Concussions - Children and Adolescents

A concussion changes how the brain works. It can be only a bump, a jolt or a significant blow to the head or body which will cause the brain to move rapidly back and forth. Even a mild bump to the head can be serious in some cases but particularly for young people.

Symptoms can show up immediately or not until sometime later. Symptoms of concussions are: being dazed, confused or forgetful; having a headache; feeling nauseated or vomiting; problems with dizziness or balance and clumsy movements; being sensitive to noise or light; memory problems; being unconscious, even briefly; one pupil being larger than the other; feeling drowsy; having seizures or any other changes in behavior.

If a concussion is suspected, the child should immediately be pulled from the game so that an assessment from a health care professional can be obtained before the child is allowed back to play. Rest is imperative if a child or teenager has suffered a concussion. Brains take time to heal so as to avoid further complications. Until a young athlete has completely recovered from the first concussion, a second injury is more likely to occur. This should be avoided because second, and subsequent concussions take longer to heal than the first ones.

My young seven year old grandson plays soccer and loves the sport. He recently told me proudly that he had 'headed' the ball to keep it from going into the goal. He had no ill effects from this but I do believe that in a child so young, even 'heading' a ball is something to be aware of and concerned about, in spite of the fact that soccer isn't considered to be one of the rougher sports.

The International Conference on Concussion in Sports believes that when it comes to concussions in children and teens, different treatment is required. If a concussion has been identified, it is important that the child or teenager not be allowed to return to the field to play, not to go to school and definitely not to engage in cognitive activities of any kind until they are completely healed. Cognitive rest is particularly important for a successful recovery.

It is important also that children and teenagers be strictly monitored during this recovery time. There is a realization that the developing brains of young people requires special consideration. They need a longer period of rest with a more gradual return to activities than adults need.

The onus therefore, is on parents and coaches to ensure that these safeguards are heeded when it comes to children and adolescents. And it is good to remember that it is better to miss a game than to miss a whole season, or worse still, to live with lifetime consequences because of not taking the proper care when it should have been taken.

Understanding a Mental Illness and Finding Real Freedom

Carl Jung discovered that all dreams are produced by the unconscious mind, which is a mysterious organ that possesses undoubtable wisdom. He concluded that the unconscious mind was God's mind, but he didn't have a religious attitude, and he didn't obey the unconscious mind. He concluded that the unconscious advice is very helpful for the human being, but we must make our decisions based on the judgment of our own conscience.

I found Carl Jung's work ready, and I precisely followed his steps. However, I had to disagree with his last conclusions, even though I prove to the world that his method of dream interpretation is the only right one.

His conclusions about his discoveries were based on the knowledge he had and on the knowledge of his historical time. New scientific discoveries in different scientific fields helped me better understand the unconscious mind and trust the unconscious wisdom.

I was also helped thanks to my literary talent inspired by the unconscious mind, and by my religious education in a Catholic school for twelve years.

I understood that I had to obey the unconscious guidance in dreams, recognizing God's wisdom and sanctity. Therefore, I abandoned Carl Jung's lessons, and I precisely followed the psychology of the unconscious mind. This is why I could discover the anti-conscience, which is the wild side of the human conscience and generates mental illnesses within our conscience.

This discovery had to be made by someone who would have scientific knowledge, but also a religious background and real faith in God. The anti-conscience is evil, violent, immoral, absurd, cruel, and indifferent. It has the behavior of a demon. This means that it is in fact Satan. Meeting the anti-conscience is a horrible experience that a human being cannot bear.

I had to discover the anti-conscience without losing my conscience, and then learn how to put an end to all mental illnesses. In order to do so, I had to imitate the behavior of the nuns of my Catholic school. I fought the absurdity of the anti-conscience by praying all the time, and believing in God's salvation.

A scientist wouldn't be able to survive the satanic anti-conscience's attacks without praying, and without truly believing in God's existence. I verified the value of the religious lessons I had into practice.

Thanks to my obedience to the unconscious wisdom while I was bearing the unbearable attacks of the anti-conscience, today we know what causes mental illnesses and how we can completely eliminate craziness and terror.

The anti-conscience's attacks are based on sending absurd thoughts and sensations to our conscience, as well as causing dizziness, oral and visual distortions, emptiness in the mind (blackout), and hallucinations. I had to bear these attacks praying and remembering that I was fighting craziness.

This fight was based on my resistance. I saw that after trying everything it can, the anti-conscience loses its energy. When it cannot imprison our conscience into the labyrinth of craziness with its attacks, the anti-conscience becomes weak and stops causing damages to our reasoning system.

