Bullying Has Significant Impact on Mental Health

Jerry Daskoski's image of a girl being bulliedBullying in schools has gotten a lot of attention over the last couple years. Part of that is due to the advent of technology and the ability to bully from virtually anywhere, at any time, with a much larger scope and possibly less consequences than one would have inside a classroom. Still, for many detractors, it’s just an example of kids being kids, at best, and at worst, the need for recipients of the behavior to toughen up. After all, we’ve all been bullied or know someone who was, and that they turned out “ok;” yet research suggests that may not be true.

In a study conducted by National Children’s Bureau and YoungMinds, victims revealed that not only did bullying have a significant impact on their mental health, with regard to depression, anxiety and varied emotions like anger and rage, for many, the effects remained long after school. Nearly half (46%) of those polled said that they experienced low self-esteem throughout their lives, with some of them remarking that bullying made it noticeably more difficult for them to develop personal relationships with others.

Among the most surprising and equally saddening findings of the study is that over one-third of participants avoided going to college or continuing their education as a result of and to avoid bullying. Such significant life-altering decisions are likely not considered by perpetrators or those who defend them. Not going to college, as we know, could determine one’s economic status and overall success in today’s society. Therefore, depression as a result of not being able to access certain levels of income or career goals could be considered a byproduct of behavior like body shaming or abuse because of sexual preference and/or expression.

For those perceived to have the power to quell these types of behavior, school teachers, majority of them have stated that these expectations are not reality. 70% of the teachers surveyed said there is not adequate support for victims of bullying, and that many of them were not at all trained to deal with bullies nor to support victims. Instead, school counselors are expected to provide support to these kids, but they do not interface with children as nearly as often, meaning relationships are not as strong and children may not confide in them when situations arise. Furthermore, counselors may be outnumbered by the volume of kids who need help at a given time.

This study was released by Anti-Bullying Alliance in partnership with Barclays, to mark the beginning of anti-bullying week. This information, while informative, is just information unless systems are put in place to provide more training for teachers, parents and even family doctors (92% of whom expressed having no formal training in dealing with bullied victims) to properly address this issue. If ignored, the effects could be damaging for far too many people, even unto suicide or worse. There is a lot of work to do; this information and groups like the Anti-Bullying Alliance are a good start.

Stay Sharp: 3 Easy Tips to Build a Better Brain

Image of Healthy Brain FunctionImproving cognitive function can seem, at best, to be an ambiguous process. At worst, the endeavor can seem a sisyphean task. However, wellbeing (both physical and mental) should be at the forefront of your mind. The old adage claims that, “time is no man’s friend,” but it certainly need not be your enemy. Being mindful about the way in which you maintain your health, especially as your grow, can completely transform your quality of life, as well as empower you to embrace its milestones. Developing the proper set of habits seems to indicate not just obvious mental and emotional benefits, but also potentially improves your cognitive function. Although the scientific community may still be debating the finer points of some of these habits, adopting a holistic mentality to your mental wellness can ensure that you surely stand to benefit from them in one way or another.

Physical Activity

An ever-increasing portfolio of research indicates that physical activity improves brain health and cognition. A team from the Boston University School of Medicine concluded that hormones released during regular exercise positively impacted blood hormone levels which in turn have positive impact on memory function. A different study in 2013, the combined effort of researchers from Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber, show that the molecule irisin, which is released during endurance exercise, not only improves cognitive function but protects against mental degeneration. Higher level of irisin is also known to impact learning and memory function.

Researchers have even noted the connection in children. A study from Finland indicated that first grade students with higher cardiovascular fitness and motor skills also performed better in reading and arithmetic assessments. In short, better fitness often equates to higher cognitive function.

Learn New Things

It may seem to be little more than a vapid, comical interjection in the majority of the conversation in which you find it, but, when it comes to cognitive function, studies indeed indicate that “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” Challenging yourself to learn new and demanding skills has been found to be beneficial to people looking to preserve or improve their brain health. However, activities with which you are already expertly acquainted, regardless of their complexity, simply will not cut it. Research show that if you are inside of your comfort zone, you are very likely outside of your enhancement or growth zone.

Similarly, curiosity and creativity can be key in stimulating not just cognitive function, but also success. A study out of Michigan State University discovered that children who participated in arts and crafts outperformed their peers in innovation, patents, and entrepreneurship in adulthood. Brain-stimulating activities like reading books or musical training also offer great benefits. Studying music, especially as a child, increases plasticity in the brain and  improves the connectivity of different brain regions, positively altering the ability of the mind to interpret and integrate a variety of sensory data. Reading and writing at any age has been shown to preserve memory. Even reading fiction can be a big help!

