Lexapro / Cipralex (escitalopram)

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My Life With Cipralex: Cipralex Day 1 - Starting with 5 MG...

My Life With Cipralex: Cipralex Day 1 - Starting with 5 MG...: Feeling a bit chilled, a bit tired, mouth little bit dry, Breathing is a bit slower, feeling of a little bit electricity or brainwaves down ...

How Vitamins and Minerals Affect Your Moods

  It’s not all in your mind

How Vitamins and Minerals Affect Your Moods
The first scientifically documented discovery to relate mental illness to diet occurred when it was found that pellagra (with its depression, diarrhea, and dementia) could be cured with niacin. After that, it was shown that supplementation with the whole B complex produced greater benefits
than niacin alone.
Evidence of biochemical causes for mental disturbances continues to mount. Experiments have shown that symptoms of mental illness can be switched off and on by altering vitamin levels in the body.
Dr. R. Shulman, reporting in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that forty-eight out of fifty-nine psychiatric patients had folic-acid deficiencies.

Even normal, happy people can become
depressed when made deficient in
niacin or folic acid.

Nutrients That Combat Depression, Anxiety, and Stress

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) Above-average amounts can help alleviate depression and anxiety attacks

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) Aids in the proper production of natural antidepressants such as dopamine
and norepinephrine.

Pantothenic acid A natural tension-reliever.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) Essential for combating stress.

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) Helps relieve irritability, improve concentration, increase energy, and maintain a healthy nervous system.

Choline Sends nerve impulses to brain and produces a soothing effect.

Vitamin E (dry form) (alpha-tocopherol) Aids brain cells in getting needed oxygen.

Folic acid (folacin) Deficiencies have been found to be contributing factors in mental illness.

Zinc Promotes mental alertness and aids in proper brain function.

Magnesium The antistress mineral, necessary for proper nerve functioning

Manganese Helps reduce nervous irritability.

Niacin Vital to the proper function of the nervous system.

Calcium Alleviates tension, irritability, and promotes relaxation.

Tyrosine Helps increase the rate at which brain
neurons produce the antidepressants dopamine and norepinephrine.

Tryptophan Works with vitamin B6, niacin, and
magnesium to synthesize the brain chemical serotonin, a natural tranquilizer.

Phenylalanine Necessary for the brain’s release of
the antidepressants dopamine and norepinephrine.

Other Drugs Can Add to Your Problem

Alcohol is a nerve depressant. If you take tranquilizers and a drink, the combination
of the two can cause a severe depression—or even death.

If you take a sedative with an antihistamine (such as any found in over-thecounter
cold preparations) you might find yourself experiencing tremors and
mental confusion.
Oral contraceptives deplete the body of B6, B12, folic acid, and vitamin
C. If you’re on the pill and depressed, it is not surprising. Your need for B6,
necessary for normal tryptophan metabolism, is fifty to a hundred times a
non-pill-user’s requirement.

                                   DRUGS AND MEDICATIONS THAT YOU MIGHT
                                                        NOT THINK WOULD
                                               CAUSE DEPRESSION—BUT CAN

The following list is not all-inclusive, but all mentioned deplete the body—in varying degrees—of important mood-regulating nutrients. So if you’re taking medication to get well and feeling down,
there’s a good chance that it’s not all in your mind!

• Adrenocorticoids
• Arthritis medicines
• Antihistamines
• Antihypertensives
• Baclofen
• Barbiturates
• Beta-blockers (Inderal™)
• Diuretics
• Estrogens
• Fluorides
• Indomethacin (Indocin™)
• Isoniazid (INH, Nydrazid™)
• Laxatives, lubricants
• Meprednisone (Betapar™)
• Methotrexate (Mexate®)
• Nitrofurantoin (Furadantin®, Macrodantin®)
• Oral contraceptives
• Penicillamine (Cuprimine™)
• Penicillin (all forms)
• Phenytoin (Dilantin™)
• Potassium supplements
• Prednisone
• Procainamide
• Propoxyphene (Darvon™)
• Pyrimethamine (Daraprim™)
• Tetracyclines
• Trimethobenzamide (Tigan®)

Personality Disorder

Personality Disorder: key facts

What is a personality disorder (PD)? 

• A “personality” is the collection of ways that we think, feel and behave  that makes each of us an individual.
• Most of the time, our personality allows us to get on reasonably well with other people but for some of us, this isn't true.
• If you have a personality disorder, parts of your personality make it hard for you to live with yourself and/or other people. You don't learn from experience how to change the unhelpful parts of yourself

You may have a personality disorder if you find it difficult to:

• make or keep relationships
• get on with people at work or with friends and family
• keep out of trouble
• control your feelings or behaviour.

and

• you are unhappy or distressed and/or find that you upset or harm other people.