My discoveries are in fact God's gifts to the world. I would never discover anything by myself. God prepared me to be able to continue Carl Jung's research because I had to prove to the world that the religious lessons we have when we are children must be respected forever.

The satanic origin of our conscience is the tragic result of the disorganized formation of the first live conscience, which refuses to transform its behavior and evolve. This is why this part of our brain remains in a primitive condition, without following the evolutionary process of our conscience.

Now that we know this truth, mental illnesses stopped being invisible ghosts. Now we can see the ghosts, and now we know how combat their attacks.

Thus, we can finally stop suffering and find peace. Everything only depends on our obedience.

By obeying the divine guidance in dreams we eliminate our satanic anti-conscience through consciousness. This is how we find our freedom.

We are slaves of our wild nature because it keeps influencing our thoughts and behavior, even before causing mental illnesses. Only when we'll completely eliminate the negative tendencies we have inherited will we be able to enjoy real freedom, without falling into logical traps.

We believe that the anti-conscience is a part of our conscience. We follow its absurd thoughts without understanding that these thoughts don't belong to our conscience. This is how the anti-conscience manages to destroy our capacity to think logically and annulate our sensitivity.

The fact that I could perceive the difference between the anti-conscience's thoughts from the thoughts or the human conscience helped me discover the big mystery behind incomprehensible mental illnesses. I saw how the anti-conscience destroys the human conscience. I also learned how to interrupt the process of destruction of the human conscience.

So, now we know how to stop and even prevent the destruction of our conscience by the anti-conscience's craziness. This is a big victory for humanity.

However, I cannot say that this is a big victory of the human race. This is in fact God's victory.

Everything I could discover is the result of my obedience to the divine guidance; it is not the result of my own speculations and personal conclusions. An ignorant person like me could understand how to cure invincible mental illnesses only because God is an excellent doctor and teacher.

The anti-conscience imposes its absurd thoughts until it will manage to destroy a person's conscience and then, take the place of their ego. This is why this person's behavior is totally different from their normal behavior.

However, they cannot perceive that their behavior has dramatically changed. In the beginning the anti-conscience imitates the behavior of their conscience. Only later it starts acting based on its absurd desires. Then, various behavioral abnormalities are clearly visible in the person's behavior.

Now that we know this fact, we have many explanations and answers.

Now we can understand why the mentally ill seem to be reasonable. They don't reflect sings of a mental illness for a long period of time.

Therefore, when they are violent or immoral, we cannot suppose that they are acting under the influence of their wild nature. They seem to know very well what they are doing. They seem to be the same reasonable person they used to be in the past.

This happens because craziness is not irrational. In other words, craziness is not the absence of reasoning; it is absurd reasoning camouflaged into logical reasoning. This is why we have the impression that a mentally ill person is not absurd in the first stages of their mental illness. They seem to think logically.

We become shocked with their behavior because they seem to be sensible people until the moment they will become extremely violent. We believe that they 'suddenly' lost their mind. However, the destruction of their conscience is a gradual process.

The mentally ill seem to be conscious even when they are barbarous because they are able to think and justify their actions with various excuses.

We cannot understand that they can think because their anti-conscience is a rational animal, but their thoughts are not reasonable thoughts that come from their conscience. They are absurd thoughts of their anti-conscience.

We believe that the mentally ill are responsible for their actions because we cannot understand that their conscience is dead and only their anti-conscience is acting in the place of their ego.

The mentally ill are innocent people controlled by their satanic anti-conscience. They don't know what they are doing. They must not be considered responsible for their actions.

This comprehension will change the way our world functions. Now we'll stop ignoring the dangers we are exposed to. Now we will also stop condemning the victims of craziness. Now we will save them from terror and despair instead of torturing them because they act like monsters.

The 10 Best Websites On Sex Addiction

An estimated 14 million Americans have a form of sex addiction or similar compulsion; that's one out of every 17 individuals. Sex addiction is a serious disease that requires treatment in the form of counseling, support, rehabilitation centers, and sometimes medication. Those who are addicted will persist in their compulsive, and often dangerous, behaviors despite the consequences. Sex addiction is serious, but it can be overcome. If you are an addict or working with or treating sex addicted individuals, there is hope.

The Internet can prove to be an invaluable tool in your search for answers and the journey through recovery. There is a worldwide community, available 24/7 that can answer questions, offer support and provide important resources. The following 10 websites are an invaluable tool.

