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Acute
Stress
Acute stress disorder (ASD) is an anxiety disorder that has a cluster
of dissociative and anxiety symptoms occurring within one month of a
traumatic event.
ADHD
ADHD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults whose behavioral
and attitudinal outputs meet the DSM 1V criteria for ADHD. Those criteria
include: distractibility, poor sustained attention to tasks, poor impulse
control and difficulty in delaying gratification, inability to stay
still and focused physically and mentally. In order to meet diagnostic
criteria, these behaviors must be excessive, long term and continually
present. For children these behaviors must appear before age 7, and
continue for at least 6 months. These behaviors and attitudes must create
a real handicap in at least two areas of a person’s life, such
as school, home, work, or social settings. Symptoms exhibited by persons
with ADHD are: often fails to give attention to details or makes careless
mistakes, frequently has difficulty sustaining attention to tasks, does
not seem to listen when spoken to directly, often fails to follow instructions
carefully and completely, losing or forgetting important things, feeling
restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming, running
or climbing excessively, often talks excessively, often blurts out answers
before hearing the whole question, often has difficulty awaiting turn.
Anger
In modern society, anger is viewed as an immature or uncivilized response
to frustration, threat, violation, or loss. Conversely, keeping calm,
coolheaded, or turning the other cheek is considered more socially acceptable.
This conditioning can cause inappropriate expressions of anger, such
as uncontrolled, violent outbursts or misdirected anger or, at the extreme,
repressing feelings of anger (or lacking them altogether) when those
feelings are inappropriate response to the situation. Also, anger that
is constantly “bottled up” can lead to persistent violent
thoughts or nightmares, or even physical symptoms like headaches, ulcers,
or hypertension.
Anger Management
The term anger management commonly refers to a system of psychological
therapeutic techniques and exercises by which one with excessive anger
can bring that anger under control. Courses in anger management are
sometimes mandated by a court for parents and others involved in Domestic
Violence. Typical anger management “techniques” are the
use of deep breathing and meditation as a means to slow down and avoid
precipitous actions. Treatments are designed to be personal to the individual
and many combine a variety of therapeutic approaches.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a complex combination of feelings of fear, dread, apprehension,
and worrying behavior that may produce physical sensations such as heart
palpitations, chest pain, and/or shortness of breath. It may exist as
a primary brain disorder or may be associated with other medical problems
including other psychological disorders. A chronically recurring case
of anxiety that has a serious effect on your life may be clinically
diagnosed as anxiety disorder. The most common Anxiety Diagnosis are
Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder,
Phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD).
Assertiveness
Assertiveness is being able to stand up for yourself and your beliefs
in a calm firm manner. It includes the ability to persevere in your
attitudes and stances against popular attitude and positions when needed.
We act assertively by not being afraid to speak our mind when it is
appropriate, or necessary to do so without violating the rights of others.
Bipolar
Disorder
Is a mood disorder in which the affected person exhibits intense and
sometimes dramatic changes in moods moving between a very high or manic
state to a very low to a very sad or “depressed “state.
Bipolar Disorder frequently destroys relationships between friends and
coworkers and family members and lovers. It is such a debilitating that
an estimated 15% of the sufferers of this disease commit suicide. Many
of the people diagnosed with this disorder have excelled in creative
and scientific fields, including poets, writers, actors, theoriticals,
mathematicians, educators, and investors.
Bipolar Disorder is now generally considered to be a biochemical imbalance
of the brain.
Bladder
training/bladder retraining
Bladder training is a method of treating incontinence.
Coping Skills
Coping skills is a behavioral tool which may be used by individuals
to offset or overcome adversity, disadvantage, or disability when it
is difficult, impossible or undesirable to correct. We all utilize coping
skills in our daily life.
Cyclothymic
A Cyclothymic Disorder is one in which you have a number of the symptoms
for a Major Depression but the symptoms are insufficient in number,
severity or duration to meet a diagnosis of depressive disorder. In
addition you have the symptoms of a Manic Episode but again they are
of insufficient length, severity, or number to meet that diagnostic
criteria. Certain other conditions and exclusions must also be met.
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Dementia/Alzheimer’s
Senile Dementia or Alzheimer’s type is a neurodegenerative disease
which results in a loss of mental functions due to the deterioration
of brain tissue. Its exact etiology (cause) is still unknown but it
is likely that environmental as well as genetic factors at hand. The
first symptom is memory loss that tends to become progressive. This
disease can also cause behavioral changes, such as disorientation, sudden
periods of defiance, abusive behavior and violence in people who have
no previous history of such behavior. Alzheimer’s disease presents
a problem in patient management. Average durations approximately 7-10
years with death as the most probable final outcome.
Depression
Although nearly any mood with a noticeable element of sadness may be
termed a depression, a clinical depression requires more specificity
than that. When the symptoms must last two weeks or longer and occur
strongly enough to impact the processes of daily living, one can generally
be said to be exhibiting a clinical depression. Clinical depression
affects about the same percentage of the population as Bipolar Disorder.(15-16%).
