Digital Resource for Health

Cosmetic surgery is no longer the taboo cause that it once was. People all over the world now see it as a legitimate elective surgery procedure that can bring self confidence to people who might not already have it.

The truth is, most people have a part of their body that they would like to change, but it might bother people more than others, or that undesirable feature might be something easily fixed such as ears sticking out. There are a range of procedures out there to help people with these issues and give people new confidence with their improved appearance.

The key word in that last sentence is ‘improved’. No-one should undergo a cosmetic surgery procedure hoping for the perfect look. Doctors will always point out that no surgery will provide someone with the perfect image and so realistic expectations are paramount to a successful cosmetic surgery procedure. Those who are disappointed with the end results are likely to feel so because of their expectations beforehand.

So if you are certain you want surgery and your expectations are realistic, you can embark on the surgery of your choice.

For years, there has been a huge amount of very interesting debate about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and lycopene in particular. The Mediterranean diet which is based on high consumption of fruit and vegetables, with olive oil replacing butter on bread and in cooking, gives people a higher lycopene intake. Lycopene comes from the red pigment in tomatoes and seems to protect people against heart disease, cancer, and a whole variety of other chronic and ultimately fatal, diseases.

Greeks, Italians and Spanish people have been smoking and drinking more than anyone else for centuries, but still live longer than the rest of us - because of lycopene.
The problem for scientists until now, has been finding a way of ensuring that lycopene is reliably absorbed. Now a team of Cambridge scientists have come up with Ateronon, a new lycopene compound which can be taken as a one pill a day treatment, which instantly raises blood lycopene to the optimum level.

The first data on this new wonder treatment were presented at the World congress on heart disease in Toronto last year (2008), http://www.cardiologyonline.com/wchd08/advance_program.htm

The study ATERONON: FIRST CLINICALLY PROVEN ANTI-ATHEROGENIC ANTIOXIDANT
makes interesting reading. It claims to have completed eliminated the low density lipoprotein oxidation that leads to the build up of atherosclerosis.

Another study by ATERONON, CHLAMYDIA INFECTION IN CARDIOVASCULAR PATHOLOGY: SEQUEL II from the same Ateronon inventors, showed how chlamydia pneumoniae, a bacterial infection, seems to be involved in the development of clogged arteries. People with the condition always seem to have the bacteria in their bodies. Cambridge Theranostics, the team who have invented Ateronon, has also developed a blood test for the antibodies to chlamydia pneumoniae. This tells you whether active atherosclerosis is going on, or whether Ateronon is effectively damping down the disease process.

It is a simple, but clever way of finding out how well Ateronon is doing. There is a lot of interest in Ateronon from researchers investigating heart and circulatory disease, and projects have just got underway at Harvard medical school in America and Cambridge university in Britain, to monitor the future health of sick people taking Ateronon long term.

A stroke is essentially the same as a heart attack, but it happens when the oxygen supply to the brain (rather than the heart) is interrupted.  The blood supply, carrying oxygen, can be stopped because of narrowed arteries or a burst blood vessel.

When brain cells are starved of oxygen they become damaged and this can result in the devastating effects of stroke such as loss of speech.

If damage to the brain is to be limited the blood supply needs to be restored quickly, and inflammation or swelling of the brain needs to be stopped. If you suspect anyone is suffering a stroke it is vital to call 999 or get medical help immediately. Signs that a stroke is happening include:
•    Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
•    Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
•    Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
•    Sudden trouble walking, loss of balance or coordination, inability to wak and dizziness
•    Sudden severe headache with no known cause

The most common type of stroke is an ischaemic stroke in which the artery is blocked by a clot that stops the blood and oxygen reaching the brain. The clot may be formed in the arteries leading to the brain  (thrombotic stroke), or the clot could be formed elsewhere (embolic stroke), for example the legs on a long haul flight, before travelling to the brain.

Tiny blood vessels inside the brain can also become blocked and damage a small area of tissue in the brain.

The other common type of stroke is haemorrhagic in which a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds – in other words it haemorrhages. This causes a build up of pressure and damage in the brain, starving cells of oxygen.

So called mini strokes are another term for TIA stroke, or transient ischaemic attack which is an attack that doesn’t last very long and may cause only temporary, or slight, damage because the blood supply is soon restored.

People often get a weakness of an arm or leg for about 20 minutes during a  mini stroke and the weakness passes when the blood supply to the brain resumes. Mini strokes are a warning that there is a problem with the blood supply to the brain such as atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is one cause of strokes. It is a build up of fatty plaques on the inner lining of the arteries. It is a gradual process over years, and it starts in many people in their teens or twenties, that slowly limits the blood supply to the heart muscle.