1. Sexhelp.com. This informative website offers an online test for individuals who are uncertain whether or not they have a sex addiction. Here, you can locate certified therapists, research current therapy options, find twelve step programs, and review a recommended reading list. This website was created by the International Institute for Trauma & Addiction Professionals (IITAP).

2. Recoverynation.com. Recovery Nation features a unique focus on health-based recovery, as opposed to disease-based. Health-based refers to its focus centering on value development, life management skills and other positive-minded topics. There are free workshops on sex addiction, tracking charts, informational articles, links to other resources, and a community of support. All resources available on this page are free.

3. MDJunction.com. This website has a separate forum for seemingly every disease that might have a psychological effect. Once you or the addict set up an account, you will be allowed to post questions in a forum on sex addiction and get responses from individuals struggling to overcome this disease. There are conversations that take place on living with sex addiction, relapses, triggers, treatment, successes and failures, and almost anything else imaginable.

4. Slaafws.org. This is the website for Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. In their own words, they "believe that sex and love addiction is a progressive illness which cannot be cured but which, like many illnesses, can be arrested." While they state clearly that sex addiction, if left untreated, always gets worse, their website offers a simple twelve step program that has proven effective for men and women in recovery.

5. Marriedtoasexaddict.com. The family impacted by an individual's sex addiction can often benefit from doing research into the disease, joining a support group, and even entering into therapy. What makes this site unique as compared to many of the other sites on the Internet which are designed to be a resource for the addicted individual, this web page is focused on reaching out to the family of those individuals, especially their spouses and partners. The owner of the page moderates posts and comments carefully to create a supportive environment. There are member forums, research updates, and articles.

6. SAA-recovery.org. Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) is "a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other so they may overcome... " In addition to information about the SAA program, a comprehensive list of meetings and a description of meeting types is available.

7. Sexualcontrol.com. There is a lot to see here; this website is filled with articles to read. From posts relating to pornography, masturbation, counseling and twelve step programs, there's something for every question. Articles are written either for individuals with sex addiction or for their families. In addition to informational articles, there are first-person narratives written by people who are in recovery from this addiction.

8. Newlifehabits.com. While this page at first appears to be specifically for porn addiction, the authors are careful to point out that the resources available will extend to masturbation and other addictions of this nature. It is an excellent resource. There are blog posts and articles that include twelve step programs, spirituality, diet and exercise as it relates to sex addiction, the effects of stress on this disease, and many more. There are resources for both the addict and his or her family.

9. Psychcentral.com. There are often many questions to be answered about sex addiction - what it is, what the symptoms are, and how is it treated, to name a few. Type "sex addiction" in the search bar located at the top of the main page and you'll be directed to a long list of articles filled with answers to common (and uncommon) questions. Nearly every topic imaginable is covered here.

10. SA.org. Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) is a twelve step support group for those in recovery from sex addiction. Their website includes information on the purpose and content of their meetings and provides a directory of meetings that are being held around the world. There is also recommended reading, links to informative articles, and an online store.

Sex addiction is defined by The National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity as "engaging in persistent and escalating patterns of sexual behavior acted out despite increasing negative consequences to self and others." While it is not as widely discussed as some other forms of addiction, it can be as damaging to an individual's life and relationships as an addiction to drugs or alcohol; it is a serious issue for both the individual and their loved ones. There are triggers, relapses, and sometimes years of consequences to be worked through.

Though it is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the work involved, recovery from sex addiction is possible. Acknowledging addiction and getting help is essential to living a happier and healthier life. There are many online resources available that can prove invaluable not only during the first stages of recovery, but throughout the process of healing as well. Start with the ten links offered above and go from there.

Help For Alzheimer's Disease Patients

Alzheimer's Disease is a very progressive disease that is irreversible. It usually affects people 65 years and older, but can affect earlier on. It's main symptom is memory loss, making it the most common form of dementia, which worsens over time and will considerably affect one's daily everyday life. By this, I mean the person with the disease as well as all the family members and loved ones.

Memory loss is mild in the beginning and will be barely noticeable. However, when the disease reaches it's late stage, the person will not be able to carry on normal everyday activities like eating, cooking, having a conversation, exercising, and thinking. The person will display symptoms of confusion, erratic behaviors, and worsening memory loss.

The good news is with one Doctor's research for her husband suffering with the disease, she found that ketones may play a huge part in treating the disease. This doctor's name is Dr. Mary Newport and she even wrote a book about the progress her husband was making after eating foods with these ketones.

In her research, Dr. Newport describes this disease as a diabetes of the brain. By this, the brain cannot metabolize glucose to produce energy to survive. When this happens, the brain cells begin to weaken and die, thus producing these symptoms of memory loss and confusion. If this continues on, the person will eventually die.

