It was first administered during World War 1 and 2 where community musicians would visit hospitals to play for physically and emotionally traumatized soldiers. Simply put, music therapy is the use of music by a trained professional to achieve therapeutic goals. These therapeutic goals may include: promoting wellness, managing stress, alleviating pain, expressing feelings, enhancing memory, improving communication and promoting physical rehabilitation.

Recent studies have shown that listening to music during an anxiety attack can help calm the person down. This proves most efficient for patients experiencing anxiety prior to undergoing surgery. It is the most easily administered, inexpensive, non-invasive, non-threatening tool to calm preoperative anxiety.

Music is an incredibly powerful form of expression. It combines words and melodies to get messages across. Some songs may trigger different happy or sad memories in your mind. This is the strongest proof that music affects human emotions. Giving people with anxiety disorders a creative outlet such as music may be a good way for sufferers to, little by little, let out the source of their anxieties and alleviate patients' moods.

Healthy individuals may use music therapy as a form of stress relief through active music making. The exercise includes drumming and using the guitar to make sounds. The passive approach requires listening for relaxation. Music can also be used as accompaniment during exercise like calisthenics, yoga, or tai chi.

Music has also been proven helpful to improve memory and motor skills for children in special classes. This also helps strengthen children's non-musical functions such as their communication skills and physical coordination skills required for daily life.

Music has been very helpful for everyday living. From the primitive caveman to the modern scientists, everybody would agree in saying music is indeed the food for the soul, and in this therapy, for the mind and body as well.

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The writer, Abbey Grace Yap, is an active advocate for health consciousness and disease awareness. She possesses a deep passion in discovering new health-related information and sharing it to her readers.Choose Variety of High Quality Medicines at Online MedicinesEnjoyed Reading this article? More here: Pharmacy Articles

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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Basic Facts of Sociophobia

Unlocking the Mysteries of Depression and Bipolar Disorder

Quarter Life Crisis: The Great Ambition Killer

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Music For The Restless Mind

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