Depression, or major depressive disorder, is a mental health condition marked by an extended sense of sadness and despair that affects how a person thinks, feels and functions. It affects the way you think and brings about changes in your physical and emotional self. In severe cases, depression makes it extremely difficult for you in carrying out your daily activities. Yes, the condition may significantly interfere with a person's daily life and may prompt thoughts of suicide. There is no instant cure for this disorder; rather it requires a more long term approach to treat this disease.
Symptoms-
The symptoms of depression are:
Feeling of emptiness and sadness.
Violent outbursts of anger.
Disturbances in sleep patterns, resulting in insomnia in few cases.
Constant tiredness and fatigue.
Constantly agitated and anxious.
Drastic changes in your appetite (usually appetite decreases).
Physical problems such as headache and back pain.
Constant feeling of worthlessness and guilt.
Recurrent thoughts of suicide and violence.
Causes-
Although scientists agree that depression is a brain disorder, the debate continues about exact causes. Many factors may contribute to the onset of depression, including genetic characteristics, changes in hormone levels, certain medical illnesses, stress, grief, or substance abuse. Any of these factors alone or in combination can bring about the specific changes in brain chemistry that lead to the many symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder and related conditions.
Treatments-
Psychological counselling and medications are the preferred treatment alternatives for depression. The medications that are used to treat depression are antidepressants and serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It is important to consult a psychologist before opting for any treatment procedure. The doctor will carry out a thorough diagnosis and then prescribe treatment accordingly.
Psychotherapy is another treatment process that is used to treat depression; this involves you talking about your condition to a doctor. It can help you find better and feasible ways to find solutions to problems and set realistic goals in life.
Electroconvulsive therapy is another mode of treatment that uses electric currents to modify the functioning of the neurotransmitters.


Symptoms and Treatments of Depression

Speech therapy helps in improving the speech, understanding the language skills, and also help in communicating in non-verbal ways such as listening and taking turns. Speech therapy treats various kinds of communication and swallowing problems.

Children with Cleft Palate are diagnosed with an opening in the upper tissue palate in the mouth. This condition causes Velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) which results in excessive airflow from the nose while speaking. Although it can be corrected with surgery, the patient will still be affected by VPD.

Speech therapists help in this condition by assisting the patient with speech and language skills. The speech therapy for such a patient can be categorized as auditory feedback and articulation practice.

Auditory Feedback

Before involving the patient with any speech therapy, it is essential for the patient to understand the difference between normal voice and nasal voice output.

For this purpose, the child is instructed to use a tube to listen to the voice of the normal person. To understand the difference, one end of the tube is then held near the ear of the child and the other is held near his nasal and then he is instructed to make sounds so that he understands the nasal voice.

After this understanding, the different approaches to speech therapy starts.

Articulation Practice

This is usually where speech therapy begins. In this practice, the different type of condition is understood that relates to different speech organs. The understanding of different vowels, consonants and related sounds is taught to the child for making the speaking sound less nasal.

Some of the methods for achieving these sounds are:

Pharyngeal Plosives: This sound is produced when the tongue is moving backward. The practice of making  ng  sound, and dropping the tongue and producing  k  sound.

Pharyngeal fricatives: When the tongue retracts but is not able to make contact with the pharyngeal wall is when this sound is produced. The speech therapists make the child learn the techniques of making sounds of  t ,  ts ,  ch , or  sh , and provide feedback for learning the proper positioning of the tongue.

Nasal Plosives: This sound usually occurs when the tongue is positioned improperly and it obstructs the vocal tract. A speech therapist may make the child yawn so that the back of the tongue is pushed down, and feel as the mouth stretches.

Palatal-Dorsal Productions: It occurs due to the malocclusion of the teeth. Practicing sounds like  t ,  d ,  n ,  k ,  g , and  ng  often helps in such condition.

Take Away
Cleft Palate is generally developed due to improper growth while the child was in the womb. The difficulty of producing proper sounds when there is excessive airflow in the mouth can be overcome by training and practicing certain sounds, as instructed by a speech therapist.

 Cleft Palate - How Efficient Is Speech Therapy?

Neurological disorders are an enigmatic bunch. There are various ongoing researches to identify the exact cause and how to treat them. While some argue that schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder, others do not agree with it and debate that the origin is yet to be identified and the factors which produce it are yet to be identified.

Factors supporting it to be a brain disease are listed below.

