#Top Psychiatrist In Chennai

[delhimyhealthcare]

top gastroenterologist in jaipur

Are you looking for the best gastroenterologist in Jaipur? Look no further than MyHealthcare! Our team of experienced specialists is committed to providing you with the highest quality of care and service. We offer comprehensive care for all digestive conditions, from gastritis to Crohn’s disease and more. Our experienced gastroenterologists are dedicated to helping you find the best treatment options for your specific needs, so you can get back to feeling your best. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you.

[techbuji]

Top Autism Doctor in Chennai | Chaitanya Speech Therapy Centre - Expert Care for Children with Autism

Are they looking for the best autism doctor in Chennai? Look no further than Chaitanya Speech Therapy Centre, where our expert team provides specialized care for children with autism. Please schedule a consultation today and give your child the support they need to thrive. The best autism doctors in Chennai are often pediatric neurologists, developmental pediatricians, or psychiatrists with specialized training in ASD. They hold advanced degrees from reputable institutions and have extensive experience in diagnosing and managing autism. These professionals stay abreast of the latest research and advancements to provide evidence-based treatments. Their qualifications and dedication to continuous learning ensure that patients receive the highest standard of care.

[beauty-care-products]

Best psychiatrist in chennai

Looking for the best psychiatrist in Chennai? Psychiatrylifeskills offers personalized mental health support from the best psychiatrist in Chennai, ensuring expert care for conditions like ADHD, OCD, and anxiety. If you're seeking the best psychiatrist in Chennai to guide you through mental health challenges, our clinic provides top-tier treatment plans. Trust the best psychiatrist in Chennai at Psychiatrylifeskills for compassionate and professional care.

[supremehospitals]

Best Psychiatrists in Chennai

Chennai's Supreme Specialty Hospitals is the go-to place for top-notch mental treatment. With a staff of eminent psychiatrists known for their skill and empathy, Supreme Specialty Hospitals provides unmatched mental health care. They guarantee that every patient gets the best care and attention possible by being dedicated to creating individualized treatment regimens. They stand out for their cutting-edge facilities and cutting-edge treatment methods, which ensure excellent care for a variety of psychiatric diseases. Supreme Specialty Hospitals is the clear choice for people looking for the Best Psychiatrists in Chennai since patients can rely on them for thorough, efficient, and compassionate psychiatric care.

[nordstuff]

Online psychiatrist in chennaiAt PsychiatryLifeSkills, our team of experienced professionals is dedicated to providing top-notch mental health care in the comfort of your own space. As the leading online psychiatrist in Chennai, we prioritize your well-being and offer personalized interventions tailored to your unique needs. Connect with PsychiatryLifeSkills today for accessible and effective online psychiatric consultations in Chennai, and take the first step towards a healthier, happier life with the guidance of our expert online psychiatrists in Chennai.

[medserg]

Benefits For Travelling to India For Medical Treatment

India is the most affordable country for medical treatment for people from all over the world. It has seen patients with ample diseases and getting healed. Find out the benefits for patients traveling to India.

Affordable Medical Treatment

The rise in medical tourism to India has been attributed to the start of globalization and India’s opening of its doors to the foreign market, especially in the last two decades. 

The remote regions and towns, who merely had access to water supplies, now get top-notch medical facilities by just crossing international borders.

The dependence on advanced medical tools and procedures, which were previously only available in the US and UK, has greatly decreased as a result of the expansion of the global market and exchange of trade and technologies.

Additionally, by reducing inequality and implementing socialist programes and good governance, India has attracted tourists from a large number of developing nations.

Today, it is evident that India has emerged as the top destination for affordable healthcare, despite geographical and cultural constraints. Here there have Benefits for Patients Traveling to India.

Challenges of Medical Treatments

The principal causes of non-communicable and lifestyle-related diseases, which are leading causes of death worldwide, include cardiovascular, cancer, kidney, respiratory, and diabetes. These conditions necessitate sophisticated operations and high-level care.

Population that is aging swiftly, with 15% of individuals in less developed countries (where there are few high-quality services) and 30% of people in wealthier places (where there are medical facilities) predicted to be over 60 by 2030, respectively.

Despite the best facilities being available in the US and the UK, under insured and uninsured people seek medical care abroad due to the prohibitive costs of healthcare in some locations. Additionally, insurance may not always cover medical procedures.

