#Anxiety Disorder Treatment Centres Arizona

[wandacmosley]

Evaluating Effectiveness of Herbal Remedies in Treating Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety is a serious mental disorder characterized by symptoms like consistent fear, worry, and apprehension that often lead to lack of sleep, breathlessness, sweating and shaking of the hands and feet. It is different from common anxiety that one experiences when stuck in an adverse condition and stays for a short period of time. On the contrary, clinical anxiety tends to grow worse with time.

Fortunately, clinical anxiety, also known as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), is a treatable condition. Complete recovery from the condition can be achieved with the help of proper medical intervention from anxiety treatment centers. Despite this, there are many who avoid seeking medical help, primarily due to the associated stigma and social condemnation revolving around the mental illness. However, there are also many who are unaware of professional GAD treatment plans available for treating the disorder.

In both the cases, people search for natural and herbal remedies that can be tried at home without others knowing about them. As a result, they come across remedies such as kava kava, passionflower, lavender, lemon balm and others as popular alternatives for medical intervention to treat anxiety disorders.

Evaluating natural treatments for anxiety

With ‘natural ways to treat anxiety’ being one of the most common searches on the internet, the search engine result page gets flooded with answers like kava, passionflower, lavender, and others. Even though these natural remedies are herbal in nature, they are not 100 percent safe. Each of the suggested natural treatment has potential side effects that may cause more harm than benefit. For instance, Kava, used as an unregulated herbal treatment for generations, has been identified to cause severe liver injuries to the user. Also, its tendency to bind with dopamine increases the risk of habit formation and growing dependence on the plant.

Similarly, passionflower is another traditional remedy that is used to deal with the symptoms of anxiety. The herbal alternative has been found effective in alleviating conditions like insomnia and GAD. Although the remedy has been tested as more or less safe, some studies suggest the flower causes drowsiness, dizziness, and confusion. The flower also increases the risk of bleeding when combined with blood-thinning medications like aspirin.

Another popular remedy is lavender, commonly used as aromatherapy. According to experts, lavender helps in alleviating restlessness, nervousness, and insomnia which are common during an anxiety disorder. However, if taken along with pharmaceutical medications like benzodiazepines (Xanax, Ativan, Valium), it can cause drowsiness. Also, an oral ingestion of lavender can lead to constipation, headache, increased appetite and low blood pressure.

Safe way to seek recovery from anxiety

Despite wide and common use of these herbal methods, they are neither approved nor monitored by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a result, these alternatives are classified as self-medication, which is not recommended by experts and medical practitioners treating anxiety as they worsen the existing condition. Hence, while these natural remedies may have given effective results in some cases, they cannot be standardized for every person suffering from the condition.

The ideal way to attain a healthy recovery from anxiety is via generalized anxiety disorder treatment plans. The medical treatment includes FDA approved medications, therapies or a combination of both. An experienced medical practitioner can device a suitable plan for the one affected on the basis of their clinical diagnosis.

Recovering from anxiety with the help of medical intervention is safe and also ensures a speedy and healthy recovery. Therefore, if you or any of your loved one is suffering from an anxiety disorder, do not hesitate to contact the Anxiety Disorder Treatment Arizona for professional assistance from anxiety disorder treatment Centers in Arizona. Call at our 24/7 helpline number 866- 425-9317 or chat online with our experts who can guide you through the admission process of the chosen GAD treatment in Arizona, assuring a smooth start to your recovery.

[gallusdetoxus]

GALLUS center Phoenix Arizona ward Center, and Denver Colorado ward

Gallus Medical Detox Centers has over 10 years of inmate medical ward expertise. they need the middle of Excellence certifications and therefore the experience to supply the simplest quality care. unwitting trauma, pain, and death will all result from ignoring the medical facet of beating addiction.

 Our Phoenix Arizona ward Center

 Our Gallus detox center is handily settled in Phoenix, Arizona. it's discreetly set close to the airfield. All patients square measure eligible at no cost transportation from and to the airfield. every facility offers:

 ·         7 single-occupancy bedrooms with queen beds and video

·         All facilities have free WLAN

·         Everyday medical visits

·         24 hour medical help on-the-spot

  What is a medical ward centre and the way will it disagree from different ward centers?

 A ward center or medical ward center is that the opening move within the time for treatment of abuse or substance use disorders.

 The recovery method is motor-assisted by medically-monitored ward centers. they're crucial in making certain safety and minimizing the likelihood of complications. though every center offers completely different services and safety, the key options ought to embody medical oversight, medication to ease withdrawal symptoms and care on-demand. it's vital to decide on the correct ward center for your abuse wants.

 Our Phoenix ward Center, a up-to-date ward facility, helps to open the door for a stronger level of care in Arizona. Our state-of the-art ward centers supply all the technological conveniences you'd expect from a medical facility however within the privacy and luxury of a home-like setting.

  Our Denver Colorado ward Facility

 The Denver ward center is handily settled in Littleton in an exceedingly quiet and personal space close to the airfield. All patients square measure eligible at no cost transportation from and to the airfield. every facility offers:

 ·         7 single-occupancy bedrooms with queen beds and video

·         All facilities have free WLAN

·         Everyday medical visits

·         24 hour medical help on-the-spot

 Gallus believes that a medically-proven, customized ward program is that the best thanks to get sobriety from medicine and alcohol.

 ·         Gallus Method: Medical experience + Personal Comfort

·         Oral and IV medication protocols supported proof

·         Private sleeping room with queen bed

·         High acuity and industry-leading expertise

·         43 inch TV, free Wi-Fi, and cellular phone

·         Next Step medical aid and customized Treatment

·         Local restaurants supply meals

·         Telemedicine and doctor visits daily

·         Private storage

·         Expertise within the treatment of polysubstance use to avoid cross-addiction

·         Denver, Colorado - the middle of Excellence for freelance, Inpatient, and Medical ward Services

·         Ten years of expertise

·         Highest Patient Satisfaction

·         Unique IV and Oral Medication Protocols

·         World category Patient expertise

·         Leading industry-leading Clinical educational program

·         Psychotherapy for preparation for medical aid

·         Results: Less pain, anxiety and depression. ninety eight completion rate

  We square measure offered to help you with admission client service. Decision U.S.A. at 866-525-4933.

