Does Religion Have an Image Problem? What's going on in hearts and minds may provide the answer

A wonderful read from Psychology today

Post published by Russ Gerber on Jul 09, 2015 in Our Health

Old friends from my post-college, early-career days recently found me through social media. Their name and greeting popped up in messages I received in recent months, and each time one did I was whisked back 25-30 years, when we first worked together, socialized together, and came to know each other well. I then discovered just how much has changed over the years when I saw a recent photo they attached, or heard about their children and grandchildren, and especially when I found out a few of them now have a strong interest in spiritual and religious matters. That recurring comment was a big surprise. Not because any of my friends had openly dismissed religion when I first knew them; it just never came up in all the years we knew each other. Not a hint. Ever.
But their interest now in living a more spiritual life was unexpected news for another reason. It is taking place in a world that we’re told is witnessing the twilight of religion.
Survey statistics in the U.S. point to a significant rise in the religious unaffiliated. Commentators who piggyback on the data refer to religion’s uncertain future and an increasingly secular society. Then there’s the age-old theme of religion’s irrelevance and demise as recently argued (sometimes angrily) by people who’ve spent much of their lives declaring that we live in a godless universe.

My friends don’t see it that way. Nobody was telling them that they had to be more spiritually minded. I found they simply, naturally wanted to be more selfless, feel more secure, be less materialistic, be a lot happier and healthier, and they found the path that most directly got them there was spiritual. Voices whispering (or shouting) for having a similar quality of life while going in the opposite direction made no sense to them.
Thinking of those friends today -- what’s important to them now, what they’re pursuing and caring about -- doesn’t match what I remember about them from decades ago. From today’s perspective I would use different terms, different values, and point to different motives to describe them. Spiritual is a word I’d use, no doubt, but it wasn’t a word I would have used to describe them back then.
What’s changed? I suppose there’s a long list of factors – maturity, education, parenthood (and grandparenthood), life-experiences (mine as well as theirs). But I think there’s more to it than that. I see a more spiritual nature emerging. For some it comes through as having more patience at a time when they used to be always on the rush. For others it’s letting go of some longstanding grudges and being forgiving. Others may be resolved to support a worthy cause they ignored in the past. Still others have grown to be devoted Christians, and take seriously their role and opportunity to heal suffering in society.
Such changes in people’s lives are often subtle, so faint they might go unnoticed for awhile. But over time they add up to a transformation of character. A brighter outlook on life. The sense of discovering a buoyant, more genuine identity and realizing that the old way of seeing themselves was superficial and is becoming a thing of the past.
Some people of an anti-religion sentiment flat out deny the possibility that this character transformation could be the result of a divine influence in operation, an indication that spirituality and goodness are in fact present and, like the first signs of light in the morning, revealing more of one’s true nature.
But others are open to considering what motivates people to discover and assimilate a higher nature. Spiritual rather than material causation seems, to many of them, to be at the root of this awakening, and it’s the kind of refreshing and illuminating change they want to experience more of.
Do these few examples of a growing interest in religion call into question the larger trend-data from recent surveys? Not necessarily. They remind me that while the tendency might be to buy-in to the popular perception that religion’s influence is diminishing, that’s not the full picture.
When experiences like those of my friends and others come into notice, it’s apparent there’s much more going on below the surface-image. We shouldn’t underestimate the spiritual influence that’s quietly changing hearts and minds and what that has the potential to do. People who see themselves in a new light are then likely to see and treat others in a new way.
Although you’ll not find the word religion used anywhere in the Old Testament of the Bible, there’s no shortage of references to light. Still, you can’t help feeling, from the first verses in Genesis, that the light that comes from God - that God saw as good and that extinguishes darkness - is what religion, at its best, was meant to guide us to. It’s the illumination in human consciousness that comes with spiritual discoveries.
Some might see only glimmers of that light these days and conclude we’re heading into twilight. Others, like my friends, see such glimmers and have a different impression. They’re convinced something profoundly good is going on. It’s the beginning of a new day

Anger management techniques

Most of us are often faced with stressful situation that we may not realize at times it provokes our anger. After a couple of weeks of researching about anger management techniques I have found some few information to ponder on.While you might feel that you just explode into anger without warning, in fact, there are physical warning signs in your body. This causes the “fight or flight” system of the body whereby the more angrier you get, the more your body goes into overdrive. Anger can range in intensity from mild irritation to extreme rage (Psychologytoday.com). Some of these anger management techniques have been applied to patients who are often faced with anger. Before that look at some of the pictures on how do we look when we get angry. Does it seems to be a beautiful appearance?