Only 52% of Africans, or 615 million people, have access to the healthcare they require, the quality of the continent’s health services is often subpar, and only 50% of the continent’s women and girls have access to the family planning services they require.

In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), there are 0.74 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCC) for per 10,000 people.  In PHCCs, offering 24-hour care is uncommon, and reliance on paper-based medical records is still widespread. While emergency care like burn management are less likely to be offered in more urban areas, general services are more likely to be available there.

General medicine, family medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology physicians make up the majority of the personnel at PHCCs; their numbers are more concentrated in urban regions, while their densities are higher in rural ones. Finally, it is uncommon to locate dietitians and psychiatrists in PHCCs.

How Medical Treatment in India Benefits Patients?

The country’s main Medical Treatment hubs include Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. That benefits for patients traveling to India for medical treatment.

The medical care available in these major Indian cities is far better and reasonable than major developed economies like London, New York, Washington etc. 

A significant market sector that is anticipated to develop at the quickest rate during the forecast period globally is cancer treatment. From 2018 to 2025, value growth is projected to occur at a CAGR of 15.7%.

India gives multi-dynamic reasons for patients to travel to India for treatment. How can a patient benefit from India, can be read through here.

Hospital Tie Ups

Many super-specialty hospitals in Africa and the Middle East have agreements with Indian institutions that allow for the referral of patients for more expensive treatments. This improves communication between patients and doctors and fosters trust between them.

Cultural Similarities 

Among the many other major medical tourism centers in the nation are Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. 

Kerala is quickly becoming a preferred location for Middle East-based organizations undertaking healthcare expansions. Mostly from the Middle East, Africa, and SAARC nations, patients travel to Kerala. Kerala is quickly gaining popularity as a wellness travel destination thanks to its cool climate and stunning landscape.

Ease of Communication

Patients favor interactions with doctors who are more forthcoming and personable. Digital technology can increase interaction, offer convenient access to care, and foster a long-term two-way relationship.

There are emerging medical tourism companies in India that are bridging the gap between patients and healthcare experts. These companies are offering video/audio conferences, distance OPD and even cyber- surgeries wherever required. 

Value-Based Care

With the implementation of Ayushman Bharat, we are gradually transitioning to a value-based healthcare system in which payers (the government and TPAs) will reward hospitals based on a variety of clinical and operational factors, hospital readmission rates, patient falls, bed sores, one-year survival rates for organ transplants, and hospital acquired infections, to name a few.

Best Company for Medical Treatment in India

India houses more than 10,000 adroit healthcare professionals, who are on their toes to serve you a disease-free, healthy lifestyle. 

Now you must be having thoughts on how to visit, whom to consult, where to get treatment.

You are already scrolling through the right site. Medserg Health is a well-established medical tourism company in India, which acts as an interlocutor between you and the medical team. 

The company offers multiple and flexible treatment packages, covering major minor surgeries, from your head to toe. 

It also offers pre-visit consultations to the patients, and second opinions when required. 

Additionally, Medserg offers all the facilities, assuring you phenomenal and safe stay. 

[herbalhealthcare-me]

Psychiatric disorders siddha treatment, Psychiatric disorders treatments in siddha,100% curable for Psychiatric

Psychiatric disorders siddha treatment, Psychiatric disorders treatments in siddha,100% curable for Psychiatric 

A psychiatric Illness is a mental Disorder Characterized with a mental health Professional which greatly disturbs your believing, moods, or behaviour and seriously increases your chance of impairment, pain, death, or lack in freedom. Additionally, your symptoms needs to be far severe than expected a reaction to an upsetting event, such as frequent despair following the loss of a family. 

Cases

A sizable Number of psychiatric disorders are identified. Odds Are that, Whether you personally or somebody near you've been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness, you understand something about one or more of these examples: 

Depression

Personality disorder 

Stress disorder 

Schizophrenia

Eating disorders

Addictive Behaviours

Infection

Cases of Ongoing indicators of psychiatric illnesses contain:

Confused Believin 

Paid off Ability to focus

Deep,

Inability to Manage daily stress and issues

Trouble Understanding scenarios and others

Withdrawal From the others and out of activities you'd like to like

Extreme Fatigue, reduced energy, or even sleep issues

Strong Feelings of fear, stress, depression, or remorse

A psychiatric illness could also cause physiological symptoms, for example A hassle, back pain, or abdominal pain. If you are being appraised to get a psychiatric ailment, tell your physician about any bodily symptoms you are experiencing, for example unexplained pains and pains.