[naturopathycanada]

7 Alternative Medicine Treatments Doctors Actually Recommend

Natural medicine isn't just "woo-woo" health. Here are the as soon as far-out solutions top docs are utilizing

Alternative medicine goes slightly more mainstream

I had a few months of weird signs and symptoms consisting of heart palpitations, insomnia, and also extreme exhaustion. Ultimately, after some blood tests, my gynecologist took out her prescription pad and scribbled ... the name of an ancient herb. 2 things about this were unusual. First, the natural herb, ashwagandha, seemed to assist. Second, my mainstream doctor in country Florida recommended a natural herb?

However my doctor is not the only one dabbling in natural medicine. While many doctors stay doubtful, a Harvard research study discovered that natural medication use has leapt 15 percent in the United States. And the American Hospital Organization states greater than a third of the nation's health centers provide integrative medication. Below are some treatment options that are verified to work.

Assisted images to assist recovery from surgical procedure

Envisioning your success pre- as well as post-surgery may assist your recuperation. A Kaiser Permanente study located surgery individuals that made use of an assisted images program reduced their anxiety as well as pain And also, 93 percent would suggest the program. Gulshan K. Sethi, MD, a cardiothoracic doctor at the Arizona Wellness Scientific research Center as well as teacher at the College of Arizona University of Medication, includes that envisioning yourself recovered could especially reduce your heart price. Dr. Sethi doesn't force patients to do directed imagery, yet most take his suggestion.

Acupuncture to deal with pain.

According to Lonnie Zeltzer, MD, the supervisor of the pediatric pain program at the Mattel Kid's Medical facility in Los Angeles as well as teacher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, individuals with chronic pain frequently experience a "snowball result." Meaning, the longer the pain lingers, the tougher it is to deal with. That's why she suggests acupuncture to the majority of patients, among other techniques. "We do not know specifically just how it works, but it has been located to enhance levels of feel-good mind chemicals like serotonin as well as endorphins, and also it might additionally shut off parts of the brain involved with discomfort assumption," she states. Research study released in the Journal of Pain backs this up. Scientists discovered that acupuncture effectively treats chronic pain. A lot more especially, it persist over time, and the advantages can not be explained away solely by the sugar pill impact. Right here are a lot more tested ways to take care of chronic pain without medicine.

Yoga for anxiety and anxiety

Yoga exercise could not appear like natural medicine, but the method is extremely helpful for your health and wellness. A study released in the Journal of Alternative and also Corresponding Medicine discovered that people with significant depressive problem (anxiety) that join yoga exercise and also deep breathing courses at the very least twice once a week experience a remarkable dip in their depressive signs and symptoms. Patricia Gerbarg, MD, a psychoanalyst and also assistant medical professor at New York Medical University, includes that inhaling and exhaling in equal procedure makes a distinction. "We believe transforming the breath sends out signals up the vagus nerve, informing the mind that the body is kicked back, so the mind may relax too," Dr. Gerbarg states. That said, Dr. Gerbarg still prescribes drug for clients that require it, but she's seen individuals that don't react to medicines or psychiatric therapy enhance after practicing yoga exercise with deep breathing for 20 minutes two times a day.

Hypnotherapy to soothe irritable bowel syndrome

Various research studies reveal that cranky digestive tract syndrome (IBS) individuals may minimize their signs and symptoms with hypnotherapy. One research in Condition Pharmacology and Rehabs from 2015 located that 76 percent of 1,000 IBS people cut the severity of their symptoms in half with hypnosis. One more study in the American Journal of Medical Hypnotherapy also found that the benefits of this natural medicine last after 6, 10, or 12-month follow-up sessions. David Spiegel, MD, a psychiatrist, and teacher at Stanford Medical College, has actually hypnotized more than 9,000 patients for everything from anxieties to IBS. Do not miss out on these natural stomach ache treatments you never ever found out about.

Tai chi for sleeping disorders

Research study released in the journal of Organic Psychology shows that cognitive behavioral therapy incorporated with tai chi may reduce both insomnia and also inflammation. After one year of treatment, those on cognitive behavior modification and also tai chi had actually minimized blood levels of C-reactive healthy protein. Plus, they had actually reduced manufacturing of pro-inflammatory cytokines-- both signs of inflammation. The Facility for Spirituality as well as Healing at the College of Minnesota recommends practicing tai chi to lower stress and anxiety as well as assist you drop off to sleep quicker, also.

Aromatherapy for anxiety and tension relief

Aromatherapy is a therapeutic alternative medicine method for individuals experiencing stress and anxiety, anxiety, fatigue, and pain monitoring, according to an organized testimonial in the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. Other research likewise shows it could improve rest as well as minimize pain. Some smaller studies show that aromatherapy could enhance the lifestyle for individuals with mental deterioration. One research study especially discovered that rose water may visibly decrease stress and anxiety. And also, integrating massage therapy with crucial oils is recognized for being relaxing. Next, take a look at these 26 home remedies that really work.

The article “ 7 Alternative Medicine Treatments Doctors Actually Recommend “ was published first on The Healthy

Dr. Amauri Caversan Wellness Centre is a wellness clinic located at the heart of Yorkville, Toronto. For details on naturopathic services offered, click here: https://dramaurinaturopath.com/ 

[addictionfreedom]

Addiction Treatment Centers Bc

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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/asu-expert-without-sleep-we-get-fat-sick-and-stupid-arizona-state-university/

ASU expert: 'Without sleep, we get fat, sick and stupid' - Arizona State University

November 27, 2018

Nursing Professor Carol Baldwin believes a good night’s sleep is worth its weight in gold

Have more sex. Sleep alone. Drink less caffeine. Get more exercise. Turn off the electronics and dispense with all negative thoughts.

Sleep studies seem to be a dime a dozen these days and often spur curious tips and confusing advice from experts across the board. One recent takeaway from a study at a university in the Southwest: Make a to-do list before going to bed.