Angry people are often unconscious of their own emotions and often act without thinking or evaluating a situation. By becoming angry, you often externalize your anger to people and this often destroys your relationship with others and possibly reducing the social network that you have. However, few steps could reduce the possibilities of you getting angry. Below are some few steps that could be taken 1. Identify what generally triggers your anger You may think that external things—the insensitive actions of other people, for example, or frustrating situations—are what cause your anger. Example, by overgeneralizing a situation this could lead to anger 2. Remove yourself or avoid situation that could provoke your anger. Example, when you are generally faced with this type of stressful situation try to find a quiet place that you can just calm yourself down or come out from the house if there is a fight situation going on 3. Relaxation exercises Example : breathing exercise and listening to soothing melodies could help 4. Evaluate or list down the events that causes your anger and how do you deal with it 5. Pausing . This is what you want to do when you feel angry: you want to pause, even if just for a couple of seconds, before you say or do anything. When we pause, we are allowing ourselves to respond appropriately to a situation, rather than reacting and doing something that we might regret later. 6. Seek for further counselling

Fishing for memories

Finally after nearly one 1 year I had this precious time to update my blog. I have not logged onto blogger to type properly in a long long time. Most of my previous entries in the last couple of months were generally shared from psychology web sites and articles. Last 2 weeks has been a busy week for me as my internship just started in psychology department of a hospital and so do my part time working on Saturdays and Sundays in a language centre. I must say that these 2 weeks I have learned so much from 2 different places whereby it has taught me a lot about dealing with people . Amazingly I've met some wonderful new friends and build up my social network as well. Furthermore, I've come to realize that time is really precious whereby every single seconds matters a lot despite you are busy with so many task to do. As the saying goes " Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time". I've always loved this quote somehow it has inspired me over these years to value time. I've believed that God has a better plan for us and wants us to do our best despite the struggle that we go through because it's his plan for us. I believe in the power of determination that anything which drives you to push yourself will benefit you in the future. Wonderfully, I've came across some amazing psychology good reads.

The author of this book has incorporated some of the emotional distress that people most likely to go through from various perspectives and culture. At the same time, ways to deal with their feelings and emotions. Is a good book for practioners and lecturers or even those who are not practicing in psychology because this book has less technical terms that may confuse people. Grab this book if you can :) Signing off for now.

Left handedness higher among those suffering from psychosis?

Source : Sage Publications

Researchers have long studied the connections between hand dominance and different aspects of the human brain. A new study out today in SAGE Open finds that among those with mental illnesses, left-handers are more likely to suffer from psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia than mood disorders. "Our results show a strikingly higher prevalence of left-handedness among patients presenting with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, compared to patients presenting for mood symptoms such as depression or bipolar disorder," wrote the authors. Authors Jadon R. Webb, et. al examined 107 individuals from a public psychiatric clinic seeking treatment in an urban, low-income community and determined the frequency of left-handedness within the group of patients identified with different types of mental disorders. They found that 11% of those diagnosed with mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder were left-handed, which is similar to the rate in the general population, however, 40% of those with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were left-handed. The authors discussed additional factors that might be tied to the connection between schizophrenia and left-handedness such the variation of brain lateralization, scholastic achievement or race. "Our own data showed that whites with psychotic illness were more likely to be left-handed than black patients," the authors wrote. "Even after controlling for this, however, a large difference between psychotic and mood disorder patients remained." Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by SAGE Publications. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Benefits of Pets in Rehabilitation after Brain Injury

