April 2009

How to fight depression

by admin on April 30, 2009

What is depression?

Depression is a very common problem. A lot of adults will experience symptoms of depression at some point. In more mild forms depression does not prevent you from living a normal life, but the most severe forms of depression can be life-threatening, with thoughts of death and suicide. It is important in both of the cases to be able to identify that you are suffering from depression and know how to fight depression.

These are some of the signs or symptoms you might experience if you have depression.

Emotions or feelings

Feelings of sadness, guilt, distress, despair or numbness
Loss of interest in anything and getting no pleasure from anything
Frequent crying or feelings that you cannot cry.
Feeling of loneliness, even if you’re with friends.

Physiological or physical signs

Fatigue.
Concern.
Problems sleeping, especially waking early or disturbed sleeps.
Feel worse at a particular time of day (usually morning).
Changes in appetite, eating and weight.
Some people also experience intense migraine headaches which are mainly caused through stress

Thoughts

Lose the belief in yourself.
Expect the worst and having negative or melancholic thoughts
Thinking that everything seems hopeless.
Thoughts of suicide.
You think that you hate yourself.
Poor memory or concentration.

How these feelings, physical signs and thoughts may affect your life:

It may be difficult to do even the simple things.
You will not be able to do your normal activities.
Isolate yourself from other people.
You may end up not doing anything for long periods.
You may feel that you should control everything twice.

Of course, not all these symptoms are present to people with depression. Even if you have severe depression, is common to feel some of these things periodically. This is especially true if you have recently suffered a loss and especially if someone very close to you has died. When these symptoms are part of a normal reaction to loss or painful events, will be resolved with the passage of time. Most people find it helpful to talk about these feelings with someone who cares. But if these feelings are too intense or continue for some time, they may develop into depression. When this happens, you need to take measures on how to fight depression yourself and / or seek help from others.

What causes depression?

There is no single cause for depression. Usually there is more than one cause and they vary from person to person, but can sometimes occur without any apparent reason. As already mentioned, painful events can make someone start to feel depressed and sometimes it can be transformed into a more serious depression from which it is difficult to recover. The conditions may play a role. Thus, being alone, to have to live with a very low income, physical illness and unemployment can all contribute towards depression. Sometimes several different factors cause depression. In some cases, even the events that may be regarded as good and positive, like to get married or to start a new job can be stressful enough to cause depression. The birth of a child can also lead to a depression for one in ten women. Different people will fight depression in different ways, and although many may be sad and depressed, some try to fight depression in other ways, such as excessive drinking or irritability. One in ten people who have severe depression may also have periods where they are in agitation, with uncontrolled behaviour. This is known as depression mania and affects equally men and women.

Some people are more likely to experience depression than others?

Some people seem to be more vulnerable than others to become depressed. This may be due to body composition (including body chemistry) or in early life experiences and family influences. Some people may be more predisposed to «see the negative side» of life in general and this may increase the likelihood of developing a depression.

How to fight depression?

Even if you have a doctor or mental health specialist involved in your treatment, there are things you can do to fight depression.

1. Do something active

Physical activity is particularly helpful. Walking, running, cycling and everything that starts to increase your activity can help to improve how you feel. Schedule 15 or 20 minutes of activity every day or every other day at first. This type of physical activity can actually begin to make you feel less tired. Find something of interest and spent some time on this. Plan to focus on things you usually enjoy and find some time each day for 5 of these activities. You can find it supportive to deal with a new interest. Many people find that creative activities such as painting, writing poetry or playing music, help them express their emotions and make them feel better.

Make a small beginning in jobs or obligations that you avoided, split large tasks into smaller steps and start working with them one by one. For example, there may be jobs in the home or garden that really needs to be done, but you continuously postpone them. If so, began the first day to tackle one small area. In this way, you do not set too high goals and you have a greater chance to achieve your objective and this will make you feel good.

2. Talk to other people

Try to tell those close to you how you feel. They may be able to listen and help you reflect on things. To cry can sometimes help to relieve tension and let things go. You may be impressed to find out those who talk with you and had the same depression at some point can understand you better on how you feel.

