To be able to slip into sleep is like heaven.
To not be able to slip freely into sleep can be a subtle torture.
There is much written about insomnia and the importance of’getting enough sleep and there are innumerable theories and techniques suggested to help someone who ‘can’t go to sleep’.
Many experiences of our early life are buried and considered as forgotten, even some that may seem to others as insignificant. A common habit of name-calling as a juvenile method of hurting others causes much temporary and sometimes long lasting pain. Regrettably the habit remains in use as mental ammunition used into adulthood by those wishing to continue to use it destructively.
There are many people who experience severe trauma in early life as their minds are developing. They are influenced by vocal negative criticism, especially any that seem to them unwarranted. Although this cannot compare with severe physical and psychological abuse, it is an indication of how deeply any trauma can affect us, sometimes for the whole of our lives.
The fear that you are losing control of your own mind can only be countered by your decision to resume control by discipline and training. This is nothing new. Each one of us has to do this as our responsibility having been given the gift of intelligence and free will. We have to become friends with our mind – and patiently apply ourselves through conscious exercises in concentration, imagination, as well as the passive control of thought through relaxation and meditation. To take the attitude that you will enjoy these exercises makes your future path easier.
However, there is less anticipation of success should you continue to take drugs of any kind. This includes alcohol, marihuana and even medical drugs unless you are suffering a serious condition that requires professional psychiatric care.
Diagnosing a mental illness is a serious business with serious consequences.
Can a psychologist help to relieve the patient through the gentle art of education in self analysis or is it a matter offering a greater challenge to any therapist. At what point does a despondent or unhappy person require diagnosis and medical drug doses?
The question that a psychiatrist must face is the consideration whether a patient is suffering from an acute temporary state of upset of mind and emotions that could be considered a ‘normal’ life experience or whether it is a more serious issue.
Do we get enough sleep? To add to the disturbing numbers of people suffering from mental disease as well as physical ill health are those who are unable to function to their full potential because of sleep deprivation. This has recently received focus in the media and claimed as one of the main causes of disease, both physical and mental. Without proper sleep our psyche gets out of alignment. We feel tired, out of sorts, cranky, irritable and many other seemingly trivial indications that we are not really well within ourselves.
Where it has been considered that eight hours sleep is the requirement for an adult to undergo physical and mental refreshment, it is common to find that many are in the habit of perhaps sleeping only six hours. Individuals do seem to vary in their need for sleep, but the ‘average’ number eight is the result of considerable research. It does not allow for those who sit up playing computer games or TV viewing beyond ten o’clock.
Concentration is our most potent mental tool and essential in developing mental fitness.
It is our main faculty we use when learning or reading and when we are in a receptive or listening mode. We use this faculty to help us focus upon important personal interests in everyday life. We also use it to deliberately programme our own mind and so develop grooves of comfortable opinions and attitudes.
Concentration is mind power. It is the element we require to accomplish anything.
Anger, whether is ourselves or expressed by others, is a sign of weakness, demonstrating a lack of emotional self control.
Emotional anger when out of control can do harm to ourselves and motivate us to harm or hurt other people or even material things.
Pent up frustration and stress could be readily excused as we try to cope with life and react to our difficulties and problems. However, we all have to find a way to channel this energy in an appropriate and constructive manner – until we find a positive way to act in life. Then, increasingly, as we find the strength to focus constructively, our reactions are less of a problem.
Years ago, coming up with an appropriate dyslexia diagnosis was not really possible. This is because people back then were not really aware about this disability. In fact, it was only just recently that more information about the condition has been obtained. This is quite an unfortunate fact because a lot of dyslexics back then had to suffer unnecessarily. A lot of dyslexics back then had to suffer years and years of embarrassment and humiliation, and this took quite a toll on their confidence and esteem. Fortunately, it is never too late for the condition to be diagnosed by the means of screening and an adult dyslexia test.
