How to help my spouse with depression panic attacks?

How to help my spouse with depression panic attacks? If you have been asking that question lately, you are hardly alone.

Panic attacks related to, or in addition to depression affects around 20 million Americans at any given time. If you have a husband or wife suffering from these panic attacks, read on to find out some simple ways you could help them.

While depression and anxiety are not the same, it seems that they go hand-in-hand in many cases. A person who has had panic attacks for a long time often becomes depressed when thinking about living with anxiety any longer.

Likewise, a person with depression may have many of the symptoms of an anxiety disorder, and may or may not have full-blown panic attacks on a regular basis.

So, if your husband/wife has panic attacks brought on by depression or simply brought on by an existing anxiety disorder, there are some things that you can do to help your spouse through this tough time in their life.

Become knowledgeable about anxiety:

Getting as much information as you can about anxiety and panic attacks will really benefit the both of you very much. Although it is your spouse who must make the ultimate change to conquer anxiety, if you understand what he/she is going through and are understanding, you stand a better chance at defeating the disorder as a team.

If your wife or husband often changes plans to accommodate their anxious mood, you may become agitated, but knowing why this happens is crucial to understanding that they don't mean to be this way, they just can't help it many times.

Anxiety sufferers often don't think the same way as you may think about a given situation, and although it may be tough for you, you will help them a lot by simply understanding that their thought process is simply different from that of a non-anxious person.


Be supportive:

It can be really frustrating living with someone who has an anxiety disorder, but the worst thing that you can do as a spouse is to criticize them for their behavior.

Encouraging healthy behavior to an anxious person is a really simple, and great thing that you can do for them. Something as simple as going to an event, whether it be a family outing or a simple dinner can often times be a very big move on their part.

If a small step is taken by your spouse to try to live anxiety-free, encourage that behavior and be proud of what they have accomplished. There's no need to over-do it by any means, just be supportive of anything they can do that is positive.

On the same token, you need to avoid criticizing them for the times when they do avoid certain situations.

A person who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks often thinks that if they had a panic attack doing a certain thing, or being in a certain place that they are more prone to having further attacks by doing that specific activity again.

While you know this does not make much sense, in the mind of an anxious person this is perfectly rational behavior, and patience with them is needed to overcome their anxiety.

Helping them through a panic attack:

If you find yourself right in the middle of your spouse's panic attack, just be patient and re-assuring to them. A person in the middle of extreme panic does not process thoughts the same as a calm person, so they may need to go off by themselves for a few minutes.

If this is the case, do your best to help them through the attack, and try to remember that they didn't choose a panic attack to happen to them. They feel bad enough just being anxious, so there is no need to make them feel worse by blaming them for ruining your good time or criticizing them for a disorder they can not control.

Most sufferers find that someone who understands what they are going through is enough, and since panic attacks don't last for hours on end, you will help them greatly by being patient with them while they are feeling anxious.
So my friend, if you have been asking the question; "how to help my spouse with depression panic attacks ", you could follow the advice I gave above which will help your spouse a great deal to start with.

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The psychotherapy

What is psychotherapy?

It's a process that allows a person to come to a fuller understanding of their abilities, difficulties, motivations or worries in conjunction with the therapist.
This confidential relationship is mutually trusting and can continue for months or even years. "It's the most intimate relationship you'll ever have with another human being," says consultant clinical psychologist Caroline Garland of the Tavistock Clinic, London. "The therapist knows their patients better than anybody else in their lives."

Who are psychotherapists?

They usually have an advanced qualification in one of the mental health professions - psychiatry, psychology, nursing - and additional training in psychotherapy, although it's becoming more common for psychotherapists to have in-depth psychotherapeutic training rather than this foundation.

In addition, therapists tend to be curious and non-judgemental people who believe that clients can be helped to get better.

What happens during psychotherapy?

Sessions take place at the same place and time, usually every week or every fortnight, and whatever is said or done during the 50 or 60 minutes is confidential.

 In individual therapy, the client and therapist usually sit in chairs (the chaise longue is rarely used these days).

Group therapy involves three or more clients, and can be the best kind for certain types of problem.
Some people use a combination of therapeutic techniques, such as individual and marital therapy (where a couple meets with one or two therapists).

No matter what the technique, the underpinning principle is that psychotherapy is no magic cure; rather, the capacity for cure lies within each person. Over time, clients develop a sense of mastery over their situations, feelings, thoughts and behaviours.

The problem for the lay person trying to understand therapy is that there are so many schools of psychotherapy, but the subject seems less mysterious once you have an overview of the different types and their history.

Counselling or psychotherapy?

The difference between the two is a hotly debated issue. The British Psychological Society defines counselling as a system intended to 'help people improve their sense of wellbeing, alleviate their distress, resolve their crises and increase their ability to solve problems and make decisions for themselves'.

This suggests it works best with people who already have a sense of wellbeing and are able to solve problems and make decisions but need a helping hand during a crisis.
Psychotherapy might be more helpful for psychological problems that have built up over years than at a time of crisis or distress. Given the variety of opinion on this subject, there's bound to be someone who reads this and disagrees, and they'll probably have a view worth listening to.

