Mind Zone

The problem of early childhood trauma refers to disturbing experiences that take place in children during 0-6 years of age. The traumas that young children experience can be the effects of natural disaster, war or accidents or that of intentional violence like sexual abuse, domestic violence or physical abuse.

How Does this Condition Impact Childhood?

Traumatic events have a significant impact on your child's life and can break his sense of safety. The problem has been linked with a decrease in the size of the brain cortex. This is the part of the brain that controls several complex functions like thinking, consciousness, memory, attention, awareness, and language. The changes that occur as a result can affect your child's IQ as well as his or her ability to control emotions. As a consequence, he or she may harbor feelings of danger and become more afraid or it may manifest in other personality issues which are not very obvious.

How do you identify this condition?

Generally, children who suffer from traumas face problems in regulating their emotions and behaviors.

They may display signs like:

- Fear of new situations
- Being clingy to their parent(s) or somebody close
- Become easily frightened
- Display aggressive and/or impulsive behavior
- Are difficult to comfort
- Display deterioration in behavior and functioning
- Easily forget newly attained developmental skills
- Difficulty in sleeping

Depending on the age during which your child may go through a traumatic event, he or she can exhibit signs relevant to his or her age.

For instance:

Children aged 0-2 years may also display reactions like poor verbal skills, memory problems, excessive temper, experience nightmares, etc.

On the other hand, children aged 3-6 years can face difficulties in learning as well as develop poor skill and learning disabilities, face problems in social interaction, may be unable to trust people and so on.

If this condition remains unattended or unresolved for longer, it may create personality issues and can deeply impact the individual's relationships, or equations in the society, as they grow up and even after they become adults. In fact, many behavioral problems can be traced back to childhood trauma.

Conversion disorder is a psychological disorder in which psychological conflicts get converted into physical symptoms.

The disease is also referred to as a functional neurological symptom disorder. In most cases, this disorder has an impact on your ability to move, your senses, vision, hearing capacity and ability to swallow.

Causative factors

The main cause behind the onset of a conversion disorder is generally a sudden traumatic event (real or imagined). This may also happen due to an emotional conflict or any other mental health disorder, which directly or indirectly affects your brain in an undesirable manner.

Though the exact factors which cause the disease are still unknown, it has been proved by medical researchers that the disorder affects that part of the brain which controls the majority of the senses, muscles, and nerves.

Identification signs

The symptoms of this condition may usually appear immediately after a traumatic event, be it physical or psychological. Some of the most common symptoms of this disorder are listed below.

• Weakness or paralysis of a body part
• Loss of body balance
• Moments of unresponsiveness
• Abnormal, sudden and abrupt body movements such as tremors
• Swallowing problems such as lump in the throat

Some of the symptoms of this disorder might also affect the sensory organs, which include:

• Abnormal numbness of the body
• Speech related problems or inability to speak (psychological mutism)
• Vision related problems such as psychological blindness
• Hearing problems and difficulties

If you wish to discuss any specific problem, you can consult a psychologist.

Procrastination is a phenomenon that all people are familiar with. It is the squandering away of time in the pursuit of meaningless fulfillments at the cost of important targets and responsibilities. The more urgent tasks are constantly being put off for a later time.

In some cases, it becomes a chronic problem that can lead to severe difficulties in life. When one keeps delaying the confrontation of essential commitments, it can have a tremendous negative impact on life in the form of failure, stress, and embarrassment.

Whether you are a chronic procrastinator or an occasional one, there is always room for improvement. Following are a few examples of ways in which you can keep procrastination at bay:

1. Make a list - This is the simplest and most effective way to avoid procrastinating. It is helpful if one lists down all the necessary things that need to be done. Having a visual reminder of tasks and goals can increase motivation to accomplish them at the earliest.

2. Set a deadline - Time management is the most important aspect of avoiding procrastination. For every task that you set yourself, chalk out a time frame within which it must be completed so that no time is wasted.

3. Fragment your goals - Consider breaking your tasks into a set of mini-tasks and tackling each of those at a time instead of trying to accomplish the entire thing at one go. The larger the task, the more overwhelming it appears. Mini-tasks are easier to complete and hence this method can help in the prevention of procrastination.

4. Reward yourself - Devising a reward system that lets you celebrate accomplishments can act as a boost to morale and provide motivation for working consistently. Treat yourself after every achievement as a prize for all your efforts.

5. Eliminate all distractions - There will always be distractions all around that keep you from focusing on your goals. These add to the tendency to procrastinate and must be identified, and removed from the environment in which you are required to work.

