Radio Interview -Tracy Latz & Marion Ross

We will be on Mirrors of the Soul on Thursday 12/18 at 5:00 Eastern, 4:00 Central, etc. on www.healthylife.net . You can listen live. Just click on the Live button on the site.

We hope you can join us!

Namaste,

Docmarion

Marion Ross - Be Positive

Is my glass half empty or half full? Have you ever spent the day with someone who has no idea how little he likes or respects himself or how stuck he is being a victim of the world and the masters of the universe who failed him? He doesn't even perceive that he has a glass at all and if asked would tell you that all its contents have evaporated. A day where you zipped up a lot because you had no choice but to be with him for one reason or another? He is just spending his time anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop and surprise he has had a bad cold which just lingers on and on which he seems to be spreading around...

If you are feeling negative and over stressed remember that you are talking to every cell in your body and as Bruce Lipton so clearly expressed in The Biology of Belief, your cells are responding to those thoughts and expressing them in terms of your health and equilibrium. Rethink your responses. Revamp your perceptions. Be conscious. They are a choice and you are not a victim. Even though you may feel super stressed and that the world is falling apart, monitor your thoughts and change your language by getting into your heart for yourself. You have the tools. (I hope he is reading this.)

When asked something as simple as, "How are you?" you may be: "So stressed out about seeing my family during the holidays" or "I'm so ashamed that I am so behind paying my bills" or "I'm really worried losing my job" or "I'm afraid to tell the kids I can't afford to ..." Remember there are always other "true feelings" as well...and you can choose which ones to focus on and express verbally.
So when a friend or co- worker asks "How are you?" make an effort to choose a new answer that is both positive and a truth, even though you are also aware of your fears. Try filling in the blanks below and focus on your positive feelings:

I'm looking forward to _______________

My kids did really well in school and _______________

I am so happy that

What gave me such relief today was _______________

Make the positive choice and keep your vibration high and you will begin to attract differently. Tomorrow is another day.

Marion Ross & Tracy Latz - Dharma For The Holidays

DAILY DHARMA FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Make time for yourself every day. Don't get so caught up in the fast pace and stress of the day that you lose the clarity to observe where you are and what you are creating in your life. The holiday period is an especially rich time for tests and challenges as we are all well aware. Family gatherings, travel, financial pressure and expectation levels can be overwhelming. An accumulation of little disappointments over time can feel like heartbreak and lead to a sense of unworthiness. The importance of mindfully healing the heart daily can't be emphasized enough. Remember that the power to create or manifest anything with great love and joy lies in a free and flowing heart center. Make a commitment to yourself to take at least 10 minutes every morning and 10 minutes every evening to use your tools,practice self care and get centered. Try to take several small 2-3 minute breaks during the day to just close your eyes and relax, breathe, or meditate. It really does make a difference.

Much love and light to all,

DocMarion

Radio Interview -Marion Ross and Tracy Latz

We will be on the Bonnie D. Graham show at 6pm est on Friday December 12, 2008.
"Up Close & Personal with Bonnie D. Graham" streams LIVE worldwide at http://www.am1240wgbb.com/home.htm [Click LISTEN LIVE NOW button at top of the page].

We hope that you can join us.
Much Love and Light to all,

Docmarion

Adult ADD or Something Else?

Adult Attentions Deficit Disorder (ADD) has been talked about and diagnosed more in the past few years. I recently had someone interview me on this topic and thought I would share some of it with you as I certainly have had more inquiries about this in my private practice in the last 2 years.

"I am interested in your comment that what might look like ADD to someone without medical training is often actually something else. How are the symptoms of ADD and low-grade depression or anxiety similar?"

One of the hallmark criteria for for ADD is inattention (inability to sustain focus). With both depression and anxiety you can have difficulty with concentration. It can be difficult on the surface to determine the subtle difference between these two different and yet related issues. With poor concentration, you will have difficulty recalling information or retrieving information that you have stored in your memory. With inattention, you will have difficulty sustaining focus long enough to store information into the memory for later retrieval.

Another hallmark criteria for ADD is fidgeting or daydreaming. With anxiety, you can become wrapped up in worrisome internal (sometimes obsessive) thoughts that can be distracting, create more anxiety, and can cause hand-wringing, leg jiggling, hair-twirling, etc that are anxiety induced but can look from the outside like 'fidgeting' to the untrained observer.

A person with ADD will often report that thoughts rapidly shift in their head from one topic to another since they are easily distractible; for instance, they might be thinking about doing laundry when the cat meows and they follow the cat to the kitchen and then realize that they didn't do the dishes so they start to pile them up into the sink but hear a car outside that reminds them they have not gotten the mail.... and so on. A person with anxiety can also report rapid thoughts that are anxiety ridden (ie, worrying about finances when they hear a siren outside and then they immediately panic that someone they love might be hurt or injured, etc). Also a person with Bipolar Disorder (formerly known as Manic-Depression) who is in a manic state will have rapid thoughts that race through their head with increasing rapidity until eventually they can become psychotic with thoughts that are incomplete and make no sense whatsoever if they are untreated (or heaven forbid diagnosed as ADD and put on an amphetamine agent which would make their thoughts go even more rapidly!).