How common is PD

Probably about 1 in 10 people has a PD.

Personality disorders tend to fall into three groups:

Cluster A -  'Suspicious' – includes:

• Paranoid

You are suspicious of other people – you feel that they are being nasty to you. You are sensitive to rejection and tend to hold grudges. 

• Schizoid

You don't have strong emotions, don't like contact with other people and prefer your own company. You have a rich fantasy world.

• Schizotypal

You have odd ideas and difficulties with thinking. Other people see you as eccentric. You may see or hear strange things.

Cluster B -  'Emotional and impulsive' - includes

• Antisocial

You don't care about the feelings of others, get easily frustrated, fight, commit crimes and find it hard to have close relationships. You do things on the spur of the moment, don't feel guilty and don't learn from unpleasant experiences.

• Borderline, or Emotionally Unstable

You do things without thinking, find it hard to control your emotions, and feel empty. You feel bad about yourself and often self-harm. You make relationships quickly, but easily lose them. You can also feel paranoid or depressed and, when stressed, may hear noises or voices.

• Histrionic

You over-dramatise events and tend to be self-centered. Your emotions are strong, but change quickly. You worry a lot about your appearance and crave excitement.

• Narcissistic

You feel very important and dream of success, power and status. You crave attention, tend to exploit others and ask for favours that you don’t return.

Cluster C -   'Anxious' – includes:

• Obsessive-Compulsive (aka Anankastic)

You are perfectionist, worry about detail and are perhaps rigid. You are cautious and find it hard to make decisions. You have high moral standards, tend to judge other people and worry about doing the wrong thing. You are sensitive to criticism and may have obsessional thoughts and behaviours.

• Avoidant (aka Anxious/Avoidant)

You are very anxious and tense, you worry a lot, feel insecure and inferior. You want to be liked and accepted and are sensitive to criticism.

• Dependent

You rely on others to make decisions for you and do what others want you to do. You find it hard to cope with daily tasks, feel hopeless and incompetent and easily feel abandoned by others.

Professional help

This can include:

• Individual Therapy

Counselling and dynamic psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive analytical therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy.

• Treatment in a therapeutic community

A place where you can attend (or sometimes stay in) for several weeks or months. Most of the work is done in groups. You learn from being with other people in a unit. It differs from 'real life' in that any disagreements or upsets happen in a safe place. The staff and other patients help you to get through such problems and learn from them.

• Medication

Antipsychotic drugs can reduce the suspiciousness of cluster A personality disorders (paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal). They can also help with borderline personality disorder if people feel paranoid, or are hearing noises or voices. 

Antidepressants can help with the mood and emotional difficulties of people with cluster B personality disorders. Some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants can also reduce anxiety in cluster C personality disorders.

Mood stabilisers such as lithium, carbamazepine, and sodium valproate may also reduce impulsiveness and aggression. 

How effective is treatment?

The evidence is weak because treatments are usually quite complicated, so it is hard to know what part actually worked. The studies are also usually small and rather too short, and the ways of measuring improvement are poor.

Which approach is best for me?

This depends on what you prefer as well as the type of personality disorder that you have. However, a lot depends on what is available in your area.

What is Perfectionism??

Perfectionism Defined

Perfectionism is not necessarily about being ‘perfect’. Ask yourself this question… Is it ever really possible to be 100% ‘perfect’? So, if it’s not about being ‘perfect’, then what do we mean when talk about perfectionism? Although there’s no perfect definition,

we understand perfectionism to involve:

1.The relentless striving for extremely high standards (for yourself and/or others) that are personally demanding, in the context of the individual. (Typically, to an outsider the standards are considered to be unreasonable given the circumstances.)

2. Judging your self-worth based largely on your ability to strive for and achieve such
unrelenting standards.

3. Experiencing negative consequences of setting such demanding standards, yet continuing to go for them despite the huge cost to you.

The Paradox of Perfectionism
Many people think of perfectionism as something positive. It is often seen as the pursuit of excellence, setting high standards, and working hard to challenge one’s self.
People often have good reasons for being perfectionists.
They may say that it allows them to be efficient, organised, or prepared for anything. Although having high standards and goals may help us achieve things in life, sometimes these standards get in the way of our happiness and can actually impair performance.
This is the paradox of perfectionism!
The excessive drive to achieve ever-higher levels of performance is self-defeating as it leaves you little chance of meeting your goals and feeling good about yourself.
This kind of pressure is likely to cause you to feel constantly on edge, tense, and stressed out.
Perfectionism can also make your self worth particularly vulnerable as not reaching the (possibly unachievable) standards you set for yourself may result in you feeling like a failure.
Pursuing these personally demanding standards can have a significant impact on your wellbeing, and can lead to frustration, worry, social isolation, depression and a persistent sense of failure.