The good news is that Americans are getting on average 17.3 more minutes of sleep  per night, according to a recent study that looked at data from 2003–2016. The bad news is they still aren’t getting enough. And even worse is that sleep deprivation is costing the United States approximately $411 billion a year, about 2.28 percent of our country’s gross domestic product.

Carol BaldwinBaldwin is also a Southwest Borderlands Scholar; deputy director, WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre to Advance the Policy on Research for Health; and past director for the Center for World Health., a professor emeritus from Arizona State University’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation and an expert on sleep and sleep promotion, takes a more practical and commonsense approach to catching Z’s. Her view? “Without sleep, we get sick, fat and stupid,” Baldwin recently told ASU Now.

Carol Baldwin

Question: Why is it essential to get a good night’s sleep?

Answer: Missing one night of sleep or having a poor night’s sleep can affect mood, energy, efficiency and the ability to manage stress. Sleep disorders can lead to poorer health outcomes, work/home/traffic-related accidents, poor job performance and stress in relationships. For health workers, it means insufficient, nonrestorative sleep and fatigue can compromise patient safety. Healthy sleep is as important as diet and physical activity and is essential for physical health and emotional well-being.

Q: What is sleep apnea, and how is it treated?

A: Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that can lead to chronic illnesses, like heart disease and diabetes, or even death. It is generally more common in men, especially if they are overweight or obese. A person with sleep apnea can be recognized by very loud snoring, followed by stopping of breathing that lasts for at least 10 seconds called “apnea.” Apneas can happen up to 400 times per night. People with suspected sleep apnea need to see a sleep specialist, who generally orders a sleep study to determine the severity of the sleep apnea. Oftentimes, sleep apnea is treated with a machine attached to a mask placed over the nose that forces air in during the night so that the airway stays open. This treatment is called continuous positive airway pressure breathing. Green Bay Packer Reggie White died of complications of sleep apnea. Basketball player Shaquille O’Neal was diagnosed with sleep apnea and encourages people to learn about the disorder and get treated for it.

Q: Snoring without apnea is also an obvious roadblock to getting a good night’s sleep. What are some interventions to reduce snoring?

A: Avoid alcohol — it relaxes the throat muscles during sleep, making snoring more likely to occur. If the nose is obstructed or stretched, snoring is more likely to occur; a steamy shower at bedtime could help open nasal passages. Also, change your pillows out every year and vacuum them every few weeks. Dust allergens in the bedroom or mites can contribute to snoring; skin cells from pets may be irritants. Lastly, drink water! Drinking the recommended eight glasses of water a day helps reduce thickness of nasal secretions, which can improve airflow.

Q: What are causes of acute and chronic insomnia?

A: Acute insomnia is usually caused by significant life stress, and it can vary from a loss or change of employment, death of a loved one, divorce, graduation, illness or physical or emotional pain. Certain medications used for allergies, depression, high blood pressure and asthma can also interfere with sleep. Acute insomnia may not require treatment and can often be prevented or treated by practicing good bedtime/sleep habits. Chronic insomnia is usually triggered by depression, anxiety, stress or chronic pain or discomfort. Behavioral treatments and relaxation techniques can limit the worsening of insomnia and can teach new ways to promote healthy sleep.

Insomnia is generally more common in women and often contributes to substance abuse, poorer health-related quality of life and functional impairment. Primary care providers usually do not ask people about how well they sleep, or if they have trouble sleeping. Because of this lack of knowledge about sleep, it usually takes 11 years before the person with insomnia is diagnosed. Insomnia, which reduces the amount of sleep a person needs, can also result in chronic diseases, like heart disease, diabetes and daytime fatigue that can lead to home, work and traffic accidents. The economic impact to insomnia accounts for approximately $411 billion a year in the United States alone through reduced worker productivity, high blood pressure and early death, according to the Rand Corporation.

Q: What about sleep needs for children and adolescents?

A: Children and adolescents today have more distractions: Electronic devices such as television, smartphones, video games, text messaging and social networking all contribute to reducing the number of hours of sleep. School-age children need at least 11 hours of sleep each night, including weekends. They need a set time for bedtime and for waking up. Adolescents require around nine hours of continuous, uninterrupted sleep seven nights a week, and it’s important for them to establish a specific routine for bedtime. All electronic devices should be kept outside of the bedroom, so the brain can relate the bedroom with sleep. When children, adolescents and adults do not get enough sleep, we are more likely to eat “junk” food that is high in sugar, fat and carbohydrates and drink sugared beverages that are high in caffeine, like cola drinks. These behaviors have been leading to the epidemic of overweight and obesity that we have been seeing in the United States. 

The impact of sleep deficiency in children has many repercussions and can lead to behavior problems at home and school, including inattention, hyperactivity, poor school performance or daytime fatigue. Obesity can lead to chronic diseases in children and adolescents, just as in adults, including heart disease and diabetes. Sleep specialists are now recommending that children be tested for a sleep disorder even before they are tested and treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Given the links between sleep disorders, poor nutrition, fatigue and inattention, the bottom-line summary is: Without sleep, we get sick, fat and stupid.

Q: What are some healthy sleep behaviors?

A: Avoid products like tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate and soda at least four hours before bedtime because they have caffeine, which is a stimulant and a diuretic. Nicotine products, like patches, gum and cigarettes, should be avoided at least four hours before bed as they contain nicotine, a stimulant. The same goes for alcohol, which might help people fall asleep at first, but within two weeks contributes to “rebound insomnia.” Alcohol also has diuretic properties and can interrupt sleep. Other common-sense behaviors include avoiding a large meal immediately before bed, particularly spicy foods. A light snack like a banana, almonds, tart cherries and chamomile tea can help promote sleep.

Daily activity such as walking, dancing, running, swimming, gardening and sports helps with sleeping, but avoid doing it in the evening if exercise is stimulating for you, which could result in your having trouble falling asleep. “Worriers” might make a list of concerns before bedtime to worry about in the morning. (One could also) learn relaxation, meditation, guided imagery techniques, or take a warm relaxing bath or shower. Adults need seven to eight hours of restful sleep on weekdays — and weekends.

