Good News for the Soul

A women's health blog for mid-life women learning how to manage their health and their life.

Category: Mental Health

  • More Women in Leadership Roles- How do We Find Balance in their Lives?

    I’ve read in a recent article that there are more women in leadership roles at companies. Some examples include the news company MSNBC, whose president is Rashida Jones. Her addition last year made her the first Black female executive to lead a major cable news network.

    With a higher responsibility, there comes a busier schedule. It could become harder for women in greater power to be balanced in their lives. If you’re in a higher position at your occupation, how do you find some work/life balance in your lives? Let’s learn how we as women could find a balance between our work and personal lives.

    Learn how to strike a balance between your work and personal life.

    Manage your Time Wisely

    One of the key ways to have a sense of balance involves managing your time in an orderly manner. Organize your tasks from the highest urgent to the least urgent. Consider writing things down in a handy to-do list. Be sure to give yourself enough time to get things done. Don’t schedule too many things in one week. Sometimes, it’s okay to say no to certain things that are too overwhelming for you. Learn to evaluate your priorities and decide which ones are the most important to you.

    Don’t Become Obsessed with your Work

    It’s also important to not become too obsessed with your work. Another way of saying this is to not become “married” to your work. If you love your job, then that’s good. But it’s also important to don’t become too consumed with it. This could lead to fatigue, poor health, and lost time with friends and loved ones. If you’re standing behind a computer all day, that could lead to vision or back problems. Being consumed with your work could lead to more chronic stress in your life.

    Take Time for Yourself

    When you’re a busy professional, you should always make sure that you’re doing this. What I’m referring to is making time for yourself. Try to schedule half an hour or an hour for you and not your work. Take some time to do something fun like riding a bike or running around the park. Do something productive like drawing or organizing shelves in your room. Just always make sure you are spending adequate time for yourself away from work. This helps your mind feel recharged and refreshed when you’re ready to get back to work.

    Know When to Seek Work/Life Balance Help

    Of course, if you’re lacking in the work/life balance issue, you can’t seek help for this alone. Most companies offer employee assistance programs for their workers. These programs help employees get their lives in order. It also helps them learn to strike a balance between their work and personal lives.

    It also doesn’t hurt to seek help from your family and friends. They can help you make some adjustments in your life as you strive to develop a sense of work/life balance.

    If you’re a busy professional, how do you find work/life balance in your daily schedule? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below on this issue. As always, be sure to like or share this post with the next working woman you know.

  • 4 Ways to Start Breaking Old Habits with Ease in the New Year

    In last week’s post, I talked about the benefits of a fresh start. I shared how it could benefit you mentally and physically. This week, I’m going to build on that and talk about how we could break something we all want to break. This are called old habits.

    We all have an annoying habit we want to break. Sometimes, these habits could be hard to do away with. Let’s look at four good ways we can start replacing these habits with newer ones with ease.

    Work on One Habit at a Time

    Whether it’s at the beginning of the year or during another time, sometimes we could go overboard to change our habits. But I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to take things slow. It could be overwhelming to work on multiple old bad habits. Try working on one at a time.

    Consider picking one keystone habit. I’ve learned that this is defined as one behavior or routine that could pull your life in order on its own. One good example could be weightlifting. By following this routine every week, this could lead to improved eating, sleeping, and concentration. This one habit led to a fully healthy lifestyle for you.

    Work on one habit at a time to avoid being so overwhelmed.

    Change your Environment or Association

    People are more apt to change their bad habits when they experience a life-changing event like moving to a different place. New situations could cause people to switch up their routines. Why not consider doing the same and change your environment? Have you ever thought about moving to a new house or a new city? Change could be healthy and influence you to adjust your habits.

    Another good thing to do is to make some adjustments to who you hang out with. Try widening out in your friendships with people. Become friends with people who may be older than you or a different race from you. Having good friends could help you in breaking those old habits.

    Write those New habits down

    If you have some new and better habits you want to start, such as sleeping 8 hours a day, why not try writing them down? Writing things down allows you to keep track of them. It also helps you remember them better. They have certain lists where you could jot your new habits down called a habit tracker. In a habit tracker, you could keep up with your new habits you’re trying to work on doing more, learn how you’re doing with them, and how you could improve in practicing them. You’ll feel more organized and replace your old habits with new ones at the same time.

    Feel Confident You Can Break those Old Habits

    We all heard of the old saying- If you believe it, you can achieve it. That could ring true when it comes to trying to end those old habits of yours. If you believe you can do away with any habits you dislike, you will likely end them. All you need is a little faith you can develop better habits and you should be fine.

    Take baby steps in breaking any habits you don’t like. Consider making some adjustments in your environment or association. Make a note of those new habits you want to adopt in your routine. Feel confident in knowing you can finally break away from those old, nagging habits.