When am I a Perfectionist?
Being a perfectionist doesn’t necessarily mean you have unrelenting high standards in every area area of your life. It is possible to be a perfectionist in one area of your life (e.g., work), but not another (e.g., grooming).
Areas of life in which your perfectionism may flare up
include:
◊  Work,
◊  Study,
◊  Housework/cleaning,
◊  Close relationships,
◊  Eating/weight/shape,
◊  Grooming/personal hygiene,
◊  Sport,
◊  Health & fitness.

How am I a perfectionist?
Some common types of perfectionistic behaviours include:

◊  Struggling to make decisions in a timely manner (e.g., not being able to decide what to wear to work each morning).

◊  Reassurance seeking. (E.g., asking others to check your work to ensure it is acceptable).

◊  Excessive organising and list making. (E.g, repeatedly writing and re-writing lists of the tasks you want to get done in the day).

◊  Giving up easily. (E.g., giving up flamenco after two lessons because you can’t keep up with the teacher (even though nobody can)).

◊  Procrastinating. (E.g., putting off starting an assignment for fear that it won’t be good enough).

◊  Not knowing when to stop. (E.g., arguing a point over and over, long after others have lost interest).

◊  Checking. (E.g., repeatedly looking in the mirror for facial blemishes).

◊  Hoarding. (E.g., keeping your bank statements for 20 years just in case you might need them).

◊  Slowness. (E.g., speaking slowly to ensure you say the right thing).

◊  Avoiding situations in which you may ‘fail’. (E.g., not applying for jobs for fear that you will not get them).

Perfectionism involves:

The relentless striving for extremely high standards; Judging your self-worth based largely on your ability to achieve these standards; And continuing to set demanding standards despite the cost
associated with striving for them. Sometimes when a person’s self worth depends on their achievements they push themselves to attain unrealistically high standards. They may act in ways
intended to ensure that they meet these standards (e.g., checking, correcting); judge themselves harshly and focus on their mistakes. They may criticise themselves when they fail to meet their standards, affecting their self worth. If they meet their standards they may suggest that they were too low and set higher ones.

Underlying Rules & Assumptions
Rules and assumptions that are flexible and accurate provide helpful guides for living. However, rigid rules such as “the job is not done unless its perfect” and inaccurate assumptions such as “if I make a mistake the business will fail”, tend to cause people to focus single-mindedly on doing things ‘perfectly’.

Unrelenting Standards
Unrelenting high standards are so unrealistically high and inflexible that we are unlikely to be able to meet the standard, or will only be able to meet the standard at considerable cost.
When an unrelenting high standard is not met, instead of concluding that it was unrealistic, perfectionists will conclude that they did not work hard enough or failed. In future, some will give up altogether while others will try even harder. Unfortunately, even if a high standard is achieved, most perfectionists do not feel happy about this for very long. Some might see it as a “fluke” or decide that the standard set was not high enough, and set a higher standard the next time.

Perfectionism Behaviours
Perfectionists also engage in a range of unhelpful behaviours to make sure they continue to meet the high standards they set for themselves. E.g., procrastinating, avoidance, checking, correcting, list-making, slowness etc.
These behaviours keep perfectionistic thinking going because, if you keep behaving this way, you never have the opportunity to test out whether your perfectionistic thinking is true. These behaviours may be timeconsuming, done at the expense of other important activities and may even delay or interfere with attempts to meet the standard set.

Perfectionistic Thinking
We usually to attend to and interpret things according to what we expect. Perfectionists tend to pay attention to any evidence that they are not achieving so they can correct these immediately. Perfectionists also have an extreme view of what success and failure is, with no middle ground, causing them to judge themselves more harshly than others would.




Often perfectionists evidence a pattern of unhelpful
thinking styles, including:

◊  Black & white thinking: seeing only extremes - no shades of gray;

◊  Shoulding & Musting: putting unreasonable demands on self and others;

◊  Catastrophising: blowing things out of proportion;

◊  Jumping to conclusions: assuming that we know what others are thinking, or can predict the future.


Reducing Perfectionist Behaviours
A hallmark of perfectionism is the tendency to judge your self worth largely on your ability to achieve high standards. To meet their unrelenting high standards, perfectionists tend to engage in a number of perfectionism behaviours
(e.g., repeatedly checking work for mistakes), which may serve to maintain perfectionistic beliefs.

Perfectionism Behaviours
Perfectionism behaviours can be divided into two categories - the things you actively do as a result of
your perfectionism and the things you avoid doing as a result of your perfectionism.

Perfectionism Active Behaviours
Most perfectionists engage in actions aimed at reaching the unrelenting standards they have set for themselves, and perhaps others. They are so concerned about reaching these high standards that they engage in behaviours that they see as necessary but that often seem excessive to other people.

