The Jeffrey And Tracey Info Emporium

During the 28 years I have been interacting with bereaved people, one of the most frequent questions I have been asked is, “Who has the worst pain?” Do bereaved parents suffer more than widows and widowers? Do children whose parents die feel more agony than children who lose a sibling? Is it harder to watch a loved one suffer for a long time before death releases the victim than it is to answer the doorbell or the phone at midnight and suddenly hear the news of tragedy? Is suicide worse than homicide? Is the death of an “older” child more difficult to grieve than the death of a newborn or infant?

If there were one, clear and definitive answer to those questions, grieving could be neatly catalogued and mourners could be organized into convenient categories. Our comforters and caregivers would then be able to select from a predictable menu of helps, and everyone could get “healed” more quickly and efficiently. If only….

But the truth is it makes little difference how our loved ones died, at what ages, or what our relationships were named. The pain of grief is agony no matter how or when it happens.

Long-term dying is not better or worse than sudden deathit is different.

Mourning the death of an infant is not better or worse than mourning the death of a teenagerit is different.

The grief of the widowed is not better or worse than the grief of bereaved parentsit is different.

Death by homicide is not easier or harder than death by suicideit is different. And the list goes on and on…

There is no adequate preparation for the loneliness and emptiness that must be squarely faced when we finally come to the realization that we will never again in this life see that one who is so precious to us. In every case the mourning period can be just as painful and difficult for one as it is for another, but the grief needs of the bereaved can be very different.

When the relationship to a loved one was cemented with the permanent “super glue” of devotion and commitment, death causes a ripping apart that leaves the survivor with a devastating and gaping wound, regardless of how the death occurred or what the relationship was named.

However, if the adhesive that formed the relationship bond was simply “pressure sensitive,” the separation may involve no more than the sting of tape being quickly pulled off skin. The pain may be sharp but short-lived, regardless of the type of death or the kind of connection. It all depends on how bonded the survivor was to the deceased.

In our society, a “friendship” may not be taken as seriously as a blood relationship; an engagement may not be perceived as importantly as a marriage; the death of a parent may be assumed to be a more deeply felt loss than it truly was to the surviving child or children. And we must never assume that a long-term dying process has fulfilled the “grief quota” of the survivors who loved and lost!

It’s not fair to assume that if mourners have some advance warning that the death is coming, their grieving time is shorter or less intense. We must be careful not to confuse the natural relief that the deceased is finally beyond the reach of suffering with the assumption that the grief of missing them will be abated.

By inadvertently giving our society the message that certain kinds of relationships or certain kinds of experiences are “worse” or “better” than others, the grief support for some survivors may be in danger of being prematurely aborted or even ignored entirely.

Grief is an individual experience and comforters and caregivers must be careful to support the bereaved on a very personal, each-case basis. Mourners feel the pain of grief in direct proportion to their perception of how important the loved one was in their lives, and that value is entirely subjective.

There is really only one criteria that establishes the quality and quantity of mourning: The intensity of grieving is directly related to the intensity of bonding.

Good Grief Resources (http://www.goodgriefresources.com) was conceived and founded by Andrea Gambill whose 17-year-old daughter died in 1976. In 1977, she founded one of the earliest chapters of The Compassionate Friends, an international bereaved-parent support group. In 1987, she founded and edited Bereavement magazine, and in 2000, she joined Centering Corporation as Editor of their new magazine, Grief Digest. Twenty eight years of experience in grief support has provided valuable insights into the unique needs of the bereaved and their caregivers and wide access to many excellent resources.

Drama seems to be everywhere. No matter how many technological advances are created to save time or make life convenient, no one seems to have enough time and everyone is stressed to the limit. Drama prevents you from being all that you can be, hampers productivity, drains your energy and takes you out of your power.

Drama keeps you stirred up, immobilized, upset, unhappy and otherwise dysfunctional. Drama can be detected in your emotions, your beliefs, your patterns, your language, your assumptions, your guilt, your judgments your worry, and your behaviors.

However the patterns manifest in relationships, whether that relationship is with a boss, a co-worker, your children or your spouse.

In 1968 Dr Stephen Karpman, an award winning and highly respected psychiatrist, known for his contributions to transactional analysis, developed a concept that has helped people across the globe identify the drama and eliminate the destructive patterns that hamper productivity and damage relationships. The concept is known as the Karpman Drama Triangle.

Dr Karpman’s Drama Triangle is one model that I use in workshops to help people to “stop the drama” so that they can reach their potential and build rewarding relationships. Once you learn about the model, you become better at managing conflict whether you are a leader in your organizaiton or trying to parent teenagers.

In fact, the average person can use this tool quite effectively in assessing and understanding their own interpersonal relationship challenges, regardless of whether the challenges pertain personally or professionally.