Put Your Brain First

Although Western culture has not traditionally extolled the virtues of mindfulness meditation, studies do show that regularly practicing such a skill does measurably change the brain and reduce stress, which in term may slow the onset or progression of cognitive disorders. The same ability to reduce chronic stress and decrease cortisol levels has been seen in yoga.

Chronic stress and the associated high levels of cortisol can be very detrimental to the the health of your brain. Stress triggers long-term changes in the wiring of your mind, which may well explain why individuals exposed to consistent and extremely high levels of stress as children are so prone to mental problems like mood disorders or learning disorders later in their lives. Cortisol, which is sometimes colloquially called “the stress hormone” can cement the connections between the hippocampus and amygdala so that your mind becomes overly eager to enter the fight-or-flight mentality. That inflexible and unwavering connection can in turn cause an excess of myelin or “white matter” in the brain, more than your mind can trim through its regular neural pruning in order to remain as efficient and functional as possible.

The key to building these great habits is consistency. Remaining committed to building a great routine may be challenging, but remember the excellent benefits the right lifestyle can have on your cognitive function, even later in life. Find the ways to incorporate these tips that best suits you, and stick with it. Your brain will thank you.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Jerry Daskoski

Behavioral therapy originated from American “behaviorism. The assumption is that human behavior is learned and can be unlearned or learned anew. Behavioral therapy figures out weather certain behavioral patterns  add definition to your life, such as making it complicated or intensifying your issues.  In the second step one should be working on changing these behavioral habits.

For example, those who have developed a significant level of depression often withdraw from their hobbies. This allows them to experiences a level of unhappiness or isolation. Cognitive therapy helps to identify this mechanism and find ways to become active.

For anxiety disorder, behavioral therapy includes various learning methods. For example, you can learn to reduce anxiety with mindfulness and being more aware of your surroundings. When doing tis, you are now concentrating on other areas instead of bringing attention to your anxiety.

Harmful Thoughts VS. Un-harmful Thoughts

Harmful habits can ruin ones image of them self.

For example: (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072481/)

Reaction Harmful Neutral
Thoughts “He ignored me – he doesn’t like me anymore.”  “He didn’t notice me – maybe he doesn’t feel well. I should give him a call and find out how he is doing.”
Feelings Someone who thinks like this feels down, sad and rejected. These thought patterns do not cause any negative feelings.
Behavior The consequence of this thought is to avoid this person in the future, although the assumption could be completely false. This thought is a prompt to get back in touch with the person to find out if everything is all right.

How does cognitive behavioral therapy differ from other psychotherapies?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is defines as a problem -oriented strategy. its primary focus is on current problems and finding solutions for them. Unlike psychoanalysis for example, it does not deal with the past. Cognitive behavioral therapy is much more concerned with dealing with current problems. The most important thing is helping people to help themselves.

 

The Efficacy of Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT); it’s a therapeutic approach that is able to be applied to a wide selection of problems, making it a very popular course of treatment for issues such as anxiety disorders, general stress, substance abuse and addiction, and eating disorders.

Developed by Aaron Beck, CBT is defined as the expansion of the scope of behavior therapy to include cognition and research on human information processing, and it includes various techniques. Some argue cognitive therapy’s efficacy lies in the treatments open-endedness, as the course of the therapy is catered to the individual.

Jerry Daskoski

One psychotherapy technique it emphasizes, called collaborative empiricism, involves challenging negative cognitive distortions, which is a procedure in which the therapist conjures up a hypothesis and then assists the patient in testing the validity of that hypothesis.

Rational-emotive therapy, another CBT technique developed by Albert Ellis, is used as a treatment for anxiety and depression, and was designed to challenge irrational beliefs about oneself and the world.

Perhaps the most crucial component of CBT treatment is something called the transference relationship. It is the way in which the patient behaves toward the therapist in which it is believed to reflect early primary relationships. This is used to increase patients ability to experience themselves and other people in a more realistic and integrated way.

Because CBT caters to those receiving treatment on an individual-level, the success of the transference relationship is so important because, essentially, the client and clinician are creating the treatment path together.

Since cognitive therapy can be applied to problems on such a broad spectrum, it’s arguably the most studied course of treatment. Evidence is strong for the efficacy of CBT, specifically in treating anxiety disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Like most, if not all, psychotherapy treatments, more extensive literature and research is necessary to gaining a stronger grasp on it’s efficacy, despite the enormous evidence base pointing to CBT’s success. However, CBT comes at a cost, a high one, and thus it has not been adopted as a first-line intervention for mental disorders for many countries, including many developed nations.