"Some ADD websites claim that undiagnosed ADD itself actually leads to depression and/or anxiety. True?"

Yes, untreated ADD can lead to depression or anxiety due to feeling constantly judged as "less than" or "lacking" by others (or by self) due to taking more time than everyone else to complete tasks, poor organizational skills, and high distractibility (being seen as flighty or an "airhead"). It can lead to anxiety about anticipating yet another comment about how inept, late, unorganized, scattered the person is perceived by others. It can lead to low self-esteem and ultimately eventually to depression that life does not seem as easy for them as others.

I have referred many women who feel such anxiety or low self-esteem to meditation courses that I have taught for 6 years where they are guided through meditations where they are able to release self-judgment, anxiety, anger and resentment about their situation. My co-author and I finally wrote the book SHIFT: 12 Keys to Shift Your Life to make our techniques and meditations more readily available to the public.

"Many women who have been diagnosed with ADD believe that their condition was overlooked for too long because ADD in girls and women is more likely to manifest in socially acceptable ways - such as being a social butterfly. True? Or not?"

ADD can present with hyperactivity or without hyperactivity (ADD versus ADHD). Most of the people who go into adulthood without being diagnosed as ADD are the ones who do not exhibit hyperactivity. It is easy to diagnose ADHD in childhood from a mile away as those children are the ones who are all over the place and terribly impulsive. It is the terribly impulsive, hyperactive ADHD patients that tend to be more socially unacceptable and seem to at times not respect body space of others. People with ADD tend to be inattentive to social cues from others and therefore can be seen as rude at time or "spacey" by others in social situations. A social butterfly in my mind tends to be someone who pays attention to all cues very well and is adept at seemingly effortlessly gliding from one situation/person/topic to another. I do not feel that this is the case for most people with ADD until they are teated.

"What behaviors or tendencies would a woman look for in herself to know whether she should consider asking for a professional evaluation for ADD?"

Inattentive symptoms (You should have at least 6 of these symptoms present.):

-difficulty sustaining attention in work-related tasks or home activities

-often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly

-often does not follow through on instructions and fails to complete work, chores, or duties (this failure is not due to intentionally refusing to do the task or not understanding instructions)

-often has difficulty organizing tasks or activities

-often avoids engaging in tasks that require sustained mental effort

-often loses or misplaces items needed for doing tasks or activities

-is often easily distracted by external stimuli

-is often forgetful in basic daily activities

-often has low frustration tolerance

Hyperactive/Impulsive symptoms (You can have ADD without any of these)

-often fidgets with hands or squirms when seated

-often unable to sit still

-often reports subjective feelings of inner restlessness

-often has difficulty performing activities quietly

-is often "on the go" or often acts as if they are the "energizer bunny"

-often talks excessively

-often interrupts others

-often has difficulty awaiting turn

"Is there a very basic explanation you can give me for why the treatment for ADD so often includes stimulant drugs when the condition itself so often seems to involve a racing mind?"

When we talk about the use of stimulant medications in psychiatry, we generally are referring to methylphenidate, amphetamine, methamphetamine and pemoline. The first two are by far the most commonly prescribed medications for ADD. The stimulant medications increase the release or block the reabsorption of dopamine and norepinephrine, two brain neurotransmitters. This increases the transmission between certain neurons. Each stimulant has these effects in slightly different ways. Thus each specific medication may have similar or different effects on the ADD symptoms of a given individual. A study using a mouse model reported in the January 1999 issue of Science suggested that methylphenidate elevates levels of serotonin, and that this may possibly account for some of its calming effects in people with the hyperactivity component of ADHD.

There have been many studies showing the effectiveness of stimulants in children, adolescents and adults. Generally, stimulants effectively decrease inattention, distractibility, over activity and impulsivity in three quarters of individuals with ADHD.

ADHD and the Brain: Self-regulation and attention are complex phenomena. There are different types of attention, including selective attention, sustained attention, strategy development, flexibility and response inhibition. Researchers are just at the beginning of their attempts to understand how different types of attention correlate with brain anatomy and physiology. However, research has shown some differences between the brain functioning of individuals with ADHD and that of normal subjects. Individuals with brain injury to the frontal lobes of the brain may show attention problems similar to those of ADHD adults.

"Is there a reliable count or estimate of how many women are diagnosed with ADD each year? Is that number growing?"

There is really no good reliable count of how many women have a true diagnosis of ADD. The CDC analyzed data from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health and published their data in a report entitled Mental Health in the US - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on September 2, 2005. In it they reported a national prevalence of ADHD in males to be 11.0% and a national prevalence of ADHD in females of 4.4%. ADHD is diagnosed 2.5 times more frequently in males than in females.

The awareness of ADD in the general public is likely the cause of the increase in new diagnoses that seem to be noted recently. Some of that is due to pharmaceutical companies advertising directly to the public and people presenting themselves to their primary care doctor asking to be treated for the self-diagnosed ADD symptoms. There is some thought that the ADD (without hyperactivity) diagnosis is seen more often in women and so that is why it is under-diagnosed in childhood as they are not behaviorally problematic in classrooms; but they are now being diagnosed due to increased awareness as adults pursuing answers to why they have had the plight of the guilt and shame of inattention and lack of organizational ability most of their lives.

