Do’s And Don’ts Of Mindfulness

Mindfulness, a simple act of consciousness, is known to be remarkable for its miraculous healing effects on our body and mind. It calms our mind and heals our body giving a feeling of freshness.

Although, practicing mindfulness is a very simple task, it can be frustrating if the technique is not executed properly. There are some do’s and don’ts that should be kept in mind while practicing mindfulness. Let’s have a quick look at them.

 Do’s Of Mindfulness 

1. Walk before you run: For beginners, it is important to start with small things. Mindfulness doesn’t require us to sit in a certain way or take out specific time to practice. Start with day to day activities. Be mindful when taking meals. Take a walk in the park. Sit for 5 minutes and have a glass of water. Be conscious of our body when taking a bath. Take baby steps and in no time you will be running!
2. Perseverance: Mindfulness or any type of relaxation exercise is only beneficial if practiced with diligence. Consistency is the key. Keep up your daily practice and don’t put off your work for later. Procrastinating can easily become a habit if attention is not paid on time. It is easier to fall back into our old habits than adding something new in our daily routine. Make up your intention strong and don’t back off!
3. Patience is the key to success: When we grow a plant, we water it daily, provide nourishment and adequate sunlight and protect it from weeds and harsh environment. Only then does a plant grow and bear fruits of our hardship. Same way if we want to reap the benefits of mindfulness, we need to be patient with ourselves. Treat ourselves gently without being judgmental about the thoughts crossing our mind. Self-Caring is the first step towards mental healing. The benefits of mindfulness can be observed as soon as two weeks of regular practice. There is no time frame to practice mindfulness. It should be a way of living, become a part of our daily
4. B+ attitude: It is a natural coping mechanism of our brain to focus on negative feelings. Almost 60% of the thoughts passing through our mind are negative. We should try not to dwell too much on such thoughts and let them simply pass. Try to diverge our focus on positive things instead. Maintaining a positive attitude can increase our healing process 10 folds. Positive thinking increases the amount of serotonin in our brain creating a sense of well-being.
5. Try something new: Mindfulness means absorbing the sensations and feelings of your body and surroundings. It is human nature to become bored of repetition and losing interest in things over time. Practicing mindfulness at different surroundings will impart different experience. Try to practice mindfulness at different surrounding for newer experiences and to keep boredom

Don’ts Of Mindfulness

1. Don’t push too hard: We can’t learn to swim in a day. Learning something new takes time and regular efforts. Start by setting a timer in the beginning and slowly increase your time. Keeping your attention on one thing will be difficult in the beginning but with time and practice, it becomes
2. Zero expectations: Don’t expect any results beforehand. Mindfulness practice is a different experience for everyone. Everyone’s brain functions differently and hoping for an expected outcome can lead to
3. Don’t keep an eye on phone: Keep the distractions to minimum and mobile phones are the biggest distraction of all. Turn your phone silent and keep it away for a few minutes while you are
4. Lost and Found: Our mind will frequently lose its focus and drift to other things. But try not to get lost in our own thoughts. Whenever we find our mind drifting, try to focus it back to our surroundings. Grounding ourselves in the current moment is what mindfulness is all
5. Don’t fret: I have come across many meditation practitioners claiming they fret too much on whether they are performing the technique right or not. All their focus shift to it and they end up over analyzing their every step and thought. Mindfulness means letting loose. Letting the thoughts pass. We will never be able to relax if we worry too much over
6. Don’t give in to excuses: In our busy schedules, it is easy to come up with excuses. Today has been a hectic day; I don’t feel like practicing today. We can come up with a number of excuses but do not give in. we don’t have to take time out of our schedule. Don’t worry about missing a day or two but make sure that procrastination doesn’t become a habit.

Connect to Counsellor

Unique Facts About Mindfulness

In this advancing technological era, where more and more day to day tedious jobs are now being carried out with the help of computers and artificial intelligence, we have become dependent on highly efficient technology to get multiple jobs done in short time. Yes, what a wonder computers are indeed!!

But most of us will be shocked to know that our brain, a small 1.5 kg organ in our head, containing 86 billion neurons which are as many as stars in our galaxy, is faster than 10,000 everyday computers working together and has a memory of 1 petabyte (which is equivalent to one thousand terabyte). If a computer is a man-made wonder, human brain is an incredible natural miracle!

Whatever activity we are performing in our day, our brain is always multi-tasking on multiple facets. It is like a power house which works round the clock without taking a break. Every human brain generates an average of 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day. Whew!! That’s a lot of thoughts to manage for a person. Although this is a normal behavior for our brain, things become unmanageable when most of our thoughts become obsessive in nature. Obsessive thoughts leave toxic effects on our body and mind. Single minded focus on crowding thoughts makes mind jumbled, confused and tired. Upset minds lack creativity and thoughtfulness and lower memory retention. It leads to chronic stress, weakens immune system, disturb hormonal balance and cause depression.

