The Breakdown of Mental Health

Everything you experience is subject to your thoughts, beliefs, imaginings and understandings of what you focus on in your mind. Your focus is your way of experiencing yourself and the world about you. Everyone does this in the manner we are trained or conditioned to look at the world. Religion, Theology, Philosophies, Semantics, Psychology, Science and the Arts of past and present have presented this common understanding to us in fact and fiction.

How we see and look at our world is determined by our mind. Our minds define the world as they come too image it. There is a teachable way of understanding and making Your Life the best it can be. There is No SECRET that this can be taught, learned and practiced by anyone.

We all can make our life better to the best of our individual possibility, this is the best anyone can do. Making your life better can be one of the most fantastic things in your life. Everything in your life that you can change is subject to your will and understanding. You are the process and the mason to everything attainable in your existence. Contrary to what some people teach living is all about you and each of as an individual. All great experiences in life can be reached through personal betterment.

Our greatest reality is attained by betterment and is a measure of our individual personal best. Learning makes making mistakes a powerful opportunity to make our lives better. We are all the same. We all make mistakes. We all have the magic we need to create, manipulate and change our self and our world into the way we choose. We all can make our lives better. This puts us all in the position in life making mistakes, forming realizations and learning are the processes of liberation, transcendence, growth, understanding, betterment and enjoyment. The sad thing about happiness is that we are all Dopamine junkies. We are all collections of dopamine eliciting conditioned responses. We’re conditioned to do the things we do or to behave how we behave.

Allow others to control your behavior or mind and most likely they will. Why allow others to control your thinking or actions when within the best of your own personal ability you can do so yourself? No matter what has happened so far in your living or where you are and are not with what you desire in your life, it is you creating your current and future life possibilities. The greatest power in your life may be the mastering of your personal intentions!

Living, Laughing, Loving, and Learning
I enjoy meeting new people having a passion for fun, living, thinking, creativity, playing, learning, good company, good conversation and loving.. I learn from anyone and I mean that literally. Mind and human behavior are fascinating topics to my behalf. Operating our mind and usage of behaviors are an unconscious vocation of every single person. Human health topics are intellectual and practical interests are also interesting.

Radical changes in understanding of human behavior are occurring frequently because of newly discovered understandings of how the brain and genetics affect behavior in just the last several years. Extensive brain research is revealing strong connections and inters dependencies between mind, brain and body. There are revolutionary discoveries about our brains relationship to our behaviors. They dwarf and have redefined our past notions and understandings. These changes have caused me concerns pertaining to areas of mental health such as the destigmatization of emotional problems, educating the general public about the current understandings the brain and behavior. Discoveries are initiating ethical concerns of past professional misunderstandings, consumer awareness, best modalities for treatment and diagnostic practices. Necessary reformation and scientific revisions are needed in the field of mental health.

“Mental health” parity must become a reality. Receiving adequate medical treatment with adequate third party reimbursement for the mental issues is just like other medical issues. It is unethical to punish and discriminate against people because of their behavior when it has a biological origin. Doing so is punishing a victim for having a sickness. Change can be made fun, amusing and a desirable part of living. My dopamine thump theory explains how conditioning can cause unnecessary problems in our life. Conditioning can be applied to improve the quality of our daily living. Negative feelings are unnecessary in our life. Negative thoughts are emotionally tiring. Destructive overreactions complicate our lives dramatically without a need. Your mind can be favorably altered with a science and the art of “SELF” governing.

Mental health: strengthening mental health promotion

THERE IS NO HEALTH WITHOUT MENTAL HEALTH

• The essential dimension of mental health is clear from the definition of health in the WHO-Constitution: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Mental health is an integral part of this definition.
• The goals and traditions of public health and health promotion can be applied just as usefully in the field of mental health as they have been in the prevention of infectious or of cardiovascular diseases, for example.

MENTAL HEALTH IS MORE THAN THE ABSENCE OF MENTAL DISORDERS

• Mental health can be conceptualized as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.
• In this positive sense, mental health is the foundation for well-being and effective functioning for an individual and for a community. This core concept of mental health is consistent with its wide and varied interpretation across cultures.
• Mental health promotion covers a variety of strategies, all aimed at having a positive impact on mental health. Like all health promotion, mental health promotion involves actions that create living conditions and environments to support mental health and allow people to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles. This includes a range of actions that increase the chances of more people experiencing better mental health.