Simplified Snapshot:

On the Drama Triangle, there are three major roles that people play: Persecutor, Rescuer and Victim. The diagram as Dr. Karpman originally developed it is an equilateral upside down triangle. The victim is at the bottom point. That is because the Persecutor and the Rescuer are in the one-up position. The Victim feels helpless, the Rescuer has the answer and the Persecutor tells you whose fault it is.

The behaviors and patterns evident in the victim are depression, fear neediness, low self-esteem and looking to others for answers.

The Rescuer exhibits controlling tendencies, giving unwanted advice, overextending, worrying, taking on other people’s problems and trying to be the hero.

The persecutor shows up in various forms: finger pointing, faultfinding, angry outbursts, lack of compassion, perfectionism, and judging others.

Drama might help you to get what you want at the present moment, but drama eventually keeps you from getting what you deserve.

What you want is a job, the title, more money, or prestige. What you deserve is to work with a company that incorporates your talents, intelligence and gifts, so that you can live a life of purpose and enjoy the profits of your labor.

Here’s an example of how the roles could show up in the business world: The boss is viewed as the persecutor because he or she keeps piling work on the assistant with seemingly no consideration of the assistant’s life. When someone advises the assistant simply talk to the boss about the workload, the assistant says, “I’ve tried and it before and I got nowhere!” Or “The boss doesn’t care about my life, the only thing that matters is the productivity.”

If you have been following along, you know who is playing the victim: the assistant. However, if the assistant complains about the boss to the Human Resources Manager, the HR manager now feels the pressure of the Rescue role, to make things better. Perhaps upon reading this you have noticed that when the assistant goes to the office to complain, the assistant has effectively become the persecutor and now the boss is the potential Victim.

What’s fun about using this model in workshops is to see how people view themselves in relationship to everyone else. For example many business owners and CEO’s can readily identify the patterns of their employees, and so often they see victim or persecutor behavior.

More often than not I hear employees identify their boss as a Persecutor. At the same time most people have difficulty identifying the roles they play.

There are two eye-openers for most people. First, if you are in the midst of turmoil, drama, stress, or you are otherwise having relationship problems you are on the Drama Triangle. Secondly, if you are patting yourself on the back thinking that you are the Rescuer, think again.

Dr. Karpman’s theory states that if you play one role, you eventually play them all. But here is the biggest eye opener of all. If you are in the midst of interpersonal challenges and you still can’t identify your part, then you are in the middle of the triangle, and that is called denial.

Marlene Chism is the president of ICARE; a training company that helps organizations improve communications, build relationships and reach their potential. For information call 1.888.434.9085. Sign up for “stop the drama” tips at http://www.icarepresentations.com

The mind is important in that it’s the recorder of our lives.
It stores all we will ever know as memories. These are beautiful
things that can be used in both evil and good ways. While we
should learn from our memories, reflecting on them in
understanding that we are mortal, we are also scared of our
pasts and events that have held dark meanings. We’d like to
think that we have control of what we want to remember and how
to remember it, but our mind is more powerful than many give
credit for.

I have two memories that I can claim as my oldest, though I am
unsure which is indeed the older. The first is the image of
myself being in a hospital, in a crib in a corner, with other
kids in the room. I can remember leaving the hospital in a wheel
chair. This was for my hernia operation. The other memory is an
image of a church, the inside large and beautiful, and me
sitting with my aunt and uncles. I was told that this was the
funeral of my great grandmother.

I could ask my mother which is older, but I don’t want to. Part
of the beauty of the memories is that I don’t know which is
older, that I don’t know when they are from. They are like
hallucinations that don’t leave my head, but yet they are so
close to palpable. There is just something about not really
knowing them that makes them even more special. This can be one
of the greatest things about memories. They can span over our
lifetime and become so intertwined in who we are that they
become both past, present and future.

It’s weird that we don’t remember our earliest memories of
life. It makes sense in a way I suppose. Minds aren’t all that
developed when we’re born, so they are changing and losing
thoughts. But it’s weird to live a part of your life and then
forget it. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I don’t remember my early
years. When I look at photographs I can remember other events,
but these are the only two from such early on that are stuck in
my head without aid. . It’s sad that we won’t remember all our
memories, that they slowly fade from out thoughts with untouched
grace.

I don’t know if it’s my memories that spark it or my dreams,
but I get ‘deja vu’ almost everyday. There would be times when I
would be driving in a car, or playing somewhere, and I would be
overcome with a feeling of this already existing. It wasn’t just
the place that would make it, but the actions of myself and
others, the presences of others, and the conversations around
me. It was like I had predicted these in my dreams. I could
never place the old feeling with it actually happening, but
rather with that of a dream. My mind plays tricks on me like
that. But maybe they aren’t tricks, after all.