Top photo courtesy of alyssafilmmaker/Flickr

November 27, 2018

Locusts have afflicted humanity throughout history, with devastating consequences. It’s no surprise that locusts are one of the 10 plagues in the biblical book Exodus. These insects are species of grasshoppers that can swarm in the millions and wipe out fields of crops in the blink of an eye.

The Global Locust Initiative, an Arizona State University program aiming to study and manage locust outbreaks, recently won a half-million-dollar grant from the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (a part of the U.S. Agency for International Development). This is the first time an ASU program has been awarded an OFDA grant, according to research advancement manager Ann Marie Hess, whose dedication to this partnership and work as a research advancement manager, alongside program manager Ariel Rivers, was critical to landing the grant.

With this funding, the Global Locust Initiative team — directed by senior sustainability scientist Arianne Cease (pictured left) — will test whether soil amendments to millet fields in Kaffrine, Senegal, decrease locust outbreaks, improve millet yields and increase farmer livelihoods.

Cease’s research over the past 10 years has linked the nutrient content of plants to locust population dynamics. Unlike most herbivores, locusts prefer the “donut diet” of low-nitrogen, low-protein, high-carbohydrate plants, which often result from overuse of the landscape.

This project in Senegal will be “the first pilot study to use soil amendments as a tool to see if they can help keep locust numbers low across a broad area,” Cease said. The initiative chose Kaffrine as a pilot region for a few reasons: It’s a hotbed for the Senegalese locust, and the team already has experience and connections in the region due to Cease’s time there in the Peace Corps and earlier Global Locust Initiative research funded by the National Science Foundation.

Cease Lab postdoctoral researcher Marion Le Gall has spent the past two summers studying the Senegalese locust in the Kaffrine region. Her research has shown that this species prefers control (low-protein, high-carbohydrate) millet over nitrogen-fertilized millet, and has a lower survival rate and lays smaller eggs when eating fertilized millet. Additional work by School of Sustainability Master of Science student Mira Word, now an alumna, found a negative correlation between locusts and nitrogen in soil and plants, and that soil improvement practices may help keep locusts at bay.

To test these principles on a larger scale, the USAID study will be conducted for a year starting in March 2019 and the Global Locust Initiative will work with local Kaffrine partners, 40 farmers in five villages, and other on-the-ground teams such as women’s groups. To facilitate communications and activities, a community outreach specialist was recently hired. ASU students and a postdoctoral researcher from McGill University will also be assisting in the field.

Testing on-the-ground solutions 

Specifically, the team will be testing whether small doses of nitrogen fertilizer applied to the base of each millet plant will bring about the expected impacts. Cease recognizes that nitrogen fertilization is not the perfect long-term solution because it can have negative effects downstream if used in large amounts.

“Because it’s only a one-year project and we want to see if the results will work immediately, we’re starting out with nitrogen fertilization in the short term,” Cease said. “But in the long-term, if we do see the impacts that we’re looking for, then we will move forward with integrating our work with other programs that are looking at more sustainable soil amendments.”

In conjunction with soil amendments, and training farmers on how to use them, the Global Locust Initiative will be implementing other projects in the region including an ID booklet and a women’s group early warning system. The booklet will be in the local language (Wolof) and will help villagers tell the difference between locusts that are hazardous for crops and those that are benign. If harmful locusts are spotted, the ID booklet has information on how to contact the initiative’s partner in Senegal — the plant protection directorate (called the DPV).

The team will also work with women’s groups (who, as Cease said, are “highly organized and have made many remarkable advancements in the region”) to monitor light traps, which will be installed in each of the five pilot villages. Like many bugs, locusts are attracted to light at night. When locusts fly into the traps, the women can pick them out and identify them.  

“They can determine the numbers of locusts coming in and if there are gravid females (with eggs),” Cease said. “If you get a bunch of fat females filled with eggs in your light trap, you know there are probably a lot more around the village laying eggs.”

The women will notify the plant protection directorate of any alarming locust activity, with the long-term plan that this information will be used to augment their monitoring and forecasting program.

Cease said that this pilot program couldn’t have moved forward without the initial research and on-the-ground work in Senegal, and credits ASU alumnus Balanding Manneh and retired DPV phytosanitary station director Alioune Beye as key to their early efforts. Manneh — the 2016 World Hunger Leadership Award winner, who’s originally from The Gambia (a country that shares language and customs with Senegal) — worked with the Cease Lab for more than three years and visited Senegal twice with the team. In Senegal, he conducted field research and did most of the translating between the Global Locust Initiative team and farmers, which was essential to build understanding.

“The Senegalese people are known for their ‘teranga’ — Wolof language word for hospitality,” Manneh said. “The Cease Lab team received a warm welcome from the farmers, villagers and local collaborators,” including the foundational DPV partners. “They know that understanding locusts and safeguarding their livelihoods is a collaborative effort that requires many stakeholders.”

Kayla Frost

Associate Editor , Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability

480-965-0539 kayla.frost@asu.edu

Source: https://asunow.asu.edu/20181127-discoveries-asu-expert-without-sleep-we-get-fat-sick-and-stupid

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Is everything you think you know about depression wrong?

In this extract from his new book, Johann Hari, who took antidepressants for 14 years, calls for a new approach

In the 1970s, a truth was accidentally discovered about depression one that was quickly swept aside, because its implications were too inconvenient, and too explosive. American psychiatrists had produced a book that would lay out, in detail, all the symptoms of different mental illnesses, so they could be identified and treated in the same way across the United States. It was called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. In the latest edition, they laid out nine symptoms that a patient has to show to be diagnosed with depression like, for example, decreased interest in pleasure or persistent low mood. For a doctor to conclude you were depressed, you had to show five of these symptoms over several weeks.

The manual was sent out to doctors across the US and they began to use it to diagnose people. However, after a while they came back to the authors and pointed out something that was bothering them. If they followed this guide, they had to diagnose every grieving person who came to them as depressed and start giving them medical treatment. If you lose someone, it turns out that these symptoms will come to you automatically. So, the doctors wanted to know, are we supposed to start drugging all the bereaved people in America?

