A sex addiction clinic has opened in Devon offering therapy for people with the compulsion, and their partners.
The service can help with the condition and its symptoms - which can include cheating, multiple partners, frequent masturbation and excessive use of pornography.
Horizon Counselling Services, based at The Crescent, Plymouth, is offering counselling and hypnotherapy for people who have been affected by sex addiction, reports plymouthherald .
Clinical hypnotherapist and counsellor Alan Stokes, said: “Horizon Counselling Services can now offer specialised therapy for anyone who is experiencing a sex addiction or any of the issues associated with one.
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“We can also help partners of people suffering from sex addictions overcome the feelings of hurt, stress and anxiety they may be feeling due to their partner’s behaviours.
He added: “Addicts usually can recover quicker when they have a good support network around them helping them to understand their compulsions.”
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What are the signs of sexual addiction?
The most common behaviours associated with sexual addiction include:
Having multiple sexual partners or romantic relationships, being unfaithful, using chat lines, sending racy or explicit messages, frequently masturbating, watching pornography, cruising for sex, visiting prostitutes or feeling an intense and persistent need to have sex.
What is the impact of sexual addiction?
The negative impact of sexual addiction includes:
Low self-esteem, relationship breakdowns, problems at work, financial difficulties, increased risk of STD's and STI’s, depression, anxiety, or feeling shame and regret.
What services are there?
Horizon Counselling services
To get in touch with Horizon counselling services call 01752 221119 or visit their website .
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA)
SAA meetings take place on Mondays at 7.30 pm.
If you would like to get in touch email Sex Addicts Anonymous mail@plymouthsaa.co.uk or call them on 07748 050456 or visit their website .
Sexaholics Anonymous Plymouth
Sexaholics Anonymous meetings take place on Fridays at 6:00pm.
If you would like to get in touch email Sexaholics Anonymous email saukhelp@gmail.com, call their 24-hour help line 0300 111 7777 or visit their website .
Sex & Porn Addiction Help
Sex Addiction Help is a free online self-help recovery resource for people struggling with an addiction sex or pornography. Click here to visit their website .
NHS Choices
The NHS website on a variety of aspects of sex and relationships with links to help and support.
Face it – clutter happens anywhere, and it happens to you too. You just can’t resist collecting certain things; whether it had sentimental value or it was expensive so you feel obligated to keep it – either way you’re creating clutter with things you haven’t touched in months or even years. In reality, you don’t need all that stuff – you already read that book and we’re pretty sure you’ll never going to wear that pair of shoes (nope, not even on a special occasion).Recently there’s been a rise in popularity of ways of increasing productivity – and it’s no wonder because entrepreneurs and business owner all around are looking for ways to get things done as fast and as effective as possible. There are many kinds of methods, from relying on technology to not snoozing your alarm in the morning. But that’s just half of the solution. We have to look around in order to make things better for us and increase productivity.
Clutter Affects Your Life Negatively
It’s true – many researchers have proven to us until now that physical clutter in home or at workplace affects productivity in a negative way. A cluttered desk or office can negatively affect your mood, resilience, and ability to work productively, and disorder creates stress which can cause low mood. Very cluttered homes can provoke emotional and mental distress, mainly because its occupants feel like they have no control over their spaces and therefore lives.Your ability to focus will is restricted in cluttered environments, as well as your brain’s ability to process information.Clutter makes you distractedand unable to process information as efficiently as you do in an uncluttered, organized, and serene environment. Simply put – clutter competes for your attention, and it may be exhausting to fight and resist it all the time, which increases your annoyance, all the while wearing your mental resources down – ultimately making you frustrated. And of course, there’s nothing more unproductive than a frustrated worker.
Unaddressed clutter can spiral into mental and emotional discontent, as your self-esteem is spiraling down. The effort required to address clutter seems burdensome, but if you avoid facing the clutter, chances are you’ll increase the mess. As it builds, so does your stress levels build; Feeling consistently unproductive negates one of your fundamental psychological needs: competence, a major factor of self-esteem.
Break the Endless Cycle
Think about your workspace.How many things are piled up on your desk and around you? All those things are the cause of your brain having to work overtime during work day every time you need to focus. As long as you have a messy desk, your productivity won’t see any positive changes. Take some time of the day, skip a few lunches and stay a little longer to dedicate your time to organize your desk better. The main thing is to go through everything you don’t need anymore and stop holding on to it. You will be relieved at how much better your desk will look – which will also give you a motivation boost along with the feeling of accomplishment.
Clutter isn’t only physical – it can be digital, too.That implies to your computer, phone, and tablet, anything digital you use on a daily basis. Your files, notifications, or better yet anything that comes with a “ping” sound is competing for your attention and you need to take care of it immediately. Your work computer has to befunctional and easy to use. How can you be productive if you have to dig through a mountain of files to find what you need? When your brain has too much on its plate, it splits its power up and it results in you doing your job poorly or taking too much time to do it properly.
Forget about your phone and office, focus on your mind.Your mind can also get cluttered and you have to find ways to get rid of the extra information you don’t need. We often hold onto lists, information, and problems – uselessly crowding our brains with too much thought. Mental clutter is often caused when you clear physical clutter, but don’t necessarily deal with it. This couldn’t be truer for business owners who find themselves multitasking endlessly. For solving this problem try having a mental dump every few days. This translates into creating ato-do listeach morning and prioritizing it. It’s impossible to do everything in one day - that’s why you need to keep everything contained and deal with it only when you are ready.
Ultimately – it all comes from home.An uncluttered home is the best way to start clearing your mind and improving your mental health. It may sound daunting at first, but there are many methods for uncluttering a home which you can take on. You can start room by room, or clear out by categories, whichever you prefer. Sort things into ones you’re going to sell, give away and throw out. Don’t worry about piling things up in your front yard,Pink Junkis the best way to get rid of them, and recycle them, too. Besides, when you sell the things you don’t need, you can earn an extra bit of cash for something like a vacation or a new car.
Staying productive today is one of the main priorities of our society. Clutter, whether physical or digital, is something you’ll always have to deal with, but it can be controlled. By taking a few extra minutes out of our day to organize ourselves physically and mentally, we will find ourselves making up for those minutes when we become more productive.
Don’t employ these four positive character traits when you’re in love with, work for, were parented by, or are friends (frenemies) with a narcissist. These are admirable and useful traits when offered to “normal” people who don’t have the traits that typify a narcissist:
A willingness to try harder to make the relationship work.
A strong sense of responsibility.
On the other end of the spectrum are the traits of a narcissist:
Interpersonally exploitative.
Lacking empathy: unwilling or unable to recognize the feelings and needs of others.
Negative reaction to criticism (they can interpret us asking to have our needs met as criticism).
