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ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL PROBLEMS

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:22:57 +0000

Not unexpectedly accompanying adolescent drinking there are also alcohol problems. To cite just a few of the statistics from the ever-growing pile:In the 13 to 17 year age group, it is estimated there are three million problem drinkers, and over three hundred thousand teenage alcoholicsDrinking is a significant problem for between 10% and 20% of adolescents.11% of adolescents and 28% of high school seniors drink 5 or more drinks at least once a week.97% of drug-abusing adolescents also use alcohol.Over the last 20 years, life expectancy has increased for all age groups except ages 15 to 24. The three leading causes of death in this age group are accidents, suicide, and homicide, all closely linked to alcohol and drug use.The leading cause of death between ages 16 and 24 is driving while impaired.Drivers age 16 to 24 years constitute 17% of the population; they are involved in 48% of fatal accidents.Daily, 14 adolescents, age 15 to 19 years, die and 360 are injured in alcohol-related traffic accidents.One way to understand the high incidence of problems with substance abuse in adolescence is in terms of the adolescent developmental tasks cited earlier. The first task mentioned was the acceptance of one’s biological role. For women the onset of their menstrual cycle provides clear biological evidence of their transition to adult functioning. For males the transition may be more difficult. But for both in contemporary America the question of how to know you are an adult is often difficult. For many adolescents drinking serves as a rite of passage. Not only is it an adult activity, it is also one way to be “one of the crowd.” Drinking can provide entry to a group of peers. Even as an adult one is often encouraged to drink and given messages that not to drink is to be antisocial. For adolescents with their intolerance of differences and their increased vulnerability to following along with peers’ behavior, not drinking at a party where others are drinking may be even harder for teenagers than for adults.Also, an important part of accepting one’s biological role is learning to be intimate with those of the opposite sex. This can be threatening to many adolescents. Alcohol can be used to avoid intimacy, or to seek intimacy without responsibility. “I wasn’t myself last night, I was really plastered” can be said by either boys or girls to disavow what happened the night before. The same is true in the sexual realm, as a means of experimenting without taking responsibility. In our society being drunk has long provided a “way out.” Often people are not held accountable for actions that occur when they are drunk. Thus, getting drunk can often help adolescents express these increasingly powerful impulses, without really taking direct responsibility for their behavior.Part of the task of attaining independence is learning to set limits for themselves, to develop self-control. For some adolescents this is more difficult than for others. It is particularly difficult about issues like drinking where societal messages and alcohol advertising suggest that “having more than one” is appropriate adult behavior. In the process of learning self-control, adolescents react negatively to adults setting limits. If parents are too aggressive in forbidding alcohol use, it may backfire. Further confusing matters is that adolescent development is characterized as well by changes in patterns of thinking. Prior to age 12 to 13, adolescents generally adhere to concrete rules for behavior. From ages 13 to 15 years, adolescents are likely to question the justification of set rules. They feel that conventions are arbitrary, hence rules supporting them are invalid. By the age of 16 most of them begin to realize that some rules are necessary.Another important task mentioned earlier is the development of a sense of identity. Part of the task of gaining an independent identity involves experimentation in all realms. Adolescents may use alcohol for help in experimenting with different roles and identities. Closely connected to this experimentation is risk taking. Some of this risk taking involves physical danger. Adolescents are said to have a “sense of invulnerability.” Unfortunately, alcohol can further increase this sense of invulnerability and lead to risk taking with dangerous consequences. It is not surprising, as mentioned earlier, that accidents are the leading cause of death in adolescents, and that alcohol use and abuse is heavily implicated in fatal accidents from all causes.As these adolescent developmental tasks are accomplished, the number of problem drinkers decreases. But for a significant proportion of problem drinkers, these problems will persist and grow worse. For far too many, the problem drinking may end in death or disability, long before either outcome.*148\331\2*

сон

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:08:53 +0000

Сон человека как явление живой природы на протяжении всей истории волнует умы медиков и биологов. Вторая половина XX в. особенно характерна накоплением новых фактов об этом интереснейшем явлении человеческой жизни. Установлено, что сон — сложное физиологическое явление, это не отдых мозга, а его деятельное состояние, что в процессе сна продолжается активная психическая деятельность человека. Сон состоит из следующих друг за другом циклов, каждый из них имеет свои особенности, качественные и количественные. Выяснены типы сна — медленный и быстрый. Известно, что за ночь человек видит около 4—6 сновидений. Прояснилась роль некоторых структур головного мозга в механизмах сна и при его нарушениях.