Since we are human animal, I believe, entertainment is
indispensable to make us even more human, more integrated into
the human society. But again, human being is bounded with
rationalism, creativity, problems to be settled, focus and most
of all humanity. From the aforesaid principles; rationalism,
creativities, problems to be settled, focus and humanity, human
shall not be ignorant to even their entertainment, which is one
of the fundamental rights or I would say, the natural rights of
human being. But everything should be in the human context.

The purpose of this essay is to depict an entertainment that I
think are too selfish and too inhuman. This entertainment that I
depict as “too selfish” and “too inhuman” is FISHING. I will
take very simple approaches for our considerations over this
issue, but philosophical, legal grounds will be taken into
accounted.

I claim that I do eat fish and I do like fish to any other
animal, but what I do is necessary, I eat fish so that I can
live (filling my physiological needs, which is the most
fundamental), but I don’t entertain my self by killing or
wounding fish, because I don’t thing this is a “must”, I can
escape from it, and enjoy myself with another kind of
entertainment.

I. One’s Life is not just for another’s Flashlight Entertainment

Regarding to the concept of humanity, we will definitely can’t
seek any rational to defense that fishing is human-like. I once
heard a phrase “animals are people too”. This phrase in a very
simplistic denotation, means that animal do have hurting-sense
and the sense to survive in their own worlds. Many times, after
questioning many people; “what do you like dong?”, the answers
are mostly fishing.

The idea of debating (through this article) that fishing is an
inhuman form of entertainment comes after I went fishing with my
immediate relatives. I do not contradict to fishing as
government’s business, daily earning of the ordinary people and
fish for the daily protein for human kind, but I strongly
contradict to the idea of fishing as an entertainment.
Entertainment should not be war-like entertainment. I seem to
too irrational and even stupid that just a form of entertainment
of a person kills other lives (just for funs). I see with my own
eyes that people insert the fishing into the fish barbs, those
people feel that the fish do not hurt. Fishing is all about
“killing”. In order to kill a fish, another animal’s life has to
be killed, which is the worm or any other living creature.

People have choices to make funs, but please and please make
your funs more rational, more beneficial to the good of many,
make your funs be not the grounds for another’s misery.

II. Fishing Leads to Easier Violence Commitment

I may trying to debate though this article that fishing is
another kind of violence, the world has experienced too much
trauma, and the most brutal trauma is annihilation. Not body
want this trauma to happen again, but fishing as the form of
entertainment is, I thing, another form of killing living being.
The concept to fell disgust with killing, blood, conflict should
start very young, to make the most fundamental principle (peace)
of the world’s biggest family, United Nations be more likely to
achieve.

III. Conclusion

The very basic and jargon that I want to raise again and again
is “living being has the right to existence”, and from this we
can draw the analogy that every living being is free from being
slave of another. You are playing with fish’s life means that
you are making fish your slave, which is contradict to the
Cambodian, regional, global and international law, but Cambodia,
particularly the schools never teach students about such an
illegal conduct.

I need another debate to prove that “fishing is rational”, so it
would proceed my endeavor against “fishing” further.

Imagine, if you will, that you are walking alone at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood. You think you hear footsteps behind you so you walk a little faster. Suddenly someone steps out from behind a bush. You turn around but someone is behind you as well. They are both bigger than you and you are scared to death. Possibly you are mugged or raped. Maybe you escape harm, but you’ve still had a harrowing experience. You could end up suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if you have an experience like this or have exposure to any real or a perceived life-threatening trauma where you responded with intense fear.

PTSD is a medically recognized anxiety disorder that occurs in normal individuals under extremely stressful situations. Symptoms may appear immediately and then disappear after several months. At other times symptoms may take up to 6 months to emerge and may never completely go away. Half of those who meet the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD will still suffer from symptoms a year after diagnosis and 1/3 will still have weekly symptoms ten years after the trauma.

CRITERIA FOR PTSD

* Exposure to a traumatic event marked by intense fear, helplessness or horror

* Symptoms from each of the three symptom clusters:

* Intrusive recollections (evoke panic, fear, dread, nightmares, grief, despair, daytime fantasies, etc.)

* Avoidant/numbing symptoms (avoidance of trauma related stimuli, trouble leaving the house, cannot tolerate strong emotions, etc.)