By :http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/mental_health/therapy_psych.shtml

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What Is Stress?

Stress is the emotional and physical strain caused by our response to pressure from the outside world. Common stress reactions include tension, irritability, inability to concentrate, and a variety of physical symptoms that include headache and a fast heartbeat.

It's almost impossible to live without some stress. And most of us wouldn't want to, because it gives life some spice and excitement. But if stress gets out of control, it may harm your health, your relationships, and your enjoyment of life.
Examples of "overload" situations are common in today's world:

• You and your spouse both work full time while you are raising your family. At the same time, your parents are retired, in ill health, and are dependent on your help with shopping and running errands.
• You are a single person living alone, and your salary isn't rising as fast as the rate of inflation. It's getting harder each month to pay the bills.
• You are a divorced parent and share the custody of your children with your former spouse. But the friction between the two of you on matters concerning the children is becoming more bitter and more frequent.
• The expectations and competition at your workplace is becoming fierce. You find yourself coming in early, staying late, and taking on more work than you can handle.

Managing stress involves learning about:

• How stress affects the mind and body
• How to identify the warning signs of stress
• How to develop good stress-management techniques
• When to seek professional help

What Are The Signs Of Stress?

Stress can cause both mental and physical symptoms. The effects of stress are different for different people.
The mental symptoms of stress include:

• Tension
• Irritability
• Inability to concentrate
• Feeling excessively tired
• Trouble sleeping

The physical symptoms of stress include:

• Dry mouth
• A pounding heart
• Difficulty breathing
• Stomach upset
• Frequent urination
• Sweating palms
• Tight muscles that may cause pain and trembling

Nice To Know: Many addictions are linked to a stressful lifestyle, such as overeating, smoking, drinking, and drug abuse. These are used as an escape or a temporary way of "switching off" - but they do not address the underlying problem.

Facts about stress According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of office visits to family doctors are for stress-related symptoms. Almost everyone experiences events that they find difficult to cope with. In a recent poll, 89 percent of people said they had experienced serious stress in their lives. According to one study, middle-aged men under severe stress who lacked emotional support were five times more likely to die within seven years than those who had the same amount of stress but had close personal ties. A recent study indicated that stress-management programs may reduce the risk of heart problems, including heart attack, by up to 75 percent in people with heart disease. Stress-related mental disorders have been called the fastest-growing occupational (work-related) disease in the U.S.

For mor info : http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/stress/str_whatis.html#top

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Posted in psychological health

Easy Cure For Alcohol Addiction

Most of you must have seen someone addicted to alcohol or you yourself might have suffered from alcohol addiction in the past. Alcoholism can totally ruin life. People who normally have a lot of self-control often have absolutely lost total control over their lives and surrendered to alcoholism, which does not only hurt you physically, mentally and emotionally, but also hurt you professionally and personally.

Alcoholism is a disease and it can become chronic. Your body begins to suffer dramatically from the high levels of alcohol that it has been taking in for so long. Drinking large quantities of alcohol on a regular basis can lead to poisoning of your own body. You could suffer from alcohol poison in many different ways and some of these could cause life long illnesses that could eventually kill you. Alcoholism can damage your liver and if you persist with drinking alcohol it could lead to so much liver damage that it could end up taking your life. Alcohol consumption over a period of time can create malfunctions in your liver and also cause kidney or heart failure. Damage of internal organs can cost you your life, if you do not get immediate treatment.

Alcohol addiction is in fact an illness, a disease, and finding a way to cure you from alcoholism before it destroys your life is a very big challenge. The first step is to realize that you are an alcoholic. It is going to probably be the most difficult thing you will ever experience but once you can “wake up” you will begin to learn more positive, healthier activities, that you can start practicing in your life and convert yourself to a stronger individual.

The treatment steps to recover from alcoholism are intervention, detoxification and rehabilitation. If you are trying to recover from your dependence on alcohol these three steps will have to be taken in order to have the proper treatment and full recovery. You can not do this alone, you will need to get yourself into a rehabilitation program that can treat you during your withdrawal symptoms that will occur once you are not drinking alcohol.

If you or anybody you know is struggling from alcoholism, please take immediate action. And if you have any other medical complications you should know that you are killing yourself slowly and it is vital that you try to stop drinking alcohol immediately. With proper medical assistance, you know that you are in safe hands at all times so that you suffer no complications. They will be able to advise you on the proper steps to completely give up alcohol , and thereby save your life.

Living without alcohol will be an amazing experience for someone who has never experienced it.

Learning new activities, like exercising, and eating healthy, hanging out with people who don’t drink, surrounding yourself with positive things so that you are not ever tempted to consume alcohol again will be the best thing you could do for yourself.

The Addiction Free Forever program shows how to do all 3 of these things and guides you through the process. The Addiction Free Forever Program is guaranteed to show how to permanently end an alcohol or drug problem and have a deeply fulfilling life naturally.
Interested ? Then Visit
http://vital-traffic.com/link/alcoholism

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Posted in psychological health