Practicing mindfulness or meditation has been found therapeutic in nature for both our body and mind. Let’s find more about it through some fun facts here!

1. Release The Bird From The Cage!!

With so many thoughts in our mind and with our over stressful way of living, our brain has become a slave of its own making. With all the stress and obsessive thoughts running rampart in our mind, our brain is like a frustrated animal in a cage and mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness frees our mind. With this practice, we can channelize the energy of brain in a positive and relaxing manner. Making yourself aware of the present surrounding and focusing our brain on sensations around us, frees our brain from unnecessary and self-disparaging thoughts. A study conducted at University of Montreal, found that 30 minutes of practicing mindfulness for 8 weeks can physically change our grey matter increasing our ability to learn and retain memory.

2. Let That Creativity Flow

Mindfulness is the only form of meditation that brings out the more creative side of you. Getting rid of our anxiety, it helps us to tap into the uncharted territory of new and creative ideas. Usually we get so lost in the same type of cycling thoughts that any innovative ideas escape us. Mindfulness helps being our focus to new things and experiences.

Our every waking hour is spent working and whatever’s left is spent using gadgets. Our minds are constantly engaged in one thing or another not leaving enough time for our brain to recharge or have a thoughtful moment which affects our creativity and conscience. Creativity demands efforts but gadgets make us effortless. Mindfulness frees our mind enough to expand our horizon of thinking from where creativity flows.

3. 100 Billion Plus A Few More

An adult human brain consists an average of 100 billion cells. Breaking the age old myth scientists have proved that our brain still generates new cells. Research has proved that mindfulness help generate new cells in our brain which further reduces stress and helps the practitioner overcome anxiety and depression.

4. Escape The Escapism

According to a latest study by Microsoft, the average attention span of humans (thanks to mobile phones) has been reduced to 8 seconds. It is a known fact that our ever wandering mind takes a rain check from reality whenever the push comes to shove and escapes elsewhere. We often find ourselves lost in thought in a middle of a lecture. We might be physically present but our mind is often absent. As a result, we lose so much information out of our life that could be of importance. Daily practice of mindfulness is known to increase the focus and concentrating abilities of our brain.

Increased focus and creative ideas together can give productive results and make wonderful changes in our life.

5. A Pure Cure

While popping pills is the easiest way to make pain go away or to treat a sickness, they leave a number of side effects on our body. Studies show that practicing mindfulness boosts our immunity to fight diseases. Long time practice of mindfulness meditation increases the number of active genes in our body which helps cure serious illnesses like cancer, depression, insomnia, anxiety etc. It has also been proved that regular relaxation exercise increase the body’s pain threshold. In just 4 days of mindfulness practice, the perception of pain is found to be cut in half from the practitioners who do not practice mindfulness.

Connect to Counsellor

Mindfulness For Stress, Anxiety And Depression

Did you ever feel slight shaking of your hands before stepping on the stage to perform? Or sweating of your palms before you walk in for an important interview? Well if you did, it’s completely normal. It is our body’s natural reaction to stressful situations. These symptoms are temporary and usually don’t last long.

However, prolonged feeling of anxiousness can lead to anxiety disorders of various types. Depression is the persistent feeling of sadness and tiredness. People with depression lose interest in everything and find simple tasks like getting out of bed in the morning difficult. Unfortunately, depression and anxiety have become pretty common in our generation. Fighting with these feelings are more stressful than not.

When To Seek Professional Help?

Anxiety can interfere in your day to day activities and make simple tasks feel strenuous. People suffering from anxiety are often forgetful and face trouble concentrating. Their minds are diseased with dreadful thoughts and they usually tend to avoid situations rather than dealing with it. Similarly, people with depression lose interest and generally procrastinate things. You should seek professional help if you find simple day to day tasks challenging, feel detached from reality or have the following symptoms- shaking/sweating of hands, trouble falling or staying asleep, dizziness, pounding heart, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, feeling hopeless or suicidal etc.

How Can You Help Yourself?

Despite from taking professional help, you can do so many things to manage your stress and anxiety. Mindfulness is a great tool to alleviate stress from your body and placate your hyperactive mind. The most difficult task these days is to pitch in time for exercise in our already over loaded schedule. Thankfully, practicing mindfulness doesn’t require you to do so. It can literally be practiced anywhere doing anything no matter how effortless the task seem. Mindfulness is a meticulous practice showing very careful and precise attention to your body and surroundings. Research has proven mindfulness practice to be beneficial for stress reduction and depression.