3. Look after yourself

Resist the temptation to fight your depression with alcohol, make poor use of medication or to switch to illegal drugs. These may give some immediate relief, but very soon you create additional health problems and psychological problems to be faced.

Eat well; a good diet can help to keep in good health so recovery is easier.

Try to «offer» yourself things you normally enjoy.

4. Let go of your negative thoughts

Do not let the pessimistic thoughts pass without question. When someone is experiencing depression, often tends to think and expect the worst of himself, his life and future. Do not just accept these thoughts; try the following to fight depression by eliminating your negative thoughts:

Identify when your mood is not good
Note the unpleasant thoughts you have during that time
Try to challenge these thoughts by recording arguments against them. Imagine what would you said to a friend who had such negative thoughts about himself
Try to keep a diary of things that have enjoyed or achieved during the week.

This can help to focus on good things rather than the bad things in your life.

What kind of treatment is available in order to fight depression?

Most people are monitored for depression by their family doctor. Your doctor may recommend a treatment for pills or antidepressants or both. Your doctor can refer to a mental health specialist. This could be a psychiatrist, or can be a consultant, a Community psychiatric nurse, a psychologist or other mental health specialist. The treatments are usually counselling or psychotherapy. These will help you understand your own difficulties and begin to find ways to overcome depression. The «Cognitive therapy» is a kind of therapy often used. It can help people to challenge the negative thoughts and to continue with their lives.

Any kind of treatment used, it usually takes some time before starting to feel the benefits, but such treatment has helped many people and can be very effective. Sometimes people get antidepressants after a prescription by their family doctor or psychiatrist. These have shown that they are supporting for many people suffering from depression. The antidepressants affect chemicals in the brain and make you feel less depressed. It is addictive and once you start to feel better, can arrange with your doctor to stop the medication, usually after several months. This will not cause you any difficulty and your doctor will gradually adjust and reduce the dose. When you start a dosage of antidepressants, it is important to remember that they do not immediately bring the desired result. It will take 2-4 weeks until you get the desired result and you should continue to take them regularly to feel the benefit. They may have some side effects initially, but they are usually quite mild and will generally go away slowly while continuing treatment. Your doctor or your pharmacist will advise you on this. Although people often start to feel better within 2-4 weeks taking antidepressants, it is important to continue to take as long as recommended by your doctor. This helps to prevent depression returning. If you take antidepressants, it is important to see the doctor before you take any other pills, drugs or alcohol.

Where can I get more help to fight depression?

If you think that you have depression, your physician is the best person to speak first. He can give you information about local services, which can help you fight depression.

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7 hacks to set goals that can save you money and increase your savings

by admin on April 18, 2009

To make money savings you need something more than to spend less money. How much to save? Where to place them? How can you be sure that it will remain there «spared»? The first step is to set realistic goals, to keep control of costs and to «pay yourself» first of all.

1. Define your objective

For short-term objectives setting goals can be simple. If you just want to buy a game, all you have to do is find out how much it costs. If you wish to buy a house, calculate the amount of the advance you should provide. For longer-term goals such as retirement, you should do more planning (estimate how much money you will need to live comfortably after retirement and estimate how your investments will help you achieve your goals).

- «Kill» your debt first. Calculating how much you spend each month on your debts shows that eradication is the fastest way to «free» money. Once the money is «released» of the debt can be easily reused for savings.

2. Set a timetable

For example, «I want to be able to buy a house in three years from now». Set a date for the attainment of short-term objectives and ensure that the goal is attainable within that time. If it is not possible then you will simply be discouraged.

3. Determine the amount of savings

Calculate how much savings would be per week, per month, or per salary for achieving each of your goals. For everything you want to buy calculate how much you have to save to get through the schedule you set. For most purposes it is better to save the same amount each period. For example, if you want to give a 20,000 dollars deposit on a house in 36 months you should saved 550 dollars each month. But if your salary amounts to 1,000 dollars monthly, then your goal does not seem realistic. What you should do is to change the schedule to come up with a more feasible scenario.

