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Childhood traumas affect the adult you come to be

21/6/2017

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While this study originates from America, results can be applied universally.

How childhood trauma can affect mental and physical health into adulthood

File 20170515 7011 1n02579
Childhood trauma can have an impact across generations. ambrozinio/Shutterstock
Shanta R. Dube, Georgia State University

Editor’s Note: This article is the first in a series exploring how research into adverse childhood experiences – or ACEs – is helping therapists, parents, educators and the medical community better understand the lasting effects of trauma on mental health.


For millions of children in the U.S., poverty, neglect or abuse is a reality of everyday life, though these struggles are often hidden from view.

Adult survivors often feel ashamed about and stigmatized for their childhood adversity. This makes it difficult to recognize that these events occur.

While it’s easier to turn away than to face these issues, we can no longer afford to do so. Stress, mental illness and substance abuse – all health outcomes linked to childhood trauma – occur in the U.S. today at very high rates.

In 1999, I joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an early investigator on a study to examine how childhood trauma can impact health decades later. Little did I know that I was about to begin both a professional and personal journey that would forever change my understanding of medicine, public health and the human capacity to heal.

That seminal study provided insight into the lifelong health consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It was the beginning of our understanding that these experiences can have negative effects on childhood development, leading to physical and mental health problems throughout life.

It brought to light the importance of preventing ACEs from ever occurring. It also drew attention to the healing and recovery needed to prevent these experiences from having an impact across generations.

The ACE Study

In the early 1990s, Vincent Felitti, a physician at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, questioned why patients who successfully lost weight dropped out of a weight loss program. He could not make sense of it. He interviewed each patient individually and learned that the weight loss made patients feel vulnerable. A large proportion of the patients disclosed experiences of childhood sexual abuse. The weight protected them.

Felitti’s findings caught the interest of Dr. Robert Anda at the CDC. Together, they launched the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study.

The ACE Study was one of the first and largest research efforts conducted to examine the impact of childhood trauma on health decades later.

From 1995 to 1997, more than 17,000 adult members of Kaiser Permanente in San Diego took part in the study. Researchers gathered information on their health and behaviors. Participants also answered questions about adverse childhood experiences, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect; and growing up in a home with divorced parents, domestic violence, substance abuse, or mentally ill or incarcerated household members.

One day, while reviewing the completed questionnaires, I came across several notes penned by the study participants, thanking us for asking these questions. One said, “I thought I would die never having told anyone about my childhood.” The messages were a true testament to the hidden nature of childhood adversities.

Key takeaways

The ACE Study offered groundbreaking insight into childhood trauma.

First, the ACE Study showed that childhood trauma is very common, even among white, highly educated adults with health care.

This was a novel finding, given that populations of low socioeconomic status and racial minorities are disproportionately represented in child welfare systems. For example, a large percentage of African-American and Native American children are seen in the child welfare system. The ACE Study helped us understand that childhood trauma cuts across multiple populations.

We learned that close to 30 percent of ACE study participants experienced physical abuse as a child. Fifteen percent experienced childhood emotional neglect.

A separate study showed that one in six men and one in four women reported childhood sexual abuse. Both men and women experienced similar risk for health outcomes like alcohol abuse and symptoms of depression.

Most importantly, we discovered that the 10 separate categories of abuse, neglect and related household stressors we assessed rarely occur as single events. For example, among adults who reported sexual abuse, 80 percent reported at least one additional ACE and 60 percent at least two. A large proportion of study participants, sixty-seven percent, reported at least one of the 10 ACEs.

It’s true that, during adolescence, youth tend to engage in risk-taking behaviors. Our research showed that childhood trauma increased the risk of alcohol use by age 14 and illicit drug use by age 15. Childhood trauma also contributed to the likelihood of adolescent pregnancies and adolescent suicide attempts.

But the story doesn’t end there. ACEs were also found to be associated with multiple adverse outcomes in adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease, liver disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, suicide attempts, alcohol dependence, marital problems, intravenous drug use and many more.

If there is one common thread to many of the preventable diseases we face in the U.S., why are we not paying closer attention?

Addressing ACEs

In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for a focused effort to prevent and address childhood toxic stress.

The policy was informed by the ACE Study and research on the impact that childhood trauma has on brain development. Neuroimaging of people who have experienced ACEs shows changes in the structure and function of areas of the brain responsible for memory, learning, and emotions.

What’s more, many of the outcomes associated with ACEs among adult survivors – such as substance abuse and mental illness – may make it likelier that the next generation will experience ACEs as well.

But not all hope is lost. Research strongly suggests that humans have an innate capacity to adapt and positively transform, even after traumatic and stressful events. Most importantly, positive, supportive and healthful activities can contribute to positive well-being among adult survivors of childhood adversity. Change has to start with ourselves first, so we can provide children with the safety, support, love, and protection they need.

The ConversationWe must recognize – without judgment, but rather with compassion – that trauma is widespread, affecting children and adults across generations. We cannot afford to wait any longer to address trauma and break the cycle of childhood adversities.

Shanta R. Dube, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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South Africa licenses drugs to prevent HIV

10/1/2016

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How a drug can help prevent 5000 girls being infected with HIV every week

Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, University of the Witwatersrand and Deborah Baron, University of the Witwatersrand

South Africa has became one of the first African countries to license a fixed-dose combination of anti-retrovirals to be used as an oral pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, more commonly referred to as PrEP, is the use of anti-retroviral drugs by people who do not have HIV to prevent them from becoming infected. The World Health Organisation recently recommended it as an additional HIV prevention choice for people with a high risk of being infected.

The recommendations are based on studies showing that daily doses of the drug effectively reduce the HIV risk in men and women. This was irrespective of age, mode of HIV transmission or the drug regimen used. The only common factor in the level of protection was how well people adhered to the drug regimens.

The studies also showed that pre-exposure prophylaxis is safe to use in healthy populations as there was no evidence of increased side effects in trial participants.

Breaking a new frontier

South Africa’s Medicines Control Council has ruled that the drug Tenofovir disoproxil/emtricitabine (TDF/FT3), more commonly referred to as Truvada, is safe and effective for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis in the country. This paves the way for the government to issue a tender to procure the drug.

South Africa’s license is incredibly important for HIV prevention in the country as well as the region. It is a critical step to including pre-exposure prophylaxis in publicly-funded HIV prevention programmes. The licensing also means that other countries in the region are likely to follow.

Several policy, programme and procurement processes need to be followed before the drug can be distributed through the healthcare system.

The government is likely to start with pilot sites as it did with anti-retrovirals given to mothers to prevent mother to child transmission. This will help it learn:

  • how to identify populations who need and want to use PrEP,

  • what systems are needed for delivery, and

  • how best to monitor health so that it doesn’t overburden the health service.

A solution for young women

One of the critical steps in developing programmes is defining who will most likely benefit from them. Mathematical models suggest that it is likely to be cost-effective in settings where there are three new infections in every 100 people each year.

In Africa, the populations that have been prioritised to date are sex workers, men who have sex with men and couples where one partner is HIV infected and the other is not.

But research shows that unless HIV prevention in teenage girls and young women is prioritised, the ambitious targets set by UNAIDS to end HIV by 2030 will not happen.

Every week more than 5000 adolescent girls and young women acquire HIV. And the vast majority of them live in southern Africa. Young women are up to eight times more likely to be infected than their male peers of the same age in eastern and southern Africa. This is despite the rate of new HIV infections declining or stabilising in many other populations.

And although their HIV risk is driven in part by individual behaviour, other factors also play a role. These include:

  • poverty,

  • gender inequality and high exposure to violence,

  • limited economic options, and

  • the low social power of young people.

Adherence pitfalls

For PrEP to be effective, it will need to be integrated into existing HIV prevention services.

People at high risk for infection and who wish to start PrEP will need to be tested for HIV before they start and then every three months while taking the drugs. This will ensure that those with an early HIV infection are detected and don’t develop anti-retroviral drug resistance. They will also have their kidney function tested as Truvada can cause kidney problems in some people.

But the biggest challenge is ensuring that young people, particularly young women, who start PrEP take the pills daily as required. Those taking PrEP daily cannot miss a single dose. While two trials of pre-exposure prophylaxis in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda raised questions about whether young women will adhere to pre-exposure prophylaxis, recent open-label studies have shown that when populations at-risk, including young women, recognise their risk and know that pre-exposure prophylaxis is effective in preventing HIV, they are able to use it effectively.

It’s time to implement

Several pre-exposure prophylaxis demonstration projects are either underway or are being planned across southern and eastern Africa. These projects will inform the development of national policies and programmes, adding to the evidence base to understand how best to innovate, integrate and implement Truvada within a combination HIV prevention package.

The challenges of delivery will only be truly understood through implementing delivery projects. Once we have gained insights into the challenges, we will be able to refine an HIV combination prevention programme to meet the needs and preferences of teenage and young women.

The Conversation

Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, Associate Professor and Director: Research at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute I, University of the Witwatersrand and Deborah Baron, Researcher and Programme Manager: Clinical Research Consortium for Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI), University of the Witwatersrand

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Two Dads, Two Mums, or a Mum and Dad? Which is best for children?

8/9/2015

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FactCheck: is having a mum and a dad the very best thing for a child?

Simon Crouch, University of Melbourne

“If you ask the Australian people whether you think a child has a right to have a mother and a father, 75% or more will say that is right. If you ask individuals whether a mother is the most important nurturing relationship a child can have, over 90% of mothers say the same. So who are we to deny a child the right of having a mother or a father?… We also know that in the development of a child, the very best thing that can happen is for them to have a mum and a dad who play a complementary role in the raising of that child.” – Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, interview with Fran Kelly on RN Breakfast, July 2, 2015.

A cross-party bill aimed at legalising same-sex marriage and scheduled for parliamentary debate in August has come under a new round of criticism from some politicians, including Liberal senator Cory Bernardi.

Many have argued that children need not be brought into debates about marriage equality, but nonetheless it is worth examining how well Bernardi’s assertions hold up against the research.

The evidence

When asked for a source to substantiate his statement, Bernardi’s spokesperson referred to a 2015 poll commissioned by the Australian Marriage Forum (self-described as “an organisation that has been set up to encourage Australians to discuss the issue of same-sex marriage with some discernment and caution”). The online survey of 1242 people found that 76% of Australians agree that:

… where possible, as a society, we should try to ensure that children are raised by their own mother and father.

Bernardi’s spokesman also pointed to a 2005 study, published on the Institute of American Values website that involved a survey of more than 2000 US mothers (complemented by interviews and focus groups), that found that:

… nearly 93% agreed that a mother’s contribution to the care of her children is so unique that no one else can replace it.

While both these sources give an indication of attitudes towards parenting, neither used questionnaires that had been scientifically developed and tested in a range of settings. For example, when measuring child health the Child Behaviour Checklist might be used. In addition, neither of the sources underwent peer review to ensure academic robustness.

Further, it is important to consider that these sources describe the attitudes of heterosexuals to parenting, and in one case only heterosexual mothers.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child goes only so far as to state that a child has “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents”. There is no mention of whether these parents must include both male and female biological parents or that these parents must be married. Furthermore, neither of Bernardi’s sources give a quantifiable measure of how children actually fare in different family contexts.

This goes to Bernardi’s last and most important point:

We also know that in the development of a child, the very best thing that can happen is for them to have a mum and a dad who play a complementary role in the raising of that child.

To support this point, Bernardi’s spokesperson directed The Conversation to a 2011 report commissioned by the Australian Christian Lobby and researched by University of Sydney law professor Patrick Parkinson, specifically a section that said:

… children do best of all growing up with two happily married biological parents.

This particular quote is actually a citation from a paper by US researcher Paul Amato. His paper does not discuss same-sex parents at all. He instead highlights the importance of happily married parents. The focus of Parkinson’s argument is not that biological opposite-sex parents are essential – rather, it is that stable, conflict-free families that are important.

Like Amato, Parkinson goes on to state that children should be raised in the context of marriage. More than 6000 children in Australia are currently being raised in same-sex couple households. Same-sex marriage would provide access to marriage for the parents of these families.

Reviewing the literature

There is rigorous research on the question of how children of same-sex parented families develop. The Australian Institute of Family Studies has taken a thorough and locally relevant approach.

In their 2013 report on same-sex parent families in Australia they examined and synthesised Australian and international literature on same-sex parented families. The report found that:

… overall, research to date considerably challenges the point of view that same-sex parented families are harmful to children. Children in such families do as well emotionally, socially and educationally as their peers from heterosexual couple families.

This has recently been supported by the largest study in the world to look at child health in same-sex families. This Australian research considered the health and well-being of 500 children from 315 families. It found that, on average, children with same-sex-attracted parents scored pretty much the same as the average Australian child. However, it also showed that in some areas, including how child health is affected by how families get along, children with same-sex attracted parents are doing better.

Research suggests that same-sex parent families function more equitably by sharing parenting tasks. Far from needing a “mum and a dad who play a complementary role in the raising of that child”, as Bernardi suggests, it is same-sex families where complementarity is really proving beneficial.

Verdict

Bernardi, some of his Liberal colleagues, and others, suggest that children need both a mother and father. In terms of actual health and well-being outcomes, the overwhelming body of scientific research suggests that children develop well when growing up with same-sex attracted parents.

More work is required from the academic community to bring this scientific reality to the minds of the community.


Review

This is a fair and academically robust analysis of Bernardi’s statements.

With regard to children’s well-being, there is now a substantial body of international peer-reviewed research in the social sciences on how children are faring when raised in families that do not conform to the married, two biological parent norm.

A comprehensive review I authored for the Australian Institute of Family Studies in 2013 revealed that children raised in same-sex parented families do at least as well as their peers raised in heterosexual couple families when compared on a comprehensive range of social, psychological, health and educational characteristics.

We know that family processes such as levels of conflict between the parents and the relative equity of their divisions of paid and household labour are more influential than the gender, sexuality or number of parents when it comes to children’s well-being. Same-sex couples are known to share parental care and paid work more equitably than heterosexual couples, and this tendency towards greater equity is beneficial for children.

It should also be noted that what people think children need is not necessarily commensurate with “children’s rights”.

When children raised in same-sex parented families are not faring so well, this is often because of their fears or experiences of bullying and discrimination in schools due to the continuing stigma attached to same-sex relationships in some community settings. In the Netherlands, which was the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage, children raised in same-sex parented families have higher well-being scores than their peers in the United States, where same-sex marriage has only recently been obtained. – Deborah Dempsey


Have you ever seen a “fact” that doesn’t look quite right? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article.

You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.

The Conversation

Simon Crouch, Researcher, Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, University of Melbourne

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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The books that shaped the rise and fall of the British Empire

27/5/2015

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The books that shaped the rise and fall of the British empire

Isabel Hofmeyr, University of the Witwatersrand

When we talk about books, we generally think only of their inside - the words, ideas and themes that they contain. But what about the outside? Books are objects in the world. They undertake all kinds of work that exceeds just their words - they forge friendships, decorate our houses, store our momentoes and memories.

Books also have active political lives. They inspire social movements and bind people together. Books can stand as short-hand symbols for larger galaxies of ideas.

A new collection of essays Ten Books that Shaped the British Empire explores the role of books in founding and dismantling The British empire. Written by scholars from South Africa, India, Barbados, New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the US, the volume comprises ten essays, each on a book that shaped British imperial life.

Block-busters and obscure texts

The ten books include five famous block-busters and five now-obscure texts that in their day were influential.

The five block-busters are imperial or anti-imperial classics: Robert Baden Powell’s Scouting for Boys (1908), Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847), Thomas Babington Macaulay’s five volume History of England (1848). The anti-colonial texts are Mohandas Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj (1909) and The Black Jacobins (1938) by CLR James, the famed Caribbean revolutionary thinker.

The lesser-known texts are

• Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s, A Letter from Sydney (1827) , influential in the colonisation of New Zealand and Australia.

• Charles Pearson’s National Life and Character (1893), an Australian book predicting the rise of Asia and the end of the ‘white man’.

• Century of Wrong (1899), the pamphlet setting out the Boer cause in the lead up to the Anglo-Boer War.

• Totaram Sanadhya’s 1914 Fiji Mein Mere Ekkis Varsh (My Twenty-one Years in Fiji) a Hindi pamphlet opposing indentured labour.

• Gakaara wa Wanjau’s 1960 Mihiriga ya Agikuyu (The Clans of the Gikuyu) written in a Mau Mau detention camp.

How the 10 were chosen

The volume is edited by a radical historian of empire, Antoinette Burton from the University of Illinois and myself, a scholar of print culture and book history from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

In our introduction, we say that from the very beginning the book provoked fascination. “Oh wow! Which are the ten books?” was a common response.

While everyone had a different idea of which books should be included, our interlocutors accepted the premise that books could change empires. People envisaged a series of big books that founded empires (John Robert Seeley, Charles Dilke, Frederick Lugard were common examples) and a set of equally significant books that ended up dismantling them Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Che Guevara).

How the books shaped aspects of empire

In some cases the influence was direct. In 1901, when Australian parliamentarians debated the Immigration Restriction Bill (a key part of the White Australia policy), the Australian prime minister held up a copy of Pearson’s book and read two passages from it. On the anti-imperial end of the spectrum, CLR James Black Jacobins was widely taken as an allegory predicting the end of colonial rule in Africa.

Yet books equally have more diffuse and longer term effects – Wanjau’s pamphlet for example was less concerned with direct action against the British than with undertaking the long, slow work of preparing people for independence.

Books were deeply enmeshed with empire and were often used as symbols of British imperial authority, calling-cards of ‘civilization’. As one observer noted, “The English literary text … function[s] as a surrogate Englishman in his highest and most perfect state”. Books were held up as the ‘gift’ of empire and were used to portray colonialism as benign while masking its violent nature.

Books and documents were also instruments of ruling – the pass book was used to control the movements of black people during apartheid in South Africa.

But books could equally be used by those opposing empire, a provocation to imperial power and a monumental statement of intent. James’ Black Jacobins, an account of the late 18th-century slave revolt in Haiti initially appeared in a handsome 328-edition from Secker and Warburg.

Some came from humble beginnings

Yet, not all of the 10 books started out as books – many began life as pamphlets or newspaper articles, more humble forms which nonetheless exerted considerable influence. Century of Wrong became a calling card for the pro-Boer cause. Scouting for Boys appeared first as a newspaper series and then in small handbooks, a format that helped make scouting an international movement.

These texts travelled far and wide at times migrating through different media, appearing as newspaper serials and then rising up into books. Aiding their passage was the vast sprawling periodical and newspaper network that carpeted empire. Hind Swaraj began life in Gujarati in a two-part series in Gandhi’s Durban-based newspaper Indian Opinion before appearing as a booklet translated by Gandhi himself into English.

These streams of print culture made up the sinews and arteries of empire, linking its supporters while offering a mode of communication to its opponents. Access to this field of print culture was uneven and unequal, affected by capital, literacy, censorship.

Yet, much of this printed matter was not copyrighted – all periodicals for example legally reprinted material from each other. These carpets of print culture created a type of commons across empire, a zone of textual production not owned by one person.

Books in empire were dispersed across time and space – they were not bounded events. As instruments for and against empire, they formed part of the sprawling assemblage of the British empire, both extending its reach and limiting its legitimacy.

The Conversation

Isabel Hofmeyr is Professor of African Literature at University of the Witwatersrand.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Alcohol not so friendly....

18/5/2015

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How alcohol makes you friendlier – but only to certain people

Ian Mitchell, University of Birmingham

Drinking alcohol is associated with aggressive behaviour, accidents and ill health. Yet many of us choose to drink socially. This may reflect alcohol’s actions on specific brain circuits which make us feel euphoric and less anxious. Alcohol may also make us more empathic and cause us to see other people as more attractive. But why do these reactions occur and are the positive effects of alcohol expressed towards everybody we interact with?

Alcohol is a drug, one of the three most commonly used in the world, along with nicotine and caffeine. When we drink, the alcohol binds to a specific type of receptor in the brain and boosts the activity of a natural brain chemical called GABA. The effect the alcohol has on us depends in large part on the dose, and the location of these GABA receptors within the brain.

Early on in a drinking session, the alcohol acts on GABA systems to boost the levels of dopamine, the brain’s reward chemical. This gives a sense of well-being and a sense of mild euphoria. Alcohol also acts on GABA receptors to impair the activity of the brain circuits that make us feel anxious and, at higher doses, alcohol inactivates a second set of brain circuits that control fear. So threatening stimuli no longer seem quite so scary. Alcohol also compromises our ability to compute risk so that situations we would normally shy away from may now seem quite inviting.

Are you drunk? Gift by Shutterstock

All of this points to alcohol as a facilitator of social interactions. As well as making us more empathic, laboratory studies have also shown that drinking alcohol can make us trust others more and make us temporarily more generous.

On the other hand, heavy drinking is associated with violent behaviour. This situation, however, is complex. Laboratory studies have shown that alcohol increases aggression. For example, it increases the willingness with which individuals will administer electric shocks to others. However, this effect seems to be largely restricted to those who are intrinsically aggressive in the first instance.

Don’t try this at home.

Equally, alcohol can corrupt our ability to understand the intentions of others. The brain contains specific circuits, which connect parts of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and temporal parietal junction, that handle our social cognitive abilities. So our ability to understand somebody else’s mental perspective and their motivations for acting in a certain way become unreliable.

Very big doses of alcohol can leave the functioning of these circuits so compromised that individuals can appear to be as impaired as patients with some forms of dementia. This is quite a disturbing thought given the number of people who end up in this state in city centres at the end of a good night out.

She’s definitely pleased to see me. J.K. Califf, CC BY-SA

Alcohol also impedes our ability to accurately interpret emotional expressions in faces. As we drink, we have a tendency to erroneously assume that some facial expressions of negative emotions are happy, and we find it particularly difficult to identify sad and angry faces. This leaves us prone to making embarrassing social errors.

One important, but often overlooked, aspect of alcohol’s effect on social functioning relates to how we perceive members of our in and out-groups. Alcohol appears to encourage us to bond to members of our in-groups. However, this may come at the cost of the way we treat people outside of these groups. Similarly, alcohol makes members of our ethnic in-group appear more attractive but this effect does not extend to members of other ethnic groups.

It must be emphasised that the effects described so far are potentially reversible once the drinker has sobered up. However, chronic heavy drinking can lead to brain damage and irreversible cognitive impairments, especially poor memory function, and psychiatric problems including depression, psychoses, anxiety and suicide.

So overall, alcohol may be a friend, and indeed make us friendlier, but only to a select group of people – and they may not always reciprocate.

Alcohol Friend or Foe? is part of the Pint of Science festival where academic experts talk about the latest in scientific research – at the pub.

The Conversation

Ian Mitchell is Senior Lecturer at University of Birmingham.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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What is Codependence?

11/4/2015

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Avoiding Codependence in Your Family

Author: Jillynn

Avoiding codependence in your family is critical for many reasons. Codependency prevents children from growing into healthy, happy adults, and it is believed to pass from generation to generation through learned behavior. Stop the proliferation of this emotionally damaging phenomenon now by learning how to recognize it in your home. Developing effective parenting strategies and modeling healthy behavior patterns are the best ways to help kids grow up to be independent, happy and capable adults and future parents.

5448338240_23e2fac3ed_b.jpg

Codependence and How to Recognize It

The National Mental Health Association describes codependency as "an emotional and behavioral condition that affects an individual's ability to have healthy, mutually satisfying relationships." Unfortunately the hallmark of this condition is denial; consequently, codependent people typically fail to recognize the warning signs. Experts recommend taking an honest look inward, but also to look for the symptoms in yourself, spouse and children. Warning signs are a lack of self-esteem, an inappropriate level of caring for another (or others) and an over-reliance on the approval or love of others. The symptoms and warning signs are diverse, but may manifest in those who try to constantly attract attention to themselves, lack a basic respect for boundaries, have a compulsive quest for acceptance or are unable to spend time alone. Among the stranger manifestations, many codependent people appear to be accident-prone, are often in a hurry for no reason and may choke on food.

Risks and Damages of Codependence

This condition is sometimes referred to as a relationship addiction, leading to adult relationships that are abusive and destructive. Many abuse victims are codependent, unable to break away from their abuser despite continued perpetuation. They self-sacrifice to the point that they lose themselves, enabling the addictions or other faulty behavior patterns of others so they can be needed. Common complaints that accompany codependency include depression, anxiety, stress and anger. Victims frequently suffer ill health because, in immersing themselves in the needs of others, they disregard their own needs. Often, codependent children switch roles with a parent, internalizing the parent's problems as their own and becoming, in a manner of speaking, their parent's caretaker.

How to Raise Kids without Codependence

Dysfunction grows in the family setting when parents are unable, for whatever reason, to meet the needs of their children. This may be the result of parents' own problems (addiction or mental illness, for example) but can also stem from poverty, from parents working too much, or from trauma or loss. Even if you haven't noticed warning signs in your home, you can employ some solid strategies that can help ensure that your kids grow up emotionally healthy and independent. Start by opening communication channels and encouraging kids to freely express their thoughts and ask questions. Respect children, their boundaries and their feelings by taking them seriously. Don't use emotional manipulation or verbal abuse; instead, teach them healthy ways to express their emotions by doing so yourself. Give children responsibilities appropriate to their age and maturity level. Trust them to make decisions, but teach them that this freedom may lead to (appropriate) consequences. Establish rules, but make the punishment for breaking rules appropriate and reasonable. Above all, never withhold love and affection from your kids (or your spouse) as a means of manipulation. Doing so will teach children that this behavior is acceptable.

If you suspect that a level of dysfunction is growing in your family, or if you or your spouse came from a codependent background, seek out a trusted counselor or professional therapist. Getting your family back on a healthy, independent track is important, especially because avoiding codependence will allow you and your children to live healthy, happy and well-adjusted lives.

Photo Credit

 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/avoiding-codependence-in-your-family-7180494.html

About the Author

Jillynn Stevens, Ph.D., MSW is a writer and the Digital Marketing Content Director at Be Locally SEO where she is passionate about helping small and medium sized businesses expand their online presense and realize unprecedented success. 

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Trauma Work - An Introduction

1/4/2015

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What is Trauma?


The term ‘trauma’ in South Africa is quite relative in that it may refer to hijacking to political stress to employment issues – trauma is defined also as subjective to the victim/ survivor.

Trauma as a wounded soul

An event/ s that is experienced or perceived as so threatening that a person’s existing coping skills or resources are not really equal to the threat. His/her coping skills may furthermore be inadequate to dealing with the negative meaning attached to the stressor/event, which may lead to detrimental consequences in their lives.

  • Trauma is not an illness
  • It’s an internal reaction-  cognitive and perceptual dysfunction
  • The survivor’s appraisal of the hazardous event/s largely determines the intensity with which it is experienced
  • It’s a state of heightened psychological accessibility
  • And could therefore be turned into an opportunity for growth

       Levels of traumatisation

  • Primary:        On the scene (real time)
  • Secondary:    Significant others
  • Vicarious:      TV, newspapers, relief/ lay workers, counsellors & therapists
 
        Precipitating factors/ trauma events

  • Loss
  • Conflict
  • Frustration
  • Major adjustments
  • Disasters and catastrophes : natural (earthquakes, floods); or human (terrorism, carjacking, robbery, rape)
  • Developmental crisis
  • Severe inner frustration
  • Accidental crisis (death, suicide, terminal illness, insolvency, loss of a child, abortion, accidents, etc)
Other

Why Trauma Counselling?

Trauma counselling is a highly specific type of counselling for people in highly specific circumstances. The primary goal is containment, or crisis management; while the secondary objective is trauma resolution.

  • It shortens the recovery period
  • To reduce the impact of the event: symptom relief
  • To strengthen coping skills so that survivors will be better able to cope with future problems: personal growth
  • “not just band-aid therapy, but growth counselling”
 
Crisis or trauma intervention aims at definitive resolution of crisis in order to restore an optimum level of functioning as well as ready access to sources of help without delay or waiting lists. General time-limited treatment of estimated 4-6 weeks. 

   Trauma counselling is a specialised field

  • Trauma counselling is a highly specialised field in which counsellors need specialised training in.
  • Trauma counselling, furthermore, can only be implemented onto already existing, healthy, basic counselling skills.
  • This is not a counselling area for a beginner. If you do not know what pre-morbidity is, how will you address it? If you do not know the symptoms of post traumatic stress, how will you ‘diagnose’ it? Or, if you do not understand the functions of survivor’s guilt, how will you cope with it?
  • There are different types of trauma and the particular types require specific identifiable actions.
  • Knowledge is needed of human developmental phases, crisis and/or trauma phases and various trauma counselling models, bereavement and loss (including phases, tasks, counselling skills), relevant disorders i.e. post traumatic stress, and others.
  • This field is so specialised that SAITS do not even accept students who do not have the necessary experience and/or training background in counselling;
  • …and that the HPCSA will subsequently be creating a special professional category for Trauma counsellors. At present, trauma counselling is one of the identified fields Bpsych students can specialise in.
 
Issues addressed in trauma training generally include:

  •  The context of violence and trauma in South Africa 
  • Victim empowerment in South Africa 
  • Trauma assessment and diagnosis 
  • Definitions of stress, crisis and trauma 
  • Phases of trauma 
  • Acute traumatic stress 
  • Post traumatic stress reactions and disorders
  • Complex and continuous trauma 
  • Unusual responses to trauma 
  • Victims' needs and rights 
  • Basic victim/trauma support skills (like listening, empathy) 
  • Principles in trauma support work 
  • Cross-cultural issues in trauma support work 
  • Resource planning, referral management and networking 
  •  Self-care and vicarious traumatisation 
  • Cross-cultural issues in trauma counselling 
  • Different trauma counselling and debriefing models

Special issues in trauma counselling (will be selected depending on the particular needs of participants):

  • traumatic bereavement 
  • dealing with depression 
  • anger and revenge management 
  • trauma and HIV/Aids 
  • dealing with suicide 
  • dealing with traumatised children
  • working with refugees or non-nationals 
  • working with ex-combatants 
  • working with rape survivors
  • referral management

Pre-requisites for effective trauma counselling

  • Location: traumatic people are not likely to travel far for help
  • Availability; immediacy. 24 hour availability.
  • Mobility: counsellors should be prepared to go out
  • Procedural flexibility and versatility: variety of methods i.e. walk-in, telephone, home visits, support sessions, paraprofessional helpers and support groups, referrals, extended helping professionals
  • Knowledge and Training: of basic counselling skills as well as specialised trauma counselling processes and techniques, psychological symptoms, when to refer, etc

 Trauma work normally is divided into 3 different levels:


  • level one - volunteers and community members in trauma support. This is for individuals who have no professional background in trauma work.
  • level two - professionals in victim support and trauma management.
  • level three - professionals who are working in the field of counselling but who are undergoing advanced training in trauma counselling.
 
Community, lay and pastoral workers as well as volunteers will operate on level 1.

  • Lay workers are often the first on the scene and in some cases, the only support available to survivors (especially in rural areas). The first step to healing from trauma is ‘Containment’ (see: paragraph 7) Anybody can do containment as long as we follow certain principles.
  • Lay workers can also assist in the case of Creating Meaning. This is usually the last step in trauma counselling and is only pursued if the survivor raises meaning issues:
(i)                   It requires the counsellor to engage with the survivor’s belief system

(ii)                 Aims at enhancing the survivor’s ability to understand him/herself as survivor rather than victim

(iii)                The short term nature of most trauma counselling models impedes in depth understanding of ‘facilitation of meaning’ since in certain clients, meaning can only be derived from thorough review of life story. Few trauma counsellors are also trained in spiritual matters which makes this an area where pastoral counsellors can work in conjunction with other helping professionals.



Lay workers can form part of the survivor’s social and supportive network.

  • General support:
(i)                   create a warm, relaxed atmosphere, listen with interest, adopt a non-threatening or non-condemnatory attitude, give people an opportunity to tell and share their stories and not confront and challenge them.

(ii)                 It means offering encouragement, comfort and reassurance. Long term and short term support usually have 3 things in common: helping survivors to mobilize their spiritual and psychological resources and thus to cope with their burdens; the burden is shared in that they are helped to cope with it; they are provided with food, money, materials, tools, skills, and/or guidance to facilitate their coping with the situation.

  • Environmental manipulation or change is aimed rather at removing the cause of the trauma. This help is frequently given to people in poor socio-economic circumstances. Medication prescribed to relieve stress also falls into this category, supporting the families of survivors (i.e. educate them how to deal with the situation) helping someone to bed, aiding in food preparation, assisting the survivor to return to normal daily routine as quickly as possible, help physically in the recovery efforts, assisting them to connect with a support network, etc. 
  • Supporting families and/or friends, explaining to them what to expect, how to support the survivor and/or deal with the situation. . This could include educational talks and workshops on the experience of and reactions to trauma and violence.
 
In light of the Tsunami Disaster, develop and create a disaster plan in your community as preventative measures. Community workers and volunteers are sometimes the glue that keeps communities together, and you have the means to prepare your communities for natural and/or other disasters. Do a survey of the need for such preventative measures in your congregation and/or community and identify available resources for meeting such needs.

It should be made clear at the outset that people who get involved in trauma work must be available. They must have both the time and the willingness to have their own routines to be interrupted by the needs of survivors’ night or day.


What happens to people during a traumatic event?

Most disaster survivors (children and adults as well as disaster rescue or relief workers) 
experience normal stress reactions after a traumatic event. These reactions may last for several days or even a few weeks and may include:

  • Emotional reactions: shock; fear; grief; anger; guilt; shame; feeling helpless or hopeless; feeling numb; feeling empty; diminished ability to feel interest, pleasure, or love
  • Cognitive reactions: confusion, disorientation, indecisiveness, worry, shortened attention span, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, unwanted memories, self-blame
  • Physical reactions: tension, fatigue, edginess, insomnia, bodily aches or pain, startling easily, racing heartbeat, nausea, change in appetite, change in sex drive
  • Interpersonal reactions: distrust, conflict, withdrawal, work problems, school problems, irritability, loss of intimacy, being over-controlling, feeling rejected or abandoned
Severe stress reactions -

  • Dissociation (depersonalisation, derealisation, fugue, amnesia)
  • Intrusive re-experiencing (terrifying memories, nightmares, or flashbacks)
  • Extreme emotional numbing (completely unable to feel emotion, as if empty)
  • Extreme attempts to avoid disturbing memories (such as through substance use)
  • Hyper-arousal (panic attacks, rage, extreme irritability, intense agitation)
  • Severe anxiety (debilitating worry, extreme helplessness, compulsions or obsessions)
  • Severe depression (loss of the ability to feel hope, pleasure, or interest; feeling worthless)

Big trauma or small trauma – or no difference? And how will these predisposing           factors influence people to cope with traumatic events?

Some individuals have a higher than typical risk for severe stress symptoms and lasting PTSD,  depending on pre-morbidity:

  • Heredity
  • Personality i.e. high levels of basic tension, labile people, locus of self-control, ability to adapt to the environment
  • Interpretative frameworks: subjective judgment, interpretation of situations
  • Coping resources (or lack of)
  • Social support:  social support has 5 functions namely emotional, instrumental, social or recreational, services, advice and information
  • Exposure to other traumas (e.g., accidents, abuse, assault, combat, rescue work)
  • Chronic medical illness or psychological disorders
  • Chronic poverty, homelessness, unemployment, or discrimination
  • Recent or subsequent major life stressors or emotional strain (e.g., single parenting)
  • Disaster stress may revive memories of prior trauma and may intensify preexisting social, economic, spiritual, psychological, or medical problems.
  • For those who have previously experienced traumatic events, subsequent traumatic experiences may stir up memories and exacerbate symptoms related to previous traumas. Thus, some people will feel like the most recent trauma is opening old wounds. These symptoms should also be normalised and are likely to abate with time. It may be helpful to ask people what strategies they have successfully used in the past to deal with trauma reactions, and encourage them to continue using these techniques.
Individuals who continue to experience severe distress that interferes with normal functioning after three months are at higher risk for continued problems. These individuals should be referred for appropriate treatment. 

Group Exercise
J is a 19 year old teenager who comes from a wealthy, middle-class family. Her mother, who suffers from a nerve disorder, is a fashion designer, while her father made his money in the computer market. As child J received private schooling and has recently started going to a ‘finishing school’ for young girls. For her 18th birthday, she received her own car and flat to live in. When she finishes her education, she will probably get married to her school sweetheart, who is a stock broker, and intends to get involved in charity work.

 C on the other hand, comes from the Hills. Her father is a binge- alcoholic who works at the local mines and who also beats up her mother every other Friday around pay day. When C was 14, her brother died from black lung disease. Recently her father also lost his job after a mining accident. Her mother works as local washing woman in town. C went to public school and now works as a cashier and packer at the local grocery store during the day, while she studies at night through a home study college to become a lawyer.

 Hypothetical scenario: J and C accidentally attend the same social gathering during which time a robbery takes place. The captives are terrorized several hours by the robbers that includes assault with dangerous weapons and rape. J suffers from a broken nose, 2 cracked ribs, and a sprayed ankle. C suffers from broken ribs, a broken arm, bruised face, broken collarbone, and severe internal injuries due to the rape. She also complains of constant headache and blurred vision after receiving several blows to the head, although later X-rays has turned up no visible damage.

1.        Which of the two girls is likely to experience the event more traumatic?
2.        Why?


Understanding Trauma a little bit better
  • This framework is especially relevant and useful during the containment phase of trauma debriefing/counselling.
  • The framework is useful with diverse types of trauma as well as with clients from different cultural backgrounds.
  • Survivors respond to particular parts of the framework according to their own particular needs – Phases therefore also interchangeable.
  • Framework can be integrated into own particular therapeutic styles.
  • Short term nature of this framework precludes adequate addressing of i.e. possible transference and counter transference reactions.
  • Bereavement counselling should be integrated in the case of traumatic bereavement.
  • Most trauma models assume a level base of verbal ability and thus needs to be adapted for use in clients with limited verbal skills. In such cases the addition of music, art, clay work, sand play, or other alternative therapies can be of help.
 
   What happens to the body during a traumatic event? 


Biological - 
  • Limbic system – epinephrine, nor-epinephrine & Glucocorticosteroids
  • Adrenaline =fear hormone
  • Nor-epinephrine =aggression hormone
  • Lactic acid
  • Options = fight or flee
  • Trauma situation = can’t fight; can’t flee
  • Rendered incapable – freeze; immobilise
  • Cerebral cortex goes into ‘safe mode’ = stand by. The survivor is not capable of abstract thinking during this time
  • No sleep that night – chemicals can not be re-deposited in body, has to be used
  • Body next day stiff and sore due to overload of neuro-chemicals
 
Psychological - 
  • Mind comes ‘back on’, defenses come up i.e. crying, shaking, trembling, pacing, bravado, social bluntness, numbness, etc
  • Defenses might include avoidance, intrusion, suppression, anger, dissociation, depersonalization, dissociative amnesia
  • No sleep – intrusion, irritability, inability to concentrate, irritation, exaggerated startle response, hyper vigilance/hyper arousal symptoms
  • ‘feeling like they loosing it’
  • possible survivor guilt
 
Social -
  • people ‘out there’ will not understand
  • ‘it is over, only still in your mind’
  • ‘forget about it’
  • ‘be grateful you’re still alive’
  • ‘you’re in control’
  • trivialisation
  • exhaustion

 
I just got on the scene…

 
Never! start with counselling per se. Remember the physiological changes the survivor is going through? The brain has ‘shut down’- he/she will not be able to give voice to their trauma nor be able to think logically through the process. The survivor is still in the ‘shock phase’.


Then what should I do?

Containment/ Defusing:

  • The first priority is to be a team player by respecting and working through the site chain of command. Being a team player also means pitching in to provide basic care and comfort to survivors and workers.
  • A close second priority is to make personal contact in a genuine way with survivors and rescue workers. Listen; don't give advice.
  • Ask the survivors how they and their children are doing and find out what you can do to help. If they need it, provide them with food, beverages, practical supplies (e.g., clothes, blankets, sunscreen, magazines, writing implements, telephone), and a comfortable place to sit. Try to get the survivor/s to a safe place, away from the actual ‘site of happening’.
  • Clean up of survivors.
  • Mobilise those who are better off, to assist the others.
  • Enquire about social support i.e. have individuals a safe place to go to for the night; transport? Make necessary arrangements if needed.
  • Medical support if needed.
  • In the case of rape: Survivor should not clean up but taken to the necessary authorities for medical examinations and reporting of the assault.
  • Never hand out ‘sugar water’ of alcohol. Due to the abundant neurological chemicals already present, you will only worsen the symptoms.
  • .Ask about present medication and advise to continue with it.
·         NB: Normalise symptoms. This includes explaining and anticipating symptoms. Explain what to expect i.e. you will not be able to sleep tonight. Explain physiological trauma. Explain that what the survivor experiences, is ‘normal behavior to abnormal circumstances’.

Your primary goals are:

PROTECT:   Help preserve survivors' and workers' safety, privacy, health, and self-esteem.
DIRECT:  Get people where they belong; help them to organise, prioritise, and plan.
CONNECT: Help people communicate supportively with family, peers, and service providers.
DETECT: Screen, triage, and provide crisis care to those at-risk for severe problems. Seek professional assistance if needed.
SELECT: Refer people to health, spiritual, mental-health, social, and financial services.
VALIDATE: Use formal and informal educational opportunities to affirm the normalcy and value of each person's reactions, concerns, ways of coping, and goals for the future.

Group Exercise
Refer back to the previous exercise. You just got on the scene. It is still a situation of total confusion with crying and bleeding people all over the place.
  1. What are your goals?
  2. How will you go about establishing them?

The Ethics of SelfCare
  • Understand the ethical wisdom of self-care;
  • Develop an awareness of the warning symptoms of vicarious traumatisation/ stress/ burnout;
  • Develop an awareness of dysfunctional coping skills;
  • Consider their own coping skills in appropriate life contexts;
  • Develop and maintain functional coping skills;
  • Develop their self-care practices; and/or to adjust their self-care approaches according to their particular needs.
 
Why?
  • Therapy taxes the emotional and physical resources of the therapist.
  • The job characteristics of therapy:
(i)    repetitive contact with people
(ii)   intense interpersonal contacts
(iii)   long-term involvement
(iv)    the giving role
(v)     clients do not have to give back anything in the form of gratification or rewards
  • Occupational risks such as the possibility of client suicide
  • Observation of others’ pain; or the continuous expose there of
  • Witnessing others’ pain pushes buttons: your own pain and/or previous traumas, possible aggression, anger and helplessness at ‘making it better’. How do you cope with this?
 
Some consequences of vicarious traumatisation and/or negligent selfcare


As a defense against the unbearable feeling of helplessness, the therapist may try to assume the role of rescuer. The therapist may take on more and more of an advocacy role for the patient. By doing so, she implies that the patient is not capable of acting for herself. · The more the therapist accepts the idea that the patient is helpless, the more she perpetuates the traumatic transference and disempowers the patient · 
Negligent and unethical practices towards clients ·         
Personal psychological disorders 
 Burnout

REFERENCES 

 Hajiyiannis, H & Robertson, M 1999. Counsellors’ appraisals of the Wits trauma counselling model: Strengths and limitations. Paper presented at conference Traumatic stress in South Africa – working towards solutions Johannesburg, South Africa. 27-29 January 1999.
Herman, J 1997. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books.
Jacobson, GF (Ed) 1980. Crisis intervention in the 1980’s. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
McCubbin, HI & Patterson, JM 1983. The family stress process: the double ABX model of adjustment and adaption. Marriage and Family review 6: 7-37.
McGee, TF 1968. Some basic considerations in crisis intervention. Community Mental Health Journal 4: 319 – 325.
Morley, WE 1970. The theory of crisis intervention. Pastoral Psychology 21 (39) 14-20.
Retief, Y 2004. Genesing vir Trauma in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Paarl: Struik Christenlike boeke.
Stiglingh Consultants 2005. Trauma and treatment of survivors of trauma. 2-Day Workshop Notes: Pretoria.
Stone, H 1976. Crisis counselling. Philadelphia: Fortress.
Switser, DK 1986. The minister as crisis counsellor. Nashville:Abington.
APAHelpCenter.org :The APA's consumer website containing brochures, tips and articles on the psychological issues that affect our physical and emotional well-being.
http://www.usd.edu/dmhi/Pubs/availability.html :University of South Dakota -Disaster Mental Health Institute Website. Contains short booklets on coping with disaster that can be printed from the website.
http://www.mentalhealth.org/schoolviolence/teens.htm :Center for Mental Health Services website. After Disaster: What Teens Can Do
http://www.mentalhealth.org/schoolviolence/parents.htm. :Center for Mental Health Services website. After a Disaster: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
http://www.nasponline.org/NEAT/crisis_ 0911.html: National Association of School Psychologists. Coping with a national tragedy. Has several resources including Helping Children Cope with Tuesday's Acts of Terrorism.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/violence.cfm: National Institute of Mental Health Website. A comprehensive section entitled Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters. Contains more in-depth information on Trauma, PTSD, etc.




 Disclaimer: Please note that this presentation does not qualify learners to present themselves as professional trauma workers nor equip them with extended knowledge in the field of trauma counselling. Interested parties should obtain accredited training in this regard if they wish to continue in the field of trauma specialisation. 
First Presentation 2006: SAAP National Conference & Seminars, Pretoria.

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Patterns which repeat - and the Oscar Pistorius Trial

13/9/2014

 
Simply rambling today …

One thing which always interests me, is how patterns repeat in families. This can be voluntarily or involuntarily, consciously or sub/unconsciously, noticeable or not noticeable.

The abused regularly becomes the abuser (albeit at times on different levels e.g. emotional abuse can manifest in physical abuse or vice versa)

Whose children [may or may not] then also becomes abused. Sexual abuse in families is one example. Somehow this keeps being repeated in families. It always fascinates me how sexual abuse gets repeated, does not matter how much the mother (as previous victim) watches out therefor, as too often the abused actually marries into a family where abuse is almost certain to happen again.

Girls who are abused by their fathers, who marry abusive husbands (once again, physical or emotional).

The “addiction gene”, again, can manifest in various ways; whether it be addiction to alcohol, drugs, nicotine, caffeine (or chocolate…)

Coping skills or lack thereof, is one thing that keeps popping up in families where problems occur.

Sometimes we have to wonder whether depression for example,  is really only a matter of genetics or rather an [combined] issue where children are not taught/modelled required coping skills because the depressed parent did not possess such skills. We already know that people who suffer from some mental illnesses, lack certain coping skills (e.g. Beck or Ellis distortive cognitive beliefs).

So at times, it is rather the lack of the required coping skills which are carried down to the next generation, instead of a pure genetic disposition.  But still, a pattern.

(Of course, if this was so simple therapy would have been so easy, and simply a matter of teaching people the correct skills – providing they want to be taught as well)

Then there are other patterns.

Referring to the Oscar Pistorius trial, Oscar lost his legs at a very early age. Now, later in life, his brother Carl stands the change to lose his legs also.

In the OP Trial, fire arms repeatedly feature in Oscar’s history.

In culpable homicide, I found it extremely interesting that both brothers ended up being charged with culpable homicide (referring to Carl’s case 2008, verdict 2013).

So I can’t help but wondering if this seeming “universal” pattern will be repeated: Carl got off culpable homicide.

Will Oscar, too?


Why homework?

30/7/2014

 

How Homework Help Allows for Overall Development of Students

Author: Gorm Ekker

School students of modern times could use computer system with internet connection to avail various types of homework related guidelines and help with the help of online environment not only in interactive manner, but also at the fast pace as possible. Individuals can avail homework help at free of cost and even by paying some nominal fee. Therefore, you can visit large numbers of websites, which register providers of homework help and offer services to students, requiring valuable assistances related to homework problems even at affordable price as possible.

Private Tutors Make Homework Objective Successful : Parents or guardians and students should always keep in their minds that homework imparted on pupils in the form of assignment to do in homes is of huge significance, as it helps in improving skills and increasing the knowledge level of students. Simultaneously, the allocated assignment helps students to learn doing different types of things by applying various creative ways and by usage of varying skill sets. However, the objective behind the homework allocation to pupils would achieve only when individuals choose for good private tutoring solutions to avail guidelines doing assignments.

Leksehjelp Norge Allows Good Revision of Varying Topics : Homework can be in the form of chapter to memorize properly, mathematics problems to solve, project of science, geography and computer to complete and some important questions related to textbook, which children have to give answer. Homework allows for revising of chapters and topics taught in classroom. Private tutoring solutions allow students to become fully prepared of various important topics and tough subjects, which will come as students' progress to their coming levels. On the other side, homework provides excellent opportunity to guardians and parents to take part actively in the educational and growing process of young kids.

Online Guideline for Homework-Good Platform : Online homework help will act as a very good platform to share valuable knowledge and information. In fact, many students receive plenty of benefits with the help of interactive study mode done via forums and chat sessions advent on internet. Nowadays, the concept behind assistance via internet has become immensely popular in between schools belonging to different cities, regions, suburbs and states of the world. If you give your valuable time, you would likely found large numbers of schools and educational institutions, which involved in outsourcing of their various types of homework-related projects to many freelancers, which complete their suitable assignments and receive good incomes during the complete process.

Home Assignments Online Allow Participation in Extra-Curricular Activities : Many times, because of excessive stress related to home assignments, students do not get their adequate time to involve in other extra-curricular activities, games and sports. However, participation in other activities and sports are also equally important as getting good marks in academic sessions. Hence, in order to resolve the problem and allow children as well as adolescence to make perfect balance between homework, sports and other activities, homework help online has came into existence. These guidelines allow students to complete their work as soon as possible and concentrate on several types of sports and additional activities required for complete development.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/tutoring-articles/how-homework-help-allows-for-overall-development-of-students-7056621.html

About the Author

Privatundervisning engelsk solutions allow students to become fully prepared of various important topics and tough subjects. Visits: http://www.goldenacademy.no/

Having a complex?

11/7/2014

 

What psychological complexes really are

Author: Morgan K Taylor

A psychological complex is an organized group of present or past THOUGHTS – FEELINGS – MEMORIES – WISHES – EXPERIENCES – PERCEPTIONS that were developed consciously or subconsciously and subsequently resulted in a NEWLY FORMED PATTERN OF BEHAVIOURS AND EMOTIONS. The intensity and truthfulness of these newly formed behaviors and emotions usually result in believing that the force that brought them into existence is also real, although it is just a product of your internal environment.

The set of processes taking place in our brains are presented in diagram 1:

Diagram 1: Definition of psychological complex

 

HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPLEXES WORK

The following example should help in further comprehending the definition of a complex. Let\'s examine the ‘nose complex\' and assume that John suffers from the belief that he has a big nose. Some possible causes of that complex are that:

-        In elementary school (past) a classmate of John made fun of him that he had a big nose (conscious EXPERIENCE).

-        Although John does not recall of this experience today (present), it has been planted in his mind (subconscious MEMORY).

-        John feels bad (present and past) when people make fun of him (conscious FEELING).

-        John read a magazine article (present) which concluded that small noses are more attracting (conscious PERCEPTION).

-        John used to have dreams (past) where he looked different and people kept complimenting him on his well formed nose (conscious and subconscious WISH).

-        John often observes (past and present) other people\'s noses and tries to think which type of nose he would prefer to have (conscious THOUGHT).

John\'s brain has been processing all the above over the last years resulting in the development and growth of a psychological complex which consists of:

-        NEWLY FORMED behaviors:

  • When someone is taking a photo of him, he avoids showing his profile to hide his big nose
  • He doesn\'t go out very often because whenever he sees people giggling, he thinks they are commenting on his nose

-        NEWLY FORMED emotions:

  • He sometimes acts more aggressive against people with small noses because of jealousy
  • He does not feel self confident with his appearance

For further information, refer to the this comprehensive list of popular psychological complexes.

REMEMBER: A complex is nothing more than an IDEA arising and developing from an observation, experience or a series of events. Now is the right time to make the decision and set yourself free from all the negative thoughts that have been poisoning the prosperity of your mind. Start by firstly understanding the mechanism behind a psychological complex, identify the type of psychological complexthat you have and realize where your psychological complex comes from.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/what-psychological-complexes-really-are-6443467.html

About the Author

Morgan K. Taylor is a researcher, writer and coach who was born and raised by a traditional Greek family with strong bonds. The biggest passion of his life is travelling. As his father is a pilot, he had the luck to travel around the world and appreciate the distinctive features of each culture from an early age. He has now travelled in more than 40 countries and he is the owner of 32 ‘hard rock café\' t-shirts, each one from a different country. He has also developed a well-rounded approach to learning through his exposure to the educational systems of 4 different countries – Greece, Sweden, Czech Republic, Cyprus – both as a student and a teacher. These experiences helped him to become adaptable to various environments, remove certain existing mental blocks, develop a ‘thinking outside the box\' mentality and adopt a positive attitude towards possibilities.

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    Disclaimer: As stated on the home page, this site is both for educational [students] as well as self-help purposes [to reach those who do not always have access to direct professional help]. Where articles make use of case histories to demonstrate or support arguments, they are presented as examples only and comparisons which might be made with persons either living or dead is coincidental unless otherwise stated or referred to by research.
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