Proactive approach- Mindfulness makes us more self-aware and in more alignment with our thoughts and feelings. Usually when our body and mind are anxiously reacting to stress stimulus, we push our problems in the back of our mind. Not dealing with them only add more stress to an already anxiety ridden mind. Soon we find ourselves anxious over our anxiety, depressed about depression and stressed about being in stress. Mindfulness helps us adapt a proactive approach in tackling our problems. It rids our mind of unnecessary self-deprecating thoughts and opens our mind to newer possibilities. It is like a fog is suddenly lifted and we are watching the world through a new colorful lens.

Root of cause- Being aware of our thoughts helps us perceive the root cause from where our anxiety is stemming. Sometimes it is the inability to deal under pressure or specific timeline, it might be your over demanding work, or multi- managing several things at a time. Whatever it is, half of the problem is already solved when the problem is identified.

Calming effects- Mindful breathing and performing a body scan are commonly practiced mindful techniques. They have relaxing effects on our body and mind. It lowers the blood pressure and release serotonin in brain leaving the sense of happiness. Having a mindful meal at the end of a stressful day is a great way to distress your body and mind. Mindful yoga in the mornings can boost you with positive energy to deal with your day ahead with positivity.

Practicing mindfulness in simple activities can be easily managed on your own at home. In some cases, guided mindfulness is suggested to diagnose the source of problems of complex nature. Although mindfulness is a very simple technique, some of us may find it difficult to practice. In that case, we suggest you find a mindfulness instructor and follow a more guided approach. It is important to choose an instructor with proper credentials and appropriate certifications. Find an instructor you feel congenial with and talk to them openly about your issues.

Connect to Counsellor

How To Do Mindfulness

Mindfulness is being both physically and mentally present in the moment and observe it without analyzing it. We often find ourselves lost in our own head when we should be paying attention to other important things happening around us. Our mind is a very distracting place. Through mindfulness, we can achieve alertness and a more focused mind.

Why should we practice mindfulness?

 Living our life in an unmindful way is like living in a limbo and not being in control of our lives. It’s like not being able to process your own thoughts and feeling and living in a state of confusion and perpetual discomfort over it. Mindfulness is like waking up from a long sleep with fresh mind and energy to handle things. A focused mind is better in making decisions that are not influenced by our emotions and are more in connection with our reality. Mindfulness doesn’t only have calming effects on our body and mind. It is also healing in nature. It is good for managing stress and anxiety. It can cure and prevent depression. It makes us more creative and adds character to our individuality. Apart from all this, it has been found beneficial for hypertension, cardiovascular well-being, diabetes etc.

Basics of mindfulness

 Simple but Awarding- Mindfulness is a very simple technique to practice if done correctly. You don’t have to buy anything or donate long hours to it but have strong intention for it.

Acceptance- Acceptance of your current situation and your feelings towards it without trying to change it. We can’t stop the basic function of our brain, i.e., thinking but we can stop judging our thoughts and just simply let them past. Accepting yourself and understanding that you are more than your thoughts. This is an important thing to keep in mind while practicing mindfulness so that you don’t end up frustrating yourself.

Pick your own pace- Start your practice by 2 minutes and increase time regularly at your own pace. Don’t try to push yourself into sitting for a long time.

Tracking your progress- Maintain a journal to keep an eye on your progress. Identify if something is halting your progress and work on it. Writing about your experience also helps you to recognize and letting go of your troubling thoughts.

How to do mindfulness

 Find some quiet and sit in a relaxed

1. Try to focus your mind on your surroundings. Observe little sounds, feel air on your skin and absorb the sensations of your body.
2. Slowly turn your focus on your breathing and let the calm wash over. It is necessary to understand and not try to change your breathing pattern. Mindfulness is only about observing without doing anything about
3. If your mind wanders, gently bring your focus to current

What NOT to do while practicing mindfulness?

 Don’t try to focus on multiple things at a time. Choose one stimulus to concentrate on and stick to it for few minutes. Don’t jump your focus from surroundings to body to breathing to back to

1. Don’t stress too much on whether you are doing it correctly on not. It is natural to fidget when trying to concentrate. Don’t pay much attention to
2. Don’t give up easily. It is OK if you feel frustrated in the beginning but remember that giving up is easy. Take a break and start from the

Should I practice it daily?

 Practice makes Man/woman perfect. It is suggested to practice mindfulness daily for best results. But don’t fret if you miss a day or two. Mindfulness practiced in routine leave wonderful effects on our body and mind.

Mindfulness at work

 In this competitive era, our work life is becoming more hectic and demanding. It is one of the major causes for stress and mental health issues. Practicing mindfulness at work not only destresses your mind and body but also makes your work more creative and productive. Take a small break every two hours. Have a coffee and be mindful about it. Practice mindful eating. It can’t be any easier. Don’t try to juggle too many tasks at once rather complete your tasks one by one. Multi-tasking actually decreases your productivity. Practice mindfulness for better work relationships and more job satisfaction.

