Fun Messages
Brain Stuff
Test Your Brain
This is really cool, so please read all the way though.
ALZHEIMERS' EYE TEST
Count every " F" in the following text:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS
OF HARD WORK...
(SEE BELOW)
HOW MANY ?
WRONG, THERE ARE 7 -- no joke.
READ IT AGAIN !
Really, go Back and Try to find the 7 F's before you scroll down.
The reasoning behind is further down.
The brain cannot process "OF".
Incredible or what? Go back and look again!!
Anyone who counts all 7 "F's" on the first go is a genius.
Three is normal, four is quite rare.
Do it with your friends.
It will drive them crazy.!
And keep them occupied
For several minutes..!
______________________________________
More Brain Stuff . . . From Cambridge University.
Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if
you can raed tihs psas it on !!
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'The Phoenix Centre' gets Recognised Provider Status by Australian Unity & CBHS
'The Phoenix Centre' gets Recognised Provider Status by Australian Unity & CBHS
Australian Unity & CBHS have approved the Phoenix Centre for Training and Services as a Recognised Provider of Hypnotherapy.
Effective July.11.2006, our CBHS provider number is: CBHS02990
For more information on Hypnotherapy cover, we do suggest you to call CBHS Help Desk at: 1300654123
+++++++++
Effective February.15.2007
Our Australian Unity provider number is: 21041795 for Fairfield service address and 21041796 for Mt Eliza service address
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In order to claim our Services, we will provide with receipts that do contain the following information:
- Provider's full name printed clearly
- Full practice address and telephone number
- Full name of the client
- Date and cost of the Service
- Description of the type of service provided
- Provider Number.
For more information on Hypnotherapy cover, we do suggest you to call Australian Unity at 13 29 39 (local call)
8:30am-8:30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, Monday-Saturday Australia-wide.
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Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the Century
Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the 20th & 21st Centuries
Do you want to know ?
Copy and Paste below to your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPI7zdGdqo4
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"Good" Children - at What Price?
The Secret Cost of Shame by Robin Grille and Beth Macgregor
A five-month-old baby is lying in his mother's arms. He is close to sleep, then wakes and begins to cry. His mother tells him that he should stop being a naughty boy, and that she will be cross with him if he doesn't sleep.
An 18-month-old child is taken to a restaurant with her father and uncle. Her father goes to the bar, leaving the child with the uncle at the table. The child gets down from the table to follow her father. She is grabbed by her uncle and told that she is a bad child, and to stay in her chair. She looks around worriedly for her father.
At an adult's birthday party, a six-year-old is awake long past his bedtime. He is running around the hall with the helium-filled balloons. His father yells at him to leave the balloons alone, and tells him to stop being a trouble-maker.
What did these children learn from these experiences? Many would say that the adults' responses were necessary to teach the child the difference between right and wrong: between "good" and "bad" behavior. Verbal punishment is common in almost every home and school. It relies on shame as the deterrent, in the same way that corporal punishment relies on pain. Shaming is one of the most common methods used to regulate children's behavior. But what if shaming our children is harming our children? Could it be that repeated verbal punishment leaves children with an enduring sense of themselves as inherently "bad"? If so, what can we do differently?
What is Shame?
Shame is designed to cause children to curtail behavior through negative thoughts and feelings about themselves. It involves a comment - direct or indirect - about what the child is. Shaming operates by giving children a negative image about their selves - rather than about the impact of their behavior.
What Does Shaming Look and Sound Like?
Shaming makes the child wrong for feeling, wanting or needing something. It can take many forms; here are some everyday examples: The put-down: "You naughty boy!", "You're acting like a spoiled child!", "You selfish brat!", "You cry-baby!". Moralizing: "Good little boys don't act that way", "You've been a bad little girl". The age-based expectation: "Grow up!", "Stop acting like a baby!", "Big boys don't cry", The gender-based expectation: "Toughen-up!", "Don't be a sissy!", The competency-based expectation: "You're hopeless!". The comparison: "Why can't you be more like so-and-so?", "None of the other children are acting like you are".
How Common is Shaming?
Shaming is very common, and is considered by many to be acceptable. Shaming is not restricted to "abusive" families; in fact, it occurs in the "nicest" of family and school environments. A recent study of Canadian schoolchildren, for instance, found that only 4% had not been the targets of their parents' shaming; including "rejecting, demeaning, terrorizing, criticizing (destructively), or insulting statements" (Solomon & Serres, 1999).
As parents we tend to resort to shaming when we feel overwhelmed, irritated or frustrated, and we feel the need to control our children. Until very recently little consideration has been given to its harmful effects.
Shame: A New Frontier of Psychological Study
The use of corporal punishment against children has been hotly debated, and under increasing negative scrutiny in recent years. More and more nations legislate against it, schools ban it, international organizations devoted to its elimination are proliferating, and research psychologists have amassed mountains of evidence of its long-term damaging effects. In the meantime, the issue of "shaming" as punishment has been largely overlooked. Only recently have psychologists begun to discover that shaming has serious repercussions.
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, says that we are now discovering the role that shame plays in relationship difficulties and violent behavior. There is a new effort by psychologists to study shame, how it is acquired, and how it affects a person's relationships and functioning in society. The study of this previously "ignored emotion" is such a new frontier because it is the most difficult emotion to detect in others. Dr Paul Eckman, from the University of California, says that shame is the most private of emotions, and that humans have yet to evolve a facial expression that clearly communicates it. Is this why we might not see when our children are suffering from this secret emotion?
How Shame is Acquired
Children have a natural desire to develop a social conscience. When treated with the same respect as adults, and exposed to adults who respect each other; children will naturally develop a capacity for empathic, caring and respectful behavior.
No-one is born ashamed. It is a learned, self-conscious emotion, which starts at roughly two years of age with the advent of language and self-image. Although humans are born with a capacity for shame, the propensity to become ashamed in specific situations is learned.
This means that wherever there is shame, there has been a shamer. We learn to be ashamed of ourselves because someone of significance in our lives put us to shame. Shaming messages are more powerful when they come from those we are closest to, from people we love, admire or look up to. That is why parents' use of shaming can have the deepest effects on children. However, shaming messages from teachers, older siblings and peers can also injure a child's self-image. Since children are more vulnerable and impressionable than adults, shaming messages received in childhood are significantly more difficult to erase.
Messages of shame are mostly verbal, but there can be great shaming power in a look of disdain, contempt, or disgust.
Why Is Shaming So Common?
Shaming acts as a pressure valve to relieve parental frustration. Shaming is an anger-release for the parent; it makes the shamer feel better - if only momentarily.
When made to feel unworthy, children often work extra hard to please their parents. This makes the parent think that the shaming has "worked". But has it?
The Damaging Effects of Shame
To understand the damage wrought by shame, we need to look deeper than the goal of "good" behavior. If we think that verbal punishment has "worked" because it changed what the child is doing, then we have dangerously limited our view of the child to the behaviors that we can see. It is all too easy to overlook the inner world of children: the emotions that underlie their behavior, and the suffering caused by shame. It is also easy to miss what the child does once out of range of the shamer.
Even well-meaning adults can sometimes underestimate children's sensitivity to shaming language. There is mounting evidence that some of the words used to scold children - household words previously thought "harmless" - have the power to puncture children's self-esteem for years to come. A child's self-identity is shaped around the things they hear about themselves. A ten-year-old girl, for example, was overcome with anxiety after spilling a drink. She exclaimed over and over: "I'm so stupid! I'm so stupid!". These were the exact words her mother had used against her. She lived in fear of her parents' judgement, and learned to shame herself in the same way that she had been shamed.
If children's emotional needs are dismissed, if their experiences are trivialized, they grow up feeling unimportant. If they are told that they are "bad" and "naughty", they absorb this message and take this belief into adulthood.
Shame makes people feel diminished. It is a fear of being exposed, and leads to withdrawal from relationships. Shaming creates a feeling of powerlessness to act, and to express oneself: we want to dance, but we're stopped by memories of being told not to be "so childish". We seek pleasure, but we're inhibited by inner voices telling us we are "self-indulgent" or "lazy". We strive to excel, or to speak out, but we're held back by a suspicion that we are not good enough. Shame takes the shape of the inner voices and images that mimic those who told us "Don't be stupid," or "Don't be silly!"
Shame restrains a child's self-expression: having felt the sting of an adult's negative judgement, the shamed child censors herself in order to escape being branded as "naughty" or "bad". Shame crushes children's natural exuberance, their curiosity, and their desire to do things by themselves.
Thomas Scheff, a University of California sociologist, has said that shame inhibits the expression of all emotions - with the occasional exception of anger. People who feel shamed tend toward two polarities of expression: emotional muteness and paralysis, or bouts of hostility and rage. Some swing from one to the other.
Like crying for sadness, and shouting for anger, most emotions have a physical expression which allows them to dissipate. Shame doesn't. This is why the effects of shame last well into the long term.
Recent research tells us that shame motivates people to withdraw from relationships, and to become isolated. Moreover, the shamed tend to feel humiliated and disapproved of by others, which can lead to hostility, even fury. Numerous studies link shame with a desire to punish others. When angry, shamed individuals are more likely to be malevolent, indirectly aggressive or self-destructive. Psychiatrist Peter Loader states that people cover up or compensate for deep feelings of shame with attitudes of contempt, superiority, domineering or bullying, self-deprecation, or obsessive perfectionism.
