November 7th, 2016
Ok. I'm no science geek but, lately, I have found three areas of interest converging in my life.
1) I posted about the innovative treatments for concussions using light, sound, electrical stimulation and movement last week.
2) I also posted about the annoying presence of lice in our schools. After my daughters were contaminated at a sleepover this summer, I went Rambo on the beasties. I still check them every week, much to their chagrin and, as soon as they scratch their head, I am up and over them, scrutinizing their scalps. In short, I think I've lost my mind. They would agree. I hated those lice so much and I never want to go through that experience again.
3) Ever since I met with cancer survivors and interviewed them for the paper, I have been investigating alternative treatments. I watched, The Truth About Cancer and read about the use of marijuana, herbs, teas, energy therapies, oxygen therapy and essential oils.
So, the other day, my husband and I were driving to lunch and he laughed at my obsession with lice. I had recently watched The Nature of Things's special on concussion treatments. My husband and I were fantasizing about ways to kill lice. We imagined a hot cap that was safe for children but too hot for lice. He's a hairstylist and they have warm caps to help set hair dye so, the caps already exist, they just need to be warmer. Then we imagined a vacuum that would suction out the lice and nits. You'd just comb through and part the hair then suction the buggers out. My husband suggested that if we ate certain foods, it may make our blood taste bad to lice and they wouldn't attach to our scalps. Then, of course, is the solution of applying a substance to the scalp that the lice hate (like tea tree) so they would not attach to it. We eventually reached our destination and our conversation headed in a different direction.
That night, I had an idea while I slept. What if we could use a vibration to kill the lice? I shared this idea with my husband at breakfast. I said we could kill lice with a frequency. He was thinking that I meant a colour frequency. That may also be an approach, but I was talking about sound. I looked it up and found research done by Royal Raymon Rife in the 1930s. He was studying bacteria and disease. He found that a diseased cell had a different frequency from a healthy cell. He measured the frequency of diseased cells and found that he could cure just about any illness by changing its frequency or augmenting its frequency until it exploded. Here's the neat thing about it, the frequency would not harm any other cell because they are not vibrating at the same frequency.
Rife created a device to administer the correct frequency for various ailments, including cancer. There is a list of all the wealthy people who tried to buy this technology from Rife. In the end, his research and his inventions were suppressed. There is no money to be made in curing illnesses. Chronic and terminal illnesses generate so much money through pharmaceuticals.
If you visit this website, http://altered-states.net, you will see the frequencies that were documented for each organ in the body. Rife also identified the frequencies of diseases and catalogued them. His electrical devices which tune into the correct frequency and treat the diseased cells are still available for purchase today, long after his death. This is fascinating! I would love to find the lice frequency and treat every child in the school to obliterate those little buggers (the lice) once and for all.
For more information on the use of frequencies to heal the body, go to http://altered-states.net/barry/newsletter420/
Showing posts with label treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label treatment. Show all posts
Monday, 7 November 2016
Friday, 28 October 2016
The Brain's Way of Healing
October 28th, 2016
Yesterday was a low point for me, dealing with the pain in my brain despite receiving a healing treatment less than two weeks prior. This morning, I received a gift. I saw a post on Facebook about the author of two books on brain health, The Brain that Changes Itself and The Brain's Way of Healing, Norman Doidge. Dr. Doidge and his revolutionary discoveries were the focus of this week's episode of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
I was able to watch the episode online and I am still floored by what I have witnessed. The basic message is that our brains are not fixed and permanent the way we've been told. People are diagnosed with illnesses like Parkinson and Autism or they acquire a Traumatic Brain Injury and they spend the rest of their lives a compilation of symptoms. Dr Doidge shows us a different perspective.
Our brains are sophisticated and they respond to stimulation. Neuroplasticity is the concept that our brains change throughout our life and that we can alter our brains via stimulation. In this episode, we explore techniques that are used to help heal the brains of people who thought there was no hope for them.
We meet a gentleman going out for a walk and learn that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson yet his movements seem fluid. He is practising Conscious Walking. His Basal Ganglia are no longer automatically making his movements flow so he has to focus on what he is doing and use his prefrontal cortex to direct every minute aspect of his movement (micro-movements). He walks for 75 minutes every other day. He also is conscious of blinking his eyes and swallowing. The exercise gives him energy and, reduces his symptoms.
Next up are two women who experienced a traumatic brain injury. They decided to explore pottery as a therapeutic activity and called themselves the "Cracked Potters". Each of them survived their accident but were living with many symptoms which greatly reduced their quality of life. We are told that following a brain trauma, some neutrons die and others provide noisy signals therefore the brain is not working properly. A clinic has individuals exercising while they hold a PONS in their mouth. The PONS speaks to the brain through electrical stimulation. The tongue is situated directly in front of the brainstem and is covered with receptors. By stimulating the tongue with the PONS during exercise, the body is able to speak to the brain through our senses. This helps re-synch the brain, awaken dormant circuits and allow the brainstem to communicate normally with the rest of the body. They call this neuro-modulating the noisy brain.
We then get to witness the transformation of children on the Autism Spectrum through sound. We have this ability called the auditory zoom. It helps us cancel out noises and focusing on what we want to hear. When this is impaired, we go into emergency mode and shut down social contact. By introducing sound through the mother's voice, then with Mozart, the children or teenagers are able to learn to focus on sounds which are a precursor to speech. They change the rhythm, frequency and which ear is receiving stimulation. What we see is a boy progressing from tantrums and sensitivity to sound to a regular boy who is socializing. One of the older boys has developed social skills and thought his speech is stunted, he can speak flawlessly when he is imitating someone else. Blew me away!!!
A lady recovering from a brain tumour underwent surgery which saved her life but damaged her brain. She was exposed to light therapy through a low intensity laser. The photons go into the brain and into the body, powering up mitochondria, unblocking inflammation. There was an indication that this might work for people with PTSD as well.
Lastly, a young girl was born with an intellectual deficiency. Using the Feldenkrais Method, she learned to differentiate between movements. She went from having no movement to crawling, walking and ultimately dancing on her wedding day. This technique develops mental awareness of movement and uses touch as well to stimulate the brain.
If this sounds awesome but you think you'll have to move to California, I have good news, many of the cases in this episode were based out of Toronto. I am going to be looking into this. I urge you to do the same.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Yesterday was a low point for me, dealing with the pain in my brain despite receiving a healing treatment less than two weeks prior. This morning, I received a gift. I saw a post on Facebook about the author of two books on brain health, The Brain that Changes Itself and The Brain's Way of Healing, Norman Doidge. Dr. Doidge and his revolutionary discoveries were the focus of this week's episode of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
I was able to watch the episode online and I am still floored by what I have witnessed. The basic message is that our brains are not fixed and permanent the way we've been told. People are diagnosed with illnesses like Parkinson and Autism or they acquire a Traumatic Brain Injury and they spend the rest of their lives a compilation of symptoms. Dr Doidge shows us a different perspective.
Our brains are sophisticated and they respond to stimulation. Neuroplasticity is the concept that our brains change throughout our life and that we can alter our brains via stimulation. In this episode, we explore techniques that are used to help heal the brains of people who thought there was no hope for them.
We meet a gentleman going out for a walk and learn that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson yet his movements seem fluid. He is practising Conscious Walking. His Basal Ganglia are no longer automatically making his movements flow so he has to focus on what he is doing and use his prefrontal cortex to direct every minute aspect of his movement (micro-movements). He walks for 75 minutes every other day. He also is conscious of blinking his eyes and swallowing. The exercise gives him energy and, reduces his symptoms.
