Men and women have and maintain two separate, distinct schools of thought. This comes down to more than biology and physiology, naturally. For example, men and women feel, register, and acknowledge pain differently. The two are further separated by factors such as mental health and emotional health, along with the cultural roles typically attributed to them. Gender, along with culture and environment, can also determine how a person deals with stress, depression, and a variety of other emotionally-connected problems and disorders. However, according to some recent studies, even the importance of emotional bonds over financial gain are processed differently by the two sides.

In a recent study, it was found that most people believe that women are more likely to choose family and sentimentality over professional ties and high-power positions. The study, conducted among a variety of college students, with an equal mix of male and female test subjects, showed otherwise. According to the study, most of the male students said that they preferred the emotional security of settling down with a family than the financial independence of having a high-powered job. This basically throws the old stereotype out the window, if the results are an accurate indication of how both genders really feel about the choice.

However, the researchers themselves point out a potential caveat to the results the definition of a romantic relationship. That aspect of the study was not made clear, such that it is possible that the personal definitions swayed the results one way or another. There was a distinct possibility that, when asked the question, the male respondents simply considered sex without any commitments or emotional ties as being a romantic relationship. Other subjective definitions may have also affected the results, so the researchers are not entirely sure how to proceed. On one hand, the data is rather intriguing and puts a whole new light on gender views on emotional health versus financial security. On the other hand, the chance that this sort of study can never really be verified unless a definition for a romantic relationship is clearly and objectively defined is a problem.

The test was designed to measure certain reactions in the student body. It included goals such as physical fitness, financial stability, emotional fulfillment, and leisure time. These were ranked in importance before the subjects were asked whether or not they’d be willing to sacrifice any of them in favor of romance. Sixty-one percent of the male subjects and 51 of the female subjects answered in the affirmative, which contradicted the expectations of most of the people observing the study. According to the results, a number of men would be willing to take a charming partner over commonly held goals like having travel opportunities and job stability.

One thing that the researchers noted is that romance may not necessarily be defined in the same way by men and women. Just as some men may equate a sexual connection with romance, some of them might also see the word to mean the same thing that the average woman does. However, that does not automatically mean that everything a woman associates with romance is associated to it by men. Long-term commitment, family, and marriage were found to be outside the scope of the male definition of romance, according to the study.

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Most people just can’t live without coffee. These are the people who look forward to their first cup of coffee as soon as they wake up in the morning. They are the habitus of coffee shops day-in and day-out, those who have made coffee a regular part of their daily routine and lifestyle.
The growing number of coffee addicts have prompted hundreds of studies addressing concerns about the effects of coffee on the body and whether or not caffeine causes harm. Some say that it’s good to drink coffee when you have a headache. Others say that it’s bad to drink coffee if you have stomach problems. Learning about the facts and the myths of coffee drinking will help coffee lovers enjoy their next cup even more.
The general effects of coffee fall into the following categories
Stimulant effects. Caffeine makes coffee a well-established stimulant as it stimulates the nervous system, including the nerves controlling intestinal activity, blood pressure and airway size which may keep you alert and awake, yet may also impair sleep, cause jitters and anxiety.
Heartburn. All types of coffee, even decaf, can stimulate secretion of stomach acid, which may lead to heartburn.
Diuretic features. Caffeine encourages the kidneys to produce urine to rid the body of excess fluid. However, coffee leads to urination so effectively that it may cause mild dehydration.
Coffee may also have other effects on the body, such as yellowed teeth which are common among regular coffee drinkers. Burn injuries from steaming hot coffee are very common. Some mental health professionals even suggest that regular caffeine users, including coffee drinkers, should be considered dependent, addicted or struggling with substance abuse.
Over the past 50 years, studies have raised concern over the health risks of coffee or caffeine users including an association with stomach problems, pancreatic and bladder cancer, fibrocystic breast disease and gallbladder disease, among other conditions. However, when analyzed further, these studies just fall short of implicating even modest coffee consumption as a significant health risk among pregnant women and cardiac patients. A review from April 2007 examined the evidence that coffee consumption might increase the risk of serious medical conditions like stomach cancer or leukemia. And they found out that the data were considered inconclusive and that additional study was necessary.
A study about coffee intake being associated with an increased pancreatic cancer was discredited and is often used as a model to show how a flawed study can mislead research results. It analyzed a number of exposures among patients with pancreatic cancer, including coffee intake. The number of factors being examined made it a fishing expedition according to most research experts. The danger of examining too many factors at once may produce association just by chance results. There is the problem of generating misleading results if a net is cast too wide.
The following are therapeutic effects of caffeine aside from being a stimulant
Premature babies or those who have undergone surgery just after birth may be treated with caffeine to stimulate their breathing.
Some over-the-counter headache or pain relief medication include caffeine, acetaminophen and aspirin. The effectiveness of these agents may be linked, at least in part, to the treatment of caffeine withdrawal, a common cause of headaches.
Several studies found modest benefits with caffeine in the treatment of asthma as it gives dilating effects on airways. In fact, some recommend that coffee intake be avoided before breathing tests so as not to diminish the breathing abnormalities which the tests aim to detect.
During the Experimental Biology 2007, an American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference, research experts reviewed evidence that moderate intake of coffee, say 3 to 5 cups per day, might reduce the risk of diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, kidney stones, gallstones, and depression.
That health risks are minimal and rare bring good news to the coffee lovers vast population. Although those who are considered high risk patients should better avoid the stimulant action of caffeine or the heartburn provoked even by decaffeinated coffee.

