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Myths And Facts About Domestic Violence You Should Be Aware Of!

Post author:admin
Post published:June 19, 2021
Post category:POSTS

Did you know that, statistically, 85% of women are victims of domestic abuse? Or that young boys who witness domestic abuse are twice as likely to abuse their partners and children as adults?

Domestic abuse or domestic violence is a sensitive issue and not very openly discussed. Because of its sensitivity, there have been many myths about domestic violence and abuse.

The trauma domestic violence leaves in its wake can stay with the victim for a long time. While recovering from trauma is not easy as it sounds, with the right help and support, it can be possible.

The mental and emotional impacts of domestic abuse are intense. One of the best ways to heal and recover from trauma is to be educated and be aware of the misconceptions about domestic violence. It is always better to be well-informed than be presumptuous.

Below are some of the common myths about domestic violence and the truths about them.

5 Myths And Facts About Domestic Violence

Myth #1: It’s domestic abuse only when it’s violent and physical.

Domestic Violence myths fact 1

Fact: When we hear the term ‘domestic violence or ‘domestic abuse’, the image our minds conjure up is images of physical attack or sexual abuse. In truth, while physical abuse is a form of domestic violence, it is not necessarily the only form of abuse. Domestic violence can take many forms, including:

Physical abuse is a rare act of violence, initially. Abusers often begin by manipulating and verbally demeaning their victims, reducing their self-esteem.

Myth#2: Alcohol and drugs are to be blamed for the abuse.

Domestic Violence myths fact 2

Fact: While it is easy to blame abuse and the consequences of one’s actions on alcohol and drugs, it is not always the case. These substances only inflame the abuse but are rarely the cause of it. Many abusers are sober when they abuse their victims. Some people are just aggressive and may lash out at their partners in the form of violence or abuse.

Myth #3: Many abusers grow up in abusive households.

Domestic Violence myths fact 3

Fact: As I mentioned before, young boys who witness abuse in their childhood are twice as likely to abuse their partners and children. Not always, though. The majority of people who’ve witnessed abuse in their childhood are outraged with such actions and do what they can to prevent anything like that from occurring again. Some people even use their past experiences of domestic abuse and violence to bring positive change in their as well as other survivors’ lives.

Myth #4: Men are as likely to experience domestic abuse as women.

Domestic Violence myths fact 5

Fact: Men are indeed as likely to experience domestic violence as women, however, according to statistics, domestic abuse is one of the leading causes of harm to women (more than muggings and rape). I mentioned before as well that 85% of women are victims of domestic violence. Worldwide, 1 in every 4 women experiences domestic abuse or intimate partner violence. Men experience abuse too but women are a more likely target for domestic abuse and family violence.

Myth #5: The victim can just walk away from their abuser.

Fact: Many people believe that a victim of domestic abuse can just walk away from their abuser. And as it may seem like an easy choice, in reality, it is probably not as easy as it looks. Abusive partners are manipulative and controlling.

Leaving and walking away from an abusive partner or spouse is difficult because of many reasons:

1. Women with children are partially (or in some cases, fully) dependent on their partner, financially.

2. In many cultures, a woman walking or leaving her husband’s house is a mark of shame.

3. Abusive partners make it so that their victim’s self-esteem is essentially non-existent, making them feel they are unable to manage on their own.

4. Many abusers also threaten their victims to make them compliant and making it so that the victim feels it is in their best interest to stay with their abusive partners.

Get Help…

If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence or abuse, please immediately contact these helpline numbers:

National Commission for Women (India) – +91-72177 35372
National Domestic Violence Hotline – 1-800-799−7233
SAMHSA Helpline – 1-800-622-4357
National Sexual Assault Hotline – 1-800-656-4673

You can also reach us at info@calmsage.com or contact us on Facebook or Instagram. We are always here to help you!

We are here for you!

Take care, be safe!

At What Age Does Mental Illness Start? – Psychology Today

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Post published:June 18, 2021
Post category:POSTS

Why it is important to know when mental disorders start

Knowing at what age mental illness typically starts is highly important information for psychologists. When it is known when a disorder typically starts, early prevention measures and early interventions can be conducted at the right time. This improves the long-term well-being of the patient compared to a situation where therapy started years after the beginning of a disorder.