Difficulty in admitting mistakes or taking responsibility for their bad behavior.
Using fear to control people.
An example of how not to act around a narcissist comes from my long-ago narcissistic relationship:
My live-in boyfriend didn’t come until 7 AM from a “boys night out.” I was prepared to have it out with him. Get him to admit that he was cheating so I’d have the proof I needed to break up with him. Instead, he came home and grilled me. Did I call his friend Colin at 4 AM to find out where he was? (Controlling me by making me fearful I’d done something wrong.) Yes, I did call Colin.
My strong misplaced sense of responsibility kicked in. I began to doubt. Maybe it was my fault he stayed out all night because I was always trying to track him down? It’s no wonder, he said, that he couldn’t commit to a woman who behaves like “white trash.” If I could just trust him, he said, and quit trying to control him, his bad behavior would stop.
My abundance of empathy and need to try harder kicked in. I forgave him for staying out all night because maybe I was a shrew who made him want to rebel.
So, I’d just have to try harder to put up with his inconsistency, unreliability and (if I could set denial aside) his infidelities. And since he was tired from his night out he “really didn’t want to discuss our relationship right then.” (My desire to rescue and help kicked in and I let him off the hook. At least I didn’t make him breakfast!)
And don’t let passion blind you to reason! Our sexual organs often don’t care if our lover is a narcissist. So, how can you protect yourself when you’re in a relationship with someone like this? By learning how not to act around a narcissist who uses your positive character traits against you.
Learn all the narcissistic personality traits in a location on your body where you can see them (for me it would be my tummy).
Get into recovery for co-dependency (Twelve-step recovery is amazing).
Use emotional detachment to stop trying to manipulate, rescue, fix or people-please the narcissist.
Never reveal what hurts you or makes you feel vulnerable to a narcissist.
Dr. Athena Staik Ph.D. writes, “Expressing vulnerable emotions is vital to life balance and peace of mind, but do so only with safe others — never a narcissist. A narcissist literally uses this information to get into your mind, instilling fear to steal your sense of self, by crippling your brain’s capacity to clearly think. That means, while you’re pouring your heart and spilling your guts, the narcissist you’re talking to, like a mad scientist, listens only to gather data… to execute strategies to exploit and take possession of your mind, heart, soul for his (her) gain alone.”
Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
Giving feels good. We’ve all experienced that high from doing something good: donating our used books to the library, feeding the homeless at the soup kitchen, walking for AIDS or another cause, calling or visiting an older relative, or giving someone a very personal and meaningful gift that they appreciated.
According to sociologists Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson of the Science of Generosity Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, Americans who volunteer an average of 5.8 hours per month describe themselves as “very happy,” while those who volunteer 0.6 hours say they are unhappy.
In their book The Paradox of Generosity, they also say that Americans who donate more than 10 percent of their incomes have lower depression rates than those who don’t.
But you don’t have to spend a year of your life on a mission trip or give half of our paycheck to a charity in order to give. There are so many ways to give.
Here are some, inspired by Jennifer Iacovelli’s book Simple Giving: Easy Ways to Give Every Day:
1. Spend Money on Others
Even a small gesture like buying someone a gum ball or a mint can increase your sense of happiness. A 2008 article published in Science reported on research done by social psychologist Liz Dunn of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
She and her colleagues surveyed more than 600 Americans and found that those who spent money on others experienced a greater level of happiness and satisfaction rather than those who spent money on themselves.
In a second research project, Dunn’s team questioned 16 employees in line for a company bonus of $3,000 to $8,000 about their level of happiness. After they got the bonus, Dunn’s team went back to the employees and talked to them again about how happy they felt, as well as how they spent the money. The size of the bonus didn’t determine their level of happiness — but the amount spent on others or given to charity did correlate with happiness levels.
2. Spend Time with Others
Spending time with someone can be just as or more meaningful as spending money on him or her.
In her book, Iacovelli mentions a study where $10 Starbucks cards were handed out in four different ways. People were told to:
Give the card to someone else.
Take someone out for coffee using the card.
Get coffee alone.
Go for coffee with a friend but spend the gift certificate on themselves.
The group of participants who spent the gift card on someone else while spending time with that person experienced the highest happiness levels.
Our time is often worth more than our money these days, and spending it on someone with nothing to gain for ourselves (like networking opportunities) is a beautiful gift.
3. Volunteer … Untraditionally
I don’t think you need to volunteer in the traditional sense of spending several hours a week at a program or institution to reap the benefits of doing good.
Volunteering can mean visiting an elderly neighbor or running an errand for a friend. It can mean doing tax returns for a relative or walking your mom’s dog.
For persons who suffer from chronic pain and depression, volunteering (however you chose to do it) can be an important part of recovery. According to a study published in 2002 in Pain Management Nursing, nurses suffering from chronic pain experienced declines in their pain intensity and decreased levels of disability and depression when they served as peer volunteers for others also suffering from chronic pain.
“Despite encountering challenges, the rewards of this altruistic endeavor outweighed any frustrations experienced by volunteers with chronic pain,” says the abstract.
4. Be Emotionally Available
In The Paradox of Generosity, Smith and Davidson saythat another way we can give is in our relationships — by being emotionally available, generous, and hospitable.
And it has a health benefit. Those who are more giving in relationships are more likely to be in excellent health (48 percent) than those who are not (31 percent), they write.
This is perhaps the most challenging form of giving — to always be there (mind, body, and spirit) — for our spouse, our kids, our parents. When we’re sincere in this form of giving, it pays huge dividends in our lives.
5. Perform Acts of Kindness
I listed some acts of kindness under volunteering because I believe almost any kind of spending time with others is a form of volunteering that can boost your mood.
You can perform an act of kindness almost anywhere and at anytime. You can be as creative and involved as you want — devoting days to an elaborate project, or doing good in just a few seconds. Here are some acts of kindness I’m thinking of, but there are so many!
Holding open a door for someone
Letting someone with a few items cut in front of you at the grocery
Smiling at a stranger and saying hello
Counseling a friend
Picking up your neighbor’s newspaper
Calling an older, lonely person to chat
Bringing your dog to a retirement home for folks to pet
Helping an elderly person to her car
Allowing a car to cut in front of you in traffic
6. Compliment Someone
The act of kindness I enjoy the most is complimenting people. It’s so easy, doesn’t cost anything, and always lifts my mood.
I will compliment a complete stranger on her blouse; tell the waitress she has a beautiful smile; praise the cashier at the grocery for being really fast; and commend the studious girl in my carpool for her discipline and conscientiousness. Complimenting someone takes me out of myself for a minute, which is often a relief. By making someone else feel good about themselves, I automatically feel better about myself.
