Educating The Public On Anger Management – The Why’s And How’s

April 5th, 2008 depression Posted in mental depression, mental health, mental illness Comments Off

A Need to Educate

Several years ago I discovered the importance of integrating a structured anger management program into my private practice. I recognized that there were significant problems in managing anger that went hand and hand with aggressive behavior and behavior attributed to substance abuse. This was also the case where substance abuse was not a factor leading to a client’s maladaptive behavior. In some cases anger served a purpose by discharging tension and stress. Some clients experienced a momentary strong feeling of control, which led to unresolved conflict and aggressive acts.

In this age of media overload and the lack of effective skills to monitor and manage stress, it is necessary that new resources of information (the 411) be available to men, women and adolescents in order to avoid resultant anger and frustration that we see in daily life. My education and experience as an Anderson & Anderson Certified Anger Management Facilitator and Executive Coach, has successfully assisted me in gaining useful information in order to teach clients and counselors in simple and effective ways how to recognize the “red flags” that set up aggressive behaviors and destructive reactions. Anger management is a skill enhancement program which teaches practical skills in recognizing and managing anger, stress, assertive communication, emotional intelligence and improving interpersonal relationships.

What Is Anger?

Anger is a basic human emotion that everyone feels. According to the American Psychiatric Association, anger is a normal human emotion. It is not a pathological condition and is not listed as a defined illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Nervous and Mental Disorders. Anger is considered to be a lifestyle and is a reaction to an inner emotion which is used to express a feeling. Anger is energy and can be a signal that tells us something about ourselves, someone else, or a situation in which we find ourselves. It can serve a purpose by giving people the drive and determination to cope with difficult situations. It is important to recognize that anger is a secondary emotion, which means we feel something else first…even if we don’t notice it. For example, a primary emotion might be fear, frustration, disrespect or perhaps rejection. Learning how to identify this primary emotion and appropriately express one’s feelings before they are elevated to anger, is an important factor in emotional intelligence. Because anger is a “learned response”, we have the ability to unlearn negative reactions and “retrain” ourselves to respond in a healthy manner. When skills are not made available to help individuals with their set and solidified responses, it is evident that underlying anger problems add to the source of substance abuse and eventually affect depression and anxiety.

A Program for Understanding Anger

Everyday life is a challenge. We constantly face situations in which our self-control and communication skills are tested at work, at school, at home, on the roadways and with a myriad of personalities in the general public.

A certified anger management facilitator designs a program to help individuals gain a better understanding of acceptable and productive ways to express anger and eliminate violent and self-destructive behaviors. Clients learn to recognize and identify the role of individual responsibility in changing their maladaptive behaviors.

In this program, an assessment is given which is designed to determine the client’s level of functioning in the areas of anger, stress, communication and emotional intelligence. The client’s session is then based on the results of the assessment and skills are taught in these four areas. The same assessment is administered at the completion of the program to determine the success of their program. By gathering this information, the facilitator is able to provide clients with new insights into their life’s situations and educate with skills to transform destructive interactions into constructive responses.

Karen Golob, CAMF, CCDC, CH, owner of Anger Management Services, is a Certified Anger Management and Certified Executive Coaching professional helping individuals gain self-awareness, identify and develop strengths, and learn how to problem-solve in order to manage life’s challenges. Karen is Certified with the State of California as a Chemical Dependency Counselor and utilizes her extensive knowledge in substance abuse counseling when working with addicts who exhibit maladaptive behaviors with their anger. She offers private sessions that provide confidentiality, individual attention and anonymity. Her curriculum is based on the Anderson & Anderson model.

Karen is a Fellow of the American Assoc. of Anger Management Providers, a member of the National & California Assoc. of Drug and Alcohol Counselors, the American Counseling Assoc., and Speaker’s Bureau of Olive View/UCLA Medical Centers. She has a diverse and expansive background in teaching, training, public speaking and counseling.

Karen receives referrals from the Calif. Superior Courts, Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers, mental health professionals and those in the corporate and private sectors. She holds Certifications in Chemical Dependency Counseling, Anger Management, Executive Coaching and Clinical and Medical Hypnotherapy.

