Medical News

It used to be common knowledge among health professionals that bipolar disorder only occurred in adults. And bipolar disorder in children is rare – but it happens. But, now, realizing that it can occur in children as well, experts have begun to examine and diagnose more children with bipolar each year.

When this illness occurs in children, it is known as early-onset bipolar disorder. Primarily this is done to distinguish it from the more common disorder diagnosed in adults. As far as symptoms in kids, the most common ones are extreme mood shifts from giddiness to depression and back again. In hyperactive children, it can be almost impossible for a parent to tell normal child behavior from bipolar depression behavior. That’s why when such symptoms begin to express themselves, it is best to seek the help of a child behavioral expert.

If an adult has bipolar disorder, the illness can be difficult for them to handle. So you can imagine how much more difficult it is for a child with early-onset bipolar disorder to handle the illness on his own. Because of his constantly shifting mood swings, he will probably have trouble in school. And his friendship with kids will, most likely, be tenuous as they slowly began to shy away from him because of his erratic behavior. These rejections, in turn, can make him shy away from even attempting to form new relationships with kids his own age.

Another danger to kids with early-onset bipolar disorder is that when they cycle into their depressive phase, they potentially become dangerous to themselves because of the suicidal thoughts that frequently accompany depression. Depression is a serious illness and often undetected until its too late – especially in children. In children, depression often is expressed through moodiness or aggressive behavior. You may think that a child is simply being difficult or moody for insignificant events happening in his life. But, often, in his mind, these seemingly insignificant events become magnified and take on mammoth proportions. Eventually, if unchecked, the child may began to think that there is no way out except for suicide.

At what age should you begin to look for symptoms? Unfortunately, there really is no lower age limit that it is confined to. Typically, it will first begin to affect people in they late teen years. But, in recent years, health professionals have begun to diagnose more and more children under the age of ten.

When somebody is feeling stressed it is possible for them to end up displaying passive aggressive behavior, or passive avoidance behavior. Instead of dealing with their emotions in constructive ways a person displaying this type of behavior is likely to act out indirectly and in disruptive ways.

These types of behavior are often very strange. A passive aggressive is likely to do things such as intentionally forget a celebration with a loved one or insulting someone with a joke, but indirectly. They are not likely to come right out front and say something to an individual.

Other things that often appear are: always blaming someone else for their own mistake or behavior, constantly forgetting things, not relating to others on an emotional level and constantly disappointing those close to them. If a person they love does them wrong they are likely to get back at them by using sabotage or deceit, while when confronted face to face they will deny any involvement in wrongdoing.

The reason that this disorder appears in people is often because they went through traumatic childhood experiences where negative emotion is treated as being selfish or uncouth. The end result is the individual suppressing the emotions until they cannot do so any longer and the symptoms are displayed.

This is not something that the person is doing consciously but happens somewhere in the back of their brain. They cannot really make any decisions or change their actions because they are not really aware of them, so to speak. Even though the actions are subtle they can really hurt relationships when it occurs over a long period of time.

Keep in mind that just because you might be afflicted with these behaviors it is very possible to unlearn them and get on with your life!

Many people are starting to turn to herbal or homeopathic medicines to treat their symptoms. They are free from side effects and incredibly gentle on the body. Nux Vom. is a homeopathic ingredient that is really good at helping people to suppress their anger or short tempers. Lycopodium is also very useful for individuals who are not very good at expressing their emotions.

Chamomilla is an herb that is really good for people who tend to overreact in situations. It is really helpful in helping you to feel relaxed and treating any anxiety that is creeping around in your head. If you are unsure about which herbs or homeopathic ingredients to use then you should talk with either a local herbalist or homeopath.

If you suffer from a lot of mood swings, there could be many reasons for this. It could be connected to a depressive illness or it could just be due to certain elements in your diet or tiredness or a combination of all these. There could be hormonal changes at work, or stress.

Given that our moods, emotions and feelings are all governed by the correct balancing of the chemical brain messengers, we can see very quickly that the slightest change can knock these out of sync. The result is a bad mood or a sudden mood change and very often, we do not know how to control it. We feel unstable and those around us are uncomfortable. But if we always have mood swings, we can do a few things to avoid them happening less often. Here are my three tips.