The mean age of onset, from a number of studies is in the late 20s.
Almost
2 times as many females as males report to receive treatment for a clinical
depression.
Dissociation
Dissociation is a psychological state or condition in which certain
thoughts, emotions, sensations, or memories are separated from the rest
of the psyche. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
considers symptoms such as depersonalization, derealization, and psychogenic
amnesia as core features of dissociation. However, in the normal population
mild dissociative experiences are highly prevalent, with 80% to 90%
of the respondents indicating that they experience dissociative experiences
at least some of the time.
Dysthymia
Dysthymia, or dysthymic disorder is a form of the mood disorder of depression
in which one exhibits a loss of enjoyment/pleasure in life that continues
for at least six months. It differs from clinical depression in that
the symptoms are less severe. While dysthymia usually does not prevent
a person from functioning, it prevents full enjoyment of life. Dysthymia
also lasts longer than an episode of major depression. Dysthymia may
or may not respond to traditional anti-depressant medication and to
other forms of therapy. Dysthymic individuals are often perceived as
being sour faced and humorless and as addicted to following rules and
procedures to the letter.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent
unprovoked seizures. It is usually under control with medication, although
experimental surgical methods are slowly gaining acceptance. The causes
of epilepsy are not known, but some scientists believe that seizures
can result from a number of unrelated conditions. In 70% of all cases,
there is no known cause for epilepsy. In the other 30% of cases, a brain
injury, scar of malformation is found. In most cases abnormal electrical
activity can be detected in the brain with an eletro-encephalograph
or EEG.
Family &
Parenting Interventions
Intervention is an orchestrated attempt by family and friends to get
a family member to “get help” for addiction or other similar
problem.
Impulsivity
Impulsivity has been variously defined as human behavior without adequate
thought, the tendency to act with less forethought than do most individuals
of equal ability and knowledge, or a predisposition toward rapid, unplanned
reactions to stimuli without regard to the negative consequences of
these reactions.
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Incontinence
Incontinence is the loss of bladder or bowel control resulting in urine
or bowel material leakage.
Intellectual Ability
Intellectual ability refers to the ability measured by performance on
an intelligence test or mistakenly quantified as an IQ score. It is
also sometimes used in the context of discussing the performance of
someone in an academic or real world setting.
Kegel
Exercises designed to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and the urethral
sphincter to help control or stop urine or bowel leak.
Learning
Disorders
Learning disorders are reported in three categories: reading, mathematics,
and written expression. Problems in reading generally occur before the
age of 7. Problems in reading are usually followed by problems in spelling,
written language, and expression before the age of 8. Mathematical learning
disorders are often not detected until after rote memorization, mathematics
work has ended, and application of more abstract skills is necessary.
These diagnoses should be given only after standardized testing indicates
that performance is significantly below that expected by the child’s
chronological age, IQ, and educational level and even then only when
poor testing performance supported by classroom data.
Learning
Disabilities
A learning disability exists when there is a significant discrepancy
between one’s ability and achievement. Usually this discrepancy
equals a 1.5 standard deviation, typically 22 points between the IQ
and an academic area such as math, reading, or written language. Someone
with a learning disability does not necessarily have low or high intelligence,
it just means this individual is working far below their ability due
to a processing disorder, such as auditory processing or visual processing
or sometimes unknown problem. Learning disabilities are usually identified
by School Psychologists through testing of intelligence, academics and
processes of learning,
Manic Episode
Mania is exemplified by a time in which the subject for at least one
week, less if hospitalized, exhibits a consistently elevated, expansive
or irritable mood and must be accompanied by a t least three of the
following:
• Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
• Decreased need for sleep
• Flight of ideas
• Excessive involvement in pleasurable but dangerous pursuits
• Increased involvement in goal directed activities or psychomotor
agitation
• Distractibility
The disturbance
must substantially negatively impact social or occupational functioning,
is not better explained by another Mental Health Disorder or state,
Substance Abuse, Medication or Medical Disorder. People in this stage
generally believe that they can do everything better, faster, and more
accurately than anyone else in the world. They may go for days without
sleep and may “talk a mile a minute”.
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Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is a Biofeedback process that utilizes two computers,
and sophisticated software to pick up EEG Brainwave signals thru the
skull and feeds them back (Biofeedback) to the client so that they can
be changed and made more flexible or more suited to the task that one
is doing. The EEG (Brainwave) signal is divided into slow beta waves
that are associated with spaciness and creativity, alpha waves associated
with relaxation and meditation, beta waves that are dormant when one
is problem solving or engaged in a task that requires thinking.
Neurofeedback
Training
Assisting the client thru EEG or Brainwave training to have the right
kind of Brainwave in the right part of the Brain at the right time and
maintaining it for the length of time is how Neurofeedback exerts its
positive effects.
