.

This post has been edited by Tham: Aug 8 2015, 05:42 AM

Thank you very much

Hi,

I would suggest you to call a clinical hypnotherapist, psychologist or counselor and discuss about it.
Some of them might offer an intake or assessment session.
They will give you some ideas regarding this matter.

Improving sleep and cognition by hypnotic suggestion in the elderly.

Sleep quality markedly declines across the human lifespan. Particularly the amount of slow-wave sleep (SWS) decreases with age and this decrease is paralleled by a loss of cognitive functioning in the elderly. Here we show in healthy elderly females that the amount of SWS can be extended by a hypnotic suggestion "to sleep deeper" before sleep. In a placebo-controlled cross-over design, participants listened to hypnotic suggestions or a control tape before a midday nap while high density electroencephalography was recorded. After the hypnotic suggestion, we observed a 57% increase in SWS in females suggestible to hypnosis as compared to the control condition. Furthermore, left frontal slow-wave activity (SWA), characteristic for SWS, was significantly increased, followed by a significant improvement in prefrontal cognitive functioning after sleep. Our results suggest that hypnotic suggestions might be a successful alternative for widely-used sleep-enhancing medication to extend SWS and improve cognition in the elderly.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25660206/

This post has been edited by zeropoint9: Aug 3 2015, 02:38 PM

Picky Eating Tied to Anxiety & Depression

Parents are often frustrated when their child refuses to eat a normal diet. While many families view the behavior as a temporary phase, the action frequently leads to family conflict as parents fear poor nutrition will lead to illness or childhood maldevelopment.

Now, a new study from Duke Medicine finds moderate and severe picky eating often coincides with serious childhood issues such as depression and anxiety — mental health issues that may need intervention.

According to the study, published in the journal Pediatrics, more than 20 percent of children ages 2 to 6 are selective eaters. Of them, nearly 18 percent were classified as moderately picky. The remaining children, about 3 percent, were classified as severely selective, so restrictive in their food intake that it limited their ability to eat with others.

“The question for many parents and physicians is: when is picky eating truly a problem?” said lead author Nancy Zucker, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders. “The children we’re talking about are not just misbehaving kids who refuse to eat their broccoli.”

Children with both moderate and severe selective eating habits showed symptoms of anxiety and other mental conditions.

The study also found that children with selective eating behaviors were nearly twice as likely to have increased symptoms of generalized anxiety at follow-up intervals during the study, which screened an initial 3,433 children.

“These are children whose eating has become so limited or selective that it’s starting to cause problems,” Zucker said. “Impairment can take many different forms. It can affect the child’s health, growth, social functioning, and the parent-child relationship. The child can feel like no one believes them, and parents can feel blamed for the problem.”

The study found that both moderate and severe selective eating were associated with significantly elevated symptoms of depression, social anxiety and generalized anxiety.

Although children with moderate picky eating did not show an increased likelihood of formal psychiatric diagnoses, children with severe selective eating were more than twice as likely to also have a diagnosis of depression.

In fact, this childhood behavior is now classified as an eating disorder.

Researchers explain that children with moderate and severe patterns of selective eating meet the criteria for an eating disorder called Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), a new diagnosis included in the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5).

The findings also suggest that parents are in conflict with their children regularly over food — which does not necessarily result in the child eating — and families and their doctors need new tools to address the problem, Zucker said.

“There’s no question that not all children go on to have chronic selective eating in adulthood,” Zucker said. “But because these children are seeing impairment in their health and well-being now, we need to start developing ways to help these parents and doctors know when and how to intervene.”

Zucker said some children who refuse to eat might have heightened senses, which can make the smell, texture and tastes of certain foods overwhelming, causing aversion and disgust. Some children may have had a bad experience with a certain food, and develop anxiety when trying another new food or being forced to try the offensive food again, she said.

“What’s hard for physicians is that they don’t really have data to help predict which children will age out of the problem and which children won’t, and so they’re trying to do the best they can with limited information and interventions,” Zucker said.

