Like everything else, Happiness is also a Choice

Like everything else, Happiness is also a Choice

The core of every endeavour, every pursuit and every single action of man is to attain happiness. Yet we are a miserable lot in this world. For most of us, it is a mirage which has been eluding us throughout life. If you peep into a center for mental health services, or any mental health center in California, you will be astonished to see so many dejected faces looking for solace.

But, is it really so difficult to be happy in our lives? The fact is, it is not. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

There are several recent studies to vindicate this claim that happiness is a choice and we can choose to be happy at will. Two U.S. academics, Yuna L. Ferguson and Kennon M. Sheldon conducted a study which revealed that people who chose to be happy were happier than those who did not while participating in it. Studies in the field of positive psychology also buttress this belief that happiness is a cultivated habit.

So, how do we find happiness and stay happy? Let us find our way to happiness and stay blessed:

Choose happiness: First thing in the morning, before getting out of the bed, make a choice for yourself. Choose to be happy throughout the day and then go about your business. It is a habit and needs to be reiterated before it gets embedded in your DNA. It is a wonderful feeling and experience when you see happiness sipping into your life from every aspect.

Share your happiness: The Buddha claims, “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” In other words, whenever you are happy let others also have a piece of the pie. Sharing our happiness only increases it manifold.

Be grateful: Practicing gratitude and thankfulness increases happiness. Studies reveal that those who are grateful appreciate simple pleasures of life and enjoy a happy disposition. That is why we take our Thanksgiving Day very seriously. Be grateful for all that you have in your life and count your blessings every now and then. When you lament, it only brings miseries.

Be non-judgemental: Much of our energy and peace is sapped because of being judgemental. We always remain critical of people, situations and events over which we have no control. However, the moment we become non-judgemental much of our stress dissipates and we become a lot calmer. By being non-judgemental we also reconcile to the fact that we have chosen happiness for ourselves. So, become non-judgemental and enhance your happiness quotient.

Now, that you know the choice is yours choose happiness and keep spreading your joy to others as well.

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Causes of Depression

Everyone occasionally feels blue or sad, but these feelings are usually fleeting and pass within a couple of days. When a person has a depressive disorder, it interferes with daily life, normal functioning, and causes pain for both the person with the disorder and those who care about him or her. Depression is a common but serious illness, and most who experience it need treatment to get better.

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Many people with a depressive illness never seek treatment. But the vast majority, even those with the most severe depression, can get better with treatment. Intensive research into the illness has resulted in the development of medications, psychotherapies, and other methods to treat people with this disabling disorder.

Causes There is no single known cause of depression. Rather, it likely results from a combination of genetic, biochemical, environmental, and psychological factors.Research indicates that depressive illnesses are disorders of the brain. Brain-imaging technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have shown that the brains of people who have depression look different than those of people without depression.

The parts of the brain responsible for regulating mood, thinking, sleep, appetite and behavior appear to function abnormally. In addition, important neurotransmitters–chemicals that brain cells use to communicate–appear to be out of balance. But these images do not reveal why the depression has occurred.

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Some types of depression tend to run in families, suggesting a genetic link. However, depression can occur in people without family histories of depression as well. Genetics research indicates that risk for depression results from the influence of multiple genes acting together with environmental or other factors.

In addition, trauma, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship, or any stressful situation may trigger a depressive episode. Subsequent depressive episodes may occur with or without an obvious trigger.SymptomsPeople with depressive illnesses do not all experience the same symptoms.

The severity, frequency and duration of symptoms will vary depending on the individual and his or her particular illness.

Symptoms include:

• Persistent sad, anxious or "empty" feelings

• Feelings of hopelessness and/or pessimism

• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness and/or helplessness

• Irritability, restlessness

• Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex

• Fatigue and decreased energy

•Difficulty concentrating, remembering details and making decisions

• Insomnia, early–morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping

• Overeating, or appetite loss

• Thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts

• Persistent aches or pains, headaches, cramps or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment.