Examples include:
◊  Excessive checking,
◊  Excessive organising,
◊  List making,
◊  Correcting others.

Perfectionism Avoidance Behaviours
Many perfectionists also attempt to meet their unrelenting standards and avoid ‘failure’ by avoiding doing tasks. Although this may not seem like perfectionism, it is really the other side of the same coin as engaging in actions aimed at meeting your unrelenting standards. When perfectionists fear that they will not be able to reach their high standards, they may be too afraid of failure to try. Some may procrastinate by putting off a task, often indefinitely, while others will wait to the last minute before doing a task.

Other examples include:
◊  Giving up too soon,
◊  Indecisiveness,
◊  Avoiding tasks you fear you are unable to do adequately.

How these Behaviours maintain Perfectionism
Perfectionism behaviours keep you from learning whether or not your perfectionistic beliefs are true. For example, a person who has difficulty delegating tasks to colleagues may hold the belief that this is necessary to maintain their high standards in the work place. By continuing to not delegate work, the perfectionist is unable to test our whether their beliefs are accurate.
Perfectionism Behaviours can also be problematic in that: they are often time consuming; they are sometimes done at the expense of other important activities; they can impair relationships; and sometimes can actually interfere with attempts to meet the standard set.

Reducing Perfectionism Behaviours*
One way to test the accuracy of perfectionistic beliefs is to see what happens when you behave differently.

Stepladders Towards Change
◊  Choose a specific goal behaviour to change,

◊  Break the goal down into small steps by changing who is there, what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and how long you do it for.

◊  Complete each step, one at a time, beginning with the least difficult and working your way up.

◊  Do a step frequently and repeatedly, to make sure you are comfortable with it before you move on.

Behavioural Experiments
Behavioural Experiments help loosen the grip of your perfectionism and test out the accuracy of your perfectionistic beliefs by seeing what happens when you change your perfectionism behaviours.
We encourage you to try reducing your perfectionism
behaviours. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much more time you have, and how little it affects your performance!

Perfectionistic Thinking
Perfectionists tend to determine their self worth based on their ability to achieve unrealistically high standards. As a consequence, they may focus on information in their environment that they interpret as evidence that they are not achieving, and criticise themselves harshly when they fail to meet their standards. Such patterns of thinking serve to maintain the importance of attaining extremely high standards.

Biased Information Processing
The way we make sense of what goes on around us plays a big part in maintaining perfectionism. Since there is so much happening in our environment at any one time, our brains choose what we pay attention to and how we make sense of things. We tend to pay attention to and interpret things according to what we expect. Since achieving extremely high standards provides the basis for a perfectionist’s self worth, they tend to pay careful attention to any evidence that they take to
mean that they are not achieving. For example, if a perfectionist believes “I must never make mistakes”, they will probably quickly pick up errors in their work that other people may not notice.

Perfectionists also have a tendency to interpret information in a way that demonstrates that they are
not achieving. They often have an extreme view of what success and failure is, with no middle ground.
For example, they may say “missing out on an A for this assignment means that I might as well have failed”.

Self Criticism & Unhelpful Thinking
Perfectionists tend to be extremely self-critical, especially if they are unable to meet their high
standards.
They might say to themselves: “I am such an idiot” or “I should have done better”. This selfcriticism
can cause people to feel a range of negative emotions including anger, anxiety, depression and guilt.
Often these negative thoughts reflect an unhelpful style of thinking such as:

◊  Black & white thinking: seeing only extremes - no shades of gray;

◊  Shoulding & Musting: putting unreasonable demands on self and others;

◊  Catastrophising: blowing things out of proportion;

◊  Jumping to conclusions: assuming that we know what others are thinking, or can predict the future.


How Biased Information Processing and Unhelpful Thinking maintain Perfectionism
When people repeatedly focus on information in their environment that is consistent with their beliefs and ignore information that does not fit with their beliefs, it can appear as if their beliefs are
well supported. Likewise a person may perceive that there is a lot of support for their beliefs if they
repeatedly interpret information in a way that is consistent with their beliefs. When perfectionists pay attention only to evidence that they are not achieving, or interpret neutral information as showing that they are not achieving, they tend to feel bad about themselves.
For the perfectionist, this then underlines the importance of striving to achieve, thereby
keeping their perfectionism going.
Perfectionists’ repeated criticism of themselves not only causes them to feel uncomfortable emotions, it also emphasizes the importance of achieving their unrealistically high standards.
The negative thinking styles that they rely on cause them to place unreasonable pressures on themselves, see only the extremes and not accurately perceive situations.
Such negative thinking styles underlie perfectionists’ unreasonable standards and harsh self criticism.