This listing refers to the primary kinds (frequently known as courses or groups ) of psychiatric disorders.

Neurodevelopmental Diseases. The most psychiatric ailments Inside this class usually begin in infancy or youth, frequently in front of a child starts school.

 Schizophrenia is most likely the most famous of those ailments, even though detachment from reality will often affect people along with additional psychiatric disorders.

Bipolar and Associated Disorders. This class comprises illnesses

 The Term emotional illness may be utilized to make reference to that which exactly is more often called mental disorders or psychiatric illnesses. Emotional disorders are routines of psychological or behavioral disorders which impact a number of parts of life. These illnesses cause distress for the individual experiencing these signs.

 While maybe not a Comprehensive listing of every psychological illness, the following list comprises a number of those important categories of ailments called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  The DSM is among the very frequently used methods for simplifying mental illnesses and standardized diagnostic criteria.

 A Set of Bipolar Illness

 Neurodevelopmental Diseases

 Neurodevelopmental These emotional ailments comprise:

 Intellectual Disability

 Some times Known as Intellectual Developmental Disorderthis identification was previously known as mental retardation.1 Such a developmental illness originates before this age of 18 and can be characterized by constraints in the cognitive functioning and adaptive behaviours.

 Limitations To intellectual operation are frequently identified by using IQ tests, using an IQ score under 70 frequently signaling the existence of a limit. Flexible behaviors are the ones which involve technical, everyday skills like self-care, social interaction, and living skills.

 Worldwide Developmental Delay

 This Diagnosis is really for developmental disabilities in kids that are under age five. Such flaws relate with cognition, social function, language, speech, and motor abilities.

 It Really Is Generally considered a temporary identification employing to kiddies that continue to be too young to carry standardized tests IQ tests. Once kids get to the age at which they can bring a standardized intelligence test, they are diagnosed using a intellectual handicap.

 Communication Disorders

 All these Disorders are the ones which affect the capability to work with, understand, or even find speech and language. The Dsm 5 identifies four Distinct subtypes of communicating disorders: speech disease, speech sound disorder, childhood onset fluency disease (stuttering), and societal (pragmatic) communicating disease

 Agoraphobia

 This conditionis characterized with a pronounced fear a Wide Selection of Public areas. Individuals who undergo this ailment frequently fear they will undergo a panic attack at an environment where escape may be difficult.

 Thanks to This panic, people who have agoraphobia usually avoid situations which may trigger a stress attack. Sometimes, this avoidance behaviour can reach a place where the average person is not able to also leave their home.

 Social Anxiety Disorder

 Social Stress disorder is really a somewhat common emotional illness that involves an absurd fear of being judged or watched. The stress brought about by this disease might have a big effect on somebody's lifetime and get it tough to work at work, school, as well as other societal preferences.

 Specific Phobias

 These phobias call for An intense fear of a particular thing or situation from the surroundings. A few samples of common specific phobias are the fear of spiders, fear of heights, or even concern with snakes.

 The four Main kinds of specific phobias involve herbal incidents (thunder, lightening, tornadoes), health (surgical procedure, health procedures, health equipment), animals (snakes, dogs, fleas ), and situational (small distances, leaving home, forcing ). When faced with a phobic object or situation, individuals can experience nausea, trembling, rapid heartbeat rate, and just a fear of perishing.

 The best way Successful are naturopathic medicines and treatments for emotional disorders

 A research Conducted to analyze the potency of how brahmi in brain work demonstrated that brahmi enhanced cognition (understanding and thinking skills) and helped in progress of emotional illness symptoms. Still another analysis conducted to estimate the effectiveness of plant-based substances in Alzheimer's treatment demonstrated that the phytoconstituents of brahmi such as bacosides along with flavone glycosides had anti-inflammatory, neuro-protective, anti-amyloidogenic, anti inflammatory, neuro-protective and cognition-enhancing properties, that demonstrated good for individuals who have Alzheimer's disease. A vitro study conducted to show that the curative effects of several plants for example jatamansi said that jatamansi has anti inflammatory and anti cholinesterase properties which contribute to improving cognitive functioning. A report was conducted in 20-16 to gauge the therapeutic efficacy of guduchi swarasa (juice). Through various lab procedures, it had been reasoned that guduchi diminished serotonin levels and higher serotonin levels within the mind, that contributes to mood growth and decrease in depression.