* Hyperarousal symptoms (symptoms resemble panic attacks, generalized anxiety, insomnia, irritability, startle response, hypervigilance that may come across as paranoia)

You may also use the mnemonic “DREAMS”

D = DETACHMENT

R = REEXPERIENCING THE EVENT

E = EVENT HAD EMOTIONAL EFFECTS

A = AVOIDANCE

M = MONTH IN DURATION

S = SYMPATHETIC, HYPERACTIVITY OR HYPERVIGILANCE

STATISTICS

Certain populations are more at risk than others. Here are just a few examples:

* 2% in post-partum women

* 18% in professional fire fighters

* 34% in adolescent survivors of car accidents

* 48% in female rape victims

* 67% in prisoners of war

Up to 80% of patients with PTSD will have a comorbid psychological or psychiatric disorder. The most common diseases that occur with PTSD are:

* major depression

* substance abuse

* dysthymia

* bipolar disorder

* generalized anxiety disorder

* panic disorder

* phobias

* dissociative disorders

TREATMENTS

Medications

Typical first line treatment is with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft or Lescol. Trazadone and nefazadone (Serzone) are being re-studied since the have SSRI properties and they also reduce or suppress REM sleep, thus reducing or eliminating nightmares. Tricyclic antidepressants and MAOI’s have been tried but there is no proven efficacy for these types of medications.

Benzodiazepines were once the first line of treatment but the efficacy has not been proven in controlled studies. They can also cause dependency problems for people who must deal with substance abuse issues. These types of medications also come with a variety of discontinuation problems.

Psychotherapy

Once medications relieve the most distressing symptoms a patient can then concentrate on psychotherapy. A key element to success here is beginning the initial medication treatment within two weeks of the trauma. Then the goal of therapy, breaking the pattern of self-defeat by reexamining the traumatic event and the patient responses to it, can begin. Education about the disease and recognition of cues or situations that trigger symptoms are invaluable. Complete education and healing consists of:

* Exposure

Exposure to the event via imagery allows you to reexperience the event in a safe, controlled environment where your reactions can be monitored.

* Examining

Examining feelings such as anger, shame, guilt, etc. allows you to work on resolving these feelings.

* New Coping Skills

New coping skills teach you how to handle reminders, reactions and feelings without becoming overwhelmed or emotionally numb. This can help foster your relationships with others. Some of the techniques used are:

* Relaxation (i.e. breathing techniques, visualization)

* Biofeedback

* Cognitive restructuring

* Managing Anger

* Preparing for stress reactions

* Addressing urges to use alcohol or drugs

* Communications and relating effectively with people

Group treatment has also proven to be quite helpful for PTSD sufferers. This type of setting allows you to share with others who are more empathetic to your feelings. Being able to share instills more confidence and helps you to trust again. After being allowed to share your trauma you are freer to engage proactively in current relationships.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

This is a relatively new treatment that combines elements of exposure therapy, cognitive behavior therapy and then uses techniques (eye movements, hand taps, sounds, etc.), which creates an alteration of attention back and forth across the person’s midline. Fourteen controlled studies have been done on EMDR. The last five done on trauma patients (abuse, rape, accident victims, etc.) have found that 84-90% of the individuals suffered no PTSD after only three sessions. In a study for combat veterans, 77% showed no PTSD symptoms after twelve sessions. Like all therapy the progress rate depends on the individual and the type of trauma. To administer EMDR, therapists must undergo special training.

Although PTSD manifests itself in a wide variety of symptoms there is a common factor. If you have lived through any type of experience that has caused you to feel threatened by death (either real or perceived) or threatened serious physical injury to yourself or to others, and you felt intense fear, horror or helplessness, you could be suffering from PTSD and may not even be aware of it. If you have experienced a traumatic event, lived an abused life, or cannot deal with something that you were confronted with, please seek the help of a professional. No one should have to live a life in constant fear or helplessness.

Terry J. Coyier is a 37-year-old college student studying for an Associates of Applied Sciences degree. She is also a freelance writer who writes about bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. Terry was diagnosed with bipolar ten years ago. She lives with her son in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. Terry is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers and her personal portfolio can be viewed here.

There are beautiful people out there, sensitive and tender at heart. One thing they often have in common: they suffer from low self esteem, depression and the like. Many times they work in the social field, but they may come from any occupation. Often they feel not to fit into society at all. Whatever they try, they cannot find a suiting place.

On the other hand, there are the powerful manipulators out there, often unscrupulous and insensitive. Exploiting mother earth and their fellow men, they blossom. They have found a way to fight depression. They act, control, manipulate and accumulate power. I am sure they are depressed too, but they have found a way to suppress it. A life of manipulation, based on power and might, lacks one of the most important ingredients of life, wich is love. Where love is lacking, there is senselessness. And where there is senselessness, there is depression.

There are people pointing out how wrong the Bible is today, because it proclaims ‘the meek shall inherit the world’. “Can you think of a dumber line?”, they ask. The only people inheriting the world are the super rich and the ones with big armies and nukes. Nothing meek about that. They say that it has always been the men with the iron fist who lead. From the beginning of time till the end. If your meek, you’ll merely end up being the man behind the man.