6. Start right away - As the saying goes, there's no time like the present. Taking immediate action is the only real way to avoid procrastination. Identify your goals and get started on them at the earliest in order to achieve the fruits of your labor.

Living with anxiety on a daily basis can be really stressful. And while you are dealing with anxiety, it is very important not to sway away with the symptoms and commit yourself to a treatment. For instant release of anxiety, you really don't need to go for a vacation or to the spa or a weekend retreat. It is easy to beat anxiety within 5-15 minutes, just being where you are.

So don't think and instantly reduce your anxiety to give yourself a wonderful day. Here are 5 ways to reduce your anxiety immediately.

1. Meditation: Meditation for a few minutes daily helps relieve anxiety. As per a research, doing meditation daily changes the neural pathways of the brain, thereby making it more flexible towards stress. Meditation is the simplest way to beat anxiety. All you have to do is just sit straight with feet on the floor and closed eyes. Next just focus your energy on reciting a mantra.
2. Deep Breathing: A 5-minute breathing regime is a sure shot way to relieve anxiety. Sit straight with closed eyes and place your hands on your abdomen. First start with slow inhalation of air through the nose. Feel the breath through your abdomen and head and then reverse the process by exhaling it out through the mouth. Psychologists state that deep breathing helps to bring down stress and anxiety by lowering the blood pressure.
3. Laugh Aloud: A good laugh is a great way to shed off the stress and anxiety. When you laugh, chemical endorphins are released which elevate your mood. A good laugh also lowers the cortisol levels which are the stress hormone.
4. Talk to someone: Distracting yourself by talking to friends and family helps. The mind starts wandering when in anxiety and alone and the effective technique to talk to some trusted person helps. The support you get from family and friends just boosts you back and wards you off the symptoms. In case of a panic attack, you can request the company of a friend and relative to watch over you.
5. Trick your anxious thoughts: Anxiety does not happen suddenly but is due to the mind's tendency to have negative thoughts spiraling day in and day out and the worse is that you have no control over the thoughts. Learn to tame these thoughts and the triggers which cause these to keep anxiety at bay.

There are strategies which you can try to help you keep anxious thoughts away.

1. Question yourself when you experience anxiety. A long checklist helps you make your thoughts more realistic.
2. Give affirmations to yourself that everything is okay, you will get over the situation. Usually, affirmations are made to comfort one.
3. Know the physical symptoms as many times physical sensations like in case of a panic attack tend to trigger anxiety and stress. When you get used to the symptoms, the mind does not send signals for anxiety to the brain. Create exercise to habituate yourself to a panic attack. There is no cure for anxiety but the fastest way to get your anxiety under control is to simply manage it. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Psychologist.

Every married couple undergoes relationship troubles, but these troubles should not linger for a long time otherwise you might end up facing dreadful consequences. If you want to save your married life by maintaining a smooth relation with your partner, then you have to look for the best solutions that can resolve marital issues.

How to manage marital relationships?

1. Maintaining trust: Since trust is the base of every relationship, therefore you should make special effort in maintaining the same. Unresolved issues should be resolved quickly and there should be transparent communication between the married couples. Some of the special qualities that should be maintained in order to maintain trust within a marital relationship in long run are being on time, consistency, being sensitive towards feelings, avoiding lies, sharing feelings, respecting partner's feelings, avoiding jealousy and others.
2. Healthy communication: If the problems remain unresolved, then more and more conflicts will be invited. Have open discussions and clear up your points so that confusions can be eliminated. If you make efforts in understanding the real causes, then only the problems can be resolved. You need to put yourself in the shoes of the partner and understand where the person is coming from. Most conflicts occur because we only see our view points and not that of others.
3. Giving time to the relationship: You can maintain your marital relationship in a healthy state only by considering the married life as the prior issue. Keep your marriage above every other social thing and then only relationship can be made secured. Give time for repairing all dubs and defects of your relationship. In this case, you can also take the help of any expert counsellor. Spend some quality time with each other so that the warmth of your relationship can be maintained.
4. Tackling monetary problems: Do not allow any conflict to come into your relationship just because of a pathetic financial condition. It is important for both the partners to put-in efforts in saving money so that monthly expenses can be kept under strict control. A perfect budget needs to be scheduled so that financial strength can be restored. If you are incapable of catering financial support, support your partner at least mentally so that he can come out of the financial trouble as soon as possible.
5. Maintain a happy sexual life: Create a proper schedule for lovemaking in order to maintain a healthy sex life. You should try to know the sexual needs of your partner so that you can fulfil the expectations. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Psychologist.