 Ayurvedic Treatment for emotional illnesses

 Virechana

 Virechana is A panchakarma therapy, by that, bitter purgative herbs such as senna or even rhubarb are awarded to cause sickness.

 The herbaceous plants Cleansing various organs such as the stomach, small intestine and liver of those collected pitta.

 Virechana is

 It Really Is Primarily signaled in humans diagnosed using pittaja unmada (unmada originating from the vitiation of pitta dosha).

 Shirovirechana

 Shiro Dhara

 Shiro Dhara Is the massaging of a kwatha (decoction) or treated oil onto a individual's mind out of the bowl suspended on your mind. It will help treat diseases which affect the mind, nose, throat and ears. It's also beneficial in treating enlarged prostate, diabetes, asthma, higher cholesterol levels, epilepsy and nausea. The shiro dhara procedure is completed using treated oils in people with stress, depression, insomnia and other emotional illnesses.

 Ayurvedic Herbs and medications for emotional illnesses

 Ayurvedic Herbaceous plants for emotional disorders

 Brahmi

 Brahmi is popularly Called the Ideal brain stimulant and Brain mobile rejuvenator at Ayurveda. It can help enhance nitric memory and it is hence helpful in treating cure emotional conditions related to spikes in memory purposes. Brahmi improves intelligence degrees and neural function too. You're able to take brahmi at the shape of a kwatha, extract, ghrita (clarified butter), powder together with ghrita or in accordance with your personal doctor's direction.

 Ashwagandha

 Ashwagandha Is a mind stimulant and also immunity-boosting herb. It's Anti Ageing properties plus in addition, it assists in clearing your mind. Ashwagandha will help in regeneration of hormones also enhances wellbeing in emaciated and feeble men and women. It's used at the treatment of insomnia, stress, neurosis, bi polar disease, along with degenerative cerebellar ataxia. You're able to take ashwagandha for a powder or in the sort of ghrita, taila (petroleum ), kwatha, asava (herbal wine) or in accordance with your personal doctor's leadership.

 Ayurvedic Medicines for mental illnesses

 Saraswatarishta

 Saraswatarishta is a natural formula, which Is ready using 2 3 herbal ingredients including ashwagandha, sugar, honey, guduchi, processed stone and shatavari (hundred origins ). This medicine will help cure emotional disorders by improving restoring and memory emotional serenity. It's also encouraged for the cure of panic and stammering. You're able to simply take saraswatarishta with milk as per your personal doctor's direction.

 Ashwagandharishta

 The herbal This medication is beneficial in improving vigour and physiological potency. Ashwagandharishta is traditionally used as a treatment for epilepsy and insomnia. It's also suggested in people with rheumatism

 Smritisagar rasa

 Smritisagar This medication is largely suggested for emotional disorders.

 Unmada gajakesari rasa

 Unmada gajakesari rasa is ready from parad, Gandhak, dhatura (Thorn-apple ) seeds along with manashila (reddish arsenic). This mix is along with rasna (Indian camphorweed) kwatha along with vacha kwatha prior government. Unmada gajakesari rasa is principally suggested in people with confusion and psychosis.

 Brahmi ghrita

 This formula was created with 1 2 herbaceous plants Containing trikatu (a combo of those 3 acrids -- pippali [long avocado ], and brahmi. Brahmi ghrita is Helpful in treating depression, mania and insanity, and Melancholy and epilepsy. It improves memory endurance and power. Brahmi Ghrita additionally helps with bed wetting and stammering problems.

[beberexha508]

Are you looking for a Best psychiatrist doctor in chennai? We provide the best care and treatment of issues relating to mental health. Consult the Psychiatrist in Chennai from top hospitals through instant chat and video consultation. 

[chennaiminds]

How To Deal With Anxiety?

Read full article

https://waappitalk.com/read-blog/35239

Only a psychiatrist can help bring you out of the anxiety. Better make an appointment with the best psychiatrist in Chennai, one of the top doctors treating all kinds of mental disorders.  