1st Tip. Learn to breathe! Research now shows that there is a medical link between hyperventilation or shallow breathing and a lot of mood swings, depression and anxiety. You can take up yoga and learn how correct breathing can bring on a state of relaxation, can help balance our moods and also lead to improved posture, better overall health and well being. Even if we do not have the time or patience for yoga, there are lots of exercises for deep and relaxed breathing which we can easily adapt from the Internet. Better breathing leads to a much more positive attitude and will do wonders for our self esteem and confidence.

2nd Tip. Learn to keep a mood diary. You will often see a pattern emerging. It could be due to hunger, fatigue or certain situations which trigger the mood swing. Once we know that this pattern is occurring, we can easily implement a few simple lifestyle chances so that we can reduce the occurrence of a lot of mood swings.

If it is fatigue, we can change our work patterns and build in more breaks with or without physical exercise. We may find that we can work better in the early morning. We may note that computer time in the evening is keeping us awake. If the problem is hunger, we can make sure we have enough snacks with complex carbohydrates to keep our blood sugar levels steadier. We should avoid simple carbohydrates such as sugary snacks and energy drinks. We should avoid any alcohol on an empty stomach especially as that can plummet our blood sugar levels and the aim is to keep it at a steady high level. Five or six small meals can do wonders and we should avoid long periods without food.

3rd Tip. Look for an herbal remedy which will help to promote a balanced mood, help you sleep better and also help you to control your appetite. You may decide that this is much more preferable than taking anti depressants or any type of medication which may well compromise your performance in the workplace.

Panic attacks occur when you experience a sudden and extraordinarily intense state of fear or extreme anxiety. The American Psychological Association tells us that it is a condition that one out of seventy five people may suffer from, generally occurring usually during teen or early adult years.

Panic attacks typically come on suddenly, with no warning, producing an intensity of fear that far exceeds reality. While panic attacks often end within minutes, a series of subsequent attacks may continue causing you hours of discomfort.

A panic attack is not life threatening but may feel as if it is. Many people report a sensation that they are having a heart attack or dying. I have experienced this sensation on many occasions.

As a result, one of the first reactions many people have is to reach for the phone and call for help or even an ambulance, hoping that help will arrive in time to save your life and if necessary, get you to a hospital. The time that elapses between a call to loved one or professional and help arriving may be only a matter of minutes but may seem like hours.

I once has a severe panic attack. I speed dialed my wife and asked her to come home. Eight minutes later she arrived…but I was in such a state of fear and having heart palpitations that it felt like hours had passed.

If this happens to you, try to think of relaxing thoughts, keep telling yourself that this is just an episode and that reassuring help is on the way. It may or may note lessen the severity of the episode but will at least help to keep you distracted and pass the time until a loved one or whoever you call for help arrives.

If your call is for medical help and an ambulance arrives, the paramedic may be able to quickly ascertain if a heart attack has not occurred and this may provide a lessening of symptoms once you hear the assurances of a health professional.

In essence, these attacks can be dealt with as they occur but the best solution for handling panic attacks is to eliminate the onset of a panic attack through methodologies such as self help, herbal supplements, yoga, exercise or music therapy to name a few.

The key to finding a solution that works is to be persistent and stick with it. The problem that some sufferers have in eliminating panic attacks is to find a remedy, experience relief and then discontinue what is working for them,

For example, if yoga helps, keep doing yoga. If music therapy is your choice, make a regular appointment with yourself to listen to calming classical music, opera or a genre that is soothing and relaxing for you.

Once you adopt an approach or therapy that works for you, the onset of panic attacks will diminish or be eliminated entirely and you will be able to enjoy life without fearing the possibility of an attack, just around the corner.

When you’re in the middle of a panic attack, relief can seem very far away. Perhaps you’ve had the symptoms for so long now that they’ve become a regular part of your life. You don’t know what brought them on, you only know you want them to stop.

The great news is that you can rid yourself of these attacks forever. You might find yourself taking two steps forward and one step back, but if you stick to it, you will be the victor.

What genes you carry from your family can give you a predisposition to developing the condition. But it can also be stress that’s triggered the beginning of this cycle for you and without help, the cycle can drain your energy and leave you with less than the great life you should have.

Treating these attacks needs to be a priority because they can turn into severe phobias that can cause you even greater stress. It’s okay to attempt some self help steps if you think you don’t need or aren’t ready to talk to your doctor or other professional.