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10 Things You Should Know About Depression

April 2nd, 2008 depression Posted in Depression Symptoms, addiction, anti depression, antidepressant, antidepressants, anxiety and depression, anxiety depression, anxiety disorder, atypical depression, bipolar, bipolar depression, bipolar disorder, chronic depression, coping with depression, counseling, counselors, cures for depression, dealing with depression, depression, depression chat, depression diagnosis, depression disorder, depression drug, depression help, depression hurts, depression medication, depression medications, depression medicine, depression meds, depression pills, depression quiz, depression signs, depression treatment, depressive disorder, drugs for depression, eating disorders, family counseling, fighting depression, help for depression, insomnia, manic depression, manic depression treatment, medication for depression, medications for depression, mental depression, mental health, mental illness, mood disorder, overcoming depression, panic attack, panic attacks, psychologist, psychotherapist, psychotherapy, seasonal depression, severe depression, signs of depression, stress and depression, substance abuse, symptoms of depression, treating depression, treatments for depression, weight loss Comments Off

Always feeling under the weather? Always not in the mood to be around others and have a good time? If you’re suffering from prolonged sadness for quite some time now, you should face these bouts of depression and get yourself diagnosed by a psychiatrist, they’re doctors who can actually help you out with your problem. Here are 10 Things You Should Know About Depression.

1. In the US alone, depression affects an approximate of 10 million citizens every year. An estimation of 1 out of 4 adults is said to have experienced depression throughout their existence. When it comes to treating depressed women, antidepressants and psychotherapy are commonly used – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs to be particular. Both of these methods can effectively deal with mild to moderate depression.

2. Genuine depression is more than a mood. It’s a mental illness brought on by a physical cause, a psychological cause, or both. Major depression is an extreme condition where there is no interest in activities of daily life, like eating, personal hygiene…even getting out of bed, and may be accompanied by attempts at suicide. When it’s that extreme, psychiatric care and medication are almost always required. Chances are, someone suffering from major depression would not be interested in reading this article or taking any actions to recover. So this article is written for and to those less extreme cases, where you know something is wrong and want to find some things you can do to aid in recovery.

3. Anxiety depression is actually characterized by all sorts of irregularities and erratic behavior from the person who is suffering from it, this is usually due to certain stress triggers that may tend to easily cause a person undue jitters and stress. Also, a lot of people who tend to get easily nervous over stressful activities are actually prone to having anxiety depression; it’s just a matter of being strong-willed when it comes to facing difficult and stress-prone activities. It may be pretty hard to overcome at first, but trying to be calm and cool in times of extreme pressure is what’ll actually save your mental health from going totally downward spiral.

4. Clinical depression or as some might call as ‘major’ depression, is actually the medical term for depression. Actually clinical depression is more of a disorder rather than an illness since it basically covers only those who are suffering from symptoms related to depression. Clinical depression is how doctors usually refer to “depression” when giving a diagnose of their patient. It’s basically just a medical term.

5. There’s a wide variety of anti-depressant depression medications available to help treat those who are suffering from depressive disorders. The more popular ones are those that are of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs variant then there are the tricyclics while the other popular variant is the monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAOIs. These depression medications (the SSRIs variant as well as the other newer depression medication available in the market) actually to be a much safer alternative than the tricyclics, since they have fewer side-effects as opposed to the tricyclics depression medication variant.

6. Manic depression or Bi polar manic depression is a serious medical condition that causes alterations in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Unlike the typical mood swings a normal person experiences, the symptoms of bi polar manic depression are much more severe. It often attacks when a person experiences an unusually great deal of stress, whether from work, school or family. Research also suggest that Bi polar manic depression could be hereditary, or that there may be a physical problem with the brain systems that control our mood. For women, it can also be triggered by childbirth or during menopause.

7. The majority people with depression never look for help, although the majority will react to treatment. Treating depression is above all important because it affects you, your family, and your work. Some people with depression try to harm themselves in the false belief that their feeling will never changes.

8. By eating the right, you can boost your brain chemicals and fight off the effects of depression. Extreme sugar levels can also cause brain cells to die and the chemicals to decrease production, once again allowing depression to set in. When people get depressed, their appetite is also affected and they eat too much or not enough. Proper diet can help you maintain not only your weight, but also keep depression away.

9. Antidepressants prescribed for depression work by slowing down the absorption of neurotransmitters in the brain. These chemicals are what help the brain function normally and they are directly involved in influencing a person’s mood, appetite, concentration, sleeping, and pain receptors. The medication restores the chemical balance in the brain and eases the symptoms the patient is suffering from.

10. Depression and its normal symptoms should not be ignored. It is an abnormal emotional state that can be introduced by severe sadness, despair and discouragement. It might even lead to a lamentable outcome. However, treating it can be done in many ways.

My name is David and I am a freak of lists. That’s why I build the 10 about site. If you want to learn more “10 things you should know” about different topics just come to 10about.info.

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