The authors conferred, and they decided that there would be a special clause added to the list of symptoms of depression. None of this applies, they said, if you have lost somebody you love in the past year. In that situation, all these symptoms are natural, and not a disorder. It was called the grief exception, and it seemed to resolve the problem.

Then, as the years and decades passed, doctors on the frontline started to come back with another question. All over the world, they were being encouraged to tell patients that depression is, in fact, just the result of a spontaneous chemical imbalance in your brain it is produced by low serotonin, or a natural lack of some other chemical. Its not caused by your life its caused by your broken brain. Some of the doctors began to ask how this fitted with the grief exception. If you agree that the symptoms of depression are a logical and understandable response to one set of life circumstances losing a loved one might they not be an understandable response to other situations? What about if you lose your job? What if you are stuck in a job that you hate for the next 40 years? What about if you are alone and friendless?

The grief exception seemed to have blasted a hole in the claim that the causes of depression are sealed away in your skull. It suggested that there are causes out here, in the world, and they needed to be investigated and solved there. This was a debate that mainstream psychiatry (with some exceptions) did not want to have. So, they responded in a simple way by whittling away the grief exception. With each new edition of the manual they reduced the period of grief that you were allowed before being labelled mentally ill down to a few months and then, finally, to nothing at all. Now, if your baby dies at 10am, your doctor can diagnose you with a mental illness at 10.01am and start drugging you straight away.

Dr Joanne Cacciatore, of Arizona State University, became a leading expert on the grief exception after her own baby, Cheyenne, died during childbirth. She had seen many grieving people being told that they were mentally ill for showing distress. She told me this debate reveals a key problem with how we talk about depression, anxiety and other forms of suffering: we dont, she said, consider context. We act like human distress can be assessed solely on a checklist that can be separated out from our lives, and labelled as brain diseases. If we started to take peoples actual lives into account when we treat depression and anxiety, Joanne explained, it would require an entire system overhaul. She told me that when you have a person with extreme human distress, [we need to] stop treating the symptoms. The symptoms are a messenger of a deeper problem. Lets get to the deeper problem.

*****

I was a teenager when I swallowed my first antidepressant. I was standing in the weak English sunshine, outside a pharmacy in a shopping centre in London. The tablet was white and small, and as I swallowed, it felt like a chemical kiss. That morning I had gone to see my doctor and I had told him crouched, embarrassed that pain was leaking out of me uncontrollably, like a bad smell, and I had felt this way for several years. In reply, he told me a story. There is a chemical called serotonin that makes people feel good, he said, and some people are naturally lacking it in their brains. You are clearly one of those people. There are now, thankfully, new drugs that will restore your serotonin level to that of a normal person. Take them, and you will be well. At last, I understood what had been happening to me, and why.

However, a few months into my drugging, something odd happened. The pain started to seep through again. Before long, I felt as bad as I had at the start. I went back to my doctor, and he told me that I was clearly on too low a dose. And so, 20 milligrams became 30 milligrams; the white pill became blue. I felt better for several months. And then the pain came back through once more. My dose kept being jacked up, until I was on 80mg, where it stayed for many years, with only a few short breaks. And still the pain broke back through.

I started to research my book, Lost Connections: Uncovering The Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions, because I was puzzled by two mysteries. Why was I still depressed when I was doing everything I had been told to do? I had identified the low serotonin in my brain, and I was boosting my serotonin levels yet I still felt awful. But there was a deeper mystery still. Why were so many other people across the western world feeling like me? Around one in five US adults are taking at least one drug for a psychiatric problem. In Britain, antidepressant prescriptions have doubled in a decade, to the point where now one in 11 of us drug ourselves to deal with these feelings. What has been causing depression and its twin, anxiety, to spiral in this way? I began to ask myself: could it really be that in our separate heads, all of us had brain chemistries that were spontaneously malfunctioning at the same time?

To find the answers, I ended up going on a 40,000-mile journey across the world and back. I talked to the leading social scientists investigating these questions, and to people who have been overcoming depression in unexpected ways from an Amish village in Indiana, to a Brazilian city that banned advertising and a laboratory in Baltimore conducting a startling wave of experiments. From these people, I learned the best scientific evidence about what really causes depression and anxiety. They taught me that it is not what we have been told it is up to now. I found there is evidence that seven specific factors in the way we are living today are causing depression and anxiety to rise alongside two real biological factors (such as your genes) that can combine with these forces to make it worse.

Once I learned this, I was able to see that a very different set of solutions to my depression and to our depression had been waiting for me all along.

To understand this different way of thinking, though, I had to first investigate the old story, the one that had given me so much relief at first. Professor Irving Kirsch at Harvard University is the Sherlock Holmes of chemical antidepressants the man who has scrutinised the evidence about giving drugs to depressed and anxious people most closely in the world. In the 1990s, he prescribed chemical antidepressants to his patients with confidence. He knew the published scientific evidence, and it was clear: it showed that 70% of people who took them got significantly better. He began to investigate this further, and put in a freedom of information request to get the data that the drug companies had been privately gathering into these drugs. He was confident that he would find all sorts of other positive effects but then he bumped into something peculiar.

Illustration by Michael Driver.

We all know that when you take selfies, you take 30 pictures, throw away the 29 where you look bleary-eyed or double-chinned, and pick out the best one to be your Tinder profile picture. It turned out that the drug companies who fund almost all the research into these drugs were taking this approach to studying chemical antidepressants. They would fund huge numbers of studies, throw away all the ones that suggested the drugs had very limited effects, and then only release the ones that showed success. To give one example: in one trial, the drug was given to 245 patients, but the drug company published the results for only 27 of them. Those 27 patients happened to be the ones the drug seemed to work for. Suddenly, Professor Kirsch realised that the 70% figure couldnt be right.

