I have to admit I’ve heard some interesting coping strategies from adults over the past week like the liquid Harvey Wallbanger diet, excelling on the Harvey diet plan (stress eating junk food), and totally giving up email for ten days. Adults may eat more, increase alcohol consumption, workout, sleep more, or take medication to help with the stress but sometimes these activities are not available or appropriate for kids – so how do they cope?
First, you might consider what stress reactions look like for children. Emotions may be expressed with whining, demands, and avoidance. Younger kids can regress to behaviors such as bed-wetting, sleeping with parents, and thumb sucking. Self-care can decline, along with disinterest in previously enjoyable activities. Another common symptom for both adults and kids is ‘fuzzy brain’ – as in it’s hard to pay attention, recall information, and make decisions.
The following is a quick list of suggestions to help:
1. Children may feel out of control so institute some predictable routines like standard bed times, self-care expectations, and eating times.
2. Reestablish safety. Discuss what you will have control over in the coming hours like what you wear, eat, and will do.
3. If they repeat questions you have already answered then ask them to answer their own questions. This gives them the message that they actually do have answers.
4. Reduce exposure to the trauma. Turn off the news and avoid talking about your adult concerns in front of them. Do not use any angry statements about God, the government, or other groups that may impose further fear.
5. For younger children, allow play. Research demonstrates that kids twelve and under can process their thoughts and feelings through creative play. They may reenact the flood, loss of a home, or other frightening images through play.
6. If a child talks about the storm, follow his or her lead. Answer questions that you are asked by the child and answer on the level of the child. Avoid providing extraneous information beyond the question that was asked.
7. Use coping tools that impact the senses. Fuzzy blankets and pets (touch), mashed potatoes (taste – well maybe this is my preference!), lavender rub or soap (smell), listening to calming music (hear), and looking at images like feel good movies (see) can be valuable tools to help.
8. Laugh as much as possible and allow for crying. Research shows that both laughing and crying help us release stress.
9. Adolescents may benefit from taking reparative action. Give them the opportunity to help in your cleanup or that of a stranger. Doing something about it is way more empowering than wallowing in dark thoughts.
You might consider the difference between stress and anxiety. Stress is short term and it’s relieved after the temporary stressor is over. Anxiety lasts over time and if left untreated can manifest into maladaptive coping mechanisms like avoidance, repetitive negative thoughts, helplessness, and addictive behaviors. If you notice ongoing symptoms like nervousness, aggression, nightmares, a change in personality, and/or social problems then it may be time to reach out for counseling to help alleviate the distress and fend off the possibility of a chronic problem.
Humans are resilient. Sometimes we just need to use positive coping skills to help us through rough times. Go play! It’s the doctor’s order.
Are you looking forward to the holidays but not to the extra pounds that come with celebrating?
According to recent studies, the average American gains between 5 and 15 pounds from Thanksgiving Day to New Years Eve. Many people really enjoy the holidays—spending time with friends and family, taking extra time off work, shopping for gifts. There’s something in the air that seems to put everyone in a good mood. However, the cooler weather isn’t the only thing that changes in December— most people report a change in their daily routine in the weeks leading up to the New Year. For parents, Thanksgiving and Winter Break bring the added stress of having your kids home from school. Most of us have family visiting Houston or travel to other cities to visit them. Holiday’s are packed with fun, and calories. However, just because we like to celebrate does not mean that our weight has to suffer because of it. Here are a few key tips to avoiding the notorious holiday weight gain:
1. Keep up your exercise routine! Even though your work and weekend schedules may change, it’s important to prioritize your workout this season. Make sure you are active for at least 30 minutes per day. If you’re one of those people who feels lost at the gym, that’s ok!—there are plenty of other options. Many local workout studios including Define, Pure Barre, Big Yoga, and Soul Cycle add in extra classes over the holidays. Personal trainers often have special holiday discounts to help keep you accountable. It’s much easier to be proactive— continuing your weekly routine— than reactive, and stressing to lose the weight come January 1st. So put on your tennis shoes, wake up 30 minutes early, and head to the gym for some cardio! Or even better—take a walk around the block or the park with your family.
2. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate! Especially during the week leading up to a big meal, it’s important to make sure we stay hydrated. And just for clarification, you stay “hydrated” by drinking water. Not juice, not milk, not soda, not tea, not wine—water. Most people who think they’re hydrated are actually underestimating that term. Take your body weight, divide it by two, and that is the minimum amount of fluid ounces of water you should be drinking daily. For example, a woman who weighs 140 pounds should have a minimum of 70 fluid ounces of water daily. When we put that into perspective, it’s easy to see how most of us are dehydrated. Often times, when our body alerts us that we’re “hungry,” we’re actually just dehydrated. So before you listen to your stomach and indulge in that craving, drink a full glass of water, wait 10 minutes, and see if that will help eliminate those unnecessary calories.
3. Stock up on healthy snacks for the pantry and refrigerator to help you avoid those calorie-packed leftovers. Most people report visiting the grocery store more frequently during the holidays. While there will undoubtedly be foods that you don’t usually buy in your shopping cart, make sure to include extra fruits and vegetables to snack on. Throughout the day, instead of snacking on the leftover pecan pie your mother-in-law insisted you take home, grab some hummus and carrots to satisfy your creamy and crunchy cravings. The morning after a big meal, resist the urge to over-indulge on leftovers and cook up a healthy breakfast.
4. Never go to a party hungry! Before that Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Hanukah party, make sure you’ve had a small healthy snack before you leave the house. This will help you resist the urge to binge eat right when you walk in. Typically, the spread of cheese trays, chips and dip, and other appetizers can be overwhelming. Most of us ruin our appetite before the main course meal is even ready. Snack on some fruit, vegetables, or nuts before you leave the house and avoid extra appetizers—that way, your grandmother won’t be upset when you’re too full to try her famous casserole that she “slaved away all day to cook.”
5. Take care of yourself, emotionally. If the holidays tend to make you extra anxious, book an appointment with your therapist who will help you come up with a plan to ease your stress level. Set boundaries ahead of time with your family members on the acceptable dates to come. On the invitations, put a specific time of the party to ensure no one overstays their welcome.
Of course, a lot more goes into weight management than five easy tips, but it’s a start. If you think you’ll need extra help, or someone to hold you accountable for your holiday routine, please feel free to schedule an appointment.
Caitlin Bailey, LPC, Health Consultant
We are at an exciting time in the world of education, where the technological revolution is crossing paths with a newer educational revolution. Educators are beginning to understand that you can’t unlock every door with the same key: each brain is wired differently and benefits from different teaching methods. Educators in many fields have predicted that the computer will be the primary means of teaching in the 21st Century because programs can be individualized to meet these needs. These methods are particularly helpful for students with ADHD and Learning Disabilities who benefit from different approaches to learning, and who need different ways to demonstrate what they have learned.
Through the use of radiological brain measures like the FMRI and PET Scans, we know that the brain is plastic and that the brain never stops learning. It can be stimulated to process information faster and more efficiently, thus enabling it (and the student) to do better in many academic areas. We can literally make the brain grow. It stands to reason that a more efficient brain will help a student perform better academically. We can use this information to teach more effectively.
There are programs to assist learners improve their learning in both oral and written language (reading and written expression). As always, we will provide intensive programs for students who face some academic challenges. These programs are used in conjunction with educational and language therapy.
Cogmed
As technology continues to place endless amounts of information at our fingertips, working memory has become even more essential to our ability to function successfully since it allows us to focus our attention, organize and prioritize activities that are completed routinely.
Working memory capacity is a good predictor of your cognitive performance. Cogmed training improves your working memory. Your strengthened working memory allows you to perform better. The training creates the cognitive foundation you need to prepare for success.
When you improve your working memory capacity, the change generalizes to your behavior. In other words, the change is translated to other tasks other than just working memory. The research breakthrough is that by training a tightly defined cognitive function you create a cascading effect of improvements. You will be better able to pay attention, resist distractions, self-manage, and learn.
The Cogmed training method consists of 25, computerized training sessions, each 30-45 minutes long. Each session consists of a selection of various tasks that target the different aspects of working memory. The training is done on a computer at home, at the providers office, or at work. The training program is five weeks long with five sessions every week. It is a rigorous program designed to improve working memory through intensive and systematic training.
The complete program includes:
- Start-up session—The Cogmed Coach plans and structures the training together with the user/family.
- Five weeks of training with weekly coach calls—The user is training at home and talks with the Cogmed Coach on a weekly basis to get advice on how to get the most out of the training, hear feedback, and increase motivation.
- Access to the Cogmed Training Web—Both the user and the Cogmed Coach review and monitor the results of each day’s training, using our online system
- Wrap-up session—About one month after the training is completed, the Cogmed Coach summarizes the training together with the user and provides data from rating scales and the Cogmed Training Web.