Severe Shame and Mental Illness
When shaming has been severe or extreme, it can contribute to the development of mental illness. This link has been underestimated until now. Researchers are increasingly finding connections between early childhood shaming and conditions such as depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. In his book, The Psychology of Shame, Gershen Kaufman goes further to assert a link between shaming and addictive disorders, eating disorders, phobias and sexual dysfunction.
Shame Doesn't Teach about Relationship or Empathy
While shaming has the power to control behavior, it does not have the power to teach empathy. When we repeatedly label a child "naughty" or otherwise, we condition them to focus inwardly, and they become pre-occupied with themselves and their failure to please. Thus children learn to label themselves, but learn nothing about relating, or about considering and comprehending the feelings of others. For empathy to develop, children need to be shown how others feel. In calling children "naughty", for example, we have told the child nothing about how we feel in response to their behavior. Children cannot learn about caring for others' feelings, nor about how their behavior impacts on others, while they are thinking: "There is something wrong with me." In fact, psychotherapists and researchers are finding that individuals who are more prone to shame, are less capable of empathy toward others, and more self-preoccupied.
The only true basis for morality is a deeply felt empathy toward the feelings of others. Empathy is not necessarily what drives the "well-behaved" "good boy" or "good girl".
The Myth of Morality
We are naive to confuse shame-based compliance with morally motivated behavior. At best, repeated shaming leads to a shallow conformism, based on escaping disapproval and seeking rewards. The child learns to avoid punishment by becoming submissive and compliant. The charade of "good manners" is not necessarily grounded in true interpersonal respect.
What Should We Consider Shameful?
Shame varies among cultures and families: what is considered shameful in one place may be permissible, unremarkable, even desirable in another. What is called "naughty behavior" is usually arbitrary and subjective: it varies significantly from family to family.
In one family, nudity is acceptable, in another unthinkable. Being noisy and boisterous is welcome in one family, frowned upon in another. While one family might enjoy speaking all at once around the dinner table, another family might find this rude. Such examples help us to realize that our way is not the only way: that our own way of deciding what is shameful behavior can be arbitrary and variable.
The History of Shaming
Children have been shamed for many hundreds of years. Historically, they have been thought to be inherently antisocial, and their behavior was seen through this lens. One seventeenth century author, Richard Allestree, wrote: "The newborn babe is full of the stains and pollution of sin, which it inherits from our first parents through our loins"1. In the Middle Ages, the ritual of Baptism actually included the exorcism of the devil from the child. Children who were felt to be too demanding were thought to be possessed by demons. Some early church fathers declared that if a baby cried more than a little, she was committing a sin. It has been an age-old pattern to blame the child for the numerous challenges and difficulties encountered by parents.
This way of thinking about children has persisted into modern times, although in less extreme ways. For example, a child having a tantrum is often seen as "spoiled", and deliberately trying to antagonize his parents. A crying child risks being described as a "little terror" or "whiner" who is "just trying to get attention".
There is no question that parenting can be frustrating sometimes. But it is groundless to automatically assume that the child is out to upset us, or to attribute some kind of nasty intention to the child. This imagined malevolence is usually what underlies the impulse to shame children.
A Shift in Attitude: Respecting the Child
It is entirely possible to set strong boundaries with children without shaming. However, this requires a fundamental attitude shift, beginning with re-evaluating what we think is motivating our child's behavior.
Children have a natural desire to develop a social conscience. When treated with the same respect as adults, and exposed to adults who respect each other; children will naturally develop a capacity for empathic, caring and respectful behavior.
"Misbehavior"? Or Developmental Stage?
Toddlers can be exasperating. But does this mean they're "misbehaving"?
Sometimes what we condemn as "misbehavior" is simply the child's attempt to have some need met in the best way they know, or to master a new skill. The more parents can accept this, the less they are tempted to shame children into growing up faster. For instance, it is normal for toddlers to be selfish, possessive, exuberant and curious. It is not unusual for two-year-olds to be unable to wait for something they want, as they don't understand time the way adults do. It is quite ordinary for three-year-olds to be sometimes defiant or hostile. If we shame instead of educate, we interrupt a valuable and stage-appropriate learning process, and our own opportunity to learn about the child's needs is lost.
A three-year-old who defies her mother by refusing to pack up her toys - after being told to do so repeatedly - may be attempting to forge a separate and distinct self-identity. This includes learning to exercise her assertiveness, and learning to navigate open conflict. Toddlers can be exasperating. But does this mean they're "misbehaving"?
Sensible limits are essential, but if children are shamed for their fledgling and awkward attempts at autonomy, they are prevented from taking a vital step to maturity and confidence. In the period glibly called the "terrible twos", and for the next couple of years, toddlers are discovering how to set their own boundaries. They are learning to assert their distinct individuality, their sense of will. This is critical if they are to learn how to stand up for themselves, to feel strong enough to assert themselves, and to resist powerful peer pressures later in life. If we persist in crushing their defiance, and shaming children into submission, we teach them that setting boundaries for themselves is not okay.
Even babies are thought to misbehave, such as when they don't sleep when they are told to. How could a five-month-old baby, for example, possibly be "naughty" for failing to go to sleep? Though it can be difficult for parents when babies experience disturbed sleep, it is nonsensical to see a non-sleeping baby as "disobeying" the parent, and to blame the baby for this.
Consider the example of an eight-month-old who crawls over to something that has flashing lights and interesting sounds. He pulls himself up to it and begins to explore. He does not know that it is his father's prized stereo. He finds himself being tapped on his hand by his mother, who tells him to stop being naughty. He cries. At eight months, a baby is unable to tell the difference between a toy and another's valuable property, and would be incapable of self-restraint if he could. Children's ceaseless curiosity - a frequent target for shaming - is what drives them to learn about the world. When a child's exploration is encouraged in a safe way, rather than castigated, their self-confidence grows. Unfortunately, we frequently call a behavior which may be entirely stage-appropriate "naughty", simply because it threatens our need for order, or creates a burden for us.
A flustered mother and her distraught four-year-old daughter emerge from a local store. The girl is sobbing as she is forcefully strapped into her stroller. "Stop it, you whiner!" screams the mother, as she shakes her finger in the little girl's face. Children are often berated for simply crying. Many people believe that a crying baby or child is misbehaving. Strong expressions of emotion - such as anger and sadness - are the child's natural way of regulating their nervous system, while communicating their needs. Children cry when they are hurting, and they have a right to express this hurt! Even though it is often hard to listen to, it must be remembered that it is a healthy, normal reaction that deserves attention. It is tragic to see how often children are shamed for crying.
Here is a further example of what happens when we are unaware of developmental norms. Until recently, toddlers were started on potty-training far too early, before they were organically capable of voluntary bowel control. Many found this transition to be a battle, and toddlers were commonly shamed and punished for what was a normal inability. What was once a struggle for both parents and children has been greatly alleviated through more accurate information about childhood development. Shaming often takes place when we try to encourage or force a behavior that is developmentally too early for the child's age.
We have come a long way in our understanding about child development in recent decades, and made many advances in childcare as a result. Easy-to-read child-development books fill the stores, by authors such as Penelope Leach, Katie Allison Granju, Pinky McKay and Jan Hunt, and these can help parents to have reasonable and realistic expectations of their children. Children and parents are both happier when parents have reasonable and age-appropriate expectations of their child's behavior.
Understanding Instead of Shaming
Is it possible to understand what motivates children when they are "behaving badly", instead of shaming them? What might "bad" behavior be a reaction to?
When we don't seek to understand a child's "bad" behaviors, we risk neglecting their needs. For instance, sometimes children repeatedly behave aggressively - over and above what can normally be expected of children their age. This could be due to conflict in the home, bullying at school, or competition with a sibling. Often what we expediently label as "bad" behavior is a vital signal that the child in question might actually be hurting. Research has repeatedly shown that a consistent pattern of antisocial behaviors, for example hostility and bullying, are children's reactions to having felt victimized in some way. Children often "act out" their hurts aggressively, when they have not found a safe way to show that they have been hurt.
Ironically, shame itself can be the underlying cause of difficult behavior. Since shaming is a judgment from someone with more power than the child, this makes the child feel small and powerless. Sometimes, children turn the tables: they reclaim this lost power by finding another person to push around - usually someone smaller or more vulnerable than themselves.
Children are usually highly sensitive to the "vibes" in their environment; they pick up tensions between their parents, or other family members. At times "naughty" behavior may be the child's way of reacting to this tension.
Children are less given to act out when they are receiving enough attention, when their hunger for play, discovery and pleasurable human contact is satisfied. Provocative behavior can indicate boredom, or perhaps the need for another "dose" of happy engagement with someone who is not feeling irritable, someone who has the time and energy to spare.
Finally, children can be grumpy or "difficult" simply from over-tiredness. In this case, what is dismissed as "bad" behavior might be a child's way of saying "I'm over the edge, and I can't handle it". Curiously enough, when we as parents react with verbal assaults, we are communicating the same thing. Isn't yelling at children that they are "naughty" or "terrible" (or worse) a kind of adult tantrum, a dysfunctional adult way of coping with frustration?
It is worth remembering that some causes of "misbehavior" are a lot less obvious. For instance, children need to feel our strength - they are uncomfortable with weakness in our personal boundaries. They need exposure to our true feelings, and they sense when we are hiding or pretending. They need their feelings and opinions validated, and are highly sensitive to poor empathy. Frequently, they react to any of these conditions by becoming provocative. Sometimes we blame and shame children for their vexing behavior, because the causes are hard to see.