Scan images (MRI and PET scans) of people who have had schizophrenia are different and have a reduced volume of grey matter, especially in the frontal and temporal lobes. In some people, this loss could be as high as 25%. Serial images have shown that the loss begins in the outer (parietal) region and gradually spreads to the rest of the brain. There is a strong correlation between the extent of this grey matter loss and the severity of the symptoms more the loss, worse the symptoms. Severe symptoms include hearing voices, psychotic thoughts, delusions, hallucinations and severe depression. This grey matter reduction does not depend on whether the person has undergone treatment or not for the condition. 

The counter argument is that grey matter loss is not seen in patients with schizophrenia alone. A number of neurological disorders, including normal ageing, manifest as grey matter loss on the scan images. Also, another consoling news is that this grey matter loss is completely reversible.

The way neurotransmitters respond to stimuli in people with schizophrenia is also slightly different. There are two variations to this debate: that schizophrenia is caused by excessive amounts of dopamine or increased sensitivity to dopamine. There are two proofs for this hypothesis first, dopamine suppressants are useful as antipsychotic drugs and secondly drugs which produce the same effect as dopamine can cause hallucinations similar to those seen in schizophrenics. There could be other neurotransmitters involved too, but the dopamine connection is more strongly established.

The electrical activity of the brain as seen in EEG is very different and abnormal in schizophrenic people. This reduced brain activity is another indication of the fact that schizophrenia is another brain disorder. There is also a strong genetic component to schizophrenia. Family history correlation is also very strong. The correlation extends to the point that where there is a neurologic disorder in the first-degree relatives, the chances of developing schizophrenia is increased.

There are specific genes, mutations of which are also attributed to schizophrenia. While the risk factors are in place (as mentioned above), the environmental conditions (brain infections, head trauma, family/social stressors and toxins can all lead to the manifestation of the symptoms. With medications and support therapy, both prevention and symptom management are possible.

Schizophrenia - Is It Really a Brain Disease?

Smoking can cause irreparable damage to your mind and body. Chemicals in the tobacco travel to all parts of the body, leaving no area unaffected. According to available data, smoking causes 30% of all cancer deaths and about 80% deaths from emphysema and bronchitis. In addition to adversely affecting yourself, smoking also has a severe impact on your near and dear ones. According to WHO, about 600,000 people die every year from passive smoking. Out of the deaths that occur due to this, 1/3rd is that of children.

The Indian situation
While 85% of tobacco users worldwide consume it in the form of cigarettes, in India only 13% use it in that form. Additionally, 54% use it in the form of beedis. A study conducted on Indian smokers has revealed that an average of 8.2 cigarettes is smoked by an individual daily.

The study also revealed that the number of cigarettes smoked every year had grown to over 6 trillion. While 1 out of 10 adults dies from tobacco use worldwide, 5% of deaths in women and 20% of deaths in men in India are caused by cigarette and beedi smoking.

What happens when you smoke?
Cigarette smoke is made up of 4000 chemicals that are present either as tiny particles or gases and about 50 are known to lead to cancer, the toxin nicotine being one of them. In addition to nicotine, the chemicals that make up cigarette smoke also include tar and carbon monoxide. Prolonged exposure to these toxins can hamper your body's ability to filter air and clean the lungs. The smoke not only irritates the lungs but also causes excess production of mucus.

It also causes a paralysis of the tiny hair-like structures like cilia that line the airways and are responsible for removing dust and dirt from the organ. Paralysis of these hair-like structures also causes a buildup of mucus and toxic substances, leading to lung congestion. The extra mucus that is produced causes smokers to suffer from the very ubiquitous smoker's cough and chronic bronchitis.

It's also one of the many triggers of asthma, which brings about the narrowing and inflammation of the airways. Long-term exposure to tobacco smoke causes the destruction of the structure of the lung, walls of the airways as well as lung tissue. The result is a condition known as emphysema. Additionally, smoking also leads to cancer of the lung and over 80% lung cancer cases occur due to this habit.

Health Consequences of Smoking 3 Cigarettes A Day

Is there anybody you know who uses internet excessively in a day, like for playing video games, visiting porn sites, for online shopping, using Facebook or visiting different chatting sites again and again? Is his or her excessive internet usage interfering with daily life, interpersonal relationships, work, school, etc.? If the answer is yes, then maybe he or she is suffering from internet addiction.

Internet addiction is a growing social issue which is being debated worldwide. Internet has become an inseparable part of our daily living. Problematic use of internet can lead us to various mental and physical problems. Surveys in the United States and Europe have indicated alarming prevalence rates between 1.5 and8.2percentages respectively.There are some criteria to classify and diagnose internet addiction disorder. 

The following 5 criteria are required to diagnose internet addiction:

The individual remain preoccupied with the internet (thinks about previous online activity or anticipate next online session)

Needs to use internet with increased amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction.