A new large-scale study on the onset of mental disorders

To provide robust estimates of when mental illness starts, data from as many patients as possible should be integrated. This is why Solmi and co-workers (2021) just conducted a meta-analysis of 192 studies investigating the onset of mental disorders. A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that integrates the results of many different scientific studies. It has the advantage of having a larger sample size, increasing statistical power, and rendering the analysis less likely to be affected by characteristics of individual studies.

Overall, the 192 studies analyzed by Solmi and co-workers (2021) included data from more than 700,000 patients diagnosed with a mental disorder. Besides the age of onset for different disorders, the scientists also analyzed the percentage of people that developed a mental disorder before the age of 14, 18, and 25 years.

Results show that mental disorders often start earlier than expected

When the data from all 192 studies were integrated, the authors found that the peak age of onset for mental disorders was 14.5 years. About 34.6 percent of patients showed a disorder before the age of 14, 48.4 percent before the age of 18, and 62.5 percent before the age of 25 years. This shows that for almost 50 percent of patients, mental disorders start before they reach adulthood, highlighting the importance of early intervention and prevention measures for mental health issues in adolescents.

In a second step, the scientists also analyzed the age of onset for different forms of mental disorders. In ascending peak age on onset, here is what they found:

There were no significant differences between male and female patients regarding the age of onset.

Implications of the study

If there is one thing that the study clearly shows, it is that mental health issues in adolescents should be treated seriously. People often have the idea that most mental health conditions start in adulthood, and only developmental disorders start in childhood. When adolescents show mental issues, parents sometimes think that they will “grow out of it” or “it is just a phase.” The study shows that such ideas are wrong, and mental issues in adolescents need to be treated as in almost 50 percent of patients, mental disorders start in this life phase.

Hospices Mobilize to Better Serve Mentally Ill Patients – Hospice News

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Post published:June 17, 2021
Post category:POSTS

Access and quality of hospice care for patients with serious mental illness are rising concerns among providers. Hospices are increasingly recognizing the need to better understand the unique challenges these patients face as they reach the end of life, with cries for further research growing louder. Education and awareness around mental health will be key for hospices to bridge gaps to patients with serious mental illness and their families, along with expanding their interdisciplinary care teams to include psychiatric care professionals.

Research indicates significant disparities in end-of-life care exist for those living with severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI). Roughly 6% of the U.S. population have an SPMI that is chronic or recurrent, significantly impairs functioning or requires ongoing intensive psychiatric treatment, according to research from the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

The unique and sometimes complex needs of patients with serious mental illness can stretch beyond the scope of traditional hospice care. Hospice and palliative care providers are working to improve access and quality of care for these patients.

“There’s a perpetual balancing around mental health, but hospices need to do more,” Brian Mistler, chief of people, culture, and clinical operations officer at Vynca, told Hospice News. “We know that facing the issues around grief and advance care planning can be challenging for families — adding components of mental illness multiplies these challenges. It can also exacerbate the complexity of grief, as individuals may have struggled for a long time to care for or cope with the impacts of their loved one’s mental illness.”

According to Mistler, the health care system is failing those with mental illness, and hospices are among those that need to improve support systems for these patients. Mistler was president and chief operations officer for the palliative care provider ResolutionCare, which advanced care planning tech company Vynca acquired earlier this month.

One in 20, or 5.2%, of adults nationwide, had a serious mental illness (SMI) in 2019, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Nearly 2.8% or 7 million adults in the United States suffer from bipolar disorder each year, reported the National Alliance on Mental Illness, while people with schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder number 1.5 million and 3.5 million, respectively.

Individuals with SPMI are known to experience more inequities in care on average than those without, according to research from the Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, which reported that currently little is known about hospice use among individuals with SPMI, including what factors contribute to the use of hospice services.

Individuals with SMI are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases and die younger than the general population, according to the researcher, Diana Hanan, a family nurse practitioner for Massachusetts-based MedOptions, a national provider of behavioral health services in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.

“More education and training on working with individuals with SMI could really benefit hospice providers,” Hanan told Hospice News. “Hospice providers should know that many people with serious mental illnesses are able to manage their symptoms with medications, and do not exhibit bizarre behavior or violence. There’s some fear on the part of providers — this expectation that individuals with SMI are dangerous or unpredictable, and because of this some providers are reluctant to work with this population. Hospice providers should let these individuals know that they are there to support whatever needs they have and not to prescribe a specific treatment.”