Cultivating Empathy: Through Remembering
Parents often do to their children as was done to them. It is known that violence can be passed down through generations. Many parents realize that they are perpetuating a cycle in which they are shaming their children, in the same ways that they were once shamed by their own parents. Those that have forgotten the sting and humiliation of being shamed, risk being insensitive to the shame they inflict on their own children. Change requires deepening one's empathy toward the child, and this comes from remembering how it felt to be a child. The understanding that comes from seeing the world through a child's eyes can help adults to influence children without shaming them.
Managing Emotions
As parents, it is not unusual to find ourselves struggling, frazzled, or nearing an emotional boiling-point. When we don't find healthy ways to discharge this frustration, we risk taking it out on our children. Although irritation is a normal part of parenting, this is not because children are "too demanding". Children are children, and the fact that child-rearing can be difficult is not their fault. There are many ways to reroute our excess anger, such as chopping wood, going for a walk, or talking our frustration through with friends.
Everyone's capacity for loving patience is finite; that's human. When parents experience excessive strain this is largely due to our adherence to the myth that it takes just two adults to raise a child. Our society has grossly underestimated the energy required to truly meet children's needs. We can avoid shaming simply by sharing the load - by asking for, and accepting, practical help from trusted friends and community. When we hear ourselves shaming our children, we might take this as a sign that we are needing more assistance.
What Do We Do Now? A New Paradigm for Boundary Setting
Respectful boundary-setting implies a strong statement about you, as opposed to a negative statement about the child. In this way, children gradually develop a good capacity to hear and comprehend the feelings of others. Children benefit from open expression of emotions; from seeing when their parents are angry, or upset. It is OK to be angry with your children, to let them see you are annoyed at something they have done, (as long as you don't shock or terrorize them). Children learn best when they can see the kind of impact their behavior has on the feelings of others. Finally, it helps children to listen to and respect your feelings, if their right to express their feelings is equally respected.
Redirecting the Child's Impulses
From time to time, we are compelled to intervene in our child's activity, when we fear that either a person or a treasured object might get hurt. Shaming can be avoided if, instead of just chastising or stopping the child, we also provide a safer, alternative activity. Occasional aggression is part of normal, balanced healthy development. Children are often shamed and punished for this, when instead they could be shown ways to channel their natural aggression safely. Sometimes it is important to re-evaluate whether we need to chastise at all. A guideline comes from considering whether the behavior in question is actually causing harm to anyone, or creating a concrete risk.
The Role Model
Role-modeling is the most powerful teaching tool. Children don't do what you say, they do as you do. The kind of respect they show others and themselves is a reflection of the kind of respect they have themselves been shown - and the respect they have witnessed displayed between the important people in their lives. Are we role-modeling the kind of behavior that we want our children to display?
Conclusion
Many people are still convinced that smacking or shaming are the only antidotes for preventing antisocial behaviors in children. The suggestion of giving up shaming or smacking is misinterpreted by some as attempts to disempower parents; to turn them into guilt-laden, ineffectual and permissive wimps. Not so. The most effective and healthy boundaries can be set without resorting to violence or shaming. Being strong with children does not mean being harsh, or humiliating.
There are alternatives to shaming that are healthier and more effective. Children who are shown consistent boundaries by parents who are able to express their feelings and needs in a trusting and respectful way, grow up with stronger self-worth and social awareness, free of the toxic effects of shame.
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SleepTalk Can Help Your Child
Joane Goulding's SleepTalk™ for Children is a powerful process of positive parenting that allows parents to take back control of their children's behavior.
What are the benefits I can expect if I use SleepTalk™ for Children.
Benefits to the Child:
- Increased Confidence and Assertiveness
- The ability to reach goals and move to-wards full potential
- Better health and well being
- Improved Behavior
- Increased Enjoyment of school
- Improved Concentration
- Better Relationships
- The confidence to say No - to sexual harassment, drugs, peer group pressure and bullying.
Benefits to the Family:
- A happy home environment
- Improved communication
- Less family tension and fights
- Reduced need for specialist help
- Better relationships - less sibling rivalry
- Takes only about 3 minutes of your time each evening.
- It encompasses all the basic processes that we have discussed.
- SleepTalk™ gives you peace of mind - enables you to take back control
- Once positive messages have been adsorbed they will stay with your child forever. Much like their own personal guardian when you are not around and they leave home.
It may only take 7 - 21 days before you notice changes occurring in your child’s attitude’s, happiness and general state of mind.
What the children say
The fairies talk to me at night and they tell me they love me. They sound just like my Mum.
I know you love me because you tell me so at night Daddy
The Phoenix Centre for Training and Services offers to its clients SleepTalk™ for Children. Because we believe wellbeing should start at the ROOT !
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The 10 Worst Things To Say To Your Kids
A parent's temporary loss of control may, unfortunately, mean permanent heartache for your youngster. The 10 Worst Things To Say To Your Kids
Let's face it: when you come home tired and irritable and discover your daughter has again left the books for her homework at school, even the most understanding parent may find themselves blurting: How can you be so stupid - When are you going to learn to think? Or, taking the children on holiday and all they do is fight with each other, even the most patient parent might ask aloud:Why did I ever have children?
All parents are bound to lose control occasionally - and lose sight of the fact that their words can make a child feel wounded, rejected or unloved. Whether menacing, negative or hostile statements are said intentionally or just slip out, the result is always the same: you feel temporarily relieved perhaps, but real damage may be done to your child's self-esteem and the bond of trust between you.
It's important to recognize - and resist - saying hurtful things. A parent must learn to handle their own anger and frustration in order to teach a child how to behave.
Here are 10 statements that experts agree are used often by parents and are most harmful:
1. Why can't you be more like ...? - Every child is unique and an individual.
2. Why don't you act your age? - Many times when we insist a child act their age, they are.
3. Must you always look such a slob? - Criticism only lays the groundwork for an unproductive power struggle. The key is to strike a balance.
4. You're the funny one/athletic one/pretty one - Labels we give children can be problematic, confirming and, when negative, are also demeaning. A negative label can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
5. How could you be so stupid? -Stupid is a loaded word that can be especially damaging to a child's self-esteem and confidence. Compounding a belief they are not unconditionally loved.
6. Sometimes I wish I'd never had kids. - A child hears You're worthless, I wish you weren't my kid. I don't want yo. Terrible hurtful messages a child carries around, often unconsciously into adulthood.
7. Leave me alone! - An angry dismissal of a child can make them feel unloved and unwanted.
8. Shut up! - Apart from being impolite, degrading, controlling and demeaning, children learn by example.
9. Do it - or else! - A child may not be continually motivated by something so vague and unspecific.
10.If you don't come with me now, I'll leave without you. - Threat of abandonment as a discipline tool, is a destructive approach to take and pretty scary for a child. It reinforces a fear that young children already have – that a parent might disappear and never come back.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN - NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE - WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES -WE NEED TO LEARN FROM THEM - FORGIVE OURSELVES - AND MOVE ON.
The following alternative approach to family communications and issues may help:
- Encouragement Vs praise. - Encourages consistent progressive effort to achieve their best.
- Choices and Consequences. - Indicates personal responsibility and consequences of choice made.
- Rejecting child's behavior rather than the child. - Before child sleeps correct any negative comments.
For information regarding a private SleepTalk™ consultation contact:
The Phoenix Centre for Training and Services by Phone: (03) 94863337
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A parent's temporary loss of control may, unfortunately, mean permanent heartache for your youngster. The 10 Worst Things To Say To Your Kids
Teaching Children To Think Positively
By replacing worries with desire and faith, you can help your child become happier.
By Patti Teel
While wed like to believe that our children live carefree lives devoid of concerns and worries, many children become anxious and self-critical at an early age. However, parents can help their children to develop positive thinking, a discipline that can be developed through practice. Children can learn to replace worries with desire and faith, and to think and speak more positively. (In child-like lingo, this would amount to imagining that things will happen the way we want them to, and always saying good things about ourselves.)
Many children are born optimists. They have a wonderful feeling of self-assurance and absolute faith that their wishes and desires will come true. However, other children seem to be born worriers. They may worry about speaking in front of their class, that they are stupid, that no one likes them, etc. etc. Their list of worries can go on and on. Worrying is one of the most disregarded forms of stress. Instead of focusing on what we desire or want, worry focuses on what will happen when things go wrong.
We attract what we pay attention to, but oftentimes children (and adults) dont realize that they are focusing on what they dont want, rather than what they do want. For instance, if you and your child have been sick, youre probably both clear that this is not what you want. However, if youre thinking and worrying about being sick, its an entirely different perspective than focusing on being well.
When your child expresses a worry by telling you what she doesnt want to have happen, help her to identify and then start focusing on what she truly wants to have happen instead. For instance, if your daughter says, I dont want to go to the party because no one will play with me, help her to identify what she wants by asking, What would you like to have happen at the party? And then, What if you have fun at the party? Children who worry a lot are great candidates for visualization and imagery. The truth is, worry is negative visualization and it takes a vivid imagination to imagine such horrible scenarios! Gradually, teach your children to focus on their wants and desires, rather than their fears and worries. Tell stories in which your child faces and overcomes a fear or attains her goal. Eventually she will be able to visualize these positive scenarios on her own.