В природе отмечается периодическая смена времен года, суток, дня и ночи, получивших название природных ритмов. Одновременно с этими явлениями в
мире животных и растений происходят закономерные циклы; периоды развития и деятельности сменяются периодами покоя. Так и в жизни человека происходит
чередование активной деятельности днем (бодрствования) с периодом сна ночью. о
У человека сон занимает третью часть всей жизни. Без сна не может существовать ни одно живое существо. Необходимость во сне у человека почти такая же, как и в пище. Однако без пищи человек может прожить дольше, чем без она. Постоянное недосыпание отрицательно влияет на здоровье человека.
Люди, страдающие расстройством сна, быстрее утомляются, у них снижается работоспособность, появляются раздражительность, плохое настроение. Особенно чувствительны к недосыпанию дети.

лечение навязчивых состояний

ANXIETY DISORDERS/WORKING THROUGH THE RECOVERY: RELEARNING

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:26:05 +0000

The working-through process also involves reiearning what it is like to be ‘normal’. We lose sight of what it is like to be ‘normal’, and it is not unusual for people to interpret ‘normalcy’ as a setback! It isn’t, we just have to relearn.

This means reiearning to have a ‘normal’ bad day without reacting with fear that ‘it is all coming back’. Returning to ‘normal’ means we will have bad days, just like everyone else.

We will probably have days when we feel unwell. It doesn’t mean a return of the disorder—it means we are feeling unwell. We need to make sure we are eating properly and getting enough sleep. If not, we will feel tired and irritable just like everyone does when they neglect themselves.

Recovery is worth every step. At times the working-through process is difficult. Don’t lose sight of the overall picture which can be changed from one of fear and anxiety to one of clarity and freedom.

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ST JOHN’S WORT AND PANIC DISORDER

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:39:32 +0000

Aside from Judy’s story, I have encountered another person whose panic-disorder symptoms appear to have been helped by St John’s Wort. A 25-year-old woman wrote to me from Germany that she had been plagued by episodes of anxiety, palpitations, vertigo, pressure in her chest, tension and irritability – feelings she experienced especially intensely when in crowds and on car journeys. She treated these symptoms with St John’s Wort with some success, finding that it helped her to deal better with stress in general as well as with the situations that triggered her anxiety.

Panic disorder is an extremely unpleasant condition characterized by brief but debilitating spells of anxiety, that often come out of the blue and are accompanied by the very physical symptoms this woman reported. During panic attacks, the patient often feels trapped in the throes of a medical emergency and wracked by fears of impending death. Visits to the emergency room invariably yield negative results and a diagnosis of panic disorder is often made at that time. If the panic attacks continue unchecked, anxiety may become chronic as the person anticipates the next onslaught of the disorder. The final step in the progression of the disorder is a reluctance to leave home for fear that an attack will occur in an uncontrollable setting. This last symptom gives this disorder its alternate name – agoraphobia, or fear of venturing into open places.

Thus far there have been no studies of the effects of St John’s Wort in panic disorder, but this is yet another condition for which other anti-depressants have proven to be very helpful. Since there appear to be certain pharmacological resemblances between the mode of action of St John’s Wort and that of other anti-depressants, there is every reason to predict that the herbal anti-depressant might also work for panic disorder patients, just as it appears to have done for Judy and the young German woman mentioned above. One cautionary note, however, to bear in mind if you are considering using the herb for this condition. Many people with panic disorder are extremely sensitive to all anti-depressants, becoming more anxious and jittery after receiving their first antidepressant tablets. It is therefore commonplace in using conventional anti-depressants in the treatment of panic disorder to start with very low dosages and move the dosage up very gradually as the patient becomes more able to tolerate the medication. After a while it may be possible to raise the anti-depressant dosage to conventional levels without undue discomfort to the patient. Following these general principles, I would suggest that anyone attempting to treat panic disorder with St John’s Wort obtain it in the form of a tincture, start treatment with no more than one-tenth of the recommended number of drops per day, and move up from there (or down if even this low dose feels too much), being guided by levels of side-effects in determining the dosing progression. Once a comfortable therapeutic dosage has been reached, I recommend switching to the Kira brand of St John’s Wort

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