Reducing Unhelpful Thinking*
One way to check out the accuracy of perfectionistic thoughts and find more helpful and balanced ways of thinking is to use a thought diary.

Thought Diaries
Thought diaries are designed to help you become aware of your negative thoughts and notice how these thoughts affect how you feel and behave. Thought diaries can also help you investigate the accuracy and helpfulness of your negative thoughts and develop new more balanced thoughts.



Perfectionism Unhelpful Rules & Assumptions
Since perfectionists tend to judge their self worth largely on their ability to achieve high standards, they often develop rules and assumptions designed to ensure that they meet these standards. Although many rules are healthy and useful, rigid rules and inaccurate assumptions can cause people to hold unrealistic expectations about themselves and others, which if unmet may bring about disappointment and criticism.

Helpful & Unhelpful Rules
We all need rules for living to help us make sense of the world and to cope with our everyday lives. So having rules, in itself, is not a bad thing. Helpful rules are realistic, flexible and adaptable. For example,
the rule “it is good to try to eat healthy food” is helpful since it is based on evidence that shows that people who eat healthily have fewer health problems, and since it is flexible as it allows for times when it is preferable to eat less healthy foods (e,g, birthdays).

Unhelpful rules are inflexible, rigid, and unreasonable. For example, the rule “I must never
make mistakes” is unhelpful because it not possible or reasonable that we would be able to maintain this standard and this means we are likely to feel bad when we make a mistake.

Unhelpful Rules & Perfectionism
Perfectionists’ self esteem is based heavily on their ability to attain extremely high standards. Consistent with their belief in the importance of achieving these high standards, their lives are often directed by a number of rules and assumptions designed to ensure that they meet their high standards.
Some rules commonly held by perfectionists include:

◊  Fear of failure (e.g., “I must do things perfectly”, or “If I try, then I will only fail”).

◊  Shoulds & musts (e.g., “My house must be tidy at all times”).

◊  All-or-nothing (e.g., “There is a right and a wrong way to do things”).

◊  Constant checking (e.g., “I must weigh myself several times a day to make sure I’m not gaining weight”).

◊  Control (e.g., “I must be prepared for anything”). Such unhelpful rules often form the basis for the
unrealistically high standards that perfectionists set for themselves.

Identifying Unhelpful Rules & Assumptions
To identify the unhelpful rules and assumptions that underlie your unrealistically high standards, ask yourself:

◊  What do I expect of myself at work or school?

◊  What standards do I expect myself to meet?

◊  What do I expect of myself in my various roles – child, friend, partner, parent, staff member/supervisor?

◊  What might happen if I relax my standards?

◊  What do I criticise in other people? What standards do I expect them to live up to?

Adjusting The Rules
Generating a more helpful rule or assumption involves thinking of another way to see yourself and the world that is balanced, flexible to different circumstances, and realistic given the real state of affairs. When thinking of how to put the new rule or assumption into practice, work out how you would act in everyday life if you already believed the new helpful rule or assumption, and then making a point of acting that way. Often when we act as if something were true, we actually start to take it on board and believe it.

To challenge your unhelpful rules and assumptions about
your perfectionism, there are six steps to take:

1. Identify your unhelpful rule or assumption

2. Work out where it comes from or how it developed

3. Question whether your rule is realistic or reasonable or achievable

4. Recognise the negative consequences of having and keeping this rule

5. Develop a more helpful rule or assumption

6. Plan how you would need to act in every day life to put this new helpful rule or assumption into practice

Remember, practice is very important for challenging your perfectionism.
We urge you to practice, and remind you that you don’t have to achieve change ‘perfectly’ or even quickly.


Re-evaluating the Importance of Achieving
People who are perfectionists tend to be overly concerned with achievement and the pursuit of unrelenting standards. They often rely on their ability to achieve unrelenting
standards as a basis on which to judge their self-worth. In turn, this can have a big impact on the
balance of their lives.

How can Over-evaluation of Achieving affect an Individual’s Self Worth?
Most people evaluate their self-worth based on a variety of things. When judging their self-worth, they might consider their personal qualities such as kindness, loyalty, willingness to help people, sense of humour, relationships with family, friends, partner, and skills such as achievements at work or school, ability to play sport, cook, or play a musical instrument. They might evaluate how happy they are based on how well important things in their life are going.

Perfectionists tend to judge their self-worth based almost entirely on achieving their unrelenting standards. They overvalue achieving and achievement. They may have other interests, but over time these seem to take a lesser place in their lives. This system of self-evaluation may have developed
through particular life experiences and/or positive reinforcement from people around them. People who try hard and are successful are often rewarded by others (e.g., praise, high marks, promotion at work)
so achieving can become equated with being hard-working, conscientious, and intelligent – in short, being of worth. Perfectionists come to believe that they are only of worth if they are pursuing or achieving the high standards they set for themselves.