Has made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop internet use.

Is restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop internet use.

Has stayed online longer than originally intended.

Additionally, at least one of the following must be present:

Risked the loss of a significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunity because of the internet.

Lying to conceal the extent of involvement with the internet.

Use internet as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a dysphoric mood (like; feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, depression)

There are different models available to explain the causal factor of internet addiction disorder. A comprehensive model of the development and maintenance of internet addiction by Winkler & Dorsing which takes into account socio-cultural factors, biological vulnerabilities like genetic factors, abnormalities in neurochemical processes, psychological predispositions and specific attributes of the internet to explain excessive engagement in internet activities.

Apart from the above discussed points, there are two significant psychological issues commonly seen in this group; one is a strong tendency to escape from the reality is there among internet addicts. These individuals find difficulty in facing the real world may be due to certain conflict issues which evoke stress and anxiety in them. Involvement with technology and internet becomes a way out to get rid of the discomfort. Another psychological issue is the tendency to control the environment. Humans have a tendency to get a control over everything and it is a fact that we can't control other persons and situations. Internet addicts are involved in this compulsive behaviour may be because it is easy to get a control of technology and internet than the real world which is more threatening for them.

Impact of problematic usage of internet on social relationships has become alarming nowadays. The habit of surfing the internet continuously can be destructive indirectly. Even it has been seen that people drift away to the point that he/she cannot interact with people. Constant preoccupation with internet is damaging one s social skills. People are losing touch with their life and their self-identity. Nowadays people don t take effort to establish face to face conversations, as many easy ways are available over internet, like chat messengers, email, etc. The constant effects of addiction to internet can lead an individual to such situations that involve various mental and behavioural problems like. Depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc. The absence of social interaction also can lead to various physical effects on individual s brain chemistry and the general physical health.

There has been lots of debate on which treatment modality is effective for the treatment of Internet Addiction Disorder. In many cases, multimodal treatments have been employed. It has been seen that there are lots of underlying psychological problems found in internet addicts, like anxiety, depression, etc. In such cases medications are also considered to be effective.

Apart from pharmacological interventions, different psychotherapeutic models are found to be very helpful in treating internet addiction like cognitive therapy, behaviour therapy, art therapy, family therapy, skill building training, etc. Studies have found cognitive behavioural therapy, in particular, is very effective and can bring better outcome among this group.

Internet Addiction - A Thriving Issue!

Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is a mental health condition, which is usually triggered by an unfortunate event experienced or witnessed by the affected patient in the past. The symptoms of this condition are flashbacks, nightmares and extreme anxiety. The patient also thinks about the event in an uncontrolled manner.

PTSD is a serious mental health condition that can damage the affected person's personality to a great extent. Therefore, the person should be given proper treatment at the earliest. There are various treatment methods for PTSD that can help you in changing how you think about a traumatic event. The treatment options that can be used have been mentioned below:

Counselling
There are different forms of counselling for treating PTSD which include:
1. Cognitive therapy: It is a therapy where you learn how to change your thought patterns regarding the trauma and allow you to eliminate unnecessary fears.
2. Exposure therapy: It involves talking about the trauma over and over again until the fear departs.
3. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: It is a process where you are made to focus on several forms of distractions like sounds and hand movements while you think about the trauma. A good therapist is very important to bring positive changes in your life by means of counseling therapy. You require a therapist who will listen to whatever you have to say and guide you through everything to make you feel better.

SSRI medicine
SSRI or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor is a form of antidepressant medicine, which helps you with your sadness and tension. There are certain medicines that are really effective and can be prescribed by your doctor depending on the condition.

Other forms of treatment
There are several other types of medicines and procedures that can be used for treating PTSD. They include the following:
1. There are other counselling forms, which include group therapy, brief psychodynamic psychotherapy and family therapy.
2. There are other medicines as well for the treatment of PTSD. They include tricyclic antidepressants and atypical antidepressants.
3. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors like isocarboxazid can also be used for curing PTSD.
4. Certain mood stabilizers can be taken along with the medicines such as carbamazepine and lithium.
5. Several antipsychotics, which include risperidone can be used to tackle symptoms such as flashbacks and sleeplessness.
6. Another medicine known as prazosin is also used for dealing with nightmares and sleep disorders caused by PTSD. All kinds of medicines for the treatment of PTSD should be taken only after being prescribed by a doctor.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious mental health condition in which a patient suffers from continuous negative thoughts regarding a traumatic event which has happened in the past. This condition may give rise to other health problems, and immediate treatment is recommended.

Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

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