    Have any old habits you want to break from? Feel free to share them in the comments section below. As usual, be sure to like or share this post with someone you care about.

  • How Night Workers could Cope with Seasonal Affective Disorder

    Working any job could have stressful times, but working at night presents a different challenge. Some people could handle working nights, some can’t. However, whether you can handle working nights or not, make sure it doesn’t affect your mental health.

    During this time of the year, many are experiencing the condition known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). This is a depression that is caused by a lack of sunlight. It is usually associated with this time of the year, fall and winter. It could have an unfortunate impact on people who work at night. Let’s learn how you can cope if you’ve been experiencing SAD while working at night.

    Seasonal affective disorder or SAD affects many people during this time of the year.

    Get Enough Light as Possible per Day

    If you’re dealing with SAD, having access to as much light as possible is imperative. Plenty of sunshine gives us the healthy amount of Vitamin D3 that we need. Lack of light can throw off your circadian rhythm, which was talked about in my last post.

    Many people have utilized light therapy as a good method of treatment. This treatment, also known as phototherapy, involves the patient using a lightbox that they’re exposed to within the first hour of waking up each day. It is usually the first line of treatment for fall-onset SAD. It is vital that a person coping with SAD absorb light for about 30 minutes a day.

    More Employers should Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle

    In order for employees to lower their risk of SAD, they must eat healthier. What you eat has a big effect on your mood. Employers can encourage healthy eating habits for their night shift workers such as leaving nutritional snacks in the break room. They could also stress the importance of exercising during the daytime three times a week.

    Medications for SAD

    If light therapy doesn’t necessarily work, there are always medications you can use. Antidepressants are usually suitable options. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be used to improve mood by regulating serotonin levels in your body. Bupropion is another antidepressant that helps in treating the condition.

    It’s also vital that night workers go out during the day and seek help from a trusted mental health professional trained in CBT. Doing all of these things will help in avoiding the SAD condition.

    Are you a night worker dealing with SAD during this time of the year? Do you know someone dealing with this condition? Share how you cope with SAD in the comments section below. As always, feel free to like or share this post with someone you care about.

  • Top 4 Mental Illnesses Inflicting Women in their 30s and 40s

    This week, we bring attention to the many mental illnesses that are affecting many Americans today.  Various conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder have caused many to have difficulties functioning in their everyday lives.  In acknowledgment of Mental Illness Awareness Week, I am going to discuss four of the most common conditions affecting women around my age and in their 40s.

    Eating Disorders

    When many people think of eating disorders, the first thing that pops into their heads is anorexia.  But there’s more to these disorders than this.  It also involves overeating disorders like purging or food binges.  Eating disorders not only involve the unhealthy relationship a person has with food.  They are also complex mental health disorders which if left untreated could result in death.  Here are some of the other eating disorders affecting young women today:

    • Binge eating disorder
    • Bulimia nervosa
    • Pica eating disorder

    Anxiety Disorders

    Numerous mental disorders cause young women to feel severely stressed in their lives.  These are anxiety disorders.  Panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder are good examples of these disorders.  These mental illnesses cause people to experience distressing and frequent fear.  Young women usually start to experience these disorders as a result of overthinking.  Other illnesses included in this category include:

    • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
    • Social anxiety disorder
    • Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

    Mood Disorders

    Mental illnesses that cause you to consistently feel down are known as mood disorders.  Approximately 1 in 10 adults suffer from a mood disorder.  However, women in their 30s and 40s normally become depressed because of pressure from work or society’s high expectations.  They are often pressured to look or act a certain way.  Most start to develop depression in their teens.  Other illnesses you must know that fall in this category is:

    Depression is one of many mental illnesses inflicting young women today
    • Bipolar disorder
    • Substance-induced mood disorder
    • Dysthymia

    Psychotic Disorders

    When people are diagnosed with one of these disorders, they are normally unable to differentiate what’s real and what’s not.  These disorders are known as psychotic disorders.  Scientists believe various factors play a role in being diagnosed with a psychotic disorder.  It could be drug abuse or just problems with some circuits in the brain.  Some good examples of psychotic disorders include:

    • Schizophrenia
    • Delusional disorder
    • Substance-induced psychotic disorder

    Many Americans have a mental disorder. But it is also impacting our young women today.  If you or a young woman you know struggling with a mental condition, please seek help immediately.  Be sure to share your experience with a mental illness in the comments section below.  As always, like or share this post with someone you know struggling with a mental illness.

  • PTSD- A Mental Disorder Impacting Many Women Today

    The month of June marks Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month.  For those who are not familiar with this condition, PTSD is a mental health disorder that occurs after someone experiences a traumatic event.  Some examples of traumatic events could be any form of abuse, physical or sexual, a near-fatal accident, or military combat.

