


Archive for January, 2011
 
Just recently, Zindel Segal, PhD and his colleagues found that taking a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) 8-week course was equally as effective in protecting against relapse in depression as taking medication. This has indications for people looking to come off their medications in a safer way, but we need to stay connected to the practices to continue to grow and maintain the gains.Â
I’ve been teaching MBCT for a number of years now because my own experience tells me of the benefits of practicing mindfulness to come down from a story telling mind and ground back into the reality of the present moment. With depression it’s a natural fit as part of the depressive cycle is getting caught in convincing and believable stories of the mind that “nothing’s going to change, I can’t help myself, and no one can help me,†closing the doorway to hope.Â
Add in some cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that helps take behavioral action when we notice the triggers to relapse and you have a very good formula for stopping that cycle and taking action toward greater health and well-being.
Now, here’s the critical element we need to be aware of.Â
People think they can take MBCT and after 8 weeks have the tools to guard against relapse into depression. While that may be true, the brain has a strong inclination to fall back into old patterns, leaving us ready to the adage, “out of sight out of mind.â€
Read in Full:Â http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41415&cn=5

 
An acquaintance of mine told the horrifying story of a friend with whom she went to a New Years Eve party. Everyone drank a lot and when the friend decided to go home, no one gave it a thought because she was walking home. Whether she tripped and fell, or, passed out from the alcohol is not know except that she was found dead the next day. She froze to death on the street before anyone found her.
Incredibly, it is not only drinking and driving that are dangerous, but drinking and walking are as well according to trauma surgeon Dr. Thomas Esposito at Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Ill.
 A journal called Injury Prevention “reported that New Year’s Day is more deadly for pedestrians than any other day of the year. From 1986 to 2002, 410 pedestrians were killed on New Year’s Day. Fifty-eight percent of those killed had high blood alcohol concentrations.”
Alcohol slows reflexes, damages judgment, and impairs coordination and balance. All of these factors make walking after drinking dangerous at home just as well as outside. At home, people fall on stairs, trip over furniture, get into arguments that sometimes become violent and manage to suffer fractures, burns and other injuries. Recent studies show that residents in nursing and senior residences also suffer severe injuries as a result of drinking and walking. In addition, aging brings about an increase in alcohol consumption for many people with the result that older people who drink are at risk along with those in nursing homes.
It is time to raise awareness of this problems. Preventive measures can be taken to avoid injuries and deaths. For example, during the holidays, when many people expect to drink at parties, wear light colored clothes so that drivers can more easily see you when you cross the streets. Remember to cross at corners and not in the middle of the street. Others at a party need to walk people home if they have been drinking, just as drivers leaving a party are driven home. At home, family members need to take care of anyone who is drinking to prevent accidental fractures and head injuries.
Read in Full:Â http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41414&cn=14
 
13 December 2010 Last updated at 18:44
A fund which supports more than 21,000 people with severe disabilities is to be phased out by 2015.
The £359m Independent Living Fund pays out an average of £300 a week, to help people pay for carers so they can live at home and not in a care home.
It was already shut to new applicants for this year and will now shut to new claims permanently, said the minister for disabled people, Maria Miller.
Payments to existing users are to continue until 2015.
Ms Miller said: “An independent discretionary trust delivering social care is financially unsustainable.”
But Richard Hawkes, chief executive of disability charity Scope, said the decision to phase out the fund was “bemusing”.
“The fund is comparatively very small and is designed to support disabled people to live at home rather than in care homes,” he said.
“It’s hard to see how phasing out this fund will do anything but narrow down options and push people towards greater dependence on the state.”
The phased closure was described as “foolhardy and lacking in humanity” by Labour peer Lord Morris of Manchester.
Lord Morris, who was the first minister for the disabled, said: “This will not save money. If you make it harder for disabled people to live at home, it will cost more because more of them will have to be in hospitals and other places of full-time care.
“It will mean far more of them having to be in institutional care at far greater cost to the taxpayer.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11985568
 
Palin hopes The King’s Speech will help stammer sufferers
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Sunday, December 12 12:36 pm
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Monty Python star Michael Palin hopes new movie The King’s Speech will help real-life stammer sufferers by highlighting the devastating effects of a speech impediment.
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The veteran funnyman’s father, Edward, spent years battling a stammer and never overcame his speech problems.
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And Palin, who played a man with a stammer in A Fish Called Wanda, hopes Colin Firth’s portrayal of stuttering monarch King George VI will raise awareness of the condition.
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He says, I think (the film) could make an enormous difference because it’s very important to see people with stammers as just the same as anyone else. They laugh the same, they cry the same, one just has the slight problem of speaking fluently.
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“It’s very important to show that a stammer isn’t just a comedy vocal touch (and that) stammerers are no different from anybody else.
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“My father never recovered from it. It was quite severe, and we just took it for granted, that was the way he was and we couldn’t do anything about it.”
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Source:Â
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/1/20101212/ten-palin-hopes-the-king-s-speech-will-h-c60bd6d.html
 
