Popularizing Therapy

As I walked along a city street today, I was struck by the word “therapy” appearing atop two posters.

The headline on the first poster gleefully promoted “Heart Therapy”.  It was an advertisement for a juice beverage.

The headline on the second poster, located a half block away, proudly promoted “Couples Therapy”.  It was an advertisement for a new two-for-one deal at a fast food restaurant.

I see these commercial advertisements as part of a larger paradigm shift that’s popularizing therapy, making it more socially acceptable and, thus, dissolving social stigma that has inhibited so many from getting needed and beneficial professional help.

Emotional Health and Obesity

Headline in the Telegraph: Tackling emotional health ‘key to solving obesity crisis’

According to the Mayo clinic, 75% of Britons are overweight. According to Dr. Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, the problem is “even more serious than global warming.”  (Whoa! Really?)

U.K. Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced the Government’s plans for a “lifestyle revolution,” including a suggestion to pay overweight parents to walk their children to school. (Imagine the response to such a suggestion in the U.S.!)

Amazon offers more than 25,000 diet books (a fact that says more about our problems than it does about solution).

Dr. Waine says, “Individuals eat because they are unhappy, and unhappiness makes them eat. Until people have dealt with their emotional problems, they won’t lose weight, but many health and government professionals are happier to treat the end results, rather than the cause.”

According to author Deborah Bonser, “Being overweight is a symptom of what is wrong with our lives. We eat to take away emotional pain… If you don’t love yourself, it is easy to overeat. It is also a response to a bad relationship, both personal and at work. I believe that 70 percent of people who are overweight are emotional eaters and suffer from stress.”

Physician David Haslam, who specialises in treating obesity, says, “It is more likely to be the result of trauma and stress. When people are upset, they raid the fridge to take the emotion away.”

Although some disagree, a teacher insists that eating is an addiction: “It is much worse than any other addiction because food is legal and so easy to get hold of.”

What can we do?  Make emotional health a personal priority!

Original Source: telegraph.co.uk/health/3439724/Tackling-emotional-health-key-to-solving-obesity-crisis.html

Mind Over Matter

msnbc.com reports that if you change your mind, you might change your body, too.  According to the report published today, psychologists say our “self talk” or “internal dialogue” can make or break a fitness routine.

Gareth Dutton, a psychologist at Florida State University, is quoted as saying, “The thing that precedes your behavior is a thought, and we sometimes aren’t good at getting in touch with our thoughts. We’re on autopilot.”  Dutton says it is important to: 1) recognize how your thoughts are undermining your exercise plan, and 2) challenge the negative thinking.

Example of a negative thought: “I’ve missed a few workouts, so I might as well throw in the towel.”

Alternative: “I’ve temporarily fallen off the fitness wagon, but I can get back on. Why did I miss those workouts, and how can I avoid this happening next time? How can I change my schedule to make exercise fit in?”

Original Source: msnbc.msn.com/id/27598392/

Emotional Defense Mechanisms

Two days ago, Cox Newspapers published an article with the headline, “Emotional defense mechanisms can go awry“.  Hap LaCrone, a clinical psychologist in Texas, writes:

“Defense mechanisms are strategies or manners in which we behave or think to protect or “defend” ourselves from painful thoughts or feelings.  We all use them periodically in an attempt to deal with the world around us.

Utilizing these defenses appropriately can be useful and helpful.  However, all too often, their usefulness is extended beyond the boundaries of good mental health.”

Hap describes three defense mechanisms: rationalization, denial, and intellectualization.

Original Source: ajc.com/services/content/health/stories/2008/11/06/lecrone_emotional_defense.html

Archive of Dr. LaCrone’s columns: https://haplecrone.com/

Are you aware of your emotional defense mechanisms?  Have you thought about how your emotional defense mechanisms serve you – the ways they’re helpful and ways they’re not?

Healthy Aging

In Bangladesh, The Daily Star bills itself as “journalism without fear or favour.”  Here’s an excerpt of an article published today with the headline, “Towards a healthy aging”.