I don’t agree with this statement at all. It is based on a total misunderstanding of the word meek, as it was used by Jesus and so many other powerful personalities. It confuses meek with weak. That’s a major blunder. This is not only the fallacy of the powerful (and the ones controlled by them), but of the sensitive and tender hearted as well, who desire a different world of love and respect. They feel threatened by the manipuators and exploiters. They fall into depression and anxiety. They often fall into the trap of becoming passive victims. “The world could be so beautiful”, they sigh, “if there weren’t this greedy bad people, who seem to never get enough.”

I shall proclaim a different concept here: Meekness is absolute power. It is much more powerful than anything else.

Let’s first deal with the wrong concept of meekness to weed it out. To be meek in the wrong sense will certainly lead to depression and frustration. It is accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of impotence and powerlessness. Meek persons of this kind always feel dependent on the whim and arbitrariness of the persons in charge.

The most sensitive and intelligent people fall into this trap. They feel that they could never become as cruel, unscrupulous and stone hearted as the oviously successful people. The Darwinian theory of evolution brainwashes you: “If you want to survive, you have to be the fittest. The rest is doomed to drown. Fittest means to be hard, harsh, cruel, calculating and strong.”

I have been taught like this in my childhood. My conclusion was that I will probably never become powerful, as I could not even stand an ant to be killed. There is no fitter person, not only to survive, but to live, than the meek one. Indeed the meek shall inherit the world, but this sort of meekness is totally different. It will rid you of depression. It will provide a new outlook to your life. It will give you a sense of power and control. It will guarantee you total independence.

Actually misunderstood meekness and the display of superior manipulative power are of the same kind. They look different from the surface only. Both are a guaranteed source of depression and frustration. Both are based on a lack of internal independence and strength. While the strong guy is actively fighting for recognition and acceptance, mainly from himself, the week ones have abandoned their claim for respect.

But, their weekness is often much closer to real power than the external display of control of the seemingly powerful. The later are often totally weak inside, driven only by their greed for recognition, for which they are eager to transgress all laws of life. The soft and tender person naturally has a lot of respect for these unbreakable laws. When they are carefully guided to discover their inner invulnerability, they will immediately start to blossom. When they are taught to completely step out of the stupid game of artificial competition by accepting the real identity of eternal bliss and knowledge, they will in any way be superior to even the most powerful manipulators. Life itself will be at their disposal, offering them any kind of opulence, strength and independence. External strenght will be reduced to a mere shadow of the power of pure conscious essence.

Those powerful persons, whose power is built upon arrogance and manipulation, will find it almost impossible to abandon their pathological addiction to material superiority.

Therefore rejoice, you, who are sensitive and tender at heart. Come out from depression and anxiety. Reclaim your heritage of power. The only reason, why a false display of artificial power can keep the whole world mesmerized is that more kind and sensitive persons will have to come forward to display the irresistible power of love, kindness and concern for the needs of others. The famous British mathematician, philosopher and author Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) has said the following: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” These doubts can be overcome with the right guidance and education. Reality never supports power based on arrogance, cynicism and and unscrupulousness. It may be tolerated for some time, but very soon it is the cause of it’s own destruction.

On the other hand reality always supports love, freedom, sensivity, compassion, meekness and respect. These qualities are the characteristics of original life. If you cooperate with lifes inherent nature, who will blossom forever. Get out of the habit of complaining, wailing and accusing. Get out of frustration and anxiety. You may be much closer to your power than you think.

Copyright © 2006 by Friedrich Asen. All rights reserved.

Friedrich Asen has made it easy for you to grow and blossom. To learn more about the world’s best resources for alternative depression treatment, read his article The Real Nature of Depression and its Spiritual Cause

Have you ever wondered why people tell lies? I’m not talking about ‘white lies’, as every person on the planet has told those, unless you are a Saint, in which case I apologise.

Really there is no easy way of actually defining what a lie is. If someone misses out some information, is that a lie, or just selective truth. The very omission can turn that into a mistruth of sorts.

Now this obviously differs when you are contested against a fact and you tell a lie. If someone asks you a question which you outright answer with a mistruth, then you are what they know in the trade as a ‘bare faced liar’. Oh, the shame.

There are people out there that really can’t help but lie. These people are known as pathological liars. These individuals want their lives to sound more exciting than the reality, or they want to impress, so they make up the most far-fetched lives you’ve ever heard. I’m sure you know one or two, they can be hilarious once you know that they are outrageous liars. I often used to listen to one at work for entertainment purposes.

Another common reason people lie is to get out of a sticky situation. The lie being told is preferential to the consequences of telling the truth. Once someone knows that telling lies is easier than telling the truth, it can become habitual. Sticky situation? No problem, I’ll just tell a lie and skip down the road with joy. In the end someone doing this regularly can end up believing their own mistruths.

Maybe some people lie to gain more respect from people that are important to them. Perhaps from their social group or colleagues at work. A lie to ‘outdo’ is often expressed in a society which relies on social status.

So How Do You Spot A Liar?