Next up are two women who experienced a traumatic brain injury. They decided to explore pottery as a therapeutic activity and called themselves the "Cracked Potters". Each of them survived their accident but were living with many symptoms which greatly reduced their quality of life. We are told that following a brain trauma, some neutrons die and others provide noisy signals therefore the brain is not working properly. A clinic has individuals exercising while they hold a PONS in their mouth. The PONS speaks to the brain through electrical stimulation. The tongue is situated directly in front of the brainstem and is covered with receptors. By stimulating the tongue with the PONS during exercise, the body is able to speak to the brain through our senses. This helps re-synch the brain, awaken dormant circuits and allow the brainstem to communicate normally with the rest of the body. They call this neuro-modulating the noisy brain.
We then get to witness the transformation of children on the Autism Spectrum through sound. We have this ability called the auditory zoom. It helps us cancel out noises and focusing on what we want to hear. When this is impaired, we go into emergency mode and shut down social contact. By introducing sound through the mother's voice, then with Mozart, the children or teenagers are able to learn to focus on sounds which are a precursor to speech. They change the rhythm, frequency and which ear is receiving stimulation. What we see is a boy progressing from tantrums and sensitivity to sound to a regular boy who is socializing. One of the older boys has developed social skills and thought his speech is stunted, he can speak flawlessly when he is imitating someone else. Blew me away!!!
A lady recovering from a brain tumour underwent surgery which saved her life but damaged her brain. She was exposed to light therapy through a low intensity laser. The photons go into the brain and into the body, powering up mitochondria, unblocking inflammation. There was an indication that this might work for people with PTSD as well.
Lastly, a young girl was born with an intellectual deficiency. Using the Feldenkrais Method, she learned to differentiate between movements. She went from having no movement to crawling, walking and ultimately dancing on her wedding day. This technique develops mental awareness of movement and uses touch as well to stimulate the brain.
If this sounds awesome but you think you'll have to move to California, I have good news, many of the cases in this episode were based out of Toronto. I am going to be looking into this. I urge you to do the same.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Thursday, 27 October 2016
Concussion Consequences
October 27th, 2016
Today is a hard day. On Monday, October 17th, I enjoyed a thai massage. My masseuse was excellent and I really felt that I was doing something great for myself. However, as with every treatment I've had seen our car accident in July 2012 (massage, physic, acupuncture, cranio sacral etc), there were consequences to this stimulation.
I haven't been able to feel the back of my head since the accident. I sometimes wake up and my skull is numb, it feels the same as when your arm falls asleep. I have also had vessels burst in my eyes on a regular basis. I visited the eye doctor and he claims my eyes are healthy. He is puzzled by this and suggested I "keep an eye on it".
When I wake up in the morning, my lower back is in pain. I have to roll over and slowly ease myself out of bed. I am in my 40s, what will I be like in my 80s? I also have a sore ovary, it hurts when it's ovulating. This has been an issue since the accident because of the pressure from the seat belt during impact.
Initially, after the crash, I was sleeping most of the day. I was dizzy and nauseous, I experienced headaches (something that had never happened before), I had a sore back and ovary. My mother came to help but I had to function as best I could, as fast as possible because my daughters were at home for the summer.
By the time I received treatment, it was September. I thought I was healing and progressing well but I had no idea how damaged I actually was. I went for a massage and experienced non-stop headaches for two weeks. I promised myself never to do that again. I booked sessions with my physiotherapist. She couldn't do any physical manipulations because my central nervous system was so out of whack. As soon as she started working on me, I would have to run to the washroom and empty my bowel. She used crania-sacral therapy for our sessions together. She added a heating pad, some electrical stimulation and acupuncture as our time together drew to a close. We weren't done healing my brain but the insurance was done paying so I stopped going.
I decided to start working out. I joined a gym, briefed my fitness trainer and we took it slow. I enjoyed the treadmill and did some basic machines to work on my legs and arms (without straining my neck) and floor exercises like lunges and stretches. I had to be careful not to overdo it as I would hit a wall of fatigue and couldn't function for the rest of the day.
I had to adjust my schedule, not driving at night which means my husband now takes the girls to gymnastics, not scheduling clients at night because I am too tired and therefore don't want to try to help people when my brain is not at its best and, drastically reducing my time with our daughters each night. They used to get quality time playing with me 1:1 as well as bath time. We have switched to showers and a story. They still get angry sometimes that I am not the same mommy. They wish we had never been in an accident. Me too.
Why am I re-hashing all of this today? A few days after my thai massage, I started to get a headache. Then I noticed I was grumpy at night, not my usual patient self. I was running out of energy more quickly. If the girls were asking for a snack or wanting me to stay with them until they fell asleep, I was grumpy about it. I wasn't being myself. Then I woke up at night but instead of my head being numb at the back, I was experiencing sensations. This sounds like a good thing but it hurts. I have this aching in the back of my head where the numbness used to be. It's very scary to discover, every time I do anything for my health, that my brain has still not healed. I feel frightened that I'll have a stroke and won't be here or healthy enough to care for my girls. I worry that my brain is turning off and I'll end up with early dementia. This may not sound rational but, on days like today when I feel just how vulnerable I am when it comes to my brain, it feels reasonable to worry.
This is a hard day because I have been out interviewing moms for the book, I have a client scheduled in later today, my daughters have a PD day tomorrow and I have a workshop and a birthday party for my youngest on Saturday. The old me would be very excited, the present me wonders if I'll have the energy for it all. Will I ever NOT feel brain damaged? I don't know. Meanwhile, the young lady who crashed into us, because she was busy texting, is out there, free, unscathed, planning her life and, on days like today, I resent that. There was never a call, a letter, any indication that she felt bad or even gave it a second thought. Today is a bad day. I will keep moving forward, loving my children for as long as I can and trying to make a difference while I have the chance.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Today is a hard day. On Monday, October 17th, I enjoyed a thai massage. My masseuse was excellent and I really felt that I was doing something great for myself. However, as with every treatment I've had seen our car accident in July 2012 (massage, physic, acupuncture, cranio sacral etc), there were consequences to this stimulation.
I haven't been able to feel the back of my head since the accident. I sometimes wake up and my skull is numb, it feels the same as when your arm falls asleep. I have also had vessels burst in my eyes on a regular basis. I visited the eye doctor and he claims my eyes are healthy. He is puzzled by this and suggested I "keep an eye on it".
When I wake up in the morning, my lower back is in pain. I have to roll over and slowly ease myself out of bed. I am in my 40s, what will I be like in my 80s? I also have a sore ovary, it hurts when it's ovulating. This has been an issue since the accident because of the pressure from the seat belt during impact.
Initially, after the crash, I was sleeping most of the day. I was dizzy and nauseous, I experienced headaches (something that had never happened before), I had a sore back and ovary. My mother came to help but I had to function as best I could, as fast as possible because my daughters were at home for the summer.
By the time I received treatment, it was September. I thought I was healing and progressing well but I had no idea how damaged I actually was. I went for a massage and experienced non-stop headaches for two weeks. I promised myself never to do that again. I booked sessions with my physiotherapist. She couldn't do any physical manipulations because my central nervous system was so out of whack. As soon as she started working on me, I would have to run to the washroom and empty my bowel. She used crania-sacral therapy for our sessions together. She added a heating pad, some electrical stimulation and acupuncture as our time together drew to a close. We weren't done healing my brain but the insurance was done paying so I stopped going.