Fatty plaque builds up when LDL (bad) cholesterol is damaged by free radicals that occur naturally in the body and result from smoking and pollution. The LDL becomes oxidised after which it cannot be transported back to the liver to be excreted, but instead is laid down as plaque in arteries causing atherosclerosis.

Other causes of stroke include weaken areas on artery walls (aneurysms) and these may burst causing bleeding in the brain (haemmorhagic stroke). Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) has also been linked to formation of blood clots in the heart which may then travel to the brain and cause a stroke.

High blood pressure and diabetes also increase the risk of stroke.

The same healthy diet that protects against heart disease will also protect against stroke. Not smoking and avoiding binge drinking or regular heavy alcohol use is also preventive. Being physically active improves cardiovascular health and  is also protective.

Psychotherapy is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a patient in problems of living. It aims to increase the individual’s sense of well-being and reduce their subjective sense of discomfort. Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue, communication and behaviour change and that are designed to improve the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family). Psychotherapy may be performed by practitioners with a number of different qualifications, including psychologists, marriage and family therapists, licenced clinical social workers, counsellors, psychiatric nurses, and psychiatrists.

Most forms of psychotherapy use spoken conversation. Some also use various other forms of communication such as the written word, artwork, drama, narrative story or music. Psychotherapy occurs within a structured encounter between a trained  therapist and client(s). Purposeful, theoretically based psychotherapy began in the 19th century with psychoanalysis; since then, scores of other approaches have been developed and continue to be created.

Therapy is generally employed in response to a variety of specific or non-specific manifestations of clinically diagnosable and/or existential crises. Treatment of everyday problems is more often referred to as  councelling. However, the term counselling is sometimes used interchangeably with “psychotherapy”. 

Whilst some psychotherapeutic interventions are designed to treat the patient employing the medical model, many psychotherapeutic approaches do not adhere to the symptom-based model of “illness/cure”. Some practitioners, such as humanistic therapists, see themselves more in a facilitative/helper role. As sensitive and deeply personal topics are often discussed during psychotherapy, therapists are expected, and usually legally bound, to respect client or patient confidentiality. The critical importance of confidentiality is enshrined in the regulatory psychotherapeutic organisations’ codes of ethical practice.

There are several main broad systems of psychotherapy:

• Psychoanalysis - the first practice to be called a psychotherapy. It encourages the verbalisation of all the patient’s thoughts, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst formulates the nature of the unconscious conflicts which are causing the patient’s symptoms and character problems.
• Cognitive Behavioural - generally seeks by different methodologies to identify and transcend maladaptive cognitions, appraisal, beliefs and reactions with the aim of influencing destructive negative emotions and problematic dysfunctional behaviors.
• Psychodynamic - is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client’s psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. Although it has its roots in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy tends to be briefer and less intensive than traditional psychoanalysis.
• Existential - is based on the existential belief that human beings are alone in the world. This aloneness leads to feelings of meaninglessness which can be overcome only by creating one’s own values and meanings.
• Humanistic - emerged in reaction to both behaviourism and psychoanalysis and is therefore known as the Third Force in the development of psychology. It is explicitly concerned with the human context of the development of the individual with an emphasis on subjective meaning, a rejection of determinism, and a concern for positive growth rather than pathology. It posits an inherent human capacity to maximise potential, ‘the self-actualing tendency’. The task of Humanistic therapy is to create a relational environment where this tendency might flourish.
• Brief Therapy - is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches to psychotherapy. It differs from other schools of therapy in that it emphasizes (1) a focus on a specific problem and (2) direct intervention. It is solution-based rather than problem-oriented. It is less concerned with how a problem arose than with the current factors sustaining it and preventing change.
• Systemic Therapy - seeks to address people not at an individual level, as is often the focus of other forms of therapy, but as people in relationship, dealing with the interactions of groups, their patterns and dynamics (includes family therapy and marriage counselling).
• Transpersonal Therapy - addresses the client in the context of a spiritual understanding of consciousness.

There are hundreds of psychotherapeutic approaches or schools of thought. By 1980 there were more than 250. By 1996 there were more than 450. The development of new and hybrid approaches continues around the wide variety of theoretical backgrounds. Many practitioners use several approaches in their work and alter their approach based on client need.

Some athletes suffer from a subtle form of eating disorder that results in excessive and addictive exercise in an attempt to control or lose weight. Addictive exercisers may use extreme training as one way to expend calories and maintain or lose body weight in the attempt to improve performance or achieve a desired body shape or weight, these problems can be solved through psychotherapy. They often justify their behaviour by believing a serious athlete can never work too hard or too long at their sport. Discomfort, pain or even injury will not keep an exercise addict from training.

