Psychological Back Pain

Psychological back pain is one of the most common forms of chronic pain, but is rarely diagnosed for what it truly is... A large percentage of ongoing back ache complaints are not caused by a physical problem. Yes, a physical abnormality might exist, but the condition is purely coincidental and not the actual reason for the pain. Widespread and continuing research shows little correlation between most of these structural issues and the incidence of symptoms. In essence, many people have herniated discs, minor spinal curvatures, vertebral misalignments and arthritis, but have no pain at all. Psychological back pain is 100% real !!! There is no doubt about that fact. The pain is not imaginary. The pain is not exaggerated. Unlike injury or disease which has a purely anatomical causative process, the symptoms of psychosomatic conditions are sourced in the mind. Psychological pain is never forgotten. Emotionally traumatic events, ethical conflicts, loss of loved ones, unresolved issues, anger and guilt are just some of the reasons behind the need to repress our suffering. It is these repressed issues that actually cause psychological back pain. 








                                                                                Mrs. Anita Chaudhary
                                                                                (Clinical Psychologist)
                                                                                       ASHA USA

EMOTIONAL HEALTH

Emotionally healthy people can manage stress and their emotions. They bounce back when bad things happen, build strong relationships and lead productive, fulfilling lives.It takes time and effort to cultivate emotional health, but there’s a huge payoff.  The more you make healthy choices that strengthen your emotional health, the better you’ll feel. The good news is you can learn to handle stress, rise to meet challenges, bounce back from disappointment, stay healthy, and enjoy your life. A good therapist knows how to listen, helps you identify and understand self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, encourages you to make positive changes, and motivates you to learn and grow. But your therapist cannot do the work for you. You must be an active participant in the process. It can be very helpful to talk about your problems to close friends and family members. But sometimes, we need help that the people around us aren’t able to provide. When you need extra support, an outside perspective, or some expert guidance, talking to a therapist or counselor can help. While the support of friends and family is important, therapy is different. Therapists are professionally-trained listeners who can help you get to the root of your problems, overcome emotional challenges, and make positive changes in your life.

                                                                                              MRS. ANITA CHAUDHARY

                                                                                                      (Clinical Psychologist)

                                                                                                              ASHA USA

Ten ways to improve your quality of life

1. Think daily. Meditate. Call it what you will but spend time each day alone with your thoughts. There’s also a reason that this is the first step in the list. Doing the other things in the remaining nine suggestions without taking some time to reflect almost negates any benefit gained elsewhere.

2. Get in the zone. Not only will these be your most productive moments in life (the 20% of the time where you accomplish 80% of the results) but it will be a boost to your confidence that will alter the decisions you make elsewhere in life.

3. Make it a point to do something bold every day. This might mean talking to someone that you generally wouldn’t talk to or starting a project that you feel intimidated by.

4. Learn something new. Pick a topic, preferably something you know nothing about and learn something about it. A good source of inspiration for this can be the newspaper or Wikipedia.

5. Debate something. Find a friend you can debate with who has ideas that are different from your and who won’t be offended by debating them–this is easier said than done, but it can provide you with some of the best mental stimulation possible.

6. Spend time with a child. If you have one, consider yourself lucky, if you don’t, I bet you have friends who would be happy to let you borrow theirs for a few minutes (or hours). It doesn’t matter what age they are, children see the world entirely different.

7. Go outside. If you don’t naturally spend time outside, make it a point to do it more. There’s something about the expanse of the sky that will bring out your inner philosopher.

8. Recognize what makes you happy. Reflect on the parts of your day that bring you real satisfaction. Try to incorporate more of what made you happy yesterday into today.

9. Stop broken thoughts. Broken thoughts are those subtle patterns that aren’t quite big enough to fall into the bad habits category. This means that despite their harmful effect they often escape under the radar. Broken thoughts often take the form of justifications

10. Don’t stress about it.




                                                                                                    Mrs. Anita Chaudhary
                                                                                                     (Clinical Psychologist)
                                                                                                            ASHA USA

How can u tell if the problem is ADHD?

It might help to ask yourself some questions about your child's behaviour. In fact, if you've talked with your doctor about your child's behaviour, your doctor may have already asked you some of these questions.  