Medical Treatment

Therapy frequently includes antidepressant medication and supportive care such as psychotherapy. Other less widely used therapies, such as electroconvulsive therapy, are used in severe cases...

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Depression mental illness by Jean Taylor

Do you suffer from depression? Are you close to someone who suffers from depression? Do you try to hide this fact from the rest of the world? Depression is a mental illness. MENTAL illness. Oh that can't be admitted to anyone! Why not? We accept that our physical body becomes ill, gets diseased, sustains injury so why not our brain?

There is such a stigma attached that we are kept from disclosing to others what is wrong. Others appear to think that a sufferer is either "mad" or needs to pull himself together.

Fortunately society is coming round to the realisation that depression is as much an illness as cancer. For this reason it is becoming easier for the sufferer to seek help by admitting to himself that there is something wrong which needs medical attention.

How do you know when to see your doctor, or persuade your family member or friend that she should seek help? Well depression can come suddenly or creep up gradually so you will decide by what you see or feel. Sudden depression can descend as a full blown mental illness for which the doctor, or ambulance, will immediately be called. In these cases it is taken out of the hands of the sufferer.

Supposing though it has crept up very slowly and is held at bay at certain times but comes out at others. Then you will need to look for various symptoms. Make out a check list and actively observe what is happening.

 Mood is depressed. By this I do not mean that the sufferer is a bit blue. This is an ongoing sadness and emptiness. Can be expressed by appearing very tearful. Cannot be shaken off.

 Feelings of worthlessness. Not wanting to tackle anything because of the sureness that it will not turn out right as they are useless at everything

 Lack of interest. Cannot get enthused by tasks or events which have in the past been a joy. Doesn't want to do anything about it. Maybe does try but can't get involved. Takes no pleasure in anything. Everything is pointless.

 Lack of concentration. Unable to keep the mind focused on the task in hand. May flit from one thing to another without achieving any end result.

 Can't sleep, or sleeps too long. Depression often turns a person into an insomniac. Can't get to sleep easily. Then wakes often throughout the night taking a long time to get off to sleep again. Can have trouble waking and getting up when morning comes.

 Lethargy. Throughout the day feeling tired and lacking in energy

 Weight loss. There may be a lack of interest in eating and drinking and over time this will result in weight loss without conscious dieting or exercise. Tempt with little and often but don't expect the sufferer to tuck into a three course lunch.

 Thoughts of death and/or suicide. May have ideas as to committing suicide or even some sort of plan.

If you keep a record of what you see or feel over a two week time span you will discover just how much affect this mental illness is having. Don't expect to see all these symptoms. Also it is not always easy to spot as there may be quite a lot of cover up if the sufferer is at a stage where he can attempt to put on a front for others to see.

Let's suppose that the sufferer is someone close to you, perhaps within the family. You see them everyday. You will be able to keep an eye on the condition so that you are aware of what is happening when the sufferer is entering an episode of depression. The person himself does not always notice. If you can see an episode starting you can suggest the taking of the prescribed medication.

Be prepared. Depression very, very rarely goes away forever. It recurs. Just be ready to take action on behalf of the sufferer.

Knowing about this illness helps both sufferers and carers. For more information about depression, visit Depression FAQs

Easy Ways to Help Raise Self Esteem

For many people self-esteem is a problem that can be a lifelong issue and one that can seriously impact both personal and professional relationships. While many would seek to raise their self-esteem, they may find that this is easier said than done, as this is a tremendously sensitive and delicate issue. In order to raise one's self-esteem, it is critically important to understand the nature of self-esteem and how it develops as well as the important link between self-esteem and success.

Generally, self-esteem is relate to your view of yourself, how others view you, your abilities and your accomplishments. Low self-esteem develops when an individual feels that they will fail at tasks they attempt or when they think that others do not think highly of them and their accomplishments.