MENTAL HEALTH IS DETERMINED BY SOCIOECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

• Mental health and mental health disorders are determined by multiple and interacting social, psychological, and biological factors, just as health and illness in general.
• The clearest evidence is associated with indicators of poverty, including low levels of education, and in some studies with poor housing and poor income. Increasing and persisting socioeconomic disadvantages for individuals and for communities are recognized risks to mental health.
• The greater vulnerability of disadvantaged people in each community to mental health disorders may be explained by such factors as the experience of insecurity and hopelessness, rapid social change, and the risks of violence and physical ill-health.
• A climate that respects and protects basic civil, political, socioeconomic and cultural rights is also fundamental to mental health promotion. Without the security and freedom provided by these rights, it is very difficult to maintain a high level of mental health.

MENTAL HEALTH IS LINKED TO BEHAVIOR

• Mental, social, and behavioral health problems may interact to intensify their effects on behavior and well-being.
• Substance abuse, violence, and abuse of women and children on one hand, and health problems such as HIV/AIDS, depression, and anxiety on the other, are more prevalent and more difficult to cope with in conditions of high unemployment, low income, limited education, stressful work conditions, gender discrimination, social exclusion, unhealthy lifestyle, and human rights violations.

ENHANCING THE VALUE AND VISIBILITY OF MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION

• National mental health policies should not be solely concerned with mental health disorders, but also recognize and address the broader issues which promote mental health. These would include the socioeconomic and environmental factors, described above, as well as behavior. This requires mainstreaming mental health promotion into policies and programs in government and business sectors including education, labor, justice, transport, environment, housing, and welfare, as well as the health sector. Particularly important are the decision-makers in governments at local and national levels, whose actions affect mental health in ways that they may not realize.

COST-EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS EXIST TO PROMOTE MENTAL HEALTH, EVEN IN POOR POPULATION
Low cost, high impact evidence-based interventions to promote mental health include:

• Early childhood interventions (e.g. home visiting for pregnant women, pre-school psycho-social interventions, combined nutritional and psycho-social interventions in disadvantaged populations).
• Support to children (e.g. skills building programs, child and youth development programs).
• Socioeconomic empowerment of women (e.g. improving access to education, micro credit schemes).
• Social support to old age populations (e.g. befriending initiatives, community and day centers for the aged);
• Programs targeted at vulnerable groups, including minorities, indigenous people, migrants and people affected by conflicts and disasters (e.g. psycho-social interventions after disasters);
• Mental health promotion activities in schools (e.g. programs supporting ecological changes in schools, child-friendly schools).
• Mental health interventions at work (e.g. stress prevention programs).
• Housing policies (e.g. housing improvement).
• Violence prevention programs (e.g. community policing initiatives).
• Community development programs (e.g. ‘Communities That Care’ initiatives, integrated rural development).

WHO? IS WORKING WITH GOVERNMENTS TO PROMOTE MENTAL HEALTH

• To implement these effective interventions, governments need to adopt a mental health framework as used to advance other areas of health and socio-economic development, and thereby engage all relevant sectors to support and evaluate activities designed to promote mental health.
• WHO supports governments by providing technical material and advice to implement policies, plans and programs aimed at promoting mental health?

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

(REBT) is a comprehensive, active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy which focuses on resolving emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. REBT was created and developed by the American psychotherapist and psychologist Albert Ellis who was inspired by many of the teachings of Asian, Greek, Roman and modern philosophers. REBT is one of the first and foremost forms of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and was first expounded by Ellis in the mid-1950s.

One of the fundamental premises of REBT is that people in most cases do not merely get upset by unfortunate adversities, but also through how they construct their view of reality through their evaluative beliefs and philosophies about these adversities.