When confronted about this excessive exercise, they may insist that if they didn’t work this hard, their performance would suffer. They also tend to cling to the false belief that even the smallest break from training will make them gain weight and unable to compete at the same level.

Many compulsive exercisers have behaviours similar to drug addicts. The athlete no longer finds pleasure in exercise, but feels it is necessary. It is no longer a choice; it has become an obligation. While exercise may provide a temporary feeling of well-being or euphoria, the athlete requires more and more exercise to reach this state. If he is forced to miss a workout, he will report overwhelming feelings of guilt and anxiety, similar to withdrawal symptoms.

While some researchers report that excessive exercise causes the body to produce endorphins (hormones secreted by the pituitary gland that block pain, decrease anxiety and create feelings of euphoria) there is still debate about whether one can become physiologically addicted to exercise. Endorphins are, however, chemically similar to the highly addictive drug morphine, so addiction to exercise is not beyond the realm of possibility. For many athletes, compulsive exercise appears to be psychologically addictive. Such athletes report that reducing their amount of exercise suddenly often results in bouts of severe depression.

Warning Signs of a Compulsive Exerciser

·       You suffer symptoms of overtraining syndrome.

·       You force yourself to exercise even if you don’t feel well.

·       You almost never exercise for fun

·       Every time you exercise, you go as fast or hard as you can.

·       You experience severe stress and anxiety if you miss a workout.

·       You miss family obligations because you have to exercise.

·       You calculate how much to exercise based on how much you eat.

·       You would rather exercise than get together with friends.

·       You can’t relax because you think you’re not burning calories.

Compulsive exercise is as dangerous as food restriction, binging and purging, and the use of diet pills and laxatives. Compulsive exercise can quickly lead to more serious types of eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia as well as a number of serious physical dangers including kidney failure, heart attack and death.

Compulsive exercise is a serious health concern that often requires the intervention of someone close to the athlete such as a coach, teammate or family member who recognizes these warning signs and seeks professional help. If you suspect someone close to you is exercising compulsively you can help by learning more about this condition and talking openly with the athlete about getting appropriate professional help.

Mental health can be seen as a contunuum, where an individual’s mental health may have many different possible values. Mental wellness is generally viewed as a positive attribute, such that a person can reach enhanced levels of mental health, even if they do not have any diagnosable mental health condition. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well-being, the capacity to live a full and creative life, and the flexibility to deal with life’s inevitable challenges. Many therapeutic systems and self-help books offer methods and philosophies espousing strategies and techniques vaunted as effective for further improving the mental wellness of otherwise healthy people. Positive psychotherapy is increasingly prominent in mental health.

Mental health can also be defined as an absence of a major mental health condition (for example, one of the diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, IV) though recent evidence stemming from positive psychology suggests mental health is more than the mere absence of a mental disorder or illness. Therefore the impact of social, cultural, physical and education can all affect someone’s mental health.

Mental health can be socially constructed and socially defined; that is, different professions, communities, societies and cultures have very different ways of conceptualizing its nature and causes, determining what is mentally healthy, and deciding what interventions are appropriate. Thus, different professionals will have different cultural and religious backgrounds and experiences, which may impact the methodology applied during treatment.

Many mental health professionals are beginning to, or already understand, the importance of competency in religious diversity and spirituality. A person is the sum of all his/her experiences as well as their biological inheritence. Therefore, psychotherapy should look at all these aspects of a persons life in order to understand the background to the issues that a patient presents.

Gestalt therapy is an existential and experiential psychotherapy that focuses on the individual’s experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of the overall situation. It emphasizes personal responsibility.

Gestalt therapy was forged from various influences in the times and lives of the founders: physics, Eastern religion, existential phenomenology, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, theatrical performance, systems and field theory (Mackewn, 1997).

Gestalt therapy rose from its beginnings in the middle of the 20th century to rapid and widespread popularity during the decade of the 1960s and early 1970s. During the 70s and 80s Gestalt therapy training centers spread globally, but they were, for the most part, not aligned with formal academic settings. As the cognitive revolution eclipsed Gestalt therapy in psychology, many came to believe Gestalt was an anachronism. In the hands of Gestalt practitioners, Gestalt therapy became an applied discipline in the fields of psychotherapy, organizational development, social action, and eventually coaching. Until the turn of the century Gestalt therapists disdained the positivism underlying what they perceived to be the concern of research, and so, largely, ignored the need to utilize research to further develop Gestalt therapy theory and support Gestalt therapy practice. That has begun to change.