Visit: https://www.chennaiminds.com/

[tamizhsblog]

People can experience depression or a rise in distress for a variety of reasons. You require the professional advice of a best psychiatrist in Chennai for depression. A Psychiatrist will help you sort through all of your mental disorders and conditions so that you can solve your psychological and emotional issues. It is a significant problem better consult the top psychiatrist in Chennai that must not be ignored at any cost.

[beauty-care-products]

Best psychiatrist in chennai

At Psychiatry Life Skills, we understand the importance of finding the best psychiatrist in Chennai for effective mental health care. Our team, led by the best psychiatrist in Chennai, is dedicated to providing personalized treatment plans. For those seeking top-notch care, the best psychiatrist in Chennai is just a call away at Psychiatry Life Skills. We are committed to ensuring that you receive the best psychiatric care in Chennai, tailored to your individual needs.

[medley-med]

Telemedicine for Geriatrics

Telemedicine, often known as telehealth or e-medicine, is the remote provision of medical care over communications technology, such as inspections and counseling. Telemedicine allows doctors to analyze, diagnose, and treat patients without having to see them in person. Individuals can communicate with doctors from the comforts of the home utilizing personal technology or by attending a healthcare station.

A typical telehealth checkup for clients at home is installing an app like LiveHealth or phoning a telehealth number, which is usually supplied as part of health insurance by a general practice doctor's office or the patient's company. The distant patient will be reconnected to a psychiatrist after providing data about the medical history of the patient. The call will terminate with the given patient additional advice, such as taking over-the-counter medications, filling a prescription, visiting a hospital, or scheduling a follow-up consultation, based on the clinician's assessment. Telemedicine, often known as telehealth or e-medicine, is the remote provision of medical care over communications technology

Let’s understand that what is the meaning of Geriatrics:

Geriatrics, often known as geriatric medicine, is a medical specialist that concentrates on the health of the old. Its goal is to improve older individuals' health by effectively treating disabilities. There is no set requirement during which patients should be seen by a geriatrician, often known as a geriatric physician, a doctor who specializes in caring for the elderly. However, the demands of the particular patient and the unavailability of a specialist determine this selection. It's vital to distinguish between geriatrics, which is concerned with the care of the elderly, and behavioral science, which is concerned with the study of the aging process. Geriatrics is derived from the Greek words v Geron, which means "old man”, which means "healer." Geriatrics, on the other hand, is also known as medical gerontology. Geron

Telemedicine for Geriatrics:

In the realm of geriatrics, technology is very significant. Doctors will be strained due to a dearth of geriatricians and the enormous number of aging baby boomers who will require treatment shortly. Additional patients can be seen in some time thanks to technology that optimizes the appointment procedure.

In terms of telemedicine, URMC is unquestionably at the top of the heap. Technologies have existed for many years. In some circumstances, it was done over the phone lines in the 1960s. The technique was inefficient and cost a lot of money. However, the software has turned it into a useful tool that resembles a regular office visit but is carried out from a distance of 20 to 30 kilometers.

Unless you're an older person, going to the office can be difficult. You may need to make arrangements to the doctor's office, or you may have a functional impairment or be unable to navigate a large medical facility. Elders no longer have to be concerned about these issues thanks to technological advancements.

Telemedicine in India:

India is a huge country, having a population of around 138 million people. As a result of this, equal distribution of healthcare resources has repeatedly been shown to be a major priority in public health programs. The current tendency of concentrating medical centers in cities and towns, away from rural India, where the majority of the population resides, adds to this.

In 2001, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched a Telehealth Pilot Program in India, connecting Chennai's Apollo Hospital with the Apollo Rural Hospital in Aragonda village in Southern Pradesh's District of Tamilnadu.ISRO, the Directorate of Information Technology (DIT), the Minister of External Affairs, the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, and state legislatures all took steps to help India establish telehealth.

According to WHO prescribes a doctor-to-population ratio of 1:1000, whereas India's doctor-to-population ratio is merely 0.62:1000. Because new medical training is time-consuming and costly, the general practitioner ratio continues to remain low for too long. The active physicians and patients in various parts of the country help to make up for this shortfall.

MedleyMed is a digital solution platform from your comfort. Many experts can collect your information and can provide you with accurate medication for your treatment. Every patient has an option of video and articles for education and can also go with face-to-face interaction.