4. Keep records of your expenses

The amount of money you can save is the difference between two activities: the amount of your income and the amount of your spending. Since you have more control on the amount you spend, it is wise to look critically at your expenses. Write for two weeks or a month where you spend your money. Be as detailed as possible in your «inventory», including small purchases. Then try to categorize the type of expenses. For example: rent, car insurance, car expenses, phone bills, petrol, food, entertainment, etc.

5. Cut your expenses

Look out your spending the last two months. It is very likely to be surprised when you look at costs: 100 dollars to ice cream, 150 dollars in parking tickets, etc. Probably you will find some expenses that you can cut. Depending on the amount you need to save, you may need to take some difficult decisions. Set your priorities and make the cuts that would have less impact on your well being. Calculate how much you win every year from these cuts, so you will have more incentives to perform them. For example you can move to a less expensive apartment, you can refinance your mortgage, you can save money by using natural gas, to reduce the movements with your car, limiting the use of mobile phones, home cooking e.t.c

6. Stop using the credit card!

Pay your purchases with cash, not checks or credit cards. It is easier to make more expenses when making your purchases with plastic money because they you do not know at any moment how much money you have in your pocket. With cash, instead, you can monitor the «supply» you exhausted.

7. Pay yourself first

Savings should be your priority, so do not tell yourself that savings will be what is left at the end of the month. You must deposit in your savings account once you get your salary. For example you can set an automatic money transfer from your payroll account to your savings account.

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How to deal with depression and change your life

by admin on April 13, 2009

Depression can have a negative impact on your life. Depression is a feeling that all people may experience at some time in their life. This article explains how to deal with depression and change your life by eliminating the negative effects depression can create.

Negative feelings of unhappiness, worry and frustration are common to many people. It is common to feel disappointment after a failure, sorrow, separation or a loss.

These feelings are normal and do not significantly affect our life. In some cases they can also be used for our benefit because they expose our weaknesses. The experiences arising from the negative conditions of our life gives us the courage and willingness to change our life and the strength to deal with depression and other negative situations in the future.

When these negative feelings instead of decreasing by time they become more intense, last for more than two weeks, and they start to interfere with our normal daily activities, our work, diet, sleep and relationships, then it is likely that we suffer from depression and we need to find ways to deal with it. The main characteristic of depression is the great intensity and long duration of negative feelings and sorrow.

What are the major symptoms of Depression in our life?

Long lasting grief
Low energy and constant exhaustion
More or less desire for food
More or less desire for sleep
Stress, anxiety and frustration
No desire for sex
No optimism for the future.

What are the major causes of depression?

Lack of positive thinking

When someone suffers from depression they feel that something bad is going to happen, and that this will happen again and again. In such cases the person consciously or unconsciously sees in anything happening much more bad than good. They always focus their attention on the problems and neglect their achievements and successes.

For a person with negative thoughts and predisposition for depression, anything happening is forecasting problems and negative developments. Changes in the behaviour of other people or changes in the environment, that can be consider normal, in the thoughts of the person with depression are evidence that something bad happens that has to do with them.

Lack of self-confidence

People with depression have no self-confidence and they always consider everything that happens as their own personal failure. Even small mistakes are regarded as big problems and they give them more attention, way more than their actual dimensions.

Giving more importance to errors

In life we all make mistakes, others a few others more. The persons suffering from depression give more focus on the number of errors they made. As a result they create a negative image about them.

Feeling pressure from the various life obligations

In this situation, persons are always thinking what they should do or should not do. As a result by the end of the day they are literally buried by the endless mass of commitments. In addition people with this way of thinking concentrate their attention on what other people should do and what they should not do. This situation increases their bitterness and frustration and also affects the behaviour of other people in their environment.

Feelings of weakness

The problem with those suffering from depression is that they feel that nothing can satisfy them. Even when they know how they can improve their mood, they simply cannot do it. The advice they get from friends and family is unnecessary and futile. What they feel more than anything else is their inability to wish something, or be inspired by something and pay attention to it.

They know what normally they like but they do not like it. They know what it is they should be doing but they cannot do it. They know what the others want from them, but they cannot respond. They do not hope that at some point they will feel better. They have lost hope and hope ceased to exist. Depression does not allow at this stage of their life to be happy and optimistic

How can we deal with depression?