Individuals with serious mental illnesses may have difficulty trusting medical providers due to negative past experiences, which might have included involuntary hospitalizations or medication, according to Hanan. Building up trust and understanding is critical for hospices to be able to provide good care to individuals with serious mental illness, she said.

Psychiatric conditions evolve as patients age, posing challenges for hospices working to better understand the parameters of their needs and goals of care. Delving deeper into a patient’s electronic health records can help hospices to gain a fuller picture, Hanan told Hospice News.

“One note on incomplete data in EHRs: psychiatric diagnoses can change over time, and sometimes initial diagnoses do not accurately reflect the particular emotional and cognitive struggles that an individual with a serious mental illness has,” Hanan said. “Unfortunately, psychiatric diagnoses can ‘follow’ an individual for a long time. To most effectively treat an individual with SMI, a provider needs to assess current symptoms and gather more information if necessary.”

To provide high-quality care for mentally ill patients, hospices should work with the patient’s entire medical care team and consult a psychiatrist, reported the Disability Services & Legal Center.

Focused training for hospice staff around the specific needs of patients with SMIs or SPMIs can go a long way to improving connection and comprehension, according to Mistler, along with networking with other agencies and providers specializing in psychiatric care.

“It’s nearly impossible for any agency to do this alone,” said Mistler. “A little bit of focused training can go a long way. Invite trainers to talk about those differences and help staff prepare — from the first phone call to recommendations around non-compliance. Just making people aware that mental health deserves attention as its own set of concerns, and that those concerns impact all the others.”

What’s the difference between mental health and wellbeing?

Post author:admin
Post published:June 17, 2021
Post category:POSTS

These two terms have increased in popularity over the past decade, but what’s the difference?

These days, we’re speaking about mental health and wellbeing more than we ever have before, and it’s making a real difference. One in four people will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime, and so the more that we keep on talking about it, and challenging the stigma surrounding it, the better for all of us.

As the conversation continues, you may have noticed certain buzz words that keep on cropping up together: mental health and wellbeing. But is there a difference between the two? Which one should we be using? Are they referring to different things? Let’s break it down.

The difference between mental health and wellbeing

Is there a difference? Well, the answer is yes, and also no.

Think of ‘mental health’ the way that you would ‘physical health’ – we all fall on a spectrum. On one end, we have daily health (nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc.) and on the other side, we have physical, diagnosable conditions. It’s the same with mental health – we have daily mental health (stress, anxiety, changes in mood, etc.) that we all experience, and then we have mental health conditions like depression, BPD, PTSD, and bipolar, to name a few.

When people talk about ‘wellbeing’, it’s most likely that they’re talking about our everyday sense of mental health, the things that we go through on a daily basis – such as workplace stress, feeling burnt out, or going through a difficult time emotionally – rather than the full spectrum of mental health including conditions.

These are things that all of us can relate to – they’re part of the human experience. There are also very basic things that we can all do to support our wellbeing, such as making time for self-care, taking care of our bodies through nutrition and exercise, and setting boundaries in our lives. That said, poor wellbeing can sometimes lead to mental health conditions and, so, if you are struggling, it’s always worth reaching out to your support network or a professional.

Factors that can affect our mental health and wellbeing

Relationships
Careers
Nutrition
Exercise
Money problems
Work-life balance
Sleep
Self-esteem

Does language matter?

When it comes to the difference between mental health and wellbeing, some people might prefer one over the other when talking about their own experiences, and that’s their choice. The key thing is to not pressure someone into labeling something that they’re not ready to do – no matter how helpful you personally may have found it.

It’s also important to always keep in mind the spectrum of mental health, and not to get so caught up in ‘everyday’ mental health and the self-help tips, that you minimize the reality of mental illnesses – where people often do need additional professional support and with which the challenges can be ongoing, making the journey about managing the condition rather than ‘overcoming’ or ‘fixing’ it.

Listen to the experiences of others, respect the language that they want to use, and consider what works for you. You may end up using ‘mental health’ and ‘wellbeing’ interchangeably as you talk about the things that you have experienced, or you may prefer one over the other.

