psicologíaenCubas: CÓMO AYUDAR A LOS NIÑOS CON ANSIEDAD

psicologíaenCubas: CÓMO AYUDAR A LOS NIÑOS CON ANSIEDAD: . Thomas J. Huberty, PhD, NCSP Universidad de Indiana La ansiedad y los trastornos de ansiedad en niños Información para los padres  ...

Trends Endocrinol Metab. 1993 Mar;4(2):62-9.

Stress update Adaptation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to chronic stress.

Dallman MF.

Abstract

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis exhibits a circadian rhythm, activation by stress, and inhibition by corticosteroids. Activity in the HPA axis is very sensitive to inhibition by corticosteroids when they are administered exogenously. When stress-induced corticosteroid secretion occurs, however, normal activity in the HPA is not inhibited and may even be augmented. Experiments in rats have shown that stress also induces facilitation of subsequent activity in the HPA axis that appears to balance the inhibitory effects of corticosterone and thus maintains responsiveness to new, acute stresses in chronically stressed rats. Stress-induced facilitation of HPA axis activity may be mediated by a parallel stress-induced (CRH-dependent) increase in the capacity of brain noradrenergic cell groups to respond to acute stress. A continually responsive HPA axis, even under conditions of chronic stress, appears to be important for survival. Stress-induced increases in glucocorticoid secretion to levels sufficient to occupy glucocorticoid receptors enable appropriate thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses to acute stress. There is, however, an overall metabolic cost to the animal of maintaining continued activity in the HPA axis during chronic stress.

También el cerebro enferma y es necesario ir al médico, sin que basten tan sólo la voluntad y la disciplina espiritual

Por: Orlando Enríquez | Fuente: psicologia cristiana.com 

En más de una ocasión escuché que la enfermedad mental es algo que no existe para el cristiano.

Así, sin más. Parecieran haberse olvidado los casos de los que Dios nos habla en su Palabra.

Como las palabras son nuestras aliadas, pero también evocan cosas muy distintas en quienes las escuchan, aclaremos en lo posible los términos. Me referiré hoy a los trastornos de ansiedad o depresivos, subrayando el matiz médico del término, diferente al uso común en la calle o en muchos medios de comunicación.

Observo que aún en nuestros círculos hay una resistencia, por múltiples causas, a aceptar la posibilidad de que también un cristiano tenga dichas alteraciones, y que requiera la ayuda médico-psiquiátrica y psicológica necesarias, viendo todo este arsenal como contrario a la fe a priori. Es cierto que algunas escuelas psicológicas han combatido aspectos de la fe cristiana. Por ejemplo, los planteamientos de Freud en torno a la idea de Dios son rechazables para un cristiano (de hecho a veces el psicoanálisis tiene más de religión que de ciencia), pero no todo es así. Las más de cien escuelas de psicoterapia existentes, muestran lo complejo del abordaje de los procesos mentales del hombre y su sociedad. Pero no por ello hemos de tirarlas a la papelera. Como siempre: habrá que examinarlo todo y retener lo bueno (3) Pueden ser herramientas muy útiles para guiar al paciente hacia la recuperación.

Por ejemplo: la escuela cognitiva-conductual trabaja sobre las ideas irracionales que nos perjudican. Por supuesto: el marco existencial que el Dios de la Biblia nos propone es el más adecuado y el terapeuta integral será aquel que con el adecuado discernimiento, la sabiduría necesaria y una fe bien entendida (que pueden incluir perfectamente una sólida formación en psicología y desde luego es indispensable una potente formación bíblica), lleve al paciente a una restauración cuya plenitud sólo está en Dios. En el ejemplo anterior: el objetivo para trabajar las ideas irracionales sería la transformación mediante la renovación de nuestro entendimiento.

El ser humano ha sido creado como una unidad de espíritu alma y cuerpo (4). La mente influye sobre el cuerpo y el cuerpo sobre la mente. Por eso en esta reflexión es crucial dejar sobre la mesa el ignorado ingrediente de lo orgánico, de lo físico.

En un sentido, al igual que lo hacen el estómago, los huesos, etc., también el cerebro enferma y es necesario ir al médico, sin que basten tan sólo la voluntad y la disciplina espiritual. Hace ya años que se ha demostrado que pacientes con trastornos depresivos tienen, entre otras cosas, un conjunto de alteraciones neurobioquímicas, transitorias, un alteración del funcionamiento de unos mensajeros químicos entre las neuronas de nuestro cerebro que llamamos neurotransmisores, o incluso alteraciones del flujo sanguíneo cerebral.