7. Make Someone Laugh
Making someone laugh is the most fun way of giving and one of the very best gifts you can offer someone. As I’ve said before, laughing is one of the most potent antidepressants. It’s almost impossible to be anxious and fearful when you’re laughing.
Charlie Chaplain once said, “To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.” So if I can get someone to laugh — even a slight cackle — then I’m helping him or her to relieve the pain or pressure they carry. And in the process, I am helping to relieve mine as well.
8. Tell Your Story
“Stories are a communal currency of humanity,” writes Tahir Shah in Arabian Nights.
By telling your story, you are giving someone an intimate part of yourself. It’s no small gesture of generosity. We can tell our stories formally, in blogs and books and presentations. But most of the time, we tell our stories in coffee shops and hospital waiting rooms, at gyms and in churches, in grocery store aisles, and at support group meetings.
Telling your story can be immensely rewarding when it’s done sincerely and with the right person. Sometimes it can even be life-saving for you or for the person hearing your testimony.
The link to intelligence is especially strong in women.
People with higher intelligence are more likely to use drugs, research finds.
The link is particularly strong for women.
This is despite the fact that higher IQ is often linked to living a healthier lifestyle.
The study’s authors write:
“In this, the largest study to date to examine the relationship between childhood IQ and illegal drug use, high IQ scores were associated with increased illegal drug use in adolescence and adulthood.
These associations were independent from life-course
social position, and associations were stronger in women than in men.
High childhood IQ may increase the risk of substance abuse in early adulthood.”
The results come from a study of almost 8,000 British people who have been followed for decades.
Their IQ was measured at 5 and 10-years-old.
They reported their drug use at 16 and then again at the age of 30.
At age 30, the researchers found:
Over one-in-three men had used cannabis in the last 12 months.
One-in-six women had used cannabis in the last 12 months.
The figures for cocaine were 8.6% for men and 3.5% for women.
Drug use was around twice as common in men as women for all drugs.
However, women with higher intelligence were much more likely to use drugs than women of lesser intelligence.
The results can be explained in both positive and negative ways.
For example, intelligent people are known to be more open to new experiences.
At the same time, intelligent people are also more easily bored and may be more likely to be picked on in childhood.
The study’s authors write that:
“…either of which could conceivably increase vulnerability to using drugs as an avoidant coping strategy.”
→ Try one of PsyBlog’s ebooks, all written by Dr Jeremy Dean:
The study was published in the journal Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (White et al., 2011).
Sporting a skimpy pair of bright green underwear, thick red-rimmed sunglasses, and armed with nothing but a bong, a 31-year-old man named Jeffrey Shaver stood tall in front of the Kitchener, Ontario, courthouse Tuesday morning, with two signs that read "RETURN MY MARIJUANA" and "RETURN MY BONG."
Shaver was protesting his arrest by Waterloo Regional Police last October for possession of marijuana, according to the Record. In two run-ins with the police, two bongs were taken away, and only one was returned. Now he's demanding they return his shit.
The arrest went down at a hospital in Cambridge. "I was having a panic attack," he told the Record. "I was brought there and because I had an issue with the vending machine, I was charged with trespassing and causing a disturbance by yelling. They asked me to leave. Police arrested me and searched me."
In a fit of vengeance, Shaver made his statement. Two days later, he returned to the police station, with his trusty bong in hand, and smoked on the front lawn of the station for all the police to witness. Of course, he was arrested again and held in jail for 16 hours.
Shaver claims that he has a legal medical marijuana card and that he smokes pot to treat anxiety, depression, and back pain.
He's been protesting off and on since the spring.
Despite the coverage of his actions, there is still no explanation for the green underwear (dude, I've messaged you, get back to me!) But perhaps some mysteries are better left unsolved.
The staff in the operating room burst into applause as Dan Fabbio tooted out a melody on his saxophone.
It may not have been his best performance but the notes were, to make a deliberate pun, music to the ears of Dr. Webster Pilcher, the neurosurgeon who had just been peeling away layers of Fabbio’s brain.
“He played it really flawlessly. It was beautiful,” said Elizabeth Marvin, a professor of music theory at the University of Rochester.
Fabbio’s ability to play the tune showed that Pilcher had removed the last sliver of a benign brain tumor safely.
It’s not the first time a patient has stayed awake during brain surgery to help the surgical team make sure that critical areas are not being damaged. But, Pilcher and colleagues reported this month, it’s the first time surgery to remove a brain tumor has been used to help map the precise location of musical ability in the brain.
“I’ve had patients sing country music. I’ve had patients reading. We’ve had patients creating poetry on the operating table. But this was probably the most dramatic,” Pilcher told NBC News.
Mapping musical ability in the brain
The case, detailed in the journal Current Biology, was a triumph for the multidisciplinary team at the University of Rochester, where music theorist Marvin works with neurosurgeons like Pilcher and a team of cognitive neuroscientists.
“How are you going to be assured that you are going to walk out of the hospital the same person as you came in as?”
They not only got the tumor safely out of Fabbio’s brain, preserving his musical abilities, but showed a way to use functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI to map the precise location of such musical ability in the brain.
“We were able to advance our scientific understanding of how music is represented in the brain,” Mahon said.
Musical ability resides in a part of the brain called the right posterior superior temporal gyrus. Language abilities are on the left side of the brain in most people. “Music and language, they are exactly across the brain from each other,” Mahon said. “They are almost mirror reversed.”
For Fabbio, a high school and middle school music teacher and band coach in New Hartford, New York, it started when he had a hallucination and seizure.
“All of a sudden with pretty much no warning at all, I started to hear things and see things that I knew were not there,” he said in an interview.
“It was kind of like a dream, like when you wake up from a dream and you have a hard time remembering.”
Tests showed he had a brain tumor, and indicated it was close to, if not pressing against, the center of the brain known to be important for musical processing.
Fabbio was only 25, and frightened. But it turned out to be a low-grade glioma — one that had to come out, but not likely to be life-threatening any time soon.
He seemed like a perfect candidate for the team at Rochester. Fabbio said he was confused by the careful approach. As a research volunteer, there were forms to fill out and repeated explanations of what it would all mean to be part of a study.
“To me, my only question was basically do I have a better chance of being OK afterwards?” Fabbio said.
Pilcher said the program is designed to not only advance scientific knowledge, but to help the volunteer and to help future, patients, also.
“To me, it’s then like well, yeah. Let’s do it,” Fabbio said.
Brain surgery is scary enough at the best of times, but Fabbio faced losing the focus of his life: music.
“To me, my only question was basically do I have a better chance of being OK afterwards?”
Pilcher said brain surgeons want precise maps so that they help patients without hurting them.
“How are you going to be assured that you are going to walk out of the hospital the same person as you came in as?” he asked.
“I could map motor function and sensory function and some elements of language function, but there’s so much more that makes each human being an individual.”