Think and speak positively
Challenge your child to direct all statements that start with I am, towards positive statements and goals. Negative affirmations such as Im just stupid or Im always sick are very harmful because they can penetrate a childs subconscious, which accepts themhook, line, and sinker. Our minds and bodies are not separate entitiesthey are connected. When a child creates positive pictures and self-suggestion, it can have a beneficial effect on both his physical and emotional health. It sounds simplistic; however, children who picture themselves as happy and healthy will be taking an important step towards becoming happy and healthy throughout their entire lives. Happiness and improved health are gifts that each child can give himself through the power of his own thoughts and imagination.
As parents, we always need to keep in mind that we are our childrens heroes and role models. If we are continuously worried and self-critical, our children are likely to be the same. Worrying projects negative energy and it doesnt do you or your children a bit of good. In fact, when children are aware that their parents are worried about them, it projects a lack of faith and they tend to feel more anxious. Admittedly, there are times when our worries are well founded. Even then, instead of worrying and imagining the worst possible scenario, try to focus on the positive outcome that you desire and on actions that can help to bring it about.
At the Phoenix Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, we offer Hypnotherapy sessions and Sleep Talk Coaching to help your children think positively..
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Advanced Hypnotherapy Certification now offered at The Phoenix Centre
The Phoenix Centre for Training and Services, now offers 5 PATH - 7th PATH Advanced Hypnotherapy Certification. For those who are considering Hypnotherapy as their life career, this program will teach you very powerful techniques that will give you the extra confidence you need to help people more effectively. Whether you are a Hypnotherapist, a Health Professional or a Beginner, this program will give you an edge and will put very powerful tools in your tool box.
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What the BLEEP is 5-PATH® Hypnotherapy and 7th Path Self-Hypnosis®.
What the BLEEP is 5-PATH Hypnotherapy and 7th Path Self-Hypnosis ?
We have been asked these questions so many times ...... that we have decided you should hear it from the founder himself.
Cut and paste into your browser the following link:
http://www.hypnosiscenter.com/graduate-testament.htm
and find out 'The Secret' revealed !
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Eliminating Sugar Addiction Through Hypnotherapy
Eliminating Sugar Addiction Through Hypnotherapy
A high percentage of the Australian population is addicted to processed sugar. Fast and frozen food producers add it to almost everything. This has become a direct cause of our population, especially our children, becoming obese, unhealthier and losing mental ability.
Consumption of excess processed sugar causes:
Obesity
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Death of Brain Cells
Plus Much More!
Diabetes fifty years ago was a negligible problem in Australia. The percentage of increased heart disease has risen dramatically! The cause of many mental illnesses can be directly traced to excessive sugar intake. Sugar consumption is the major culprit to our declining physical and mental health.
We can also find sugar addiction rearing its head in the area of cognitive functioning, including memory, focus, concentration, mental flexibility and levels of creativity. It is not uncommon for a golfer or tennis player to have a focus issue and find it related to dietary intake. Another vivid example is a student having test anxiety with memory recall problems. Sugar addiction and under-nutrition are usually screaming out for attention.
While the management of any addiction is certainly challenging, the recovery from the sugar pest is particularly so, as it is so ingrained in our daily lives, as well as the way we socialize. From our childrens day care center asking for freshly baked sweet chocolate biscuits, to our office party, it is all there greeting us over and over in many different hidden forms. We cannot sit down and watch a television program or pick up a magazine without some sugar substance staring us in the face.
Hypnotherapy is one of the fastest growing fields of human achievement. As hypnotherapists we work with people who are frustrated because nothing else has helped them overcome, among many others, this addiction in particular.
They have tried every other avenue that they can think of without success. Hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis help people succeed in making those important changes that they so desperately need, to remain with healthy bodies and minds. Hypnotherapy has proven to be one of the most efficient and cost effective modes of therapy eliminating unhealthy habits and addictions.
The Phoenix Centre for Training and Services, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, has put in motion a series of Seminars and Workshops where you can learn how Hypnotherapy can help you in what is needed to completely eliminate this addiction for total success. We will assist you to get back control of your life. Call to find more at 03-94863337
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Sleeping Problems ?
SLEEPING PROBLEMS ?
Sleep is essential for mental and physical restoration. It is a cycle with two separate states: rapid eye movement (REM), the stage in which most dreaming occurs; and non-REM (NREM). Four stages of sleep take place during NREM: stage I, when the person passes from relaxed wakefulness; stage II, an early stage of light sleep; stages III and IV, which are increasing degrees of deep sleep. Most stage IV sleep (also called delta sleep), occurs in the first several hours of sleep. A period of REM sleep normally follows a period of NREM sleep.
Sleeping Problems (SP) are more common in women and older adults. Short-term, or transient, SP are a common occurrence and usually lasts only a few days. Long-term, or chronic lasts more than three weeks and increases the risk for injuries in the home, at the workplace, and while driving because of daytime sleepiness and decreased concentration. Chronic SP can also lead to mood disorders like depression.
Causes & symptoms
Transient SP are often caused by a temporary situation in a person's life, such as an argument with a loved one, a brief medical illness, or jet lag. When the situation is resolved or the precipitating factor disappears, the condition goes away, usually without medical treatment.
Chronic SP usually have different causes, and there may be more than one. These include:
• A medical condition or its treatment, including sleep apnea
• Use of substances such as caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine
• Mood swings or anxiety disorders
• Stress
• Disturbed sleep cycles caused by a change in work shift
• Sleep-disordered breathing, such as snoring
• Periodic jerky leg movements (nocturnal myoclonus), which happen just as the individual is falling asleep
• Repeated nightmares or panic attacks during sleep.
Another cause is excessive worrying about whether or not a person will be able to go to sleep, which creates so much anxiety that the individual's bedtime rituals and behavior actually makes it harder to fall asleep. The more one worries about falling asleep, the harder it becomes.
Symptoms
People who have SP do not start the day refreshed from a good night's sleep. They are tired. They may have difficulty falling asleep, and commonly lie in bed tossing and turning for hours. Or the individual may go to sleep without a problem but wakes in the early hours of the morning and is either unable to go back to sleep, or drifts into a restless unsatisfying sleep. This is a common symptom in the elderly and in those suffering from depression. Sometimes sleep patterns are reversed and the individual has difficulty staying awake during the day and takes frequent naps. The sleep at night is fitful and frequently interrupted.
Treatment
It can be useful for the person suffering SP to keep a daily record for two weeks of sleep patterns, food intake, use of alcohol, medications, exercise, and any other relevant. If the person with SP has a bed partner, information can be obtained about whether the person with SP snores or is restless during sleep.
Changes in behavior
Patients can make changes in their daily routine that are simple and effective in treating their SP. They should go to bed only when sleepy and use the bedroom only for sleep. Other activities like reading, watching television, or snacking should take place somewhere else. If they are unable to go to sleep, they should go into another room and do something that is relaxing, like reading. Watching television should be avoided because it has an arousing effect. The person should return to bed only when they feel sleepy. Patients should set the alarm and get up every morning at the same time, no matter how much they have slept, to establish a regular sleep-wake pattern. Naps during the day should be avoided, but if absolutely necessary, than a 30 minute nap early in the afternoon may not interfere with sleep at night.
Another successful technique is called sleep-restriction therapy, which restricts the amount of time spent in bed to the actual time spent sleeping. This approach allows a slight sleep debt to build up, which increases the individual's ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. If a patient is sleeping five hours a night, the time in bed is limited to 5-5 1/2 hours. The time in bed is gradually increased in small segments,with the individual rising at the same time each morning; at least 85% of the time in bed must be spent sleeping.
We, at The Phoenix Centre for Training and Services can recognize and treat SP effectively and efficiently. The treatment includes alleviating any physical and emotional problems that are contributing to the condition and exploring changes in lifestyle that will improve the situation. We combine very powerful techniques that will allow you get back that beautiful sleep you have been longing and surely deserve.
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Panic Attacks
Panic Attacks: What Exactly Are They, How Do You Know You are Having One, What Should You Do?
About one out of every 75 people may experience a panic attack at some point in their life, but for some, the very fear of having another attack can lead to full-fledged panic disorder, and a number of serious related complications.
Although panic attacks have been associated with major life events (graduating college, getting married, having a child), and your risk increases if a family member has had them, panic attacks often occur without warning, and can happen to anyone -- even while you're asleep.
Experts often compare panic attacks to your body's natural "fight-or-flight" response. If you were in danger, your heart rate and breathing would speed up, and you'd be prepared to react to the threat. In the case of a panic attack, you experience this agitated state of being, but without any real threat or stimulus present.
Much More Than 'Stressed Out': Signs of a Real Panic Attack
You've certainly felt flustered at one time or another, or maybe about to lose your cool. These feelings, though intense, are not nearly on the same level as a real panic attack, which prompts feelings of sheer terror. Symptoms include:
Racing, rapid heartbeat
Shortness of breath, hyperventilation
Sweating, trembling
Dizziness, lightheadedness or nausea
Terror, fear that you're going crazy
Choking, chest pains, abdominal cramps
Hot flashes or chills
Tingling in fingers or toes
Headache
A fear that you're going to die
Aside from the above symptoms, panic attacks occur suddenly, without warning, and are unrelated to any actual threats (they can occur when you're out shopping, eating dinner, etc.). Most panic attacks peak within 10 minutes but can last up to a half-hour. Attacks can also repeat themselves for hours.
Health Risks: When Panic Attacks Progress to Panic Disorder
Although panic attacks are not dangerous in-and-of-themselves (other than leaving you feeling fatigued and probably frightened), they can progress into panic disorder, a condition that can become so severe it interferes with daily living.
