Archive for December, 2009


  

Positive Self-Talk Strategies to Ward off Holiday Depression

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Once positive self-talking becomes your habit, its effects would be evident in your overall way of life. But doing it once would not suffice to change the course of your life. Like regularly practiced healthy eating and exercise, it takes persistence and time for the effects of positive self-talk to manifest. In due time, once self-talking is ingrained in your system, you are gifted with an optimistic mindset. In effect, this helps strengthen your mental defense against the ill effects of depression and anxiety, which are known to strike lonely individuals during the holiday season.

Use positive self-talk to your advantage

Because self-talk acts to program your way of thinking towards two possible inclinations: positive and negative, the effect it would have on you and your life would depend on which one you focus your mind on. Given that your early childhood experiences brought about by your parental upbringing have established your current mindset, there is always a chance to transform it if you will it to happen. Indeed, you can program yourself to become a positive thinker by consciously changing the way you talk to yourself.

Negative self-talk is evident in constant self-blaming or the inherent inclination to dwell on negative possibilities with little consideration for their positive counterparts. Although positive self-talk is not a guarantee that things would always go your way, it has the power to turn you into an optimist. Hence, you are transformed into a proactive and emotionally resilient individual.

Beneficial Mind-Altering Strategies via Positive Self-Talk

Being optimistic translates to your having that useful capacity to bounce back every time you encounter negative experiences. Also, instead of being dragged down by your emotions, you are more pragmatic. Jumping into conclusions or being swept by your own anxiety and fear are least likely when you are optimistic. To effectively use habitual positive self-talk to acquire an optimistic mindset, ponder on these fool-proof suggestions:

  • Choose your words carefully.

Words may seem harmless. But in truth, they have the power to move your mind to believe in any idea they direct it to. Usually, it is a natural human tendency to use exaggerated adjectives to describe a circumstance or experience. For example, when people are having difficulty with a task, it is normal to say, “It is hard.” The words difficult, hard, and any other synonymous negative adjective subliminally directs the mind to miscalculate the actual gravity of the situation. To help modify this tendency, use “challenging” instead of difficult or hard. Unlike the latter adjectives, challenging implies that the problem to be tackled requires more effort. And since challenges are meant to be overcome, you would be motivated to seek the best solution rather than focus on the difficulty of the task.

  • Shift from negative to neutral or positive.

If you tend to dwell more on the negative possibilities whenever you are faced with a problem, try shifting your mind to neutral or positive. In doing this, all you have to do is redirect your thoughts to focus on “what needs to be done” or “what is” instead on “what could be.” If looking on the bright side does not come naturally to you, start with staying neutral, which translates to having no reaction or whatsoever. Optimism takes practice to acquire. From neutral, you can gradually steer your mind to becoming positive with persistent effort.

  • Transform self-restricting statements to pragmatic queries.

Instead of telling yourself that “you can’t,” try asking: “How can I approach the matter effectively?” Self-restricting statements are dead-ends. Once you believe in them, you are immobilized from doing anything that could work to your advantage.

Felicity Maris Modesto is a content writer/editor and visual artist with a passion for topics delving on health and personal improvement. She is interested in the emerging online pharmacy industry. For more information on cheap pharmacy online, visit www.cheappharmacy.ca

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/positive-selftalk-strategies-to-ward-off-holiday-depression-1619439.html

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Teenage Depression Symptoms – 8 Warning Signs To Remember

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

If you suspect that a teenager is suffering from Depression, there are some crucial symptoms that you must keep in mind. Below is a list of teenage depression symptoms that a parent should look for-

  • Tearfulness
  • Weight loss or gain
  • Inability to get to sleep, or the desire to sleep all the time
  • Loss of interest
  • Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
  • Inability to concentrate or sustain attention
  • Irritability
  • Feelings of emptiness and hopelessness
  • Loss of energy or initiative
  • Thoughts of Suicide

Tearfulness

Tearfulness is a teenage depression symptom. Depression may lead to sudden tearfulness without an apparent cause. This is usually due to the negative thoughts going through the sufferer’s mind.

Weight loss or gain

Depression and weight gain/loss frequently exist. It becomes a vicious cycle when you eat out of boredom, loneliness, isolation or many number of emotional reasons. It can also occur vice versa, when a teen gets so depressed that eating becomes something that is not of his/her interest any longer.

Inability to get to sleep, or the desire to sleep all the time

Difficulty getting off to sleep occurs often because of too much thoughts going round in a teen’s head and may also cause a person to frequently wake up during the night. While part of the teenage depression signs is the lack of sleep, teens with depression may also sleep too much, finding it hard to get out of bed and spending much of the day there, even causing tiredness and more negative depressing thoughts.

Loss of interest

When a teen is depressed, he/she starts to loose interest in activities he/she had previously enjoyed. When your teen no longer want to carry on with the regular day-to-day routine, well that should raise a red flag or cause for concern.

 Feelings of worthlessness or guilt

When teenagers suffering from depression, they may unfairly criticize themselves and feel unable to do anything right. This may be associated with crying spells and difficulties concentrating on or completing an easy task.

Inability to concentrate or sustain attention

Depression can change the way a person see things, feels, thinks, and behaves. As a result, these long period of sad and loss of interest can cause a teen start loosing focus even on simple daily activities.

Irritability

While we all get irritable from time to time, it is important that if your teen just starts to get irritable for no apparent cause or reason, then this is a teenage depression symptom. This should be noticeable because it will occur as a sudden change in a teen’s behavior and speech. Short temperedness and agitation are all caused by this irritability that points to depression.

Feelings of emptiness and hopelessness

Part of the teenage depression symptoms is the feeling of hopelessness and emptiness, which usually comes when a teen has given up, and finding a positive outlook on any endeavor seems to be a challenge. This can prove to be a challenge because this negative feeling can cause a hindrance on the effectiveness of any help that he or she might receive.

Loss of energy or initiative

In many cases, due to the lack of sleep and descent rest, teens go on through out the rest of the day feeling tire and depressed. As a result, no energy is available for them to take the initiative in carrying out normal day-to-day activities.

Thoughts of Suicide

Sad to say however, but when you notice this, then note to yourself that your teen has reached the end of the cycle of the symptoms of depression. If your teen has gotten to this stage, then it is time to take drastic action. That teen really needs medical help, therapies, medicine, love and support of friend and family.

Adults as well show these symptoms of depression, if you or someone you know shows these symptoms, it is time to take action.

Well, now that you know what the teenage depression symptoms are, please visit www.squido.com/help-for-teenage-depression to find the cure for the teenage depression.

Feeling hopeless? conquer depression by visiting www.cure-for-depression.info and gain a positive outlook for the future.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/teenage-depression-symptoms-8-warning-signs-to-remember-1548556.html

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