Dopamine Regulates Motivation

I found this article to be very interesting. “The widespread belief that dopamine regulates pleasure could go down in history with the latest research results on the role of this neurotransmitter.  Researchers have proved that it regulates motivation, causing individuals to initiate and persevere to obtain something either positive or negative.”  I thought it gave pleasure that is why addicts used drugs.  Now this article is saying it can give the motivation to use drugs or anything positive or negative.
It says that: “The neuroscience journal NEURON publishes an article by researchers at the Universitat Jaume I of Castellon that reviews the prevailing theory on dopamine and poses a major paradigm shift with applications in diseases related to lack of motivation and mental fatigue and depression, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, etc. and diseases where there is excessive motivation and persistence as in the case of addictions.”  They shifted their whole way of thinking in terms of dopamine.  They are looking at a lot of diseases that will be viewed differently.
If it does not give pleasure how does it work?  “It was believed that dopamine regulated pleasure and reward and that we release it when we obtain something that satisfies us, but in fact the latest scientific evidence show that this transmitter acts to act. In other words, dopamine is released in order to achieve something good or to avoid something evil, ‘explains Merce Correa.”  You act to achieve something good. They have been studying this for the last two years.
The article says: “The level of dopamine depends on individuals, so some people are more persistent than others to achieve a goal. ‘Dopamine leads to maintain the level of activity to achieve what is intended.  This principle is positive, however, it will always depend on the stimuli that are sought: whether the goal is to be a good student or to abuse drugs’ says Correa.  High levels of dopamine could also explain the behavior of the so-called sensation seekers as they are motivated to act.” It is positive although the behavior could be bad.  You would abuse drugs or alcohol or does that fit in it? You do get addicted to alcohol just like drugs.
How can this knowledge now be used? “To know the neurobiological parameters that make people be motivated by something is important to many areas such as work, education or health. Dopamine is now seen as a core neurotransmitter to address symptoms such as depression. ‘Depressed people do not feel like doing anything and that’s because of low dopamine levels,’ explains Correa. Lack of energy and motivation is also related to other syndromes with mental fatigue such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis or fibromyalgia, among others.  In the opposite case, dopamine may be involved in addictive behavior problems, leading to an attitude that dopamine of compulsive perseverance.  In this sense, Correa indicates that dopamine antagonists which have been applied so far in addiction problems probably have not worked because of inadequate treatments based on a misinformation of the function of dopamine.”  This new knowledge changes how scientists look at a lot of things. It could help a lot although we will have to wait and see.

Hypnosis as a Therapy

Hypnosis is one of the oldest forms of therapy in the world and one of the least understood.  Though it has always been linked with the mystic arts and magic’s or vaudeville performers, it is by truth a form of self hypnosis.  No one can be hypnotized against their own will.

There are different forms of hypnosis which combine relaxation with imagery.  There are people who may go into a trance which is like a daydream or deep meditation and is actually self hypnosis, a state of intense concentration.  The object is to focus the mind and rid yourself of distractions and become open to suggestions which may help in isolating the problems being treated for such as for Mental Illness and various other physical ailments.

http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/hypnosis-as-mental-health-therapy-1

In the late 1950’s the American Medical Association approved hypnosis as a form of therapy and the American Psychiatric Association approved hypnosis as a therapy in the early 1960’s.  Hypnosis can be used to alleviate the pain in chronic headaches and migraine headaches as well.

For Mental illness such as Depression, Schizophrenia, Smoking and Over Eating, hypnosis was not conclusive in the healing process and there was a fear that psychosis could be induced especially in schizophrenic clients.  The cost of seeing a hypnotist is unsure to me though in order to find a qualified hypnotist, you first have to find a licensed hypnotist.  You can search through the offices of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis which is one of two recognized organizations for licensed hypnotist in this country.  There are several kinds of hypnosis which was first coined as “suggestion” and has since been known as hypnotic induction.  There are different forms of “suggestion” in our society which include, direct verbal suggestion, voice intonality and physical manipulation.  Hypnosis or suggestion is seen as a form of communicating with a subject’s conscious mind, though some people think this is a way to communicate with the unconscious or subconscious mind.  These are concepts which were brought about by Sigmund Freud and others during the 19^th century.  There is a cognitive behavioral approach to hypnosis in that cognitive behaviorism overlap and hypnosis influence one another as they share similar concepts and terminology. 