    Anyone at any age could become diagnosed with this condition, but it is especially impacting women.  The National Center of PTSD shows that around 10% of women have PTSD sometime in their lives compared to only 4% of men.  What are some of the symptoms of this disorder?  What is the cause of its gender disparity?  How does it impact women compared to men?  Let’s examine these questions and much further.

    Around 10% of women are suffering from PTSD compared to only 4% for men.

    Symptoms of PTSD

    PTSD symptoms fall into four main groups.  These groups are known as intrusion, avoidance, arousal and reactivity, and cognition and mood.  One thing I’ve learned about this condition is it impacts women differently from men.  Women may feel more symptoms that consist of:

    • Anxiety and depression.
    • Being easily startled.
    • Numb with no emotions.
    • Sensitive to reminders of the trauma.

    Another thing to know is that women’s symptoms typically last longer than men.  Also, on average, they normally wait 4 years to see a doctor, compared to a year for men.

    Possible Causes for this Gender Disparity

    There has been some research to support this gender disparity in PTSD.  Some of the possible causes include the type of trauma, culture and gender roles, and coping strategy.  Men are more likely to experience traumatic events involving physical assaults, accidents, and disasters.  Women are more prone to experience rape or sexual assault as a child.

    Also, the way women cope with stress is another factor regarding why they go through PTSD more than men.  A recent study shows that women respond to stressful situations by tending and befriending people.  This means that they are more than likely to reach out to people for stress relief or take care of people around them.  All of these things make women more likely to suffer from PTSD than men.

    Forms of Treatment for PTSD

    To treat PTSD, patients normally go through different types of therapies or medications.  Sometimes, it could be a combination of both.  Some of the most common therapies include:

    • Cognitive processing therapy (CPT)
    • Prolonged exposure therapy (PET)
    • Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR)
    • Anti-depressant Medicines

    All of these are common examples of treating the PTSD condition.

    PTSD is a mental disorder that is impacting many people, but especially women today.  If you or someone you know is exhibiting signs of having this condition, please seek help immediately.  We all must take measures to protect our mental health.  Please like or share this post with someone you love going through this condition and help them to see that they are not alone.

  • What Type of Music Keeps you from Feeling Depressed?

    When it comes to music, every one of us has a preference.  I listen to a variety of music, but my particular favorite style is R&B.  There are plenty of great songs that could put you in a good mood.  We all have a favorite song or style of music that helps us combat depression.  Music has the power to encourage and lift us.

    Music has a big impact on our mental health.

    Music has Power

    As was mentioned in an earlier post I’ve written, the type of music we listen to definitely has an impact on our mental health.  It could reduce stress and depression.  Finding the right type of music with the best lyrics could change or elevate your mood for the day ahead.  But what types of music could effectively do those things?  Let’s take a look at the best genres and even some of the best songs for when you’re feeling down.

    Best Music for Fighting Stress

    Stress is one of the biggest signs of depression.  Certain genres of music have that strong ability to reduce this.  Soft, ambient music like Irish pop singer-songwriter Enya’s hit “Only Time” is great in calming you down after a stressful day.  Loud, alternative rock music after a stressful day wouldn’t be such a good idea.  Try light soft pop music or smooth jazz to calm down your mood.

    Music for Improving Focus

    When you start to develop that feeling of depression, you start to lose focus and lack motivation.  You also start to lose the ability to pay attention.  However, many people use music to accomplish those important activities around the house like cleaning. 

    Some people prefer the instrumental version of their favorite songs.  Some turn to ambient or classical music for help to focus.  However, some people like upbeat, happy tunes like Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” to help them get back to work.

    Music Therapy and Depression

    Some mental health experts use music therapy to help a patient dealing with depression.  This is a clinical use of music interventions that is similar to occupational therapy.  A credentialed professional uses music therapeutically to address the cognitive or psychological functioning of a patient.  Research shows that it offers several benefits for people dealing with depression and anxiety.  This form of therapy helps build up their self-esteem, boosts their motivation, and offers a safe emotional release.

    While music therapy can certainly help, a person dealing with clinical depression must get the help they need from a certified medical professional.  If you know someone severely dealing with this mental condition, encourage them to seek help as soon as possible.  Feel free to share that favorite song or music that lifts you when you’re feeling depressed in the comments below.  Be sure to like or share this post with someone you love.       

  • What Happens when OCD and ADHD Coexist

    I’ve written about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) several times in my blog regarding its basic symptoms and how it could affect women.  But I’ve never touched on what could happen to any person, whether it’s a woman or not when they start experiencing this condition along with another condition.  One disorder that bears some similarities to ADHD is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD.