Well, other than unintelligent liars who come out with things so far fetched you just have to laugh, there are a few other ways. You need a good memory to be a liar so you know what you’ve said to whom. Often their sins will find them out, but a good visual clue is their body language. Look out for exaggerated gestures or a shift in the tone of that persons voice. Eyes are the windows of our souls and many people cannot look you in the eye properly when telling a lie. They will shift their gaze so as not to engage in direct eye contact.

In today’s world the telephone has become the most essential medium of communication. Telephones are widely used all over the world mainly for domestic use or may be for office use. In case of Office Phone Systems, the system is so designed that it allows its user to share the same external telephone lines rather than using individual telephones. These telephone systems are mainly designed for several phone users at a single location. By using these types of phone systems lots of money can be saved as it is very cost effective in comparison to any other phone systems.

The Private Branch Exchange or the PBX phone systems are telephone systems which are created specifically for business purposes in offices. This private branch exchange for Office Phone Systems is created mainly to form a private network between all the users, those who share the selected external telephone lines. This type of office phone systems is ideal for large and medium sized organizations or companies. These phone systems are very cost efficient as they allow sharing a few external lines among the users rather than having individual users use their own external lines. By using a PBX phone system it is very easy to reach someone within the phone system by dialing only a three or four digit extension. In PBX phone system there is some additional features like voicemail with forwarding, reminders, screen display and screen call options. The private branch exchanges for office phone systems are also capable of answering the phones and greet their clients with auto-generated messages and there is also an option for live call transferring in this system.

The Automated Attendant is a phone system accessory that can answer the phone calls by generating automatic messages electronically. The callers are allowed to route themselves through a series of menu prompts by the Automated Attendant. The voice mail systems are generally equipped with the basic automated attendant system. An ACD or Automated Call Distributor is a phone system accessory which helps to route incoming calls among a set of extensions and handles them efficiently. ACDs are mainly used in call centers or enquiry offices where it can process many incoming calls at a same time. The CTIs or the Computer Telephony Integration have broad category of applications. The CTIs are used to connect a phone system to a computer. The CTI retrieves important data from any incoming call and with their expertise and process this data for useful business purposes. The Key System Unit (or KSU) have features like call forwarding, extension dialing and voice mail options. The Voice Over Internet Protocol or VoIP helps users to place voice information in digital form using the Internet.

The office telephone systems are integrated with standard analog telephones, fax machines, cordless and cellular phones with the traditional telephone network and also have the option for the Internet by Voice over IP. The office phone systems have become very popular as they can deliver an easy configurability connection with unprecedented prices.

Tyson J Stevenson has a wealth of information on http://www.office-phone-system.be as well as further discussion at http://www.news2reviews.com.

Eating is controlled by many factors, including appetite, food
availability, family, peer, and cultural practices, and attempts
at voluntary control. Dieting to a body weight leaner than
needed for health is highly promoted by current fashion trends,
sales campaigns for special foods, and in some activities and
professions. Eating disorders involve serious disturbances in
eating behavior, such as extreme and unhealthy reduction of food
intake or severe overeating, as well as feelings of distress or
extreme concern about body shape or weight. Researchers are
investigating how and why initially voluntary behaviors, such as
eating smaller or larger amounts of food than usual, at some
point move beyond control in some people and develop into an
eating disorder. Studies on the basic biology of appetite
control and its alteration by prolonged overeating or starvation
have uncovered enormous complexity, but in the long run have the
potential to lead to new pharmacologic treatments for eating
disorders. Eating disorders are not due to a failure of will or
behavior; rather, they are real, treatable medical illnesses in
which certain maladaptive patterns of eating take on a life of
their own. The main types of eating disorders are anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa. A third type, binge-eating
disorder, has been suggested but has not yet been approved as a
formal psychiatric diagnosis. Eating disorders frequently
develop during adolescence or early adulthood, but some reports
indicate their onset can occur during childhood or later in
adulthood. Eating disorders frequently co-occur with other
psychiatric disorders such as depression, substance abuse, and
anxiety disorders. In addition, people who suffer from eating
disorders can experience a wide range of physical health
complications, including serious heart conditions and kidney
failure which may lead to death. Recognition of eating disorders
as real and treatable diseases, therefore, is critically
important. Females are much more likely than males to develop an
eating disorder. Only an estimated 5 to 15 percent of people
with anorexia or bulimia and an estimated 35 percent of those
with binge-eating disorder are male. Anorexia Nervosa