Gestalt therapy focuses more on process (what is happening) than content (what is being discussed). The emphasis is on what is being done, thought and felt at the moment rather than on what was, might be, could be, or should be. Gestalt therapy is a method of awareness, by which perceiving, feeling, and acting are understood to be separate from interpreting, explaining and judging using old attitudes.

The objective of Gestalt therapy, in addition to helping the client overcome symptoms, is to enable him or her to become more fully and creatively alive and to be free from the blocks and unfinished issues that may diminish optimum satisfaction, fulfillment, and growth. Thus, it falls in the category of humanistic psychotherapies.

An interpersonal relationship is a relatively long-term association between two or more people. This association may be based on emotions like love and liking, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships take place in a great variety of contexts, such as family, friends, marriage, acquaintances, work, clubs, neighbourhoods, and churches. They may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and are the basis of social groups and society as a whole. Although humans are fundamentally social creatures, interpersonal relationships are not always healthy.

A relationship is normally viewed as a connection between two individuals, such as a romantic or intimate relationship, or a parent-child relationship. Individuals can also have relationships with groups of people, such as the relation between a pastor and his congregation, an uncle and a family, or a mayor and a town. Finally, groups or even nations may have relations with each other, though this is a much broader domain than that covered under the topic of interpersonal relationships. See such articles as international relations for more information on associations between groups. Most scholarly work on relationships focuses on romantic partners in pairs or dyads. These intimate relationships are, however, only a small subset of interpersonal relationships.

All relationships involve some level of interdependence. People in a relationship tend to influence each other, share their thoughts and feelings, and engage in activities together. Because of this interdependence, anything that changes or impacts one member of the relationship will have some level of impact on the other member.

Psychotherapy have suggested that all humans have a motivational drive to form and maintain caring interpersonal relationships. According to this view, people need both stable relationships and satisfying interactions with the people in those relationships. If either of these two ingredients is missing, people will begin to feel anxious, lonely, depressed, and unhappy.

According toattachment theory, relationships can be viewed in terms of attachment styles that develop during early childhood. These patterns are believed to influence interactions throughout adulthood by shaping the roles people adopt in relationships. For example, one partner may be securely attached while the other is anxious and avoidant. Thus, early childhood experience (primarily with parents) is believed to have long lasting effects on all future relationships. The relationship between a therapist and patient seeks to provide a secure place for the patient to explore other significant and influential relationships in their life, past and present.

Diamond Engagement Rings

Relationship counseling is the process of counselling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognise and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences and repeating patterns of distress. The relationship involved may be between members of a family or a couple, employees or employers in a workplace, or between a professional and a client.

Couples therapy is a related and different process which can help couples with relationship difficulties. It may differ from relationship counseling in duration. Short term counselling may be between 1 to 3 sessions whereas short term couples therapy may be between 12 and 24 sessions. An exception being  ‘brief’ or ’solution focussed’ couples therapy. In addition, counselling tends to be more ‘here and now’ and developing new coping strategies. Couples therapy is more about seemingly intractable problems with a relationship history, where emotions are the target and the agent of change.

Before the relationships between the individuals can begin to be understood, it is important for all to recognise and acknowledge that everyone involved has a unique personality, perception, set of values and history. Sometimes the individuals in the relationship adhere to different value systems. Institutional and societal variables (like the social, religious, group and other collective factors) which shape a person’s nature, and behaviour must be recognised. 

Most relationships will get strained at some time, resulting in their not functioning optimally and producing self-reinforcing, maladaptive patterns. These patterns may be called negative interaction cycles. There are many possible reasons for this, including insecure attachment, ego, arrogance, jealousy, anger, greed, psychotherapy, poor communication/understanding or problem solving, ill health, third parties and so on.

Changes in situations like financial state, physical health, and the influence of other family members can have a profound influence on the conduct, responses and actions of the individuals in a relationship. Often it is an interaction between two or more factors, and frequently it is not just one of the people who are involved that exhibit such traits. Relationship influences are reciprocal, it takes each person involved to make and manage problems.

A viable solution to the problem and setting these relationships back on track may be to reorient the individuals’ perceptions and emotions, how one looks at or responds to situations and feels about them. Perceptions of and emotional responses to a relationship are contained in a mental map or a love maps. These can be explored collaboratively and discussed openly. The core values they comprise can then be understood and respected or changed when no longer appropriate. This implies that each person takes equal responsibility for awareness of the problem as it arises, awareness of their own contribution to the problem and making some fundamental changes in thought and feeling.