I decided to start working out. I joined a gym, briefed my fitness trainer and we took it slow. I enjoyed the treadmill and did some basic machines to work on my legs and arms (without straining my neck) and floor exercises like lunges and stretches. I had to be careful not to overdo it as I would hit a wall of fatigue and couldn't function for the rest of the day.
I had to adjust my schedule, not driving at night which means my husband now takes the girls to gymnastics, not scheduling clients at night because I am too tired and therefore don't want to try to help people when my brain is not at its best and, drastically reducing my time with our daughters each night. They used to get quality time playing with me 1:1 as well as bath time. We have switched to showers and a story. They still get angry sometimes that I am not the same mommy. They wish we had never been in an accident. Me too.
Why am I re-hashing all of this today? A few days after my thai massage, I started to get a headache. Then I noticed I was grumpy at night, not my usual patient self. I was running out of energy more quickly. If the girls were asking for a snack or wanting me to stay with them until they fell asleep, I was grumpy about it. I wasn't being myself. Then I woke up at night but instead of my head being numb at the back, I was experiencing sensations. This sounds like a good thing but it hurts. I have this aching in the back of my head where the numbness used to be. It's very scary to discover, every time I do anything for my health, that my brain has still not healed. I feel frightened that I'll have a stroke and won't be here or healthy enough to care for my girls. I worry that my brain is turning off and I'll end up with early dementia. This may not sound rational but, on days like today when I feel just how vulnerable I am when it comes to my brain, it feels reasonable to worry.
This is a hard day because I have been out interviewing moms for the book, I have a client scheduled in later today, my daughters have a PD day tomorrow and I have a workshop and a birthday party for my youngest on Saturday. The old me would be very excited, the present me wonders if I'll have the energy for it all. Will I ever NOT feel brain damaged? I don't know. Meanwhile, the young lady who crashed into us, because she was busy texting, is out there, free, unscathed, planning her life and, on days like today, I resent that. There was never a call, a letter, any indication that she felt bad or even gave it a second thought. Today is a bad day. I will keep moving forward, loving my children for as long as I can and trying to make a difference while I have the chance.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Is it Aging or is it the Medication-When Health Care Fails Our Elderly
October 25th, 2016
We are excited to welcome my mother-in-law back into our home for the Holiday Season. We speak to her every week and she updates us on her preparations. She has purchased thermals because, being from London, she has heard about our nasty winters. Last time she came, we had looked into her medication. In my opinion, she was on too many medications and, upon researching the specific pills she was taking throughout the day, I realized that one of the pills was NOT indicated for someone with diabetes. She is a diabetic. We spoke to her pharmacist, got her an appointment with her doctor and, much to our dismay, they just added one more pill to her regimen. We were really discouraged. It's difficult to do anything from this far away.
She came, she had a great time, she went back and stayed in high spirits for months. Lately, however, our conversations were cut short because she was out of breath. She would either avoid my husband's calls or speak very briefly because she was too tired and out of breath. We became concerned. My husband asked her to go see a doctor. She would agree to it but, when he checked in the next day, she hadn't gone. As her health declined, he finally gave her an ultimatum: go or I will call an ambulance. She went. They diagnosed her with a lung infection and sent her home with antibiotics. She had a bad reaction to the antibiotics, throwing up, diarrhea, feeling weak and, still out of breath.
My husband explained that in the UK, the class system is still very much alive When her mother goes to the clinic for help, they don't assess her medication, listen to her concerns or follow-through with tests, they simply write a prescription and send her on her way. That is how she ended up with so many pills in one day. I think it was somewhere between 9 and 11 pills, some taken multiple times per day.
A friend of my mother-in-law, Lisa, contacted my husband. They had been communicating regarding their shared concerned for her health. My husband urged her to get his mother to the hospital. She took her to the Royal Free, a reputable hospital minutes away from her home. This is a teaching hospital, the very same one that saved my husband's brother three years ago when we all thought he was dying. It didn't take long for them to notice that my mother-in-law was jaundiced, that her breathing was laboured and that she had been misdiagnosed. She did NOT have a lung infection and, she was actually having a negative reaction to the antibiotics. What she did have was a clogged artery. Tests revealed that she was also anemic. Her white cell count was so low she required a blood transfusion. She was experiencing heart failure.
The doctors are taking really good care of her. She was in good spirits when we spoke this morning, feeling stronger, knowing she had been close to death and that she shouldn't have been too stubborn to go to the hospital in the first place. The doctors have taken her off all of her medications. They will be assessing her over the next week. My husband suggested that she enjoy her stay at the hospital, treating it like a hotel. I knew she was feeling better because, while we were Face Timing, she kept looking at the state of her hair in the computer. She's a tough cookie. I am happy that she is in good hands and will probably be in excellent health by the time she comes for a visit in December. However, it disgusts me that so many elderly like her are being overly medicated. Doctors stop listening to their clients. They rush through appointments, add medications to address the latest complaint without going any further in their investigation. "Oh well, she's just getting old", they say. What if she didn't have a friend or son who care about her and push her to get assessed? She would be like one of the many elderly who end up dead through complications caused by their medications, heart attack, stroke or being misdiagnosed.
Baby boomers are aging now and, as more of them go through this flawed health system, I just know they will shake things up. This level of care is unacceptable and inhumane. We need to return to the old days where physicians visited people in their homes and looked for the cause of the symptoms rather than cover them up with chemicals. I have faith in the boomers. Demand the best, accept nothing less.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
We are excited to welcome my mother-in-law back into our home for the Holiday Season. We speak to her every week and she updates us on her preparations. She has purchased thermals because, being from London, she has heard about our nasty winters. Last time she came, we had looked into her medication. In my opinion, she was on too many medications and, upon researching the specific pills she was taking throughout the day, I realized that one of the pills was NOT indicated for someone with diabetes. She is a diabetic. We spoke to her pharmacist, got her an appointment with her doctor and, much to our dismay, they just added one more pill to her regimen. We were really discouraged. It's difficult to do anything from this far away.
She came, she had a great time, she went back and stayed in high spirits for months. Lately, however, our conversations were cut short because she was out of breath. She would either avoid my husband's calls or speak very briefly because she was too tired and out of breath. We became concerned. My husband asked her to go see a doctor. She would agree to it but, when he checked in the next day, she hadn't gone. As her health declined, he finally gave her an ultimatum: go or I will call an ambulance. She went. They diagnosed her with a lung infection and sent her home with antibiotics. She had a bad reaction to the antibiotics, throwing up, diarrhea, feeling weak and, still out of breath.
My husband explained that in the UK, the class system is still very much alive When her mother goes to the clinic for help, they don't assess her medication, listen to her concerns or follow-through with tests, they simply write a prescription and send her on her way. That is how she ended up with so many pills in one day. I think it was somewhere between 9 and 11 pills, some taken multiple times per day.
A friend of my mother-in-law, Lisa, contacted my husband. They had been communicating regarding their shared concerned for her health. My husband urged her to get his mother to the hospital. She took her to the Royal Free, a reputable hospital minutes away from her home. This is a teaching hospital, the very same one that saved my husband's brother three years ago when we all thought he was dying. It didn't take long for them to notice that my mother-in-law was jaundiced, that her breathing was laboured and that she had been misdiagnosed. She did NOT have a lung infection and, she was actually having a negative reaction to the antibiotics. What she did have was a clogged artery. Tests revealed that she was also anemic. Her white cell count was so low she required a blood transfusion. She was experiencing heart failure.