Puede ser que una alteración de las hormonas tiroideas, algo que un médico de atención primaria puede determinar fácilmente si lo ve indicado, esté en el origen de trastornos del ánimo nada desdeñables. En la génesis de ciertos trastornos de ansiedad se conoce ya la implicación de estructuras cerebrales concretas que disparan lo que conocemos como catecolaminas, sustancias responsables de que el paciente tenga sensaciones muy desagradables y variadas en su cuerpo originando las crisis de ansiedad, cosa que le puede ocurrir aunque se encuentre en el más bucólico de los entornos.

Claro que no es todo bioquímica, pero ésta tiene su papel. Por eso la indicación de la toma de ciertos medicamentos que regulan este aspecto. Es, pues, necesario el discernimiento ante las personas con estos trastornos, para dar un cobijo y cuidado integral y equilibrado en el seno de nuestras iglesias. La labor pastoral correcta no ha de desestimar nunca, todo lo contrario, la ayuda médica en dicho abordaje, para no incrementar el sufrimiento de quienes ya están tan heridos, añadiendo kilos de culpabilidad a la espalda.

El creyente tiene poderosos recursos en Dios, pero ha sido Dios también quien, en su providencia, nos regala la posibilidad de, por ejemplo, inventar fármacos que, correctamente indicados, ayudan en el proceso, colocados en el marco correcto de un tratamiento integral. La recuperación física adecuada antes de hablar de otros temas. Claro que los médicos y psiquiatras no cristianos sólo pueden participar en parte del proceso de recuperación de la persona (no los despreciemos por ello).

Pero no tengamos miedo: la verdadera ciencia ni sustituye ni contradice a la Escritura. Y claro que es en ella donde encontraremos la fuente de la que nutrir nuestra vida, enseñada en todos sus aspectos y con el equilibrio adecuado.

Notas

(1) 1ª Reyes 19

(2) 2ª Corintios 2:

(3) 1ª Tesalonicenses 5:20

(4) 1ª Tesalonicenses 5:23

HIV AND DEPRESSION

American Psychiatric Association

Ejercicios de respiracion y relajacion

Depression and cancer

Depression and cancer

Feelings you may experience with Cancer 

Fear It’s frightening to hear you have cancer. Most people cope better when they know what to expect. 

Anger You may feel angry with health care professionals, your God, or even yourself if you think you may have contributed to the cancer or a delay in diagnosis. 

Disbelief: You may have trouble accepting that you have cancer, especially if you don’t feel sick. It may take time to accept the diagnosis. 

Sadness It is natural for a person with cancer to feel sad. If you have continual feelings of sadness, and feel sleepy and unmotivated – talk to your doctor – you may be clinically depressed. 

Guilt It is common to look for a cause of cancer. While some people blame themselves, no-one deserves to get cancer. loneliness It’s natural to feel that nobody understands what you’re going through. 

You might feel lonely and isolated if your family and friends have trouble dealing with cancer, or if you are too sick to work or socialise with others and enjoy your usual activities. 

Loss of control Being told you have cancer can be overwhelming and make you feel as though you are losing control of your life. 

Distress Many people, including carers and family members, experience high levels of emotional suffering as a direct result of a cancer diagnosis.

Emotions and Cancer A guide for people with cancer, their families and friends First published July 2002. This edition April 2013. © The Cancer Council NSW 2013 ISBN 978 1 921619 76 2

10 Ways to Catch a Liar

Experts have 10 tips that can let you know if someone isn't telling you the whole truth.

By Heather Hatfield
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

WebMD Feature Archive

J.J. Newberry was a trained federal agent, skilled in the art of deception detection. So when a witness to a shooting sat in front of him and tried to tell him that when she heard gunshots she didn't look, she just ran -- he knew she was lying.

How did Newberry reach this conclusion? The answer is by recognizing telltale signs that a person isn't being honest, like inconsistencies in a story, behavior that's different from a person's norm, or too much detail in an explanation.

While using these signs to catch a liar takes extensive training and practice, it's no longer only for authorities like Newberry. Now, the average person can become adept at identifying dishonesty, and it's not as hard as you might think. Experts tell WebMD the top 10 ways to let the truth be known.