DocTracy

Common Scents

Nature has provided a healthy solution for stress and stamina.
Here are a few great sniffs:

Peppermint: Inhaling the vapor from peppermint tea or oil reduces congestion. Add a few drops to a cotton ball and put it near an air vent and it will reduce fatigue.The scent of peppermint causes your capillaries to constrict and dilate and sends a rush of blood and oxygen through the body.

Vanilla: Sniffing vanilla beans or burning a vanilla scented candle can calm you down because it increases serotonin levels in the brain. It can leave you with a delicious feeling of security. Some find it addictive.

Lavender: Widely used for soothing and relaxing as lavender contains linalool,which helps block the stress response. Lavender has also been used to treat hyperactivity and insomnia. Just light a lavender candle, sniff some in a bowl or use some lavender oil in an infusor and feel your pain diminish.

Common Scents to be continued...
Doc Marion

Suicide Prevention During the Financial Crisis

The World Health Organization is predicting an increase in suicides as a result of the financial crisis.

It is not a surprise to those of us in the day to day trenches working with
psychiatric patients to acknowledge that there is an increase in suicide risk. I have seen several patients who were struggling with failing businesses and the banks will likely be foreclosing on their homes in the next few weeks.

I have also seen an increase in cases of stress, anxiety, and depression as a result of the international financial crisis in both adults and children (as they pick up on their parents' fears, anxiety and sadness). I have had some people reporting suicidal thoughts as a result of their perception of doom, guilt and shame over their financial dilemmas. It is helpful for people caught in this to focus on changing their perceptions of recent events. I suggest that people stop listening to the news except for a brief period once a day so that they do not have continual stimulation of their worst fears. I reassure them that this is just a moment in time and that everything concerning the financial crisis will predictably change over time;that the stock market and financial down trends will gradually improve. I tell them it is much like watching clouds floating by in the sky- there is a beginning, a middle and an end to any major crisis no matter what it is and that the sun will certainly reappear.
For those who truly seem to be on the edge of personal financial collapse I discuss considering bankruptcy, which was developed specifically to give someone a chance to start over financially, which is not necessarily the case in other countries.When people are living in fear of the loss of retirement or college fund monies, yet have no intention of retiring or having children leave for college for 5 or more years, I point out that the loss of money for them is either only on paper or in the ethers of the computer databases, as their wealth will begin to grow again as the market recovers from the down trend and that it will indeed improve with time.

I assist people with taking a look at their priorities and realizing that there are so many things that are more important than possessions and perceived status of cars, jobs, houses... such as family, relationships, and health.

I have had some people who think of suicide as an option to get life insurance
monies for their family.I point out that many life insurance policies have an exclusion of payment for anyone who commits suicide. Some people believe that suicide is a "way out" and that their "troubles will end"- to those people I say that suicide creates a whole list of new troubles for the ones who are left behind to pick up the pieces. Risk of suicide increases dramatically once another family member has taken their own life; suicide then becomes a viable option for dealing with problems. Children, friends, and loved ones almost always blame them selves for the person's death, even if a suicide note is left.

I recommend that people who are dealing with stressful situations be mindful of getting regular sleep, taking care of their body with good nutrition and some regular exercise. Exercise is a means of natural stress reduction and helps reset neurotransmitters to assist with combating anxiety and depression. Taking time to take care of our own self to relax and play is important all of the time, not just during crisis situations.

If you are having have suicidal thoughts it is important to talk with someone about what/how you are thinking and what you are feeling such as trained mental health professionals (therapists, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers), your family physician or family or friends. You are not alone. There is help available in the form of psychotherapy, support groups and antidepressant medication that can work fairly rapidly to improve mood.
Your perception and where you focus your thoughts are of key importance to transform suicidal thoughts. We can look at everything as if the glass is half empty constantly or we can choose to look at things as if the glass is half full. We energize what we think about- if we are always looking for the worst case scenario,then that is all we can see and we will have difficulty seeing the things that are still beautiful and wonderful in our life. Exercise, spending time with people and doing things that we love are helpful with keeping us focused on what is right and joyful in our lives. Antidepressant medication (Serotonin specific reuptake inhibitor agents) and/or mood stabilizing medication can help a great deal for those who seem to remain depressed in their mood for 2 or more weeks without relief. Hospitalization is an option for those who do not feel that they are able to keep them self from acting on suicidal thoughts.

What's the gift in this crisis? Maybe it's time to recognize that we need to set new priorities in our lives and understand what is really important to us and not be defined by our jobs or possessions. Take a moment to recall in Greek mythology the story of Pandora's box. After Prometheus stole the secret of fire, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create the woman Pandora as part of punishment for mankind. Pandora was given a large box and was told never to open it by Zeus, but she did. It contained all the evil of mankind including greed, vanity, lies, slander and envy which escaped the box. When she managed to close it again one value was kept inside represented by a tiny winged angel. That was HOPE.