Archives for June 2015

Raising children is hard. Raising a child with ADHD sometimes seems impossible. ADHD is frustrating for you as a parent and equally as frustrating for the child afflicted with it, but there are steps you can take to help your family cope with and manage ADHD.

Appropriate Versus Inappropriate
Sit down with your child and discuss the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Children with ADHD cannot clearly see the line between what is appropriate and what is not. Decide what behaviors you as a family can live with and explain it to your child. Set a reward system: appropriate behavior is encouraged and rewarded, negative behavior is punished. Be consistent. Talk to teachers because the system must carry over to all aspects of your child’s life.

Structure, Structure, Structure
Children with ADHD respond better to consistent patterns. It is easier for their brains to follow when consistent patterns are set. However, once a structure is in place, do not change it or deviate from it.

Break It Down
A child with ADHD can be easily overwhelmed. It is important to help them avoid feeling this way. The best way to go about it is to break tasks down into manageable pieces. By making everyday tasks manageable, the child is able to feel some control over their life.

Keep Chaos Away
Your child needs organization and quiet for many things in their life. Create for them a quiet place to do homework and keep everything around them neat and organized. When the world around them falls into chaos so too will your child’s mind.

Be An Advocate
Your ADHD child needs your voice because all too often children with ADHD are tagged as troublemakers. Don’t be shy about asking your child’s school for help. ADHD falls under a specific set of guidelines called section 504. The school and teachers must provide your child with specific accommodations to help them succeed. Stay in contact with teachers and monitor closely to ensure that everything is being done for your child.

Be Positive
Children with ADHD often feel bad about themselves. Help your child see the good in themselves. Point out when they are doing things the right way and praise them for it.

Seek Medical Assistance
ADHD is a disorder. It cannot be cured, but it can be treated with medication. Medication combined with behavioral therapy will help your child immensely. Don not be afraid to talk with your doctor about alternatives. Some doctors prefer medication, others like behavioral therapy, and still others want a combination of the two, but ultimately it is up to you and what you are comfortable with.

ADHD is not easy to live with, but it is possible to have a happy family life even so.

You hear people say all the time that they are afraid of something whether that fear is a fear of spiders, a fear of swimming, a fear of being hurt or some other unimaginable thing. It is natural to fear things. While everyone fears something, there are some people who have such an overwhelming feeling of fear and dread that psychologists refer to it as a phobia.

Difference Between Fear and Phobia
It is normal to feel fearful in some situations. Sometimes, feeling fearful is even helpful. Fear is part of the human “fight-or-flight” response. Fear allows our body to make a quick response to a dangerous situation. Phobias, on the other hand, go past ordinary wariness. A phobia places you in a crippling situation.While fear prepares your body to fight or flee, a phobia can be paralyzing making the underlying fear all the worse.

Overcoming Feelings of Dread

1. Face Your Fear: Slowly, one step at a time, face what you fear. The more you practice facing you fear the quicker it will be overcome. If you begin to feel overly anxious or panicky, then stop and try again later.

2. Learn To Relax: There are many relaxation techniques you can learn that will help you overcome feeling of fear and dread. When you become anxious your breathing automatically becomes quick and shallow. Instead practice deep breathing when you feel anxious. Practice deep breathing a few times a day. It is hard to feel tense and afraid when breathing deep.

3. Turn Negatives to Positives: When you fear something negative thoughts easily invade your mind making everything seem ten times scarier than it really is. Learn to identify negativity and find positives instead. For example, when faced with a situation that causes you to be anxious tell yourself you know that everything will be fine. Practice daily. Eventually, positivity will win out.

4. Understand Yourself: Everyone experiences some form of fear or anxiety in their lifetime. For a phobic person, a major tool to overcoming that fear is to understand how that fear developed. Think about when your fear began and try to pinpoint the moment it became a phobia. When you can understand your fear, then you can begin to overcome it.

5. Recruit!: Get a partner to help you as you learn to overcome your fear. This could be a family member you trust or a good friend. The key here is to have someone to whom you can talk out your fear with. It helps to know that there is another person in the situation with you. As you become more comfortable, you will learn to deal with it alone.

It is important to understand that sometimes you cannot do it alone. If you or someone you care for is suffering from excessive fear and that person cannot help themselves, seek professional help.

For many people, winter brings joy with the holidays and winter outdoor antics. For other people, winter is dreary and bleak. This is a normal response to the less sunlight and colder temperatures that is often referred to as the winter blues, but in some people it is a serious condition known as seasonal affective disorder.

SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder Versus Clinical Depression
Unlike clinical depression where patients are depressed all the time, seasonal affective disorder is directly related to the changing seasons. SAD sufferers begin to feel their symptoms begin with the start of fall and ease as spring draws near. In a few cases, SAD has been noted as winter turns to spring and through the summer. More women suffer from seasonal affective than men. SAD is treatable with medications and therapy.If you always feel moody and depressed during fall and winter, you may be suffering from seasonal affective disorder and should seek professional care.

Those who suffer clinical depression are depressed daily. The heavy feelings of unending sadness do not dissipate with the changing of the seasons, although the depression may worsen with the bleakness of winter. Clinical depression, like SAD, is treatable with medications and therapy. Also, like SAD, more women suffer clinical depression. Clinical depression effects your life daily. It may be that you feel no joy in daily activities or feel a heavy sense of sadness and guilt daily. It is possible to get better. If you or someone you know suffers from clinical depression, you should seek professional help.

Getting Help
If you or someone you know suffers from any type of depression, get professional help. Depression is not like a cold where you take some over the counter medication and go to bed. People suffering from any type of depression need professional help in order to get better. So, how do you help?

If the patient is someone you know:
Be emotionally available: Many times just knowing that there is a person who will listen and not judge is a huge help.
Never ignore comments of suicide: There was a time when people believed that if suicide was spoken of then the individual would not commit the act. This is not always the case. Report comments of suicide to your friend or loved one’s doctor.

If the patient is yourself:
Do not wait: Seek professional help as quickly as possible.
Set realistic goals: Take life day by day. Set small easily attainable goals and work your way to more long term goals.
Remember it is a process: You will not feel better overnight. Do not stop treatment when you feel yourself mood begin to change.

Whether you suffer from SAD or clinical depression help is available to you.