It turns out that between 65 and 80% of people on antidepressants are depressed again within a year. I had thought that I was freakish for remaining depressed while on these drugs. In fact, Kirsch explained to me in Massachusetts, I was totally typical. These drugs are having a positive effect for some people but they clearly cant be the main solution for the majority of us, because were still depressed even when we take them. At the moment, we offer depressed people a menu with only one option on it. I certainly dont want to take anything off the menu but I realised, as I spent time with him, that we would have to expand the menu.

This led Professor Kirsch to ask a more basic question, one he was surprised to be asking. How do we know depression is even caused by low serotonin at all? When he began to dig, it turned out that the evidence was strikingly shaky. Professor Andrew Scull of Princeton, writing in the Lancet, explained that attributing depression to spontaneously low serotonin is deeply misleading and unscientific. Dr David Healy told me: There was never any basis for it, ever. It was just marketing copy.

I didnt want to hear this. Once you settle into a story about your pain, you are extremely reluctant to challenge it. It was like a leash I had put on my distress to keep it under some control. I feared that if I messed with the story I had lived with for so long, the pain would run wild, like an unchained animal. Yet the scientific evidence was showing me something clear, and I couldnt ignore it.

*****

So, what is really going on? When I interviewed social scientists all over the world from So Paulo to Sydney, from Los Angeles to London I started to see an unexpected picture emerge. We all know that every human being has basic physical needs: for food, for water, for shelter, for clean air. It turns out that, in the same way, all humans have certain basic psychological needs. We need to feel we belong. We need to feel valued. We need to feel were good at something. We need to feel we have a secure future. And there is growing evidence that our culture isnt meeting those psychological needs for many perhaps most people. I kept learning that, in very different ways, we have become disconnected from things we really need, and this deep disconnection is driving this epidemic of depression and anxiety all around us.

Lets look at one of those causes, and one of the solutions we can begin to see if we understand it differently. There is strong evidence that human beings need to feel their lives are meaningful that they are doing something with purpose that makes a difference. Its a natural psychological need. But between 2011 and 2012, the polling company Gallup conducted the most detailed study ever carried out of how people feel about the thing we spend most of our waking lives doing our paid work. They found that 13% of people say they are engaged in their work they find it meaningful and look forward to it. Some 63% say they are not engaged, which is defined as sleepwalking through their workday. And 24% are actively disengaged: they hate it.

Antidepressant prescriptions have doubled over the last decade. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

Most of the depressed and anxious people I know, I realised, are in the 87% who dont like their work. I started to dig around to see if there is any evidence that this might be related to depression. It turned out that a breakthrough had been made in answering this question in the 1970s, by an Australian scientist called Michael Marmot. He wanted to investigate what causes stress in the workplace and believed hed found the perfect lab in which to discover the answer: the British civil service, based in Whitehall. This small army of bureaucrats was divided into 19 different layers, from the permanent secretary at the top, down to the typists. What he wanted to know, at first, was: whos more likely to have a stress-related heart attack the big boss at the top, or somebody below him?

Everybody told him: youre wasting your time. Obviously, the boss is going to be more stressed because hes got more responsibility. But when Marmot published his results, he revealed the truth to be the exact opposite. The lower an employee ranked in the hierarchy, the higher their stress levels and likelihood of having a heart attack. Now he wanted to know: why?

And thats when, after two more years studying civil servants, he discovered the biggest factor. It turns out if you have no control over your work, you are far more likely to become stressed and, crucially, depressed. Humans have an innate need to feel that what we are doing, day-to-day, is meaningful. When you are controlled, you cant create meaning out of your work.

Suddenly, the depression of many of my friends, even those in fancy jobs who spend most of their waking hours feeling controlled and unappreciated started to look not like a problem with their brains, but a problem with their environments. There are, I discovered, many causes of depression like this. However, my journey was not simply about finding the reasons why we feel so bad. The core was about finding out how we can feel better how we can find real and lasting antidepressants that work for most of us, beyond only the packs of pills we have been offered as often the sole item on the menu for the depressed and anxious. I kept thinking about what Dr Cacciatore had taught me we have to deal with the deeper problems that are causing all this distress.

I found the beginnings of an answer to the epidemic of meaningless work in Baltimore. Meredith Mitchell used to wake up every morning with her heart racing with anxiety. She dreaded her office job. So she took a bold step one that lots of people thought was crazy. Her husband, Josh, and their friends had worked for years in a bike store, where they were ordered around and constantly felt insecure, Most of them were depressed. One day, they decided to set up their own bike store, but they wanted to run it differently. Instead of having one guy at the top giving orders, they would run it as a democratic co-operative. This meant they would make decisions collectively, they would share out the best and worst jobs and they would all, together, be the boss. It would be like a busy democratic tribe. When I went to their store Baltimore Bicycle Works the staff explained how, in this different environment, their persistent depression and anxiety had largely lifted.

Its not that their individual tasks had changed much. They fixed bikes before; they fix bikes now. But they had dealt with the unmet psychological needs that were making them feel so bad by giving themselves autonomy and control over their work. Josh had seen for himself that depressions are very often, as he put it, rational reactions to the situation, not some kind of biological break. He told me there is no need to run businesses anywhere in the old humiliating, depressing way we could move together, as a culture, to workers controlling their own workplaces.

*****

With each of the nine causes of depression and anxiety I learned about, I kept being taught startling facts and arguments like this that forced me to think differently. Professor John Cacioppo of Chicago University taught me that being acutely lonely is as stressful as being punched in the face by a stranger and massively increases your risk of depression. Dr Vincent Felitti in San Diego showed me that surviving severe childhood trauma makes you 3,100% more likely to attempt suicide as an adult. Professor Michael Chandler in Vancouver explained to me that if a community feels it has no control over the big decisions affecting it, the suicide rate will shoot up.

This new evidence forces us to seek out a very different kind of solution to our despair crisis. One person in particular helped me to unlock how to think about this. In the early days of the 21st century, a South African psychiatrist named Derek Summerfeld went to Cambodia, at a time when antidepressants were first being introduced there. He began to explain the concept to the doctors he met. They listened patiently and then told him they didnt need these new antidepressants, because they already had anti-depressants that work. He assumed they were talking about some kind of herbal remedy.