Depression is an illness and needs to be acknowledged as such. It is not a reason to be ashamed. The reason so many people fail to seek help for their depression is that they are ashamed. Unfortunately, this is one of the feelings associated with depression anyway and makes the illness difficult to acknowledge.

If you are constantly feeling particularly low, well-meaning friends might tell you to snap out of it or even start to get irritated by your mood. Your depression will feed off this negativity and you start to wonder why you cant just snap out of it. You then start to feel that theres something wrong with you because it should be so easy and its just not right that you feel so bad all the time. Well, its not right and there is something wrong with you. You have a medical condition and you deserve treatment in the same way as any other patient. If you had a cold for six months would you ignore it and hope it would pass? No, you would dose yourself up with anything you could find and maybe see a doctor to find out if theres an underlying reason for it to last so long.

Depression is sadness that lasts too long. Everyone is sad at some point in their lives but depression is more than that. It is a feeling that you cant bring yourself up from the bottom. In the end you give up trying. People start to avoid you. You feel worse. You need to find external help to treat the problem in the same way as you would if you had a long-lasting cold. You could try herbal remedies there are some in your pharmacy or you could see your doctor. There may be an underlying physical cause for your depression.

If your doctor cannot help you they may refer you for counselling. Dont be embarrassed to go for counselling but do make sure you are comfortable with your counsellor. If not, try another one. Counselling should not be discounted because you dont feel comfortable with your first choice of practitioner. In everyday life you will naturally find that you get on with some people and clash with others. You cannot afford to have a personality clash with your counsellor. On the other hand you must be sure that it is a personality clash and not just that you dont agree with what they are saying. A general rule is to go with your instincts. If you like the person and seemed to get on well in the first couple of sessions then stick with it because they might just have touched on the root cause of your problem.

In some cases, acknowledging depression may be difficult because you have lived with it so long that you dont know whether it is depression or not. If you have grown up with depression it is possible not to realise that you are actually depressed because you have no concept of how normal people should feel. You may feel angry all the time or you may feel like going to the middle of an empty field and simply screaming. You may feel anxious, have trouble sleeping or even sleep too much. You may think that your family would be better off without you and actually believe that to be true and may have considered running away or suicide. You may worry about death all the time yours or someone elses and not let yourself be happy just in case or even I must enjoy this now in case… If you are feeling any or all of the above then you need to consider talking to someone. Even if it is just a friend or family member to start with, they may be able to advise you and encourage you to seek professional help.

Once you have acknowledged that you have depression please remember that it is a medical condition and can be cured. You dont have to feel this way for ever. Nobody actually thinks of you the way you think they do. Talk to someone. Seek and accept help and you will find that there is a different way of seeing life.

Writing, as a form of therapy, is as old as ink itself. Universally understood as a transformative process, the simple act of putting pen to page can effectively jump start personal growth and healing.

Over the years Ive had more than a handful of sessions on a therapists couch sorting through the baggage Ive built, bought, borrowed and inherited in my 48 years. Without exception, each qualified practitioner proposed the following recommendation start and keep a daily journal.

Seems much angst and worry can be worked through with pen and paper. Yet for reasons that can only be explained as part of my personal charm, my journal keeping would start and lapse in record time. Nevertheless, I knew the writing process to be powerful despite my inability to be consistent. Once, after managing to hold my journaling nose to the grindstone for 13 weeks, I leapt tall buildings made of artist block and landed on the other side, with renewed energy and fabulous paid work.

And yet, despite my success, I quickly discontinued putting my thoughts on paper.

Miraculously, last spring, my lifelong writing inertia evaporated with the click of a computer button. As easy as one, two, three, I started my own on-line journal, more commonly known as a blog.

A blog is a web log comprised of a series of posts, about the authors choice of subject, from professional to personal. Every entry is date and time stamped as they are published, giving the material the feel of a traditional diary.