Written by Donald S

A New Year

A new year and a lot of change I thought I could handle a lot of new change by now. Although it still upsets me when my bus is late, even though I will not be late and the bus driver will miss his break. It bothers me because I have a routine that I am used to. Although so far this New Year seems like it will be good. I’m planning to do a lot of new things this year. Hopefully this year we can lessen the stigma of mental illness. Last year they put the blame of mental illness on most of the shooting and bad things that happened.
It looked like every time a person turned around there was someone with a mental illness doing a horrible crime. To me it is senseless to want to hurt someone whether or not you are mentally ill or on substances. When you are sane or not under the influence of substance you have to have some remorse, I know I did when I was drunk and always getting locked up. It was not just getting locked up and sometimes destroying my own property. Although to hurt someone and know you would not do it sane or sober brings a lot of guilt.
To be locked up for life you have to wonder is getting high on substances worth it. It only takes one mistake. Hopefully there will not be that many mistakes made this year. Hopefully we can have a discussion of the good people are making in recovery from mental illness. People will not have to hide their mental illness; because of every mistake they make is part of their mental illness. People say see they can be trusted. They can be productive members of society. It is a brain disease no fault of theirs. Hopefully in this New Year there will be change and I hopefully can handle change better. Because it all does work out for the better and with time things usually get better.

Positive or Negative: Self-Diagnosis

One of the benefits of finding health care, which might be, mental health or any other is that a professional is much better suited to be accurate in his or her diagnosis and would know what would be the best for your treatment. A diagnosis is a term given of an illness and are defined by certain symptoms. Mental Health diagnosis can be found in the DSM or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and each diagnosis has a category, such as mood disorders, schizophrenia, psychotic disorder, or anxiety disorders and others. http://www.mentalhelp.net/  From the start of your visitation to a clinician or therapist, the first thing they do is to perform a diagnosis. They listen to you about any problems or complaints you have and place them into a certain category in the DSM. This is important because it lets the therapist know what to suggest to you and what will help you recover from your illness. They have a vast background of information to match with what you have described and many diagnoses to sort from.
If you were to diagnosis yourself or think to do such, you should know that you may lack the knowledge to understand your problem or problems. You might not have the objectivity or perspective to make true judgment about your possible illness and their causes and you should know there are many ways people distort the truth or even deny such about their lives. In such matters we use defense mechanisms and rely on a type of denial to suit our needs of not facing the truth. Some people resort to varying extremes so they have no time to think of their personal problems. Even though we may lack the ability to “fix” the problem or problems we have, we accept in ourselves to try to solve them. Yet it takes resources and the willingness to read and study before you can determine the best way to help yourself. Even so we may lack the motivation to stay in tune with a self help plan and creating a self help plan is very hard to do, because not everyone has the motivation or discipline when confronted with problems that are painful that they may want to solve.
We should accept the fact that Therapist and counselors are trained to be objective in their observations of people who pay them visitation and that they are trained to know concepts relating to illness and are capable of guiding their clients in ways that would help their clients find solace. These therapist and clinicians can help their clients with the proper feedback which, they or we as consumers might not be able to give ourselves, through self-diagnosis.

Writtena by Donald S.

