Dealing with Potential for Compulsive Use of Smartphones

There appear to be unintended consequences of a first generation growing up with smartphones. New electronic technology is associated with the potential for great benefits, as well as shortcomings. The many benefits of smartphones have included a new generation’s ease of ability to instantly access limitless information, interconnectivity and creativity. One of this technology’s greatest and ongoing concerns, however, is the real potential for excessive escapism and distraction through compulsive use. To curb compulsive behaviors, it helps to make engaging in the behavior less desirable and more inconvenient. I often advise clients who desire to quit smoking, for example, to store their cigarettes in less convenient locations. For parents of teenagers who find it difficult to limit their children’s smartphone use, it is advisable that they help to make the phones less appealing. Toggling a simple smartphone setting can assist in achieving this purpose. The grayscale mode transforms everything on the phone’s display to make it appear black and white, thereby helping to lessen its desirability and compulsive use. Readers can find more detailed information about grayscale mode at tinyurl.com/ybj4rfsv.

FREE Digital Magazines

Zinio and Issuu apps will help you enjoy 100% FREE digital access to hundreds of popular monthly magazines like: Discover, Scientific American Mind, The New Yorker, Wired, and so forth! (The free Zinio access is gained via a free online account with the Free Library of Philadelphia.)

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Dr. Wayne Dyer's Inspirational Read -- The Shaya Story

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Magnesium and the Brain: The Original Chill Pill

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Rapid recovery from major depression using magnesium treatment

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Relatively Unknown (within USA) Non-prescription Drug for Smoking Cessation

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Bupropion (marketed as Zyban by the GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company) and varenicline (marketed as Chantix by the Pfizer pharmaceutical company) are the only two prescription medications approved by the FDA to help treat nicotine dependence. Recently, the Washington Post published an article about a popular smoking cessation medication which has been available for many years in Europe. According to the article, Tabex (cytisine) is a relatively inexpensive, non-prescription smoking cessation treatment, which is considered even more effective than bupropion with fewer side-effects.

Since 1992, according to New Scientist, it has been known that "Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking." Its quote was based upon a study cited within the Journal of Applied Psychology, earlier that same year. As a psychologist and certified hypnotherapist, I continue to advocate the use of clinical hypnosis for smoking cessation, one of the least expensive and most effective approaches to becoming smoke-free. Since the American Medical Association approved the use of clinical hypnosis in the 1950's, hundreds of thousands of people have found hypnosis to be an effective way to stop smoking, lose weight, and otherwise improve their lives.

Considering the fact that, according to the National Institutes of Health, combined therapies are most prudent in addictions treatment, I recommend combining hypnosis for smoking cessation with Tabex (cytisine) (after consultation with your family doctor).

Tabex is manufactured by Sopharma (Bulgaria). Additional information about Tabex can be found on the company’s website: www.tabex.net.

My professional website offers a FREE hypnosis for smoking cessation download: www.QuitForFree.com.

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Deadly Depression

Before telling a depressed family member or friend that “it’s not that bad” or “just snap out of it,” I hope that you will please remember Robbin Williams. Clinical depression is a real condition with real symptoms that can be debilitating and even deadly. Clinical depression has the potential to afflict anyone, even a celebrity with great comedic talent. As was apparently and sadly the case with Mr. Williams, severe and poorly treated depression can include such extreme feelings of hopelessness and despair that sometimes suicide can seem like a reasonable action. The following online assessment tool can help to determine if you or someone you know should seek professional assistance: www.helpyourselfhelpothers.org.

PLEASE CONSIDER SHARING THIS IMPORTANT POST ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA:

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My FREE Guide to Career Planning and Placement

Current layoffs and high unemployment rates have left many people scrambling to find new work or return to school. Clarifying your interests and abilities is vital to school and career success. When I was director of a college counseling center, students found quite helpful a series of psychological assessment tools that were used with them for career planning and placement decisions. Today, similar tools are available for free online. Deciding upon a college major or new career direction seemingly can be a daunting task. The following online resources will help lessen the burden.

The free Interest Profiler and Personality Test are online assessments which will help you to determine your potential college major / career interests, as well as personality type. These simple and short assessments are easy to answer. Upon completion, they automatically even score themselves.