In REBT therapy clients usually learn and begin to apply this premise by learning the A-B-C-model of psychological disturbance and change. The A-B-C model first states that it normally is not merely A, adversities (or activating events) that lead to a disturbed and dysfunctional emotional and behavioral consequences – at C, but adversity times what people B, believe (peoples belief system) in relation to the these event. This belief system is highly evaluative and consists of interrelated cognitive, emotional and behavioral aspects.

Generally, if the evaluative “B” about the activating event “A” is rooted in an irrational and self-defeating belief the consequence is likely to be un-healthy and destructive or alternatively if it is rooted in a rational and self-helping belief the consequence is likely to be healthy and constructive.

By understanding the role of their mediating evaluative and philosophically based irrational and self-defeating beliefs in upset, clients often can learn to identify them, begin to D, dispute, challenge and question them and come up with more rational and functional ones for then to subsequently begin to relief from their self-defeating emotions and behaviors.

The REBT framework assumes that humans have both innate rational, meaning self- and social-helping and constructive, and irrational, meaning self- and social-defeating and unhelpful tendencies.
REBT claims that people to a large degree create and construct emotional difficulties such as self-blame, self-pity, clinical anger, hurt, guilt, shame, depression and anxiety, and behaviors and behavior tendencies like procrastination, over-compulsiveness, avoidance, addiction and withdrawal by the means of their irrational and self-defeating thinking, emoting and behaving.

REBT is then an educational process in which the therapist often active-directive teaches the client how to identify irrational and self-defeating beliefs which in nature are rigid, extreme, unrealistic, illogical and absolutist, and then to forcefully and actively dispute them and replace them with more rational and self-helping ones. By using different cognitive, emotive and behavioral methods and activities, the client, together with help from the therapist and in homework exercises, can gain a more rational, self-helping and constructive rational way of thinking, emoting and behaving.

One of the main objectives in REBT is to show the client that whenever unpleasant activating events occur in people’s lives, they have a choice of making themselves feel healthily and independent or sorry, disappointed, frustrated, and annoyed, or making themselves feel unhealthily and self-defeating horrified, terrified, panicked, depressed, self-hating, and self-pitying.

By attaining a more rational and self-constructive philosophy of themselves, others and the world, people often are more likely to behave and emote in a more life-serving and adaptive ways.

The Truth About Organic Food

WHAT “ORGANIC” MEANS

Thanks to the USDA National Organic program, it’s less of a labeling free-for-all in the supermarket these days. When you see the circular “USDA Organic” logo on a package, it means that the food was produced according to strict practices that don’t allow use of synthetic flavors, colors, sweeteners, most preservatives, toxic or long-lasting pesticides and fertilizers, or methods like genetic engineering. Organic farming and production methods also ensure that animals are treated more humanely. Another assurance: Producers of certified organic food are subject to announced and unannounced inspections to make sure farming and manufacturing practices are up to snuff. While timely follow-through has been a problem in the past for the USDA program, major increases in its budget and staff have given it more bite.

There’s no question organics are better for plants, animals, farm workers, and the ecosystem. But are they actually healthier for you and your family? There’s a great deal of debate – sometimes partisan, always heated – on nutritional advantages. While research is trending toward showing that organic food has more of certain nutrients, that doesn’t mean the organic tomato you pick from a bin will definitely be richer in these than it’s conventionally grown cousin at the other end of the aisle. Too many other factors – soil conditions, weather, how the produce was transported and stored – come into play to allow for certainty that any one piece of fruit or vegetable is better for you than another. But there’s an additional issue to consider – namely, safety: Pesticides.

Eating food that’s certified organic means you’re limiting your exposure to the chemicals used to kill plant pests. The Environmental Protection Agency regulates pesticides to ensure that they don’t pose unreasonable risks to our health or to the environment. Still, a number of research scientists are concerned about the types and levels of pesticides allowed in conventional farming. A recent study of 12,000 children, for example, found that those with above-average levels of pesticides in their urine were nearly twice as likely to have ADHD as kids with undetectable levels. Developing brains and nervous systems are the most vulnerable to chemicals, so if you’re pregnant or have young children (especially under age 2), spending more for organic food might be smart. And all families can reduce their risk by peeling fruits and vegetables.

