CEREBRAL PALSY - symptoms-treatment-medicines- signs, preventive care and cure

CEREBRAL PALSY

Cerebral palsy (CP) ranks as the most common cause of crippling of children in the United States. Almost one quarter of a million persons are afflicted. Too often people associate the abnormalities of movement and muscular control, which are the outstanding features of CP, with mental retardation and lifelong dependency on others. But the majority of CP victims is not mentally retarded and is capable, with special training, of becoming self-sufficient. Cerebral palsy is not an inherited disorder, or a contagious one, or a progressive one.

 Cerebral refers to the brain, and palsy to muscularweakness. So the name implies that it is a condition of muscular weakness or disability resulting from brain dam- age. The brain damage may occur before, during, or shortly after birth for many different reasons. (Brain damage in adulthood leading to disability is not considered CP.)

The nature and extent of disability will, of course, depend on the amount of brain damage. There are three ways in which the muscles may be affected: in the spastic variety of CP, muscles are stiff and tight, and weakness is profound; in the athetoid form, muscles contract without apparent reason, leading to uncontrolled grimaces and limb movements; in the ataxic form, talking and other movements are poorly coordinated. 

Along with these difficulties there may be hearing and sight impairment, speech disturbance, poor ability to learn, convulsions, emotional problems, and sometimes, unfortunately, mental retardation. Despite these handicaps, however, modern training methods offer more hope than ever before for even the most severe form of CPO Primary prevention of CP begins with good antenatal (prenatal) care.

German measles and other infections early in pregnancy may damage the brain of the developing child. Vaccination against German measles- before a girl reaches childbearing age or, in the case of an adult woman, when there is little likelihood of immediate pregnancy-is an important preventive measure. Other infections during pregnancy are often hard to detect, and the physician cannot al- ways predict whether or not they will harm the baby. 

The preventive approach is limited to recommending adequate protection against diseases for which vaccines are available and avoiding unnecessary exposure to others. Another known, and now preventable, cause of potential brain damage to children is Rh incompatibility.

Detecting this blood problem is now part of routine antenatalcare. The use of special techniques-such as intra- uterine blood transfusion for the fetus and delivery by cesarean section if necessary before severe damage occurs can prevent brain and other organ harm. A recent development promises to eliminate the hazard of Rh incompatibility. 

It is well known that the first child does not suffer harmful effects from Rh incompatibility; the succeeding children are at risk. This is because it takes time for the mother to become sensitized to the Rh factor.

A new medication, called Rhogram, when given to the mother within 48 hours after birth of the first child, prevents development of sensitization to the Rh factor and eliminates risk for succeeding children. To prevent sensitization from ever developing, the medication must be given after each subsequent pregnancy. 

Premature infants are more likely than others to be afflicted with CPo Among factors in the mother which predispose toward premature birth are cigarette smoking, infection of the kidney and bladder, and a history of having borne previous premature infants. 

Cancer prevention - ENDOCRINE GLAND SURGERY- symptoms signs - treatment

ENDOCRINE GLAND SURGERY FOR SECONDARY PREVENTION

 The growth of some cancers is influenced by certain of the endocrine glands. For example, in the spread of prostate cancer, hormones of the testicles play a role. It has been found that the painful metastases of prostate cancer to bone can be relieved for long periods by removal of the testicles. This is not as drastic as it sounds, since prostate cancer patients have reached an age when the eunuchizing effects of testicle removal will be minimal.

When breast cancer gets out of control and spreads to bones and other parts of the body, an endocrine gland operation may help to extend life for months and even years. The operation may be on the ovaries, adrenal glands, or pituitary gland in the brain. The age of the patient, the duration of the cancer, and the location of the metastases will be considered before the decision as to which operation to use is made. 

Tertiary Prevention Perhaps not too far distant is the day when organ transplantation be- comes fully practical. Then cancers that are destroying such vital organs as the liver and the pancreas may be removed entirely, and the missing organ will be replaced by a transplant from a cadaver. Cancer Phobia Cancer is such a dreaded disease that, understandably, many people have an irrational fear of it. 

The realistic fear that everyone has of this disease should be allayed by the sensible, scientific approach to prevention presented in this book. If strong fear of cancer persists, the phobia should be discussed with your doctor.

He can help you overcome it. If not, then he may wish you to have a talk with a psychotherapist.  