Mahon said brain scans such as fMRI are only somewhat accurate. “You never entirely know if the region that lights up in fMRIs is absolutely needed and critical for a task,” he said.
“How music is represented in the brain may be different from how language is represented in the brain,” added Frank Garcea, who worked on the research team.
Being able to test the regions in real time was a great opportunity.
They got the tumor. Could he still play?
So Fabbio signed up for weeks of brain scans and also worked with Marvin to come up with a simple tune he could play without too much effort on his saxophone while on his side in the operating room.
They worked on tests for pitch processing, melody processing and other skills. “There were aspects of music processing that were particularly relevant for Dan,” Garcea added.
Then it was time to go in. A piece of Fabbio’s skull was removed and Pilcher’s team went after the tumor, referring again and again to the map they'd built of Fabbio's brain.
“We removed the vast majority of the tumor,” Pilcher said.
“We gently removed the last vestige of tumor and then we had him play his saxophone to confirm for us that he was still musical. And he was.”
Pictured in this photograph, from left to right, are neuroscientist Brad Mahon, Dan Fabbio, the patient, and neurosurgeon Web Pilcher. The three stand against a display showing footage of Fabbio's surgery as well as maps of his brain created by the scientists to identify both the location of the tumor and music function. Mark Michaud / University of Rochester
He was back at work six weeks later and a year later he says he feels no impairment.
But right after surgery, his musical ability was affected. He got a taste of what it would have felt like had the tumor been bigger, had it extended into the musical areas, or had the team been unable to fine-tune the surgery.
“Nothing sounded correct, musically. Music didn’t sound correct. It didn’t sound right, for about a month. Having it taken away for a month was awful. It was awful,” Pilcher said.
The team got a National Institutes of Health grant for the work, which Pilcher said can and will benefit other patients needing brain surgery.
“This is a shining example of how research funding from NIH can tangibly benefit not only the understanding of brain science, but the outcomes for patients,” he said.
“Without this funding this kind of work could not be done. Period. It would be impossible.”
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," named for the city where the group met, on Tuesday to help churches looking for biblical guidance on how to address LGBT issues, council president Denny Burk said in a news release.
"The aim of the Nashville Statement is to shine a light in the darkness," Burk said.
Backlash against the statement on social media was immediate, with critics saying the group's stance was unchristian and did not reflect the inclusive spirit of Nashville.
Transgender rights have been a divisive political issue in the United States the last few years, with President Donald Trump recently
The statement was signed by 148 evangelicals, including Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines and Erick Erickson, a conservative blogger, radio host and former political commentator on CNN.
The preamble to the statement decried what it called a 21st century Western culture in which it's common for people to think of being male or female as a personal preference.
"Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God," the preamble said. "It is not only foolish, but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be."
as a mayoral candidate, tweeted that "the @CBMWorg's so-called 'Nashville Statement' is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville."
Author Roxane Gay said on Twitter: "The Nashville Statement is a shameful document that is antithetical to true Christianity and the teachings of Jesus."
which calls itself a "global community for people who are interested in Christ, but often feel marginalized by Christianity," said the Christian church has harmed LGBT people.
"We believe all people have full autonomy over their bodies, sexual orientations, and gender identities, and the diversity of identities reflects the creative power of a loving God," the Liturgists' statement said.
Traditional marriage reaffirmed
The evangelicals' statement lists 14 articles, with affirmations and related denials.
The first one says God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman and not for "a homosexual, polygamous or polyamorous relationship." Another article says no "affections, desires or commitments" ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage.
Several items deal with homosexuality and "transgenderism."
For instance, one article says adopting a homosexual or transgender identity -- or "self-conception" -- is not consistent with God's plans.
Further, the document says, "We deny that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree," article 10 says.
But the statement says people who are attracted to the same sex may live a rich and fruitful life as Christians as they "walk through the purity of life." The document doesn't say whether that means chastity.
The Nashville Statement says people can be forgiven for being transgender by accepting "the God-ordained link between one's biological sex and one's self-conception as male or female."
John Piper, co-founder of the council, said "the Nashville Statement is a Christian manifesto concerning issues of human sexuality. It will prove to be ... enormously helpful to thousands of pastors and leaders hoping to give wise, Biblical, and gracious guidance to their people."
Group formed in 1987
The council issued the statement while meeting at the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission's annual conference in Nashville.
More than 29 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about three times that number – or 86 million American – have prediabetes, with higher than normal blood sugar levels that raise their risk of developing diabetes.
But proper management and prevention of the chronic condition isn’t as simple as taking a pill or making a single lifestyle change. Comprehensive changes are often needed to keep from developing the condition and to properly control blood sugar. Given the poor Western diet that’s high in sugar, Americans' typically low activity rates and that a majority of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, which increases the risk for diabetes, experts say the need for such comprehensive lifestyle changes is pressing.
Some clinicians have started stressing mindfulness to support thoughtful decision-making – like being choosy about foods. The practice of mindfulness calls for staying present in the moment, and non-judgmentally observing one’s thoughts and feelings in order to be healthier in general. The growing focus on mindfulness has begun to extend into preventing diabetes as well.
A recent study in the journal Obesity, which was first published online in July, found that women who were overweight or obese who practiced mindfulness-based stress reduction saw not only their stress levels go down, but their fasting blood sugar decrease as well. This was measured at eight weeks, when the MBSR program concluded, and eight weeks after that (or at 16 weeks from when the study began). Study participants in the MBSR group were taught about mindful ways to cope with stress, such as through meditation and paying attention to their breathing. Study participants in a health education group who learned about things like exercises, dietary changes and general stress management did not see their blood sugar levels decrease significantly. Both groups saw some benefits, including lowered psychological distress and decreased sleep-related issues.
The study’s lead author Dr. Nazia Raja-Khan, an associate professor of medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, emphasized that the findings are preliminary. More research is needed to replicate the results and to determine if practicing mindfulness could have a long-term impact on blood glucose levels. “But I do think that overall the implications of this study suggest that there may be a role for mindfulness in the prevention and treatment of diabetes,” Raja-Khan says – “as one of the tools that can help patients struggling with obesity or diabetes.”
How exactly mindfulness might lower blood sugar is not clear from the study. But past research of MBSR – which the researchers describe as the most studied mindfulness-based intervention – offers some clues. These range from possible physiological pathways, like changes in the so-called stress hormone cortisol to helping with self-regulation and bolstering a person’s resilience and ability to make meaningful lifestyle changes, such as being more active or eating better, all which could potentially influence blood sugar levels.
“Did they just eat better? Did they exercise more? We didn’t really track it in this study. So it’s certainly possible that the mindfulness would help them not only lower stress, but adopt [a] healthy lifestyle,” Raja-Khan says. “But our study seems to suggest that there’s an independent sort of effect of mindfulness that’s not related to body weight, because body weight didn’t really change in the study.”