The doctors are taking really good care of her. She was in good spirits when we spoke this morning, feeling stronger, knowing she had been close to death and that she shouldn't have been too stubborn to go to the hospital in the first place. The doctors have taken her off all of her medications. They will be assessing her over the next week. My husband suggested that she enjoy her stay at the hospital, treating it like a hotel. I knew she was feeling better because, while we were Face Timing, she kept looking at the state of her hair in the computer. She's a tough cookie. I am happy that she is in good hands and will probably be in excellent health by the time she comes for a visit in December. However, it disgusts me that so many elderly like her are being overly medicated. Doctors stop listening to their clients. They rush through appointments, add medications to address the latest complaint without going any further in their investigation. "Oh well, she's just getting old", they say. What if she didn't have a friend or son who care about her and push her to get assessed? She would be like one of the many elderly who end up dead through complications caused by their medications, heart attack, stroke or being misdiagnosed.
Baby boomers are aging now and, as more of them go through this flawed health system, I just know they will shake things up. This level of care is unacceptable and inhumane. We need to return to the old days where physicians visited people in their homes and looked for the cause of the symptoms rather than cover them up with chemicals. I have faith in the boomers. Demand the best, accept nothing less.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
In Defence of Homeopathy
October 19th, 2016
There are so many grey areas in health care, services that may work but you'll never hear about them from your health care provider. Many people are turning to naturopaths to explore other options. The problem with that is not everyone can afford to pay for their doctor's appointments or the supplements or health products that are recommended. As an art therapist, I know that many people who could benefit from my services choose to see a psychiatrist because they can't afford to pay for my services and their work insurance plan doesn't cover it.
Recently, I was trying to help my daughter. She will be 11 years old in January. Her hormones are kicking in and she is finding it difficult to settle at night. Initially, she was anxious at bedtime because she was preparing for a new school year and worried about her potential teachers, wondering if she would have any of her friends in her class. Once the semester started and she realized she liked her teachers and was surrounded by friends, I fully expected the anxiety to subside. It didn't. She asked me to sleep in her room. She started coming to my room during the night, her heart racing, wanting to join us. This doesn't work as my husband snores very loudly. My daughter was complaining about the noise, my husband was annoyed by her presence in our bed because she moves around a lot and hogs the blanket, I was tired and stuck in the middle.
Something had to be done. I feared going to our family doctor. I don't want her to be medicated at this age, before her brain has fully developed and her hormones have stabilized. When I took my youngest in for ear infections year ago, I provided lots of information, I was looking for an explanation. Why does she suddenly get ear infections. She never did before. The doctor prescribed antibiotics. My daughter would be ok for a few months then the ear infections would return. I later found out that there was mould in her classroom. She never had another ear infection again. If I had known that, we could have avoided repeatedly exposing her to antibiotics that year.
I reached out for help to alleviate my eldest daughter's anxiety. I called various professionals who failed to reply to my e-mails or voice mails. I felt quite alone and frustrated, not to mention tired. Then, I received a reply from the local naturopath. He couldn't see us for another week but, as we chatted over the phone, he said he would start with homeopathy then nutrition and supplements to see how this affected her anxiety. I was sleeping on a floppy, tiny mattress on the floor next to her bed by this time so, waiting another week felt like torture.
I visited the local health food store and asked to be directed to the homeopathic remedies. I explained that this would be for my daughter. We spent some time talking about the expression of her symptoms. This is crucial in homeopathy. Every product is designed to address a specific set of symptoms. It is thought that if someone without the symptoms took the treatment they would develop the very ailment that the medicine was trying to treat. However, if you do have those symptoms, the treatment will neutralize them. Since my daughter's anxiety happens at night, we discussed medication for people who can't sleep. However, she doesn't struggle with sleep once she is asleep. She is just too anxious to relax sufficiently to get to sleep. Therefore, the core symptom was her anxiety. We examined the source of her anxiety. She was worried that something bad would happen if she was left alone, in the dark. It was more like separation anxiety.
I chose Worry and Fear drops for kids by Orange Naturals. The first night, my daughter spit out the drops. She said they tasted like vomit. The next day, are with a container of apple juice mixed with water, we tried again. She didn't spit it out. I increased the dosage to the recommended three times/day over the weekend. By day 3, we could see a difference. She no longer clung to me at night as we prepared for bed. She was able to stay alone in her room while I tucked her sister in across the hall. She even fell asleep before I showed up to read her a story on the fourth night.
By the time, I reached this point, trying homeopathy, I had tried using a diffuser, a himalayan rock lamp, back massage, meditation, stretching, progressive relaxation, guided visualization and acupuncture. I should mention that she hated acupuncture but I do think it helped. It's just hard to go for follow-up treatments when your child is adamant that she "will never do this again".
We started the drops three weeks ago. She is much calmer at night. She comes out more often with her. She used to always want to stay home. My daughters are playing together more because my eldest has the energy to play again. She used to be too tired from not sleeping. I wanted to learn more about homeopathy. I did some research online and most of what I found discredited homeopathy as foolish and ineffective. It was described as the equivalent of a placebo. I was very disappointed by the lack of scientific data to back it up as a treatment. As I read about the founder of homeopathy and his followers, I recalled another time in my life that I had used homeopathic medicine. I didn't even realize I was doing it.
When my daughter was teething, the Advil didn't soothe her and the Orajel only made her gag. What helped every time was a product called Camilia by Boiron. I am not sure how I found this product but it helped my family out through the teething years. Its effect was instant. It was easy to administer and my daughter often enjoyed chewing on the empty container. I have recommended it to moms and even shared it with some of my husband's clients over the years. It turns out, this is also a homeopathic product.
I am sharing this with you because homeopathy has worked for my daughter, twice. If you are a parent, looking to support your child and you are reading about homeopathy, you might decide that it's hocus pocus. You may move on. I want to share my experiences with parents so they will give homeopathy a chance. Being a parent is hard. We make difficult choices every day and, most of us doubt our decisions. We fear making the wrong decision, making things worst. I am not a doctor or a naturopath and I certainly don't sell these products. All I can say is they worked for us. I hope, should you need them, that they'll work for you.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
There are so many grey areas in health care, services that may work but you'll never hear about them from your health care provider. Many people are turning to naturopaths to explore other options. The problem with that is not everyone can afford to pay for their doctor's appointments or the supplements or health products that are recommended. As an art therapist, I know that many people who could benefit from my services choose to see a psychiatrist because they can't afford to pay for my services and their work insurance plan doesn't cover it.
Recently, I was trying to help my daughter. She will be 11 years old in January. Her hormones are kicking in and she is finding it difficult to settle at night. Initially, she was anxious at bedtime because she was preparing for a new school year and worried about her potential teachers, wondering if she would have any of her friends in her class. Once the semester started and she realized she liked her teachers and was surrounded by friends, I fully expected the anxiety to subside. It didn't. She asked me to sleep in her room. She started coming to my room during the night, her heart racing, wanting to join us. This doesn't work as my husband snores very loudly. My daughter was complaining about the noise, my husband was annoyed by her presence in our bed because she moves around a lot and hogs the blanket, I was tired and stuck in the middle.
Something had to be done. I feared going to our family doctor. I don't want her to be medicated at this age, before her brain has fully developed and her hormones have stabilized. When I took my youngest in for ear infections year ago, I provided lots of information, I was looking for an explanation. Why does she suddenly get ear infections. She never did before. The doctor prescribed antibiotics. My daughter would be ok for a few months then the ear infections would return. I later found out that there was mould in her classroom. She never had another ear infection again. If I had known that, we could have avoided repeatedly exposing her to antibiotics that year.