Types of Cancer- detection -symptoms- prevention- treatment- Medications

Cancers are of several types. Carcinoma is a cancer of the outer part of the body (such as skin, lip, breast, tongue) or of the innermost part of the body (such as stomach or colon). Sarcoma is a cancer of in-between tissues (such as muscles and bones). A teratoma is a mixture of these types. A hamartoma is an overgrowth of cells in an organ which does not progress and is now considered more a congenital abnormality than a tumor or cancer. 

Because cancer starts in a single organ rather than diffusely, there have been some daring suggestions about primary prevention. Quite seriously, some distinguished surgeons have discussed the possibility of prophylactically removing organs that are common cancer sites. Why not, they suggest, remove the uterus after child- bearing when it is no longer needed, Cancer of the breasts, or the prostate? From a straight surgical viewpoint, the decision would rest on the dangers and disability of operation versus the danger of the cancer. But surely other considerations enter in. Removal of the breasts is a great emotional shock for a woman.

The danger of operation, while small, cannot be overlooked. And, too, this danger comes for a relatively young woman, for if prophylactic surgery is to be meaningful it would have to be performed when a woman is entering the time of life when cancer becomes a possibility. Thus, at 40 years, she may be exposed to the danger, discomfort, and psychological hazards of the operation, whereas even if she is destined to get cancer, it may not strike until she is 55 and she has a good chance of getting years of relief or even complete cure from surgery performed at that time. 

Prophylactic removal of the uterus after the childbearing years might seem more desirable if it were not for the Pap test, which makes it possible to detect precancerous lesions in the uterus and thus institute surgery that will be curative. And for men, prostate removal is a major operation with some risk of mortality and danger of impotence, which a younger man would not want to face. At present, then, primary preventive surgery does not seem a practical answer.

There are more practical methods possible for primary prevention of cancer even though we realize from the frequency of the disease that these are far from sufficient. First, as we have noted earlier, cessationof smoking can save thousands of lives otherwise doomed to be lost from cancer. And an appreciable additional number can be saved from cancers of lip, tongue, larynx, and possibly stomach and urinary bladder. Then there are the precancerous lesions which can be removed before they have a chance to become malignant.

 They include leukoplakia (white patches) on tongue and lips; senile changes in the vagina; skin lesions such as moles which begin to enlarge; certain polyps of the colon and rectum. These pre-cancers can be detected by the type of regular checkup we have described earlier in this book. There are cancers that follow heavy exposure of the skin to sun and wind -the so-called sailor's and farmer's cancers-which can be prevented by covering the skin and shading the face. Radiation can lead to cancer. There is much less danger from diagnostic than from therapeutic x-ray or other irradiation. But every exposureto radiation should be entered in your medical record and shown to your doctor and dentist whenever they suggest x-rays. Workers in the radiation industries should know every safety precaution. 

Breat cancer symptoms and signs treatment with mastectomy

There are often emotional upsets because of the psychological significance of the breast, and the patient may require counseling. There are many prosthetic devices-artificial breasts-to conceal deformity. If cancer has spread, much still can be done to prolong life and make the patient comfortable. Radiotherapy can be of value and is often used after surgery as an aid to affecting a cure. 

To avoid breast cancer possibilities, Angelina Jolie recently have undergone mastectomy and give hope for other breast cancer possible victims to remove the breast. a great job done by a celebrity in USA. The news spread like a fire and help worldwide women.  

Hormone treatment is sometimes helpful for those with metastases (cancer growths spread elsewhere) that are causing discomfort. In some cases, removal of the ovaries and/or the adrenal glands may be called for as a means of producing hormonal changes that may be helpful.

The decision on suitable treatment for the individual patient is often difficult, and the physician caring for the patient may require the advice of a specialist, usually a surgeon with extensive experience with this disease. 

Women who develop cancer in one breast will sometimes develop cancer in the other. Also, women with a strong family history of breast cancer are at higher risk. Therefore, they should have more frequent examinations by their physician along with mammography studies.

Simple mastectomy-removal of the breast tissue without removal of the lymph nodes as in radical mastectomy -is rarely employed for cancer. It sometimes may be used, however, for cystic mastitis after repeated biopsies of cysts over several years because the physician fears he may miss a possible hidden cancer.

 At present, there is intensive and, in the opinion of many experts, highly promising research into many aspects of cancer-causes, new detection methods, and new methods of treatment. Men rarely get breast cancer, but it is nevertheless a possibility.

