Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder that affects an individual s ability to think and make decisions, as well as relationships and emotions. The illness is characterized by experiences or unrealistic thoughts, disorganized behaviour and speech, reduced participation in routine activities. A person diagnosed with schizophrenia also experiences difficulty concentrating and memorizing things.

Schizophrenia does not have a definite cure. However, psychological rehabilitation can help the patient manage the symptoms of the illness, and improve the quality of life. This is where psychosocial therapy steps in.

Rehabilitation Psychology for Schizophrenia

Rehabilitation Psychology is a speciality of Psychology that utilizes psychological skills, knowledge, and theories to evaluate and treat people diagnosed with disabilities and chronic health issues in order to maximize functional ability, independence, social participation, and overall health.

A rehabilitation psychologist individualizes services to address different patients with varying health conditions. In order to meet this goal, the discipline adopts a holistic approach and considers individuals within a broad social context.

Different Treatment Approaches

Rehabilitation psychology follows these techniques to address mental disorder like schizophrenia in people  

Individual Psychotherapy   a psychologist/therapist teaches the patient how to deal with their behaviours and thoughts. Patients learn more about the ailment and its effects   and how to distinguish between what is real and what is not. The therapy may also help them manage day-to-day life.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy   CBT can help the patient change the way they think or behave. A psychologist can show them how to deal with hallucinations and voices. After a couple of CBT sessions, you may be able to identify what triggers psychotic episodes   delusions and hallucinations   and prevent or reduce them.

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy   CET teaches individual ways to recognize triggers, social cues better, and improve memory and attention, and the ability to organize thoughts. The therapy combines group sessions and computer-based brain training.

Social Skills Training aimed towards improving social interactions and communication
Rehabilitation procedures such as problem-solving support and job counselling

Even if the above techniques are able to improve the condition, a schizophrenic person will likely need to continue with special care and education on how to become part of the community. 




How Effective Is Rehabilitation Psychology In Managing Schizophrenia?

Being a perfectionist is not wrong until it does not stop you from working according to your priorities. However, when you struggle to go on with your regular routine and seem to concentrate on one particular thing, again and again, it is time you seek expert advice.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD is a medical term that refers to obsessions or excessive thoughts leading to compulsions of repetitive behaviours. A person suffering from OCD usually has recurring thoughts that he or she has no control over, which leads to developing uncountable urge of repeating behaviours over and over.

The condition is long-lasting and chronic, and when not attended to as early as possible, usually brings in difficulties to the patient in leading a normal life. Continue reading to know about its symptoms and how it can be diagnosed.

Symptoms
The symptoms of OCD can be divided into two types, symptoms of obsession and the other is symptoms of compulsion.

Obsession Symptoms:

Spending more than normal time on one s obsessions, which results in disrupting one s social, professional, and personal activities.
Having the same images, urges, and thoughts again and again which the patient has no control over.
Losing the control over his/her anxiety and anger and acting on the urge of harming others or one s self.
Having unwanted and inappropriate sexual thoughts, especially developing obsessions with incest and homosexuality.
Being extremely obsessive and concerned about the fear of contamination that includes threats from the germs, dirt and even body fluid.
Compulsion Symptoms:

Constant cleaning and washing, especially washing one's own hands again and again.
In cases of mental compulsions, tendency to repetitively review events mentally, repetitive praying for harm prevention, etc.
Repetitively checking of the body parts or things around to be sure that nothing has happened to them.
Repeating routines such as reading the same page over and over.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive behaviour may consist one or various medical examinations that include,

Physical examination: Physical examination is performed in order to eliminate the probability of the presence of any other complications or illnesses.
Psychological evaluation: Psychological evaluation is all about discussing the feelings, thoughts, symptoms, and behaviour of the patients.
Laboratory-based tests: Usually, a complete blood count or CDC is included in the lab tests where the presence of drug or alcohol and the function of the thyroid is analysed.
Reference to the OCD diagnostic criteria: This step includes referring to the standard OCD diagnostic criteria to determine whether the patient is suffering from OCD or not.
Affecting people of all ages, OCD traps its victims in a cycle of compulsions and obsessions. Though a complete cure to this illness has not yet been discovered, still, with right treatment at the right time can be very effective in controlling of the symptoms while helping the patient to lead a normal life.