Ketones are another form of energy for the brain, when glucose is not available. They can be found in the medium chain fatty acids present in organic coconut oi. They will help to stimulate the growth of brain cells and heal the damaged ones. The only other way our bodies will produce these ketones on their own is through fasting and a person with Alzheimer's Disease would have to fast every day, which is not likely.

Sixty three percent of organic coconut oil is made up of these essential medium chain fatty acids, which are converted in the body to ketones. These ketones go directly to the brain and used as an energy source. It doesn't matter if the person is fasting or not, the body will use these ketones for the brain.

Dr. Newport began giving her husband two tablespoons of organic coconut oil to consume daily and documented his improvement over the next few weeks. She found that he was able to do better on the clock test, which is a test given to patients with the disease. Just a few weeks before, he failed this test, and after just a few weeks, the coconut oil definitely showed an improvement.

Strokes - An Acquired Brain Injury

In order to optimize stroke recovery, it is paramount to have early diagnosis and appropriate and immediate medical care. To do this, recognizing the symptoms of a stroke are important so that immediate action can be taken. They are: numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding; trouble seeing out of either one or both eyes; difficulty walking, dizziness or loss of balance, or a sudden, severe headache.

If a stroke is suspected you must immediately call 911 or an emergency response system in your area. There is a very limited window from the onset of symptoms to when therapy can successfully be used. To determine whether it is a stroke or not, have the person smile. Their face should move symmetrically. Also ask them to raise both arms so that any evidence of paralysis will be evident, and to speak a simple sentence. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, the person should lie flat to allow the blood to flow to the brain. If there are definite stroke symptoms, do not give them aspirin in case there is any bleeding.

Once a stroke patient has become medically stable, rehabilitation can begin which will initially teach him/her how to manage their own personal hygiene, feed themselves, get in and out of bed and to be able to use the bathroom on their own.

Further rehabilitation may include a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist, psychologist and recreation therapist depending on the severity of the stroke. This type of rehabilitation will help to promote independence in their daily lives. Responses to treatment, and their overall recovery will, however, depend mainly upon themselves and their own personalities. Part of early recovery is spontaneous which are natural abilities that will automatically begin to come back, especially during the first few weeks. But significant recovery can be made even years following a stroke. Rehabilitation works best when stroke survivors and their families work together.

After rehabilitation in either a formal program or as individual services, the person will eventually be able to return to community living. During this stage they may have to learn to do common tasks in a different way. It may be that they will have to use their opposite hand to write or do things they originally did with their other hand. They may require velcroe on their shoes instead of laces or if it had been a serious stroke, they may require the use of a wheelchair.

Strokes can affect the body, mind and feelings. And because a stroke is an acquired brain injury, they may have many of the same deficits that those who have suffered a traumatic brain injury have been faced with. They may be unaware of their injury, have problems with their memory, experience lack of judgment and motivation as well as other cognitive problems, and fatigue and depression.

The most important thing in having a successful outcome following a stroke is that there is an early diagnosis, with immediate therapy and treatment. Without early treatment, there is the risk of life-long consequences to the patient such as disabilities that could possibly have been prevented.

What Is Love Addiction?

"Addicted to Love" is more than just the title of a Robert Palmer song; it is a form of sex addiction and can be as destructive as any other sexual behavior taken to an extreme.

Also called seductive addiction, this is a case where the addict is compelled to seduce another or frequently enter into new relationships. While in other types of sex addiction the person is after the feelings and brain chemicals produced by physical sex acts, here the goal is the heady feeling one gets in the first stages of a romantic relationship.

Most humans can appreciate, in one form or another, the feeling when one is first falling in love. Their thoughts revolve around the other person, their behavior changes, and they see the object of their interest, and perhaps the world in general, in a better light. The condition has been portrayed in all forms of media going back as far as those media have existed. Books are written, movies are made, songs are written, blogs are created, articles are written, poems created, and so much more to honor the feeling of falling in love. It's a powerful feeling, and one around which a person can develop an addiction.

In a healthy relationship, those intense emotions work to form deep bonds and fade over time into something different and more sustainable. An analogy often used compares the first stages of a romance to a roaring fire whose flames, over time, burn down to glowing coals. Many sex and relationship advice experts talk about "rekindling romance" and "finding that old spark."

After all that, the sex addict will build a new fire, and another, and another, and another. Their brain is seeking that love-at-first-sight feeling, that thrill of wooing another into a relationship. When that feeling dies down, they move on to do it again.