[preatheep]

Chennai Minds is more than just a psychiatric clinic. It is a comprehensive mental health and well-being service which was founded by Dr. Radhika on her return to Chennai after years of experience in the United Kingdom. Chennai minds was founded on the principle that a psychiatric clinic or service should first and foremost encourage people to approach mental wellbeing with a preventative mindset by taking responsibility for their health and hence Chennai minds was founded primarily as a community mental health centre. Tackling stigma related to mental illnesses and raising standards of care in Chennai to International standards were all driving forces behind Chennai minds as a service.

[cgpsimpromptu-blog]

Psychick (Pt. 1)

By Ben Togut

Snow sugarcoated the towering evergreens. The man lay sprawled on the cool pavement, his limbs twisted beyond recognition, forming an ironic snow angel in the dusted fluff, a pained expression on his ghostly face. The Shell gas station sign flickered above the words “never forget” spelled out in a gasoline rainbow semicircle around the body.

I never expected him to come. I never expected the friendly creaking of the bright orange door to awaken me from my morning daze. I thought I’d sit on a coy, oak stool near the window, my pale face pressed against the frozen glass, the dark clouds forming an eerie halo over the sleeping city. I had just started unpacking after returning from my three month tour of India, teaching ESL and making underprivileged children feel like they’re worth something. A wispy voice whispers my name Vera in my ear like a distant lullaby I had once known. I spin around but no one is there. Must be the wind, I think. Must be the soft welcoming of the tiger we call morning, purring, inviting you into that indigo crescent of silence known as peace. I continue nibbling at my bland, lumpy oatmeal, unperturbed. Hughes, an Abyssinian cat I’d adopted from Chennai, purrs, curling his velvety body against my bare leg. I haven’t taken the poison in ten days. I’m ready. I pace to the bathroom, and flinging open my medicine cabinet, slam down the remaining three bottles of Zyprexa onto the countertop. Opening the lid to the toilet, I waterfall the pills into the bowl, each falling with a soft thunking sound. “Bye bye,” I wave as the toilet swallows my last remaining chance at sanity.  I grab the wrinkled note off of the coffee table and find Hughes’ favorite blue-tinged magenta pashmina underneath the expensive meerkat rug in the living room, wrapping it around his shivering skin. I can feel his walnut sized heart beat through the thin fabric as I walk out the door, leaving Hughes ensconced in his little nook where the wall meets the forest green Steinway piano before tapering into the claret walls of the hallway.

I live in the beating heart of Seattle, where the brisk ocean breezes fuse with musky pine cones, making a mélange of salty, wasted tears that fall in the unrelenting torrents of mid-October rain. Leaves of many colors, crimson, pumpkin, purple, casually coast to the ground, making a crunch squeak crunch against my beige UGGs as I clumsily fumble with my oversized velvet purse for the heck of it. Something my psychiatrist suggested was to keep myself occupied. Then again, my psychiatrist is a bald, oval headed man named Carl who always wears hideous maroon sweaters from the Gap. He thinks that “kick-ass brunette, schizophrenic, aspiring playwright, ” is an “unwise and detrimental personal description on your résumé,” but I disagree. I think it’s brilliant.

The rusted brick building is hugged by dead ribs of ivy and moss. Above the rotting rainbow wood door hangs an askew, pipe-cleaner sign that reads Saving Yourself from Yourself. I stare at the man who calls himself Devon, with the misshapen, closely cropped cherry mohawk. He leads me into the mismatched corridor of aubergine and peach and into the room of bleached concrete. People of varying degrees of chaos sit on dark bean bag chairs, sipping steaming beverages out of styrofoam cups. The calm one, Orion, sits in the center, raven hair elegantly framing his piercing emerald eyes.

“Welcome, welcome,” Orion projects.  He then goes into a recap of last week, hands whirling around each other, a clumsy windmill. “Janice,” gesturing to a wrinkled women with dirty, blond hair, “overcame her fear of… Goldfish?”

“No, no, NO ya silly!  Trail mix,” she screams; “TRAIL MIX!” she shrieks with more intensity, a witch burning at the stake.

