factors influencing suicide.....

                         Factors that may increase a person’s risk for suicide include:

•           Current ideation, intent, plan, access to means

•           Previous suicide attempt or attempts

•           Alcohol /Substance abuse

•           Current or previous history of psychiatric diagnosis

•           Impulsivity and poor self control

•           Hopelessness – presence, duration, severity

•           Recent losses – physical, financial, personal

•           Recent discharge from an inpatient psychiatric unit

•           Family history of suicide

•           History of abuse (physical, sexual or emotional)

•           Co-morbid health problems, especially a newly diagnosed problem or worsening symptoms

•           Age, gender, race (elderly or young adult, unmarried, white, male, living alone)

•           Same- sex sexual orientation

Factors that may decrease the risk for suicide are also called protective factors.  These include:

•           Positive social support

•           Spirituality

•           Sense of responsibility to family

•           Children in the home, pregnancy

•           Life satisfaction

•           Reality testing ability

•           Positive coping skills

•           Positive problem-solving skills

•           Positive therapeutic relationship

Sunil Kumar                                                 Jayasudha Kamaraj

Clinical Psychologist                                   Counseling Psychologist

Founder - Mind Zone                                   Co-founder - Mind Zone

+91 9444 297058                                         +91 91760 55660

myths about substance abuse treatment

                                   Myths about Substance Abuse Treatment

Myth #1: Drug addiction is voluntary behavior.
A person starts out as an occasional drug user, and that is a voluntary decision. But as times passes, something happens, and that person goes from being a voluntary drug user to being a compulsive drug user. Why? Because over time, continued use of addictive drugs changes your brain -- at times in dramatic, toxic ways, at others in more subtle ways, but virtually always in ways that result in compulsive and even uncontrollable drug use.
Myth #2: More than anything else, drug addiction is a character flaw.
Drug addiction is a brain disease. Every type of drug of abuse has its own individual mechanism for changing how the brain functions. But regardless of which drug a person is addicted to, many of the effects it has on the brain are similar: they range from changes in the molecules and cells that make up the brain, to mood changes, to changes in memory processes and in such motor skills as walking and talking. And these changes have a huge influence on all aspects of a person's behavior. The drug becomes the single most powerful motivator in a drug abuser's existence. He or she will do almost anything for the drug. This comes about because drug use has changed the individual's brain and its functioning in critical ways.
Myth #3: You have to want drug treatment for it to be effective.
Virtually no one wants drug treatment. Two of the primary reasons people seek drug treatment are because the family members ordered them to do so, or because loved ones urged them to seek treatment. Many scientific studies have shown convincingly that those who enter drug treatment programs in which they face "high pressure" to confront and attempt to surmount their addiction do comparatively better in treatment, regardless of the reason they sought treatment in the first place.
Myth #4: Treatment for drug addiction should be a one-shot deal.
Like many other illnesses, drug addiction typically is a chronic disorder. To be sure, some people can quit drug use "cold turkey," or they can quit after receiving treatment just one time at a rehabilitation facility. But most of those who abuse drugs require longer-term treatment and, in many instances, repeated treatments.
Myth #5: We should strive to find a "magic bullet" to treat all forms of drug abuse.
There is no "one size fits all" form of drug treatment, much less a magic bullet that suddenly will cure addiction. Different people have different drug abuse-related problems. And they respond very differently to similar forms of treatment, even when they're abusing the same drug. As a result, drug addicts need an array of treatments and services tailored to address their unique needs.
Myth #6: People don't need treatment. They can stop using drugs if they really want to.
FACT: It is extremely difficult for people addicted to drugs to achieve and maintain long-term abstinence. Research shows long-term drug use actually changes a person's brain function, causing them to crave the drug even more, making it increasingly difficult for the person to quit. Especially for adolescents, intervening and stopping substance abuse early is important, as children become addicted to drugs much faster than adults and risk greater physical, mental and psychological harm from illicit drug use.
MYTH #7: Treatment just doesn't work.
FACT: Treatment can help people. Studies show drug treatment reduces drug use by 40 to 60 percent and can significantly decrease criminal activity during and after treatment. There is also evidence that drug addiction treatment reduces the risk of HIV infection (intravenous -drug users who enter and stay in treatment are up to six times less likely to become infected with HIV than other users) and improves the prospects for employment, with gains of up to 40 percent after treatment.
MYTH #8: Nobody will voluntarily seek treatment until they hit ‘rock bottom.’
FACT: There are many things that can motivate a person to enter and complete substance abuse treatment before they hit "rock bottom." Pressure from family members and employers, as well as personal recognition that they have a problem, can be powerful motivating factors for individuals to seek treatment. For teens, parents and school administrators are often driving forces in getting them into treatment once problems at home or in school develop but before situations become dire. Seventeen percent of adolescents entering treatment in 1999 were self- or individual referrals, while 11 percent were referred through schools.
MYTH #9: You can't force someone into treatment.
FACT: Treatment does not have to be voluntary. People coerced into treatment by the legal system can be just as successful as those who enter treatment voluntarily. Sometimes they do better, as they are more likely to remain in treatment longer and to complete the program.