Blog procedure is exceedingly simple and free for anyone with access to a computer. I type my thoughts, press the publish toggle and instantly my rants and raves go live on the World Wide Web. There is no middle person, web mistress, publisher or editor to be found. Blog control post, pace and frequency is in the bloggers hands.

However, there is one distinct motivating difference between your traditional hard copy diary hidden away, under the bed, and your blog. Blogging offers a possible audience.

My first thought was to use a blog to share the unusual adventure of my Calendar Girl life and draw attention to the Breast of Canada project. It took no time to realize that a following of fans was a big buzz, injecting tremendous energy into the somewhat relentless process of making, marketing and moving 3000 calendars every year.

My second blog took on a digest format offering alternative breast related news that was a simple by-product of my role of publisher.

Blog number three was born thanks to a peri-menopausal fit of memory and hair loss. Fondly called My Menopause Blog, How to Punctuate Life Without a Period, This effort truly fits the therapeutic writing model and contributes enormously to my state of mind.

Writing publicly about my petulant period, in real time, is like inviting a bunch of menopausal women over for tea and a heart-to-heart. Not surprising, scaling the dome of silence surrounding menopause, and talking above a whisper about The Pause resonates deeply with women readers.

Shooting from the hip and funny bone, I share my findings of remedies, attitude shifts and my belief that menopause is not a disease. Thinking broadens with each entry; confidence grows as does understanding and a liberated sense of ageing. My Menopause Blog is like a cyber red tent for anyone interested in musing on maturity.

Eventually, curiosity lead to an on-line exploration of blog networks, blog rolls and search engines to see if other women were writing about their lives, health and well being.

Turns out, they are. Thousands of blogs are written by new moms, freshly divorced, empty nesters, the menopausal, survivors of cancer, stay at home parents, clinically depressed and chronically curious. Photos are up-loaded. Advice is sought. Human contact is collected by way of comments that readers leave like cyber hugs. Theres a whole lot of contact being made between people separated by geography, but connected by circumstance.

Clever blog names are common with blog owners. Ellie at This is My Body, This is My Blood offers a hilarious window into her peri-menopausal pity party. I’m Out of Estrogen and It’s Not Pretty provides a window into Victorias menopausal life. A group blog that I randomly come across claims Running this blog is about 50,000 times cheaper than a good therapist.

This new cyber kid on the block follows a blogger code of conduct that creates a safe, encouraging and friendly zone where you can let yourself hang out, be human and be heard. Not everyone writes like a professional, although there are excellent pro bloggers leading many a parade of readers. Countless circles of similarly focused, differently skilled people gather in and share the Blogosphere.

My greatest blogging benefit comes from my daily commitment to write just like the psychologists suggested. I clear my head, sort out my hormone-scattered feelings, get cheered on and remind myself that life is dynamic. Indeed, the cyber trail documentation of my menopausal mood swings is time stamped proof.

The estimated risk for rape survivors developing post traumatic stress disorder PTSD is 49. The risk for those beaten or experiencing physical assault is 31.9, whilst the risk for others who experienced sexual assault is 23.7. Given these figures, it is no wonder women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, as they are statistically significantly more likely to experience sexual assault.

Post traumatic stress disorder is characterized by intense fear, a sense of helplessness, or horror. It can affect all areas of a person’s life, their emotions, mental wellbeing, and physical health. And symptoms are generally worse in situations, like rape and abuse, where the trauma was deliberately initiated against those involved.

A person with post traumatic stress disorder may re-live the traumatic events, having flashbacks or other reminders and images that intrude on their waking hours, or in dreams and nightmares. These reminders may also trigger physical symptoms, such as heart palpitations or chills. Or emotional problems, like anxiety, depression, and dread.

People with post traumatic stress disorder may avoid any reminders of the trauma, whether that is people associated with the experience, or places, or even thoughts of the trauma. They can distance themselves from family and friends, and withdraw from everyday activities and things they used to enjoy.

Relationship problems are common for survivors of rape and sexual abuse. Some survivors avoid intimacy, others avoid sex, and some avoid both, and create patterns in their lives where those coping mechanisms are maintained. But sufferers of PTSD who did not experience any sexual abuse can also have problems in their relationships, or in social situations.

Another characteristic of post traumatic stress disorder is being on guard all the time, and suddenly feeling anger or irritability. There can be problems with sleeping and concentrating, and sufferers may be startled easily. Self destructive behaviours, such as gambling, risky sex, drug use, alcohol abuse, or other problems like dangerous driving, may be present. Depression, disassociation, or other mental health problems can develop.