Obsessive-Compulsive
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is demonstrated by a person’s
obsessive drive to perform a particular act or set of acts or compulsions
commonly termed rituals. An estimated 2%-3% of the populations of the
United States is thought to have OCD or display OCD-like symptoms. The
OCD sufferer performs acts (or compulsions) to seek relief from obsessions.
These acts may appear simple and unnecessary. But for the sufferer,
such acts feel critically important, and must be performed in particular
ways or bad consequences are sure to occur. At the very least they stop
the stress build up. An example of this act is repeatedly checking that
house doors have been locked before being able to leave.
Panic Attacks
Any 4 or more of these symptoms:
• You wake up in bed and you feel like you can’t “get
enough air”
• You feel like throwing up
• You are sweating
• You have chest pains
• Your heart is pounding
• You feel like you are “losing it”
• You are really scared because you know you are having a heart
attack
• You know that you are going to die
• The feeling of terror and doom is all around you
• You are having chills or flushing
• You are trembling or shaking
• You feel dizzy, lightheaded
• You feel like you are choking
• Things feel unreal
You may
have had a Panic Attack and if you have had four or more and you are
dreading having another attack and have changed your routines to avoid
that, you could have a Panic Disorder. Of course there are other criteria
that need to be met but if you can say yeas, to the above you need to
think about getting help, if you have not done so.
Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease of the substantia
nigra. Some of the genes that cause this disorder were identified recently;
others remain unknown. The disease involves a progressive movement disorder
of the extrapyramidal system, which controls and adjusts communication
between neurons in the brain and muscles in the human body. It also
commonly involves depression and disturbances of sensory systems.
Phobias
Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorder. The term phobia,
which comes form Greek word fear (fobos) denotes a number of psychological
and physiological conditions that can range from serious disabilities
and common fears to minor quirks. The National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH) found that between 5.1 and 21.4 percent of Americans suffer from
phobias. Broken down by age and gender, the study found that phobias
were the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and
the second most common illness among men older than 25. Phobias are
divided into three categories: Social phobias – fears having to
do with other people and social relationships such as performance anxiety,
fears of eating in public, etc.
Specific phobias – fear of having a single specific panic trigger,
snakes, spiders, dogs, flying, bridges, running water and so on.
Agoraphobia – fear of leaving your home or your small familiar
“safe” area, and of the inevitable panic attacks that will
follow if you do.
PTSD
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an Anxiety Disorder and a term
for the psychological consequences of exposure to or confrontation with
stressful experiences which involve actual or threatened death, serious
physical injury or a threat to physical or mental integrity and which
the person found highly traumatic. Symptoms can include re-experiencing
phenomena such as nightmares and flashbacks, avoidance of reminders
and emotional detachment, and hyperarousal with sleep abnormalities,
extreme distress resulting from personal “triggers”, irritability
and excessive startle. Experiences likely to induce the condition include
rape, combat exposure, natural catastrophes, violent attacks, childhood
physical/emotional abuse. PTSD often becomes a chronic condition but
can improve with treatment or even spontaneously.
Psychosis
Psychosis is a mental state in which one’s perception of reality
is distorted. Persons experiencing a psychotic episode may experience
hallucinations (auditory or visual hallucinations), hold paranoid or
delusional beliefs, may experience personality changes and may exhibit
disorganized thinking. This is usually accompanied by a lack of insight
into the unusual or bizarre nature of their behavior, difficulties with
social interaction and acute impairments in carrying out the activities
of daily living.
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Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is a disorder that causes sufferers to experience intense
anxiety in some or all of their social interactions and public events
of everyday life. For instance, some sufferers have difficulty attending
parties or meetings, walking into a shop and purchase goods, or asking
for help from authority figures. Sufferers are very much afraid of being
unfairly judged, watched, and humiliated in public as a result of their
actions, behavior or appearance.
Social Skills
Training
Social skills training is a general term for instruction conducted in
behavioral areas that increase clients’ relationship skills and
promotes more productive/positive interactions with others. We teach
social skills to students and adults who have not learned how to successfully
interact with others in order to promote their acceptance by others.
Stress Management
Stress management techniques include a range of techniques designed
to promote our clients with effective coping mechanisms for managing
in behavioral and cognitive realms.
Stroke
A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply
to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion, by hemorrhage,
or other causes. Ischemia is a reduction of blood flow most commonly
due to occlusion (an obstruction). On the other hand, hemorrhagic stroke
occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, spilling blood into
the spaces surrounding the brain cells or when a cerebral aneurysm ruptures.
A small proportion of strokes are watershed strokes caused by hypoperfusion
or other vascular problems including vasculitis.
Substance
Abuse
Substance abuse is a pattern of continued harmful use of a mood altering
substance that results in adverse social consequences, such as failure
to meet work, family, or school obligation. It may also cause interpersonal
conflicts, or legal problems. Substance abuse may lead to addiction
or substance dependence.
Urethra
Urethra is the canal leading from the bladder.
Urologist
Urologist is a doctor specializing in the urinary and urogenital tract
problems
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