He asked them to explain, and they told him about a rice farmer they knew whose left leg was blown off by a landmine. He was fitted with a new limb, but he felt constantly anxious about the future, and was filled with despair. The doctors sat with him, and talked through his troubles. They realised that even with his new artificial limb, his old jobworking in the rice paddieswas leaving him constantly stressed and in physical pain, and that was making him want to just stop living. So they had an idea. They believed that if he became a dairy farmer, he could live differently. So they bought him a cow. In the months and years that followed, his life changed. His depressionwhich had been profoundwent away. You see, doctor, they told him, the cow was an antidepressant.

To them, finding an antidepressant didnt mean finding a way to change your brain chemistry. It meant finding a way to solve the problem that was causing the depression in the first place. We can do the same. Some of these solutions are things we can do as individuals, in our private lives. Some require bigger social shifts, which we can only achieve together, as citizens. But all of them require us to change our understanding of what depression and anxiety really are.

This is radical, but it is not, I discovered, a maverick position. In its official statement for World Health Day in 2017, the United Nations reviewed the best evidence and concluded that the dominant biomedical narrative of depression is based on biased and selective use of research outcomes that must be abandoned. We need to move from focusing on chemical imbalances, they said, to focusing more on power imbalances.

After I learned all this, and what it means for us all, I started to long for the power to go back in time and speak to my teenage self on the day he was told a story about his depression that was going to send him off in the wrong direction for so many years. I wanted to tell him: This pain you are feeling is not a pathology. Its not crazy. It is a signal that your natural psychological needs are not being met. It is a form of grief for yourself, and for the culture you live in going so wrong. I know how much it hurts. I know how deeply it cuts you. But you need to listen to this signal. We all need to listen to the people around us sending out this signal. It is telling you what is going wrong. It is telling you that you need to be connected in so many deep and stirring ways that you arent yet but you can be, one day.

If you are depressed and anxious, you are not a machine with malfunctioning parts. You are a human being with unmet needs. The only real way out of our epidemic of despair is for all of us, together, to begin to meet those human needs for deep connection, to the things that really matter in life.

This is an edited extract from Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari, published by Bloomsbury on 11 January (16.99). To order a copy for 14.44 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99. It will be available in audio at audible.co.uk

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/07/is-everything-you-think-you-know-about-depression-wrong-johann-hari-lost-connections

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WHAM Community Arts Center in brings Artwork to all in West Valley

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Kelley Smith (right) takes a ceramics class from teacher Connie Whitlock (abandoned) in WHAM Community Arts Center on Sep. 19, 2017 at Surprise. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

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Connie Whitlock has an expression: “Everyone deserves to experience art.”

And, being this WHAM Community Arts Center’s director at Surprise, she has dedicated herself to making sure that everyone can.

When her husband and Whitlock retired to Sun City Grand in 1999, she did not understand just what to do with her free time. She was not the coffee klatch type, so she tried various jobs, but nothing felt right.

Then Whitlock saw a flier . Before she got busy with job and loved ones, she had studied art in school. Why don’t you try again?

On her first trip, she sat down in a potter’s wheel.

“And that was it!” Whitlock recalled.

She was at the studio five days a week. She sought classes she could find. She got several commissions, left some earnings and, finally.

From 2006, Whitlock was an expert artist. But even as she enjoyed her creativity, she wondered why there weren’t more opportunities for West Valley citizens to come more than art.

“I started thinking that there are a lot of people who would love to get access to art, but there was not any organized art centre here in the time.”

Drawing on her prior experience in company management, Whitlock chose to start her own club, which she envisioned to meet, mingle, and find out all ages, all levels all media.

A self-described “old hippie,” she named the club that the “What Is Happen’n Art Movement,” picking the name to indicate that the organization could constantly be changing.

By brainchild to construction

WHAM Community Arts Center is observed on Sep. 19, 2017 at Surprise.  (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

Shortly after she posted the initial palaces, Whitlock discovered she was rightfolks wanted art. The club grew with artists from a number of subjects coming together for classes and lectures. They arrived from Surprise, Peoria, Glendale, Litchfield Park and outside. They met in her residence. They met in other people’s houses. Once, for an major workshop, then they rented a hotel space.

Then things really started moving.

In 2012, Whitlock was commissioned to make an artwork for the Adelante Healthcare practice at Surprise.

Whitlock got the following thought since she worked.

What, she asked Adelante, were they planning to do with the vacant clinic around Dysart Road?

“They said they had leased it in the city before 2015. So I asked if I could use it,” she remembered. “And they said yes!”

And wham, similar to that, the volunteer-run organization had 8,500 square feet of space — all for art.

The conversion from neighborhood health practice to community arts centre was not even that complicated.

Except for eliminating a few walls at the area to create a gallery, most of the construction required little renovation. The 13 exam rooms had cupboards and cupboards, so that they were readily reimagined as studios for lease. Along with the rooms were ideal for classes and workshops– such as a ceramics studio that is dedicated.

An area of artists

Today, a sculpture garden and colorful indicators welcome people. Indoors, every inch of this building is dedicated to sharing making, teaching, practicing and learning art.

The WHAM West Gallery, that is absolutely free to visitors, hosts a new exhibit every month, which range to rentals toward artists that are fighting. Volunteer docents response inquiries, along with a provides a spot to contemplate the artwork.

But even past the gallery, halls are hung with prints, drawings and paintings. A small gift store offers ceramics and jewelry available. And the studios’ doors are adorned giving a glimpse in the work being created by the citizens indoors, most of whom are artists.

One of those artists runs a company called Painting 4 Entertaining. Gibson, who supplies instruction and supplies for casual art classes, used to lease space but moved from January 2015 to WHAM, brought by the lower rent and the ability to borrow the classroom for class lessons. However among the biggest advantages has been the inspiration.

Glazing colors during a ceramics class at WHAM Community Arts Center on Sep. 19, 2017 at Surprise.  (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

“Once I walked in to reserve my studio area, they had just set a brand new show up,” she remembered. “And I was just in awe of those functions in this gallery. I love being around other artists and seeing what they’re doing.”

