adhd Archives - The Minds Journal

July 11, 2019July 12, 2019

Decoding The Relationship Between ADHD and ASD

The relationship between children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Are you worried about your child’s hyperactive/ impulsive behaviour?

Is your child’s resistance to speak, bothering you?

You might not know that these are the signs and symptoms of early developmental disorders.

The common developmental disorders that are diagnosed are Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

People mostly assume these two disorders to be synonymous. But let me tell you it isn’t.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is a neuro- developmental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. It can occur between the ages of 2-12 years.

Here are the signs that says your child has ADHD:

Fidgeting with objects, things,
Randomly running out of classroom,
Violating classroom decorum,
Blurts out answers even before the question is completed.

Children with ADHD are often disliked at social situations due to their disruptive behavioral manifestations. They are marked as ‘disobedient’, ‘arrogant’, ‘misbehaving’ and ‘destructive’.

They are not warmly welcomed at any parties, people resist their own children from getting closer to child with ADHD, fearing they might inflict damage and pain.

These might strike as humiliation to the parents of children with ADHD . As a result they displace their anger over them further aggravating it and reinforcing their behavior.

Underlying cause for this may be tracked down to the lack of awareness among the parents, refusal to accept the fact that your child has ADHD because of the stereotypical outlook by the society.

Proper treatment can reduce the maladaptive behavior of the child.

Medication works on parts of the brain to control impulsive behaviors, improves the power of attention and concentration.

Behaviour therapy is effective for children with ADHD. It is executed by focusing on behavior modification. Training parents in order to manage their child’s impulsitivity can prove effective.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) defines a condition characterized by an inability to establish verbal and social communication accompanied by repetitive behaviors.

Common signs and symptoms of autism can be summarized as:

Deficits in social interaction, inability to initiate a conversation, comprehend or reciprocate feelings,
Repetitive and restricted activities in terms of speech, body language,
Lack of eye contact (only a fixed glance or stare),
Lack of speech production.

Symptoms of autism mainly appears between 1-3 years of age.

The world for children with autism is a ‘glass shell’, reeling in their surreal world with chain of thoughts and actions. They fail to grasp any interaction you try to form or communicate.

To gratify their need for food, objects(toys), they engage in ‘hand-to- hand pointing’. They would come to you, hold your finger and point to their desired object. Receiving it they forget about your existence.

As a parent, you need to be cautious for their safety because ‘sense of security’ for them is invalid. They can’t sense any approaching danger or spot any phoniness persisting in the environment or within people.

You might frown seeing a child with autism, grimacing on someone’s death. You possibly mark the child as ‘disdainful’, ‘socially deviated’ but emotions for them is frozen. They are emotionally inappropriate or ‘apathetic’.

“He’s just like the rest of us – amazing in his own right, and no better or worse than anyone else.” –Darren Groth

Treatments for autism can vary across a wide range.

Medication can be helpful to control accompanied seizures and violent behaviour. According to studies, medication is useful along with behaviour therapy.

Therapy like play therapy, where the art of communication, self help skills are improved through various forms of play activity.

Can ADHD and ASD occur co- morbidly?

It is not unusual if ADHD and ASD are mistaken as being the same or having similar symptoms. During the first few years from birth it is difficult to formulate a diagnosis for both ADHD and ASD.

Symptoms like an inclination towards minute items (parts of toys, wheels of a car) and inattentive nature and emotional numbness are common among both.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 14 % of children with ADHD also have ASD.

Conclusion:

Research are in progress to decipher the real links between ADHD and ASD and their suitable remedies.

Parental awareness and embracing a positive attitude towards these disorders are key to their children’s welfare.

The 5 Indigo Generations – Do you belong to one of them?

To which generation do you belong? Here are 5 Indigo generations.

To say that Indigo people just materialized on Earth in recent years would be wrong. Their manifestation is not a recent phenomenon at all and they have been on this planet for a long time indeed.

Having said that; it is also true that their numbers haven’t seen such a surge in quite some time.

The Blue Ones, as the people of the Indigo Ray are also called, were always on this planet, but they were always only a handful of them around.

That changed as soon as the twentieth century began to draw towards its close.