Panic disorder affects about 600.000 Australians (and about twice as many women as men), according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Your panic attacks may have progressed to panic disorder if:
You have frequent panic attacks
You constantly worry about having more attacks
You change your behavior as a result of your panic attacks (avoiding locations or situations where you've had an attack, etc.)
Panic disorder can make a person fearful of leaving their home, interacting in social situations or partaking in other activities in which they fear a panic attack may occur. The fear can easily progress into a more serious phobia, such as agoraphobia (the fear of going outdoors), and other conditions, like depression, if help is not sought. There are other side effects as well. According to the American Psychological Association, people with panic disorders:
Have an increased risk of suicideAre more likely to abuse drugs and alcoholVisit hospital emergency rooms more oftenEngage in fewer hobbies, sports and other enjoyable activities
Are often financially dependent on others
Feel less healthy (emotionally and physically) than those without the condition
Are often afraid of driving more
than a few miles from home
What to Do if You Have Panic Attacks or Panic Disorder
When a panic attack is occurring, there's not much that can ease the symptoms, however, there are many methods that can help prevent the onset of future attacks. Chief among these is learning how to use relaxation and stress-management techniques to your advantage, including:
Meditation
Breathing techniques (breathing slowly and deeply)
Aerobic exercise
Muscle relaxation
Guided imagery (imagining yourself in a peaceful place)
Getting adequate sleep
For those with frequent attacks, or who think they may have panic disorder, therapy is effective and recommended. The therapy's goal is to help you understand the disorder, develop new, positive ways of thinking about the attacks, identify triggers, and overcome your fears and phobias.
Therapy is often combined with relaxation techniques. Above all else, it's important to remember that panic attacks and panic disorder are completely treatable and can be overcome.
At the Phoenix Centre Melbourne, Australia, we use the new and revolutionary 5 PATH - 7th PATH (R) Hypnotherapy system to help people overcome panic attacks. Call us at 03-94863337 to find out more
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Hypnotherapy Helps at Letting Go Of Heavy Emotions
Hypnotherapy Helps at Letting Go Of Heavy Emotions
Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are but princesses that are waiting to see us act just once with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest essence, something helpless that needs our love.
-Rainer Maria Rilke
From "The Woman's Book of Resilience: 12 Qualities to Cultivate," by Beth Miller:
Forgiveness is about letting go, really letting go of resentment and bitterness both personal and global. Forgiveness requires strength of character, it requires courage, a courage that needs to be replenished daily and rekindled when it falters. Forgiveness requires a commitment to something other than revenge and the natural desire for retribution and/or an apology. It requires, since there are events and behaviors that are unforgivable, ultimate compassion.
To forgive someone or something implies that there has been a transgression. You have been violated, hurt, insulted, treated badly or inhumanely, or somehow suffered greatly by another's actions. Something very valuable has been taken away; there has been grievous harm. Sometimes the transgression is factual; someone has been murdered, tortured, raped, neglected, beaten, publicly humiliated, or oppressed. Sometimes the transgression is subjective; we get our feelings hurt in ways that would not necessarily hurt someone else's feelings. Someone forgot your name at a party, your child was overlooked for a scholarship, someone assaulted your leadership style, or your boss did not pick up your ideas. As author and Buddhist meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein says, 'We all have tucked away in our unconscious a little list of people who have hurt us in some way in our lives. And we keep the list even though they can no longer hurt us, as if forgiving them will give us amnesia, and we'll get hurt by them again.'
When we have been hurt, we show a feverish intensity to the situation, we hold a magnifying glass on the person or people who hurt us, and we are exquisitely aware of the effect the injury has had on us. Whether objective or subjective, we are faced with similar feelings of being upset and resentful of being treated wrongly. Whether subjective or objective, whether it is a slight or a grievous transgression, when the hurt and insult has created a bur in our psyche we are faced with the heroic task of being responsible for the resulting psychic pain.
Hatred, resentment, and a desire for revenge and getting even are heavy emotions that weigh us down. Heavy emotions, reliving the trauma or fight, and being tied to the past robs creativity, spontaneity, fun, and any semblance of a free life. We become virtual prisoners caged inside our own moods and dark thoughts, whether we are painfully tied to the traumatic insults waged against our bodies and spirits or fueling the flames of everyday grudges and insults. We instinctively know holding hate and resentment is not good for us, but being willing to let it go, knowing we are so justified in feeling a sense of outrage and a desire for justice, is another kettle of fish altogether.
At the Phoenix Centre in Melbourne, Australia, we offer a very structured approach to Hypnotherapy that works to bring about all those changes you have dreamed of for so long
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Loving Yourself
Loving Yourself: How to Raise Your Self-esteem by Barbra Williams Cosentino R.N., C.S.W. Do you berate yourself for things you do or say? Are you afraid to make a mistake? Relax. Chances are you're not a bad person, and most likely, you do at least one thing well. Perhaps it's time for a self-esteem tune-up.
Yale University researchers recently found that a "bad hair day" can be hazardous to your mental health. If something as insignificant as an out-of-control coif can "diminish your self-esteem and inspire feelings of incompetence, self-doubt, and even self-hatred," what might happen if you were late for work? Or had a fight with your boss?
"How we feel about ourselves crucially affects virtually every aspect of our experience...from the way we function at work, in love, in sex, to the way we operate as parents, to how high in life we are likely to rise. The dramas of our lives are the reflections of our most private visions of ourselves," says Nathaniel Branden, a renowned psychotherapist and author, viewed by many as "the father of modern-day self-esteem psychology."
The Foundation of Self-esteem
According to Branden, self-esteem has two components: a feeling of personal competence and a feeling of personal worth, reflecting both your implicit judgment of your ability to cope with life's challenges and your belief that your interests, rights and needs are important. Healthy self-esteem comes from realistically appraising your capabilities, striving to enhance these capabilities, and compassionately accepting your limitations and flaws. Living consciously — thinking independently, being self-aware, being honest with yourself, having an active orientation, taking risks, and respecting reality — says Branden, is the foundation of good self-esteem.
When Self-esteem Abounds
Branden says that people with high levels of self-esteem do the following things:
Face life with greater confidence, benevolence and optimism
Are more likely to reach their emotional, creative and spiritual goals and experience fulfillment, satisfaction and joy
Are more resilient and better equipped to cope with life's adversities
Are more likely to form nourishing, rather than destructive, relationships
When Self-esteem Is Lacking
Psychologist Carl Rogers noted that the more accepting people are of themselves, the more likely they are to accept others. Low self-esteem, on the other hand, can profoundly affect your psychological sense of well-being, causing you to feel disconnected from your own feelings and needs and limiting your ability to make healthy choices in love, work and play. People with poor self-esteem may suffer from a chronic fear of abandonment. Others become driven overachievers, perfectionists, or control freaks, believing that they deserve to be loved only for what they accomplish, rather than simply for who they are.
Many have difficulty making decisions, feeling that a wrong decision will lead to the loss of love. Some get caught in the grip of addictions such as overeating, smoking, alcohol or drug abuse, or compulsive shopping as a way to avoid unpleasant feelings of alienation, insecurity or self-loathing.
Turning Off the Negative Thoughts
In his bestselling book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, psychiatrist David Burns, M.D., says "You don't have to do anything especially worthy to create or deserve self-esteem; all you have to do is turn off that critical, haranguing inner voice, because that critical inner voice is wrong! Your internal self-abuse springs from illogical, distorted thinking."
According to Burns, cognitive distortions such as all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization and personalization can contribute to depression and an impaired sense of self-esteem. His powerfully simple prescription for correcting a negative self-image includes techniques like:
Learning to recognize automatic, self-critical, dysfunctional thoughts that make you feel bad about yourself
Learning to substitute more rational, less upsetting thoughts for these negative ones
Talking back to your internal critic
Raising a Child With Healthy Self-esteem
"The quality of the relationships experienced in childhood appears to be vitally important, since it is at this time that the seeds of self-esteem are sown," says British psychologist Elaine Sheehan. Child development experts believe that infants need to see "the gleam in the mother's eye" and to be sensitively mirrored as a way of learning they are loved and loveable.
However, unlike a daily multivitamin, parents cannot give their children self-esteem, but they must provide an emotional climate in which the child's innate sense of being worthy of love and care can flourish. Self-esteem develops as the result of firm emotional attachment to parents who are loving, nurturing and responsive to their child's needs while providing a sense of structure and consistency.
Overdoing the Praise
Although adult approval is important, many parents and educators today indiscriminately overpraise children, believing this will foster a high self-esteem. Child psychologist Kenneth N. Condrell, Ph.D., explains: "Self-esteem doesn't come from saying 'You're wonderful' or 'You're number one'." In fact, frequent exhortations about a child's specialness may backfire, creating a child who either becomes pathologically dependent on external validation or, conversely, hears so much meaningless praise that he just tunes it out.
One young man who was praised extravagantly for every tiny achievement says, "I started to believe that my parents didn't really expect much of me. If I took a black crayon and scribbled on a piece of paper they would call me a Picasso...it made me think that they didn't believe I could do any better."
A Healthy Balance
True self-esteem comes from within—from mastering new tasks (using the potty, tying one's shoelaces), developing impulse control (sharing toys, waiting for your turn on the slide), knowing your strengths and weaknesses ("I'm good at throwing a ball but not such a good ice-skater"), learning how to solve problems, making and keeping friends, and owning and evaluating your own accomplishments ("now I know my ABC's..."). Bumper stickers that proclaim "My child's an honor student at Smithtown Middle School" may help to promote self-esteem, but the real sense of inner accomplishment and pride comes from the child knowing he has done a good job and worked hard to attain his full potential.