Using the information from the Personality Test Manual and D.O.T. can help to narrow one’s search for a college major or career direction. Use the personality test to check its corresponding manual for career opportunities which will likely best suit you, based upon your personality type. Narrow your search further, by cross-referencing this information with career opportunities best suited to your particular interests, based upon information from the profiler. Finally, check information within the D.O.T. about job descriptions, educational requirements, near-future opportunities, salary ranges, and so forth.

In order to solidify your choice, “What Color is Your Parachute” and "Getting Straight A's" are a couple of good reads, once one is close to settling upon one’s career and/or college major path. Additionally, state unemployment offices and vocational rehabilitation agencies may even have money available to qualified residents, who need assistance in returning to school or with new job placements.

Once your college major or career path is finally established, it is quite important to address issues from job interview anxiety and job stress to dealing with procrastination and exam nerves. Many people find self-hypnosis audio programs helpful in dealing with the normal anxieties surrounding these issues. Hypnosis is simply an exercise in deep relaxation and focus. While in this state, people can often benefit greatly from “post-hypnotic suggestions” to help achieve a desired goal.

One example wherein the relaxing effects of hypnosis can be very beneficial is with “state dependent memory” or “state dependent learning.” This psychological notion relates to the idea that people remember things better when they are in the same emotional state during recall, as when they first learned the material. This fact explains how and why many students may often find themselves “freezing” during an exam. They may know that that they understand the material, yet have difficulty recalling it, because they are anxious during the test after having learned the material while relaxed in their dorm.

By utilizing these simple online career planning and placement tools, the new job seeker or new college student can finally go from confusion to clarity in choosing their best career path.

Online Interest Profiler

http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip

Online Personality Test

http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test?mobile=0

Personality Test Manual

http://www.freezepage.com/1506178992OXYQGCSGUK

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (D.O.T.)

http://www.occupationalinfo.org/

What Color is Your Parachute?

https://bit.ly/3U6iwq5

Additional Resources
https://bit.ly/3SFMfVG

SOURCE: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gerald_Solfanelli

Acknowledge Empty Chair at Holiday Dinners

Although celebratory, our upcoming holidays can also be a painful, annual reminder of personal loss. It is now 40 years since my older brother and dad died. Even though I was just a young boy at that time, the memory of the hurt of their untimely deaths continues to afflict my family and me. Over the years, however, the hurt has transformed into more of a benign acceptance of death as a part of life. Much of the healing has been facilitated by simply acknowledging the grief, rather than attempting to avoid or forget it. One can never truly forget.

 

Too often, in a misguided effort to spare self and others from the hurt of their grief, many grieving families may attempt to avoid acknowledging the empty chair at the holiday dinner table. Unfortunately, this tactic only tends to allow for the grief to be experienced silently to oneself, while family members remain disconnected and filled with a heightened, vague sense of sadness which can linger throughout the remainder of the holiday.

 

On the contrary, I often encourage my patients to acknowledge the empty chair. Although this approach will undoubtedly elicit feelings of tearful grief, crying is generally a normal and healthy part of the grieving process. In this way, the grief is now an open and shared experience which has the potential to lead to a more positive holiday dinner, despite the loss. Many families may now find themselves even sharing memorable, positive times with respect to the deceased loved one.

 

Most grief resolves itself, over time. If you or a family member feels the need for assistance in dealing with your loss, your physician can make referrals to local grief support groups and other invaluable resources that can help.

Spring Graduation and Empty Nest

With local graduations now commencing, many parents may be struck with the new and unfamiliar feelings associated with the “Empty Nest Syndrome.” Adjusting to the “new normal” of children becoming adults often entails a certain degree of a type of mourning on the part of parents.  It is not uncommon for loving parents to essentially grieve the loss over a child's departure into their career or school. What is the alternative? Naturally, since loving parents want the best for their children, resolution of this temporary “grief” involves the momentary hurt over the proverbial "short-term pain for the long-term gain." It will ease. The child/parent relationship still remains, it is simply forever different. It has transformed into a deeper relationship with an adult child, whom one has worked so hard to raise. Eventually, parents can certainly learn to more fully enjoy the fruits of their efforts while also learning new ways to now re-discover their relationships with others, including one's spouse.