MYTH #10: There should be a standard treatment program for everyone.
FACT: One treatment method is not necessarily appropriate for everyone. The best programs develop an individual treatment plan based on a thorough assessment of the individual's problems. These plans may combine a variety of methods tailored to address each person's specific needs and may include behavioral therapy (such as counseling, cognitive therapy or psychotherapy), medications, or a combination. Referrals to other medical, psychological and social services may also be crucial components of treatment for many people. Furthermore, treatment for teens varies depending on the child's age, maturity and family/peer environment, and relies more heavily than adult treatment on family involvement during the recovery process. "[They] must be approached differently than adults because of their unique developmental issues, differences in their values and belief systems, and environmental considerations (e.g., strong peer influences)."
MYTH #11: If you've tried one doctor or treatment program, you've tried them all.
FACT: Not every doctor or program may be the right fit for someone seeking treatment. For many, finding an approach that is personally effective for treating their addiction can mean trying out several different doctors and/or treatment centers before a perfect "match" is found between patient and program.
MYTH #12: People can successfully finish drug abuse treatment in a couple of weeks if they're truly motivated.
FACT: Research indicates a minimum of 90 days of treatment for residential and outpatient drug-free programs, and 21 days for short-term inpatient programs to have an effect. To maintain the treatment effect, follow up supervision and support are essential. In all recovery programs the best predictor of success is the length of treatment. Patients who remain at least a year are more than twice as likely to remain drug free, and a recent study showed adolescents who met or exceeded the minimum treatment time were over one and a half times more likely to abstain from drug and alcohol use. However, completing a treatment program is merely the first step in the struggle for recovery that can extend throughout a person's entire lifetime.
MYTH #13: People who continue to abuse drugs after treatment are hopeless.
FACT: Drug addiction is a chronic disorder; occasional relapse does not mean failure. Psychological stress from work or family problems, social cues (i.e. meeting individuals from one's drug-using past), or their environment (i.e. encountering streets, objects, or even smells associated with drug use) can easily trigger a relapse. Addicts are most vulnerable to drug use during the few months immediately following their release from treatment. Children are especially at risk for relapse when forced to return to family and environmental situations that initially led them to abuse substances. Recovery is a long process and frequently requires multiple treatment attempts before complete and consistent sobriety can be achieved.

Myths and Facts of Suicide........

                                             MYTHS ABOUT SUICIDE

There are many myths about suicide and suicidal behavior that have been passed down through generations of healthcare providers that some providers still believe today and may have actually been taught.  Examples of these myths are:

•           Myth: Asking about suicide would plant the idea in my patient's head.

•           Reality: Asking how your patient feels doesn’t create suicidal thoughts any more     than asking how your patient’s chest feels would cause angina.

•           Myth: There are talkers and there are doers.