Antibiotics. Conventionally farmed livestock and poultry are routinely given drugs to prevent illness and boost the rate of growth, a practice that has contributed to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Buying organic meat, poultry, and milk means you are assured the animal has never been treated with antibiotics. On nonorganic meat and poultry, labels of “no added antibiotics,” “no antibiotics administered,” and “raised without antibiotics” meant he same thing, though the claims are not as tightly regulated. Milk is strictly regulated, and even nonorganic brands don’t contain a significant level of antibiotics, if any.

Hormones. These are often used to fatten conventionally raised cattle or to enhance milk production. Organic cattle aren’t treated with hormones, and some conventional cattle aren’t either, so if you’re concerned about hormone use, you can choose organic meat and dairy or look for a hormone-free claim on other packages. Hormones aren’t used on pork or poultry, so claims on those items are meaningless.

SMART SHOPPING

Natural. On meat and poultry, this indicates that no artificial flavorings or colorings were added and that the cut was not irradiated to reduce bacteria, but it doesn’t tell you anything about how the animal was raised. On products outside the meat case, the term is undefined (and unregulated), so it doesn’t mean anything.

Free Range. When you see this term on chicken and eggs, it means that the bird has access to the outdoors. But the USDA doesn’t regulate how much time chickens must spend there or what kind of surface it must be (it could be cement).

Locally Grown. Can you define “nearby”? Neither can federal regulators – there’s no standard for descriptions of how far food has traveled to reach your store. It’s also important to remember that not all organic food is locally grown, nor is all locally grown food organic – even the vegetables and fruit you see at farmers’ markets.

I hope these has helped you in some manners and hopefully better grocery shopping on your next trip! Stay wise and better yet more healthy…

Hmph… Spirituality!?

Spirituality exists wherever we struggle with the issue of how our lives fit into the greater cosmic scheme of things. This is true even when our questions never give way to specific answers or give rise to specific practices such as prayer or meditation. We encounter spiritual issues every time we wonder where the universe comes from, why we are here, or what happens when we die. We also become spiritual when we become moved by values such as beauty, love, or creativity that seem to reveal a meaning or power beyond our visible world. An idea or practice is “spiritual” when it reveals our personal desire to establish a felt-relationship with the deepest meanings or powers governing life.

Joy may just be the most rich makeup we have inherited, cherish it. This kind of joy I’m speaking is not deprived from lust, greed, nor selfish deeds, it’s about complete growth of one whole within yourself. Accomplishments, with your inner demons and journeys upon life. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty…. The ordinary objects of human endeavor — property, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, precisely, the conjunction of learning and inspiration.

The True Gun Control

Gun politics in the United States has long been among the most controversial issues in American politics. For the last several decades, the debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States has been characterized by a stalemate between an individual right to bear arms based on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the responsibility of government to prevent crime, maintain order and protect the well-being of its citizens.

Let’s get into substantive thinking and talking. A major problem with the American conversation on guns is that too often the many factions that exist are represented as two simplified camps: liberals, who want to completely ban guns, and conservatives, who want all guns legal, and believe everyone should carry one (if not several!). Where do I stand?

Liberals want to completely ban guns, the better solution to gun violence is to more widely arm Americans (no, really). We all want this insane violence exacted in Aurora, and Chicago, and Norway to stop, and one way we can begin to turn the tide is allowing law-abiding citizens to defend themselves with the ultimate equalizer — a firearm — and end this madness of blaming inanimate objects for the actions of individuals.

Of course, there is no reason to assume an armed movie attendee would have made the situation in Aurora any better. Indeed, it would have likely ended up raising the death count as a result of a gunfight — one he or she would almost assuredly have lost given the shooter’s bulletproof armor, plethora of guns and ammo, use of tear gas, and vantage point — that would have seen bullets flying in every direction. The equalizer in Aurora would not have been a person with a handgun; it would have been the sort of fully armed Marine you find walking the battlefields of Afghanistan.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does guarantee citizens a right to have arms, and I believe this is an important right. But we still have to interpret what “arms” really means. To answer this question, it’s worth considering why people aren’t allowed to own certain types of “arms.” Why can’t people own rocket or grenade launchers? Or tanks? Or semi-automatic assault weapons with high-capacity magazines? Oh wait…

There are two reasons these types of arms are illegal. First, they are highly destructive and present a massive danger to society — the kind of danger not presented by hunting rifles and handguns. Second, they serve little use outside of wartime fighting (try using a grenade launcher to take down that deer you’re hunting, or a nighttime intruder, and you might run into a couple of problems).

