Mental Health Tips - Haiti Observer Blog

There is no doubt that children who face natural disasters directly, go through an emotional trauma but those who are far away are also affected because of the wide media coverage and they too suffer emotionally and psychologically. There are some psychological techniques that can be used by help these youngsters throughout the world to cope with the trauma. Here are some of the methods:

• Music: Taking popular music and creating new positive lyrics for them can help. Positive lyrics can help to give a happier state and help kids by motivating them. Children can sing among themselves and boost up their confidence. However, if kids are less verbal, they can use drumming as energy or frustration releasing medium.
• Technology: Teach kids how to use the power of internet to get information on good health and coping with trauma instead of looking for horrible news.
• Physical activities: Trauma is not just mental. It is physical too in form of tensed muscles and clenched teeth. A nice relaxing bubble bath, exercise, yoga, playing, riding etc. can help to release the tension.
• Art: Children express better through their drawings instead of verbal expression. Drawing the traumatic experience on one side of the page and a happy incident on the other side help them to get over their trauma.
• Friends: Talking to friends can help kids because after a traumatic incident children generally fail to talk to their parents. Sharing with friends always help.
• Role-play: Asking children to take actions that should normally be taken in case of an emergency help to tone their muscle memory. So, their actions become more automatic under a real emergency situation. Role-play with friends is more effective.
• Gifts for survivors: Simple gifts for peer-survivors after a tragic incident helps to boost self-esteem. Even simple teddy bears or paper cranes with messages of hope and love can help kids to get out of trauma relatively quickly.

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Haiti's 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which jolted the country in 2010, left a trail of devastation. Thousands were killed by caved-in structures, and thousands more, maimed and bleeding, lay in the streets. Disaster-aid organizations like Doctors Without Borders performed emergency surgeries. Many hundreds of Haitians in Port-au-Prince fled, escaping images of destruction that were everywhere.

Of those who stayed, they lived in tent communities on the streets, dependent on international aid for food, water, and clothing. But immediate needs for medical attention were not all they had to contend with. The trauma of the earthquake's terrifying power, and its panic-producing aftershocks overwhelmed survivors' psyches and their ability to cope. The psychic damage commonly associated with the Haiti earthquake is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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They steal, rape, kidnap, and kill their way into many people's fears. Aside from these threatening uninvited visitors, the ordinary household could turn into a danger zone because of the simplest of objects and areas. Knives, loose electric wires, flights of stairs, and even a banana peel could prove to be very fatal.

Fear dominates the existence of the human race. That is why some businesses try to make money out of it. Billions of dollars are spent on products and services that supposedly ensure the safety and well-being of an individual. This is what people pay for the sake making their fears come true, but to what extent?

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If parents, teachers, and the community recognize the signs of an anti-social personality disorder appearing in a youth, they can take steps to get help for the individual. Here are twelve common signs to watch out for.

1. They exhibit cruel treatment towards people and pets. Repeatedly harm, threaten, and physically abuse them.

2. They frequently provoke physical altercations.

3. They use harmful or deadly weapons, for example, a baseball bat, rock, razor, knife or firearm.

4. They steal from people directly, for example, pick pocketing, cell phone theft, hold-ups for cash or credit cards.

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Panic attacks and their off-spring, panic disorder, can be both managed and treated.

Treatment for panic attacks or panic disorder falls under three categories: medication, therapy, and health regimen.

Medication options that prescribing physicians use to treat panic attacks or panic disorder include a variety of antidepressants, anti-seizure, anti-anxiety, and heart medications.
The therapy treatment plan most effective uses both cognitive and behavioral approaches. During the first phase of therapy, information about panic attacks and panic disorder and its commonplace occurrence in many people's lives offers reassurance the sufferer is not losing their mind, or is at risk of suffering a heart attack. The second phase introduces behavior modification techniques to overcome negative perceptions about panic attacks and panic disorder.

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A panic attack begins suddenly without warning. They can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

The fear experienced during a panic attack is so intense the sufferer feels like they are going to die or lose their minds.

When a panic attack occurs with a first-time victim, they often believe they are suffering a heart attack, or having a mental break-down. They will frequently call for paramedics and end up in the emergency ward for tests and observation.

A panic attack originates in the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and symptoms vary from chest pain to lightheadedness to numbness and tingling sensations, among others. During the attack, the SNS releases large amounts of epinephrine, the fight-or-flight response hormone.

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Learning to manage a panic attack is the difference between living a full life or a severely constricted one.

One of the primary ways to manage a panick attack is to understand what you are experiencing is a panic attack, not a heart attack, as is so often the perception.

When you feel a panic attack coming on, calm down. This is an effective and powerful response to feeling out of control that so often accompanies an attack.

Repeat a mantra, something as simple as 'I'm going to be okay'.

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Panic disorder is the label used to describe someone, who has suffered repeated panic attacks.

Panic attacks, occurring at regular intervals without knowledge of the trigger mechanism, can debilitate a person in their everyday lives.

Panic attacks appear without warning and can last from several minutes to several hours. The sufferer is subjected to paralyzing pain, thoughts of imminent death, depersonalization (withdrawal from reality), rapid heart beats, and other alarming symptoms. Oftentimes, a first-time sufferer will end up in the emergency room, believing they have suffered a heart attack.

Understanding all this, it's not surprising that sufferers often develop a phobia. They believe that the panic attack is associated with the place at which it occurred. They begin to experience a side effect known as situational avoidance, restricting their ability to lead a normal life. In extreme cases, the sufferer develops agoraphobia, a fear of going outside. They become recluses, afraid of venturing outside their homes, for fear of an attack.

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Panic attacks are a biological and hormonal event.

But what brings on these terrifying occurrences called Panic attack?

Researchers suggest that heredity may play a role, according to interviews of study subjects. Some responders indicate a member of his or her family suffers from panic attacks also, or other anxiety-related disorders.

Researchers speculate an abnormal biological function may contribute to panic attacks, but have not yet discovered a determining genetic marker. Pertaining to ethnic backgrounds, panic attacks can occur in all races, without exception. But gender statistics conclude women are 50% more prone to panic attacks than men. Panic attacks can occur at any age, but usually target young adults.

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What is gut feeling? Why is it called that way?

What is the association between the gut and feelings? These might be the questions swimming in your mind when you heard the term gut feeling. This article would explain this phenomenon.

For starters, gut feelings are reflections of your intuition. It happens when the unconscious brain receives subliminal signals in a given situation. In most cases, gut feelings are always right. And this is also why many people follow what their gut is telling them to do.

Now, you might be wondering what the gut has to do with it. As a matter of fact, the gut plays an important role in people's lives. The term gut feeling comes from the fact that the gut or the stomach area is where the second-largest network of interconnected neurons is located. Remember the feeling in your stomach when you're having strong feelings and reactions over something? That is because the gut has its "independent" nervous system. Considered as the second brain, the gut is also full of neurons and microbes that are crucial to one's physical, mental, and emotional health. The gut also has an excellent ability to communicate with the brain. There are studies that found out that changes in gut bacteria can affect a person's mood, behavior, and way of thinking.

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