Tip No. 1: Inconsistencies

"When you want to know if someone is lying, look for inconsistencies in what they are saying," says Newberry, who was a federal agent for 30 years and a police officer for five.

When the woman he was questioning said she ran and hid after hearing gunshots -- without looking -- Newberry saw the inconsistency immediately.

"There was something that just didn't fit," says Newberry. "She heard gunshots but she didn't look? I knew that was inconsistent with how a person would respond to a situation like that."

So when she wasn't paying attention, he banged on the table. She looked right at him.

"When a person hears a noise, it's a natural reaction to look toward it," Newberry tells WebMD. "I knew she heard those gunshots, looked in the direction from which they came, saw the shooter, and then ran."

Sure enough, he was right.

"Her story was just illogical," says Newberry. "And that's what you should look for when you're talking to someone who isn't being truthful. Are there inconsistencies that just don't fit?"

Tip No. 2: Ask the Unexpected

"About 4% of people are accomplished liars and they can do it well," says Newberry. "But because there are no Pinocchio responses to a lie, you have to catch them in it."

Sir Walter Scott put it best: "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" But how can you a catch a person in his own web of lies?

"Watch them carefully," says Newberry. "And then when they don't expect it, ask them one question that they are not prepared to answer to trip them up."

Tip No. 3: Gauge Against a Baseline

"One of the most important indicators of dishonesty is changes in behavior," says Maureen O'Sullivan, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco. "You want to pay attention to someone who is generally anxious, but now looks calm. Or, someone who is generally calm but now looks anxious."

The trick, explains O'Sullivan, is to gauge their behavior against a baseline. Is a person's behavior falling away from how they would normally act? If it is, that could mean that something is up.

Tip No. 4: Look for Insincere Emotions

"Most people can't fake smile," says O'Sullivan. "The timing will be wrong, it will be held too long, or it will be blended with other things. Maybe it will be a combination of an angry face with a smile; you can tell because their lips are smaller and less full than in a sincere smile."

These fake emotions are a good indicator that something has gone afoul.

Tip No. 5: Pay Attention to Gut Reactions

"People say, 'Oh, it was a gut reaction or women's intuition,' but what I think they are picking up on are the deviations of true emotions," O'Sullivan tells WebMD.

While an average person might not know what it is he's seeing when he thinks someone isn't being honest and attribute his suspicion to instinct, a scientist would be able to pinpoint it exactly -- which leads us to tip no. 6.

Tip No. 6: Watch for Microexpressions

When Joe Schmo has a gut feeling, Paul Ekman, a renowned expert in lie detection, sees microexpressions.

"A microexpression is a very brief expression, usually about a 25th of a second, that is always a concealed emotion," says Ekman, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco.

So when a person is acting happy, but in actuality is really upset about something, for instance, his true emotion will be revealed in a subconscious flash of anger on his face. Whether the concealed emotion is fear, anger, happiness, or jealousy, that feeling will appear on the face in the blink of an eye. The trick is to see it.

"Almost everyone -- 99% of those we've tested in about 10,000 people -- won't see them," says Ekman. "But it can be taught."

In fact, in less than an hour, the average person can learn to see microexpressions.

Tip No. 7: Look for Contradictions

"The general rule is anything that a person does with their voice or their gesture that doesn't fit the words they are saying can indicate a lie," says Ekman. "For example, this is going to sound amazing, but it is true. Sometimes when people are lying and saying, 'Yes, she's the one that took the money,' they will without knowing it make a slight head shake 'no.' That's a gesture and it completely contradicts what they're saying in words."

These contradictions, explains Ekman, can be between the voice and the words, the gesture and the voice, the gesture and the words, or the face and the words.

"It's some aspect of demeanor that is contradicting another aspect," Ekman tells WebMD.

Tip No. 8: A Sense of Unease

"When someone isn't making eye contact and that's against how they normally act, it can mean they're not being honest," says Jenn Berman, PhD, a psychologist in private practice. "They look away, they'resweating, they look uneasy ... anything that isn't normal and indicatesanxiety."

Tip No. 9: Too Much Detail

"When you say to someone, 'Oh, where were you?' and they say, 'I went to the store and I needed to get eggs and milk and sugar and I almost hit a dog so I had to go slow,' and on and on, they're giving you too much detail," says Berman.

Too much detail could mean they've put a lot of thought into how they're going to get out of a situation and they've crafted a complicated lie as a solution.