Depression is an addictive state, which is hard to get rid of. Everybody who suffers from it encounters it in an unexpected way, yet we all agree that it can be a major well-being issue. It makes a person miserable, disappointed, restless or numb for long and tedious timeframes, and is debilitating, particularly when you can't demonstrate your feelings and worries to anybody. It can meddle with your productivity and can become a concern not only in workplaces, but also in social circles.

So here's how to deal with a friend or family member in a depressed state of mind:

1. Never Say 'You're Too Much': When someone with depression is told "you're too much," particularly by somebody near them, it can send them spiralling into blame and nervousness and bitterness. Being encouraging and empowering is likewise useful.
2. Try not to Shame People for Being Negative: Dejection changes the world into a scene of pessimism. Discouraged individuals don't just focus on the negatives, but they also disregard the positives.
3. Do Understand That Depression Doesn't Mean "Trouble": Melancholy is a condition with an assortment of side effects like exhaustion, confused mind state and rest issues. These are all side effects of melancholy. Crabbiness is an exceptionally basic side effect, which once in a while is encountered by many individuals, and can lead to an expanded sensitivity. Normally, it's difficult to be sympathetic with someone who is behaving grumpily. But you need to make a conscious effort to still see the positive in depressed individuals and lead them to hope.
4. Do Validate: Approval can help manage a depressed state, and can wean a friend or family member out of depression. Remember that someone with dejection is not living in the same universe as you. The laws that oversee your universe don't exist in theirs.

Depressed individuals require your understanding, your empathy, and your affection,  considerably more when they are having a troublesome day, week or month. It is hard, but possible. Discouraged individuals value a positive backing in particular. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a psychiatrist.

Almost every man and woman craves to have a child they can call their own. This makes an inability to procreate one of the most dreaded situations. Infertility can be defined as the inability to conceive a child within 12 months of biologically appropriately timed intercourse. Infertility exacts a huge psychological toll on the person.

Infertility often triggers depression in a person. This may be acute and result from specific events such as the holidays, family celebrations of the news of a someone else having conceived a child or could be cyclic and coincide with phases of their fertility cycle. This depression could lead to problems at work and communication with the spouse.

Infertility can also make a person feel helpless and affect their self esteem. Infertility accompanied by depression can trigger the feeling of having lost control over one’s life and can make people withdraw into themselves.

An infertile person may also often feel guilty and make them blame themselves and their prior actions for the condition. This leads them to question their worthiness of being a good spouse and potential parent. A woman who has suffered from an STD (sexually transmitted disease) earlier or has undergone an abortion earlier can become obsessed with blaming herself for being infertile. 

This affects their daily lives and ability to work. An infertile person may also feel guilty for having robbed their partner of the chance to become a parent. This can put a strain on their relationship and in many cases lead to a broken marriage.

When they find themselves unable to conceive a child, a couple may try to time their intercourse with ovulation tools, such as an ovulation thermometer etc. and may try different positions, some of which may be fairly uncomfortable. They may also end up having intercourse more often than desired. In order to prevent sperm from leaking out of the vagina, a woman may also find herself lying in an awkward supine position after intercourse. A combination of all these factors makes the act a chore and with time can lead to a loss of libido.

Infertility can also trigger anger against life for having been treated unfairly or towards other parents. This may also be displaced towards their family and friends leading to situations where they feel ostracized and unsupported.

When dealing with infertility, it is important to understand that neither partner is to blame. Infertility is a physiological condition and can be treated in most cases. It is important for both partners to support each other during this process and if need be consult a counselor.

Tired of slogging alone in the gym? Well, it has been seen that people with less friends or a gym buddy tend to skip their sessions more often. Reasons like too tired, too much rain, too much sun and so on and so forth, tend to crop up. But, if you have a health buddy, things become much more bearable and you actually look forward to that time of the day instead of blatantly avoiding it. This is true for diet control, exercising and a host of other health related activities as well. So come and find out how to find a health buddy this Friendship Day, and how having a friend can motivate you to stay healthy!