After Brain Injury: The Power of Pets in Rehabilitation Assistance animals and family pets make great rehab coaches. Published on March 26, 2012 by Janet M. Cromer, R.N., L.M.H.C. in Professor Cromer Learns to Read Want a rehabilitation partner who offers unconditional love, acceptance, and motivation? Get a dog! Highly trained assistance, therapy, and service dogs have been in the news as companions for wounded service members, autistic children, and disabled adults. Melissa Fay Greene's powerful story, "Wonder Dog," in The New York Times followed the Winokur family as they integrated Chancer the golden retriever into their family to help their son Iyal. Chancer was custom trained by the wonderful nonprofit corporation 4 Paws for Ability to attach to Iyal and help him reduce the fearsome rages that resulted from fetal alcohol syndrome. See All Stories In The Pet Payoff Oh, the many benefits of furry friends. Find a Therapist Search for a mental health professional near you. Find Local: Acupuncturists Chiropractors Massage Therapists Dentists and more! Therapy dogs help wounded service members stick with occupational therapy, calm the intrusive images of PTSD, and navigate with prosthetic legs. Family pets have their own valuable role in helping a person recover after brain injury. When my husband Alan suffered a severe anoxic brain injury following a heart attack and cardiac arrest, our dog Molly became his steadfast rehab partner and constant companion. Molly the rehab coach Alan was hospitalized for four months of intensive medical treatment and brain injury rehab. When he came home, he was just starting to regain his abilities to read, write, walk, speak, and remember. He struggled to relearn all the self-care activities we take for granted, including organizing his morning routine, and following through on a task. Apraxia, the inability to perform complex motor movements due to memory loss, made it harder to put clothes on in the right order. Alan talked to Molly all day. One morning I called upstairs to Alan, "Honey, put your clothes on and come downstairs for breakfast." As I flipped pancakes in the kitchen I heard Alan conferring with Molly. "Molly, did you hear what Janet just told me to do?" he said. "Well, that's not easy you know. First you have to put on socks and make sure they match. You have to get your shoes on the right feet, but not until your pants are on. And hold the railing so you don't fall down the stairs." On and on he went, as Molly sat attentively by with her head cocked to hear every word. Alan was right about the complexity of the task. Getting dressed activated several areas of his brain. The instruction was processed in the parietal lobe and sequenced in the temporal lobe. His working memory kicked in as he sequenced his clothes, and walking down the stairs required motor skills controlled by the cerebellum. By talking to Molly, Alan learned to cue himself. They both showed up for breakfast with brains in high gear. Molly the psychotherapist Molly was also gave Alan an enormous amount of emotional support. When he felt anxious, he talked it over with Molly. When I returned from a quick errand, Alan said, "Molly was worried, but I wasn't. I told her you said you'd be back in 20 minutes. I told her we'd be safe." A few weeks after Alan came home, he fell into the throes of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by all of the trauma, pain, and loss he'd experienced. For several nights, Alan sat bolt upright in the bed, hyperventilating and screaming, "They're trying to kill me, they're choking me!" His eyes were as large as saucers, and sweat soaked his body. Alan had been resuscitated for almost one hour, intubated and on a ventilator, and forcibly restrained many times during his early recovery. Now his body and mind were paying for those experiences. If I had not been a psychiatric RN, I might not have recognized Alan's night terrors as PTSD. Each time it happened, I put the lights on, sat him on the edge of the bed with his feet on the floor, and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. I said gently, "You're OK, Alan. You're safe in our home. I'm here with you. Take a breath. Nothing bad can happen to you." I stroked his back softly until he became oriented and calmed down. An extra dose of anti-anxiety medication helped him get back to sleep. During this time period, Molly slept at the foot of our bed. One night we were awakened by Molly yipping and flailing around in a dream. I asked, "Alan, do you want me to put Molly on the floor so you can sleep?" He said, "Oh no! This is what I do for my dog. You watch." Alan lifted Molly on to his lap and stroked her fur, and said, "You're OK, Molly. Daddy's here. Nothing bad is going to happen to you." When Molly was alert and calm, Alan gently moved her to her spot on the bed. "See, that's how I take care of my dog," he said as he dozed off. By soothing Molly in the same way I soothed him, Alan also learned how to soothe himself. We used several approaches to treat Alan's PTSD (more in future posts), but Molly was an irreplaceable part of the treatment. Molly the personal trainer Molly also featured prominently in Alan's goals. One of the first goals he set was to be able to walk Molly safely by himself. First, we worked on crossing the street to the local park and finding his way home. When he mastered that, he and Molly became walking pals. Each time Alan bent down to fasten her harness, he asked, "Do you trust me, Molly?" Do you feel safe with me?" Her wagging tail signaled assent, so off they went. They both enjoyed the exercise and stimulation of their walks. Molly contributed to Alan's healing process in multiple ways that only a devoted and intuitive dog could. For more information: 4 Paws for Ability Assistance Dogs International, Inc. Resources for veterans seeking service dogs Pennys from Heaven Janet Cromer, author of Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple's New Life after Brain Injury, speaks nationally on compassion fatigue, brain injury and family caregiver issues. Visit www.janetcromer.com.