Tip No. 10: Don't Ignore the Truth

"It's more important to recognize when someone is telling the truth than telling a lie because people can look like they're lying but be telling truth," says Newberry.

While it sounds confusing, finding the truth buried under a lie can sometimes help find the answer to an important question: Why is a person lying?

These 10 truth tips, experts agree, all help detect deception. What they don't do is tell you why a person is lying and what the lie means.

"Microexpressions don't tell you the reason," says Ekman. "They just tell you what the concealed emotion is and that there is an emotion being concealed."

When you think someone is lying, you have to either know the person well enough to understand why he or she might lie, or be a people expert.

"You can see a microexpression, but you have to have more social-emotional intelligence on people to use it accurately," says O'Sullivan. "You have to be a good judge of people to understand what it means."

Extra Tip: Be Trusting

"In general we have a choice about which stance we take in life," says Ekman. "If we take a suspicious stance life is not going to be too pleasant, but we won't get misled very often. If we take a trusting stance, life is going to be a lot more pleasant but sometimes we are going to be taken in. As a parent or a friend, you're much better off being trusting rather than looking for lies all the time."

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/10-ways-catch-liar?page=4

16 Questions That Might Tell You Whether You're A Sociopath

Psychologists have changed the diagnostic definition of sociopathy several times over the decades. It used to be called being a "psychopath." Sociopath is the newer term. More recently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition has renamed the condition "Antisocial Personality Disorder" and reduced it to seven main characteristics.

However, the first researcher to name the concept of psychopathy was Dr. Hervey Cleckley, who published a book titled "The Mask of Sanity" in 1941, Thomas writes.

Cleckley noted that psychopathy was difficult to diagnose precisely because it presents itself without the obvious symptoms of mental disorder. Psychopaths and sociopaths are often a bit too rational.

In her new book, Thomas says Cleckley's 16 behavioral characteristics hit home. "Nowhere else have I recognized the sociopath inside me more than in Cleckley's clinical profiles," she writes.

Here are Cleckley's 16 characteristics. Ask yourself if they appl

1. Are you superficially charming and intelligent?

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(Answer: For sociopaths, the answer to this question is yes.)

2. Do you have delusions or other signs of irrational thinking?

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(A: For sociopaths, the answer is no. They're super-rational, coldly so.)

3. Are you overly nervous, or do you have other neuroses?

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(A: Sociopaths are rarely nervous or anxious. They aren't scared of risk.)

4. Are you reliable?

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(A: Sociopaths are unreliable.)

5. Do you tell lies or say insincere things?

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(A: Sociopaths are comfortable not telling the truth when it suits them.)

6. Do you feel remorse or shame?

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(A: Sociopaths rarely feel guilt.)

7. Is your behavior anti-social for no good reason?

(A: Sociopaths may have "inadequately motivated antisocial behavior," according to Cleckley.)

8. Do you have poor judgment, and fail to learn from experience?

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(A: Sociopaths think they're smarter than everyone else, but they take risks the rest of us would not and don't learn from punishment.)

9. Are you pathologically egocentric, and incapable of love?

© Oliver Eltinger/Corbis Egocentric man

(A: Sociopaths are.)

10. Do you generally lack the ability to react emotionally?

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(A: Sociopaths don't experience emotions the way the rest of us do.)

11. Do you lack insight?

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(A: Sociopaths aren't self-reflective or meditative.)

12. Are you responsive to others socially?

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(A: Interestingly, sociopaths often have to fake their reactions and responses to the rest of us in order to get through their days without being "spotted.")

13. Are you a crazy party fiend?

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(A: Sociopaths engage in "fantastic and uninviting behavior with drink and sometimes without," Cleckley says. Thomas adds that sociopaths often crave (meaningless) sex more than the rest of us, too.)

14. Do you make false suicide threats?

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(A: Yep, sociopaths are drama queens.)

15. Is your sex life impersonal, trivial or poorly integrated?

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(A: Sociopaths lack the ability to love.)

16. Have you failed to follow a life plan?

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(A: Sociopaths have difficulty holding down jobs. It requires long-term obligations to others.)

There's no surefire way of self-diagnosing yourself as a sociopath, as sociopaths also tend to lie in tests like these.

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But if you recognized yourself or others in these questions, you might want to seek professional help.

Thomas points out that many sociopaths do not want to end up in prison, or as psychotic outcasts. They can use their skills to be successful in business, in ways that less single-minded people cannot.

They're just not your friends, is all.y to you