• Finding a Health Buddy: Look closely in your circle of friends, or even at your acquaintances who live nearby or in the same locality or building as yours. Do you see anyone who is motivated when it comes to healthcare and fitness? Do you see anyone who watches what he or she eats and who also regularly likes to suggest outdoor pursuits when the group has to get together? This friend may be the one who will become the perfect health buddy. Also, if you find someone who is in the same boat as you, but aware of the issues, you can suggest becoming a health buddy because you can both motivate each other.
• Routine: Make a routine with your new health buddy and start meeting each other at regular timings and for a good amount of time. Seek each other out at parties and stay with each other to help avoid eating what you are not supposed to. Message each other your progress every day and report what you eat when you go out without this buddy. 
• Avoiding and Dismissing: When someone is knocking at your door at five in the morning, it is usually difficult to avoid or dismiss the impending action due to social and emotional reasons. So, when your gym buddy arrives to pick you up, or when you know you have to meet this person at a certain time, you would not want to keep this friend waiting or dismiss the thought of going to the gym with a press of the snooze button.
• Distractions: Your health buddy with give you positive distractions by way of conversations and other such things so that you do not realise how quickly the gym session or walking time has passed by. Also, with the help of this person, you will probably not get bored which tends to make us eat junk.

So get yourself a healthy buddy this Friendship Day and make a commitment towards health and fitness!

Scientists have concluded that sugar stimulates the exact same centers of the brain, which derive pleasure out of heroin or cocaine. For those who are addicted to sugar, getting off it leads to intense cravings and withdrawal symptoms. If you have an uncontrollable urge to devour something sweet, you probably have sugar addiction too. Sugar is known to release dopamine and opioids, which not only makes it addictive, but makes it extremely difficult for you to overcome the withdrawal symptoms. 

Mentioned below are 5 signs to figure out if you are addicted to sugar: 

1. Despite being full or not hungry, you consume certain foods due to cravings
2. You worry about consuming certain foods and cutting down on them 
3. You overeat and then feel fatigued or sluggish 
4. Despite negative consequences that affect your health and cause social problems, you continue eating or overeating certain foods
5. You try to eliminate any negative emotion by consuming the foods you crave and experience pleasure. 

If you suffer from the aforementioned problems, you should seriously consider sugar detox or food rehab. Sugar and foods containing high levels of sugar causes behavioral changes, nutrient deficiency or imbalance, impairs your body and immunity system leading to an increased risk of illnesses and diseases. Sugar is also known to feed cancer cells and obesity. Fungi, which are living organisms, thrive on sugar and feed on it to reproduce and function properly leading to most infections. However, it is never too late to break your sugar habit. 

Mentioned below are 5 ways to fight your sugar addiction:

1. Substitute sweets with whole foods
2. Ditch artificial sweeteners 
3. Clean your house
4. Create a backup plan 
5. Manage your magnesium levels 

Although, sugar withdrawal symptoms vary from individual to individual, they usually last for about 3 to 4 weeks. Withdrawing from sugar can be extremely difficult and causes the following symptoms in you, which will sorely tempt you into giving in to your cravings: 

1. Feeling lightheaded
2. Craving for sugar 
3. Binge eating 
4. Anxiety 
5. Depression 
6. Headaches
7. Irritability and moodiness
8. Fatigue and tiredness
9. Muscular aches
10. Flu symptoms

Anxiety is something you face a lot due to different reasons. It also leads to mutiple problems, including low confidence, giving you an uneasy or uneasy feeling and more importantly affects your general well being and ability to work. If you feel you suffer from anxiety, here are some ways to reduce it.

1. Accept the anxiety: Anxiety is only a temporary phase which everyone faces. If you keep worrying and try to fight it, you will become even more anxious and your health will become even worse. The only way to deal with the anxiety mentally is to accept that this is a temporary phase and that it will pass away soon.
2. Self-soothing techniques: There are many physiological things for you to do as well which will allow you to relieve anxiety. Diaphragmatic breathing is a very good way to achieve this. Sometimes reassuring yourself is more valuable than you think. Practice saying comforting things to yourself and the stress and anxiety will automatically reduce. Muscle relaxation is yet another method which will allow you to decrease your anxiety.
3. Monitor your diet: Your diet is crucial in reducing your anxiety as caffeine and alcohol are two of the leading causes of anxiety in your body. However, abruptly stopping your intake of caffeine and alcohol also leads to withdrawal symptoms. Therefore balancing out intake of alcohol and caffeine is crucial.
4. Exercise regularly: You probably know that exercise is very important for maintaining good health. However, what you probably do not know is that exercise is perhaps more effective than even medication in relieving your anxiety. Therefore, it is imperative for you to get moving.
5. Get adequate sleep: Everyone feels bad when they do not sleep enough. However, did you know that lack of sleep is a major cause of anxiety. The more you sleep, the less anxious you will feel.