Any breast lump in a man should be biopsied. See the section on cancer concerning the question of removal of breasts as a means of primary prevention of cancer. For some women, breast size is a matter of concern. Exercises can help tone muscles adjacent to breast tissue and may help to make the breast, appear larger.  

Chronic Bone Infection - Scoliosis - symptoms causes treatment preventive care

When bone has been severely weakened by chronic infection, it may be necessary to provide support for it with plates and pins or bone grafts in order to avoid repeated fractures and to allow normal function. Scoliosis mean abnormal curvature of the spine. A minor degree of it is present in a large proportion of all people, in whom it is usually barely noticeable and does not interfere with posture and function.

 Two important causes of severe scoliosis in the past-polio and tuberculosis-have been minimized in recent years. Polio may lead to scoliosis if muscles on one side of the body are weakened to a greater extent than on the other side. When this occurs, the stronger muscles pull harder on the spine than the weaker ones, leading to curvature. Tuberculosis may affect the spine, leading to an imbalance of the bony spinal column. Scoliosis may be the result of a congenital defect, such as absence of half of a vertebra. It may develop for unknown reasons, usually between the ages of 5 and 15, and most often in girls. Sometimes, unequal leg length or faulty function of a hip joint can unbalance the spine, leading to curvature. 

Scoliosis can progress rapidly, particularly the type that affects young girls. Therefore, it should be brought to a physician's attention as soon as possible. The physician is most concerned about whether the curvature is progressing, and if so how fast. If the cause of the scoliosis is unequal leg length, treatment may require nothing more than use of a shoe lift for the shorter leg. Most cases of scoliosis are minor and require little if any treatment.

But when treatment is needed, it should be supervised by a specialist in bone problems, an orthopedist. X-ray studies of the spine with careful measurement of the degree of curvature is an important step in evaluation of the scoliosis. If the scoliosis is of the type which, if unchecked, may progress to become a serious deformity, it may not only interfere with normal posture and gait but also lead eventually to compromising of lung function, since the chest wall on one side may be compressed. Treatment should be begun without delay.

 The further the spine is deformed, the longer corrective measure will be needed. Recent advances have made treatment of scoliosis more effective and less inconvenient as well. The Milwaukee brace, a device designed to gradually reposition the curved spine, is particularly effective. It is essential that an experienced technician measure and fit the brace and an orthopedist supervise the wearing. Another method of treatment is to cast the spine so as to gently nudge it into normal position. Most children adapt readily to several months of treatment with brace or cast. Surgery may be avoided in this way. 

With age, the spinal column becomes less pliable and bracing or casting may be insufficient to correct a deformity. Several surgical procedures are of value. One of the most outstanding is the insertion of special rods, called Harrington rods, in the back muscles, one on either side of and connected to the spinal column. One rod pushes up on the shortened side of the spine while the other pulls the longer side.

Once the spine is correctly aligned, surgical fusion ofbones of the spine secures the alignment.   Sometimes, however, as in many fractures of hip, forearm, and upper arm, extra support may be needed to insure that the bone knits together. Such support may be provided by operative placement of plates and screws or nails, or occasionally by bone grafts. Simple fractures can often be treated by a general practitioner. But most fractures should be evaluated and treated by an orthopedist, who will decide on the need for operative or non-operative measures.

Bone requires six or more weeks to heal, and during this time proper alignment is maintained by a plaster cast. Although the fractured bone must be immobilized if it is to heal properly, muscles that normally move the immobilized part must be kept limber and strong. Special exercises achieve this. Doctors also pay close attention to the cast itself, making certain it is neither too snug nor too loose. Too tight a fit can lead to compression of theblood supply to the extremity. 

Fingertips and toes are left uncovered by a cast so the physician can judge the status of blood supply from skin color. Too loose a fit of the cast can allow movement of the fractured bone and misalignment. X-rays after application of the cast can be used to check proper alignment. As mentioned earlier, prolonged immobilization weakens bone andmuscle. Therefore, return to normal functioning as soon as possible is encouraged. 

MEntal Illness causes and treatemnt

 Marriage can help assure a healthy mental and emotional life if there is true love, acceptance of each other's good and weak points by the mates, and a happy, fulfilling sexual life. Marriage should continue to grow as a creative experience and not settle into "dullsville." Because marriage is so important in preventing emotional problems, at the first sign of significant marital trouble there should be a talk with a marriage counselor. Sometimes a single session will work wonders. (See page 327 for further discussion of marriage.)