Tips for Building Self-esteem in Children
Nancy Poitou, a marriage and family therapist in Southern California, suggests that parents who want to help their children develop self-esteem follow these guidelines:
Accept your child as a separate human being with emotions that are important.
Respond to your children's successes with small celebrations, & comfort & encourage them when they fail.
Tell your children you love them just the way they are and hug them often.
Speak to your kids with respect and loving kindness.
Teach your children developmentally appropriate decision-making skills.
When disciplining, differentiate the behavior from the child. Do not label the child with name calling, but focus on the child's unacceptable actions.
Show interest in your child's thoughts, feelings and daily activities.
A Rewarding Journey
Learning to feel good about who we are is a journey that takes time, patience, self-awareness and an ability to forgive ourselves for our human frailties. As difficult as that may be, the rewards—self confidence, improved relationships, a more positive self-image and a sense that all's right with the world—make it a goal worth striving for.
At the Phoenix Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, we offer Hypnotherapy sessions to help you raise your Self-Confidend and Self-Esteem
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Hidden Cost of Divorce to Business
Hidden Cost of Divorce to Business
Peter Szabo - Partner - Marshalls and Dent Lawyers
A lot has been written on the huge financial impact sickness, work place accidents and the like have on the business community. However, very little attention has been given to the effects a breakdown of marriage has on a person’s office productivity. Up to 40% of marriages now end in divorce, with the trend increasing. Accordingly, a very large percentage of the workforce is directly affected and involved. Indirectly, virtually everyone is involved in some way in the process, whether as a family member, confidante, or sympathetic work colleague.
There are the obvious and immediate effects to the business, such as absenteeism. Then there is the distraction of the staff member seeking support from within the office during those difficult times. Less obvious are the mistakes that are made due to being distracted, lack of motivation, sometimes for long periods of time, and lack of positive initiative. When a senior and valued executive is effected in this way, the effects on the organisation can be devastating. There are even instances where a separation of top level executives or proprietors has created doubts in the minds of all employees as to the long term viability of the business concerned, with the resultant debilitating consequences. The legal process of divorce proceedings can also be quite stressful. Several attendances at Court may be required as well as counselling in certain circumstances, particularly when children are involved.
Given the above, a concerned employer would observe that it is important to see that the process is carried through quickly and efficiently. Appropriate and sensitive support from the organisation would be beneficial . At the very minimum, the staff member should obtain competent counselling and legal advice. Whilst legal action may not be contemplated and indeed may not even be necessary, at least in this way many popular misconceptions regarding the ramifications of the separation can be disabused. If action is required for the benefit of the employee, then it can be taken sooner rather than later. It is appreciated that different people react differently to the stress of a divorce. By pointing the person in the right direction, the prospects of a speedy recovery can be greatly enhanced. This is particularly so if the work environment provides sympathetic and positive support during these difficult times.
In our view, if your organisation has not yet given consideration to pro-actively providing assistance, it would be advantageous to do so. The message to the recipient is one of care and concern for their welfare. For the organisation, the end result would be a speedier return to a balanced and settled work environment, with improved productivity. The Family Law Department at Marshalls and Dent is well aware of the need to ensure speedy and efficient service, conscious of the concept that “time is money’ both for the organisation and for the staff member concerned.
Personnel managers in your organisation may wish to give consideration to the possibility of contacting us to provide first consultation advice as part of their services to the staff. If there are any inquires in that regard, or regarding counselling and other support services, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Separations may be unavoidable. When they do occur, it is important that they are dealt with quickly, and with dignity. Providing appropriate support to an employee bolsters that objective, for everyone’s benefit.
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Suicide Prevention - Myths About Suicide
Suicide Prevention: How You Can Help by Barb Chandler
Do you know what the warning signs of suicide are and what to do if you spot them in someone you know? The first step is learning the myths and realities of suicide.
Myths about suicide can lead well-intentioned people to handle a suicide crisis improperly. Here are some of the most common ones:
• Myth: Asking suicidal people if they are thinking about committing suicide will put ideas in their heads.
• "If you suspect depression and/or suicidal thinking, the best thing to do is to ask the person directly," says Sandra Simz, LCSW, clinical consultant at Yolo County Suicide Prevention in California. "Suicide is dealt with most effectively when it is discussed openly and with emotional support."
• Myth: People who talk about suicide don't do it.
• All suicidal threats need to be taken seriously, even if you believe the other person is only saying it for a dramatic effect for example, a teenager breaking up with his girlfriend, or a young girl who is teased about her weight by kids at school. It's much better to err in favor of seriousness than to disregard the threat and later have to live with the consequences.
• Myth: Nobody can stop people who say they are going to kill themselves.
• A person who says he is going to kill himself is ambivalent. One part of him wants to live, while the other part wants to be free of his emotional pain and sees death as the only option. Your task is to tip the scales in favor of life.
Warning Signs
If you find yourself talking with a person who has announced his intent to kill himself, look for some of these warning signs of suicidal potential. Keep in mind that each of these factors individually does not necessarily signal suicidal potential.
• Death or terminal illness of a relative or friend
• Divorce, separation, broken relationship, stress on the family
• Loss of health (real or imaginary)
• Loss of job, home, money, status, self-esteem, personal security
There are also certain behaviors associated with suicide. Again, these behaviors individually do not necessarily indicate suicidal potential.
• Requesting euthanasia information
• Writing stories or essays on morbid themes
• Inappropriately saying goodbye
• Having no support system
• Having self-inflicted injuries, such as cuts, burns, or head banging
• Making out a will or giving away favorite possessions
• Experiencing difficult times, such as a holiday or anniversary marking a significant loss
• Abusing drugs or alcohol
• Losing interest in things they usually care about
• Having depression
• Making statements about worthlessness, hopelessness, shame, guilt, self-hatred, or saying "no one cares"
• Neglecting their personal welfare or physical appearance
• Declining performance in schoolwork or other activities
The Importance of Listening
Listening is very important in helping to prevent suicide. Give the person every opportunity to express her feelings about the incidents that have lead her to consider suicide. You may not see the problem as worth killing oneself over, but remember that everyone reacts to crisis differently.
Don't judge her reasons for wanting to commit suicide. This sends the message that you aren't receptive to talking about her pain and don't take it seriously. You need to focus on how badly the other person is feeling and do your best to understand her perspective of the problem.
"It's amazing seeing somebody feeling isolated, hopeless, and afraid becoming a little less so after a conversation in which their feelings were heard, validated, and respected," Simz says. "The more people feel they have a strong support system, the less likely they are to be suicidal."
Ask Questions
As you continue to assess the extent of suicidal risk, you need to ask the person these questions:
• Have you thought about how you are going to kill yourself?
• When do you believe you are going to do this?
• Do you have the means available to kill yourself?
• Have you made a prior suicide attempt?
Preventing a Suicide Attempt
If the person shows several warning signs of suicidal risk and also has a concrete plan for killing himself, you need to get him to the emergency room as soon as possible. If you feel you need assistance, call 911.
On the other hand, if the person has a low or moderate number of warning signs and does not have a suicide plan, he should be seen by a therapist as soon as possible. If he refuses this, suggest that he call a suicide prevention hotline where trained counselors are available by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (see Resources below). People often feel more comfortable calling a hotline than seeing a therapist in person.
At the Phoenix Centre in Melbourne, Australia, we offer a very structured approach to Hypnotherapy that works to bring about all those changes you have dreamed of for so long !
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Mammograms -The Truth comes to the big screen
Mammograms -The Truth comes to the big screen ‘What are your views on mammograms and their risks?’ - Source: www.canceractive.com
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive from women is, The answer to that question was hitherto, ‘The jury’s out’. Now, given recent research findings, that can no longer be our answer. The truth is that, certainly where screening is concerned, ‘They do involve increased cancer risk and they are not wonderfully accurate’.
The Technique
The female oncology nurse I talked to was only half joking. ‘Mammograms were clearly invented by men! Ask any man if he would expose his private parts, put them between two cold metal plates, squeeze them, subject them to ionising radiation once a year on the vague chance that it might show he had a cancer, and he’d say I was mad. At best!’
The Gold Standard
Firstly, let’s clarify the difference between 'screening' and 'diagnostic' mammography.
Screening mammography is performed on healthy women from the age of 40 to 70 and is aimed at identifying anything suspicious, which might then justify further investigation. It is often incorrectly classed by many ‘experts’ under the heading of ‘prevention’ when in truth it is, at best, ‘earlier detection’ over the recommended practice of checking your breasts for lumps by hand.
Diagnostic mammography is used with existing patients or high-risk non-patients who already have existing justification for the test; for example, one or more high-risk factors, clinical symptoms, or a palpable lump. Let us be absolutely clear: In the latter case, where symptoms already exist, there can be little argument about mammography's role as the current 'gold standard' for evaluating and clarifying pre-existing suspicions.
Radiation risks
A recent ten year trial involving screening use on pre-menopausal women aged 40-50, reported in the Lancet (Dec 7th 2006) and funded by the Department of Health and Cancer Research UK ended with the comment that, ‘The findings had to be balanced against possible negative considerations such as an increased radiation exposure which might increase risk later in life’. Frankly it is very good of these two important bodies to ‘come clean’ and clarify once and for all that they believe there to be increased risks from mammogram radiation. For a number of years now, critics have claimed there were significant increased risks but repeated denial by Health authorities and certain leading charities created a ‘murky area’. Not so, any longer.