Connect to Counsellor

Yoga  And  Mindfulness

The term “yoga” is coined from the Sanskrit word “Yuj” which means “Union”. The union of body, mind and soul. The practice of yoga dates back to ancient India and hence, since then have been transformed into various recreational forms of exercise. But the benefits of yoga surpass any other form of relaxation exercise. Yoga is not just a comprehensive exercise to grow abs and lose weight. It is a way of living.

Mindfulness brings us awareness of our being. When practicing mindfulness, we focus on our body sensations, feelings and emotions running through us and our environment. Doing a body scan is a common relaxation practice while being mindful. Adding yoga in the mix makes us more alert and strengthen awareness of our body.

What is Mindful Yoga?

Mindful yoga is a beautiful amalgamation of two mind relaxing and body healing techniques- Mindfulness and Yoga. Instead of focusing on maintaining a perfect posture like in yoga, mindful yoga focuses on the movement of our body and concentrating on our breathing. The yoga is made up of 8 components basically. Two of them being- the asana and the dhyana. The “dhyana” part of yoga is nothing but meditating on nothing in particular. Mindful yoga is a blend of asana and a modified version of dhyana where we concentrate on our body and feelings instead.

How to practice Mindful Yoga?

• For the starter, try finding a peaceful and comfortable place to sit. Mornings are the best time for practice due to quiet and minimum distractions.
• Sit on your mat in a straight and relaxed Don’t keep your back rigid. Also, keep your phone away on silent.
• Start by concentrating on your breathing. Just notice the pattern of your breathing but don’t force it to change. Slowly, you will find your breaths turning shallow and your body
• Perform a body scan. Start with your toes and slowly and gently move your attention upwards. Don’t try to rush it. Take your time. Absorb the sensations of each part of your body. Absorb and let it go. Don’t try to analyze
• There are various yoga asana that relieve stress. Practice those asana and keep your attention on the movement of your body, the sensation in your muscles and how it changes your breathing pattern. Some of the poses you can try are triangle pose, Mountain pose (Tadasana), Warrior pose, Child’s Pose (Balasana), Cow pose, Cobra pose and shavasana

What are the benefits of Mindful Yoga?

There are ample proven benefits of practicing mindful yoga and being the hot topic it is, more are being researched.

• Increases Pain Endurance: Practicing mindful yoga can reduce even chronic pain. With regular practice, it increases the pain tolerance capacity of our
• Relieves Stress and Anxiety: Mindful yoga is a positivity booster for those going through depression or anxiety disorders. With calmness comes acceptance. With acceptance comes awareness to deal with reality and uncomfortable situations. Anxiety stems from ignorance of our problems and letting them pile up. At the end, it becomes too much to handle. Mindful yoga is a constructive way to manage your feelings of stress and
• Better Decision Making: Often stress ridden minds are known to make bad or impulsive decisions. The inability to focus on finding the solution than on problem in turn puts us more under pressure. With awareness and clear mind, we are able to analyze a situation better and try to find creative solutions. A mindful brain is more effective in dissecting a problem and working towards smart
• Increases Lung Capacity and good for cardiovascular health: Research has proven that mindful yoga reduces the cardiovascular risk and is good for the general well-being of our heart. Breathing practice is known to increase the lung capacity providing ample oxygen
• Overall well-Being: Mindful yoga benefits both body and mind. It lowers the blood pressure and helps with hypertension. It boosts immunity by stimulating the lymphatic system our body which is responsible for fighting viruses and germs. It sharpens memory and increases focus. It calms the mind and helps in sleeping.

At the end, we can conclude that mindful yoga practice is a package program focusing on healing of mind, body and soul giving us a sharper personality and a sense of happiness.

Connect to Counsellor

Mindfulness and Meditation

Mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness is not at all complicated but on the contrary is quite simple. Mindfulness is nothing but just EXISTING. Existing in the now, existing in your current surroundings and being aware of it.

Now the question arises, isn’t that what we all are doing already? We are alive which means we do exist. But are we? Are we even existing? Or we are so lost in the rat race of our lives that we are letting our lives fly past us. Whether we are driving our car, cooking food or taking a bath, there is always some thought cooking at the back burner of our brain. Our mind has a tendency of checking out from the present and soon we find ourselves fretting over issues that are not even real or hasn’t even happened yet. Always stressing or thinking about future or past has made us lose our touch with our present surroundings and even our own body. And that is not even existing let alone living.

Simply existing and fully concentrating on what you are doing at present is mindfulness. It is as simple as that. Being aware of your surroundings, your body and the actions you are currently doing is mindfulness. For instance, while taking a lazy stroll in the park, being aware of the noises around you, smell of trees, strain in your muscles and change in your breathing pattern is mindfulness.

