AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Emotional health  

1.    Dealing with stress & anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry, or fear. We all experience anxiety at times, when faced with a stressful situation. It is normal to feel anxious when experienced difficult, unusual, or dangerous situation. Anxiety can be positive. It can help keeping us alert and ready to react. However, some severe anxiety can impact on daily life. People with severe anxiety find that it is a constant and dominating force that disrupts the quality and enjoyment of their lives, interfering with social and personal relationships.

Many factors can be anxiety triggers. Some of these examples are stress at work, personal relationships, health problems, or financial problems. It may also result from a traumatic event, a physical condition, or even the effects of medications. You should remember that having an anxiety disorder is not a sign of weakness. Anyone can develop anxiety given the right life circumstances.

Treatment of anxiety can be done with medications or psychotherapy, or a combination of both. So, if you experience anxiety, you should talk to your GP or a psychiatrist. A psychologist, psychotherapist, or counselor can help you identifying the reasons for your anxiety and provide a type of treatment that is suitable for you. This treatment may include learning about stress management or relaxation techniques. Lifestyle changes such as increasing physical exercise may also help,

Supportive and specialist environment such as psychotherapy can help you to understand and resolve your difficulties. Psychotherapy can relieve the symptoms of anxiety and increase the means where you can restore your psychological health and capacity to deal with ongoing life issues. If you are looking for a counselor, there are recommended websites below:

-    Psychotherapy and Counseling Federation of Australia (http://www.pacfa.org.au)

-    Resources for effective psychotherapy and Counseling (http://www.psychotherapy.com.au)

2.    Dealing with weight problems

-    Selecting a weight loss program

Some people lose weight on their own; others prefer to use the support of a structured program. However, if you decide to join any kind of weight control program, there are some recommended questions that may help you to make a decision before joining the program.

1.    Are the staff made of a variety of qualified counselors and health professionals such as nutritionists, registered dietitians, doctors, nurses, psychologists and exercise physiologists?
2.    Does the program provide counseling to help you change your eating habits?
3.    Is training available to help you deal with time when you may feel stressed and slip back to old habits?
4.    Is the attention paid to keeping the weight off? You should select a program that teaches skills and techniques to make permanent changes in eating habits or levels of physical activity to prevent weight gain.
5.    Are food choices flexible and suitable?
6.    Is the cost of the program expensive, flexible and suitable? Are there any other additional costs?
7.    Are there any existing side effects? If so, what are they?
8.    What is the average weight loss among people who finish the program?

-    Guide to physical activity

Please see fitness section.

3.    Self-esteem/body image/beauty therapy

Self-esteem includes both self-beliefs and emotions. Behavior may also reflect self-esteem. Therefore, what we believe and feel about ourselves is self-esteem. It effects our body image, and our feeling about health, and our relationships with other people. It is based on perceptions that other people have of us, or our own view of ourselves. We may have experienced this from our childhood, friends, family and life experiences. Normally, people who have high self esteem focus on their successes and achievements, when most people who have low self-esteem tend to focus more on their failure or negative experiences. If a woman goes through her menopause, she may experience low self-esteem. They often feel more vulnerable and depressed.

There are many ways to improve self-esteem. Some examples are:

1.    Participating in lifestyle courses
2.    Challenging unreasonable expectations that you may have about yourself
3.    Identifying achievements and focusing on these more than perceived failures
4.    Take some time off for yourself, and review your lifestyle and relationships
5.    Understand and evaluate your situation as abusive relationships. Focus more on your physical, emotional, financial, mental and/or social can lead to loss of your self-esteem.

4.    Sex life issues

Many women find that sex after menopause can be more enjoyable. This is because women do go through physical changes after menopause that may affect their sexual feeling. These changes can be positive for many women.

Some examples of those positive experiences are:

1.    Some women with endometriosis and fibroids experience painful sexual intercourse. Many of these women find that menopause brings relief from these conditions and they can enjoy sex more.
2.    Freedom from worrying about birth control and unplanned pregnancy
3.    More privacy and time for sex for parents when children are older.