- Six months follow-up interview –The Cogmed Coach documents training effects again, with more time elapsed and the effects fully emerged.
- Cogmed Extension Training– When the intensive five week training is completed and the training has been wrapped-up, the user gets access to 100 sessions of training with software, to use over a 12 month period. Cogmed Extension Training is optional and no extra fee involved for the first 12 months.
Interactive Metronome
Training: The Interactive Metronome (IM) uses a patented auditory guidance system to systematically exercise and thereby improve a person’s timing and capacity to plan action. The IM enables improvements to be clearly measured and it progressively challenges the trainee to enable continuing progress. The standard protocol includes 15 one-hour training sessions performed 3-5 times/week where the trainee performs a series of physical exercises guided by the computerized metronome program.
Benefits of Interactive Metronome:
- Attention/focus
- Motor Control/coordination
- Balance & Gait
- Language Processing
- Control of aggression and impulsivity
Academic Performance: A white paper was recently released that showed a strong relationship between IM score and Academic Performance. Using data from several research studies, IM scores were shown to track closely with academic tests within The California Achievement Test. The strongest correlations were found with vocabulary, reading, spelling, language, mathematics, science and social studies. It also showed that IM score was related to the ability to pay attention.
Fast ForWord
The Fast ForWord software products have been designed by neuroscientists to provide the most comprehensive series of learning interventions available. The program is a reading intervention designed for K-12 education institutions and clinical specialists worldwide whose students are reading below grade level. Each of the ten intervention products provide different but coordinated levels of cognitive training of memory, attention, and processing.
“ForWord Products are: Efficient. Effective. Enduring. Averaging a one to two grade level reading gain in 8-12 weeks. When the brain’s processing skills become more efficient, substantial and quick gains in reading skills are often the outcome.” - www.scilearn.com
Training: The programs consist of a specific set of tasks that are performed on a computer five days a week for one to two hours. The intensive intervention programs (Language/Literacy and Language to Reading/Literacy Advanced) are blended with the reading programs (five levels) and/or the Reading Assistant. Each day the child has an individual protocol which is adjusted daily as tasks are mastered.
Goals: The research based programs are designed to enhance the brain’s processing efficiency by:
- Improving perception
- Sharpening phonological representations
- Enhancing oral language abilities
- Improving listening, working memory and auditory processing
- Strengthening reading, writing and spelling
The five reading programs target vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, phonemic awareness, and decoding. The Reading Assistant promotes accelerated reading success by enhancing fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, and phonemic awareness.
Following much independent research, the programs have been used successfully in many schools and rehab facilities.
I am so happy this was published in the Houston Chronicle. It focuses on an ongoing problem in Obstetrics care. My wife had trauma with her delivery and had PTSD. It interfered with her bonding in the first few days after delivery because she was so anxious. Luckily she was married to a Psychiatrist who did research on this. She did EMDR which helped tremendously. There are 4 people in my office who treat this type of PTSD with a new treatment called A.R.T (Accelerated Resolution Therapy). - Sophia Havasy, PhD, Elizabeth Wilkins, LMFT, LPC, Julie Jones, PhD, LMFT-S, LPC-S, and Jalane Theis, RN, CPNP,
QEEEG research has shown that PTSD patients have an increased activity in the brain showing a characteristic pattern. The qEEG patterns are even different in people who are prone to PTSD. Often the PTSD has occurred along with physical injuries. This complicates treatment of the injury and the pain control. It is Dr. Tarnow's belief we need to treat this underlying abnormality in the brain to successfully treat these patients. Medications like Klonopin will make these worse.
All things being equal, 75% of those exposed to traumatic situations will not develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); however, 25% will. The theories behind why someone will and will not develop PTSD are varied and have little scientific support. A brain scanning technique called quantitative electroencephalograms (qEEG) may have identified three neurobiomarkers common in those who are likely to develop PTSD if traumatized.
These three neurobiomarkers are fast alpha peak and range, spindling excessive beta, and low voltage fast. All three of these neurobiomarkers are associated with central nervous system hyperarousal. Individuals with these neurobiomarkers often self-medicate with alcohol and marijuana which reduces CNS hyperarousal. In those whose trauma is was not just psychological but physical injury as well, would likely also develop chronic pain. Current understanding suggests that treating the underlying EEG/qEEG abnormalities would be necessary to successfully treat these patients.
This post was co-written by Dr. Tarnow and Dr. Swatzyna. For more information, click here.