“Your mental and emotional health is important. Protect or improve your emotional health by staying in touch with friends, family, and the community. People who feel connected to others are more likely to thrive than those who are not. And try to keep stress at a minimum. Depression can be a serious problem for older adults. If you think you may be depressed, seek help from psychiatrist.”

“If you take good care of your body and learn positive ways to deal with stress now, you can slow down or even prevent problems that often come with getting older.”

Source: www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=62304 (Nov. 2008)

Free Crisis Counseling Services

Free crisis counseling services are available to residents in 34 Texas counties in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.  Disaster-related crisis counseling services are funded by FEMA and administered by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

In a related news item, the Associated Press reports that crisis counseling helps people understand that their emotional reactions to trauma are normal and helps them to develop coping techniques.  “Stress is a normal reaction to an abnormal event like the hurricane,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Sandy Coachman. “Everyone recovers in their own way and at their own pace, but talking to someone may help.”

State and federal recovery officials recommend that people:

  • take care of themselves physically,
  • share their feelings with others,
  • get enough sleep,
  • eat properly,
  • recognize their limits,
  • prioritize their time and
  • get involved with family and friends.

Original Source: www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_306154732.html

Depression and Pregnancy

Allie Montgomery writes for Health News: “Mothers-to-be who suffer from depression have been shown to have twice the risk of delivering a premature infant than pregnant women that have no symptoms of depression. This risk for premature infants increases as the symptoms of depression become more severe.”

“Premature birth is the leading medical expenditure for infants. It is estimated to cost the United States $26 billion dollars annually. Presently, other than previous history of premature births, and some complications during pregnancy, very little is known of the origins and risk factors contributing to premature delivery.”

Source link no longer works:  http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/pregnancy-childbirth-parenting/depression-during-pregnancy-can-double-risk-premature-birth-199

Mental Health Issues and Presidential Candidates

The politically-conservative “Common Sense Government Blog” has published a compilation of information regarding mental health issues and U.S. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

“McCain has voted against mental health parity and, in his health care plan on his website, makes no mention of mental health as an issue.”

“Obama specifically includes mental health care in his health care plan. It states: Improve Mental Health Care. Mental illness affects approximately one in five American families. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that untreated mental illnesses cost the U.S. more than $100 billion per year. As president, Obama will support mental health parity so that coverage for serious mental illnesses are provided on the same terms and conditions as other illnesses and diseases.”

Original Source: realwebmarketing.typepad.com/common_sense_government_b/2008/10/mental-health-issues-and-the-presidential-candidates.html

Older Adults and Suicide

Cynthia Hubert for the Sacramento Bee: “When teenagers or younger adults take their own lives, the losses trigger society’s alarm bells. But it is older people, particularly men 65 and older, who have the highest rate of suicide of any age group.”

During the past decade, statistics show, older people have consistently had the highest rate of suicide in the country

“This is a generation of people who were raised not to ask for help when they are in emotional pain,” said Marilyn Koenig, founder of Friends for Survival of Sacramento, part of a national outreach program for those who have lost someone to suicide. “So this is their way out. But nobody wants their elderly parent or grandparent or spouse to die this way.”

Older people attempt suicide less often than those in other age groups but are more often successful, according to Patrick Arbore, director and founder of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention in San Francisco.

In all age groups, including 65 and older, men are far more likely than women to commit suicide, and white men have the highest numbers of all.

As of this writing, 33 comments have been added to the article.

Original Source: www.sacbee.com/296/story/1326955.html

NOTE: Patrick Arbore, who turned a one-man suicide help line into the renowned Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief Counseling at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco, died on May 27, 2023. The cause of death was cancer. Arbore was 75.

Student Health and Academic Success

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found a clear connection between student health and academic success. They matched grade point averages with typical health problems for nearly 10,000 Minnesota college students.

What affects grades the most?  Stress!  Students who reported eight or more emotional stresses – anything from failing a class to credit card debt to a conflict with parents – had an average GPA of 2.72. Those who said they had no significant stress reported an average GPA of 3.3.

Those who said they could effectively manage stress performed much better than those who said they couldn’t. That’s an important finding because it might persuade colleges to provide students with the resources they need to learn how to manage stress, according to the author of the study.

Original Source: startribune.com/lifestyle/health/31261604.html