The Impact of overly-relying on
Achievement to Judge Self Worth
Since perfectionists base their self worth on their ability to achieve unrelenting standards, they tend to work extremely hard to achieve these standards. Perfectionists often perceive this as highly beneficial. They may argue that by focussing all their energy on one area they are more likely to achieve their standards. Indeed, because of their hard work they
have the potential to perform well.
However, when people base much of their self-worth on only one thing in their lives, they are putting a tremendous amount of pressure on themselves to make sure that it works out. That’s why it’s not
surprising that perfectionists tend to be overly focused on achieving the high standards they set themselves. And they often feel stressed, irritable, depressed, anxious or guilty, and think negatively about themselves.
When a goal is achieved they may feel relieved, but they don’t tend to feel happy for very long. In fact, perfectionists tend to dismiss their success (“I was just lucky”) or conclude that the standard
set was too low (“anyone could have done that”) and re-set the standard higher for next time.

Tackling the Over-evaluation of Achieving
You may find it helpful to think about the amount of importance you place on each of the areas of your life that contribute to your self-worth. If you find that your self esteem overly relies on your ability to achieve, you may want to consider broadening your
interests. This will give you a chance to develop other ways of feeling good about yourself, apart
from the pursuit of those relentless high standards.
Identify the other areas of your life that may have once been important to your self-worth but have now taken a lesser place. Choose one area you would like to start with and then think of some activities you could engage in to help you do that.
You might find yourself thinking that you don’t feel like doing this activity and want to put it off until you feel ready. Don’t — act now!
People often want to wait until they feel motivated before they act. However, an important thing to bear in mind is, motivation may not come on its own, but when you ACT first,
motivation will then follow.
Remember, ACTION beforeMOTIVATION, and you‘ll soon find that your life will be more balanced. You will be less preoccupied with only one aspect of your life, and less dependant on that
success and achievement for your self-evaluation.

What is Self-Esteem?

What is Self-Esteem?
As human beings, we tend to place a value or a measure of worth to ourselves or aspects of ourselves.
So, self-esteem usually refers to how we view and think about ourselves and the value that we place on ourselves
as a person. If the value we place on ourselves is often negative, this is when we run into problems with self esteem.

Low Self-Esteem
Have you ever been dissatisfied or unhappy with yourself on the whole? Do you ever think that you are weak, stupid, not good enough, flawed in some way, inferior to other people, useless, worthless,
unattractive, ugly, unlovable, a loser, or a failure? Everyone uses these words on themselves at times,
usually when they experience a challenging or stressful situation. However, if you often think about yourself in these terms, then you might have a problem with low self-esteem.
Low self-esteem is having a generally negative overall opinion of oneself, judging or evaluating oneself negatively, and placing a general negative value on oneself as a person. People with low self-esteem usually have deep-seated, basic, negative beliefs about themselves and the kind of
person they are. These beliefs are often taken as facts or truths about their identity, rather than being
recognised as opinions they hold about themselves.

The Impact of Low Self-Esteem
Frequent Self-Criticism. 

A person with low selfesteem probably says a lot of negative things about themselves. They might criticise themselves, their actions, and abilities or joke about themselves in a very negative way. They might put themselves down, doubt themselves, or blame themselves when things go wrong.

Ignoring Positive Qualities.

When compliments are given to them, they might brush such comments aside or say that “it was all luck” or “it wasn’t that big a deal.” Instead, they might focus on what they didn’t do or the
mistakes they made.

Negative Emotions.

A person with low self-esteem might often feel sad, depressed, anxious, guilty, ashamed, frustrated, and angry.

Impact on Work/Study. 
A person with low self esteem might consistently achieve less than they are able to because they believe they are less capable than others. They might avoid challenges & opportunities for fear of not doing well. They might work extremely hard and push themselves to do more because they believe
they need to make up for, or cover up, their lack of skill. They might find it hard to believe any good results they get are due to their own abilities or positive qualities.

Relationship Problems.
In their personal relationships, people with low self-esteem might become upset or distressed by any criticism or disapproval, bend over backwards to please others, be extremely shy or self-consciousness or even avoid or withdraw from intimacy or social contact. They might also be less likely to stand up for themselves or protect themselves from being bullied, criticised, or abused by partners or family. On the other hand they can be overly aggressive in their interactions with others.

Recreation and Leisure.
People with low self-esteem might not engage in many leisure or recreational activities, as they might believe that they do not deserve any pleasure or fun. They might also avoid activities where they could be judged or evaluated in some way, such as competitive sports, dancing, art/craft classes  or participating in any type of competition or exhibition.