But one thing is certain, no matter how rare or far in between these people have manifested on earth, they have always been an integral part of humanity’s progress.

They have guided the world in the form of leaders and innovators, and whether or not they gained much recognition, they were always present.

But as mentioned before, there has been a definitive surge in their numbers since the past 50 or so years.

Among these, on careful observation, you can distinguish 5 distinct periods or generations, each of which spanned for the duration of approximately one decade.

Each of them has their own unique characteristics which distinguish them from the rest, as well as awakening years and auric values.

They are –

1) The Alpha Generation (#One)

This is the generation that manifested between the years 1958-1968. These were the people with blue-violet-green overlays when they were born, along with tan’s camouflaged.

For them, the years of awakening, i.e. those of Saturn’s return were 1986-1996. Approximately at 28 years of age. Therefore, it is quite clear that presently they have reached an age of post-awakening.

This is the time for them to rediscover and recover the gifts they have lost. Some of them have also reached the stage where they will transition into the Octarine phase.

2) The Beta Generation (#Two)

This generation was born between the periods spanning from 1968-1978. They were born with the same overlays like the ones before them, i.e. – blue-violet-green.

The only difference is that these overlays were not accompanied by the tan camouflage. Also for them, the years of awakening (i.e. Saturn’s return) was between 1996 and 2006.

Therefore, naturally, they too are in the years of their post-awakening.

3) The Gamma Generation (#Three)

This generation was born between the years 1978-1988. They are quite different from the two generations that preceded them because they have very few overlays, if at all.

Even in the case of an overlay, there isn’t much variety and it is most probably violet. Crystal or Octarine might also occur but the probability is very less.

This generation is unique in other ways too. This is the first generation to witness, what came to be referred to as the early occurrences of ADHD and ADD amongst the Blue ones in their childhood phase.

The duration for this generation’s awakening or Saturn’s return is between the years 2006 to 2016.

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March 18, 2018March 13, 2018

ADHD: Attention Dialed Into A Higher Dimension

October 7, 2017August 6, 2019

Anxiety Disorder: How to Understand and Control Your Own Toxic Thoughts

When your anxiety is too much and hard to be controlled, you might have the tendency of having one of the anxiety disorders which could be toxic and harmful for your own well-being.

The people who have anxiety disorders are living their lives in a bubble of insecurities; they can’t shut down their toxic thoughts since there is no an on-and-off switch for it.

If you are someone who’s struggling to understand their your own anxiety, here are some facts to help understand it:

1. Worrying and having an anxiety disorder is not the same.

It’s totally normal to worry or feel anxious about some things in life and everybody will feel worried on their daily basis. So, how can you tell if you’re just worried or if you’re suffering from anxiety?

It actually depends on how much time you spend your time worrying about things.

Generally, people will only tend to spend an average of 55 minutes a day worrying, while people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) will often spend over 300 minutes a day worrying.

Next time when you feel anxious, pay attention to the time that you’ve spent to be anxious.

2. Overthinking could be the source of your anxiety.

People with anxiety tend to overthink everything in their lives. They obsess towards the things they need to finish or taking care of.

They have their own scenarios in their heads; playing it over and over again until they can’t-do anything because they’re stuck with their own thoughts.

People with anxiety have countless ‘what-if?’ within their heads and it’s difficult for them to stop thinking about those scenarios.

It’s important for them to be reminded by the people in their surroundings, to stop overthinking about things and being busy instead of being occupied with their own thoughts.

3. Being scared and anxious is not the same.

People tend to say, “I’m scared that everything won’t work out fine.” Actually, being scared and having anxiety are two different things.

You can say that you’re scared when you know your exact fears; being bitten by a snake, falling from a high building, or being punished for something.

But, when you don’t know the source of your fears, it’s called anxiety. Anxiety occurs when you’re worrying over something that hasn’t happened yet and you have no exact reasons towards your anxiety; you’re just imagining the worst scenarios that possibly happen in the future.

4. Anxiety disorders are often accompanied by other related disorders.

GAD is often occurring along with depression and substance abuse.