Whatever the mechanism, the preliminary finding adds to limited research indicating mindfulness may help with glucose regulation, as noted in a study published last year in the American Journal of Health Behavior. “We found that those who had higher levels of mindfulness were more likely to have glucose in the ‘normal’ range,” says Eric Loucks, an associate professor of epidemiology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, who led that research. “Normal plasma glucose,” according to the American Diabetes Association criteria referred to in the research, is under 100 milligrams per deciliter. “It just seemed that they were able to keep their glucose levels in check.”
Though a little more research has been done regarding the use of mindfulness to manage diabetes, compared with preventing the chronic disease, researchers echoed the need for further study in both areas.
As far as diabetes management goes, what seems to be most effective are mindfulness-based interventions customized to managing the disease, though that still needs to be tested further, says Loucks, who has reviewed the research in this area. Such customized approaches involve not just being more mindful in general but specifically examining, for example, “how well we’re monitoring our glucose levels or taking our diabetes medication or doing the behavioral things that help manage it or prevent it,” he says. “I think that’s where the effects may really start to appear.” He notes also how mindfulness has been shown to help with weight loss; and shedding extra pounds can lower a person's risk of developing diabetes.
Aliza Phillips-Stoll, a clinical psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, and an instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School, sees that kind of practical benefit to incorporating mindfulness in helping some patients with diabetes. “Diabetes is a tough disease to manage, and it requires a lot of a person,” she says. “People who live with diabetes have a lot to do in their everyday lives to manage their health: They need to eat right, they need to exercise, they need to remember to take their medicine – often multiple medicines.” Developing a presence of mind and learning to slow down and be in the moment can be very helpful for reducing the stress associated with keeping up that level of self-care and optimizing diabetes management, Phillips-Stoll says.
“Research has shown that mindfulness has beneficial effects, in terms of reducing anxiety, depression and somatic distress,” she adds. “Research has also found that stress is linked to blood glucose control, and that various forms of stress reduction can contribute to glucose control. So it doesn’t seem far-fetched at all to say that practicing mindfulness could help in that area as well.”
A memo, issued by the bureau this month, requires all federal facilities that house female inmates to make two sizes of tampons and maxi pads available, in addition to panty liners.
"Wardens have the responsibility to ensure female hygiene products such as tampons or pads are made available for free in sufficient frequency and number," Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Justin Long wrote in an email. "Prior to the (memo), the type of products provided was not consistent, and varied by institution."
For Andrea James, 52, a former attorney and founder of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, the memo was welcome news.
"It's huge, what the Bureau of Prisons has done," James said. "This issue has always been, across the board, an issue all incarcerated women were dealing with."
James served 18 months in federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, in 2010 and 2011. She recalled that during her time in prison, she and her fellow inmates had limited options.
"We had one (type of) very inadequate sanitary pad," she said.
While tampons or other size pads could be purchased, it put undue financial strain on the inmates, James said.
"We were paid 12 cents an hour," she said, and the money could be used for other purposes, like phone calls.
"That's the choice. Do I buy the tampons or do I call my children?"
The bureau's policy memo comes a month after Democratic Sens. Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin and Kamala Harris
. If passed, the law will require several reform measures in federal prisons, including an overhaul of visitation policies, a ban on shackling pregnant inmates or keeping them in solitary confinement, and a ban on charging inmates for phone calls. It would also require that multiple sizes of tampons, pads and liners be made available to female inmates for free.
Long said the proposed law had nothing to do with this month's memo.
"This memorandum was in the planning process well before any legislative proposals," he said.
In a statement, Harris said she applauded the memorandum, adding, "too many women reside in prison and jail facilities that don't support basic hygiene or reproductive health, and that's just not right."
Warren characterized the policy as a step in the right direction.
"I'm glad the BOP has adopted one feature of our Dignity for Incarcerated Women bill, but these women need more help to deal with other sky-high fees, restrictions on visits with family members, and access to humane health care," Warren said in a statement. "Respecting the basic dignity of these women and helping them maintain family ties will make their return to their communities safer and stronger."
The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has proposed legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, which would allow gay couples to adopt children.
Bachelet's bill -- the Equal Marriage Law -- would also change Article 102 of Chile's Civil Code to define marriage as a "union between two people" rather than the union between man and woman.
"We do this with the conviction that equality does not accept nuances or prejudices. We do this with the certainty that it is not ethical or fair to put artificial limits to love or deny essential rights," Bachelet said during a ceremony in Santiago alongside Cabinet members.
Bachelet has pushed her agenda in recent weeks as her term ends in March 2018 following elections in November.
On Aug. 21, a Chilean court lifted the country's complete ban on abortion, marking the first time legal abortions would allowed since 1989.
Chile's Congress will debate the proposed legislation next week. Bachelet described the restriction of gay couples' rights as "anachronistic" and "inexcusable"
"The history of Chile is a long journey of a path of progress, recognition and well-being for all our inhabitants. A history that has advanced with the impetus of successive triumphs of rights over arbitrariness, recognition over marginalization, equity over discrimination, freedom over prohibitions, love over prejudice," Bachelet said.
During her first term as president, from 2006 until 2010, Bachelet pushed to promote pay equality and emergency contraception.
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The UK’s first mental health helpline offering emotional support and information to people who identify as transgender, non-binary or gender-fluid has been rolled out nationwide, with project leaders confident the pioneering scheme will become a permanent fixture as of early 2018.
Mindline Trans+, co-run by local mental health charities Bristol Mind and Mind in Taunton and West Somerset, was expanded throughout the UK on August 1 after a successful six-month local pilot in southwest England.
According to project leader Linda Ling, the helpline provides a confidential safe space for transgender people — as well as their family and friends — to talk openly about mental health concerns without fear of being judged.
“We’ve been really encouraged by the number of callers we’ve had, and also the level of meaningful conversation,” Ling told NBC News. “The callers have told us that they feel very supported and very grateful for a service that focuses on transgender issues.”
A transgender rights demonstrator on July 28, 2017 in London, England. Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The initial project was partly inspired by a 2012 study carried out by the Edinburgh-based Scottish Trans Alliance, which shed light on the high prevalence of depression, anxiety and suicide ideation among those who identify as transgender, and the shortage of mental health services in the UK to tackle specific LGBTQ needs.
The study, which drew on the experiences of some 900 trans and non-binary individuals, making it the largest survey of its kind in Europe, showed that 58 percent of respondents had been so distressed at some point in their lives that they had sought urgent help or support. More than half had self-harmed, while more than a third had attempted suicide at least once in their lives.