Let us establish one thing right up front: Mammograms are not X-rays, nor are they the same as having an X-ray, two myths that are regularly included in everyday commentary.
Mammography involves a different type of radiation to that used in ordinary x-rays: A low energy form of ionising radiation. This can pass more readily through tissues but is up to five times more harmful than standard x-rays. The alpha particles of mammograms have both large mass and charge, quite unlike ordinary x-rays, which have neither. (US Journal of Radiation Research 2005). Furthermore, the level of exposure when both breasts are photographed - about 1 rad - is almost 1000 times higher than one chest x-ray, and lucent, pre-menopausal breast tissue has been shown to be especially sensitive to radiation. Each rad of radiation exposure has been shown to increase breast cancer risk by a little over 1 per cent. 10 years of annual screening will therefore result in a 10 to 20 per cent increased breast cancer risk, and these risks obviously increase the younger the subject starts.
It has also now been proven that double strand breaks or even more extensive damage to the DNA can arise from the ionisations from just a single alpha particle as it tracks through a cell, whereas multiple x-ray photons would normally be required to cause similar damage.
Worse still, 1 to 2 per cent of women are silent carriers of the ataxia-telangiectasia gene and this is highly sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of mammogram radiation. They have a fourfold higher risk of breast cancer from mammography; by some estimates this accounts for up to 20 percent of all breast cancers annually in the United States. (American College of Clinical Thermography: A Literature Review and Commentary on the Current Status of Mammography)
Screening – more harm than good
The ten-year trial quoted in the Lancet concluded that, where pre-menopausal women went for annual breast cancer screening, there was no significant reduction in breast cancer mortality – across the 160,000 women tested. Whilst researchers showed that four lives in 10,000 might, at best, be saved they concluded this had to be balanced against the ‘increased negative factors’.
But the truth is that this is actually ‘old news’. The American College of Clinical Thermography said in 2005 that ‘a steady stream of experts have been publishing new evidence in peer-reviewed journals in the US relating to the risks inherent in using mammography for breast screening. These findings of increased damage are of no surprise to a growing number of doctors and specialists who have known for years that some of the cancers they have to treat are linked to the accumulative effects of mammographic radiation exposure’.
Some years ago, according to the ACCT, our own Professor Baum (Professor Emeritus of Surgery and visiting Professor of Medical Humanities at University College London), ‘blasted American doctors as “immoral” for screening women under 50 for breast cancer’. Baum said the screening was “opportunistic” and “did more harm than good”. “Over 99 percent of pre-menopausal women will have no benefit from screening. Even for women over 50, there has been only a one percent biopsy rate as a result of screening in the United Kingdom. The density of the breast in younger women make mammography a highly unreliable procedure’’.
Finding problems that aren’t really problems at all
In September 2006 a report from the Nordic Cochrane Centre found that, for every 2,000 women invited to have screening mammograms, just one would have their life prolonged, but ten would endure unnecessary and potentially devastating treatment! Dr Peter Gotzsche, who led the research, said that ‘many women were being treated for slow-growing cancers that might never have developed to cause concern if they had not been picked up in the screening’.
The Nordic Cochrane Library is highly and internationally respected; the research took the seven best trials reported to date and reviewed the benefits against the negative outcomes resulting from the screening. It should be recorded very clearly here that the women who participated in screening had a 15 per cent lower risk from breast cancer than those who were not screened. Unfortunately such a ‘benefit’ might be due to other factors – those women coming for screening might be more concerned and careful about their health anyway – they might have better diets and so on.
The hard fact was that the absolute reduction in the risk of dying from breast cancer for those women participating in screening was 0.05 per cent. Whereas the risk for a women being screened and then actually treated unnecessarily for a slow-growing - or even benign - cancer was a staggering 30 per cent – giving an increased absolute risk of 0.5 per cent – or ten times the benefit.
Worse, apart from the ten women in every 2,000 given unnecessary treatment, a further 200 will experience weeks or months of unnecessary worry solely because of ‘false-positive’ findings – the observation of ‘cell changes’ that eventually turn out to be benign. Problems that aren’t really problems!
For the record and our numerous overseas readers, The United States is the only country that routinely screens pre-menopausal women by mammography, although there has been a move in the UK in this direction too. The U.S. also extends its screening practice by taking two or more mammograms per breast annually in post-menopausal women. This contrasts with the European practice of a single view every two to three years.
Breast Tissue Dangers
Another factor often ignored in the debate is Breast Tissue Density. Put simply, ‘dense breast tissue is risky tissue’. The US Magazine Life Extension, amongst others, has summarised a number of research studies on the causes. Factors that increase the density of breast tissue include dairy consumption, synthetic hormone use (like the contraceptive pill or HRT), and smoking. Factors that maintain soft breast tissue include adequate Tocotrienol vitamin E and omega-3 consumption, numbers of babies and length of time spent breast feeding (nine months per baby affords protection).
And here is the conundrum: Soft breast tissue is less risky tissue and ladies need to try to keep their tissue soft to reduce their risk of breast cancer. But soft breast tissue is significantly more at risk from mammogram alpha particle radiation. Catch 22.
Overweight and obese women have problems too. The Archives of Internal Medicine (May 24, 2004; 164(10): 1140-7) reports that obese women are 20 per cent more likely to be wrongly diagnosed with false positive readings. Apparently in obese women, the thicker volume of breast tissue gives poorer image clarity when squeezed between the plates.
So, how accurate are mammograms?
Most women have read articles on false positive readings, women having weeks of hell before learning the truth, even mis-diagnosis resulting in biopsies and operations.
Dr van der Horst, a radiologist in the Netherlands screening programme, presented his findings to a meeting of European screening experts at the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference in Hamburg in March 2004.
He was concerned that changing lifestyle patterns have resulted in more post-menopausal women having dense breast tissue. ‘This makes it harder for mammograms to pick up tumours or early signs of breast cancer and may lead to unnecessary biopsies because of uncertainties in reading the results’.
His research took a random sample of 2,000 from 54,000 women, who are screened every two years in Holland. The research classified the tissue as dense if more than a quarter of the tissue was dense. Otherwise it was classified as lucent.
The research found that 25 per cent of 50-69 year olds and 17 per cent of 65-69 year olds had dense breasts.
They then looked at cancer rates, comparing total cancers with those detected by the mammograms, i.e. the ability of the mammogram to actually correctly detect a cancer.
In the lucent group it was 67 per cent.
In the dense group it was 59 per cent.
So according to the research presented at the top European Breast Cancer Conference, at best mammograms are accurate only two in three times.
He also noted that research indicated ultrasound improved accuracy in cancer detection.
What are we actually measuring?
And here we come to yet another issue, on which scientists in the USA and the UK appear to have contrasting views.
At the American Breast Cancer Conference in California in the same year, a paper was presented by the top breast cancer Professor at UCLA. In this he said that 50 per cent of all positive readings from mammograms concerned problems in the lobes, and 50 per cent concerned problems in the ducts. But whilst lobular readings were indicative of breast cancer, not all ductal irregularities lead to breast cancer.
He stated to the audience of worldwide experts that ductal irregularities (DCIS) were almost always neither cancer nor pre-cancer but due to calciferous particles in the ducts.
(Editors note: Calcium deposits in the ducts might come about in a number of dietary ways – high cortisol levels, low magnesium (40 per cent of Americans were shown to be deficient in magnesium in 2005 research) and low vitamin D would prevent it being absorbed properly out of the blood stream and into the bones. Excess of dairy in Western diets may well yield high blood calcium levels, but because it leads simultaneously to lowered magnesium and vitamin D levels, the calcium is not absorbed by the bones very efficiently. The truth is that high dairy consumption is likely to result in weaker bones!
This might also explain the Harvard University view that adequate levels of omega-3 and vitamin D would significantly reduce breast cancers. (By removing calcium from breast tissue for example). Breast cancer is often pre-dated by inflammation – omega-3 can help reduce local hormone and inflammation response. Vitamin D receptor sites are prolific in breast cells and vitamin D levels are inversely proportional to cancer rates. Indeed, Professor Hollick of Harvard has gone on record as saying that there would be 25 per cent less deaths from breast cancer if women had adequate daily levels of vitamin D.)
Our Professor from UCLA went further – not only are 50 per cent of positive results ductal, non-cancerous calcium deposits …..only 20 per cent at most ever lead to breast cancer. His view was: ‘Watch and wait’. We think magnesium, vitamin D, omega-3 supplements and less dairy might help too!
But this is all in stark contrast to the views of Christie Hospital, Manchester, where a team led by our own patron, Professor Tony Howell, according to their press release wants to test certain current cancer drugs as possible preventative agents for this ‘highly dangerous form of breast cancer’. This ‘confusion’ is apparent in treatment regimes too. In Eire, I had three ladies in the audience diagnosed with ductal breast cancer, all of whom had been told to do nothing but wait. However one lady in my Watford audience had been rushed into radiotherapy!
The Nordic Cochrane Centre comes up with a third view. They say that ‘about a fifth of breast cancers detected during screening are early abnormalities known as Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Most women with DCIS have mastectomies even though doctors do not know whether they will spread’.
Confused?
