Women in their 50s more prone to PTSD than men

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates peak in women later than they do in men. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry found that men are most vulnerable to PTSD between the ages of 41 and 45 years, while women are most vulnerable at 51 to 55.
Ask Elklit and Daniel N Ditlevsen, from the University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital, Denmark, collected data from 6,548 participants in previous Danish or Nordic PTSD studies in order to investigate the gender difference in the lifespan distribution of PTSD. According to Elklit, "People now live for an increased number of years compared to that of previous generations, and as a result individuals have more years in which they can be affected by the negative consequences that can follow traumatic experiences. It is therefore important to pay attention to the risk of PTSD in relation to different stages in the lifespan".
The researchers found that the total prevalence of PTSD was 21.3% and, as expected, PTSD was twice as common in women as in men. Most importantly, men and women peaked in the risk of PTSD a decade apart from each other during their respective lifespan. Elklit said, "This difference is of particular interest and needs to be investigated further in future research in order to develop more thorough explanations for the effect".

Source: BioMed Central

Develop self Confidence With Subliminal Audio

Develop Self Confidence With Subliminal Audio

Some people appear to be naturally confident - they have an energy about them when they walk into a room and they seem to come to life in socialising and meeting new people.

Perhaps you are more introverted and "naturally" shy. You probably feel like your outgoing friends are born like this and that you will never be really confident like this, however, this is just not the case.

Confidence is skill just like juggling, or drawing or any other, and this means that anyone can learn it. The main difference between you and these confident people is that they have learnt the skill from their childhood and have been given positive reinforcement, whereas perhaps you have faced rejection or criticism previously, and where they continued to grow in confidence you perhaps became more introverted and entered a negative spiral of shrinking confidence.

Confidence is all in your mind - i.e. in the way you think, and more importantly your self beliefs. Once you change these patterns of thinking within your mind and change your self beliefs then you too will grow more self confident.

How To Do This:

This is how subliminal messages can help!

Subliminals can gain access to your subconscious mind to make positive changes to these damaging self beliefs and unwanted ways of thinking which are holding you back and the root cause of your confidence problems. Gradually they will replace them with positive beliefs and plant the seeds of a confident personality within your mind - basically to stop you thinking in the way that you do and help you to instill the types of thought patterns shared by the confident types of people that people you look up to.

Imagine what it would feel like to not feel the fear and nerves when in social situations, to have the confidence to pursue the success you deserve

Make a change within your subconscious mind straight away with this life changing confidence subliminal album, or if you haven't used subliminal messages already you can try free subliminal messages albums.

10 positive actions to combat PTSD

At first glance, it would seem that positive thinking and Post-Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) have nothing to do with one another. But many of us with PTSD develop negative thinking patterns because we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This negative outlook then makes it even harder for us to manage those challenges and move forward.

Practicing positive thinking allows people with PTSD to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time making progress, and less time feeling down and stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns:

1. Take Good Care of Yourself
It's much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.

2. Remind Yourself of the Things You Are Grateful For
Stresses and challenges don't seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are right in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference.

3. Look for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions
A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member's bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don't waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there is something to worry about.

4. Refrain from Using Absolutes
Have you ever told a partner "You're ALWAYS late!" or complained to a friend "You NEVER call me!"? Thinking and speaking in absolutes like 'always' and 'never' makes the situation seem worse than it is, and programs your brain into believing that certain people are incapable of delivering.

5. Detach From Negative Thoughts
Your thoughts can't hold any power over you if you don't judge them. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, detach from it, witness it, and don't follow it. (I silently say the word “cancel”)

6. Squash the "ANTs"
In his book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life," Dr. Daniel Amen talks about "ANTs" - Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like "Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me," or "The boss wants to see me? It must be bad!" When you notice these thoughts, realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!

7. Practice Lovin', Touchin' & Squeezin' (Your Friends and Family)
You don't have to be an expert to know the benefits of a good hug. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant pick-me-up. One research study on this subject had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She received higher tips from these customers than from the ones she didn't touch!