•           Reality:  Most people who die by suicide have communicated some intent.  Someone who talks about suicide gives the physician an opportunity to intervene before suicidal behaviors occur.

•           Myth: If somebody really wants to die by suicide, there is nothing you can do about it.

•           Reality: Most suicidal ideas are associated with the presence of underlying treatable disorders. Providing a safe environment for treatment of the underlying cause can save lives.  The acute risk for suicide is often time-limited.  If you can help the person survive the immediate crisis and the strong intent to die by suicide, then you will have gone a long way towards promoting a positive outcome.

•           Myth: He/she really wouldn't kill themselves since ______.

•           he just made plans for a vacation

•           she has young children at home

•           he signed a No Harm Contract

•           he knows how dearly his family loves him

•           Reality: The intent to die can override any rational thinking.  In the presence of suicidal ideation or intent, the physician should not be dissuaded from thinking that the patient is capable of acting on these thoughts and feelings.  No Harm or No Suicide contracts have been shown to be essentially worthless from a clinical and management perspective. The anecdotal reports of their usefulness can all be explained by the strength of the alliance with the care provider that results from such a collaborative exchange, not from the specifics of the contract itself.

•           Myth:  Multiple and apparently manipulative self-injurious behaviors mean that the patient is just trying to get attention and are not really suicidal.

•           Reality: Suicide “gestures” require thoughtful assessment and treatment.  Multiple prior suicide attempts increase the likelihood of eventually dying by suicide.   The task is to empathically and non-judgmentally engage the patient in understanding the behavior and finding safer and healthier ways of asking for help.

Sunil Kumar                                                  Jayasudha Kamaraj

Clinical Psychologist                                     Counseling Psychologist

Founder - Mind Zone                                     Co-founder - Mind Zone

+91 9444 297058                                           +91 9176055 660

Warning Signs of Suicide.....

THE FIRST THREE WARNING SIGNS OF SUICIDE ARE:

•           Threatening to hurt or kill self

•           Looking for ways to kill self; seeking access to pills, weapons or other means

•           Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide

 The remaining list of warning signs should alert the clinician that a mental health evaluation needs to be conducted in the VERY near future and that precautions need to be put into place IMMEDIATELY to ensure the safety, stability and security of the individual.

•           Hopelessness

•           Rage, anger, seeking revenge

•           Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking

•           Feeling trapped – like there’s no way out

•           Increasing alcohol or drug abuse

•           Withdrawing from friends, family or society

•           Anxiety, agitation, unable to sleep or sleeping all the time

•           Dramatic changes in mood

•           No reasonfor living, no sense of purpose in life

Other behaviors that may be associated with increased short-term risk for suicide are when the patient makes arrangements to divest responsibility for dependent others (children, pets, elders), or making other preparations such as updating wills, making  financial arrangements for paying bills, saying goodbye to loved ones, etc.

Contact: Mind Zone if you come across any person who are at risk for Suicide...

Sunil Kumar                                        Jayasudha Kamaraj

Clinical Psychologist                          Counseling Psychologist

Founder- Mind Zone                           Co-founder -  Mind Zone

+91 9444 297058                                +91 91760 55660

Win Over Your Loneliness @ Mind Zone....

The interpersonal problems and low-quality, unstable relationships of insecurely attached people can easily result in subjective feelings of loneliness. The term loneliness refers to a negative psychological experience that emanates from actual or perceived deficiencies in a person’s relationships and from feelings of deprivation in relation to others.

Loneliness as a “subjective distressing and unpleasant state in which individuals perceive deficiencies in their social world” . These deficiencies are not only quantitative, such as few friends or infrequent social activities, but are also indicative of poor-quality relationships in which people feel a lack of intimacy and emotional closeness as well as feel unloved, unaccepted, not sufficiently cared for, misunderstood, or unvalidated by a relationship partner. In fact, a person can feel lonely while being in a close relationship with a cool, rejecting, inconsistent, or unavailable partner.