Meditation

Meditation is concentrating on nothing or only one thing at a time like your breathing pattern, repetitive music or chanting a mantra and slowly allowing your mind to drift towards nothingness. Meditation is a technique that needs to be practiced with diligence. However, focusing your wandering mind on a single thing can be a challenging task.

Paying attention to your body and simply letting go of your drifting thoughts are the basics of practicing meditation. It encourages practitioner to let go of the obsessive thoughts conjuring in one’s mind.

Difference Between Meditation and Mindfulness

3. At your beck and call: Practicing mindfulness couldn’t be easier. Unlike meditation, which requires you to pull out your yoga mat and find a comfortable position to sit in while maintaining a straight posture, mindfulness can be practiced at any time or place to your comfort. It can be done while doing your day to day mundane activities which might seem trivial to you. For instance, while having your daily morning cup of tea. Just being aware of the sweet smell of tea, enjoying the taste of every single sip, feeling the warmth of cup in your hands and feeling the texture of liquid on your tongue as it goes down warming your body is mindfulness. Simplest of the tasks can be turned mindful by just being aware of it.
4. Some-thing or No-thing: Mindfulness and meditation, however interlinked, are actually opposite to each other. Mindfulness means concentrating on something. Something being your action, body or surrounding whereas meditation means concentrating on nothing particular. During mindfulness, the practitioner needs to use all his senses to be aware of all the stimulus around him. However, meditation is a much more complicated approach. During meditation, the practitioner starts concentrating on single stimuli while shutting off other senses and slowly drifts towards concentrating on nothing. At this stage, there are no thoughts passing through one’s mind and it is having a much needed break from all the overwhelming thoughts we have running around all day!!!
5. Practice / Skill: Mindfulness is a simple act and doesn’t require a guided approach to practice. Meditation, on the other hand, is a skill refined from years of dedicated practice and generally requires professional guidance. However, they are both interlinked. Mindful meditation is the most common type of meditation for the beginners whereas practicing meditation helps us being more mindful of our day to day activities by improving concentration. Mindfulness makes us aware of our own thoughts and feelings while meditation allows us to simply let go of all our thoughts without judgement.

Connect to Counsellor

DECISION AND READINES FOR SEX IN TEENAGE

Before you choose to have intercourse or on the off chance that you are as of now engaging in sexual relations, you have to realize how to remain sound. Regardless of whether you think you know all that you have to think about sex, take a couple of moments and read on. Your PCP needs to ensure you know the realities.

IMPORTANT FACTORS TO CONSIDER

No one ought to ever be compelled to have intercourse! In the event that you are ever compelled to have intercourse, it’s critical to never accuse yourself and to tell a grown-up you trust as quickly as time permits.

Not utilizing liquor and medications will assist you with settling on more clear decisions about sex. Such a large number of youngsters engage in sexual relations without significance to when they drink liquor or use drugs.

 READINESS FOR SEX

Sex can transform you and connections. Engaging in sexual relations may influence the manner in which you feel about yourself or how others feel about you.

Numerous teenagers think holding up until they are prepared to engage in sexual relations is significant. The opportune time is distinctive for every teenager. For instance, a few teenagers might need to hold up until they are more seasoned (grown-ups); different adolescents might need to hold up until they feel their relationship is prepared.

 PREPAREDNESS FOR SEX

You may feel that your relationship is prepared when:

• You can be totally legitimate and trust the other individual, and the other individual can confide in you.
• You can chat with the individual about troublesome themes, for example, emotions, different connections, and if the individual has had sexually transmitted disease. (STD)
• You can be dependable, ensuring yourself and your accomplice against STIs and pregnancy with condoms and conception prevention.
• You can regard the other individual’s choices about not engaging in sexual relations and about utilizing security.
• Be that as it may, on the off chance that you are infatuated or truly like somebody, you may overlook the indications of an unfortunate relationship.

SIGNS OF UNPREPAREDNESS

The accompanying signs mean your relationship isn’t prepared for sex:

• Your accomplice is envious or possessive. For instance, your accomplice keeps you from investing energy with your family or different companions, writings or texts you continually, or checks your mobile phone to see who you are chatting with.
• Your accomplice constrains you to engage in sexual relations and will not see your perspective.
• Your accomplice controls you by either tormenting you or taking steps to hurt himself in the event that you cut off the association.

IT’S BETTER TO BE PATIENT

 There’s not all that much on the off chance that you choose to pause. Not every person is having intercourse. Half of all adolescents in the United States have never had intercourse. On the off chance that you choose to pause, stay with your choice. Plan ahead how you are going to state no so you are obviously comprehended. Avoid circumstances that can prompt sex.