How long has my child been too active? Hyperactive children with ADHD have had problems with hyperactive, impulsive behavior since before age six.  Also, children with ADHD are often described by their parents as being fussy and difficult to quiet in infancy. Sustained restlessness, even when eating or at bedtime, is characteristic of children with ADHD.
Is my child's restlessness and impulsivity a problem in several different settings? ADHD is less likely to be present if your child only shows behavioural problems at home, but not in other places, such as at school or at the grocery store. 
When my child is misbehaving, is he off in a world of his own or is he looking over his shoulder to see if I'm watching him? Children with ADHD cannot control at least some of their hyperactive, impulsive behaviour. Suspect ADHD if your child appears "off in a world of his own" and does not respond to you when, for example, he is climbing on a table, jumping on the sofa or misbehaving in some other way. 
Am I primarily angry with my child or am I primarily frustrated? The hyperactivity of children with ADHD is irritating, but parents can sense that their child simply can't--as opposed to won't--sit still or quiet down. This is frustrating.
Can my child stick to activities, or is the house littered with a trail of unfinished games and projects? Children with ADHD often lose interest in an activity in five minutes--or even less. They go from one activity to another, and another and another. You may ask your child many times to clean up, but he or she will not even be able to focus long enough to do that!
My child can watch cartoons on television for a long time. Does this rule out ADHD? Children with ADHD are often able to keep their attention on the fast-paced world of cartoons and video games. If your child's attention stays glued to the screen for programs such as cartoons, suspect ADHD. Often, such children will keep their eyes on the screen, but will be constantly fidgeting their legs and arms.

Time Management

        Time management is the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. Some of the techniques for time management are Focuses your mind on important objectives

v  You are less likely to forget to do tasks

v  Writing a list helps order your thoughts

v  It helps show the bigger picture

v  You don't need to hold everything in your head.

v  It saves time

v  It helps you decide on priorities: the most important and the most urgent

v  You are less likely to become sidetracked

v  You get the reward of ticking off your achievements

v  You feel more in control

v  You have a record of what you've done

v  You always have something to work on

                                                                                                  Megha Razdan
                                                                                               (Counseling Psychologist)
                                                                                  ASHA USA MULTISPECIALITY CLINIC

Taboo word “SEX”

It’s quite interesting in India for girls till marriage sex is seen as taboo but immediately after marriage the biggest expectation that the in-laws have is to give a chirag to the family. Along with other change in role, the sexual role of a female also immediately changes. This change at time comes as a shock to the girl who was seen as good daughter of their parents before marriage. I surely don’t here mean that every girl should involve in sexual activities before marriage but I recommend that the taboo or a ban on girls to talk about their sexuality and sexual relationship needs to be removed. CBSE policies to introduce Sex education in school have given girls a platform to know about their sexuality and understand responsible sexual relationship from an authentic source. This will help our country to address various issues like Teenage pregnancy, STDs, AIDS, etc. It would teach the coming generation Responsible Sexual Relationships which would be emotionally and physically satisfying for the couple.

                                                                                                              Ms. Deepali Bedi

                                                                                            (Clinical Psychologist & Psychotherapist)

                                                                                                               ASHA USA

Domestic Violence & Psychological Problems

Psychological problems start interfering with physical health, emotional well being, work productivity, relationships and ability to deal with normal life situations, you need to talk to someone like a psychologist. For many victims of domestic violence, psychological problems are created by their situation, and leads to more violence. Post traumatic stress disorders, depression, anxiety, disassociation and substance abuse can all be results of violent domestic situation. In other words, it has been observed by psychologists that intimate partner violence or abuse and psychological problems interact in a vicious cycle that obstructs the victim’s capacity to take any action in terms of stopping the violence. Environmental factors can either serve to protect the victims or facilitate domestic violence. Psychologists have observed that people with trauma react angrily to stress a situation – which gets into the ways of resolving the traumas related to emotional disorders. It is often found that women hesitate to exit abusive relationships due to guilt. Coping methods like denial, subservience and avoidance are manifestations of depression and never help solve the real problems. Economic dependence and the attitude of society along with a mental conditioning regarding gender roles keep women involved in abusive domestic situation for life time. 

                                                                                                    Mrs. Anita Chaudhary

                                                                                                    (Clinical Psychologist)

                                                                                                          ASHA USA