Of course it's not unusual and is, in fact, the norm for a person to have had a few relationships like this before settling on one that is more long term. Once the "honeymoon is over" so to speak, two people may learn they are not matched well enough to carry on a long-term relationship and will break it off one way or another. Most experts would hesitate to put a firm number on the number of relationships that constitutes normal. Sex addiction cannot be readily identified using any kind of numerical criteria or formula. The frequency and intensity of the relationships are all factors to be considered in diagnosing this addiction.

The negative consequences of such a sex addiction can be a string of jilted lovers, stress from being in a constant state of emotional chaos, and, if the love addiction ritual involves copulation, possibly even sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancies. Because of our cultural norms and mores, females with love addiction can open themselves to stigma, being labeled "whores" or "sluts" by others, or can feel that way about themselves.

Men may find this behavior encouraging, being labeled a "ladies' man" or a "player." They may never seek treatment for it, not seeing it as a problem.

For women this is one of the most common forms of sex addiction. Women tend to be more subtle about their seduction methods but will go through lovers as fast as men with a sexual addicted.

The media, to some degree, can contribute to this distorted sense of relationship. Stories tend to focus on that initial romantic fire, while significantly fewer songs are sung and fewer movies are made about a mature relationship with many years behind it and more to go. Perhaps more than a few love addicts started developing their sex addiction merely by being poorly educated on what a good relationship entails, thinking that intensity at the start is not supposed to fade. Most people learn differently, and it's not a given that a sex addict or love addict is unaware of how a relationship should be. A sex addict may even form a long term relationship and sabotage it with affairs as they seek romance on the side.

A sex addict with a truly distorted view of a healthy relationship may see love and romance as simply the art of seduction and sexual encounters. To them, romantic partners are not people to form connections with, but targets or prey to be won over, wooed, seduced, and conquered. The relationship ends with the act of sex, and when they finally decide to go for a "real" relationship, the sex addict can find maintaining one difficult

What Is Hypnotherapy? (What Isn't Hypnotherapy)

A great number of people have misconceptions about what hypnotherapy is, what it isn't, what it can achieve, and what it can't. So what is it? And, can it really help?

Lets start by dispelling the first myth of hypnotherapy - It is not about the stage shows. This is theatre, a hypnotherapist simply cannot make you squawk like a chicken or generally act like an idiot without your agreement. Lets have a look at stage hypnotherapy for a moment and how it works

Well, if you imagine that in the audience for a stage hypnosis show and there's 1000 people there, and say 90% of them actually want to be there and are up for a show, so that's 900 left in the pot of potential candidates. Before the show the hypnotherapist will ask who is willing to come up on stage and make a fool out of themselves. Say for instance that 50% of them agree, so we're left with 450. The hypnotist will then go through a series of susceptibility tests to see who will make the best volunteers and will select, say 50. Then those people will go through another series of hypnotic tests to see who really is "up for it" to determine the most susceptible, outgoing characters in the group. The rest will be sent back to the audience, and those on stage will be "primed" ready for the show. So a stage hypnotist will load the tables before the group even start acting like chickens or whatever they are asked to do. About 60 years ago governments experimented with hypnosis as a means of interrogation for captured enemy soldiers. After many studies they discovered that enemy soldiers could not be hypnotised to give up secrets! What this proved was that the person being hypnotised is still always in control at some level and cannot be made to do something that goes against their core beliefs. So now you know, you cannot be made to squawk like a chicken, without your agreement, what can be done with hypnotherapy?

Now this is the exciting part, and get ready for a long winded answer... Anything you can imagine!

That said, there are physical limitations. For instance if you're wheelchair bound and you ask a hypnotherapist "Can hypnosis help me win the 100 metres mens final at the Olympic Games?", you're going to have to expect a "No"! But, if you ask a hypnotherapist "I've had this phobia of heights for 20 years, but I really, really want to climb a mountain, can you help?". In that case the answer is a resounding "YES". If you have a problem and you want a solution then hypnotherapy can help you massively!

How does hypnotherapy work as a therapy? Use an hypnotic induction to get you into a state of deep relaxation, very similar to a state of deep meditation. Once there the conscious mind is pretty much switched into a standby mode (just like your TV) and the unconscious mind is ready to listen deeply and openly to suggestions. A series of hypnotherapy techniques (like embedded commands, illusionary choice, and metaphors) can then be to speak directly to your unconscious mind and change the belief programming that has been causing you problems. Now the great thing is here that you are always in control, and your unconscious mind will accept the new programming deeply and allow it to take effect immediately.