REASONS TO HOLD BACK

Here are reasons why holding back to engage in sexual relations bodes well:

• Sex can prompt pregnancy. It is safe to say that you are prepared to be pregnant or turn into a teenaged parent? It’s a colossal obligation. Is it true that you are ready to give food, dress, and a protected home for your child?
• Sex has wellbeing dangers. A ton of contaminations can be spread during sex. sexually transmitted disease incorporate chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, herpes, HIV (the infection that causes AIDS), human papillomavirus (HPV), or syphilis.
• Sex can prompt enthusiastic agony and interruptions. You may feel tragic or irate on the off chance that you let somebody pressure you into engaging in sexual relations when you’re not so much prepared. You additionally may feel miserable or irate on the off chance that you decide to engage in sexual relations however your accomplice leaves you. Your accomplice may even tell others that you had intercourse with her.

Connect to Counsellor

How UDGAM will help?

It is observed often after a break up partners (sexually active) report of extreme guilt, regrets and feelings of being cheated and used. They feel symptoms of anxiety, depression, adjustment problems, PTSD, sleep disturbances; this leads to academic, professional or family problems.  It is important to understand that getting active sexually in any relationship, doesn’t guarantee a lifelong commitment. Foundation for a stable and committed relationship lies in compatibility, love, respect, empathy and adjustments.

People always try hard to get out of this. They try their best to keep them anxiety-free, try to feel positive emotions but sometimes fail to rectify issues? Team UDAGM, the clinical psychologist expert in counselling, will be your real friend and will help to manage your problems diligently.

Alcohol Addiction among Teenagers

“Consumption of alcohol has increased all over the world and age of drinking is gradually declining.”

Alcohol use is a serious risk to the health and well-being of teenage children, as they are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than adults because their developing bodies and brains. As our society is becoming more affluent and parents becoming more open-minded, chances of addiction among teenagers are more common. I have observed in my clinical practice, many concerned parents seek interventions and treatments for alcohol addiction among teenagers. There are parents who themselves express concerns relating to quantity and age appropriateness of consumption of alcohol to their children.

 What is Alcohol Addiction?

Alcohol addiction or alcoholism is a set of behavior related to alcohol abuse. Addiction is a collective term of alcohol abuse, dependence, withdrawal, and relapse of abuse.  Alcohol addiction is a cluster of physiological, behavioral, and cognitive phenomena in which the use of alcohol takes on a much higher priority than other behaviors that once had more value or priority and continues consumption despite negative known consequences. Typically, the person consume alcohol to relax, fun, reward or escape from the stress or situation. Gradually person feels one cannot live without it and quantity increases as well. With addiction, the frontal lobe area of the brain shows poor brain functionality; hence the person has poor attention and concentration, retardation of thinking process, fogging in reasoning and judgment, and has a dimmer outlook or approach to life.

Why Do Teenagers Consume Alcohol?

Teenage drinking generally starts with curiosity, pleasure-seeking, relationship, personal or family problems. They are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol more likely to get addicted to it. In study it is observed that some factors are associated with addiction in adolescents are:

• Peer factor, personality or temperament, beliefs and attitudes—friends using alcohol, poor individual self esteem, depression, anxiety.
• Family factors like broken home i.e. divorced or separated parents, drug use in parents, family conflicts, unrestricted or unsupervised access to money.
• School factors like poor academic performance, failures, low IQ, peer pressure, bullying , anxiety and stress.
• Social norms, legal and judiciary system, availability of alcohol, minimum age for selling alcohol, are few additional factors for teenagers alcoholism.

What are symptoms or Indicators of Teenage Alcoholism?

Alcoholism affects physically and mentally as well as every corner of life like personal, family and social behavior, academic, sports and physical growth. Warning signs of teenage alcoholism may include:

• Emotional or psychological symptoms: Personality change, frequent mood changes, irritability, low self-esteem, poor reasoning and judgment, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, behavioral changes,  and poor interest in communication, interaction with friends and family.
• Physical symptoms: easy fatigability, poor weight gain, repeated medical complaints, red and glazed eyes, dehydrated skin, dull look, frequent infections. They also do ‘binge drinking’ and getting drunk, there is an increased risk of blackouts and even alcohol poisoning.
• Behavior with Family: starting arguments, demanding money, staying out home of home, very rigid to go out of home even after restrictions, or withdrawing from the family.
• School behavior: Decreased interest, poor academic performances and drop in grades, absenteeism, truancy, breaking rules and discipline problems.
• Social Problems: less interested in standard home and school activities, reckless driving, breaking rules, frequent fights, arrest, high risk behavior & unprotected Sex and other anti social behaviors are common among them.

How Do We Prevent Alcohol Addiction among teenagers?

There are various strategies but for their successful implementation there has to be a joint effort by teachers, parents and mental health professionals to provide a network. One of the most powerful tools in reducing the prevalence of teen drug use is open-communication. Second is to reduce alcohol availability to minors. Third, connections between child welfare services and addiction treatment programmes can be improved.