Yet there is no friction between acknowledging certain weapons should be kept from civilians, and believing mentally fit and able Americans have a right to own arms, picked from a wide range of legal rifles and handguns. I don’t know a single person who would argue that owning a Glock makes you more likely to be a mass murderer (although carrying one makes it more likely you will be shot and killed). On the flip side, few people are arguing that there should be no regulation of guns whatsoever. Most people seem to be somewhere in the middle: they agree that there should be a protected right to own certain guns, but also that we need to have a critical discussion about what “guns” really means, and what legal steps we might take to lessen the chance of unwanted shootings.

Another major problem with the American conversation on guns is that too often people believe the discussion on gun control is nothing more than a discussion on gun laws. This is really an issue about sick, demented individuals. It’s a tragedy, and I don’t think there’s a solution in Washington to solve that problem. … other than look to our families, look to our communities, starting with our education system. We’ve got to re-instill values in what we’re teaching our children. We need to look at families and the education system.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said that the proper way to respond to Aurora is not to focus on changing gun laws, but on changing American hearts and minds. Romnney is wrong that this isn’t an issue about guns. It is correct to say that we can’t simply look to Washington (or our local statehouses) for end-all-debate solutions. Gun laws are only one part of the broader discussion about how to manage guns and our attitudes toward guns in American society. Along with gun laws, we need public education efforts. This is precisely what we do with cigarettes: we make them harder to buy (through taxes) and accompany that with public information campaigns (commercials, billboards, etc.). Why should we treat guns any differently?

But public education efforts should not focus only on the danger of guns. They should also focus on bringing mental illness out of the darkness. Too many people believe depression and other mental illnesses are embarrassing conditions fit only for concealment and shame. Instead, they should think of mental illness as a health matter worth addressing. And society more generally should be more open and welcoming, if not encouraging, of humans being candid about their mental health issues.

Let’s be honest: we can’t stop shootings completely. There will always be hard-to-comprehend acts of violence. But these facts should not prevent us from taking steps to improve the situation at hand. We might not be able to stop many instances of gun violence, but we can work to slow their occurrence — so long as we all agree that there is somewhat of a problem, believe improvements can be made, and accept that solutions are more complex than we have been led to believe.

My Inner Thoughts: Communication Overhauled By Online Mediums

We’re in an era reckoned by a society who’s heavily dependent on continual approval from others’ perceptions via digital social networking. Especially when you take into significance the expanded influence of technology within the past decade. We have already become psychologically inferior due to an abiding need of approvals from the masses. We are convinced that we must emulate with the latest fashion, fast cars, gadgets, hairstyles, and popular bags is pledged to earn us compliments, positive entailment, and confidence. But with the social network enigma that has begun to take over youthful and the adolescence culture, we can’t possibly think this will have a counteracting impact on our society, right? Wrong.

Are you a part of LinkedIn, Foursquare, Facebook, or Twitter? Well if you’re not, don’t feel neglected. Many are vigorously and contiguously attuned to these digital interconnections. I apprehend the use for Twitter occasionally and LinkedIn can be a reputable tool yet Foursquare can even be considered ‘fun’. On the common conundrum with all of these platforms is how they use up your time. Time is money. Big money. How you use your time is discerning in today’s business and personal world, and the social networking tools mentioned above take an abundance of your time.

Social networks, like Facebook and twitter, have given us a discreet access to convenient communication. On the contrary, this convenience comes at a hefty cost. Most of us are faint about face-to-face communication because we’ve been lacking the adequate social interchange. While we’re busy text messaging and updating our Facebook status or tweeting away, we’re also deficient in the vital skills that’s learned from being upfront and personal. The impersonal social mediums is our new security blanket, it usually prevents us from being directly rejected. The architecture of our communication is distorting our basic conversations.