The attacks usually don’t last longer than a few minutes at a time. Don’t allow your mind to think about what hasn’t occurred and don’t drag past attacks up. Fearing an attack can actually cause an attack to happen. Put what’s happening in the right place in your mind. What you’re dealing with are emotions and not real circumstances.

More often than not, attacks are brought on by feelings that are a projection of a known or unknown fear and not a reality. Panic attack relief can be found by facing what it is you’re feeling the fear over.

If you’re afraid of a fire starting in your home, take steps to make sure you have a fire safety plan. Have your home checked by a qualified electrician. Keep a fire extinguisher where you can get to it.

Don’t allow pride or fear of what people might think stop you from reaching out for help. Keeping emotions locked inside can make an attack worse and it can cause them to happen again.

If you feel anxious and stressed because of past attacks, that anxiety and stress can trigger another attack and each subsequent attack will only reiterate those emotions. Let someone know what you’re dealing with. Sometimes just getting those emotions out relieves the anxiety.

The anxiety doesn’t have to control your life and it doesn’t have to take away your ability to handle life. Don’t think you have to fight alone, not when panic attack relief can be as simple as a phone call or a getting a prescription filled. Panic Attack Relief Through Counseling Not only are there medical approaches to panic attack relief, there are counseling and biofeedback approaches that might be useful.

The counseling approach most often utilized is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and this type of counseling will ask that you pay attention to your thinking and dispute thoughts which can begin the panic feeling.

A biofeedback approach, like heart rate variability biofeedback, can combine a powerful physiological training with the CBT.

I really like heart rate variability biofeedback personally because it feels good, and I can induce the feel good physiology on any given heart beat, and if I decide to pay attention to a fearful thought too long, I can switch out of that to a coherent thought in the proverbial heart beat.

In other words, I can practice heart rate variability biofeedback every five minutes for a couple of heart beats, and very soon my body gets used to this coherent physiology, and it doesn’t let me get too far away from it.

Other useful tools that I have discovered over the years are to remember that “Gratitude is the Attitude”, which certainly takes me away from the fearful thought.

I have also had a wonderful experience using the Open Focus model of Les Fehmi, Ph.D, which asks me to consider the space around the anxiety or my thought which brings the anxiety.

If you stop and think about it, there is a great deal of space, a universe of space around my thoughts and my body.

As a professional though, the heart rate variability biofeedback process is the one my clients find the most believable, because they see the process on the computer screen.

Clients seeing biofeeback experience that the learning is happening and are more confident that they can repeat the good feeling heart rate variability biofeedback on their own.

What is psychology all about?

A science of studying human overt and covert behavior and thought, psychology is often underestimated by practicians of ‘hard’ science. And for the layman, well, beware a psychologist. Mind reading is often attributed to psychologists, as is seeing into the depths of people around them. I believe it is basically a fear of being ‘seen through’ by anyone and being judged on the basis of this that truly distances the common man from his psychological peers. On a more honest scale, it is true that a study of psychology gives its student a more discerning view of his fellow man. Body language, kinesics, verbal expressions do help psychologists and psychiatrists to decipher any communications between people better.

Why this is, is because there are a lot of parts to communication. Words, spoken or written, are just one part of it. Facial expressions, body language, gestures, posture all say a lot at the same time as your words, and even when you are silent. Everybody knows things like that, but they do not usually think about it. They just ‘know’. Studying psychology, even if one does not want to choose to practice it as a profession, does lend insight into the way people behave and understanding why.

Understanding people helps anyone to put themselves into the shoes of others and deal with negative emotions and situations through coping processes that helps them handle life and people better in the long run. It also helps them to put themselves in other people’s shoes. Fear and anger can often lead people to react in irrational and unpredictable ways. In whichever capacity you are linked to them, whether as families, friends, colleagues, or employers, people’s functionality is improved when they hold the key to understanding and empathizing people and situations during a stressful period.

Psychologists in Newport Beach are growing as a functional presence in the area. They are playing a greater role in outreach within the community, and helping bridge the gap between the layman and the professional. Where awareness and coping strategies are concerned, people have a lot to gain from internalizing better methods of dealing with negative emotions. This is one thing that formal education does not touch with a ten foot barge pole. And informal education does, through media and through an individual’s primary, secondary and tertiary networks coach them in. Unfortunately, this varies on the individual’s personal interactions, experiences and exposure.