“Chill out,” Orion responds, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Chill out…? Chill out…! Ok, ok. I’ll chill out when you stop patronizing me. You’re not my dad. I run the show, mister! I don’t need some teddy bear to cuddle…” With a crazed but collected look in her deep, sea blue eyes she jerks her head to the left, a glass doll with a broken neck, and begins talking as if to a small child. “I don’t need some low-class, wannabe therapist to tell me how to live my life. My psychosis is a beautiful thing, and who do you think you are, in your right mind, to try to take that away from me. Huh? HUH?!” Janice clutches a fistful of his shirt, squeezing with such intensity her inflamed knuckles turn a ghastly shade of white. With the other hand, she traces the outline of Orion’s olive features, gliding in circles around his prominent jawbone, where the hints of dark stubble have begun to creep along his face like a spider.

Orion maintains a serene expression, and staring straight into her poisonous glare, retorts, “Take your paws off of me and get out.”

“Fine. FINE!  Henry,” she shouts into space, “you can come out now. It’s time to go.” A prickly silence envelops the room.

“Leave now.”

“I’m looking for my son. I’m looking for my son. I’M LOOKING FOR MY SON!”

“Well, keep looking. The door is that way.”

Janice briskly strides across the room in four paces before whipping her head around from behind the door. She opens her mouth, but is silent. The look of a puzzled monkey comes across her face and she deftly shapes her fingers into small circles over her eyes, before ducking out of the room.

Silence is a funny thing. Not the absence of noise, but the stillness of being: when thought thins out into a fine layer of steam, reducing to the nervous grinding of gears, before ceasing to exist. Silence haunts you, a specter caressing your face with the back of its hand, invisible, but you almost shiver from its presence. Not me. Never. Silence is my soul mate, as I drape myself across my white-feathered ottoman, holding my hand as I stare at the peeling navy paint of my ceiling. A leak in one of its corners has caused a single drop of water to continuously drip, turning the carpet soggy. Its constant, pendulous motion almost hypnotizes me. Drip. Drop. Drip. My eyes become heavy and start to flutter.

Flashes of black and white blur before me, rapid at first, animated cartoonish legs pinwheeling across a blinding surface, slowing down to the clicking of a film reel in an antique projector. Click. Click. Vera. The voice  nears me, encroaching on the most distant corners of my mind. I try to move away from this devil, this monster, but my legs are suspending in time, swimming in syrup. My eyelids soar open, eyes transfixed on my rusting red alarm clock, registering 4:15 , before locking shut. Vera. Open. 4:28. Shut. Vera. Open. 5:00. Shut. Vera. Click click click. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Click click click click click. My body is paralyzed in an awkward fetal position, only my fingers in motion skittering across the couch, whose once soft fabric pricks my skin. A cool sweat breaks out across my body. I jerk my head against the solid arm of the couch, pain blossoming from my head as I feel it smack into a substance with the metallic consistency of monkey bars. Finally, after what feels like centuries, I wake up. The alarm clock reads 9:00. Shit, I’m already an hour late for work.

I’ve worked at Dripping Hand Candles for six months now, named after our logo, a hand holding a candle with wax that drips down from the bottom and envelopes the hand. Approaching the store, I can already spot the manager, Phil, a man with faded paper white skin and stringy blond hair, glaring at me. The bell fixed to the top of the door jingles as I enter. Phil sets down a dark blue candle before coming towards me.

“Vera-”

“Chuck, I’m sorry-”

“It’s Phil.”

“Right, Phil, I’m sorry. This won’t happen again. I think my alarm clock is broken or something-”

“Vera, I am tired of you making excuses. It’s the third time this week that you’re more than an hour late.”

“I-”

“Sorry won’t cut it. Go in the back and help Regine with the candle puns.”

I step out of the aromatic store and into the brisk night air, my light, maroon sweater doing nothing to shelter me from the wind-chill. Vera. I turn around, but nobody is there. I keep walking, thinking my mind is just playing tricks on me like it always does. Vera, you know I’m here. Don’t deny it. I start walking faster, covering my ears with the palms of my hands to stop the noise. Vera. Don’t be silly. You know you can’t shut me up. I start screaming, screaming for him to stop talking, but he won’t, he never will. I frantically take my boots off, leaving them on the ground, and barefoot, I start to run. I don’t know where I’m going, and I don’t care, as long as it’s away from him. I run from bright yellow taxis and angry mobs that don’t exist. I run from dirty old men and beech trees and shrieking babies and black cats, but it’s no use. You can’t run away from me.  My head smacks into a black telephone pole, and my body violently jerks backward towards the ground.