I reached out for help to alleviate my eldest daughter's anxiety. I called various professionals who failed to reply to my e-mails or voice mails. I felt quite alone and frustrated, not to mention tired. Then, I received a reply from the local naturopath. He couldn't see us for another week but, as we chatted over the phone, he said he would start with homeopathy then nutrition and supplements to see how this affected her anxiety. I was sleeping on a floppy, tiny mattress on the floor next to her bed by this time so, waiting another week felt like torture.
I visited the local health food store and asked to be directed to the homeopathic remedies. I explained that this would be for my daughter. We spent some time talking about the expression of her symptoms. This is crucial in homeopathy. Every product is designed to address a specific set of symptoms. It is thought that if someone without the symptoms took the treatment they would develop the very ailment that the medicine was trying to treat. However, if you do have those symptoms, the treatment will neutralize them. Since my daughter's anxiety happens at night, we discussed medication for people who can't sleep. However, she doesn't struggle with sleep once she is asleep. She is just too anxious to relax sufficiently to get to sleep. Therefore, the core symptom was her anxiety. We examined the source of her anxiety. She was worried that something bad would happen if she was left alone, in the dark. It was more like separation anxiety.
I chose Worry and Fear drops for kids by Orange Naturals. The first night, my daughter spit out the drops. She said they tasted like vomit. The next day, are with a container of apple juice mixed with water, we tried again. She didn't spit it out. I increased the dosage to the recommended three times/day over the weekend. By day 3, we could see a difference. She no longer clung to me at night as we prepared for bed. She was able to stay alone in her room while I tucked her sister in across the hall. She even fell asleep before I showed up to read her a story on the fourth night.
By the time, I reached this point, trying homeopathy, I had tried using a diffuser, a himalayan rock lamp, back massage, meditation, stretching, progressive relaxation, guided visualization and acupuncture. I should mention that she hated acupuncture but I do think it helped. It's just hard to go for follow-up treatments when your child is adamant that she "will never do this again".
We started the drops three weeks ago. She is much calmer at night. She comes out more often with her. She used to always want to stay home. My daughters are playing together more because my eldest has the energy to play again. She used to be too tired from not sleeping. I wanted to learn more about homeopathy. I did some research online and most of what I found discredited homeopathy as foolish and ineffective. It was described as the equivalent of a placebo. I was very disappointed by the lack of scientific data to back it up as a treatment. As I read about the founder of homeopathy and his followers, I recalled another time in my life that I had used homeopathic medicine. I didn't even realize I was doing it.
When my daughter was teething, the Advil didn't soothe her and the Orajel only made her gag. What helped every time was a product called Camilia by Boiron. I am not sure how I found this product but it helped my family out through the teething years. Its effect was instant. It was easy to administer and my daughter often enjoyed chewing on the empty container. I have recommended it to moms and even shared it with some of my husband's clients over the years. It turns out, this is also a homeopathic product.
I am sharing this with you because homeopathy has worked for my daughter, twice. If you are a parent, looking to support your child and you are reading about homeopathy, you might decide that it's hocus pocus. You may move on. I want to share my experiences with parents so they will give homeopathy a chance. Being a parent is hard. We make difficult choices every day and, most of us doubt our decisions. We fear making the wrong decision, making things worst. I am not a doctor or a naturopath and I certainly don't sell these products. All I can say is they worked for us. I hope, should you need them, that they'll work for you.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Lice, Cockroaches and Other Critters
September 24th 2016
I don't usually write on Saturdays but I didn't post yesterday. I was driving into Ottawa to meet a lady who wanted to purchase my books. By the time I got home, it was time to prepare my daughters for their sleepover party. I thought I would write after dropping them off but my husband was done work early so we went out for cocktails and then watched a documentary. I woke up during the night and realized I had not posted. Oops! I realize it doesn't matter, few people even read this blog but I made a commitment to myself to write every weekday and I like to keep my promises even if they are only to myself.
As I mentioned, my daughters were going to a birthday sleepover party on the weekend. This used to be festive but, not anymore, at least not for me. You see, we had loads of play dates and sleepovers over the summer until one day, one of my eldest daughter's friends told her she had lice. Her mother had not warned me and I spent the next several days inspecting my daughters' heads and feeling itchy all over (psychosomatic). I thought we were safe until one morning, right after my husband had gone away for the weekend. I was talking to my eldest daughter and I saw movement in her hair. I freaked out, I shouldn't have but I did. I started inspecting her head and saw lice. I didn't know what they look like. They are thin and brown with little legs that wiggle and, they move fast. They feed on your blood so you find them close to the scalp. I was so grossed out! I proceeded to comb through her hair and remove everything I could see. She had three but there were eggs, little white balls close to the scalp. I panicked. I removed the bedding from all of our beds, stuffies and dolls. I wondered why my daughters have so many blankets on their beds. I vowed to downsize the blankets.
I checked my youngest daughter. She had tiny baby ones, only a few. The pharmacy was closed because it was a special day, can't recall what the holiday was but it wasn't open. I googled remedies and coated all of our hair with a mix of 1/4 cup of olive oil and 20 drops of tea tree oil. I put shower caps on our heads to really intensify the scent and strength of the oil and smother them. My youngest who loves nature loved the lice and wanted to keep them in a jar as a pet. I tried really hard not to roll my eyes and grimace. I explained that they couldn't survive without blood so they would just die. It took forever to get through the laundry because I had the washer set to sanitize and it takes nearly 2 hours for the machine to complete the cycle. As I inspected their he'd each day to ensure I hadn't missed anything, my daughters grew weary of this routine and it became a drag. By the time my husband returned from his trip, we were all lice free and I was exhausted. The next morning, he asked me to make him some eggs and I nearly struck him. He had just returned from a fantastic trip and was feeling energized. I was exhausted and miserable from the whole lice adventure. Needless to say, he made his own eggs that morning.
When the school semester started, my eldest mentioned that her friend had a bunch of white dots in her hair. Then she admitted that she had used her hair elastic because they were giving each other hairstyles. She told me this because her head had started to itch. I started checking their heads again, worried that we would have to start over, they were ok. Hooray! However, as the sleepover date approached, I felt less than enthusiastic about the possibility of contamination. It's not just careless fun anymore.
This morning, I saw a Facebook post about cockroaches in some schools in Ottawa. The post suggested parents search their children's back packs for cockroaches. What? One more critter to be wary of. I can't even imagine how disgusting it would feel to dig into their bags and have one in my hands. I am not one of those women who refuses to touch bugs or screams when she sees spiders. I was never germaphobe but I am a different person now. I notice when a child scratches her head or has white dots in her hair, I can't help it.
Here is what I now know that I didn't know before this experience:
1-Life will only survive as long as there is a blood supply to feed on
2-The chemicals kill the lice but not the eggs
3-Olive oil and tea tree destroys everything
4-You need a thin comb (a nit comb is suggested but I just used the thin end of a comb and it worked)
5-You don't need to sanitize everything, just put the linens and stuffed animals in a garbage bag and wait 48 hours, the lice will die, then you can clean in the wash as you would normally
6-You have to pull the eggs off the hair, they won't just fall off, they stick to the hair
7-Your kids need to stop sharing stuffed animals, headbands, elastics, hoodies, anything that could contaminate them and others
8-Have play dates, not sleepovers. You never know who has lice and doesn't know it yet, they can give it to everyone else. It is transmitted when kids share a bed, stuffie or bedding.