Pregnancy and the arrival of children

 Pregnancy can set off emotional problems. We have a section on pregnancy. The coming of the first child and then of later children expectably changes the quality of marriage. It should deepen ties. But each partner needs to realize that the other, deep down, wants and needs reassurance that a child hasn't usurped all love. If pregnancies and the coming of children go well, what then can threaten the emotional stability of adults? Here are several situations that cause tension and sometimes serious emotional disturbances: Loss of job or business reverses.

We have known people who have lost fortunes and made them again. Nothing disturbs their inner conviction that they will succeed in their work. On the other hand, we have seen emotional disturbances develop at the threat of a change of job or a small temporary reverse in a man's business venture. Such disturbances call for a talk with your doctor or other counselor.

Menopause

 This is a dramatic, emotion-charged event for some women. See our special discussion about its emotional component.

Sex in the later years

More and more, medical science recognizes the need of older people, and their ability, to continue sexual activity into very old age. Even many individuals with heart disease and other ailments can enjoy sexual activity. Sex deprivation, especially in an older man, may cause depression. Here again, a talk with a sympathetic physician will prove helpful.

Security

 We live in a competitive society which really has little mercy for the person who doesn't provide for himself and his family. Social security benefits are inadequate. It is reassuring-and a good preventive of mental tension-to work out early in life a program of disability, retirement, and life insurance which will provide for the family. This doesn't mean that you have to become so worried that you become "insurance poor." There are low-cost, term insurance policies which young people can afford. And almost everyone belongs to at least one organization that offers inexpensive group insurance.

Retirement

 What happens at retirement will probably reflect the sum total of your personality growth during your lifetime. Some people enjoy retirement; others abhor it. Talk at length to your doctor about your emotional as well as physical needs in the retirement period. A change of location may be beneficial emotionally for some people, not for others. If you need part-time work to keep you cheerful, remember that you usually get this more readily in your home location where you are known.

Distress causes nad treatment

The distress caused by a condition, physical or emotional, is not always a sound indication of how long and complicated may be the method needed to relieve it. As we have noted, soldiers with severe emotional disturbances have recovered after only a few sessions of superficial psychotherapy. As another example of how little treatment may be needed, an intelligent young college girl was visited at one point by her parents who became alarmed at what they termed a "nervous breakdown" in the girl. As it turned out, the girl had fallen in love, wanted to marry, yet that desire was in conflict with her wish to complete her education, which she knew meant a good deal to her parents.

Her hesitation led to a quarrel with her sweetheart, who said things that hurt her. Angry with him, she unconsciously blamed him for the predicament she was in, yet loved him. She began to experience anxiety feelings. Fortunately, she discussed her problem with a fine clergyman at college. Because she was basically a well-adjusted person, the process of talking it out was enough in itself to help her recover quickly from her temporary neurotic state, and she was able to face the real problems confronting her and her young man. The soldiers and the girl were both in acute distress yet found relief quickly. On the other hand, another case might be compared with that of the person with a hip dislocation. An intelligent and successful businessman in his forties had had an early marriage which had ended in divorce. One of us had known him personally and had had no idea there was anything bothering him. But at one meeting at the home of mutual friends, the subject of psychiatry and analysis had come up. And, as we were to learn later, he had shortly afterward consulted a psychiatrist who had recommended analysis for him.

 To put it briefly, he had become an extremely lonely man, unable to form any close relationships with others, especially of the kind that might lead to marriage, though he considered marriage desirable. His fears and suspicions of other people had reached the point where he would refuse invitations he wanted to accept, would walk or take taxis rather than ride in public conveyances close to other people, and found it increasingly difficult to have friendly dealings with his business associates. "My analysis has taken five years, but it's worth it," he could report later. "I can't tell you how different, how much better, my life has been since I no longer feel the way I used to . . . as though I was living in enemy territory and had to be constantly on guard." As these cases help to indicate, the type of therapy needed depends upon many things-on the individual and how deep-rooted his problems are and also on the goal. In some cases, a cure will be rapid, since the aim is to eliminate just one or a few symptoms, as when, for example, an otherwise well-adjusted person has developed a recent tendency to insomnia. In other cases, a basic change in attitudes is essential. 

How to handle worries?