I believe that Erma Bombeck best summed up “empty nest,” when she said: "When mothers talk about the depression of the empty nest, they're not mourning the passing of all those wet towels on the floor, or the music that numbs your teeth, or even the bottle of capless shampoo dribbling down the shower drain. They're upset because they've gone from supervisor of a child's life to a spectator. It's like being the vice president of the United States."

Are you are more beautiful than you think?

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GUEST BLOG

Smoking Cessation through Hypnosis

Smoking is not just a habit. It is an addiction, and like any addiction, it is very hard to break. If you are a smoker, you need to understand that very few people are able to break the addiction without any help whatsoever. To ensure that you are able to break your smoking habit for good, you need to learn options that have high success rates. One of those options would be hypnosis. In fact, the success rate for using hypnosis for smoking cessation is more than 80%. Are you ready to quit smoking? If you are not, there are some things that you need to know. Consider the following:

The Effects of Smoking

You have most likely heard all of the speeches about the danger of smoking. It can lead to heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, and more health problems that can actually be fatal. You most likely know all of that, but there are some other things you need to consider. Perhaps, when you hear it all, you will understand the full impact that smoking is having on you.

Consider this. If you smoke a pack a day, do you realize how much money you are spending a year on your habit? For the average pack of cigarettes smoked one a day, you are spending about $2,500  a year. That is a lot of money, and chances are, you did not realize how much you were spending on smoking.

You are causing problems to your health and to your budget by choosing to smoke. However, you can immediately eliminate the cost and slowly improve your health once you choose to quit. If you have tried to quit before and you just have not had much luck, then you may be thinking that quitting is impossible. This is why you will want to consider smoking cessation through hypnosis.

How Quickly Does Hypnosis Work?

You may be wondering just how often you will have to go through hypnosis sessions. After all, you have to take time out of your day and pay for those sessions, and that can become difficult. Here is some good news. On average, a person is able to give up smoking with just one hypnosis session.

In this session, you will spend about 2.5 hours with the hypnotherapist. During these hours, you will be put under hypnosis and you will learn an aversion to smoking. In other words, the hypnotherapist will implant in your mind that smoking tastes or feels horrible. Once this has been placed into your subconscious, you will find cigarettes disgusting even if you crave one. This makes it all the easier to put them down for good.

For the vast majority of smokers, only one of the sessions is needed. However, if you have never been hypnotized before, it can take some work from the hypnotherapist, and that means you may be asked to come back for one more session. However, hypnosis sessions are not like counseling. You do not have to continue going just to beat your smoking addiction. Once you are able to put the cigarettes down, you will most likely not ever touch them again.

Smoking is a difficult addiction. Like any other addiction, it can be very hard to beat on your own. You cannot expect to be able to put down those cigarettes and have any success. However, you can get the help you need in order to break the habit. Hypnosis has proven to be extremely successful at ending a smoking addiction. If you have discovered that your smoking habit is affecting your health as well as your budget, consider the option to quit with the help of a hypnotherapist.

Valerie Johnston is a health and fitness writer located in East Texas. With ambitions of one day running a marathon, writing for Healthline.com ensures she keeps up-to-date on all of the latest health and fitness news.

Editor's note: Please understand that although the success rate for hypnosis for smoking cessation can be as high as over 80%, it can also vary depending upon a participant's hypnotic susceptibility and motivation to be smoke-free. You can also find additional information on hypnosis for smoking cessation (in addition to psychologist's FREE hypnosis for smoking cessation MP3 audio download) at www.QuitForFree.com.

Solutions to Your 2013 Resolutions!

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the most popular New Year's resolutions are losing weight, quitting smoking, and exercising more regularly. Unfortunately, almost sixty percent of those who make resolutions give up, within the first six months. Nevertheless, chances are that if you do make a resolution, you will be ten times more likely to prevail over those without the resolve.

Our feelings actually dictate our actions. In that regard, if you are like most people (including myself), you probably have brand name toothpaste in your bathroom. Although we both intellectually know that generic toothpaste is basically the same as (and often less expensive than) the brand name, we pay more for the brand name, because we feel that it will provide us with "fresher breath and whiter teeth."