Some children may benefit from therapy, which may include demystifying foods that cause anxiety through exposure. But traditional methods may not address children with sensory sensitivities, for whom some smells and flavors are too intense and may never be palatable.

New interventions are needed to deal with children who have sensory sensitivity and frequent experiences of palpable disgust, Zucker said. Treatments also need to be better tailored to a patient’s age range.

Since it is easy for parents to recognize picky eating, experts believe this could be a good tool for identifying who may be at risk for anxiety and depression.

“It’s a good way to get high-risk children into interventions, especially if the parents are asking for help,” Zucker said.




Source:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/08/04/pi...sion/89763.html

I will be there, how about you?
We will offer a brain assessment session FOR FREE during Walk for Autism 2015, at Citta Mall. Come and join us!


Anyone who makes a donation of RM40 can participate in the Walk and be entitled to the T-shirt which they are required to wear on the day of the walk. All donations will be issued a tax exempt receipt. Detail of the event as follows: Walk for Autism 2015, Sunday, August 16th at 7.00 AM, Venue: Citta Mall, Ara Damansara in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
For more information or to register, kindly email your name, T-shirt size and proof of payment to marcom@nasom.org.my or info@nasom.org.my.

Payment details are as follows:
NAME : THE NATIONAL AUTISM SOCIETY OF MALAYSIA
BANK: CIMB BANK
ACCOUNT NO: 860 054 9806


Source:
http://www.nasom.org.my/event/walk-for-autism-2015/

Alpha Brain Waves

Hans Berger discovered Alpha brain waves in 1929 using an eeg machine. They were the first brain waves ever detected, hence named after the first letter in the Greek alphabet – Alpha.

Alpha brain waves have electrical frequencies between 8-13 hertz. They are generated in the Thalamus (the brain within the brain). Alpha brain waves are most present in a wakeful state that is characterized by a relaxed and effortless alertness. Alpha states have been described variously as sublime, flying, floating, lightness, peace, and tranquility. Alpha brain waves are not always present. For example, if someone is in deep sleep or in intense anger there are almost no Alpha brain waves.

Alpha brain waves are important for creativity. Scientists have shown that highly creative people have different brain waves from normal and non-creative people. In order to have a creative inspiration your brain needs to be able to generate a big burst of Alpha brain waves. The brains of creative people can generate these big Alpha brain wave bursts, and do so when they are faced with problems to solve. Normal and non-creative people do not produce Alpha brain wave increases when they are faced with problems, and so they cannot come up with creative ideas and solutions. Any time you have an insight or an inspiration, you know your brain just produced more Alpha waves than usual. Increased creativity is helpful for everyone. One way to increase creativity is to increase Alpha brain waves.

Peak performance is another activity for which Alpha brain waves are helpful. Recently sports scientists have shown that increases of Alpha brain waves precede peak performance. One key difference between novice and elite athletes is in their brain waves. Just before their peak performances, elite basketball players, golfers, and marksmen will produce a burst of Alpha brain waves. Novice and intermediate athletes do not have these Alpha bursts. However, one study of archers training over many weeks, showed that as they improved their performance, they gradually increased the amount Alpha bursts which occurred just before their best shots. The Alpha brain waves seemed to be essential for peak performance and were increased, albeit slowly, by the archery training.



http://www.biocybernaut.com/alpha-brain-waves/

Early ChildHood Education Expo 2015 stage program:
"How to train your brain like a muscle" by Hiro Koo.

How to get smarter?
If you’re an athlete preparing for a race, you have to work on two levels. First you have to take care of the basics – getting enough sleep, regular maintenance exercise, a healthy diet. In the same way, optimal performance for your brain requires the same attention to sleep, exercise, and diet.

If you want to perform your best, physically or mentally, you need to go beyond the basics. You need to build your brain’s strength, flexibility, and endurance: your cognitive ability. There are a variety of tools and techniques that can help, and one of the most effective is neurofeedback.