HANDLING WORRIES

All worry cannot be escaped. If you face a lawsuit, has a loved one who is dying, or a business that is failing, you can hardly be blamed for worry. But many people tend to worry over problems in advance, problems that often never actually materialize. One of America's most distinguished psychiatrists used to teach his students two cardinal propositions about worry. 

One: Don't worry about something that is not your worry. Is a son or daughter, someone else in the family, or perhaps a friend taking what seems to you to be an inordinate amount of time to decide something, perhaps to marry someone you think highly desirable? That is not really your problem. You may have advice to offer. Offer it tactfully.

Then quit worrying. The decision is not yours to make. Why worry yourself sick uselessly? The second proposition: If it isn't your worry now, let it lie. Worry only if, and when, the problem actually comes up. There are other sound principles, too. Worry about a problem when it really faces you. Then worry in the sense of examining it carefully, considering possible alternative solutions, and coming to a decision. 

Then waste no more time, worry no longer over that problem. Decide what to do-and do it. Don't make yourself sick because you can't make up your mind about things. You can decide; chances are you will make some mistakes, but you will also make mistakes if you decide, undecided, and keep up a worrisome process of indecision.

 If you are worried about something, invest your time and talents in trying to resolve the problem; but if you find that you can't resolve it and some expert could resolve it for you or help you resolve it, make the sound investment of getting his advice-whether it is a physician who can resolve your worry about a lump in a breast or a good lawyer who can advise about a threatened lawsuit.

 One bit of advice that wise physicians also often impart to patients: If you really must worry (realistically), do it by day, not by night; use your nights for sleeping. It's important to realize that all of us have problems; they are evidence that we are alive. And while we can rise to their challenge and develop skill in handling them, it may well be-as some physicians believe, based on their experience with many troubled patients-that if we adopt a policy of letting nothing bother us unduly, that alone would solve 80 percent of our problems.

That is not a matter of irresponsibility. But we do have to recognize that many, if not virtually all, of us quite humanly tend to exaggerate several things: first, our own importance in matters; second, other people's importance in our lives; and, not least of all, the importance of what appear to be problems. If you think you have a problem, you may indeed have one; but often, if you examine the situation closely, you will find that there is no real problem and all you needed to realize the lack of a problem was an awareness and understanding of some facts that might not have been recognized before. 

If there is an actual problem, decide whether it is really yours or someone else's. If it is your own problem, determine whether it is some- thing you are likely to solve with the knowledge and skills you possess. If it is so, go ahead. But if it is not, put the problem into the lap of an expert who can solve it.

How to release muscle tension

RELEASING MUSCLE TENSION

One important means-but not a commonly appreciated one-we have for releasing pent-up emotion is physical exercise. Actually, this is a means for releasing the tensions that we tend to store up in muscles. Perhaps you've had the experience of hearing a telephone ring in another room. You expect somebody else to answer it, but the telephone goes on ringing, and you became tense. You are prepared to act-but don't. Your muscles are ready, some of them possibly even contracted, but you don't move and you don't relax them for a time.

When nervous tension leads to an almost continuous tensing of some muscles, contracture, or shortening of the muscles, may result. They no longer relax properly. For some years, investigators have been reporting that this is a mechanism in many common disorders. In tension head- ache, for example, the frontalis muscle in the forehead and the occipital muscles running up the back of the head may be involved. Often involved in painful, stiff neck are the neck muscles, the trapezius muscles lying over the shoulder blades, and the rhomboid muscles under the trapezius. In many cases of backache as well, muscles may be involved. 

Sometimes injections of Novocain may be needed to relieve the pain produced by knotted-up muscles. Exercise, even if only a long walk, can help when tension builds up, not only to divert the mind but also to work off muscle tensions.

You may well find great relief from tension if you break up, even just briefly, long periods of sedentary work with interludes of physical activity. Every hour or so, get up, walk about (even just a few steps), stretch and bend, perhaps wave your arms a bit, take a few deep breaths, and sit down and go to work again. Chances are you will feel some lessening of fatigue and will be able to go back to your work a little more relaxed and with somewhat more zest. 

For some people who are especially tense, special relaxing exercises may be helpful. Some years ago, Dr. Edmund Jacobson of Chicago observed that muscles which had been made tense could be taught to relax. One of his first steps, an important one, was to teach people to identify the sensation of residual tension. He would have a patient lie down, close his eyes, and rest his arms beside the body. Then he would ask the patient to bend one hand up and back, slowly, steadily, going as far back as possible. 