• Open Communication: Parents can talk about the impact of alcohol on the body and explain how it feels to be drunk, for example, doing silly things or feeling sick. Listening their problems, observing behaviors, making trust, giving reassurance, being non-judgmental and minimize criticism are few helpful steps.
• Making strict rules: study shows if parents set rules about drinking, young people are less likely to get drunk, so it’s important to work together to make boundaries. Strict compliance to this rule, rewards to the behavior will keep them away from alcohol.
• Know parents of child’s friends: Detailed discussion of the behavior rather than blaming each other among Parents remains helpful. They might share concerns, and all could agree on rules around parties and supervision.

Connect to Counsellor

Don’t struggle, UDGAM will help you!

The good news is that there is hope through medical treatment!

Early detection and timely effective treatment of the addiction problem and related issues can prevent it from developing into a serious problem. This also ensures a good prognosis of recovery and relapse can be prevented. Parents must seek professional help for their child for timely intervention.

Addiction is treated by team UDGAM, trained mental healthcare providers including psychiatrists, psychologists, de-addiction counsellor, motivational guru and social workers. We must focus on the basic approach treatment of addiction includes

• Detoxification: management of symptoms appearing due to stoppage of drug of abuse with the help of medicinal drugs
• Maintenance and Rehabilitation: for long term behavior changes
• Helping patients to stay sober by use of medical drugs under supervision of experts
• Psychotherapy/Counseling includes: Cognitive behavior therapy, family therapy, Motivational Enhancement Therapy
• Self help groups like Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotic Anonymous
• Finally, public education campaigns among teachers, parents and the growing children can help the spread of this problem.

Tough Boss

About Tough Boss

Tough boss is basically a senior official whose ideology, the style of working or the art of getting the work done from subordinates does not match with his juniors. This behavior has an immense effect on the working environment of the organization. We can’t comment that this is right or wrong unless it affects the work output. However if the output of organization is affected then this is as an alarming sign.

Is ‘Tough Boss’ a universal concept?

No, it is not. As explained, the toughness of a Boss is a perceived phenomenon.

It is the difference in ideologies or values of a person from that of his subordinates.

The same boss can be tough with some and cool with others at same work place.

Some common traits of so-called ‘Tough Bosses’?

• Workaholic
• Repetitive follow-ups with subordinates
• Frequent meetings
• Frequent question and demand for additional documents
• Deadlines for completion of work.
• Rewards and punishment.
• Belongs to Type A personality or having obsessive compulsive traits.

How this does affects the organization?

Before implementing one’s ideology on others, the boss should know about the work culture of the organization. One should understand the balance between target oriented work and responsibility oriented work. Proper understanding and amicable work culture may take an organization to the next level. If poorly understood it may also lead to increase in number of dropouts that may prove detrimental for the company.

Some employees like tough target oriented goal while others find it difficult to adjust. They also work responsibly and efficiently, but in a relaxed way. Type B personality employee feels stressed out and do frequent errors in a highly pressurized environment. This may lead to shift of focus on the achievement of the target rather than quality of work.

How to deal with a ‘Tough Boss’

• Try to understand his expectations from his subordinates.
• Open and detailed discussion between boss and employee regarding work ideology.
• Try to understand the philosophy and his cognizance about the content he wants to put into the work.
• Be honest with him regarding your capabilities.
• Tell your boss, when you need my kind of training/ help in completing the work.
• Be sincere about the work.
• Focus on learning the new concepts of the work. Maybe you find a new way of doing a difficult job.
• Provides genuine feedback to the boss whenever required.

Connect to Counsellor

How udgam will help you?

If after all the discussion with your boss you are unable to cope up and feel anxious and stressed then this is time for you to seek professional help. Sometimes you are unable to adjust to the situation despite of all efforts. There could be many reasons for this like personality, anxiety, stress or personal problem. At Udgam we have an experienced team to understand you and your problems. To help you with the diagnosis and treatment of the problem. Team UDGAM also   offers a psychological evaluation with a detailed history and mental status examination. There are two main streams of treatment, psychotherapy or medications .

Psychotherapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective form of psychotherapy for such problems. CBT includes cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, and learning of coping skills, for the situation that triggers your anxiety. This helps to build your confidence so that you can manage the situation yourself and manage the anxiety symptoms.

Medications

Few medications may be helpful to manage the anxiety symptoms.

Few tips for Lifestyle changes and home based remedies

•Maintain physically active lifestyle
• Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs
• Quit smoking and reduceor quit drinking caffeinated beverages.
• Use stress management and relaxation techniques.
• Make sleep a priority
• Eat healthy

SUICIDE

Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable, we fail to prevent it?

Every 40 seconds someone commit suicide and die around the world and death toll 800 000 people every year. Young people are mostly affected and suicide is now the second leading cause of death among ages of 15 and 29 years globally.