Anxiety

The prototype of anxiety is the fearof separation from loved ones, initially from the mother, especially in infancy, the period of absolute helplessness. In the Freudian view, anxiety emerges in aloneness and darkness, only because these two situations mean separation, and if it persists throughout life, it becomes neurotic.

 Regardless of the model of anxiety he adopts (i.e., anxiety as a transformation of undischarged libido or anxiety as a signal of a danger), Freud always associated anxiety with traumatic object loss. He wrote (Freud, 1905/1953) that “anxiety in children is originally nothing other than an expression of the fact that they are feeling the loss of the person they love”, and in a later essay (Freud, 1926/1959a), “anxiety appears as the reaction to the felt loss of the object”.  In the course of development, anxiety is determined also by the threat of losing the love of the object. Freud (1926/1959a) distinguished between anxiety as a reaction to the danger of loss and the pain of mourning which is the reaction to the actual loss of the object. Thus, loneliness may be regarded as the painful longing for the lost object or for the loss of the love of the object.

Sunil kumar                                                      Jayasudha Kamaraj

Clinical Psychologist                                        Counseling Psychologist

Founder - Mind Zone                                        Co-founder -  Mind Zone

+91 9444 297058                                              +91 91760 55660

Win Over Your loneliness @ www.mindzone.in

The interpersonal problems and low-quality, unstable relationships of insecurely attached people can easily result in subjective feelings of loneliness. The term loneliness refers to a negative psychological experience that emanates from actual or perceived deficiencies in a person’s relationships and from feelings of deprivation in relation to others.

Loneliness as a “subjective distressing and unpleasant state in which individuals perceive deficiencies in their social world” . These deficiencies are not only quantitative, such as few friends or infrequent social activities, but are also indicative of poor-quality relationships in which people feel a lack of intimacy and emotional closeness as well as feel unloved, unaccepted, not sufficiently cared for, misunderstood, or unvalidated by a relationship partner. In fact, a person can feel lonely while being in a close relationship with a cool, rejecting, inconsistent, or unavailable partner.

Sunil Kumar                                                    Jayasudha Kamaraj
Clinical Psychologist                                       Counseling Psychologist
Founder - Mind Zone                                      Co-Founder - mind zone
+91 9444 297058                                            +91 91760 55660

Assertiveness Training @ Mind Zone

Wanting to be responsibly and effectively assertive is perhaps one of the most universally recognized and desired needs that people have. In one respect our culture requires us to constantly give feedback, receive feedback, and initiate interaction with others. In short, this demands the ability to be appropriately assertive. However, in another respect our cultural patterns prescribe certain behaviors or ways of relating to others, which seem to conflict with the development of assertive skills. Since the need for a person to be able to be assertive is high and the chances for complete acquisition of the skill are rather low, it is not surprising that there has been overwhelming consumer response to participation in assertion training programs.

Goals

This assertiveness workshop is designed to:

1. Help participants acquire the skills basic to effective and responsible assertion.

2. Provide a positive group atmosphere in which participants will feel relatively comfortable in trying out new behavior.

3. Aid participants in developing some understanding of the internal value conflicts they experience when being assertive.

Contact: Mind Zone for Registration  -

Sunil Kumar                                           Jayasudha Kamaraj

Clinical psychologist                             Counseling Psychologist

Founder - Mind Zone                             Co-founder - Mind Zone

+91 9444 297058                                   +91 9176055660

SEX....................

We live in a sex-saturated culture. Sexual iconography has increased dramatically in advertising during the last decade and images of entwined couples, arched backs and orgasmic expressions bombard us from billboards, cinema screens and newspapers (Gill, 2007). Women’s magazines and ‘‘lads mags’’ tell us the kinds of sex we should (and should not) be having (Attwood, 2005). Television stations attract viewers with endless documentaries on sexual practices. Porn is ever more freely available on the Internet providing another mythologised version of sex. The overwhelming message is that ‘‘everyone is always ready, willing and able to have sex’’

Alongside this hyper-sexualization there is an ever-increasing anxiety about sex and a concern with being unable to have ‘‘functional’’ sex.