Depression - Chemical Imbalance Or Reaction to Life Events?

There has been great debate about such maladies as Depression and Anxiety and whether they represent what some term a 'chemical imbalance' and what others say are simply natural reactions to life's events. The crux of the issue really comes down to a nature vs. nurture argument. In this article I explore both sides of the debate and hopefully shed some light on the issue.

Nature: Chemical Imbalance  

There is no question that our emotions are in effect complex chemical, electrical and neurological processes that occur within our brain. According to those who support the "nurture" argument, depression, it is theorized is due to among other things, low amounts of certain neurotransmitters such as Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine in the brain. 

The difficulty though lies in figuring out if this should be termed an 'imbalance' or not. Those that believe that this is the case believe that whether through genetics or through long periods of time in unhealthy situations that a person's brain can get 'stuck' in a state where it is simply not making enough of these neurotransmitters to provide for a stable, positive emotional state.  

Nurture: Reaction To Life's Events  

The opposing side doesn't dispute that our emotions are chemically, electrically and neurologically based but believes that all emotions are simply the brain's reaction to outside events regardless of the severity or consistency of the depression/anxiety. If a person tells a joke and the other person 'laughs', technically a 'chemical imbalance' occurs in that person to cause the person to laugh. This is the same with depression. If you are in an unhappy/uncomfortable situation in your life for long enough, you will simply become depressed until that time when the situation is resolved.  The Nurture side does not believe that genetics causes one to be depressed and that it is strictly a result of your life's experiences or a situation you are in that is causing it.  

Both and Neither  

The truth probably lies somewhere in between. If you read over enough of the literature you tend to see that there are two camps to this issue. The vast majority of people that suffer depression or anxiety are going through an episode that is transitory in nature and that is usually caused by an obviously identifiable situation or occurrence in their life. By fixing the issue involved, this transitory emotional 'effect' as it were, is resolved and the person goes on with their life.  

There is a subgroup however that genetically probably has a tendency towards depression or anxiety more than others. While certain conditions need to be present and the environment that one is brought up in can certainly exacerbate or minimize the condition, it is 'easier' to become depressed/anxious than in someone without the propensity to trigger anxious or depressive states. 

The question then becomes; Is this really an imbalance?   Well, to be honest the word 'imbalance' is not really the correct word. What we are talking about is a situation where the brain, whether due to genetic/developmental propensity, or through the effect of outside events, is not producing enough serotonin and other neurotransmitters to make the person feel good. Since scientists and doctors are not really sure what the correct amounts/ratios etc are and have not clearly what the vast majority of neurotransmitters actually do, it is hard to make the argument that there is an 'imbalance'. The word 'imbalance' itself implies that there is a correct 'balance' and this is simply unknown and not provable. Try asking your doctor to give you a test to see if your Serotonin is 'balanced' or not and he'll look at you cockeyed because no such test exists.  

The Solution  

The honest solution is that for most people the first course of action should be to sit down with someone that can help delve into the person's life issues and figure out if there is anything causing the depressive or anxious feelings. Often there are 'long-term' or 'big-picture' situations such as a dysfunctional family unit, abusive or emotionally removed parents, etc that might not be obvious causes of a person's emotional problems and that caused underlying development of a person to go askew for years. Identifying the cause of anxiety or depression isn't always as obvious as a person being in a bad job or a bad relationship.   

Once identified, however, with the right therapy, education and introspection, it is possible to take control of your emotions instead of letting your emotions control you. This is what self-awareness is all about. There is a place for medication but only in the most extreme cases, such as suicidal behavior, and even then only as a short-term way of getting someone into therapy. Studies have shown that long term, drugs alone are rarely effective and much of it is the placebo effect. For more great insight and articles and how to become Self Aware please visit SelfAwareness101.com

How Much Does it Cost? Life Insurance Quotes

The hard facts of life will always push us to get insured. There is only one thing that is guaranteed to happen and that is we all die. And to most people the first thing they would like to know is how much does life insurance cost . To accomplish this you need to calculate and do some mathematical calculations if you want do it manually. But there are many sites where you can go and get life insurance quotes.