Psychologists in Newport Beach are taking great initiatives through several forums that help people to imbibe some of these ‘people’ lessons. Through educational institutes, workshops are held. Through church and youth groups as well, there are several activities and games that are devised with the help of psychologists in Newport Beach. Schools and universities, training institutes, vocational institutes and even the corporate workplace have begun to have psychologists on their payroll as consultants and even as in house members of their Human Resource Department. Priests and teachers nowadays take psychology as a course to help them to deal with people better as well as to teach people how to, in turn, deal with their problems better.

Scapegoating is great if you are not the scapegoat.

Psychologically what you do is you project your painful reaction to a life event onto some other poor soul and then make sure they get punished good and proper for it. Leaves a nice satisfying feeling in the tummy – until the problem returns and the cycle begins all over again at which point you find someone new to do it to.

When done in a small group we call it ‘bullying’. In large organisations we call it ‘blame culture’. Between countries it is often the reason for war. As an individual you can only keep a personal eye out for it – but will you know when it is happening to you and will you acknowledge and accept what has to be done to get away from it?

Scapegoating is the act of creating an ‘escape goat’ which we tie to the ground for a predator to eat giving the rest of us time to escape – what was once a tribal survival tactic is now deeply embedded in human social behaviour.

A wonderful method as long as you are not the scapegoat, eh? But there is also another twist to this tale. In their defence the older generations developed a way of getting younger, fitter members of our tribes to also step up for the privilege: we call this heroism.

I am not knocking heroism; just saying you need to be careful you are not acting the hero in a situation where you do not fully understand what is going on.

Heroes sacrifice themselves for the greater good. This is OK as long as when you survive the sacrificial opportunity (that is, you kill the beast or the beast is pacified in some other way) you get some of that greater good yourself.

What if, having sacrificed quite a large part of your life or put your neck on the line for a while you find the ‘greater good’ is not what you yourself receive from those you took this risk for? You need to pay attention to this and make sure you stop offering yourself up as sacrificial lamb if it is to a person or a group of people who do not want the same good things for you they want for themselves after the ‘beast’ is vanquished.

In a lot of dysfunctional families, for example, the beast is the behavioural norm of the family itself.

To avoid each individual member of the family having to face up to the pain of their own inner worlds aggressive families sometimes appoint a ‘black sheep’. Seen as the worst family member they then blame all their woes onto that person so avoiding facing the predator within (their painful feelings). The scapegoat gets a reward from this process by being made to feel very important; if not notorious. They get lots and lots of attention from this process which is better than the lack of attention they had before.

I remember a couple of years back working with a young man where the rest of the family came along (two full generations plus uncles and aunts) and all of them were talking about their worries about him. As they spoke the family members criticised each other in how they dealt with him and past arguments were brought out and re-hashed in front of him. Glaring eyes, snappy remarks, the full works. You would have thought he was on the verge of a violent criminal future.

The young man himself sat passively, answered questions intelligently (yet according to the family he was a bit moody and unpredictable) and when I spoke to him alone he was really easy to get along with. He had been turned into the eye of the family storm – he was the family scapegoat.

These kinds of things can go on for years and eventually, if you are the scapegoat, you can start to believe the hype at an unconscious level. Here is what to do if this is happening to you:

Get out.

You will not find this easy.

The first reason is because it may mean months of unpleasant planning in several different areas – financially; logistically; legally. It could take years to simply move yourself out (the young man I speak about above left his family a few months later).

The second reason it can be difficult is because when they realise the scapegoat has escaped other members of the group want the scapegoat to return and will pursue.

Scapegoats can be useful for a number of reasons – they tend to be giving people and as such are quite useful financially and in other ways; they make great absorbent punch-bags that love to take full responsibility for being punched (heroes).

I have seen many people, of all different age groups and types, play the role of scapegoat and become seriously emotionally ill because of it.

In their heads they justify this treatment with such self-talk as: ‘they know not what they do’ or ‘they will understand one day’ or ‘they did not really mean that’.

They know exactly what they are doing. It is you that does not understand. They mean everything they say – you are just not listening. You still here?

What a great person you are, eh? Hello scapegoat.