Having anxiety will lead people to develop negative thoughts, the feeling of worthlessness, and even leading to self-injury or having suicidal thoughts because they feel no control over their mind.

Along with depression, anxiety disorders are also present in the cases of ADHD and eating disorder.

If you want to understand about anxiety disorders, it’s important to realize and know the symptoms of other related disorders as well.

5. Anxiety disorders can be triggered by environmental stress or traumatic life events.

Although some researchers stated that anxiety may be hereditary, it could also be triggered by being in a stressful situation or just experiencing a traumatic tragedy which could lead you to feel insecure about the future.

A life transition, such as being jobless, moving to a new place, or a changing life environment could be stressful for some people and it can lead them to have an anxiety disorder.

Losing your loved ones or having a terminally ill family member could also be the triggers for having anxiety – anyone can be afflicted with this form of mental illness.

6. Anxiety can be physically painful.

If you’re experiencing a regular headache, feeling tight around the chest, muscle tension, nausea, or heart palpitations and tummy trouble in a regular basis, you might pay attention to your thoughts and ask yourself whether you have anxiety or otherwise.

Every physical symptom is actually a direct result of the body’s fight and flight response; your anxiety makes the brain senses a threat and it will surge the body with neurochemicals to be ready to fight or run from the threat.

Having anxiety will make your body in an alert-mode all the time.

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September 13, 2017May 22, 2019

The Man Who ‘Discovered’ ADHD Makes A Startling Deathbed Confession

“ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” These were the words of Leon Eisenberg, the “scientific father of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder),” in his last interview he gave before his death at age 87 in 2009.

(While some have described Dr. Eisenberg’s statement as an “exaggeration,” many doctors are coming to the belated conclusion that ADHD is often “over diagnosed” by the use of “fuzzy diagnostic practices.” Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan, who is one of the world’s leading experts in child development, states:

“Let’s go back 50 years. We have a 7-year-old child who is bored in school and disrupts classes. Back then, he was called lazy. Today, he is said to suffer from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). . . . Every child who’s not doing well in school is sent to see a pediatrician, and the pediatrician says: “It’s ADHD; here’s Ritalin.” In fact, 90 percent of these 5.4 million kids don’t have an abnormal dopamine metabolism. The problem is, if a drug is available to doctors, they’ll make the corresponding diagnosis.)

Eisenberg made a luxurious living off of his “fictitious disease,” thanks to pharmaceutical sales. Coincidentally, he received the “Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research. He has been a leader in child psychiatry for more than 40 years through his work in pharmacological trials, research, teaching, and social policy and for his theories of autism and social medicine,” according to Psychiatric News.

Yes, it was even admitted that they are his THEORIES. The medical industry is using the guise of helping children to depersonalize and disconnect our children from a healthy, normal upbringing. Parents are placing their children on these drugs and subjecting them to what the world has to offer, when in fact all these children are looking for is their parents in hopes of being the blessing that God intended them to be.

In the United States, 1 out of 10 boys among 10-year-olds takes medication for ADHD on a daily basis . . . with increasing tendency.

American psychologist Lisa Cosgrove and others reveal the facts in their study “Financial Ties between DSM-IV Panel Members and the Pharmaceutical Industry.” They found that “of the 170 DSM panel members 95 (56 percent) had one or more financial associations with companies in the pharmaceutical industry. One hundred percent of the members of the panels on ‘Mood Disorders’ and ‘Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders’ had financial ties to drug companies.”

And they are reaping major benefits from this “fictitious disease.” For example, the assistant director of the Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School received “$1 million in earnings from drug companies between 2000 and 2007.”

Marc-André Gagnon and Joel Lexchin, a long-time researcher of pharmaceutical promotion, performed a study which shows that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4 percent of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4 percent for research and development in 2004. That is almost twice as much money to push their drugs on people than the amount of research to make sure it they’re safe!

This raises the following question: Are they safe?

Read the antidepressant black-box warning for yourselves, and you will be alarmed by the side effects listed on the inserts:

– Confusion

– Depersonalization

– Hostility

– Hallucinations

– Manic reactions

– Suicidal ideation

– Loss of consciousness

– Delusions

– Feeling drunk

– Alcohol abuse

– Homicidal ideation

Why would parents subject their children to drugs with such noted dangerous side effects?