Before you start to learn and calculate how much does life insurance cost , you need to find out which amongst the many types of getting insured. You need to choose what will suit your needs and your financial status. If you are thinking of purchasing term life insurance, top-notch industry professionals would suggest getting a policy where the death benefit is equal to 8-15 times your annual income. You have to choose between the two types of insuring. You may either choose a permanent or a temporary type of insuring.

With temporary type of insuring the most common and cheapest one is term life insurance . The policy coverage for this is for a specified period of time from one to thirty year terms. Depending on your circumstances, this type of insuring is the most recommend especially if you are just starting a new family. The other most common but more expensive is the whole life insurance . With whole life you can have the added feature of savings component. Once you have decided on which type to purchase, then you can start and find how much does it cost you to be insured. It is easier to find the probable cost to you through life insurance quotes online.

These online life insurance quotes can do the calculations for you. This is the easiest way to know how much does life insurance cost. There are many factors that will affect the price of getting insured. Depending on your personal circumstances the cost of insuring varies and sometimes by as much as forty percent. Your health and age are a big factor in determining what the price or premiums will be.

Through the use of life insurance quotes, you will be asked to provide some personal information in order to calculate the cost to you. And this personal information that you will provide will largely affect what your premiums will be. The information you need to provide are your age, gender, the amount of coverage, your height and weight ratio, and your type of occupation. Some of these online sites may also require you to provide your complete address. Your street address, Zip code, home phone and cell phone, and email address as well as part of your address.

The information that you need to provide is about your health. You need to tell them if you have been treated for illnesses like; Alcohol and drug abuse, asthma, cancer, heart disease, hyper tension, diabetes, depression and anxiety and many types of illnesses. The questionnaire will be largely dependent on the insurer. So the line of questioning can be different from insurer to insurer. Most companies may always ask if you are smoker in the last twelve months or so. They may also inquire about any driving convictions. All these factors can determine the price or premiums you will be paying base on a specific type life insurance.

Through the use of life insurance quotes you may be able to know how much does life insurance cost to you. With so many online sites that offer these services for free and with no obligation, it is not hard to know what is the average price of life insurance . You have to remember though, that these quotations are not the final cost or premiums you would be paying monthly for your life insurance. These are just estimates to give a heads up and the average amount you are looking at.

The Power of Being in the Now - Gateway to Ultimate Happiness

You've heard it before: the present moment, the NOW, is all you have. Here are just a handful of being quotes:

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
-- Buddha

"The point of power is always in the present moment."
-- Louise L. Hay, You Can Heal Your Life

"Now is all there is, and the future is just another present moment to live when it arrives."
-- Wayne Dyer

"The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness."
-- Abraham Maslow

"Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be."
-- Eckhart Tolle, The Power Of Now

It's something you've always known at some level. You already know, deep inside, that powerfully living in the now is the only way you will ever find real lasting happiness -- ultimate happiness. Because it's only in the now that you can realize you already have everything and don't need anything else.

The power of being in the now is the path to ultimate happiness, the one that fulfils your heart, soul, body and mind, where you are one with Oneness. Some call it the Enlightenment. You cannot 'achieve' ultimate happiness by accomplishing, doing or having something. You can only be in the state of ultimate happiness by BEING. And Being is only in the NOW.

But here comes the million dollar question: how do we actually do this?

It is hard to do any of this by standard intellectual or psychological approaches. I have myself tried various ways and different paths to learn to live in the moment and find happiness, and realized that it is more easily said than done. None of the methods I tried actually managed to do a significant change within a reasonable amount of time. Even mindfulness and meditation didn't really do it for me. If I have to stop and think about being in the moment to actually be in the moment, it is a contradiction in itself, because if I have to think about being in the moment, then I'm not in the moment!

Just for one moment I want you to imagine that you are living totally and completely in the present moment. So completely that any events from the past seems like a distant memory. You can remember the event, the situation and the emotions you had at the time, but since you are totally in the now the memory of the pain doesn't create any fear in the present moment because you are now detached from your past. You can look at the event as a witness, without any reactions or feeling triggered into the fear that something similar might happen again. The key is to be completely present in the moment. There is no fear in the now. Fear exists only in relation to the past or the future. In the now, fear does not exist.