Meanwhile, four in five participants said they would avoid certain social situations due to fear of discrimination, and more than 90 percent had been told that trans people were not normal. These societal issues could have a “significant impact” on health and wellbeing, the report concluded.
“Because of people’s lack of knowledge and understanding, it creates stigma, which then forces people into isolation,” Ling explained. “When people are isolated and lonely, they are at significantly higher risk of suicide.”
In order to deal with the multifarious and complex problems of sometimes very vulnerable individuals, the volunteer call handlers at Mindline Trans+, many of whom are transgender or non-binary, undergo an intensive training process covering mental health, emotional support and trans awareness.
“It’s certainly a benefit to have trans experience, but we also have fantastic volunteers who are trans allies, and they bring their own understanding and experiences,” Ling said. “However, we’re bound insomuch as we’re not experts, we’re not clinicians, so we can’t necessarily give advice about hormonal transitioning, for example. But what we can do is put them in contact with the people who can.”
The helpline, accessible two nights per week, has been receiving an average of five calls per four-hour session, although project leaders expect those numbers to rise as awareness of the service increases. If necessary, the helpline could be made available on a more regular basis, and the volunteer base expanded.
“It’s kind of supply and demand. If it’s needed, then we’ll look at doing it,” Ling said.
As the conversations are confidential and unrecorded, the demographics of the callers and the precise nature of their problems remain undisclosed. However, the volunteers are trained to provide support to different age groups, including children.
“There’s nothing stopping a young person calling us — we’re happy to listen to them,” Ling said. “If we feel that it is a little bit beyond what we can offer, we have organizations such as Mermaids (the trans youth charity), or more local organizations that support children and young adults.”
For now, the focus is on publicizing the service, mainly through social media and online LGBTQ support networks, but also through leaflets and posters in clinics, charity shops, colleges and universities.
“The hope and plan is that it will continue into a full service after March next year,” Ling said.
Karen is a hypnotherapist and wellness coach, and has run her business, Maya Wellbeing, for nearly three years.
I was so amazed with the hypnotherapy that it inspired me to train in it and I am passionate about empowering others who feeling stuck in their life
Karen Bromley
She currently works from The Space in Burston, The Diss Osteopathy and Natural Health Clinic, Life and Sole in Eye and Bury St Edmunds.
Karen supports people with anxiety, depression, bereavement, weight loss and stopping smoking.
Her own story makes her feel uniquely qualified to help people who feel they have nowhere else to turn.
“Almost every issue there is can be helped by hypnotherapy,” she said.
After suffering with ME for a number of years, Karen overcame the overwhelming symptoms and pain and started Maya Wellbeing after retiring from the NHS in Kent.
Leaving her unhappy marriage and unhealthy and stressful lifestyle, Karen says she is much happier.
She added: “I wanted my life to end, but, thankfully, I sought help from a hypnotherapist and she started my journey of transformation.
“I was so amazed with the hypnotherapy that it inspired me to train in it and I am passionate about empowering others who feeling stuck in their life.”
She decided to write a book, after people became interested about how she had transformed her life.
She added: “My book, Free Your Mind, Change Your Life, talks about my story and introduces my six-step Maya Method.”
Karen has also launched an online program that goes deeper into her approach and methods.
The book is available in paperback and Kindle. For more information, go to mayawellbeing.co.uk.
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Time for SharpBrains’ August e-newsletter, this time starting with a conversation whose time has come…
New thinking:
Year 2030, your college-age daughter, who has normal hearing, has been pounding on you to get the latest hearing aid that allows one to cancel out noise on demand, amplify selected ambient conversations at will, and can easily connect to the music store. Should you buy one for her? Maybe you should buy one not only for her, but also for you as you enter your 60s? Keep reading The Neurotech Revolution Could Lead To ‘Frankenstein’ Brains. Here’s How We Avoid It
October 19-22nd, Los Angeles: Brain Longevity Therapy Training by the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation (“sharpbrains” = $75 off). Also available as Livestream (“sharpbrainsLS” = $50 off)
Note: Trigger alert for those who may themselves have been hospitalized.
A question that strikes fear in the hearts of many who could not conceive of a mental health crisis and an all too real experience for numerous people in the United States.Involuntary commitmentis defined as: “a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is court-ordered into treatment in a psychiatric hospital (inpatient) or in the community (outpatient).”
In Florida, it is referred to as the Baker Act, so named for Representative Maxine Baker who was dedicated to the wellbeing of those with psychiatric conditions. California’s code is known as 5150 and Pennsylvania calls it a 302 Commitment. What it comes down to is that if a person is a danger to themself or another, the code is invoked. A petitioner, who could be a friend or family member, a police officer or medical professional files paperwork to assist with acquiring treatment for someone they perceive falling into that category.
Having worked for more than a dozen years as a licensed social worker in inpatient acute care psychiatric hospitals, I have witnessed my share of involuntary hospital stays. I have attended countless302, 303 and 304 hearingsand have solidly supported some and questioned the necessity of others. Entry into the hospital may commence with a 72 hour stay that can enable a treatment team to evaluate the person to determine if they are to be imminently discharged or compelled to remain longer. Abio-psycho-social evaluationis completed by a nurse, a social worker and psychiatrist. It is meant to assess the functioning of the individual on all three realms and may include questions about mental health history, current symptoms, support system, spiritual concerns, as well as personal safety for self and others. Once the person is settled in to the hospital setting, a treatment plan is created and adapted depending on needs. A multi-disciplinary team which includes the aforementioned professionals, as wellas mental health techs, dieticians, psychologists and allied therapists begins the work of commencing the healing.Group therapy was the primary modality in the settings where I was employed, with one to one sessions less prevalent. It was my contention that more clinical work would have yielded better outcomes. As a social worker, much of my role was case management and discharge planning. Feeling like a concierge, I would joke that I was a real estate agent, since I assisted people in finding a place to live, a transportation coordinator, since I helped them get rides to their destination, a peacekeeper, since I offered family and couples counseling, a personal assistant/scheduling secretary and (tongue in cheek), a ‘drug dealer,’ since I made sure they had their medical and psychotropic prescriptions filled with they were discharged (enough to carry them through until they could see an outpatient psychiatrist).
My intention always, was to treat patients the way I would want to be treated if I was in need, and adhering to the ‘mother standard of care,’ the way someone would want a family member tended to. Most of my colleagues would be in alignment with that paradigm. Sadly, this is not always the case with other clinicians I encountered over the years. Because of their own perceptions of mental illness, some were lacking in compassion. That sometimes led to reactions from patients that could have otherwise been prevented or de-escalated in a safer manner for all concerned.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)is an educational and advocacy organization that provides support those living with mental illness, as well as for their families and friends. It is an important resource for those who want to support someone new to the. They conducted asurveythat inquired of respondents their impression of the care that they and family members received when seeking ER services in a psychiatric crisis.