An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of females suffer from anorexia
nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms of anorexia nervosa include:
* Resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally
normal weight for age and height * Intense fear of gaining
weight or becoming fat, even though underweight * Disturbance in
the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced,
undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or
denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight *
Infrequent or absent menstrual periods (in females who have
reached puberty) People with this disorder see themselves as
overweight even though they are dangerously thin. The process of
eating becomes an obsession. Unusual eating habits develop, such
as avoiding food and meals, picking out a few foods and eating
these in small quantities, or carefully weighing and portioning
food. People with anorexia may repeatedly check their body
weight, and many engage in other techniques to control their
weight, such as intense and compulsive exercise, or purging by
means of vomiting and abuse of laxatives, enemas, and diuretics.
Girls with anorexia often experience a delayed onset of their
first menstrual period. The course and outcome of anorexia
nervosa vary across individuals: some fully recover after a
single episode; some have a fluctuating pattern of weight gain
and relapse; and others experience a chronically deteriorating
course of illness over many years. The mortality rate among
people with anorexia has been estimated at 0.56 percent per
year, or approximately 5.6 percent per decade, which is about 12
times higher than the annual death rate due to all causes of
death among females ages 15-24 in the general population. The
most common causes of death are complications of the disorder,
such as cardiac arrest or electrolyte imbalance, and suicide.
Bulimia Nervosa

An estimated 1.1 percent to 4.2 percent of females have bulimia
nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms of bulimia nervosa include:
* Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by eating an
excessive amount of food within a discrete period of time and by
a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode *
Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior in order to
prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting or misuse of
laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other medications (purging);
fasting; or excessive exercise * The binge eating and
inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at
least twice a week for 3 months * Self-evaluation is unduly
influenced by body shape and weight Because purging or other
compensatory behavior follows the binge-eating episodes, people
with bulimia usually weigh within the normal range for their age
and height. However, like individuals with anorexia, they may
fear gaining weight, desire to lose weight, and feel intensely
dissatisfied with their bodies. People with bulimia often
perform the behaviors in secrecy, feeling disgusted and ashamed
when they binge, yet relieved once they purge. Binge-Eating
Disorder

Community surveys have estimated that between 2 percent and 5
percent of Americans experience binge-eating disorder in a
6-month period. Symptoms of binge-eating disorder include: *
Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by eating an
excessive amount of food within a discrete period of time and by
a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode * The
binge-eating episodes are associated with at least 3 of the
following: eating much more rapidly than normal; eating until
feeling uncomfortably full; eating large amounts of food when
not feeling physically hungry; eating alone because of being
embarrassed by how much one is eating; feeling disgusted with
oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating * Marked
distress about the binge-eating behavior * The binge eating
occurs, on average, at least 2 days a week for 6 months * The
binge eating is not associated with the regular use of
inappropriate compensatory behaviors (e.g., purging, fasting,
excessive exercise) People with binge-eating disorder experience
frequent episodes of out-of-control eating, with the same
binge-eating symptoms as those with bulimia. The main difference
is that individuals with binge-eating disorder do not purge
their bodies of excess calories. Therefore, many with the
disorder are overweight for their age and height. Feelings of
self-disgust and shame associated with this illness can lead to
bingeing again, creating a cycle of binge eating. Treatment
Strategies