physiotherapy for migraine

Are Opiods safe?

Are Opioids Safe?
Charles E. Argoff, MD
Authors and Disclosures
Posted: 01/28/2011

Hi. I am Dr. Charles Argoff, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Comprehensive Pain Center at Albany Medical College and Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York. I would like to talk briefly about, although it is a huge topic, the near crisis (if not actual crisis) we face right now in grappling with the issue of opioid prescribing.

The Opioid Prescribing Crisis

Currently, and over many years, we have learned and appreciated that opioid analgesics (sometimes referred to, unfortunately, as "narcotics," but still opioid analgesics) can be a very effective component in treatment for individuals with moderate to severe pain. We often see the benefits in individuals who have acute pain and pain of a shorter duration that benefits from a short-term treatment with opioids. Where the crisis has emerged is: can we manage individuals safely on long-term opioids? And if so, how can we do so?

Unintentional Deaths From Using "As Prescribed"

Over the last few decades, the cancer pain community has showed us that there is a role for using opioids in pain management. We have been trying to learn the most effective way of using this class of medication in the treatment of chronic pain. Several issues have emerged: first, unfortunately, we have learned that as more opioids have been prescribed, we have seen almost a proportional increase in the number of unintentional deaths associated with use of those agents. There has been much clamor in terms of safety about the number of individuals who, even when they were supposedly taking their medication as prescribed, succumbed to the effects of the medications.

So we are not talking about people who are misusing, diverting, or obtaining multiple prescriptions. We are talking about patients who have been using their medications (to the best of anyone's ability to determine this) "as prescribed," but this medication use resulted in unintentional death.

Right now, it is one of the leading causes of death in certain age groups, and it is a huge problem. Why is it a huge problem? Obviously, it is a huge problem because death from the inappropriate use of medication is never acceptable and can be prevented. But even more so, it presents tremendous challenges not only to the pain specialists, the neurologists, and the anesthesiologists doing pain management, but also to every single prescriber in this country.

Safe Prescribing Tips

Opioids are an important class of medication used in the treatment of acute and chronic pain. We need to learn how to use these drugs as safely as possible. I'd like to highlight a couple of issues because opioids are effective for some but not all people, and they need to be used as safely as possible.

Individualize treatment. First, when you treat somebody with an opioid (and when you treat someone with any class of medication), keep in mind that it is a class of medication; it's not the be all and end all. There are people in whom opioids will either not be well tolerated or will not be effective alone. The expectation is not that you will say, "here's a prescription and that's all we're going to do for you." You need to individualize the treatment plan for each patient using opioids as a component.

If it's an expected duration of pain that is only going to be a few weeks, such as after a severe back sprain or other injury, then that patient should only be given enough medication to last that 2-week period. A return for follow-up should be arranged either in person or by phone so that you, as the prescriber, know what has happened to that person and whether that person needs additional treatment or additional evaluation.

Rational prescribing. All too often, children (adolescents) are getting prescriptions for hydrocodone/acetaminophen combinations after having their wisdom teeth extracted for 60 or 120 pills. Who would imagine that you would need a month's supply of this kind of medication for a simple tooth extraction? Yet this is happening. It happened in 2 circumstances that I am close to, including my own daughter when she had her wisdom teeth extracted. This is crazy; that's not exactly the best way to use an opioid. You should prescribe the smallest amount that the patient might need.