Not all of these characteristics may be present in PTSD, and the degree to which one experiences them may vary also. And PTSD may not develop until months or years after the trauma. Particularly in relation to abuse in childhood, symptoms of PTSD can pass, then reappear later in life. This can make it difficult to recognize when PTSD is occurring, as survivors may not associate their current feeling and behaviours with pas events.

Each time symptoms appear, however, they provide an opportunity for healing. Post traumatic stress disorder can be treated, using a combination of medication and psychotherapy.

Whilst medications were not thought to help in the treatment of PTSD in the past, they have been found to be beneficial now, probably due to newer ones being available. The SSRI’s selective serotonin uptake inhibitors zoloft and paxil are both approved by the FDA for treating PTSD. And newer antidepressants like effexor and serzone are also beneficial, and tend to be used when the patient does not tolerate paxil and zoloft, or those medications aren’t effective.

There are 3 types of psychotherapy that can be used to treat PTSD. These are exposure management, cognitive therapy, and anxiety management. A combination of all 3 may be used, or one individually. Each person is different in what they will respond to.

In exposure therapy, patients confront, in a safe therapeutic environment, the situations, people, and memories associated with the trauma. People with PTSD usually avoid this very thing, but by working through the trauma in this way, exposure therapy is actually very effective at healing PTSD.

Cognitive therapy helps in the process of understanding how our thoughts affect our feelings, and provides ways of shifting negative thinking. Negative thinking can perpetuate a mental prison where joy and interconnectedness is no longer felt. Changing those dynamics can provide a new framework with which to process the trauma, and allow healing to occur.

In anxiety management, skills are learnt that help one cope better with the symptoms and triggers of post traumatic stress disorder. They can help reduce the intensity of the symptoms, though they need to be practised to be effective. Anxiety management techniques can be very helpful in controlling anxiety whilst doing exposure therapy. Some techniques used include relaxation, breathing techniques, assertiveness training, and positive thinking and self talk.

References
1. ptsdalliance.orgaboutwhat.html
2. ptsd.factsforhealth.orgwhatmeds.html
3. nimh.nih.govpublicatanxiety.cfm

Gambling addiction is a major concern around the world, as more and more people are embracing the tables and cards as a means of stress relief. The emergence of online casinos has not helped curb the growing statistics of people becoming addicted to gambling. The availability of casino games and the allure of the easy money has the potential to rapidly go from stress relief to full-blown addiction. There are some that would argue that people with pathological gambling disorder are merely exceptionally greedy. Others, though, would argue that these people are suffering from a mental health disorder and need to be taken away from the tables and put into counseling as soon as possible. Currently, there appear to be no signs of either side achieving any sort of common ground or consensus. So while the debate rages on, people continue to become addicted to roulette, blackjack, and the slots.

Pathological gambling is basically differentiated from the norm by one simple factor. Addicts are in such an ill state of mental health that they are either incapable of seeing their problem or are simply ignoring the consequences of their actions. This can include everything from how much damage their next week-long session at the roulette table is going to cost them, to ignoring the threat of a spouse divorcing them if they don’t stop. The problem has gotten to the point where the thrill of the action has taken control of the person’s mind. There are some mental health experts that argue that gambling addicts are no longer in full control of their actions. While there is some evidence provided by the increase of certain chemicals in the nervous system during gambling, this is not considered adequate proof.

To some degree, another sign of pathological gambling comes in the form of separation anxiety. The addiction tends to get to a point where the addict cannot stop thinking about gambling. Scenarios are played out in the mind constantly, bordering on delusions. This preoccupation, when combined with the possibility of being withdrawn from a casino, can sometimes lead to separation anxiety. In some cases, the person exhibits symptoms similar to drug withdrawal if they are deprived of their gambling fix.

If data taken from counseling sessions with gambling addicts is to be considered, it is arguable than addicts also develop a tolerance for gambling. According to studies, the person’s mental health adapts to the amounts being gambled such that the addict needs to bet more and more. This is similar to what happens to drug addicts and alcoholics. As the mind develops a tolerance for the regular amounts that the person bets, the mind develops a need to increase the bet spread to attain that same sense of euphoria. According to some reports, a person’s mental health and finances can be put under serious strain if this behavior is left untreated for an extended period.

Arguably, a person may also develop a mild form of antisocial personality disorder if the gambling problem is left untreated. This occurs when the addiction has gotten to the point where the person has become desperate to cover up losses incurred through gambling. The person’s mental health can warp into a state where the typical consideration for social norms and rules is discarded in favor of alleviating the person’s perceived problems. While taking loans or money from relatives is the common means of doing this, there are some cases where it gets to the point where illegal activity is the only means of supporting the addiction.