We can deal with depression with the help of a specialist. The advice the specialist can provide is essential. The medication that will be recommended if deemed necessary, among other things, aims to correct those biological mechanisms in the way of thinking that promote depression. To deal effectively with depression you have to change your thinking and way of thought. Also by changing the way of thinking of those suffering from depression you create valuable long-term protective measures against depression.

How to deal with depression with self-help measures?

Besides the assistance of a specialist you can deal with depression with self help measures. These are:

Accept your self and your weaknesses

If you cannot manage to deal with depression yourself and if the efforts you make are not successful, the best thing you can do is to accept this weakness. Rather than trying violently to change your life, you should come to terms with what you are, with what you feel and concentrate on what you can do well.

Depression will eventually go away but we cannot predict with certainty when exactly this will happen. The therapeutic progress depends on many factors. There is no need to try to change what you cannot change. Each time you should do the best you can to help your self but at the same time you should also quietly accept your weaknesses. Accept the fact that you are in a state of depression and harmoniously live with it until you manage to deal with depression. Nobody likes feeling depressed but you should understand that it is of no use to continually dealing with depression at this stage of your life because you lack strength, determination and competitiveness. Try to accept as calm as you can what is happening within you and around you and wait for your forces to return so that you will be able to deal with depression.

Identify your negative thoughts and feelings

To be able to change and control your negative thinking that gets you trapped in the vicious cycle of depression, it is extremely important to be able to identify those reasons, which are the major causes of your depression.

A good technique is to record on a daily basis your negative thoughts for a small period of time. Then you can spend twenty minutes every day for the purpose of identification, registration and examination of these negative thoughts. The recording of your negative thinking to paper and the examination of the causes is the catalyst that will allow you to identify why you are driven to a bad mental state and thus depression. By recognizing the negative way of thinking you can intervene, and take corrective measures thereby interrupting the vicious cycle of depression.

How to deal with depression using medication

Despite the fact that you have every reason to avoid the excessive use of drugs, you can deal with depression with the use of medication and in particular antidepressants.

The antidepressants affect the brain and nerve cells. More specifically they change the reaction of chemicals (neurotransmitter), which is used by the nerve cells to communicate with each other.

The antidepressants are relatively harmless drugs. They do not cause dependence; they have no significant side effects and may help you considerably to deal with depression. The purpose of using medication to deal with depression should not be to resolve your problems quickly and completely, but to give your self the opportunity to feel better. CAUTION: Any use of antidepressants should always be after the consultation and prescription of a doctor. You can also get drug detox advice.

How to deal with depression using psychotherapy – the best way to deal with depression

Depression is an indication that you have problems on a deeper level you have to solve. Depression is not a simple disease but it is a signal from your brain that must be decoded.

It is in your interest to deal with depression as a way for personal development and as an incentive to change your life, change your brain and way of thinking.

The psychotherapists can help you understand the psychological reasons that cause depression and offer you support throughout this difficult process.

Psychotherapy can help you deal with depression by:

Deeply investigating your thoughts and behaviours that create depression
Help you identify with of the problems that cause depression can be solved and which you will have to learn to life with
Improve your interpersonal relationships
Help you find happiness in your life that was lost with depression
Help you express your feelings better
Help you improve your self-confidence and self esteem
Help you change your life for the better
Help you set realistic goals that will improve your quality of life

The more healthy and strong you are, the easier is to work with the help of psychotherapy on a deeper level with your internal world and learn techniques to cope with negative thoughts and feelings. This self-knowledge and the improvement of your psychological skills will help you correctly deal with depression.

But it is very important that you develop your own techniques for self-monitor and self-control in order to change your thoughts and way of thinking and manage to deal with depression.

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What is a life coach?

April 3, 2009

In the era of globalization, economic and social crisis, a new «sport» is claiming a position in life and with it what is called Life Coach. There is a saying that “The Players won’t play if Coaches don’t Coach”. This also applies to your personal life as well. A life coach can be your personal coach that can train you how to live your life to the maximum potential. In our daily life we are judged constantly for our performance in our professional and family environment. We are constantly seeking personal success and satisfaction but sometimes things are not so simple as they seem.

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