King’s Speech reigns at British Independent Film awardsÂ
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Colin Firth’s latest film, The King’s Speech, has won five prizes at the British Independent Film Awards.
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The period drama, which earned him the best actor prize for his role as the stammering King George VI, also won best British independent film.
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Carey Mulligan won the award for best actress for her role in the big-screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-seller, Never Let Me Go.
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Both films will be released in the UK early next year.
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Firth called The King’s Speech “an improbable story about people who could have been consigned to the footnotes of history, and nobody’s told it before.
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“It was taken as a risk – somebody found the money – and I think it will pay off.”
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The film also took best supporting actor honours for Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, with an additional prize going to screenwriter David Seidler.
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Yet Firth, who is attracting Oscar buzz for his role, refused to speculate on its chances during awards season.
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“It could end tonight,” he said. “It’s already punched above its weight.
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“It already got noticed at the festivals, it’s funnier than we thought, it has the capacity to make people cry.
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“I can’t project myself into glories that aren’t in place yet.”
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Bonham Carter admitted she was “slightly apprehensive” about the attention surrounding the film.
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“There’s so much hype, I just hope people don’t get immensely disappointed and resent it deeply when they see it,” she told the BBC.
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The awards, known as the Bifas, were hosted by actor James Nesbitt and took place at Old Billingsgate Market in London.

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Bonham Carter was also presented with the Richard Harris award for outstanding contribution by an actor to British film.
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Elsewhere actor Liam Neeson received an award from variety magazine for his part in focusing the international spotlight on Britain.
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Monster success
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Carey Mulligan, Oscar nominated for last year’s An Education, said she hadn’t expected to win for Never Let Me Go.
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She admitted she had told her mother to stay at home instead of joining her at the ceremony, as she had done last year.
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“Now I regret that,” Mulligan said.
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“But it’s at home in London where I grew up, and to have a platform to talk about our small independent films is amazing.”
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Newcomer Gareth Edwards beat veteran Mike Leigh in the best director category for his low-budget film Monsters, which opened in UK cinemas this weekend.
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Monsters also won awards for best achievement in production and best visual effects, created by Edwards on a computer in his bedroom.
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“I always wanted to make a monster movie,” said Edwards.
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“With my background in digital effects, I felt like an alien invasion and giant monsters weren’t out of the question.”
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Yet he admitted feeling uncomfortable about beating the likes of Leigh, The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn.
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“I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone when I walked up there,” he said.
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Read in Full:Â
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The Time When Robert Gagno Was Mistaken for John Travolta’s Son
Back in 1989, Robert’s mom Kathy kept hearing radio ads promoting a casting call for baby boys with blond hair and blue eyes, an apt description of her youngest son. Having spent a couple weeks with Kathy, I can attest to the fact that she’s nothing like one of those childhood-destroying stage moms you might see on TLC. What she is, however, is intensely curious about a lot of different things, including film, so she figured there was no harm in taking Robert to the audition.
Read in Full:Â http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/12/why_robert_gagnos_15_minutes_b.php
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written by: Jeffrey Wolf  Kevin TorresÂ
9 December, 2010
DENVER – A special-needs teacher is on paid administrative leave while Denver Police investigate a possible case of child abuse. The teacher is accused of scratching a 5-year-old student across his face.
9NEWS is not naming the teacher because she has not been charged. The boy’s family is urging the district and police for a harsher punishment than paid leave.
The incident allegedly happened Tuesday at Doull Elementary School in the Denver Public School District.
Zach Gallegos says his son Isiah can get out of hand, but only because he is a special-needs child.
“She [the teacher] said that she had repeatedly asked him once, twice and then on the third or fourth time she said she grabbed Isiah by his face and when she grabbed him by the face he kind of turned and got scratched,” Gallegos said.
According to Gallegos, the teacher failed to notify the principal of what happened. Instead, he says she went directly to Isiah’s mom and eventually to him. Wednesday morning, they all sat down with the assistant principal.
“We are deeply concerned about this incident. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave, and both Doull Elementary and DPS are working closely with the Denver Police Department during the investigation,” Kristy Armstrong with Denver Public Schools said.
Read in Full:Â http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=168776&catid=339
Jan
22
 