Get a diagnosis. If you are treating someone with acute or chronic pain, you need to have a diagnosis. What am I treating? As you are developing a treatment plan, which may or may not include opioids, you need to do the appropriate testing to evaluate that person. You also need to know if the person in front of you has a history of problems using opioids. That's not to say that you would never use opioids in a patient who may be problematic, but you certainly would use them with much greater monitoring. Keep in mind that unintentional deaths have occurred in people who have never been shown to have any issues.

Consider long-acting preparations. It's very important to consider: what type of opioid am I giving to this patient who is using it long-term? It cannot be said that longer duration of action or longer-acting opioids are superior with respect to pain relief, compared with shorter-acting opioids, but we can say that longer-acting opioids have fewer pills, a potential benefit of not having highs and lows in terms of blood levels, so they are not reinforcing potential addictive behaviors towards the medication and may be less problematic in trying to control someone's pain in a more stable manner.

Currently, many long-acting opioids have doses that are small enough that you can start the patient with a long-acting agent, as opposed to what has been taught in the past, which was that you should start patients on a short-acting regimen and switch them. It's much easier to get them on the right preparation as early as possible.

Multimodal therapy. Opioids are a class of medications that may be helpful for many, but not for all, patients with moderate to severe pain. When they are used, they should almost always be considered a part of a multidisciplinary or multimodal treatment for that person, especially in the treatment of chronic pain. Opioids are time-limited -- you need to monitor the patient's clinical response by seeing that patient, by following that patient, by finding out -- is the patient still using the medication? Should other treatments be considered? Is this person using the medication properly?

Opioid monitoring. This brings us to a point that I have not emphasized enough yet, which is monitoring the patient. Random urine drug screening may be important, even before you ever prescribe. If this patient tells you, "no, I don't use this, no, I've never used that," but you do a random drug screen before you prescribe and find that there happens to be opioid or cocaine metabolites or some other substance in the urine that the patient never told you about, obviously that's an important piece of history that you want to know before you prescribe to that person. Very often, people who are recreational drug users will not think that what they do is inappropriate, or they may just do it and not tell you what they do, and it's important to know to whom you're prescribing to maximize benefit and maximize safety.

Longer-acting opioids for chronic pain are preferred over shorter-acting opioids because of their ability to provide smoother, more stable blood levels of the medication. That may not necessarily improve pain relief, but it will be better for that person overall and is likely to be safer for that person.

Tamper-proof products. There are many new products, 2 of which are already available and others that are in development, that have significant enhancements in their ability to prevent crushing or changing the manner in which the drug can be used. Although that won't help everyone -- there are those who will just take a handful of pills at a time; it won't deter that kind of behavior -- it will help the person who has been crushing the medication for a use other than the medical purpose of an opioid. It will help that person not succumb to that behavior -- the less crushable the pill is, the harder it is for the drug to be misused in that form.

We really want to be able to have access to this class of medications. At the same time, an enormously important feature of prescribing opioids is prescribing them as safely and as rationally as possible.

Thank you very much.

Shoulder exercises

Acute Care Handbook for Physical Therapists

This book surpasses its goals and objectives by providing not only valuable information but facilitating critical thinking as well... this book provides essential information for practitioners in the complex acute care environment...

A variety of qualified clinicians and professors serve as chapter authors. Each chapter includes medical management, relevant pathophysiology, the pharmacology of typically prescribed drugs, and physical therapy intervention. The authors incorporate concise material drawn from credible sources, including citations from current research.

The text is very user friendly. The extensive use of tables and illustrations allows the reader to rapidly access important information...

It is highly recommended and may become an important addition to an acute care physical therapist's library.
2nd edition
Paperback
ISBN: 0750673001
9780750673006
Publisher: Butterworth Heinemann


Authors: Jaime C. Paz MS, PT, Assistant Clinical Specialist, Department of Physical Therapy, Northeastern University, Boston; Adjunct Faculty Member, Department of Physical Therapy, Simmons College, Boston; Adjunct Physical Therapist, Care Group Home Care, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA
Michele P. West MS, PT, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, MA

Postural Hypotension