Dr. Edward C. Hamlyn, a founding member of the Royal College of General Practitioners, in 1998 stated, “ADHD is fraud intended to justify starting children on a life of drug addiction.”

February 26, 2017July 27, 2019

Doctors Explain How Hiking Actually Changes Our Brains

While it may seem obvious that a good hike through a forest or up a mountain can cleanse your mind, body, and soul, science is now discovering that hiking can actually change your brain… for the better!

Hiking In Nature Can Stop Negative, Obsessive Thoughts

Aside from the almost instant feeling of calm and contentment that accompanies time outdoors, hiking in nature can reduce rumination. Many of us often find ourselves consumed by negative thoughts, which takes us out of the enjoyment of the moment at best and leads us down a path to depression and anxiety at worst. But a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that spending time in nature decreases these obsessive, negative thoughts by a significant margin.

To conduct this study, researchers compared the reported rumination of participants who hiked through either an urban or a natural environment. They found those who walked for 90 minutes in a natural environment reported lower levels of rumination and they also had reduced neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain related to mental illness. Those who walked through the urban environment, however, did not report decreased rumination.

The researchers noted that increased urbanization closely correlates with increased instances of depression and other mental illness. Taking the time to regularly remove ourselves from urban settings and spend more time in nature can greatly benefit our psychological (and physical) well-being.

Hiking While Disconnected From Technology Boosts Creative Problem Solving

A study conducted by psychologists Ruth Ann Atchley and David L. Strayer found that creative problem solving can be drastically improved by both disconnecting from technology and reconnecting with nature. Participants in this study went backpacking through nature for about 4 days, during which time they were not allowed to use any technology whatsoever. They were asked to perform tasks which required creative thinking and complex problem solving, and researchers found that performance on problem solving tasks improved by 50% for those who took part in this tech-free hiking excursion.

The researchers of this study noted that both technology and urban noise are incredibly disruptive, constantly demanding our attention and preventing us from focusing, all of which can be taxing to our cognitive functions. A nice long hike, sans technology, can reduce mental fatigue, soothe the mind, and boost creative thinking.

Hiking Outdoors Can Improve ADHD In Children

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is becoming more and more common among children. Children who have ADHD have a difficult time with impulse control and staying focused, they get distracted easily, and exhibit excessive hyperactivity.

While raising children who have ADHD can be difficult for parents, the usual solution — opting for prescription medication — may be doing more harm than good, particularly when natural solutions can work just as well. A study conducted by Frances E Kup, PhD, and Andrea Faber Taylor, PhD, found that exposing children with ADHD to “green outdoor activities” reduces symptoms significantly. The results of this study suggest nature exposure can benefit anyone who has a difficult time paying attention and/or exhibits impulsive behavior.

Hiking In Nature Is Great Exercise And Therefore Boosts Brainpower

We already know that exercising is fantastic for our overall well-being. Hiking is an excellent way to burn between 400 – 700 calories per hour, depending on your size and the hike difficulty, and it is easier on the joints than other activities like running. It has also been proven that people who exercise outside are more likely to keep at it and stick to their programs, making hiking an excellent choice for those wishing to become more active on a regular basis.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia found that aerobic exercise increases hippocampal volume — the part of the brain associated with spatial and episodic memory — in women over the age of 70. Such exercise not only improves memory loss, but helps prevent it as well. Researchers also found that it can also reduce stress and anxiety, boost self esteem, and release endorphins. Many people take medication to solve each and every one of these issues, but the solution to these ills may be a lot simpler than you think!

How Can You Begin To Start Hiking?

Luckily, hiking is one of the easiest and least expensive sports to get involved in, and it can have great benefits for the whole family, including grandma! Start out small and test your abilities. Do what works for you — if that means just walking through trails in a park, that’s fine. Any exercise outdoors is better than none. You can easily find maps of trails around your home online, and there are plenty of smartphone apps to map them out, too. I recommend turning off your signal and your phone while hiking though, so you can reap the most benefits of the hike (though it may be wise to at least carry it with you in case of emergency).

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November 5, 2016