Stephen Neary is a 20 year old autistic man who has been denied the right to return home to his father in London by so-called ‘professionals’ for almost a year. His father merely required 3 days’ respite due to having flu. Stephen’s communication style of tapping a person on the shoulder to garner their attention was seized upon as an ‘assault’, branded challenging behaviour, and used to deny him his freedom. If you feel as strongly as I and 6000 or so others do on this matter, please join us in signing the petition and/or writing to your local newspapers, blogging etc on this important matter.Â
Learn More:Â http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/the-orwellian-present-%E2%80%93-never-mind-the-future/
To Sign the Petition:Â http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?Steven
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Article Date: 09 Dec 2010 – 4:00 PST
With the holiday season in full swing, many people find themselves battling a form of the “holiday blues.” According to Ronald M. Podell, M.D., a Los Angeles based, board certified psychiatrist who served over 20 years as a clinical faculty member at UCLA, a host of factors produce this well-known phenomenon.
What are the underlying causes, symptoms, and valid treatment options for this syndrome? According to Dr. Podell, who authored the book Contagious Emotions Staying Well When Your Loved One Is Depressed, there are two different kinds of holiday blues. The first affects those who are alone. These individuals have no nearby relatives or are estranged from their families. They may be new to a community or their friends may lead extremely busy lives or are visiting relatives for the holiday. Internally, they feel isolated and abandoned. The holidays blues hits them hard as they feel singled out and terribly alone. They often wonder if they are unlikeable or emotionally disturbed. The second form, Podell states, “comes from forced reunions with family during the holidays. Such ambivalent reunions often relive the same dysfunctional family relationships that have been operating for decades.”
“When we are young,” Podell explains, “the emotions of traumatic experiences are coded by the brain into neuro-chemical messages and stored in memory nodes. They become a permanent part of the brain–an example of the plasticity of brain function the brain’s ability to be permanently changed by experience. When something happens that awakens that trauma, whether it is actual or merely symbolic, the memory node is stimulated and the neuro-chemical messages are released.” A person then re-experiences the same emotions that came from the childhood trauma–and the blues set in. The feelings are those of a hurt child and were likely experienced with the same family he now finds himself visiting as an adult.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210777.php
 
Cash Still Tight Around the Holidays? A 3 Step Solution
The unemployment rate edged up to 9.8% in November of 2011. Millions of Americans are still without jobs and many more have been living with some form of pay cut. Many are still facing a harsh financial reality and it can be challenging to stomach. Not being able to afford the gifts we used to buy or the trips we used to take may trigger feelings of shame and guilt, especially if we have kids.
During the course of history, it’s been the case that recessions come and go. While the government tells us that the recession is over, many are still feeling it quite acutely and need to tighten belts, so to speak, and often times change spending habits, not fulfilling the material desires quite so much. During this time it is a mental health practice to give ourselves permission to scale back, understanding the reality of the situation, not just for you, but for millions of people. Although this “past” recession may be hitting us on a personal level, it’s important to understand that we are not alone, that many others are in the same boat.
Read in Full:Â http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41328&cn=117
 
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — Children exposed to Jalan Sesama, an Indonesian version of the children’s television show Sesame Street, had improved educational skills and healthy development, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Over a 14-week period, the children who had the greatest exposure to Jalan Sesama improved significantly in literacy, mathematics, early cognitive skills, safety knowledge and social awareness, compared to those with no or low exposure to the program. The study is available online in advance of publication in the International Journal of Behavioral Development.
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“I was amazed with how much television young children in Indonesia watch,” said Dina L.G. Borzekowski, EdD, the study’s lead author and associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society. She continued, “Mostly the shows children were seeing were of adult nature or dubbed episodes of Sponge Bob Squarepants and Scooby-Doo. In contrast, Jalan Sesama was created in Indonesia for Indonesian children. With this study, we present evidence that when a culturally and age-appropriate show is offered, it can change the lives of preschoolers. Our data show that 4, 5, and 6 year olds learned important and healthy messages.”
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Jalan Sesama is produced by the Sesame Workshop with funding from the United States Agency for International Development. The program uses live action, puppetry (traditional and new), and animation to deliver relevant lessons on literacy, mathematics, safety, culture, environment and other subjects. Among the special MuppetsTM made for this specific show are Jabrik, a problem-solving and creative white rhino and Tantan, an environmentally-conscious orangutan.
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Article Date: 09 Dec 2010 – 3:00 PST
A group of researchers from the Universities of Bari and Rome in Italy studied the reading and writing abilities of 33 Italian dyslexic children, comparing their performance with that of children with normal reading ability. Italian is an “orthographically transparent” language, meaning that letters tend to correspond to the same sounds, whereas many letters in the English alphabet change their sound from word to word (like the “c” in car and city). However, the new study showed that even in Italian, in which it is relatively straightforward to convert sounds into letters, children still have difficulties in spelling. Y
Younger children with dyslexia generally performed worse than proficient readers; however, the older ones showed a more selective impairment when spelling words, suggesting that knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought.