Our digital-driven community demands that we foster the ability to conduct in a technological environment, amassing the knowledge and skills necessary to be constructive. In addition, our strikingly planet is hurriedly becoming akin with the internet where online custom has become an intrinsic part of technology-based curriculum. While our civilization heralds the internet as a technological splendor, there are suggestions that internet use has a conflicting influence on individuals and their interpersonal skills. But what happens when the results from being on Facebook and Twitter is a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and an exaggerated sense of self-importance? Houston, we have a problem.

Understanding how to maneuver our correspondences in the world is troublesome enough, but now we also distress about how attractive our profile picture are, whether or not our tweets make us cool, and if we’re up to date with the heap ways our “friends” can keep in contact with us. Although digital interconnections have become an acquired behavior to us all, if you slow down and think about it…is this lifestyle normal? Relentless cyberspace interaction also has the knack to toy with your emotions when you least expect it. To be patient, open and eager to listen to others consists of a magnitude of upfront and personal contact. Once you’ve learned that you can communicate your needs and feelings honestly when someone engages you directly, you can take the initiative and be assertive when needed. You are also not afraid of making or admitting to mistakes. You cannot attain that level of equilibrium and intensity from only being online but it can be attained from real life social networking.

We are currently settling in a civilization that hinders us from ever truly establish self-confidence. The digital interconnections had become our main domain where we pour our hearts into, which means you’re also officially at risk of being the target of a cyberspace attack from former friends or lovers, the constant updates of who dates who, bodily comparisons between your self and others via profile pictures and most of all, a dependence to your aspirations and opinions being approved by others. I can comprehend why some admire my idiosyncrasies online but it’s much better to cultivate real life friends instead. It’s more sensible. No? People will waiver freedom to feel wanted, but if you grant them both, ultimately, if they’re rational enough would probably choose freedom. Indolence is inevitable and who matters are not those who just say they believe but rather those who dare to prove it. Only the secured survive..

To the conformed majority, these digital interconnections is social networking. It is the commonplace that ushers us to unite in ways that we couldn’t have imagined before, relinquishing on a plight that was always implicit in the World Wide Web but only somewhat envisioned. These digital tools provides us a space in which to converse, connect, and share music, photographs, and the quick scoops of our livelihoods, a space to exhibit who we are and grasp about one another and our worlds. We absolutely adore it. We love it. A lot. We’re complacent. The technologies we rely on to abide to one another are corrupted with cataclysmic arrays of surveillance that can only do us harm. With the increased amplitude of online communication, people have debunked a striking willingness to share all the detail of their livelihoods with loose acquaintances and strangers. Oh, the values of the unprecedented amount of information it has about its users, which it can then sell to third parties… Are you sure you want to share that much information?

Society usually works in an incremental fashion. In modern society, survivability is no longer dependent on the condition of the mind. Society is in a state of perpetual upheaval, but there is something that does not change: the vast majority of the people conform to whatever is “normal” for the time being. They play the role allotted to them. Conformity is apparent because humans are social creatures who are always imitating one another. We are all aiming for one thing, to be accepted. The fact of the concern is that we’re all naive, adolescent, hyper-poignant and are inevitably going to do mindless things. Our parents did mindless things when they were our age. The difference in today’s society is that we’ve grown addicted to advertise our every flaw, affiliation and thought with the world. Our addiction to digital interconnections fills our infatuated need for attention and an ego boost by correlating ourselves to others based on their online updates. This phenomenon has created a realm full of individuals molded to yearn the acceptance of others…a battlefield to let our inner insecurities soar.

It’s feasible where digital interconnections will gain even more notable popularity for the upcoming years. But I’d like to see it recede into only being used for that same, simple purpose that it initially serves very well, which is to what I continue to use it for: finding that person that I’ve lost contact with from my younger days, my classmate from junior high, or connecting with an individual on a heightened mental stimulus. The rest of it, we can do better. Now? We would rather be in the land of impotence than to act upon our best.. Go out there and start mingling! Try social networking without the digital world crimping away your time, unless your work involves the internet.