So do you want to know a secret? Do you want to know the shortest path to being in the now and living in the state of ultimate happiness?

It's total and unconditional acceptance of what IS. Acceptance is as if you are being transparent to whatever comes to you. Instead of things hitting you, they just pass through you. You do not take things personal anymore. You become accepting of everything. You do not have any reasons to stress or worry anymore; you can be relaxed and peaceful at all times. You know that for each situation that comes up, you can deal with it, no matter what it is.

And HOW do you do Acceptance?

By coming Home, at the very centre of your Being, to the Light, where "I am", where you are one with Oneness. That is the key to ultimate happiness.

Ultimate Happiness is the result of what happens when you come back home to your core consciousness and reconnect with Oneness.

It's the purest expression of your unlimited potential and the ultimate contribution of your divine and sacred nature into the world.

Understanding the Average Price of Life Insurance

Getting financial protection for your family, love ones and business can sometimes feel difficult. In order for you to get a better handle on how to go about it is to understand the average cost of life insurance. Most people who are in the market for life insurance will ask what is the average price of life insurance . But knowing the average cost or price will entail quite a bit of searching online and getting life insurance quotes .

Getting these quotations will require you to provide personal information in order to proceed with the calculations. Most of us know that these average cost or price differs from many different factors. What these life insurance companies to arrive the average price is to take all the average premiums based on the number of years, the amount of policy coverage and type of insuring. With so many factors affecting the calculation of your average premiums, you have to learn how they arrive at those numbers.

The life insurance price or cost may differ and some of the reason why they differ is your age and gender, location, and the number of times you pay your premiums. It is very true that the frequency of premium payments can really determine what it will cost you. Some people who have extra money can pay yearly and they can get a discount on this, thus lowering their premium payments. This in way will affect the average price if you just looking at the averages. While location may not play a big factor in life insurance policies , it does for auto insurance.
The main big factors that affect life insurance are your age and your health. So if you plan on getting some quotations you will need to provide your age, gender, complete address, including your email address. Your home phone and cell number should also be part of your personal information to be given. You may also need to give them the type of occupation that you have. This is vital in their calculations because your work environment can play a role in determining if you are a high risk or not.

On the health issue, you will be asked to answer the question if you have smoke in the last twelve months or not. Smokers may have to pay higher premium and this can affect the calculation of the average premiums you have to pay. There are also questions about more serious illnesses and disease. You will be asked if you have been ever treated or have heart disease, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, high cholesterol, hypertension or high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. Some insurers may ask more than what is listed so you should be prepared for more questions regarding your health.

Another issue that comes into play in the estimate of the average price of life insurance is legal infractions or convictions. If you are convicted of drunk driving or driving under the influence of drug or alcohol, this can sky rocket your premiums. Thus this will affect the estimated average premiums. So all this factors may contribute to how much your life insurance cost.

Understanding what is the average price of life insurance is not really that difficult but you need to provide those information. All these factors listed above should affect the average price of getting insured. Through life insurance quotes online , you may find it easier to get your queries answered. Remember that these are just estimates and they are not your final cost or premiums. These are not concrete values and prices but estimates which you can use to make a better decision and sound judgment when making your policy coverage purchase.

Depression Help - Change Just One Thing

Many forms of depression are "biochemical." This means that people get depressed because their biochemistry is out of whack. Doctors often prescribe anti depressant drugs to provide depression help because they correct the biochemistry, and people start to feel better. 
 
Since it is commonly recognized that biochemistry imbalances can cause many forms of depression, it should be no surprise that what you eat and what you don't eat can have a major impact on your mood. To oversimplify, if you eat a lot of junk food you can start to feel "junky." 
 
One of the major culprits with depression is sugar. Common table sugar can be a major depressant. It can affect your mood, your attitude and your energy levels. Most people have no idea that sugar can cause major mood swings, but it does. So if you are feeling depressed, or have really black moods on a regular basis, it might well be due to sugar.
 