Personal Self-Care.
People who do not value themselves might drink excessive amounts of alcohol or abuse drugs. They might not bother to dress neatly, wear clean clothes, style their hair or buy new clothes.
On the other hand, they might try to hide any inadequacies by not allowing themselves to be seen by
others unless they look absolutely perfect.

Cause or Effect?
It is important to know that low self esteem is a common problem for many people in our society - so
you are not alone. Low self-esteem can occur as part of a current problem (such as depression), or as a result of other problems (such as chronic illness, relationship problems) or it can be a problem in itself. Either way, the good news is that you can take steps towards developing more healthy self-esteem.

Depression

The symptoms of depression can bring about some drastic changes in a depressed person’s life, daily
routines, and their behaviour. Often it is these changes that makes the depression worse and prevents the depressed person from getting better.

For example, a lack of motivation or a lack of energy can result in a depressed person cutting back on their activities, neglecting their daily tasks and responsibilities, and leaving decision-making to others.
Have you noticed these changes in yourself when you are depressed?
You may find that you have become less and less active, don’t go out much anymore, avoid hanging out with friends, and stopped engaging in your favourite activity. When this happens, you have become locked in the vicious cycle of depression,
which might look like this:

When your activity level decreases, you may become even less motivated and more lethargic.
When you stop doing the things you used to love, you miss out on experiencing pleasant feelings and positive experiences.Your depression could get worse.
Similarly, when one begins neglecting a few tasks and responsibilities at work or at home, the list may begin to pile up. As such, when a depressed person thinks about the things they have to do, they may feel overwhelmed by the pile of things they have put off doing. This may result in them feeling guilty or thinking that they are ineffective or even, a failure. This will also worsen the depression.

Reversing the Vicious Cycle of Depression
One of the ways of breaking the vicious cycle of is through the use of medication. Medication such as antidepressants can help change your energy level and improve sleep. Another way is to simply increase your activity level, especially in pleasurable activities also tackling your list of tasks and responsibilities, but doing it in a realistic and achievable way, so that you set yourself up to succeed.

Becoming more active has a number of advantages:
• Activity helps you to feel better
• Activity helps you to feel less tired
• Activity can help you think more clearly

Here’s a list of possible fun things to do.
You can add your own to this list.
1. Soaking in the bathtub
2. Collecting things (coins, shells, etc.)
3. Going for a day trip
4. Going to see a comedy at the movies
5. Going to the beach
6. Playing squash/tennis/badminton
7. Having a barbecue at the park
8. Going for a walk, jog, or hike
9. Listening to uplifting music
10. Gardening

Try some of them out and evaluate how you feel before and after the activity. Chances are, you’ll find that you’ll feel a little better. The important thing is to persist – keeping your activity levels up is the first step to breaking out of that vicious cycle!
The second step is to look at how thinking patterns contribute to the vicious cycle of depression.

Thoughts influence the way you feel. The very darkest thoughts usually lead to depression,
whereas anxiety usually stems from thoughts about being judged or hurt. And, of course,
people often have both types of thoughts.
Do your thoughts dwell on the dark, dismal, or the scary aspects of life?
Take the quiz below to determine if your thoughts reflect a problem with anxiety or depression.

Put a check mark next to an item if you feel the statement applies to you.
The Negative Thinking Quiz
❏ 1. Things are getting worse and worse for me.
❏ 2. I worry all the time.
❏ 3. I think I’m worthless.
❏ 4. I never know what to say.
❏ 5. No one would miss me if I were dead.
❏ 6. I’m afraid that I’ll get sick.
❏ 7. I think I’m a failure.
❏ 8. My thoughts race, and I obsess about things.
❏ 9. I don’t look forward to much of anything.
❏ 10. I get really nervous around people I don’t know.
❏ 11. The world would be better off without me.
❏ 12. Thoughts about past trauma keep rolling through my mind.
❏ 13. I find it impossible to make decisions.
❏ 14. I can’t stand it when I’m the center of attention.
❏ 15. My life is full of regrets.
❏ 16. I can’t stand making mistakes.
❏ 17. I don’t see things getting any better in the future.
❏ 18. I worry about my health all the time.
❏ 19. I’m deeply ashamed of myself.
❏ 20. I over-prepare for everything.

Although these thoughts can occur to someone who’s either depressed or anxious (or both),
the odd-numbered items are most indicative of depression, and the even-numbered items
reflect anxious thinking.
There’s no pass or fail mark on this quiz. However, the more items you endorse, the more you have cause for concern; specifically, if you check more than eight or ten items, you should think seriously about addressing your condition. At the same time, if you very strongly believe in any of these items, you just may have too much anxiety or depression.
If you have any thoughts of suicide or utter hopelessness, you should consult your primary
care physician or a mental health professional immediately.