I hope my rant and tips can help a poor parent out there, going through this for the first time.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
I don't usually write on Saturdays but I didn't post yesterday. I was driving into Ottawa to meet a lady who wanted to purchase my books. By the time I got home, it was time to prepare my daughters for their sleepover party. I thought I would write after dropping them off but my husband was done work early so we went out for cocktails and then watched a documentary. I woke up during the night and realized I had not posted. Oops! I realize it doesn't matter, few people even read this blog but I made a commitment to myself to write every weekday and I like to keep my promises even if they are only to myself.
As I mentioned, my daughters were going to a birthday sleepover party on the weekend. This used to be festive but, not anymore, at least not for me. You see, we had loads of play dates and sleepovers over the summer until one day, one of my eldest daughter's friends told her she had lice. Her mother had not warned me and I spent the next several days inspecting my daughters' heads and feeling itchy all over (psychosomatic). I thought we were safe until one morning, right after my husband had gone away for the weekend. I was talking to my eldest daughter and I saw movement in her hair. I freaked out, I shouldn't have but I did. I started inspecting her head and saw lice. I didn't know what they look like. They are thin and brown with little legs that wiggle and, they move fast. They feed on your blood so you find them close to the scalp. I was so grossed out! I proceeded to comb through her hair and remove everything I could see. She had three but there were eggs, little white balls close to the scalp. I panicked. I removed the bedding from all of our beds, stuffies and dolls. I wondered why my daughters have so many blankets on their beds. I vowed to downsize the blankets.
I checked my youngest daughter. She had tiny baby ones, only a few. The pharmacy was closed because it was a special day, can't recall what the holiday was but it wasn't open. I googled remedies and coated all of our hair with a mix of 1/4 cup of olive oil and 20 drops of tea tree oil. I put shower caps on our heads to really intensify the scent and strength of the oil and smother them. My youngest who loves nature loved the lice and wanted to keep them in a jar as a pet. I tried really hard not to roll my eyes and grimace. I explained that they couldn't survive without blood so they would just die. It took forever to get through the laundry because I had the washer set to sanitize and it takes nearly 2 hours for the machine to complete the cycle. As I inspected their he'd each day to ensure I hadn't missed anything, my daughters grew weary of this routine and it became a drag. By the time my husband returned from his trip, we were all lice free and I was exhausted. The next morning, he asked me to make him some eggs and I nearly struck him. He had just returned from a fantastic trip and was feeling energized. I was exhausted and miserable from the whole lice adventure. Needless to say, he made his own eggs that morning.
When the school semester started, my eldest mentioned that her friend had a bunch of white dots in her hair. Then she admitted that she had used her hair elastic because they were giving each other hairstyles. She told me this because her head had started to itch. I started checking their heads again, worried that we would have to start over, they were ok. Hooray! However, as the sleepover date approached, I felt less than enthusiastic about the possibility of contamination. It's not just careless fun anymore.
This morning, I saw a Facebook post about cockroaches in some schools in Ottawa. The post suggested parents search their children's back packs for cockroaches. What? One more critter to be wary of. I can't even imagine how disgusting it would feel to dig into their bags and have one in my hands. I am not one of those women who refuses to touch bugs or screams when she sees spiders. I was never germaphobe but I am a different person now. I notice when a child scratches her head or has white dots in her hair, I can't help it.
Here is what I now know that I didn't know before this experience:
1-Life will only survive as long as there is a blood supply to feed on
2-The chemicals kill the lice but not the eggs
3-Olive oil and tea tree destroys everything
4-You need a thin comb (a nit comb is suggested but I just used the thin end of a comb and it worked)
5-You don't need to sanitize everything, just put the linens and stuffed animals in a garbage bag and wait 48 hours, the lice will die, then you can clean in the wash as you would normally
6-You have to pull the eggs off the hair, they won't just fall off, they stick to the hair
7-Your kids need to stop sharing stuffed animals, headbands, elastics, hoodies, anything that could contaminate them and others
8-Have play dates, not sleepovers. You never know who has lice and doesn't know it yet, they can give it to everyone else. It is transmitted when kids share a bed, stuffie or bedding.
I hope my rant and tips can help a poor parent out there, going through this for the first time.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Monday, 19 September 2016
Positive Psychology and Community Support
September 19th, 2016
Tonight, I took my girls to their first gymnastics class of the semester. I watch them and give them a thumbs up as they walk the beams, bounce on the trampoline and spin on a tiny pole at impressive heights. They weren't in the same group, much to their disappointment but, they didn't get paired with the mean girl which was an improvement over last semester.
I have started listening to Ted Talks while I watch the class. I have been thinking about the mental health of my children. My eldest feels anxious at night at bedtime. My youngest is totally mellow. My eldest has troubles falling asleep and sleeping on her own. My youngest will sleep anywhere. My eldest always wants to stay home. My youngest and I love going out, seeing people, having adventures. Over the summer, these differences in their temperament is very obvious.
My eldest was anxious about the start of school. She worried about her teachers and classmates. We talked about it. She just couldn't settle. We listened to Headspace, practiced our breathing, I told her stories about our pets to help help her calm down and massaged my daughter's back.
This whole different approach to situations got me thinking about mental health. I read up on childhood depression wondering if my daughter's anxiety was linked to depression. She loves drawing and is really good at it. She hasn't lost interest in this activity. She has friends and was at a party last weekend and has another one next weekend. This reassured me that she wasn't depressed. However, I plan to take her to a reputable acupuncturist for a treatment to see if it can help with her anxiety so she can sleep better at night.
One of the Ted Talks I watched was about Positive Psychology. Martin Seligman talks about our focus on pathology and how this leads people to fear psychiatrists because they feel that they will be judged and that professionals will try to fix them. He explains the need to focus on the strengths of clients not just their challenges. He also poses the question, why aren't we trying to help the average person have a better life?
This has also been on my mind. While I am comforting my eldest, my youngest daughter is not getting attention. While we are focused on people with symptoms, we are missing an opportunity to improve the quality of life of others. Psychology should not just be about solving problems. It is also supposed to study well-being and promote it.
Another interesting talk was provided by Vikram Patel. He explained that there aren't enough professionals for the amount of people struggling with a mental health issue. In some countries where the patients largely outnumber the psychiatrists, they have started training ordinary people to support others while receiving supervision from skilled professionals. He unveiled some significant data which proved that these regular people were making incredible differences.
What if clusters of people were trained to recognize depression, anxiety or risk of suicide and they were paid to perform home visits in their neighbourhood? What if they reported back to local physicians and booked follow-up appointments for clients considered at risk? Would less people go undiagnosed? Would less children fall through the cracks? I think this is a valid solution to our overburdened mental health system. Friendly visitors could provide support, education and referrals all from the comfort of the client's home. This may be the new approach to mental health services-worth considering.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Tonight, I took my girls to their first gymnastics class of the semester. I watch them and give them a thumbs up as they walk the beams, bounce on the trampoline and spin on a tiny pole at impressive heights. They weren't in the same group, much to their disappointment but, they didn't get paired with the mean girl which was an improvement over last semester.
I have started listening to Ted Talks while I watch the class. I have been thinking about the mental health of my children. My eldest feels anxious at night at bedtime. My youngest is totally mellow. My eldest has troubles falling asleep and sleeping on her own. My youngest will sleep anywhere. My eldest always wants to stay home. My youngest and I love going out, seeing people, having adventures. Over the summer, these differences in their temperament is very obvious.