Self esteem touches every aspect of our lives; both public and private. Therefore it can impact how we interact with our families, our co-workers and those we are involved with on a social level. Even hobbies can be affected negatively or positively by self-esteem. Due to the fact that self-esteem is an integral part of developing a happy, successful life and career, the lack of self-esteem can result in very serious situations. Low self-esteem has been linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways that an individual can go about raising their self-esteem. In situations in which low self-esteem is resulting in thoughts of self-harm or harm to others, it is critically important to obtain counseling in order to address these issues. In milder situations, low self-esteem can be treated in a variety of manners that involve relative privacy.

One of the most successful ways to treat low self-esteem is by addressing and reviewing those issues in the past that may have resulted in a negative mindset. In many cases, the root issues may have involved either accomplishments that were attempted but not achieved or perhaps an individual from the past who caused hurt with belittling comments. Whatever the root issue may happens to be, the key to overcoming low self-esteem involves taking the time to recognize the impact the issue has had on your current life and then casting it away from you. Imagery techniques can be particularly useful in this context. Imagine tossing the source of your low self-esteem far away from you.

Other techniques that are frequently used to raise self-esteem involve detailed record keeping. You may be quite surprised to find that you are good at a number of things. Toward that end, make a point to keep a record of all your accomplishment; even if they may seem minor or insignificant. Review these regularly and eventually your low self-esteem will be replaced with high self-esteem.

Weaving Mental Health First Aid into Workplace Wellness

Every month Anne LaFleur sends employees in her office a quiz about various wellness topics. When the topic was depression, she received twice as many responses as usual from co-workers.

When LaFleur, vice president of human resources at a credit union in Pawtucket, RI, took a Mental Health First Aid course in February, she quickly understood the reason for the high level of interest in mental health issues. The training also helped her identify people in her office who may be suffering a mental health problem and taught her how to provide help and refer people to self-help and professional resources. "The training made me realize that mental health issues are very common, yet one of the least talked about problems," LaFleur says.

More than one in four people suffer from a diagnosable mental health problem in any given year. Mental illness likely costs businesses more than $79 billion a year, $63 billion of it in lost productivity. The statistics point to the significant need to incorporate mental health into burgeoning employee wellness programs, which have received a shot in the arm with the passage of federal healthcare reform legislation.

Mental Health First Aid has proved to be an ideal program to promote improved mental health in workplaces across the country.

LaFleur is one of more than 6,000 people certified in Mental Health First Aid since the training was introduced in the United States two years ago by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare along with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Those who participate in the 12-hour Mental Health First Aid course learn a five-step process to assess a situation, select and implement appropriate interventions and help a person developing signs and symptoms of mental illness or in crisis receive appropriate care. Participants also learn about the risk factors and warning signs of specific illnesses such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and addiction.

Evaluations show that the evidence-based Mental Health First Aid program saves lives, expands people's knowledge of mental illnesses and their treatments, and reduces the stigma associated with mental illness by helping people understand and accept mental illness as a medical condition. One trial of 301randomized participants found that those who took the training had greater confidence in providing help to others, greater likelihood of advising people to seek professional help, and decreased stigmatizing attitudes.

Unexpectedly, the study also found that Mental Health First Aid improved the mental health of the participants themselves.

"By understanding the signs and symptoms of depression, I learned to recognize this in myself," says Kellie-Ann Heenan, director of human resources at a company in Lincoln, RI.

Heenan, who had the training in February, has an adopted son from Russia who suffers from a number of emotional issues.

"The tools I learned made it easier to connect with him and better understand where he's coming from," she says. "In the end, the training improved my own mental health."

LaFleur has also applied the lessons she learned in the course to her home life.

"My kids are in their 20s and they go through the typical ups and downs," says LaFleur, "I use my Mental Health First Aid training to see how my kids are feeling." LaFleur says she was surprised by the range of mental health issues covered in the course.

"We looked at how to deal with both crisis and non-crisis situations, and it made us very aware of the terminology we use that may not be socially correct," she says, noting that describing co-workers as "crazy" or a "nut case" may be hurtful to people going through an emotionally trying time.