Brain Waves

 

What Are Theta Brain Waves?

Theta Brain Waves are the second slowest frequency of brain waves. They typically cycle at a rate of 4-7 times per second (4 Hz – 7 Hz). Theta Brain Waves have long been associated with early stages of sleep and the process of dreaming. Theta Brain Waves are of high amplitude and usually kick in when you experience powerful surges of emotion. Theta Waves have been associated with states of enhanced creativity, “Super Learning,” deeper relaxation, day-dreaming, and sleep-dream activity.
Theta Brain Waves can kick in when you have a spiritual experience or while you are in a highly-creative state. On other occasions, Theta Waves may dominate our brain wave activity when we are not able to concentrate. People with attention-deficit problems (ADD and ADHD) are not able to shift out of the Theta State when events that require focus (i.e. taking a test) arise. This makes school work much harder for people with attention problems. However, the majority of healthy people are able to naturally shift their brainwave state from Beta to Alpha to Theta and back from Theta to Alpha to Beta in cases where extreme mental focus is required.

How You Can Experience Theta Brain Waves?

You can learn to tap the inner creativity that many famous artists are able to experience with Theta Brain Waves. You can develop and increase a spiritual connection and experience deeper levels of both physical and mental relaxation. There are many quality brainwave products available that will significantly aid you in the process of increasing your Theta Brain Waves. If you are interested in reading about more of the benefits associated with the Theta Brain Waves state, then continue reading below for more information.

Benefits of Theta Brain Waves

If you are able to recall how relaxed and carefree you were as a child, then you are able to remember what it felt like to access your Theta Brain Waves. Children tend to have significantly higher amounts of Theta Waves than do adults – which is why children are not generally as stressed out as their parents. Children are able to say what’s on their mind and not be fearful of trying something new; this is the Theta Brainwave State.
Accessing your Theta Brain Waves means having a deeper emotional connection with yourself. Generally, people have much stronger emotions – whether they are happy or sad – while in the Theta Range. If you have been too caught up in the Beta State for an extended period of time – chances are good that you forgot what your natural emotions feel like. Some Theta Brainwave Entrainment will get you more closely connected with your inner self and back to experiencing natural emotions – not artificially or stress-induced ones.
Not to mention, Theta Waves have been linked to having a strong intuition. Have you ever gotten a strong “gut-feeling” about something and your gut turned out to be right? Well, it has been proven that Theta Brainwaves are accessed when you have an instinctual-type “feeling” in the pit of your stomach. Much of the time, our gut-instinct turns out to be right – even when our logical Beta Brainwaves want to take over. Other benefits from having more Theta brainwave activity include: A connection to your subconscious mind or subconscious processing, advanced problem solving, and learning ability.
Each and every day, you receive subconscious programming from your environment that you may not be aware of. This information and processing cycles into your brain and has actually been found to have an influence on behaviour. You can benefit from tapping your Theta Waves to connect with your subconscious because it will allow you to reprogram your brain with ideas and beliefs that you truly want to believe. This helps you avoid falling victim to environmentally induced thought patterns.
People with Theta Waves have been known to be able to think far more creatively than those who don’t. Usually musicians, painters, designers, or anyone with a job that involves a certain degree of creativity – has more Theta Waves than average. It has also been found that people with lower levels of anxiety, stress, and neurosis – are able to maintain stable Theta Brainwave activity.
Theta Brain Wave activity has also been noted among individuals who are able to learn quickly. This is due to the fact that like Alpha Waves, Theta Brain Waves can induce a similar state of “Super Learning.” In fact, the Theta State of “Super Learning” has been found to be the most powerful state for learning a new language.
This makes perfect sense due to the fact that children (who have high amounts of Theta activity) are able to learn new languages much more quickly and easily than adults. Additional Theta Brainwave benefits are: Long-term memory improvements, improvements in the healing of the brain and body, the ability to hyper focus (i.e. Get in “The Zone”), and boosted immune system functioning (as is true with all forms of slower brainwave).

People with Theta Brain Waves

Groups of people that already experience Theta Waves include: people who meditate, people who are extroverted, children, artists, and inventors. Meditation can allow you to tap into you your Theta Brain Waves quickly and experience a deeper connection with your subconscious. It has been documented that Theta Brain Waves also occur in extroverts when they communicate and during emotional bonding.
The same applies to children who have a deep emotional attachment to their other family members. If you care deeply about someone on an emotional level – you understand how powerful Theta Brain Waves can be. Creative artists and inventors that are able to think of brilliant new ideas know and understand how to utilize their Theta Brain Waves. If you would like to access the Theta Brainwave state, then I recommend testing out some of these scientifically-supported brainwave entrainment products.

http://www.brainsync.com/