8. Increase Your Social Activity
By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

9. Volunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person
Everyone feels good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.

10. Use Pattern Interrupts to Combat Rumination
If you find yourself ruminating (spinning your wheels), a great way to stop it is to interrupt the pattern and force yourself to do something completely different. Rumination is like hyper-focus on something negative. It's never productive, because it's not rational or solution-oriented, it's just excessive worry. Try changing your physical environment - go for a walk or sit outside. You could also call a friend, pick up a book, or turn on some music. Motion creates emotion, act your way into “right” thinking.

10a. Buy my new book Wide Asleep (shameless plug)

Peace Be With You

Timothy Kendrick


Timothy Kendrick International

Addiction and Spiritual Therapy

Addiction and Spiritual Therapy

Chief Chaplain Michael Pollitt, D.Min, BCC, CAC

Successful treatment for addiction recovery treats the whole person - body, mind, and spirit. Drugs that have the ability to produce a state of intoxication (intoxicants) do many things, but they have a unique ability to mimic spiritual fulfillment. In the past, treatment often did not give enough attention to this side of addiction. Author Andrew Sheehan once wrote: "I suppose it sounds like a supreme rationalization to say that I believe my drinking and drugging began as a kind of spiritual search. And yet to this day I believe this to be true.....they began to fill the cavernous hole inside me - the great need to be connected to something outside of myself, to grasp in some way the great otherness, the hidden order of things."¹. What addicts and alcoholics want is a reason to live and intoxicants seem to meet this need. They have a way of becoming a spiritual replacement for the real thing. This may be a major reason why relapse is so common.
Traditional healthcare teams provide therapies for both the physical and mental health of their patients but all too often have not addressed the gaping hole that comes with sobriety. By taking away their drug of choice and with it pseudo meaning, they are now faced with meaninglessness. Spiritual therapy helps addicts and alcoholics find meaning in their lives. Give addicts and alcoholics a real reason to live and you give them a fighting chance at recovery.
No chaplain can give meaning to addicts and alcoholics, but a chaplain can help them discover meaning in their lives. Karen Urbanski, an occupational therapist, places spirituality alongside the physical and mental health problems the addict faces in treatment. She believes that a void exists in all of us and that we go through life attempting to fill that void with something that hints at meaningfulness. It is Urbanski's belief that anything, whether it is healthy or toxic, can fill the void. People are geniuses at filling this void, but many of them have made unhealthy choices. This problem becomes even more difficult when the unhealthy choices are intoxicants. At least the drug of choice seemed to give the person some meaning and purpose in life. Urbanski argues that to give up one's drug of choice does not begin to address the problem, but rather makes it worse because the void comes back. At this point, a new type of withdrawal occurs, which is best described as spiritual withdrawal.
Withdrawal is a "positive craving" for that which is no longer present. In this case, "positive" means "seeking after," rather than "something good." On a detox unit, when an addict or alcoholic goes through withdrawal, every cell in their body screams for their drug of choice. The same thing happens spiritually. When the source of their spirituality replacement is taken away, they may crave that inner feeling of meaningfulness the drug provided. For some people, this may be the root cause of relapse. The addict or alcoholic can no longer reach for instant meaningfulness in their drug of choice, and they are left with a sense of meaninglessness and depression.
The healthcare team has long treated the physical and mental health needs of the addict and alcoholic. Often the healthcare team has ignored spiritual needs and spiritual withdrawal. The spiritual counselor seeks to find out which spiritual needs are met by the patient's drug of choice and which spiritual needs are not being met when the person is sober. This approach speaks to the importance of the spiritual side of addiction, and the belief that intoxicants are used to fake an answer to those needs. The major problem that addicts and alcoholics face in recovery is not addiction but rather relapse.
Relapse, the return to one's drug of choice after being sober, may be primarily a spiritual problem. In sobriety, the spiritual space that the intoxicant once filled is empty. Nature hates a vacuum and will eventually fill it. