Therese Borchard likens herself to Goldilocks of the mental-health world: She tried six psychiatrists before she found one that was “just right.” One learned she was a writer and asked for help with a book proposal. Another put her on sleeping pills, ignoring her history of substance abuse. One even wanted to try hypnotic regression by candlelight to address unresolved childhood issues.

The search for the right therapist can be baffling—and it comes at a time when would be patients are feeling most vulnerable.

(Image by Ryan Snook)

Patients who aren’t sure what’s wrong with them can be stumped about the type of therapist to call and ill-equipped to evaluate what they’re told during treatment. How well a therapist’s personal style matches a patient’s individual needs can be critical. But experts also say that patients shouldn’t be shy about pressing their therapist for a diagnosis and setting measurable goals.

David Palmiter, a public-education coordinator for the American Psychological Association (APA), likens good therapy to going to a good restaurant: “You should be able to peer into the kitchen and see what they’re doing.”

About 3% of Americans had outpatient psychotherapy in 2007—roughly the same as in 1998—although the percentage taking antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs rose sharply, according to an analysis in the American Journal of Psychiatry last year. The same study found that the average number of visits dropped from nearly 10 in 1998 to eight in 2007.

By some estimates, one-quarter of the U.S. population has some kind of diagnosable mental illness. But many don’t believe they need help, don’t know how to get it, think they can’t afford it or that it won’t be effective. There’s also the lingering stigma attached to seeing a “shrink.”

Numerous clinical trials have shown that various forms of psychotherapy, with or without medication, can help ease depression, anxiety and other disorders. One oft-quoted analysis of 2,400 patients found that 50% improved measurably after eight sessions, and 75% improved after six months in therapy. Still, that doesn’t mean that any given therapist will be effective for any particular patient.

One issue for prospective patients is that therapists generally specialize in one treatment approach and tend to see patients’ problems through that lens. A cognitive-behavioral therapist will focus on changing patients’ negative thinking patterns, while a psychoanalyst will want to probe more deeply into how the past is affecting current issues.

Some clinics and university mental-health centers offer consultations to help evaluate which treatment might be best. “Patients shouldn’t have to decide this by themselves,” says Drew Ramsey, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at New York’s Columbia University, who says he loves to play “shrink matchmaker.”

Patients can also ask friends, family members and physicians for referrals, then call several recommended therapists themselves and ask about their experience and techniques. “You may not know what kind of approach is right, but you can say, ‘Here’s what’s going on in my life. How would you propose treating that? And how long do you think it would take?’ ” says Lynn Bufka, assistant executive director for practice research and policy at the APA. Increasingly, therapists are measuring outcomes, such as asking patients for evaluations, she adds. “So it’s very reasonable to ask, ‘How do you know what you do works?’ ”

Once in treatment, both the therapist and the patient should be familiar enough with each other by the third session to know if it’s a good fit, experts say.

“Some people need a therapist who gives them instructions and assignments, and some people hate that. Some people need a therapist who is basically silent and lets them talk,” says Betsy Stone, a psychologist in Stamford, Conn.

Dr. Stone says she can often tell even in the first session if the fit isn’t right. “I like to push patients pretty hard, because I want them to get their money’s worth, and some people are just too fragile,” she says. “Then I say, ‘I’m not the right therapist for you, but I’ll help you find someone else.’ ”

Increasingly, therapists are collaborating with patients on a treatment plan rather than remaining aloof and omniscient. “I encourage patients to look up the science for themselves. How can they do that if they don’t know what terms to search for?” says Dr. Palmiter.

Effective therapy can be difficult at times—particularly when the patient is exploring painful thoughts or fears. “A good therapist should give you comfort and discomfort at the same time. They should make you feel understood but challenged,” says Dr. Stone.

Distinguishing that from having an uncomfortable relationship with the therapist can be tricky. “If you leave therapy every week feeling worse than when you went in,” says Dr. Bufka, “it’s probably not the right place for you.”

Studies show that patients often hesitate to break it off because they don’t want to hurt the therapist’s feelings or seem ungrateful. “But believe me, we’re used to it—and it’s a very valuable thing to hear,” says Dr. Palmiter.

Even close relationships sometimes fail to get at the right issues. Victoria Maxwell, 44, an actress and blogger from Half Moon Bay, British Columbia, says she worked with a therapist for 2½-years as a teenager and liked her enormously. But she never made much progress, because the therapist didn’t recognize Ms. Maxwell’s underlying bipolar disorder. “I became a really insightful depressed person. But it wasn’t helping my depression,” she says.

Years later, after several hospitalizations, a nurse referred Ms. Maxwell to an older psychiatrist. She initially thought they’d be a bad fit—but found he was the only one who believed she could have both a profound spiritual experience and bipolar disorder. “I trusted him, so I was willing to try what he suggested, which included medication,” she says. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without his help and understanding.”

Setting measurable goals is crucial for knowing whether a therapy is working. In Ms. Maxwell’s case, her psychiatrist said, “I think you’re capable of moving out of your parents’ home, living with roommates and driving a car—and I was,” she says.

How did Lord Buddha walk through the trials and tribulations of life ?
Mindfulness is one of the latest but oldest and ancient ways of achieving a state of mind.  A state of mind  away from emotional turmoil , a way to live a more vital existence and feel more connected to what matters to you.
2,500 years ago, Buddha changed the life of millions of people, he was a prince who gave up everything, his kingdom his young beautiful wife and wealth to live the life of a monk. He gained enlightenment until the shade of the Bodhi tree.
“…whatever arises in your life, no matter how awful, no matter how dark, is workable,” Jon Kabat-Zinn co developer of MBCBT ( Mindfulness Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) says.  – Counselling Northern Beaches.
Studies have found that meditation can be used to treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, drug and alcohol abuse, personality disorders, even sexual dysfunction.
The conclusion is that “Depression is not a life sentence.”
The Mindfulness Way for Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness. is a helpful reference which  offers a new path to patients who have suffered repeated depressive episodes and have resigned themselves to illness, medication, and hopelessness.
Research gives us new understandings about the brain’s plasticity. Once thought to begin dying at age five, the brain is now believed to change throughout life, actually altering its physical and chemical structures in response to experience.

For the treatment of mental illness, the implications are huge: if “bad” habits like rumination and self-criticism can harm the mind, then “good” habits like meditation can heal it.
From the work of University of Wisconsin researcher Richard Davidson: brain scans of Tibetan monks showed distinct changes in the hippocampus and frontal lobes when the monks entered meditative states. That raises a tantalizing question: if monks can change their brains using meditation, why can’t people struggling with mental illness be taught to do it,too?
The following is an extract from Mindfulness of Mind, Michael Stroud, Shambhala Sun, March 2008:
A sampling of some of the recent research examining the effectiveness of mindfulness and other forms of meditation in treating psychological problems:

* Stanford University psychologist Philippe Goldin and colleagues are exploring the impact of mindfulness meditation on social anxiety.

* At UCLA, Drs. Lidia Zylowska and Susan Smalley are developing a meditation-based treatment for children and adults with ADHD.

* University of Washington psychologist Marsha Linehan has incorporated elements of mindfulness meditation and Zen into dialectical behavior therapy, designed originally to treat Borderline Personality Disorder, but also applied successfully to a wide range of other disorders such as suicidal depression.

* Linehan’s colleague G. Alan Marlatt demonstrated reduction in alcoholism and drug abuse among prisoners in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

* An international team of researchers from the U.S., Italy, and New Zealand published an article in Behavior Modification on how “individuals with mental illness can control their aggressive behavior through mindfulness training.”

* Stephen Hayes of the University of Nevada has integrated Buddhist meditation into a new program called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

* Kristin Neff of the University of Texas in Austin is examining the use of “self-compassion” in building self-esteem and psychological health.

* University of British Columbia researcher Lori Brotto and Julia Heiman of the Kinsey Institute published a paper earlier this year discussing the use of mindfulness in the treatment of women with sexual problems.

One of the most promising uses of mindfulness meditation is in combination with cognitive therapy as a treatment for depression. Developed by Dr. Aaron Beck at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1950s, cognitive therapy asks patients to write down their self-condemning thoughts as they arise, label them (“magnification” or “all-or-nothing thinking” are two common labels), and then write out a rational thought to replace the dysfunctional one.

For example, “I’m a failure” is an example of all-or-nothing thinking and might be met by a reply of, “I’m good at some things and not so good at others, just like all human beings.”

The therapist’s job is to teach patients the technique and then give them “homework assignments” designed to help them meet the challenges of everyday life.

This isn’t just good psychotherapy, it’s also good Buddhism. In a meeting last year with Beck at a cognitive therapy conference in Sweden, the Dalai Lama compared cognitive therapy to Buddhist analytical meditation used to combat “toxins” such as anger, envy, and cravings.

Beck later wrote that he was struck by the importance in both systems of acceptance, compassion, knowledge, and understanding.

  Zindel Segal was also struck by these similarities when he and colleagues John Teasdale and Mark Williams began studying how Kabat-Zinn’s hugely successful Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses at UMass Medical Center might prevent depressed patients from relapsing.

Through mindfulness meditation, Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society were teaching patients with serious illnesses to neither ignore their pain nor compound it by struggling against it. This compassionate attention, Segal and his colleagues realized, might be the perfect medicine for patients who had suffered three or more bouts of serious depression.

Studies have shown that more than 90 percent of these patients will have a relapse at some point in their lives.

In MBSR, patients learn a range of mindfulness practices, such as scanning their body sensations, following their breath, and watching their thoughts and feelings as passing events in the field of their awareness.

By applying moment-to-moment, non-judgmental attention to their perceptions, body sensations, emotions, and thoughts, patients experience a new and more accepting way of being. Interestingly, although they are not trying to fix or change anything, things often do change—on their own and for the better.

“In cognitive therapy, relapse prevention is dealt with by getting patients to pull out their therapy materials if they notice that symptoms are beginning to reappear,”

Segal says. “On the other hand, mindfulness is something that can be practiced anywhere.”

Subsequent studies have confirmed the usefulness of mindfulness for depressed patients. People who had suffered three or more depressions and who were taught the principles of mindfulness meditation experienced a 50 percent lower rate of remission.

Cognitive therapy helped me (Michael Shroud)  survive the worst of a depression by using the antidote of “good thoughts” to offset the despair of “bad thoughts.” My best hope for not suffering another major depression lies in accepting my propensity for it—neither imagining I’m free of it nor dreading its arrival.

In an absolute sense, depression and other manifestations of the suffering mind aren’t good or bad, desirable or undesirable, bearable or unbearable. They are simply ruts in the path that some of us take through life.

We may trip and fall more than some people. But if we meditate, we’re more likely to keep our eyes on the road.”-

Michael Stroud is a freelance writer living in southern California. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Asian Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

Did you know that bipolar disorder is six times more common among people who are exceptionally creative?

Professor Greg Murray, of Swinbourne University suggests that it may have something to do with their changing moods, getting an insight when they are right down to their lowest level but being able to act when they move into their cycle of high or elevated mood. It also helps that these individuals have a strong drive to achieve.

This creativity finding is significant in a number of ways.  Firstly overall creativity happens to be valued by people with bipolar disorder, as creative expression is a means of connecting with others and getting satisfaction from life and that’s something they don’t want to lose.  But it seems that their creativity can be flattened by the medications that are the mainstay of their treatment.

This new research opens up ways and  new treatments to engage people who are bipolar.  Psychologists are coming up with more creative programmes of help and say action-based interventions and treatments that offer more opportunity for self expression will  provide greater benefit.

Especially Positive psychology has exciting implications for therapists and patients.  Setting a positive and meaningful goal is critical. The emphasis then, is away from a reduction of symptoms to towards leading a satisfying life.

Bipolar Disorder is generally a life long chronic condition and to identify this major core strength, Creativity,  is a real springboard to achieving this goal.

If you know someone who needs a little help getting their life humming happily along, call us at CIT Psych Services . Speak to Liz to arrange an appointment with one of our experts. Call 0401032095 today.

This is a curious true story of the Romulus and “Rebus “of the Roman Catholic Church. It brings up questions of karmic pre-destiny and identity .

These brothers, identical twins with shared beliefs, natures, interests and professions lived monastic lives . .Did they choose to be born or…
did they choose to depart at the same time ?       Free will and Determinism, Nature and Nurture – all these invented linguistic and philosophical paradigms pale into the realm of intellectual jousting, when faced with the conundrums of the unexplainable synchronicities and so called “”coincidences” of real life.

Their conjoined destinies spiraling in a double helix through the physical and spiritual world, Julian and Adrian took their first and last breaths together.  Is this choice or chance ?  Did they really finish each other’s “life” sentences ?

Reading like a labyrinthine Jorges Luis Borges’ tale, the brothers’ eternal bonding teases our imaginations in a world, where truth indeed gives birth to things stranger than fiction !  Can two truly live as one ?  There’s more to this than our seemingly flat world psychology can explain …

To be continued..in the next world …

When I read the article about how a blind horse came to an animal shelter with an entourage of bodyguards, I marveled at the ingenuity and caring these farm animals had for one of their buddies. It was animation film come to life!

If only humans had the same idea, in our business world or our social world , we have to work hard to establish a network, of associates, of prospective customers  of friends . It usually takes a lot of effort and humans usually have to have some gain from the process.

I got a good laugh out of reading the article by Reuters.  It was an incredible story. if you are interested check it out…….

By Laura Zuckerman
Michelle Feldstein was prepared to provide special accommodations for the blind horse she recently added to the flightless ducks, clawless cats and homeless llamas inhabiting her animal shelter in Montana.
But nothing could prepare her for the 40-legged, seeing-eye entourage that accompanied “Sissy,” a sightless, 15-year-old quarter horse.
“Sissy came with five goats and five sheep — and they take care of her,” said Feldstein, the force behind Deer Haven Ranch, a private rescue facility she runs with her husband, Al, on 300 acres north of Yellowstone National Park.

The seeing-eye sheep and guard goats are never far from the white mare, and they never lead her astray. They shepherd Sissy to food and water, and angle the horse into her stall amid blowing snows or driving rains.
“They round her up at feeding time and then move aside to make sure she gets to the hay,” Feldstein said. “They show her where the water is and stand between her and the fence to let her know the fence is there.”
Before their arrival in February at Deer Haven, a retirement home for creatures ranging from henpecked roosters to abused alpacas, prospects for Sissy and her guide team of 10 were grim.
The animals might have been marked for death had Feldstein not intervened when another rescue facility in western Montana folded this winter.
“I only take animals that others consider throwaways,” said Feldstein, 66, whose past professional careers have included race car driver and hospital administrator.
Feldstein and her husband, a retired editor of Mad Magazine, underwrite their rescue operation. It can cost as much as $50,000 a year for feed, veterinarian services, and winter-time heating of barns and water troughs for a total of 200 animals. The couple also run a guest house for humans whose profits are poured into the animal sanctuary.
Feldstein said she marvels at the blind mare and her barnyard attendants.
“There’s a magic involved in sheep, goats and a horse becoming best friends,” she said. “When you watch them, you have to wonder, why can’t people do that?”

Walk into psychiatrist Drew Ramsey’s office in Manhattan and you’ll likely be greeted by Gus, a four-year-old shih tzu. After escorting you through the waiting room, he may hop onto the ottoman and go to sleep or sit beside you on the couch.

Some patients pat Gus while they talk to Dr. Ramsey. A few talk to Gus instead. And if they get emotional, Gus provides physical comfort that therapists can’t offer. “We can’t hug patients, but patients can hug Gus,” says Dr. Ramsey, who began bringing his dog to his office two years ago. Now, he says, “I think about Gus the way a cowboy thinks of his horse—he’s part of the job.”

A small but growing number of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and other therapists are bringing their dogs to work in their private practices, where they help calm patients down, cheer them up and offer a happy distraction with a wagging tail. The job is similar to what therapy dogs do when they visit at hospitals or nursing homes, but these “canine therapy-assistants” often work full days and get to know the patients just as well as the doctors.

New York neurologist Gayatri Devi, who specializes in memory disorders, brings Lola, shown, and Wolfie to the office.

Even some medical doctors have put their pups to work. Lacey, part golden retriever, part spaniel, entertains waiting patients at New York plastic surgeon Janis Di Pietro’s office, though she isn’t allowed in the procedure room.

Lola and Wolfie, mutts aged three and 17, put elderly patients at ease for New York neurologist Gayatri Devi, who specializes in memory disorders. “Coming to this office can be unnerving for dementia patients, but when they see a dog, it’s disarming. They feel comforted and safe,” she says.

Research shows that a few minutes of stroking a pet dog decreases cortisol, the stress hormone, in both the human and the dog. It also increases prolactin and oxytocin, hormones that govern nurturing and security, as well as serotonin and norepinephrine, neurotransmitters that boost mood. One study found that five minutes with a dog was as relaxing as a 20-minute break for hospital staffers.

“It’s chemical, not magical,” says Rebecca Johnson, who teaches a popular course in animal-human interaction at the University of Missouri and has conducted much of the research.

Child psychologist Aubrey Fine has used animals in his Claremont, Calif., practice for 30 years. Shown are his two golden retrievers, Magic and P.J.

While there are no set requirements for having an animal assistant, most dogs who work with doctors have been trained in obedience and as therapy dogs. The Delta Society offers such courses to human-and-pet pairs nationwide, as do other organizations.

Interacting with a dog can work wonders for some patients. Early in his practice, child psychologist Aubrey Fine treated a 9-year-old girl who was painfully withdrawn and refused to speak until his golden retriever, Puppy, laid her head in the girl’s lap. The girl slowly began patting Puppy, smiled and spoke to her as her astonished parents looked on.

For the past 30 years, Dr. Fine, who practices in Claremont, Calif., has used dogs and other animals to help treat children disorders such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Learning to walk and interact with the pets helps the kids learn to maintain focus, eye contact and communication. “With some children, I use the dog as an external form of biofeedback,” to help them learn to regulate their behavior, says Dr. Fine, who edited the “Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy,” a key textbook in the field.

Psychiatrist Drew Ramsey with his fouryear-old shih tzu, Gus, in his Manhattan office.

“You never have a problem getting a child to go see Dr. Fine—they want to go,” says Velene Lima, whose daughter, Angela, now 24, has been a patient since infancy, when a brain tumor left her with multiple challenges. “She would be bouncing off the wall when she was young, but with Dr. Fine, she’d be calm. Those dogs mean everything to her.”

Some therapists report that their dogs act differently with different patients, depending on their conditions.

“I call them ‘seeing heart dogs’—because they can see into people’s hearts,” says Lois Abrams, a marriage and family therapist in Los Alamitos, Calif., who practices with her two cavalier King Charles spaniels, Duke, 11, and Romeo, eight. Duke lies on the floor next to patients with anxiety disorders and sits on the couch close to those who are depressed.

Once, Duke jumped up and sat next to a patient she hadn’t realized was depressed. “When I asked if she was, suddenly the woman poured out her heart to me,” says Dr. Abrams. “My three-year-old dog knew more than I did.”

Sandra Barker and High Anxiety ('Hi' for short) visit a patient at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.

How can dogs be that sensitive to human emotions?

Experts speculate that people give off tell-tale scents under certain physical or psychological conditions that only dogs can detect.

That acute sense of smell also enables specially trained service dogs to recognize when seizures, diabetic comas or heart attacks are imminent in humans. Some dogs can even detect the presence of cancer cells in lab specimens—much like detecting traces of contraband or explosives in luggage.

That still doesn’t explain some of the things dogs seem to intuit. Sandra Barker, director of the School of Medicine Center for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University, recalls taking a therapy dog to visit a patient who was paralyzed from the neck down. When the patient blinked “yes” to invite the dog on the bed, the dog nestled around his head. “How did that dog know that was the only part of his body that had any feeling?” Dr. Barker marvels.

Anita Sacks an assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University's Langone Medical Center, with her chocolate lab, Deacon.

Anita Sacks, an assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, “prescribes” dogs for some patients. From a psychoanalytic perspective, dogs offer the kind of unconditional love that some people didn’t get from their mothers, which sets them up for life-long attachment problems, says Ms. Sacks,who practices with her chocolate lab, Deacon.

Dr. Ramsey thinks their appeal is simpler. “Like Freud said about cigars, sometimes a dog in the office is just a dog in the office,” he says. “They’re just nice to have around.”

He also thinks Gus is good for his own mental health. “Much of psychiatry is about loss and depression, so when I get a break, it’s great to have him there to take for a walk.”

What do dogs get out of working with patients?

Lois Abrams, a marriage and family therapist, with Duke in a chair and Romeo on her lap.

“Lots of cookies,” says Dr. Barker, whose Lhasa apso, High Anxiety, or Hi for short, helped out in her practice treating trauma survivors for nine years before retiring.

And many dogs seem happiest when they have a job to do—whether it’s herding, guarding, patrolling or engaging in supportive listening. What’s more, patients bring presents. “Gus got a Freud chew toy,” Dr. Ramsey says.

Not every dog is cut out for the health-care profession. Dogs that are highly energetic, territorial or demanding could be disruptive to a practice. Temperament is more important than any particular breed, says Dr. Barker, who says the Virginia Commonwealth program has included pit bulls, Great Danes and everything in between as therapy dogs.

As a rule, dogs are better suited to therapy than other animals. “Cats like relationships on their own terms,” says Dr. Johnson, who is president of the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations, a nonprofit working to advance the nascent science of understanding between humans and animals.

Ashley Talbott, a fourth-year medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine, with Berkeley.

But other animals can serve other roles. Besides golden retrievers and black labs, Dr. Fine has worked with guinea pigs, bunnies, birds and bearded lizards. He recalls one lizard that had a severed tail and chronic constipation, which helped some children relate to her even more closely. “She was one of the nicest lizards I have ever met,” he says.

Of course, some patients are allergic or frightened around animals. Most doctors who practice with dogs inform patients before the first visit, and put the pup elsewhere for part of the day if necessary. But most find that practicing with a dog is a draw for patients, not a deterrent.

Animal-assisted therapy is still in its infancy. But research is expanding and interest is growing steadily. Some universities now offer undergraduate courses. VCU’s School of Medicine offers a course in human-animal interaction for fourth-year medical students and another for psychiatry residents.

“When you have psychiatrists who say, ‘I want to leave my practice and come and work with you,’ you know it’s an area of great interest,” says Dr. Barker.

What’s the difference between mental health and mental illness?. Many people stigmatize mental illness and avoid professional help  saying, “I’m not crazy, I don’t need to see anyone.” Mental health is something you can maintain.

If your life seems to be in shatters and still you uphold this belief of I’m OK, you could be doing yourself a disservice. You could rectify things in your life a lot quicker if you just have a chat with someone independently neutral. Gone are the days when you could stroll over to the village elder and smoke a pipe together for a yarn.

Mental Health Month in Australia  is this month of October, and psychologists and Allied health professionals are working hard to bring people’s awareness to the facilities available to promote well being.

Mental health is like having all your ” marbles” and using them to stay mentally fit, flexible enough to be able to adapt to what life throws you.  Being able to solve any problems so that you CAN reach your goals.  This means you can focus and think clearly , think realistically and positively, plan ahead and make wise decisions, at the same time, be able to manage your feelings and moods so that you can be self aware and insightful about what you are doing to others.

Mental illness on the other hand, is related to a wide range of disorders to do with how your mind and brain is functioning. A diagnosis of a mental illness is made when the symptoms become so chronic or severe, that normal life is disrupted, people are unable to continue working  or go out anymore socially and even on a personal level be unable to cope. In almost all cases, mental illness is treatable and a temporary condition.

It’s actually quite common to succumb to depression or anxiety.  Approximately 16% of Australians, 10% would be the workforce is suffering from some form of stress or mental health concern. Vulnerability can be triggered by mental exhaustion and chronic unmanaged tension. Mental Health issues can affect both men and women of all ages, education, social backgrounds and occupations.

So what can one do to stay resilient and healthy?

Look, its all about having a positive attitude and mental fitness. You can do this, by being proactive about implementing stress management skills, keeping your body fit and healthy, making sure you have great friends around to support you, be vigilant about taking care when you see the first signs of a difficulty, and getting the right treatment, have realistic expectations and keep your energy levels up.

How do you know when to do something?

Early warning signs of mental strain could be noticing, that its more difficult to concentrate and you can’t remember so easily, or you find yourself getting down on yourself and thinking bad thoughts about yourself, like ” I am not worthy ” “I am so stupid”.

If you can’t make simple decisions anymore without getting frustrated and stressed about things, take note.  Some people obsess about a particular incident and can’t stop thinking about it, then start to feel their life is out of control, and respond by shutting down.

If you’ve found yourself all alone , actually avoiding places and people and starting to think about strange things, and doing  things normally not like you , then this is the time to take stock and make that call, click here for help. If you see a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, you can rapidly get yourself out that slump!

In many eastern cultures, it is known that the physical body has many lines along which energy flows. These are called meridian lines and Acupuncturists and Acupressurists are working with that  knowledge. The web of intricate meridians link with your essential organs, such as your kidneys and  lungs. These are vital sources of energy for your whole body.

Eastern therapists/healers insert needles or apply pressure at key meridian points to stimulate and release the energy of particular organs. This action floods the network and restores any imbalance into your tired, ol’ body.

How can this information improve your sex life? Ms Margot Anand, author of the “Art of Sexual Magic” explains how you can tap into those subtle meridians, to channel sexual energy right up the wassu.  Interested? Click here to read more…

The main sexual meridian is a vertical channel that starts from  your perineum , that point between the genitals and the anus, and rises up through the centre of your body, up through the middle of your head to the crown at the top of your skull. Blow my Mind!!!!

Ms Anand has termed this channel ” Inner Flute” ( how very oriental of you my dear) because when you know how to play this instrument, you create “beautiful, orgasmic music.”   Is that too far fetched? I had heard of people learning this technique and having 3 hour orgasms , wow  if that ain’t an exquisite,  pleasurable, experience to yearn for, I don’t know what else could be.

My interest was titillated, so I read on. …..Apparently  along this inner highway are located  seven fuelling stations, these centres or chakras boost your energy upwards.  At each point or post, one can experience a different and unique sensation, a different flavour of orgasmic pleasure, if you will. By travelling on this inner route, you are moving your energy in a powerful, upward, wavelike motion all the way out to the cosmos! . LOL   So get ready for sexual magic!!!!!

Ladies, you know you have unlimited capacity for love, reconnect with your goddess within and radiate love, devotion and happiness.

And all of you males, who are so concerned with size, rethink. No more need for unnecessary penile implants.  By knowing the basics of sexual alchemy, you can have that confidence you dreamed of.  In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy , we psychologists would call this approach “restructuring your thinking”.

“Parents are just bad at risk assessment” says author Christie Barnes and mother of four. In her book “The Paranoid Parents Guide”, she claims parents constantly overestimate rare dangers while underestimate common ones.

Well what is she referring to? Most parents feel strongly that they do make right choices and would feel very offended if questioned about their care. Those protective, instinctual urges rise up like hairs on the back of one’s neck.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the five things most likely to cause injury to children up to the age of 18 are : car accidents, homicide usually at the hands of someone they know, child abuse, suicide or drowning.

But what are the 5 things most parents concerned about? Interestingly, it happens to be: kidnapping, school snipers, terrorists dangerous strangers and drugs. Well parents,  its time to recalculate when determining the safety of your kids!

A Cognitive Behaviour therapist would say parents make cognitive errors
when assessing the safety of their children.