Depending upon the condition of the patient, the severity, and type of OCD, a psychiatrist can offer the best treatment in the form of therapies or talk sessions, or medications or a combination of both.

A Brief Overview Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Its Symptoms, And Diagnosis!

The risks and harms of smoking are pretty much common knowledge to most people. Especially when the pack of cigarettes practically screams it out to you in bold letters. Yet, as statistics would say, smoking in young adults has been on the rise in the recent years. What makes them take this step? Maybe it is peer pressure, or maybe they do it for the thrill of it. Every country takes a great initiative in educating their population, yet some fail to understand the complexity of the situation.

Here are some of the reasons that will tell you that even a single puff of the deadly tobacco can severely harm your health and general well-being

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of cancer. It can cause cancer in most organs of the body. Smoking cigarettes can cause the following
Nose cancer
Throat cancer
Larynx cancer
Mouth cancer
Oesophageal cancer
Lung cancer
Liver cancer
Cervix cancer
Stomach cancer
Kidney cancer
Colorectal cancer
Cervical cancer etc.
Smokers are more prone to respiratory diseases because smoking is capable of compromising the immune system of the body.
Autoimmune diseases such as Crohn s disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis are more likely to occur in smokers as their immune system is compromised by smoking.
Smoking has been linked to Diabetes type 2. This type of diabetes develops during adulthood. The more cigarettes a person smokes, the more likely is the person to develop this disease.
Smoking puts you at risk of developing several heart diseases such as angina, heart attacks, etc. because the nicotine in the body results in the lowering of good cholesterol. This causes deposition of bad cholesterol in the arteries.
Tobacco can cause tooth decay and several other oral problems such as gingivitis and other problems of the gum.
Cigarettes constrict your blood vessels. This constant narrowing of blood vessels can cause erectile dysfunction in men and leads to the infertility in both men and women. It also makes them difficult to achieve orgasms.
You might find yourself craving for cigarettes when you re stressed out. This is because the effect of nicotine in the cigarettes is lowered by the hormone produced during a stressful situation, i.e. cortisone.
Nicotine that causes momentary central nervous system stimulation can cause addiction and dependence.

How Smoking is Harmful For Your Health?

 The most beautiful thing you can wear is your confidence  -Blake Lively

At a certain point in our lives, we are all swept off our feet by the storm of doubt, so much so that we refuse to rest our trust and faith in our very own selves. But that is where being silently confident comes in. Confident people are optimistic, even in the face of adversities and tend to confront their fears head-on, no matter what. Take a leaf out of their book; here are a few tips to lift your esteem to its pinnacle.

You need to keep off all the negativity: In life, you would be surrounded by people who would want to pull you down, taint your morale by unconstructive and unnecessary criticism. Maintain your dignity and distance from them who do not give you good vibes.
Enhance your Image: Remember. body language maketh a man. The things you do and the thoughts you think speak louder than words. So, never forget to carry that wry smile by the side of your lips, whenever you encounter something seemingly insurmountable. Your posture, your firm handshake, your way of looking straight into the eyes of a person while dealing with him/her, can all go a surprisingly long way in upping your confidence.Composure and calmness are the keys to greatness.
Never give-up: Failures are life lessons in your path of success and the true spirit lies not in never falling, but dragging yourself up each time you fall. Hence never accept defeat. Remember, every champion was once a contender who refused to give up.
Be prepared: Put your best foot forward every time you do something; be it that important office presentation of yours, or on the prom night of your university. This could take your confidence higher.
Remind yourself of every single good thing you ve done: Life is full of ups and downs and there may be days when you would feel unsure and weird about yourself. What you can do is make two lists and stick them on all spots easily visible to you, for instance, your wall, your refrigerator door or your bathroom mirror. On the first list, pen down all the amazing things life has blessed you with and of which you are truly grateful. On the second list, put forth all of your accomplishments that you are proud of; major or minor. Next time, whenever you find your self-esteem waning, these lists would remind you of what a worthy life you have had thus far, thus motivating you all over again.