    Some people with ADHD have also experienced some OCD symptoms.  What happens to a person’s mental state when they start experiencing both of these conditions?  Here are some things you need to know when ADHD and OCD start to coexist.

    What is OCD?

    OCD is a serious anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behavioral actions.  If left unchecked, this mental health condition could impact your daily life.  OCD could fall into four categories.  These include hoarding, checking, contamination, and intrusive thoughts. 

    A person who has OCD usually has high levels of anxiety, frightening obsessions, and time-consuming compulsions.  Statistically, this lifelong debilitating disorder affects both men and women equally.  If this condition alone could wreak havoc on a person’s mental state, just imagine what it’s like when combined with the ADHD condition.

    What ADHD looks like with a Person with OCD

    From what I’ve read in an article from ADDitude magazine, a couple of the four categories mentioned earlier do look different when a person has both ADHD and OCD.  Hoarding does look differently with ADHD compared to having OCD alone.  People with ADHD usually hold on to items for later usage, while people with OCD are motivated by the idea of not ridding themselves of old stuff.  Clutter tends to aggravate the symptoms of a person with ADHD, while people with OCD aren’t as bothered by it.

    Clutter tends to aggravate the symptoms of a person with ADHD.

    Body-focused repetitive behaviors are a little different as well.  The function of these behavioral actions in ADHD people is mainly to provide stimulation and arousal.  For individuals with ADHD and OCD, these behaviors can be appealing and provide some stress relief.

    Treatment Methods for ADHD and OCD

    Some of the most common ways to treating ADHD and OCD are behavioral therapy and psychopharmacology.  Psychopharmacology involves a combined pharmacotherapy treatment plan of both SSRIs and stimulants to treat both disorders.  These stimulants are meant to increase attention and focus, but they can lead an individual with another type of OCD to focus more on obsessive thought.

    Another form of treatment is behavioral therapy.  This is also known as Exposure Plus Response Prevention and it is the first line of treatment for OCD.  During these therapy sessions, the patient is coached into being exposed to the obsessive thoughts that create anxiety.

    There is still a lot we have to learn about different mental disorders.  But when two of these disorders start to exist in one person, this could be a real hard thing to tackle.  If you know someone who may be dealing with symptoms of both ADHD and OCD, feel free to share this in the comments section below.  As always, feel free to like or share this post with someone you know and love.       

  • A Neuroscientist Shares What it’s Like to Live with Dementia

    I recently read another very interesting article about dementia, but it was discussing a neuroscientist’s firsthand experience with the condition.  Dr. Barbara Lipska, who is now in remission with the condition, became diagnosed with melanoma in January 2015 that had spread to her brain.  This led to her overall brain functioning failing and she beginning to exhibit symptoms of dementia and schizophrenia.

    However, just when doctors were trying to figure out what to do, the immunotherapy prescribed to her worked, and eight weeks later, she was back to normal.  Amazingly, she is now able to recall her unfortunate experience with clarity.  Not too many dementia patients can do this.  Here are some of the details she shares in her 2018 book, “The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery,” about life as a dementia patient.

    Growing Distorted Awareness

    One change Lipska mentions in her behavior was her distorted awareness of things.  She suddenly had difficulty recognizing things and places she known for years.  When she would go out running or biking, she found herself getting lost in her neighborhood.  She even started getting lost driving home from work. 

    Her diminishing awareness has caused her to become confused about things moving around in her house.  She couldn’t recognize her problems with getting around.  She started to develop some mistrust with her family and become irritable.  Despite being a neuroscientist who is trained at recognizing these symptoms in others, she was unable to realize she was starting to experience them.

    The brain goes through various unfortunate changes when it is diagnosed with dementia.

    Personality Changes

    Another aspect she mentions about living with dementia is the personality changes.  This is definitely what we’re seeing in my aunt’s condition.  These sorts of things happened to Lipska as her personality shifted from assertive and strong to irritable and impulsive.  While she wasn’t able to notice these changes, her friends and family were.  These changes in her personality caused them to send her to the doctor for a brain scan.  That was when they discovered an extreme swelling in her brain.  Although these changes were painful to watch for her family, they were still the key to saving her life.

    Struggled with Anticipating her Body’s Needs

    With the diminishing awareness and personality changes, there were also problems with anticipating her body’s needs.  Lipska no longer developed a build-up towards hunger, fatigue, or the need to go to the bathroom.  She lost the ability to plan for what her body needs and urges started to come on quickly for her.  This has caused her to shut down her ability to focus on anything else.

    These were some of the behavioral changes this doctor shared in her 2018 book.  It’s amazing that this woman not only recovered from dementia but was able to recall her symptoms.  Her story is truly an inspiration for people going through this condition.  As usual, feel free to share this story with your loved ones.  

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