Take sugar out of your diet for just a few days and see if you notice any difference. I did, and the difference was startling. I had more energy, more positive feelings, and no dark mood swings after the second day. Blood sugar levels affect more than just physical energy. Read the classic book "Sugar Blues" to better understand all the ways that sugar can negatively affect your health and well being.  Natural depression treatment can often be as simple as removing sugar.
 
And, you don't have to give up sweets, just refined sugar. Your local health food store has several alternatives that will sweeten your food without causing sugar blues. Substitutes like agave nectar, stevia and fructose are handled differently by the body and will not generally affect your energy levels and moods in the same way.
 
Whether you are depressed or not, have dark mood swings or not, feel hopeless and deficient or not, you may want to try to go sugar free for a week and see how you feel. If you can't imagine giving up sugar for a whole week, you can try a different test. For breakfast or a mid morning snack, eat a couple doughnuts and nothing else. Don't eat any protein with them, don't have coffee or soda or any form of caffeine with them. Notice how your body feels in about half and hour to an hour. If you don't pump yourself up with caffeine, you should notice you feel good and happy and energized for about half an hour to 45 minutes, then you should start to feel tired and irritable and groggy for the next two hours after that as your blood sugar swings up then down.
 
We each have different biochemistries, so the way you handle sugar may be different than your peers. But the blood sugar swings caused by sugar are well documented and are not intellectual or theoretical.  Depression help may be one dietary change away.  The proof lies as close as the nearest Krispy Creme. There is no guarantee that your or a loved one's feelings of depression are caused by sugar, but common table sugar is a major culprit in depression for many people.

HIV Testing: The Key to Early Diagnosis

HIV infection is one of the most distressing and demanding situation a person can get himself into. Although there have been a lot of media-based course available through the Internet and television, there are still numerous people who are unaware about the dangers and the possible effects of the virus to the body.

Human Immunodeficiency virus or HIV is an illness that gradually deteriorates the immune system. It now affects as much as 25 million people or at least 0.6% of the world's population according to WHO.

Therefore, people who are sexually active are suggested to undergo some HIV examination in order to tract any possibility of an HIV virus strain.

Although it is commonly thought of that HIV and AIDS are similar but they are actually not. To illustrate the difference between the two we must define the two in separately. HIV is one type of virus that fit into the group or cluster known as the retrovirus. However, when as the virus begin to swell then reproduce all over a victim's entire body system, it is now then categorized as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS.

The method used for testing the presence of HIV in a person's system requires a series of tests which are now used as a protocol for testing HIV. Primarily, a health care practitioner from an STD clinic would carry out a sequence of HIV testing for verifying the presence of HIV in the system. Next, a biochemical methodology employed in immunology called the ELISA or enzyme-linked immune-absorbent testing assay will be used to test the patient's blood. This method is used to find out the chemical responses in the body. Once the patient's blood is tested to be HIV positive, another procedure which is the "Western Blot Testing mechanism" is utilized to confirm the previous findings. Both the ELISA and western blot testing mechanism are used to compare the findings done in both procedures to come up with a cohesive conclusion.

Rapid weight loss, dry cough, depression, memory loss, and other neurological disorders, pneumonia, recurring fever, strange blemish or white spots seen on the victim's tongue, mouth and throat are just some of the disease's symptoms.

People who are infected with HIV only go through these testing procedures only when the sign and symptoms appear-which is a common perception among a number of people. However, being ill ceaselessly or having colds and flu frequently is not always a sign of infection. It is important to note that people may not exhibit any symptoms at the point of infection which means that the signs and symptoms may be dormant for months or even years. Signs and symptoms of the HIV disease really do comprise some varying types which appear different from one another. As other types of sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes and gonorrhea and herpes have quite explicit kinds of symptoms, the HIV infection, on the other hand, does not. Erroneous diagnosis is a commonly occur which would amplify the condition to some other illness.

A wise old adage says, "Prevention is better than cure." Therefore, early detection and analysis is key to proper medication. With the wide array of medical examination tools and testing procedures in the market today that can be utilized, it is very important that we do not allow HIV to threaten our outlook in life. Get an HIV test today!