The use of Health Literacy

Health Literacy is, “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions”.
http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/hlthlit.html
Health literacy not only involves being able to read, it also involves listening, being aware of what you are to understand and having decision making skills. The client or consumer must also have the capability to apply these skills to help the clinician or therapist make any necessary decisions. Poor literacy lends to the knowledge of the clients health, income, employability, education level and can lead to discerning not only the race group yet also social standing. To improve the quality of health care, patients and providers have to work together to maintain communication. Patients must take a role in health related decisions and develop strong information skills in order to be aware of their own health. Health care providers must utilize health communication skills and educators need to provide printed information using understandable language.
Clients and consumers today are faced with complex information and treatment decisions. There are many avenues patients are required to have some knowledge of if they are to begin to understand what their illness is about:
1. Evaluation
2. Analyzing
3. Calculating
4. Interpreting
5. Locating health information
In order to carry out these task consumers must:
1. Be visually literate
2. Be computer literate
3. Be information literate
4. Be able to calculate and understand numbers
As consumers we need to be able to be understood when discussing our health concerns and describe our symptoms, we also need to be able to ask the right questions and we should have a need to understand spoken medical advice and/or treatment directions. Health literacy also includes the ability to understand and be able to search the internet and know particular web-sites which give medical information and definition to medical terms used during sessions with our therapist or clinician.
Written by Donald S.

Recovery

Well Christmas has come and gone.  I had a nice one with family and friends. Especially seeing my youngest grandson so excited, and even though it is so cold it was nice to see snow on the ground.  Thinking about recovery now and what is the best way.  That would be to put your foot forward and keep plowing ahead. We are going to stumble along the way.  That always happens.  You have to expect change and that was always a hard one for me. It does get better, although when you are going through a rough time it does not seem so.  When people tell you it will get better.  You think they are crazy. They are not in my shoes.
How can a person look at the positive when things keep getting worse and more bad stuff keeps happening?  You just have to take it one day at a time and do not forget to give thanks for what you have.  Sooner or later you will get a break.   You will not even remember when it was so rough.  My favorite Christmas song is “I’ll be home for Christmas” because I had so many when I was not.  Do I remember those hours in those days though?  I know they happened though.  You just have to remember they were bad and you do not want to do them over.  That is the same way it is with recovery forget how much you lost and concentrate on achieving small steps.
The biggest word in recovery and life is hope.  Hope the next day and year will be better.  Hope that you can achieve a lot.  I had hope that I could start a new life and I did.  There were downfalls and things do not always look the best.  Although if I keep my sight on achieving everything I want and take small steps I will achieve everything I want.  The hardest thing in life I believe is getting out of prison or the state hospital and wanting to be better and have a better life.  The stumbles will make you want to quit and return to drugs or alcohol.  You have to remember they never work they just bring you down faster.  You will not get rid of problems that way.  Just create more.  I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and keep pushing forward.

Control over my Life

It’s kind of estranged when your reality is not synchronous with the world around you; you might begin to think something’s wrong, that you might be schizophrenic and of course there are other illnesses which can cause symptoms, like delusions or hallucinations.  Getting the correct diagnosis is the first step in getting help.  As I had become a drug addicted teenager, I found I had very few friends and lost the respect of a good many people; success was not in using drugs, and I began to understand that there was something not quite right with the way I thought.  Fear began to eat away at my mind, having no friends my age, those I gained were much older than me and I didn’t understand anything about them, except drugs and alcohol.  As I grew older and finally taking psychiatric treatment, Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous seriously, knowing I was the cause of my own problem, other problems began to set in.  My social life had changed, not so much because of my past association with drugs, yet my physical health did.  Bad bladder, constant diarrhea, headaches and pains in knee joints and arms, I thought I was falling apart again, only this time physically.  I began to feel I was truly mentally ill besides being sickened by other health issues.  I did not concede to give thought that these illnesses were affecting me socially, yet they were and before I began my cessation of drugs and alcohol, I had no perception of any illnesses at all, yet those people I tried to associate with believed differently.

These health issues did affect me in the beginning and eventually the illnesses caused my few friends to wander into the sunset leaving me standing alone in my fears and anxiety as I began to avoid social fraternizing simply because of the control I was losing over my own physical health.

So how do you see your life as wonderful again, after nearly destroying yourself and those you love.  You can change your life for the better by taking care of yourself, both mentally and exercising physically, meeting new people in places where you would share some commonality and by maintaining your belief in that your treatment is working because you have gained confidence.  Take control, even if you might believe it will take some time to cure your illness, take the necessary steps and relate this to your doctor or clergy; he or she is a professional and they are the ones who can provide you with an effective working treatment.

Written by Donald S.