Eating disorders can be treated and a healthy weight restored.
The sooner these disorders are diagnosed and treated, the better
the outcomes are likely to be. Because of their complexity,
eating disorders require a comprehensive treatment plan
involving medical care and monitoring, psychosocial
interventions, nutritional counseling and, when appropriate,
medication management. At the time of diagnosis, the clinician
must determine whether the person is in immediate danger and
requires hospitalization. Treatment of anorexia calls for a
specific program that involves three main phases: (1) restoring
weight lost to severe dieting and purging; (2) treating
psychological disturbances such as distortion of body image, low
self-esteem, and interpersonal conflicts; and (3) achieving
long-term remission and rehabilitation, or full recovery. Early
diagnosis and treatment increases the treatment success rate.
Use of psychotropic medication in people with anorexia should be
considered only after weight gain has been established. Certain
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs ) have been shown
to be helpful for weight maintenance and for resolving mood and
anxiety symptoms associated with anorexia. The acute management
of severe weight loss is usually provided in an inpatient
hospital setting, where feeding plans address the person’s
medical and nutritional needs. In some cases, intravenous
feeding is recommended. Once malnutrition has been corrected and
weight gain has begun, psychotherapy (often cognitive-behavioral
or interpersonal psychotherapy) can help people with anorexia
overcome low self-esteem and address distorted thought and
behavior patterns. Families are sometimes included in the
therapeutic process. The primary goal of treatment for bulimia
is to reduce or eliminate binge eating and purging behavior. To
this end, nutritional rehabilitation, psychosocial intervention,
and medication management strategies are often employed.
Establishment of a pattern of regular, non-binge meals,
improvement of attitudes related to the eating disorder,
encouragement of healthy but not excessive exercise, and
resolution of co-occurring conditions such as mood or anxiety
disorders are among the specific aims of these strategies.
Individual psychotherapy (especially cognitive-behavioral or
interpersonal psychotherapy), group psychotherapy that uses a
cognitive-behavioral approach, and family or marital therapy
have been reported to be effective. Psychotropic medications,
primarily antidepressants such as the selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs ), have been found helpful for people
with bulimia, particularly those with significant symptoms of
depression or anxiety, or those who have not responded
adequately to psychosocial treatment alone. These medications
also may help prevent relapse. The treatment goals and
strategies for binge-eating disorder are similar to those for
bulimia, and studies are currently evaluating the effectiveness
of various interventions. People with eating disorders often do
not recognize or admit that they are ill. As a result, they may
strongly resist getting and staying in treatment. Family members
or other trusted individuals can be helpful in ensuring that the
person with an eating disorder receives needed care and
rehabilitation. For some people, treatment may be long term.
Research Findings and Directions Research is contributing to
advances in the understanding and treatment of eating disorders.
* NIMH-funded scientists and others continue to investigate the
effectiveness of psychosocial interventions, medications, and
the combination of these treatments with the goal of improving
outcomes for people with eating disorders. * Research on
interrupting the binge-eating cycle has shown that once a
structured pattern of eating is established, the person
experiences less hunger, less deprivation, and a reduction in
negative feelings about food and eating. The two factors that
increase the likelihood of bingeing–hunger and negative
feelings–are reduced, which decreases the frequency of binges.
* Several family and twin studies are suggestive of a high
heritability of anorexia and bulimia, and researchers are
searching for genes that confer susceptibility to these
disorders. Scientists suspect that multiple genes may interact
with environmental and other factors to increase the risk of
developing these illnesses. Identification of susceptibility
genes will permit the development of improved treatments for
eating disorders. * Other studies are investigating the
neurobiology of emotional and social behavior relevant to eating
disorders and the neuroscience of feeding behavior. * Scientists
have learned that both appetite and energy expenditure are
regulated by a highly complex network of nerve cells and
molecular messengers called neuropeptides . These and future
discoveries will provide potential targets for the development
of new pharmacologic treatments for eating disorders. * Further
insight is likely to come from studying the role of gonadal
steroids. Their relevance to eating disorders is suggested by
the clear gender effect in the risk for these disorders, their
emergence at puberty or soon after, and the increased risk for
eating disorders among girls with early onset of menstruation
Anorexia Nervosa ——————————————-
Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening
eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive
weight loss.

Anorexia Nervosa has four primary symptoms: Resistance to
maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight
for age and height Intense fear of weight gain or being “fat”
even though underweight. Disturbance in the experience of body
weight or shape, undue influence of weight or shape on
self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body
weight. Loss of menstrual periods in girls and women
post-puberty. Eating disorders experts have found that prompt
intensive treatment significantly improves the chances of
recovery. Therefore, it is important to be aware of some of the
warning signs of anorexia nervosa. Warning Signs of Anorexia
Nervosa: Dramatic weight loss. Preoccupation with weight, food,
calories, fat grams, and dieting. Refusal to eat certain foods,
progressing to restrictions against whole categories of food
(e.g. no carbohydrates, etc.). Frequent comments about feeling
“fat” or overweight despite weight loss.

Many people who are suffering from mild to moderate depression,
are choosing to either forego drugs entirely, or to supplement
the minimum dosage their doctor will prescribe, with natural
treatment for depression.

This can include a number of lifestyle alterations, and even
herbal treatment for depression. The choices are entirely up to
the patient, who as always, should consult with their physician
before undertaking any regimen on their own.

One of the first things that Naturopaths will look at for a
client suffering from depression, is dietary deficiencies. They
may ask you to have blood tests that will measure levels of such
things as the B complex vitamins in your system. These have been
identified as some of the vitamins that figure largely in
natural treatment for depression.

Of course, a balanced, healthy diet is of prime importance.
Next, comes vitamin supplements, with an emphasis on those your
body is lacking.

Add to those things, a good exercise program consisting of at
least three “aerobic”, or concentrated sessions of exercise a
week. This can not only reduce stress, but burn off the
adrenalin that comes with anxiety. Exercise produces natural
endorphins as well.

With your doctor’s approval, you can also try some of the herbal
treatments for depression, but only if they are aware of what
you are taking, in order to check for contraindications against
any other medications you might be on.

St. John’s Wort is the herb cited most frequently for treatment
of depression, but the amount to be taken can vary greatly
between patients, from as little as 300mg daily to as much as
2700mg. This is where consultation with your doctor and a
Naturopath can help.

Some studies have also show that Gingko Bilboa is beneficial, as
are herbs specific to treatment of “female problems”, such as
PMS, menopause, and post natal depression.

If natural treatment for depression is the path you want to
follow, get the very best advice you can, and get yourself back
on the road to good mental health.
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