My eldest was anxious about the start of school. She worried about her teachers and classmates. We talked about it. She just couldn't settle. We listened to Headspace, practiced our breathing, I told her stories about our pets to help help her calm down and massaged my daughter's back.
This whole different approach to situations got me thinking about mental health. I read up on childhood depression wondering if my daughter's anxiety was linked to depression. She loves drawing and is really good at it. She hasn't lost interest in this activity. She has friends and was at a party last weekend and has another one next weekend. This reassured me that she wasn't depressed. However, I plan to take her to a reputable acupuncturist for a treatment to see if it can help with her anxiety so she can sleep better at night.
One of the Ted Talks I watched was about Positive Psychology. Martin Seligman talks about our focus on pathology and how this leads people to fear psychiatrists because they feel that they will be judged and that professionals will try to fix them. He explains the need to focus on the strengths of clients not just their challenges. He also poses the question, why aren't we trying to help the average person have a better life?
This has also been on my mind. While I am comforting my eldest, my youngest daughter is not getting attention. While we are focused on people with symptoms, we are missing an opportunity to improve the quality of life of others. Psychology should not just be about solving problems. It is also supposed to study well-being and promote it.
Another interesting talk was provided by Vikram Patel. He explained that there aren't enough professionals for the amount of people struggling with a mental health issue. In some countries where the patients largely outnumber the psychiatrists, they have started training ordinary people to support others while receiving supervision from skilled professionals. He unveiled some significant data which proved that these regular people were making incredible differences.
What if clusters of people were trained to recognize depression, anxiety or risk of suicide and they were paid to perform home visits in their neighbourhood? What if they reported back to local physicians and booked follow-up appointments for clients considered at risk? Would less people go undiagnosed? Would less children fall through the cracks? I think this is a valid solution to our overburdened mental health system. Friendly visitors could provide support, education and referrals all from the comfort of the client's home. This may be the new approach to mental health services-worth considering.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Monday, 29 February 2016
Hope for Depression
February 28th, 2016
Lately, I have been working on bringing more mindfulness into my life. I was never good at meditation. You have to sit there, focus on your breathing, maybe repeat a mantra, spine straight, legs crossed etc. I am not sitting or breathing normally, my back aches and my mind wanders. It's not a pleasant experience and I generally give up within four days. What I like about mindfulness is that I am not trying to empty my mind. As a matter of fact, my mind is engaged: noticing the smells, sights and sounds around me, tuning into the sensations in my body, my feelings and thoughts. I can practise mindfulness while I drive, walk, cook or shower. This approach works for me. The goal of mindfulness is to connect with the present moment instead of ruminating about the past or anticipating the future.
Lately, a client was asking me about cognitive behavioural therapy. When I was completing my BA in Psychology, many of the courses were based on behavioural therapy. We learned to use reinforcement and punishment to increase or extinguish behaviours through techniques like "shaping". It was my least favourite approach to psychology because it was all very clinical with research conducted on animals (think Pavlov's dog) and applied to humans. I preferred humanistic and cognitive approaches because they treated the client as an active participant in therapy.
I wanted to help my client find a cognitive behavioural resource near here so I began a search online. I found an interesting combination: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. The research is very impressive, especially for individuals suffering from chronic depression. The research indicates that MBCT helps clients identify the negative thoughts that lead to a relapse. There are associations between thought patterns, moods and relapsing into a depressive episode. By acknowledging that these are only fleeting thoughts, challenging these thoughts and replacing them with facts, clients interrupt the sequence and are able to avoid triggering a relapse. In a study comparing the outcome of participants on medication with participants undergoing MBCT, they found that people on the medication needed to stay on the medication whereas, individuals who had participated in MBCT were less likely to experience a relapse. The medication may be successful in increasing the amount of serotonin in a client's brain but MBCT creates new neural pathways through the hippocampus.
People experiencing depressive episodes lasting months at a time, are living in fear of the next onset, holding their breath. When they feel the darkness looming, they experience helplessness and anxiety. They don't know how deep they will go or how long it will last. For loved ones, watching someone suffer and not being able to help is devastating. When someone is sick with the flu, you know it will pass, you can make some soup, buy soft tissues with lotion in them so their nose isn't as irritated, you can check on them, refill their water, you feel useful. There isn't much you can do when your loved one is depressed. You can be there and love them but trying to "cheer them up" only makes it worst. If taking a walk and getting some fresh air helped, they would be doing it. You can feel sad and helpless while getting frustrated as well. Then you feel guilty for getting frustrated.
That is why I wanted to share this approach. I have just started reading about it, I forwarded it to my client and, I will be looking into the requirements of training in this approach as well. One more tool in my therapeutic toolbox. To find out more for yourself, visit www.mbct.com.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Lately, I have been working on bringing more mindfulness into my life. I was never good at meditation. You have to sit there, focus on your breathing, maybe repeat a mantra, spine straight, legs crossed etc. I am not sitting or breathing normally, my back aches and my mind wanders. It's not a pleasant experience and I generally give up within four days. What I like about mindfulness is that I am not trying to empty my mind. As a matter of fact, my mind is engaged: noticing the smells, sights and sounds around me, tuning into the sensations in my body, my feelings and thoughts. I can practise mindfulness while I drive, walk, cook or shower. This approach works for me. The goal of mindfulness is to connect with the present moment instead of ruminating about the past or anticipating the future.
Lately, a client was asking me about cognitive behavioural therapy. When I was completing my BA in Psychology, many of the courses were based on behavioural therapy. We learned to use reinforcement and punishment to increase or extinguish behaviours through techniques like "shaping". It was my least favourite approach to psychology because it was all very clinical with research conducted on animals (think Pavlov's dog) and applied to humans. I preferred humanistic and cognitive approaches because they treated the client as an active participant in therapy.
I wanted to help my client find a cognitive behavioural resource near here so I began a search online. I found an interesting combination: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. The research is very impressive, especially for individuals suffering from chronic depression. The research indicates that MBCT helps clients identify the negative thoughts that lead to a relapse. There are associations between thought patterns, moods and relapsing into a depressive episode. By acknowledging that these are only fleeting thoughts, challenging these thoughts and replacing them with facts, clients interrupt the sequence and are able to avoid triggering a relapse. In a study comparing the outcome of participants on medication with participants undergoing MBCT, they found that people on the medication needed to stay on the medication whereas, individuals who had participated in MBCT were less likely to experience a relapse. The medication may be successful in increasing the amount of serotonin in a client's brain but MBCT creates new neural pathways through the hippocampus.
People experiencing depressive episodes lasting months at a time, are living in fear of the next onset, holding their breath. When they feel the darkness looming, they experience helplessness and anxiety. They don't know how deep they will go or how long it will last. For loved ones, watching someone suffer and not being able to help is devastating. When someone is sick with the flu, you know it will pass, you can make some soup, buy soft tissues with lotion in them so their nose isn't as irritated, you can check on them, refill their water, you feel useful. There isn't much you can do when your loved one is depressed. You can be there and love them but trying to "cheer them up" only makes it worst. If taking a walk and getting some fresh air helped, they would be doing it. You can feel sad and helpless while getting frustrated as well. Then you feel guilty for getting frustrated.
