Blog Entries - March 2009

Anger - how to control it?

editor@uticopa.com — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0100

"Anger is a great force. If you control it, it can be transmuted into a power which can move the whole world." William Shenstone (Scottish writer, 1714-63)

Change the way you think

Angry people tend to swear or speak in highly colourful language that reflects their inner thoughts. Try replacing these thoughts with more rational ones. For instance, instead of telling yourself "oh, everything's ruined," tell yourself "it's frustrating but it's no [...]

The Facts About OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

editor@uticopa.com — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Notable celebrities with OCD

David Beckham - footballer

Samuel Johnson - lexicographer

Howard Hughes - inventor, businessman, recluse

Typical symptoms

Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses or intrusive images that are irrational and not generally relating to real-life problems. They cause marked anxiety or distress.

Attempts to ignore or suppress these symptoms or to neutralize them with some other thought o [...]

Under-age sex can cause mental health issues

editor@uticopa.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

There has been a tide of media interest in young people recently - from fathers at thirteen, to earlier and earlier sex-education in schools, to the cervical infections surrounding the tragic Jade Goody.

Sex is once again in the news, if ever it really left.

The sexual conduct of young people has long been vigorously debated, but what of the inevitable mental health issues that are caused by such behaviour?

The UK again features high in its rate of teenage pregnan [...]

What I need from my Mom and Dad - now you're no longer together

editor@uticopa.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

I need both of you to stay involved in my life. Please write or text me, make phone calls and ask me lots of questions. When I don't hear from either of you, I feel as if I'm not important and that neither of you really love me.

Please stop arguing and work hard to be friends. When you argue about me, I think that I must have done something wrong and I feel guilty.

I want to love you both and enjoy the time that I spend with each of you. I feel as if I need t [...]

Divorce and a father's state of mind

editor@uticopa.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

No matter whose decision it is to separate, fathers suffer stress, anxiety and loneliness when living apart from their children. All fathers in such situations say they feel cut off from reality, unable to sleep or work.

Some fathers in these situations try to take the law into their own hands. One civil rights group, Fathers4Justice, does just this as a means of giving a generation of children the right in law to see their fathers. Founded in 2002, it sets out to give parents [...]

Are we a nation of stressed-out workaholics?

editor@uticopa.com — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

There is no doubt that well-organised and managed work helps to maintain and promote individual health and well-being. But not enough attention to good organisation and methods could result in work-related stress.

Recent statistics confirm that work-related stress is widespread in the U.K working population and is not confined to particular sectors or high risk jobs or industries. That is why a population-wide approach is necessary to tackle it.

If you believe you are suff [...]

Motivation: why is it so hard to keep promises to yourself?

editor@uticopa.com — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Most people will probably admit to certain times in their working lives when they lack the motivation to do honest hard work.

If this relates to you, ask yourself honestly whether you're the type who has constantly cut corners, doing the minimum amount of work necessary for a certain project, and making excuses for handing-in papers late.

For many young people just starting out at work, there is the assumption that this tendency would end when they started doing a regular, [...]

What do people with mental health issues really need?

editor@uticopa.com — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

As with all health issues, it is only by actually listening to sufferers about their particular problems that specific issues and needs can be met. If you have a mental health condition, we would like to hear from you.

It may be you desperately need more attention, someone to talk to, or simply someone to listen. You may say that even the knowledge that there are other people in the same situation would help you to confront your illness. Alternatively, it might be [...]

Understanding stress: look back to your childhood

editor@uticopa.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

What is stress?

Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to particular events - called stressors. It's the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a difficult situation. The hypothalamus in the brain signals the adrenal glands to produce more of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol and release them into the bloodstream. These hormones speed up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and metabolism. Blood vessels open wider to let more blood flow to large [...]

Solving the stressful equations of life

editor@uticopa.com — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

How to solve the stressful equations of life?

Rather like a stack of dominoes, once the bankers of Wall Street unleashed their economic ills onto an uncertain world, piece by piece, the world's economy started to collapse. Eventually, the unstoppable force reached the common man. But there were considerable knock-on effects on individuals, resulting in mounting stress levels.

Living in such unpredictable times evokes feelings of anxiety or even fear. There is a solutio [...]

The inherent dangers of narcissism in the young

editor@uticopa.com — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In the press recently has been an account of how Julie Myerson, an author mother, wrote the true story of her anguish in ordering her drug-taking son permanently from their home. If nothing else, it shows the huge gulf between the mindsets of parents and their offspring. But, who is at fault: the mother for apparently ‘failing to understand' her son's behaviour and for failing to nurture him no matter what, or the son for his supposedly narcissistic attitude to life? The m [...]