Kelley Smith has had an identical experience. As an painter with a busy commission program, Smith already had a nice, big studio at home.

However, what she did not have was an artistic support team.

“Working at home all the time, I was feeling kind of isolated,” Smith admitted. “I needed people who may talk my language.”

Two years ago, those individuals were found by Smith at WHAM, in which she now teaches painting and drawing classes.

“The creative energy is wonderful,” she clarified. “I docent a couple of times a month and once I leave I only want to go straight home and paint, I am so inspired.”

Art anyplace

WHAM Community Arts Center is observed on Sep. 19, 2017 at Surprise.  (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

There might be much more energy in WHAM than four walls can contain.

Sharing Whitlock’s conviction that “art is for everyone,” WHAM’s applications consist of after-school classes and art camps for children, an art club for teens, and adult classes that vary by Sharpie drawings to pottery. To achieve community members, arts teachers have tailored art projects for adults and children with special needs, and others offer free classes.

Every April, WHAM hosts a recycled art festival, and in November, the ceramics artists team up together with all the Sun City Grand clay club to get the “Bowls of Hope” fundraiser to benefit West Valley food banks and shelters.

Even with those projects, there is still art that some spills in the streets.

A brand new “WHAM on Wheels” studio, built on a flatbed trailer, which enables volunteers to sponsor pop-up art classes at parks and public areas across the West Valley; and several cities have commissioned WHAM artists to create public art projects, such as a sculpture in the Goodyear Ballpark, murals in Bicentennial Park in Surprise and sidewalks for downtown Peoria.

A path to recovery

But one of the outreach programs, said Whitlock, will be Surprise’s team and the art workshops for first responders and military veterans — a cooperation with Arizona Arts Alliance. The sessions, held three times in places at Surprise and Peoria, let participants to simply relax and revel in the imaginative process, clarified coordinator Marty Wolfe.

At each workshop, from woodburning to mask-making projects that vary are explored by veterans. Some people take turns teaching, others do their thing, like the 94-year-old veteran who comes to sketch the other participants. There’s no anxiety and no treatment.

“They do not have to talk about anything,” Wolfe explained. “They simply do the art.”

But performing the art is sufficient, said.

After serving 16 years since a U.S. Army Ranger, Gilbert was struggling with chronic depression and post-traumatic stress disorder if a counselor persuaded him to attend his very first WHAM workshop.

“It was among those few times I had been out of this home for a little while,” Gilbert recalled, “and we did a small painting and I still do not understand why, but it was the very first time in a very long time I had a glimmer of hope.”

Together with Whitlock he returned the following month. And the second. The glimmer grew steadily.

WHAM Community Arts Center is observed on Sep. 19, 2017 at Surprise. .  (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

“You are here and it supplies such a secure environment,” Gilbert explained. “When you have PTSD, you get rid of everything, including your individuality. I got to where I did not even talk. However, once I arrived here, I started to realize that I have friends. It’s not just the art, it’s the procedure and the camaraderie.”

Gilbert has felt so much relief that he has used his new abilities to assist folks, like he brought a veteran who was in the midst of a panic attack painting supplies, and currently acts as a recruiter for this application.

“I told him to paint what he was feeling,” recalled Gilbert. “And he started telling me he did not understand anything about art, but I said: ‘Just paint.’ And in only a few minutes, he started calming down.”

The experience was an eye-opener, ” said Gilbert, proving that art can be an effective tool for recovery.

Whitlock was gratified, but not surprised.

“Art is curative for everyone,” she clarified, “if you’ve got an illness or simply require a small stress break. Everybody needs to develop their creativity. It is part of being human.”

Utilizing art for great

Together with improving his life, WHAM is additionally credited by Alberto Hernandez. When he was a junior at high school, the Surprise native did not feel like that he had an outlet. He started tagging walls and getting in trouble for drawing through math class.

When a friend invited him to join the teen art club in WHAM that changed.

“It was amazing how much Connie genuinely cared about us as young artists and wanted to let us show what we can do,” Hernandez said.

Whitlock assigned the teens to assist with a public art project from Surprise: a mural intended to greatly cut down on graffiti in a park bathroom. The team worked to wash out the walls, then scenes representing the past, current and future of this city that was developing.

“It was the first-time anyone showed me that I could use my art for good,” Hernandez said.

22 and a Realtor, Hernandez volunteers for WHAM whenever he could as artists.

How art Ought to Be

Connie Whitlock (left) instructs a ceramics class with students Lupe Meter (centre) and Kelley Smith in WHAM Community Arts Center on Sep. 19, 2017 at Surprise.  (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic)

For Whitlock, the success that Gilbert and Hernandez have found through art is that the benefit for her job.

“That is the reason why we do it,” she explained. “If you can inspire only one person, it’s worth it. That is why I am pushing hard to grow: to your neighborhood and for children.”

Whitlock hopes to keep expanding, because the club has achieved so far. In 2015, once the lease in their construction reverted to the city of Surprise, WHAM signed a 20-year rent. However, WHAM keeps hitting beyond those walls. The team will sponsor its initial plein-air festival at Peoria’s Vistancia neighborhood and recently purchased a truck that is used to maintain WHAM on Wheels. And they’re expanding their significance of arts together with events and poetry slams.

The major reason WHAM has been so effective, said Whitlock, is that it has over 200 members who are just as passionate as she is. Volunteers work in teams together with everyone contributing their own abilities.

“Even though I started this, it’s so much bigger than me,” Whitlock insisted. “it is a group effort.”

And that sense of neighborhood, based on Hernandez, is the greatest accomplishment of WHAM.

“It is all real folks,” he explained. “It is all ages and backgrounds and nobody’s excluded. Everybody’s included. It is how art should be.”

Details: WHAM Community Arts Center is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that offers art classes, workshops, exhibits, performances, and more. For info, see www.wham-art.org or telephone 623-584-8311. Situated in 16560 N. Dysart Road, Surprise.

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