• If this is preventable, then where are the lacunae in our effort to prevent it?
• Is it social stigma, lack of mental health worker, politics, laws, justice, education, defense or our social awareness campaign or involvement of media?

First, we have to understand the suicide. Suicide is a complex phenomenon, and has a big challenge for treatment and prevention. There is no single factor is sufficient to explain why a person died by suicide, it is influenced by several interacting factors − personal, social, psychological, cultural, biological and environmental.

There are many mental conditions where suicide is common but depression is one of the most common factors. Psychoses, schizophrenia, OCD, PTSD, Substance abuse, traumatic condition like rape victim, mental or physical abuse, job loss, divorce or separation, breakups, academic failures, bullying, imprisonment or expressing sexual orientation in front of family are few psychological factors. Chronic illnesses like cancer, kidney disease, neurological illness, severe pain condition, are medical reason. Differentiation on color, sex, ethnicity (racism, gender in equality), painful judgment, draconian laws, disaster, financial crisis, global economical slow down, are certain condition that has direct impact on suicide.

What are red flag signs for suicide?

Family, friend, official persons like hr, bosses, colleagues, should notice the changes in activities. Hopelessness, worthlessness, death wish, para-suicidal behavior, talking, sharing or posting online negatively or recently changed topic like birth, death, life etc, sudden increase in alcohol or substance, absenteeism, decreased communication and interaction, remain aloof, history of suicidal attempt are few alarming signs. Few commit suicide impulsively without any signs like under intoxication, breakups, separation, death of loved one, imprisonment, financial loss, job loss, academic failures. Para suicidal behavior like buying blades, ropes, pistol, are common in planned suicide which common in depression and other mental illness.

Psychopathology behind suicide.

Hopelessness, either in the short-term or as a long term, has big contribution to the decision to commit suicide. They see no way the situation can improve , feel they have lost all hope and nothing is going to be change, it can overshadow all of the good things in their life, making suicide seem like a only and viable option. People often see themselves as worthless, a burden to others due to the overwhelming emotional burden.

What are the precipitating factors? Is Covid -19 pandemic?

Of course, any disaster is precipitating factor for mental illness and related condition. In this pandemic every sector is struggling for their survival financially. Job loss, financial losses, is very common. Fear of health related problems are creating a panic like situation among people. Sleep disturbances, anxiety, depression, social isolation, loneliness, are common among people making them vulnerable for suicide.

How to prevent it

“Success ke baad ka plan sabke pass hota hai, lekin agar galti se fail ho gaye, toh failure se kaise deal karna hai iski koi baat hi nahi karna chahta”

Film “Chhichore” message by Suhant Singh Rajput

Suicide attempts are not a cry for attention but a cry for help. We experience a daily reality such that individuals despite everything imagine that emotional wellness is certainly not an intense issue. This occurrence is simply one more update that we have to end the silence and stigma associated with this wellbeing condition.

Family, friends, and employer should have open and detailed discussion about the condition if they observe the red flag signs. It is very necessary to be sensitive towards the patients, victims, sufferers. Listen to them without judging, arguing or yelling at them. We have to take co-ordination and collaboration from multiple sectors of society including mental health sector and other such as education, law, justice, politics, corporate, industries, and media. Multiply the social awareness and break the silence and stigma about illness and condition. Regular medication and psychotherapy is very essential. Apart from that ask them to seek professional help with mental health worker, psychiatrist, psychologist, mental social health worker.

Why few industries are more vulnerable like Film, fashion industries

We will presumably never realize what set off this self destruction, however potential reasons can be a restricted lifestyle because of lockdown and the loneliness. Depression persists even after treatment if stress continues. This continuous stress may be due to his personal relationship or financial crunch or shrinking career growth expectation.

Film industries personal have very pressure to perform on screen as well as off screen. They have to maintenance of social status, media attention, social media followers and friend circle. They also have to work on abnormal time schedule, feel work pressure. Nepotism, sexual harassment, mental and physical abuse are very common in film industries. Substance abuse and addiction makes them more vulnerable. Studies show celebrities have high score on narcissistic, Histrionic and borderline personality. These people remain very vulnerable to criticism, and emotional labiality leading to depression. Personal life or relationships are very fragile.  Movie’s success is a chance and has great impact on career growth leading to emotional fragile.

Connect to Counsellor

How UDGAM will help in treatment

People try their best to keep and correct the low mood, depression, death wish, suicidal thoughts but fail to manage these ailments. Team UDAGM, the clinical psychologist expert in counseling, will be your real friend and will help to manage your depression and related symptoms and will try to take out from this debilitating symptoms.

If you feel suicidal kindly call on suicide help line (available in this link)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines

• India  ( Aasra +91 22 2754 6669 | Website: www.aasra.info
• Jeevan Aastha : 1800 233 3330