Ultimately, being able to pinpoint how our daily ebbs and flows affect us, and the things in our lives that make us happy, or the boundaries that we need to put in place to feel safe and content, is the most important part of this conversation – and, whatever way you choose to talk about it, having that conversation is an important and supportive step forward.

Focus on emotions is key to improving heart health in people living with obesity

Post author:admin
Post published:June 17, 2021
Post category:POSTS

People living with obesity who attended a non-judgemental and personalised lifestyle modification programme improved their cardiovascular and mental health during just 10 weeks, according to a study presented today at EuroHeartCare — ACNAP Congress 2021, an online scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 Participant lost weight and achieved benefits in anxiety and depression and physical measurements including blood pressure.

“We focus on changing behaviours and improving people’s relationship with food,” said study author Ms. Aisling Harris, cardiac and weight management dietitian, Croi Heart and Stroke Centre, Galway, Ireland. “Many participants have tried diets with strict rules and have fears about foods they can’t eat. Our programme has no diet or meal plan, and no foods are excluded. Each person sets their own goals, which are reviewed weekly, and our approach is non-judgemental, which builds rapport and gains trust.”

“Obesity develops for multiple reasons and blaming someone for their weight can stop them from getting healthcare and advice,” said Ms. Harris. “It can lead to emotional eating and feeling too self-conscious to exercise. By identifying each person’s triggers, we can develop alternative coping strategies, all within the context of their job, caring responsibilities, external stresses, and so on. For some people, coming to a group like this might be the only social contact that they’ve had in the week or that they’ve had in years. People share experiences and support their peers.”

Both overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.2 Weight loss is recommended to reduce blood pressure, blood lipids, and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and thus lower the likelihood of heart disease. This study analysed the impact of a community-based, lifestyle modification programme on the physical and mental health of people living with obesity referred from a specialist bariatric service at Galway University Hospital. The researchers reviewed data from 1,122 participants between 2013 and 2019.

The 10-week Croí CLANN (Changing Lifestyle with Activity and Nutrition) programme started with an assessment by a nurse, dietitian and physiotherapist and baseline measurements of weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, fitness, and levels of anxiety and depression. Personalised goals and a management plan were agreed in collaboration with each patient.

Participants attended a 2.5-hour session each week for 8 weeks. The first 30 minutes were devoted to one-to-one goal setting. Next was a 1-hour exercise class led by the physiotherapist. A 1-hour health promotion talk followed on topics such as healthy eating, portion sizes, reading food labels, emotional versus physical hunger, stress management techniques (e.g. meditation), physical activity, sedentary behaviour, cardiovascular risk factors, and making and maintaining changes. Participants used activity trackers and kept food diaries to identify triggers for emotional eating.

In the last week, patients had an end of programme assessment with the nurse, dietitian and physiotherapist to look at outcomes. They were then referred back to the hospital.

At baseline, the average body mass index (BMI) was 47.0 kg/m2 and 56.4% of participants had a BMI above 45 kg/m2. In addition, 26.7% had type 2 diabetes, and 31.4% had a history of depression.

More than three-quarters of participants (78%) completed the programme. Psychosocial health was assessed using the 21-point Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), where 0-7 is normal, 8-10 is mild, 11-15 is moderate, and 16-21 is severe. Anxiety and depression scores decreased by 1.5 and 2.2 points, respectively, over the course of the programme. The proportion with an anxiety score greater than 11 at the start was 30.8% and reduced to 19.9%; for depression the corresponding proportions were 21.8%, falling to 9.5%.

The average reduction in body weight was 2.0 kg overall, with 27.2% of participants losing more than 3% of their initial weight. The proportion achieving recommended physical activity levels rose by 31%. There were significant reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and blood pressure. The proportion with high blood pressure fell from 37.4% at baseline to 31.1% at 10 weeks. In those with type 2 diabetes, the proportion achieving the recommended blood sugar target rose from 47.6% to 57.4%.

Ms. Harris concluded: “Nearly eight in ten people finished the programme which suggests that the content and format were acceptable. We observed improvements across all psychosocial and health outcomes during a relatively short period indicating that this could be a model of service delivery for other centres.”