Feeling Uncertain and Unsure! Boost Your Self-confidence With These Tips

All or most of us have the habit of double checking if the house is locked before leaving home or cleaning the house extensively till it is spotlessly clean. But if such behavior becomes an obsession that you can't help doing it and go about it compulsively to the extent that it affects your normal life, it might be a case of OCD. OCD which is the acronym for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a chronic disorder in which a person has uncontrollable reoccurring thoughts and an unavoidable urge to perform a particular activity over and over.

How to know if it is OCD?

People affected with OCD have both, obsessional and compulsion symptoms. Obsessions are repeated thoughts, images and urges that create anxiety in human mind like fear of contamination or germs, expecting things to stay in perfect order, feeling taboo against caste, sex religion, and corresponding harm and so on.
Compulsions are repetitive actions performed by an OCD patient in response to his or her obsessional thoughts which may include excessive washing, cleaning, arranging things in a particular way, repeated checking out things or work done, counting things over and over again and more.
However, not all repetitive actions are signs of OCD. It's common to see a person checking a crucial work done by him twice. This becomes obsessive when a person is not able to control his thoughts and activities, gets distressed about not performing those activities and spends a significant amount of time in a day on these tasks.
Who are vulnerable to OCD?
The causes of OCD are not yet clearly known. However, people have higher chances of developing OCD when their first-degree relatives are affected by the problem. Moreover, the risk goes even higher when the first-degree relative was affected at his young or teenage. Researchers are still working to find the link between OCD and genes so that causes, diagnosis, and treatment of OCD get better in future.

Studies have also revealed that there might be some connection between OCD and abnormalities in some regions of the brain. People who experience traumatizing experiences in their childhood or during their life are highly susceptible to OCD. However, such ideas have not yet been proved.

How can the condition be managed?
OCD is treated with psychotherapy, meditation, or a combination of both. However, some medicines help to get over OCD and its symptoms. But the best way to help an OCD patient is if he can himself get his obsessions and compulsion under control. Medicines will always help OCD symptoms but might have some side effects.

The OCD symptoms may come and go, go easy over time or worsen. Patients might identify the problem themselves or might fail to understand the abnormalities in their lifestyle. If a person feels that he/she is being affected by OCD, there is a need to consult the doctor before it disturbs the normal life.

An Insight On Obsessive Compulsive Disorder!

If you are living with bipolar disorder then you will need a combination of skills to successfully combat each day of your life. Educating yourself about the disorder is the first step, however, there are certain tips that can come in handy on numerous occasions. 

Here are 5 tips that will really help you out:

Educate yourself about the disorder: The first thing you need to do is educate yourself about the details of bipolar disorder. Find out about the symptoms, read about the causes and the diagnosis procedure and ultimately find out everything about the treatment. Your doctor will provide you all the information and suggest you all the required treatment procedures. However, don t try to self-diagnose and self-treat your disorder without an expert opinion.
Stay connected with your friends and loved ones: Isolation is not the best way to handle bipolar disorder. The more you isolate yourself the higher the risk of mood swings. This lack of connection will lead to depression and that should be avoided at all cost. So try to be as connected to the world as possible. Talk to your family members, hangout with your friends, spend time with people around you; and you will feel a lot better.
Track the symptoms: Keep a daily log of your moods, thoughts and behaviors. This is a fantastic way to track the symptoms of the disorder. This will be revealing in the end, as when you present them before the doctor, he/she will be able to easily diagnose your condition. Try to keep track of particular incidents that may trigger any stress and change in behavior and log the mood episodes that you may have experienced pertaining to those triggers.
Employ coping mechanisms: It is not always possible to call on your doctor or counselor, so try to develop your own coping mechanism with the help of your doctor or counselor. Your mood episodes are going to be spontaneous so the coping mechanisms should be kept in mind. It can be anything that induces calmness in you such as staying connected, happy thoughts, music and any other healthy habits that captures your interest and engages you in something else.
Create a crisis plan: Create a contact list that will include the people, serially, who should be contacted in case of an emergency or a crisis attack. If you feel like you are experiencing any symptoms then contact them for help. When you are out of control, you will not have much time, so it is also advised to keep emergency numbers on speed dial to get yourself hospitalized without any time loss. Add your loved ones to the emergency contact list.


Suffering from Bipolar Disorder - 5 Things That Can Really Help!

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