Advertisers tend to trick our emotional selves into feeling good about their product over their competitor's or generic, often causing us to change our behavior to spend more for their product. Using this same basic "Psych 101" principle to one's advantage, can help empower oneself to create positive change, especially as it applies to resolutions.

To succeed with your resolutions, therefore, it is vital to pair enough emotional pain to the old behaviors, and enough emotional pleasure with the new behaviors. A smoker, for example, might imagine how good it will feel to breathe easier as well as to have more energy, freedom and pride in the accomplishment..

Having a plan is also key to any behavioral change. Fortunately, the Internet affords an amazing array of self-help tools. My online collection of "Solutions to your 2013 Resolutions" offers free software and meditation downloads for managing stress; additional APA information on New Year's Resolutions; free ebooks on weight-loss, exercise and smoking cessation; and links to other select online tools for behavioral change.

Access a FREE Audio Hypnosis Quit Smoking Download, Request FREE Nicotine Gum, and view a list of FREE Ebooks for Quitting Smoking, Weight Loss, Exercise, and more: www.QuitForFree.com

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Guest Blog Post

Ms. Jasmine McCarthy, of the Public Outreach Department at DrugWatch.com, recenlty requested permission to post the following to the Simplified Health blog, as part of a guest post. Guest posts do not necessarily represent the views of this blog. Any private questions can be directed here.

Severe Side Effects of Pelvic Organ Prolapse Treatment

While Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) is not necessarily detrimental to a woman's health, there are severe side effects to one of the most popular measures used to correct POP: the use of transvaginal mesh. More than 10 percent of women who have had corrective surgery to treat POP using transvaginal mesh have experienced complications. These complications can be mild or permanently damaging. It is important that women understand the health risks related to vaginal mesh products and be aware of safer alternatives to treat POP if it is determined that treatment is necessary.

What is Transvaginal Mesh?

Transvaginal mesh entered the market to treat POP in 2002. It was approved under the Food and Drug Administration's 510(k) "fast-track" clearance system. The clearance was given due to the mesh's supposed similarity to mesh products used to repair hernias.

Vaginal mesh is used like a hammock to support pelvic organs that have dropped into a woman's vaginal canal and/or rectum. It is also used in the form of a bladder sling, to correct Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI). Unfortunately, transvaginal mesh has the tendency to erode, and protrude into vaginal tissues and other organs. This can cause mild discomfort at best, and severe pain and organ damage at its worst.

Image provided by DrugWatch.com.

POP can be corrected without the use of transvaginal mesh. There are multiple non-invasive alternatives that have widespread success in treating, and reversing, the symptoms of POP. In the more rare cases where surgery is necessary, there are alternatives to the use of transvaginal mesh. Prior to the popularity of vaginal mesh products, doctors a woman's own tissues to repair and support connective tissues. These tissues can have equal success in treating POP, with far fewer complications.

What Should a Woman Do if She Has Undergone Surgery Using Transvaginal Mesh?

Women who have already experienced a corrective surgery using a vaginal mesh product should become familiar with the signs of complications associated with the device. A woman who experiences any of these symptoms should contact her health care professional immediately. It is also imperative that she have regular exams and let medical professionals know she has had transvaginal mesh inserted to correct POP or incontinence.

Symptoms of vaginal mesh complications can include:

• Pain in the vaginal canal or pelvic area
• Unusual bleeding and/or discharge
• Repeat infections
• Pain during sexual intercourse
• Sexual partners may feel the eroded mesh material inside the vagina
• Incontinence outside the norm
• Constipation or new complications with bowel movements

Women who have experienced complications related to transvaginal mesh should report the problem to the FDA using the MedWatch Report Form. Women who have suffered severe physical and emotional trauma as a result of vaginal mesh products may be eligible for compensation. Many women have already sought to file a transvaginal mesh lawsuit. Other affected women may want to receive legal counseling to determine how they should proceed in filing a legal complaint.

A Brief Collection of Some Inspirational Images & Quotes

on Our Human Character Strengths
http://www.ThePsychologist.com/page1.htm