And, for a long minute, as the patient held the hand there, he would ask him to "observe carefully a certain faint sensation in the upper portion of your forearm. This sensation is the signal mark of tension wherever it appears in the body. Vague as it is, you can learn to recognize it." It was not unusual for a patient to take several days just to discover the sensation. Dr. Jacobson then would remark: "When you understand what you are looking for, start afresh and bend the hand slowly back again.

But this time, when it reaches its peak, relax your muscles and let it fall. Let it go completely. Let it fall limply." Eventually, after such release, there would be no tension left to feel. If you would like to try relaxing exercises, the following may be helpful. First, check with your physician to make certain you have no possible ailment that might be affected detrimentally by exercise. Get into as relaxed a state as you can. Sit down and, for five minutes or so, just try to relax mentally and physically. If you feel tension anywhere in the body, let it go. Try to make yourself as limp as a rag doll. 

Stress- Frustration treatment

COPING EFFECTIVELY MENTAL AND emotional stress cannot be eliminated from life. 

Nor does it have to be. In itself it is not harmful. It is not a disease but a normal part of life. It is not so much the amount of stress an individual is subjected to that determines whether he or she will suffer from acute anxiety or depression or psychosomatic illness as it is how the stress is perceived, understood, and handled. And there are measures we can make use of to handle stressful situations in our lives more effectively.

There can, of course, be situations that seem so overwhelming that we may need medical or other professional help if we are to cope with them. Such help, as the next chapter will show, is available. But for most situations we have resources of our own that we can learn to use successfully.

HANDLING FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATION

When we have worries and cannot do anything about them, we have feelings of frustration. Long continued, frustration can take serious physical toll. In a classic experiment demonstrating the physical effects of frustration, rats were strapped to a board-for them, a most frustrating situation. As they struggled uselessly to get out of the situation, large areas of their heart muscles disintegrated and the animals died. Obviously, the one way to have saved the rats would have been to release them. Medication might conceivably have dulled the frustration for them but not released them. Man's frustrating situations are not so obvious. 

But they can be no less exacting. And while there is often a temptation to regard them as insoluble and to dull the feelings they arouse by such means as drugs and alcohol, man's frustrating situations quite often can be solved.

There is usually something that can be done to adapt to the circumstance or to change the seeming circumstance. If, say, your job is a particularly frustrating one, must it remain so? Is the frustration irremovable? There are many cases like that of a man, a successful young executive, or so he had been, who became a victim of painful headaches and insomnia and began to have trouble with associates on the job and with family at home. 

He had recently been assigned to a responsible new position in a division of the company that was in trouble. He worked hard and yet couldn't make as much of a dent in the many problems the division faced as he thought desirable. Increasingly anxious and tense, he put pressure on the people working with him as well as on himself, to the point where he no longer had their cooperation.

He had a gnawing, ever growing fear that his superiors were dissatisfied with his work. Only when he faced up to the fact that it was this fear which was driving him and, at the same time, was frustrating him, making him act in a self-defeating fashion, could he nerve himself for a showdown with the company president. It was a productive showdown. 

Was the president dissatisfied with his work, he wanted to know. On the contrary, the president told him, he thought he had done remarkably well in a difficult situation. And, in fact, so concerned was the president over the possible loss of the young man that he insisted he take an immediate vacation and promised to assign additional personnel to help him in his work. If you feel you are faltering in your job, that you are out of your depth, it mayor may not be true. It's healthy to find out where you stand, to take action rather than suffer along. 

You may not be out of your depth at all but may have created frustration for yourself by demanding more of yourself than anybody could reasonably expect. If you are out of your depth, the chances are that this will be discovered by others sooner or later; and if you own up to it sooner, there may be something of an immediate wrench but you will save yourself much grief and may well find yourself a happier situation much sooner. 

Depression and Treatments

Depression

Electroshock treatment is particularly valuable in severe depression when there may be danger of suicide. Recently, a new technique of electroshock has shown promise. Brief bursts of current are applied to one side of the brain instead of to both sides.The one-sided treatment has been reported to be fully as effective as two-sided, while minimizing or even completely avoiding the temporary confusion and memory disturbance that may sometimes follow the latter. 

Solving the Major Problem The big problem is recognition of depression, particularly when it leads, as it so often does, to distressing physical troubles. Keenly aware of their real aches and pains, people with depression often regard their blue feelings as results, not causes.