What Luis, Kayla, Madeline, and Brandon did is possible for anyone who can respond to feedback. Our brains learn. It’s what they were designed to do. Our brains can learn not only facts, but also how to focus, and how to process information more efficiently and easily. That is what makes you smart.


Source:
http://patch.com/california/berkeley/can-n...ake-you-smarter

This post has been edited by zeropoint9: Aug 20 2015, 09:34 PM

Ritalin use soars as prescriptions reach 1m a year: Fears that children don't really need drug after use doubles in a decade
-Fears have also been raised over the medication’s long-term side effects
-Drug is linked to stunted growth, mood swings and sleeping problems
-922,200 prescriptions issued for Ritalin and similar drugs in 2014, say NHS


Prescriptions for Ritalin have more than doubled in a decade amid fears that children are being wrongly given the drug.
Almost a million were handed out last year, but experts are concerned the rise is being driven by doctors misdiagnosing youngsters with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
Fears have also been raised over the medication’s long-term side effects. It can be addictive and has been linked to stunted growth, mood swings, sleeping problems and a raised heart rate.
NHS figures show that 922,200 prescriptions were issued in 2014 for methylphenidate hydrochloride, the chemical name for Ritalin and similar drugs.
That equates to more than 2,500 a day and is up from 661,000 in 2010 and 359,100 in 2004.
Yet guidelines from the NHS watchdog NICE state that the drug should be used only as a last resort for ADHD after doctors have tried counselling and behavioural therapy. Those with the disorder, which affects up to 5 per cent of school children, suffer from a short attention span, restlessness and fidgeting. But it was not recognised as an illness until the 1980s and some doctors have questioned whether it really exists. Tony Lloyd, chief executive of the ADHD Foundation, said children were being let down by being prescribed the drugs too readily.
‘The guidelines are clear that drugs should be dispensed as a last resort. But that is clearly not what is happening,’ said Mr Lloyd. ‘They are prescribing because child mental health services are overwhelmed.’


Most ADHD cases are diagnosed in children aged six to 12.
It generally improves with age, with many growing out of it.
Ritalin works by increasing activity in areas of the brain responsible for controlling behaviour. It is taken between one and three times a day. Last year a leading brain scientist claimed ADHD was not a disease but rather a ‘description’ of symptoms, suffered by most people at some point in their lives.
Dr Bruce Perry, of the Child Trauma Academy, in Houston, Texas, said: If you look at how you end up with that label, it is remarkable because any one of us at any given time would fit at least a couple of those criteria.’



Can EEG biofeedback/Neurofeedback Training Replace Ritalin?

Over the past 30 years, numerous clinical trials demonstrated a significant and suppression of hyperactivity and inattention in ADHD patients during and after neurofeedback training. Studies showed that this approach can be more efficient than Ritalin [6-8], and in more severe cases a protocol combining neurofeedback training and Ritalin resulted in behavioral improvements superior to those observed with the drug alone [9] at least until Neurofeedback can create enough changes.


Source:
http://aceclinics.com/edu/adhd-medication-alternative/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-32...l#ixzz3jpmfSUF9

This post has been edited by zeropoint9: Aug 25 2015, 09:49 PM

anyone here suffered / suffer from mental illness ? mind to describe your experience of seeing psychologist

just a chit chat........can be emotional for some.

how much you want to help yourself still depend on yourself though.....

how willing you are to expose yourself, be honest with yourself.

psychologist is useless, they need more help than you, because they are the emotion dumpster for their patient, at best they listen to you and give u prozac to eat which is useless

almost everyone that work in healthcare field have burnout / compassion fatigue

what kind of mental illness are we referring to?

no specific one ?

depression n social anxiety

suffering from it currently or recovered from it

suffering

how is your condition

My bro suffers from social anxiety too.

He was away from school for about a year and half. Tried all sorts of methods but could not really help his condition.