HIV Infection- HIV is affects people from different parts of the world. Therefore, sexually active individuals should get HIV testing for the proper diagnosis of this condition.

Loss Of Appetite - Why It Occurs, What You Can Do

Every now and then a patient will come in for a check-up and I notice that they've lost weight. They tell me that they just really don't feel much like eating lately. The first thing I ask them, especially my older patients, is if they're depressed as depression is one of the leading causes of loss of appetite. However, a number of other things, both physical and mental, can lead to a appetite loss in people of all ages. Let me explain.

Causes of Appetite Loss

As I noted above, in some people, depression can cause a loss of appetite. They seem to just lose interest in everything they usually find enjoyable, including food. The clinical name for this is anhedonia or lack of interest in enjoyable things.

Grief and anxiety that occurs after the loss of a loved one, even a cherished pet, can be the reason some people have a temporary loss of appetite.

However, if grief and depression have been ruled out as the contributing factors, then I start looking for physical causes. These can include:

•Disease states - cancer, liver disease, kidney failure, chronic obstructive lung disease, heart failure, AIDS, heart failure, pregnancy.
•Medications - certain antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, pain medications.
•Street drugs - amphetamines, cocaine, heroin.
•Smoking - nicotine acts as an appetite depressant. In addition, the toxins in tobacco smoke can dull/alter taste buds so food doesn't taste good therefore you eat less. This is the reason people gain weight when they stop smoking.
•Chronic congestion - blocked sinuses from sinus infections, allergies, and viral illness like colds or flu can alter your sense of smell, which in turn alters your sense of taste.
•Dental problems - chewing may be causing discomfort with bad teeth or sensitive mouth tissues may take appetite away.
•Aging - slower metabolism, decrease in muscle mass, duller taste, may contribute to a decrease in appetite.

What You Can Do About It

If you are experiencing appetite loss to the point where you are losing weight continuously, you should contact your doctor for an evaluation. Here are some things your doctor will assess in order to treat you properly for it:

•How bad is it? - Are you able to eat at all? Or, do you eat only once a day? How much weight have you lost as a result?
•How long? - How long have you experienced it?
•Accompanying Event - Did it coincide with the loss of a loved one or some other upsetting, life-changing event? Events like this include divorce, loss of a job, loss of a home, sick parents or children, etc.
•Other Symptoms - are there other symptoms that accompany it, i.e., nausea, pain, difficulty eliminating, diarrhea, heart palpitations, loss of memory.

Tests

Your doctor may give you several tests to help diagnose the cause. These include:

•Abdominal ultrasound/upper GI - these tests look for abnormalities/problems within the abdomen and organs of the abdominal cavity (liver, kidneys, etc) that may be causing pain and/or nausea.
•Sigmoidoscopy/colonoscopy - in some instances, food blockages in the intestinal tract can cause loss of appetite by putting pressure on the stomach.
•Kidney, liver function tests - out of whack range results for these tests may indicate reasons why you are feeling queasy, have abdominal discomfort, and not feel much like eating.
•Blood tests - a few vials of blood may be taken to evaluate for deficiencies.

Treatments

How your appetite loss is treated depends on what's causing it. Here are some common treatments for it corresponding to its cause:

•Disease - if an illness dampens your desire to eat, then your doctor may give you an appetite stimulant to make you feel like eating more while the condition is being treated.

•Depression - you may be given an antidepressant, which can stimulate appetite, to get you through this rough period in your life.
•Abdominal/dental pain/nausea - necessary tests should be done to determine/treat the underlying condition. After these symptoms are treated then appetite should resume to its normal level.
•Nutritional/Aging - sometimes a deficiency in the mineral zinc, especially in older people, can alter taste buds so that food just doesn't taste good. Supplementing with zinc can help bring back your desire for food.

Many people experience a period of loss of appetite throughout their life. It is usually nothing to worry about and is very short-lived depending on the underlying cause of it. When poor appetite lasts longer than several days to a week, perhaps accompanied by pain, frequent fatigue, changes in taste or sensory perception, that's the time you should visit your healthcare professional.