As always, things aren’t what they first seem. There has been a strong body of opinion in the orthodox medical fraternity only too keen to stress the importance of regular breast cancer screening, with large vans in supermarket car parks and women feeling that ‘they really ought to have one to be safe’, when this now turns out to be quite a way from the truth.
Back to Dr Gotzsche, who added, ‘Information given to women when they are invited for screening, and that they can get on the internet, is considerably biased in that it underlines the benefits and usually completely omits major harms such as over-diagnosis’.
Be very clear. Breast cancer 5-year survival rates in England, at a little over 73 per cent, are actually below the all-European average (Eurocare 3) and significantly below France and Germany and the best country, Sweden, at 83.3 per cent. According to these figures, ten more women in a hundred survive five years from diagnosis in Sweden than in England; five more in France and Germany. How can we possibly improve our 5-year survival rates quickly?
The earlier we find out there is a problem, and the more problems we clear up (even if they turn out not to be cancer) the better our figures will look. Let’s get more women to the screening centres for the sake of the statistics! You think I’m joking? Think again.
This is certainly the view of Dr John Bailer who spent 20 years on the staff of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and was editor of its journal. “The five-year survival statistics of the American Cancer Society are very misleading. They now count things that are not cancer and, because we are able to diagnose at an earlier stage of the disease, patients falsely appear to live longer. . . . more women with mild or benign diseases are being included in statistics and reported as being 'cured'. When government officials point to survival figures and say they are winning the war against cancer they are using those survival rates improperly." Of course, the UK £75 million breast cancer screening programme would never be used in this way, would it?
Professor Michael Baum, originally one of the pioneers of the UK’s screening programme, has now wavered and is calling on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to investigate whether it should even continue. He has publicly stated that, “if the (NCC) report stands up, the NHS screening programme should be referred to NICE to decide whether it should be closed down.”
The almost manic push for a screening mammogram facing most women is further fuelled by the constant media panic on breast cancer: ‘42,000 cases per year in the UK, a two per cent annual growth rate, young pop stars now getting it. Where will it all end?’
Hopefully, with some common sense. The recent US finding that breast cancer rates have suddenly fallen by seven per cent, in the year after millions of US women stopped taking HRT, is a start. Recognising that adding synthetic oestrogen to your body, being obese, smoking, having a high dairy intake, and a poor diet with inadequate levels of omega 3 and natural vitamins like D, C and tocotrienol E might be ways to self-destruction, would be a huge step in the right direction.
But there is no doubt that the panic is being fuelled by the results of the screening programme itself. One wonders just how many of the 42,000 cases are problems that are not really problems, but nonetheless fuel the growth figures?
Let us remind ourselves of the key truths, recorded in the expert research above:
- Whatever the tissue state, the results are, at best, only 67 per cent accurate in predicting the development of a real cancer
- Mammogram radiation can be dangerous to soft/lucent breast tissue, and to women with a genetic abnormality, the ataxia-telangiectasia gene, resulting in the actual cause of some cancers
- As many as one in ten women may be the victims of false positive ‘over-readings’
- As many as ten women may be treated unnecessarily for every one that is correct
- Some women will even have unnecessary full treatment programmes, including mastectomy, as a result
Non-invasive alternatives?
Meanwhile, as we have been saying an icon for four years, there is a sensible, realistic and non-invasive screening alternative: Thermography, or thermal imaging. Yes, you can only get it privately in the UK - there are probably only four or five centres in the UK as yet - but the major reason for that is that the NHS are not about to chuck away all their screening mammogram machines whilst admitting they got it wrong all along. Thermography costs about £130 a time and clearly shows if you have a hot spot. If a hot spot shows up, women can then go for a sensible, diagnostic mammogram.
Even Iridology and Kirlian photography, at around £35, can give you some very real indications of trouble and might even now give you better than 67 per cent accuracy. Who knows? They certainly can’t damage your breasts.
What is clear is that the facts of mammograms and screening are not what the medical fraternity have been glibly telling the women of the UK for the last 20 years. And if women are not truthfully informed about either the risks or the inaccuracy, it will be just one more factor in their increasing distrust of ‘orthodox medicine’ and the powers behind it in the UK. And there’s recent research on that too!
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Hypnotherapy as an Allied Therapy to Improve Cancer Patients Quality of Life
Hypnotherapy as an Allied Therapy to Improve
Cancer Patients Quality of Life
The Australian Academy of Hypnosis announced today the conclusion of a
clinical study into the effectiveness of hypnotherapy is to improve quality of life and
in symptom management for patients with cancer.
(PRWEB) Melbourne, June 24, 2005 -- The Australian Academy of Hypnosis announced today the conclusion of a clinical study into the effectiveness of hypnotherapy to improve quality of life and in symptom management for patients with cancer."It has been fantastic." One participant said, "I didn't know that things could be so affected by the depth within the mind. My energy is much better,
everything about my body works much better, I'm more relaxed, I eat better, and I've
learned not to bother worrying. This has been the best thing."
Fatigue has been seen as one of the most common symptoms experienced by
cancer patients and is associated with significant impairment in functioning and
overall quality of life. Fatigue showed the greatest response statistically,
(35.75% improving to 12.38%; p=0.0044), with all patients describing
increased energy levels, decreased time spent at rest and a greater ability to live
their lives the way they wish.
"I feel a lot more contented with my lot in life now, I listen to my body
more and always have a better frame of mind. My cough has gone, my cramps and itching have gone, I am doing a lot more exercise with a lot less pain and fatigue. I feel like I have my life back and that I am back on track.
"Participants described dramatic improvements in insomnia within the first three sessions of hypnosis. This improvement was then maintained for the remainder of the study. A patient with significant insomnia stated "I think this has been very worthwhile indeed, and there has definitely been significant improvements in my sleeping, much much less pain, and much more energy. Generally I just feel much better. I must admit that at the beginning I was a sceptic now I am convinced there is something very valid in all of this'.
Global quality of life showed significant improvement over the course of the
study. (63.5% to 79.00%; p=0.0058) Feedback received included:"I feel much
better. I feel the best I have felt since the news of my cancer. I can eat and
swallow comfortably again and my depression feels gone. I think that this
treatment has been very very good for me."Patients who had endured nausea and
vomiting at the commencement of the study all showed marked improvement
(20.88% to 0%; p=0.095) One patient was amazed by the return of normal taste
sensation (instead of a metallic taste) and another began to put on weight while
undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.
At The Phoenix Hypnotherapy Centre, we apply to our clients very effective methods to reduce stress. Reducing Stress promotes health and wellbeing in all levels of the mind and body.
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Coffee Drinkers Get A Jolt In Study
Coffee drinkers get a jolt in study
By Denise Gellene and Jia-Rui Chong
Los Angeles Times
A cup of coffee had no effect on heart-attack risk, researchers found.
How this will affect America's addiction to caffeine remains to be seen. Coffee drinkers in the United States — about half of all adults — gulp an average of three cups of coffee daily and spend more than $17 billion a year keeping themselves caffeinated.
The findings are "interesting, plausible and worthy of further study," said Dr. David Robertson, a professor of medicine and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, adding that additional research is needed and that consumers shouldn't worry about changing their coffee-drinking habits.
"I think we should keep in mind that coffee has been studied more than any other drug," he said. "This is not something that should scare people to death about coffee."
Even if future research confirms the findings, it's likely that caffeine plays a much smaller role in heart attacks than conventional risk factors such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking, said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Medical School.
Caffeine's possible effect on heart disease has been studied for years because the chemical is a stimulant that causes blood vessels to constrict, interfering with their normal function.
Whatever the risk attributable to caffeine, the overall risk of heart attack is small, ranging from 2 percent to 5 percent a year among elderly Americans, depending on age, race and gender.
The new research, which involved scientists from the United States and Costa Rica, compared 2,014 men and women in Costa Rica who had recovered from a first heart attack to an equal number of healthy adults. Genetic tests determined whether participants had the gene for breaking caffeine down slowly.
The study was conducted in Costa Rica because health records for a large number of patients were available and one of the researchers already was there on another study.
The gene, CY1A2, was first identified in the 1990s. All people have two copies of the gene. People with a mutation in one or both genes will break down caffeine slowly.
The study found that 54 percent of participants were "slow metabolizers," who broke down caffeine four times more slowly than people without the mutation, El-Sohemy said. The longer caffeine remains in the bloodstream, the greater potential for harm, he said.
Women with the defective gene had a higher risk than men, and adults 59 and younger faced worse odds than older coffee drinkers with the gene mutation.
El-Sohemy said coffee was less of a factor in the elderly because they face multiple cardiac risks, including weight gain, higher cholesterol and other problems that would obscure the effects of caffeine.
At the Phoenix Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, we offer Hypnotherapy sessions to help you get rid of unwated addictions and bad habits and at the same time, keep your weight in line
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An Amazing Mind !
Cut and paste this link to your internet explorer Go and amaze yourself about the incredible powers of the mind !
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/wiltshire_highres.wmv
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The Phoenix Centre Supports the Bank Group Charitable Foundation
The Phoenix Centre Supports the Bank Group Charitable Foundation
The Phoenix Centre for Training and Services, has contributed to the Banks Group Foundation. The Banks Group organized 'The Magic Ball' in Melbourne, which was a great success both socially and financially. The ball raised over $15.000. The major receipient of the night's proceeds was the Alfred Foundation (in particular to the Myeloma Research Fund). The Phoenix Centre is proud to sponsor such events as we strive to help improve people's well being everywhere.
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