One response was, “I felt like I was criminal. There were guards around me that did not talk to me at all…I was made to feel as if I had done something wrong.”
Such experiences prevent people from seeking the help they need to regain and maintain stability. The shame and stigma involved with mental health diagnoses also infiltrates the beliefs of those charged with providing care.
A few weeks ago, I discovered a game that is calledInpatient, designed by Alana Zablocki, who herself had been ensconced behind those locked doors. The designation may be misleading, since it is more a ‘what would you do?’ series of exercises/questions when faced with choices based on circumstances in the hospital. I paged my way through it and found myself nodding with agreement with the accuracy of events and interactions, and becoming frustrated and dismayed with the professionals who were interacting with patients in ways that were not adhering to what I would deem appropriate treatment. It is available for anyone to experience by going on the website. Those who offered feedback on the simulated journey, find it to be true to their own experiences.
Mental health professionals would find it helpful to put into perspective what clients experience, by diving into the narrative. Knowing this might assist with essential advocacy for those with psychiatric diagnoses and make for more compassionate treatment alternatives.
Pressured speech is when someone's speech is rapid and disorganized.
Pressured speech is a symptom of several mental health conditions. Bipolar disorder is one of the more common disorders that includes pressured speech among its symptom.
Pressured speech occurs when an individual speaks at a rapid and sometimes frantic speed. The pace makes it difficult for people listening to make sense of what is being said.
Pressured speech can be jumbled and difficult to understand, as the person speaking may not stop at appropriate points.
Symptoms
Pressured speech is not a disease or disorder by itself. Rather, it is a symptom of an underlying disorder. There are many potential causes of pressured speech, including schizophrenia, some forms of anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
In all these cases, pressured speech may present with some or all of the following:
rapid speech that does not pause for others to speak
disorganized thoughts expressed through words
loud speech that is above a normal volume for the situation
speaking about numerous ideas at once
talking about inappropriate things at work, school, home, or in the community
including jokes or particular rhythms in speech
speaking with a sense of urgency
not being able to speak fast enough to keep up with thoughts
People with bipolar disorder experience cycles of mania and depressive moods. How quickly an individual cycles through the moods varies from person to person. Pressured speech is a symptom of bipolar disorder that occurs during a period of mania.
Bipolar disorder is characterized by alternating episodes of mania and depression. Pressured speech occurs during manic episodes.
Additional symptoms during a period of mania may include:
inflated self-worth or delusions of grandeur
reckless or risky behavior
decreased need or ability to sleep
elevated mood
exaggerated optimism
feeling anxious or jittery
inability to focus
restlessness
Complications
Pressured speech has no significant complications by itself. However, the underlying cause of the pressured speech may have bigger implications that affect a person's overall health and well-being.
Due to the fact that pressured speech can come from a variety of potential disorders, the complications vary widely between individuals.
People with bipolar disorder may also have co-occurring conditions, including depression, ADHD, or anxiety disorders. These disorders often require additional treatment to help a person manage their symptoms.
A person with bipolar disorder is likely to experience periods of low self-esteem. Additionally, people with bipolar disorder are more likely to attempt suicide.
A person's relationships may suffer due to their frequent mood changes. Difficult relationships and poor work performance may also affect a person's ability to maintain a steady career or job.
Causes in bipolar disorder
A person with bipolar disorder is not likely to experience issues with pressured speech during their depressive cycle. It is believed that pressured speech is a result of rapid thoughts that a person with bipolar disorder experiences during a manic episode.
The brain can usually prioritize thoughts based on their importance to the situation at hand. A person with bipolar disorder may have difficulty separating these thoughts, meaning irrelevant thoughts may appear pressing, as soon as they enter the mind.
This means someone with bipolar disorder may spend more time thinking about unrelated things throughout the day, or experience an excessive number of thoughts at once.
During cycles of mania, when someone with bipolar disorder is more prone to hyperactivity, these thoughts arrive faster and with increased intensity. As a result, the person may try to explain these thoughts to others around them as they occur.
The person may feel pressured to get the thoughts out, as quickly as possible, and share what is on their mind. The outpouring of thoughts results in pressured speech.
Treatment
Common treatments for bipolar disorder are mood stabilizers and anti-psychotic medication. These can manage symptoms such as pressured speech.
Pressured speech cannot be treated or cured directly. Instead, treatment focuses on the underlying cause of the pressured speech.
In cases of bipolar disorder, a person may experience some difficulty getting a diagnosis. It is not uncommon for a person with bipolar disorder to be treated by several different doctors before they are diagnosed correctly.
Once successfully diagnosed, a person with bipolar disorder can learn to manage their condition with a combination of medication and psychotherapy.
There are three main types of medications to help treat bipolar disorder that can help reduce or eliminate pressured speech. These medications are:
antipsychotics, such as lithium carbonate
mood stabilizers, such as valproic acid or lithium
A person with bipolar disorder should receive ongoing counseling, as a regular part of their treatment. The counseling component of treatment may be the key to success for a person with bipolar disorder.
Similarly, a stable and supportive home environment often directly affects the overall likelihood of success for a person with bipolar disorder.
Other associated conditions
Pressured speech can be a symptom of other conditions besides bipolar disorder. Many disorders associated with periods of mania have pressured speech as a potential symptom.
One such condition is schizophrenia. This mental disorder is associated with a breakdown of the connectors between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
People with schizophrenia often experience delusions and general withdrawals from reality. The often jumbled thoughts are what produce symptoms, such as pressured speech.
Some other more common disorders associated with pressured speech include:
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A condition that makes it difficult to focus and be organized in thoughts and actions. People with ADHD may experience frantic or fast-paced thinking, which can cause pressured speech.
Anxiety: This condition may cause a person to experience pressured speech if their anxiety results in being unable to explain something quickly. They may experience rapid, uncontrollable thoughts in response to their situation.
Drug use: This habit may cause symptoms of pressured speech. Drugs that cause pressured speech include stimulants, such as cocaine.
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I can’t even remember how I met Nilofer Merchant — somehow, our circles overlapped long ago. And now I’m wondering if we’ve ever actually met in person! I think we did, and I know her, but it’s possible we’ve only connected virtually.
Nilofer is a writer, a speaker, and has launched more than a hundred products that have netted $18 billion dollars. She’s been called a “visionary,” “provocative yet practical,” and one of the “most likely to influence the future of management.” Wowza.
Gretchen: You’ve done fascinating research with your idea of “Onlyness.” What’s the most significant thing you’ve concluded on the subject of habits?
Nilofer: Having just finished researching 300 examples on what it takes to turn new ideas into actions, I have one big observation about habits: Most of us want to navel-gaze our way to personal clarity before we act. Yet, it is the very act of doing something that actually helps with clarity.