The training proved to be particularly helpful to Lynn Corwin last January when two fellow employees walked into her office in a panic. They told Corwin, director of human resources at the organization, that a co-worker was extremely upset about the recent earthquake in Haiti. The distressed young woman had a close friend in Haiti and had been unable to contact the person for five days. Fearing the worst, the woman was having difficulty managing her emotions, let alone being able to work.

While the two workers had no idea how to deal with the situation, Corwin sprung into action.

"I used what I learned in the course to calm the woman down and talk with her about how she's feeling," says Corwin. "I explained to her that it was OK to be upset, and to not be embarrassed about it."

"The training left me with a greater sense of confidence about how to deal with a variety of people issues that come up in every office," concludes Heenan. "There's such a stigma around mental health and people don't want to talk about it, so having the information gives me confidence that I'll be able to handle these types of situations when they arise."

Causes of Depression

Therapy may be provided by your health-care provider or by a specially trained mental-health professional.

• Psychiatrists are medical doctors who have completed specialized training in mental disorders.• Psychologists have graduate (after college) training that includes experience in a mental-health-care facility.

• Psychotherapists may have a degree in medicine (psychiatry), psychology, social work, mental-health counseling, or couples and family therapy, as well as additional more specialized education or training.

Regardless of which is used, psychotherapy, medication, or a combination, most people with depression can safely be treated in a series of office (outpatient) visits. Inpatient care (in the hospital) may be necessary for people with more serious symptoms and is required for those who are contemplating suicide or cannot care for themselves...

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Identifying And Intervening Clinical Depression

An estimated one-third of the total population is suffering from clinical depression and the number is continually rising. By the term "clinical depression", it doesn’t mean the transient blue mood that simply goes away but a disorder that needs medical attention.

Stressors such as a loss or a trauma may instigate clinical depression but there are those afflicted by the condition due to a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Treatment and intervention may therefore include medications to correct the imbalance and therapy to sort out emotional and psychological issues. Other than that, peer and family support are also essential for a person to totally overcome clinical depression.

Depression is a potentially deadly disease as it robs the person of hope and enthusiasm being beset by overwhelming pessimism, sadness and sometimes anxiety. As such, clinical depression at worst can trigger thoughts of suicide or even suicide attempts.

Depression symptoms vary from person to person although there are general indications to look for. According to the degree and severity of the condition, professional help must be sought so a psychiatrist or psychotherapist can administer the appropriate treatment measures.

Intervention is usually more effective and the recovery speedier once clinical depression is addressed in the initial stages.

What are the general symptoms of clinical depression to be on the lookout for?

One must be keen in ascertaining those symptoms not only among family members or friends but within oneself as well. One must be aware of unexplained crying or being overcome by unhappiness or a saddened mood. A person with clinical depression may also lose their enthusiasm in whatever used to give them pleasure and tends to persistently sulk. Insomnia might likewise be prevalent.

It is either that the patient will have little or no sleep at all or has the tendency to oversleep yet a poor quality of sleep at that. In fact, they may feel as though they never slept at all. Consequently, the patient feels fatigued, tired and worn out.

This is usually accompanied by loss of energy. Restlessness and agitation and feeling the urgency to do things immediately are also manifestations of clinical depression.

Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand or in some cases they are experienced separately. Some depressive patients tend to relieve their depression by overeating thereby gaining weight or others may lose their appetite and forget to eat because of preoccupation with distressing
thoughts therefore they lose weight.

Poor concentration and difficulty in focusing on simple tasks may also be indications of clinical depression. One usually feels sluggish and may go about doing things in slow motion. Clinical depression may also instigate irritability, being upset or frustrated as well as trigger unfounded feelings of anger.

It may be sensible to seek professional help once these symptoms manifest in a loved one or friend or in oneself to ascertain whether one is afflicted with clinical depression. In moderate cases, the symptoms may be tolerable but there is no arguing that depression can deprive an individual of total well-being and a good quality of life therefore a professional’s assessment may be necessary.

Clinical depression is treatable as long as one takes the initiative to address the problem and soon, one’s zest and enthusiasm will be restored making life more fulfilling and worthwhile...

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