That is why I wanted to share this approach. I have just started reading about it, I forwarded it to my client and, I will be looking into the requirements of training in this approach as well. One more tool in my therapeutic toolbox. To find out more for yourself, visit www.mbct.com.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
Tuesday, 5 January 2016
Mental Health-PTSD
January 5th, 2016
When I was a psychology major at Ottawa University, I recall one teacher mentioning PTSD. It was not covered in depth nor was it described in detail. What stayed with me was the image of a WW1 or WW2 veteran who hears a shotgun and is transported through hallucinations to the battlefield. It scared me and I was grateful that I would never work with that clientele.
Fast forward to my work as an art therapist. I seem to attract clients who have survived trauma. That is because people who have experienced trauma, especially if they were children at the time, have no words to speak about their experience. Unless a therapist is trauma-informed, which I am, they may encourage the client to relive the trauma by describing it in detail, re-traumatizing them.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder doesn't just affect veterans. Anyone who is exposed to a traumatic incident, whether it happens to them or they witness it happening to someone they love, is at risk. This includes the military, victims and witnesses of domestic violence, people who survived natural disasters, individuals who have been in an accident, who were diagnosed with a terminal illness, lived in unsafe conditions, were mugged, raped or had their house vandalized, just to name a few. They usually perceive that their life or safety is in danger and feel powerless to influence the outcome of their situation.
People diagnosed with ptsd relive the traumatic experience through recurring thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks. They may avoid people or situations associated with their experience. This has an impact on their daily life, on their level of social involvement with family and friends as well as on their ability to work.
Another symptom is withdrawal or numbing. In order to protect themselves, they have become cut off from their body and emotions. This inability to feel connected to others causes conflict with family, friends and co-workers. If they pressure their loved one to participate in activities or confront them on their apathy, demanding a response or an explanation, chances are the only emotion that will result is anger. It is very common for alcohol or drugs to be used to further numb away the pain and, perhaps, avoid the nightmares that are depriving them of sleep.
A third symptom is hyper vigilance which means the person exists on a day-to-day basis in a state of emergency. This means they are anxious, startle easily, overreact to situations, feel the need to rush and have a hard time relaxing. When they are overwhelmed, they have a tendency to lash out at their loved ones. They then feel terrible, withdraw, perhaps drink and sink into a depressive state. It is a vicious cycle.
I furthered my training three years ago to become a trauma-infirmed art therapist. I have since worked with people diagnosed with ptsd, supported spouses of individuals diagnosed with ptsd and have facilitated workshops to help couples and entire families communicate about this diagnosis.
This is what I see:
I will describe the man as having ptsd in this example because that is the majority of the cases I have worked with so far. A man and woman are in love. Something happens that creates a traumatic response in the man. The woman has not lived through this experience but she does her best to be supportive. The man feels different, he is frightened. He drinks. The woman tries to connect. Her man acts like she is not there. He watches violent programs on tv for days at a time. He may read his paper at breakfast, watch tv while they dine in a restaurant, turn down invitations to go out with friends or visit with family. He loses his patience with the children. They are too loud, too demanding, too hyper. He says hurtful words. The woman confronts him. He releases a disproportionate amount of rage at her, his words are hurtful. He is cold and the woman wonders what the future holds for them. He doesn't seem interested in her sexually. She is
hurt and feels isolated. She starts to feel angry and wonders if they will survive as a couple.
If you recognize your relationship, here are some tips:
1-Read as much as you can about this diagnosis, information is power.
2-Join a support group and encourage him to do the same, you can learn from others.
3-Have a safety plan. If he is angry and needs space to calm down, write down a list of people you can call and places you can go.
4-Work together to identify triggers so you are both aware of them.
5-Take very good care of yourself so you don't burn out.
6-Present community resources to your partner and offer to take him there, timing is essential here.
7-Communicate with your partner when it is safe to do so, remind him that you are on the same side and he is not alone.
8-Explore all treatment options, you never know what will work best for your loved one.
I hope these tips are helpful to you.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul@ripnet.com
When I was a psychology major at Ottawa University, I recall one teacher mentioning PTSD. It was not covered in depth nor was it described in detail. What stayed with me was the image of a WW1 or WW2 veteran who hears a shotgun and is transported through hallucinations to the battlefield. It scared me and I was grateful that I would never work with that clientele.
Fast forward to my work as an art therapist. I seem to attract clients who have survived trauma. That is because people who have experienced trauma, especially if they were children at the time, have no words to speak about their experience. Unless a therapist is trauma-informed, which I am, they may encourage the client to relive the trauma by describing it in detail, re-traumatizing them.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder doesn't just affect veterans. Anyone who is exposed to a traumatic incident, whether it happens to them or they witness it happening to someone they love, is at risk. This includes the military, victims and witnesses of domestic violence, people who survived natural disasters, individuals who have been in an accident, who were diagnosed with a terminal illness, lived in unsafe conditions, were mugged, raped or had their house vandalized, just to name a few. They usually perceive that their life or safety is in danger and feel powerless to influence the outcome of their situation.
People diagnosed with ptsd relive the traumatic experience through recurring thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks. They may avoid people or situations associated with their experience. This has an impact on their daily life, on their level of social involvement with family and friends as well as on their ability to work.
Another symptom is withdrawal or numbing. In order to protect themselves, they have become cut off from their body and emotions. This inability to feel connected to others causes conflict with family, friends and co-workers. If they pressure their loved one to participate in activities or confront them on their apathy, demanding a response or an explanation, chances are the only emotion that will result is anger. It is very common for alcohol or drugs to be used to further numb away the pain and, perhaps, avoid the nightmares that are depriving them of sleep.
A third symptom is hyper vigilance which means the person exists on a day-to-day basis in a state of emergency. This means they are anxious, startle easily, overreact to situations, feel the need to rush and have a hard time relaxing. When they are overwhelmed, they have a tendency to lash out at their loved ones. They then feel terrible, withdraw, perhaps drink and sink into a depressive state. It is a vicious cycle.
I furthered my training three years ago to become a trauma-infirmed art therapist. I have since worked with people diagnosed with ptsd, supported spouses of individuals diagnosed with ptsd and have facilitated workshops to help couples and entire families communicate about this diagnosis.
This is what I see:
I will describe the man as having ptsd in this example because that is the majority of the cases I have worked with so far. A man and woman are in love. Something happens that creates a traumatic response in the man. The woman has not lived through this experience but she does her best to be supportive. The man feels different, he is frightened. He drinks. The woman tries to connect. Her man acts like she is not there. He watches violent programs on tv for days at a time. He may read his paper at breakfast, watch tv while they dine in a restaurant, turn down invitations to go out with friends or visit with family. He loses his patience with the children. They are too loud, too demanding, too hyper. He says hurtful words. The woman confronts him. He releases a disproportionate amount of rage at her, his words are hurtful. He is cold and the woman wonders what the future holds for them. He doesn't seem interested in her sexually. She is
hurt and feels isolated. She starts to feel angry and wonders if they will survive as a couple.
If you recognize your relationship, here are some tips:
1-Read as much as you can about this diagnosis, information is power.
2-Join a support group and encourage him to do the same, you can learn from others.
3-Have a safety plan. If he is angry and needs space to calm down, write down a list of people you can call and places you can go.
4-Work together to identify triggers so you are both aware of them.
5-Take very good care of yourself so you don't burn out.
6-Present community resources to your partner and offer to take him there, timing is essential here.
7-Communicate with your partner when it is safe to do so, remind him that you are on the same side and he is not alone.
8-Explore all treatment options, you never know what will work best for your loved one.
I hope these tips are helpful to you.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul@ripnet.com
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