For example, I researched the story of an innovation professor, André Delbecq, who wanted to help business leaders develop their inner moral framework. Nearly every person he knew in his field of management thought he was out of his mind because the idea of mixing faith and fortune was practically unheard of in the brash world of business. And he had no idea himself how to pursue this idea. Had he had waited until he had more personal clarity or simply listened to his peer group, nothing would have changed. Instead, he started on the path, not knowing where he was going with a simple question. From there, he kept asking more refined questions and that led to introductions to people who found value in this new idea. Ultimately, André was able to design a course that has since been taught to thousands of business leaders to help develop their moral compass.
André’s discovery of his purpose sheds light on how each of us can do the same. It answers the question so many of us have as we look over the edge to a possible new world: Don’t we need to know where we’re going and, ideally, have a well-considered plan before we start? When we imagine doing the next big thing, whether it’s a business innovation or a social change, most of us expect to have a transformational moment, sufficient expertise, or some brilliant deep personal introspection that lends us the clarity to act. Yet, as André’s story reveals, the journey that leads you to yourself doesn’t require knowing exactly where you’re going or a map outlining precisely how to get there. It only matters that you start.
What’s a simple habit that consistently makes you happier?
Walkntalks. Instead of meeting at a coffee shop and consuming calories, I do meetings as walks. It’ll mean I add 6-7 miles to my mileage while talking big ideas with other leaders. As I mentioned in my 3-minute TEDtalk on the subject, which has been seen by nearly 3 million people, this one small change has led to a fundamentally big shift in my health.
When I first started walkntalks, it was because I was putting myself last in line. I would jump to solve problems for the CEOs of tech firms I worked with, or always be willing to strategize with my team, or advise and mentor my students from Stanford, but my own health was always last. So finding a way to shift meetings to be just a little more active meant I could include my needs alongside work. I find those kinds of solutions work best for me. And then once it was operationalized (these happen every day at x times), the habit becomes entrenched. What was once just a wild idea – being active every day – has become a new reality.
Having grown up in a traditional Islamic household where a girl’s “job” was to marry, I remember learning to question what I was being told as ‘the way things are’ and to challenge the fundamental framework those messages carried.
Today, I question why so many of our ideas are screened out based on the power of the person who brings them—not the caliber of the idea. Many people say to me, ‘but humans are tribal, we screen out based on who we expect ideas to come from, and so this is just how it is.’ It’s as if this is the only way humans can operate, but that would mean that we never see the solutions that humanity most needs. Research shows that 61% of our ideas are tabled or hobbled in some way. And I question why we let that happen. Our modern economy is fueled by ideas (as compared to needing capital or centralized organizations) and thus, new ideas are our central locus of value creation. So, we need to find a way to unlock this capacity. After all, all progress is born of new ideas. They let us reimagine who we are, and how we might be. Ideas rupture the status quo and incubate the future. A future that works for not just the few but for many.
Does anything tend to interfere with your ability to keep your healthy habits? (e.g. travel, parties)
Travel is especially hard for habits. I’m about to go on a multi-city tour for the upcoming release of The Power of Onlyness. But there are three things I plan on doing to help keep up healthy habits. One, I plan for one week on, one week off… because letting me be with my family helps to keep perspective. Nothing like a 14-year-old’s take to keep you humble, or my husband who believes in me so much, even when I missing the shot. And then I make sure that in each city I see someone who will do something active with me. That appointment with a healthy person makes sure I will go for a long walk, or run, or gym appointment even on my busiest days. Third, I am structuring the tour to be in conversation with people who also want new voices to be heard. Sharing that common purpose is why I spent the last four years on this project and why going on tour is even worth doing. Pre-planning with those three pillars in place is going to help me stay mentally and physically healthy.
Have you ever been hit by a lightning bolt, where you changed a major habit very suddenly, as a consequence of reading a book, a conversation with a friend, a milestone birthday, a health scare, etc.?
Sometime during the writing of Onlyness, I had what felt like mini-jolts. I’ve seen so many speakers and articles that talk to people—especially those who are often overlooked simply because of their lack of status—telling them to have more grit, or confidence or simply “just do it.” But what I learned has shaken me to my core. The best research says that if you have to choose between belonging and your ideas, belonging wins every time.
So, this seemingly “little thing” affects everything. With belonging comes the right to occupy space, to contribute your ideas. This explains why some people are able to make a difference and others seem to give up on their own ideas. Someone’s ability to contribute that which ONLY they can is not based on their boldness, or their status, but far more affected by how they belong and what connects them. Therein lies the power, and changes the prescription of what to do next. And of course, the book deconstructs that piece-by-piece so anyone can do it themselves. If there was one thing I now know that I didn’t before it’s that we can’t expect someone to bring all of themselves until they first have a community of people who make it safe enough to have that new idea.
In a new study, University of Queensland researchers found that compassion-focused therapy (CFT-E) holds promise in the treatment of eating and weight concerns.
CFT, which has grown over the last two decades, encourages self-compassion to alleviate suffering that is created by an individual’s self-criticism and shame.
Investigators discovered CFT-E has been helpful for adults with eating disorders, especially bulimia nervosa and obesity.
“CFT-E encourages people with eating disorders to treat themselves with kindness, wisdom, courage and strength, rather than with criticism, hostility and shaming,” said researcher Dr. Stan Steindl.
“It helps people to let go of the negative behaviors they use to control their food intake and their weight, and instead encourages them to eat regularly and adequately.”
Eating disorders affect approximately nine per cent of the Australian population while in the U.S., over eight million people have an eating disorder.
The prevalence of eating disorders is expected to rise as obesity rates have increased 75 per cent among teens over the past 30 years. Sadly, adolescent girls with obesity are at high risk for developing disordered eating.
Steindl says a major barrier to accessing treatment is that people with an eating disorder continue to experience high levels of stigmatization from others, coupled with their own negative feelings.
Low self-esteem and self-inflicted pressures are a dangerous combination. “Self-criticism, self-directed hostility and shame contribute to the creation and continuation of eating disorders, and can also hinder the success of treatment.”
“People suffering from eating disorders often report that they are undeserving of compassion, they have a desire for love and kindness but feel lonely and rejected, and have simply never considered the value of self-compassion,” says Steindl.
Compassion-focused therapy seeks to relieve stress and is designed to incorporate the development and practice of compassion for self, and others, into standard eating disorder treatment programs.
Steindl believes the success of the pilot intervention will provide opportunities for clinicians and researchers to further explore the added value of compassion and self-compassion in the treatment of eating disorders.
Steindl’s review appears in the journal Clinical Psychologist.
Pressured speech is when someone's speech is rapid and disorganized.