Many try doctoring themselves for long periods, fruitlessly. If and when they do seek medical help, many fail to mention any feelings of dejection. Some even vehemently deny feeling depressed, many doctors find, apparently out of a belief there is something shameful about depression. There is not. It is one of the most common of all disorders and hits people in all walks of life, even the most brilliant. Now something can be done about it. 

When you seek medical help for any physical complaint, a good doctor will usually want to ask many questions, get a full case history. Increasingly alert to what depression can do, to the many physical disguises it can take; he will want to probe for any clues that it may be a factor in your case. Cooperate. You can help by answering his questions and by volunteering information. 

If you have experienced a change of mood-if, along with your physical troubles, you have been aware of feeling low in mind, dejected, for months or even weeks-let him know.

The chances are that by doing so you will save yourself much misery and needless expense. Suicide is a constant threat in the depressed person. 

Importance of rest and relaxation

A better understanding of the importance of rest and relaxation has been made possible by advances in neurophysiology providing new in- sights into what happens in the central nervous system. Investigators have been able to establish-by actually picking out the structures in animals and stimulating them with electric currents-that there are structures which have a damping or inhibitory effect and are in fatigue, and there are other structures which make up a system. 

If we sum up the vast amount of Neuro-physiological research, we fit this picture: An individual's mood-his ability to perform-at the given time depends on the degree of activity of the two systems. Inhibitory system dominates, the individual is in a state of fatigue; in the activating system dominates; he is ready to step up performance. This concept of fatigue helps to explain many symptoms otherwise difficult to understand.

All of us know, for example, that a feeling of tiredness can often disappear immediately if something unexpected happens or if a piece of intelligence or train of thought produces an emotional change. In such cases, the activating system is being stimulated. But if the surroundings are monotonous, if we are bored by what we are doing, the pitch of the activating system is lowered and the inhibitory system is in the ascendancy. 

And it is this that explains the fatigue that ran occurs in monotonous situations even when there is no stress. Monotony, by definition, is a wearisome sameness, a lack of change in the variety. And whatever the work we do, it can be considered monotonous work if it goes on without pause or change of pace.

We all are aware of the need for a good night's sleep, but too few of us recognize the need for rest and relaxation during the day. Many of us businessmen, professional people, and others-who not only work hard but are under heavy stress could live more comfortably without sacrificing efficiency-indeed, with increased efficiency-and probably live longer if we managed to take breaks during the day and take them without guilty consciences. 

Work stress and Relaxation Tecniques

Work stress and Relaxation Tecniques

Many things enter into the art of living, and relaxation is certainly one of them. It is valuable not only in and of itself for the enjoyment of life but also as a means of preventing undue physical fatigue, boredom, and tension, and for actually making work easier and 'more enjoyable. Ours is an age of rapid change, of increasing complexity in social and industrial organization. We are busier with mental and less with physical work. We live at a faster pace. 

There are more and more challenges and opportunities-and perhaps, more and more stresses, pressures and, deadlines. How people react to stress depends, of course, upon very many things, and certainly included among them are general health, physical fitness, fatigue, and emotional well-being. And relaxation is an important influence on all of these.

Almost everyone knows from experience that pronounced tiredness from day to day can, if extended, produce chronic fatigue. When this occurs, the weariness sensations are intensified, appearing not only at the end of a day but during the day and even early in the morning. Along with the weariness, there may be increased irritability, a tendency to lapse into depression or blue moods, a general lack of drive and loss of initiative. Many people have the idea that they can't afford to take time for rest and relaxation, that in the modern world it's essential to work long and hard or you won't keep up. 

But this is to overlook, for one thing, the relationship between performance and working hours. While more studies are needed of the relationship between mental work performance and working hours, there are guidelines to be found in the many investigations carried out in factories.

They have shown repeatedly that when working time is shortened, hourly performance improves, whereas lengthening the work period has the opposite effect. In many cases it has been observed that after more than ten hours of work, overall performance falls off decidedly, because the slowing down of working speed due to fatigue is not compensated for by the longer period worked. Longer working schedules are frequent in wartime and boom conditions. 

But the overtime worked often proves of little value because productivity fails to increase to the extent that was expected. Various studies have shown that overtime work not only cuts down on performance per hour but also leads to a characteristic increase in absence due to illness and accidents.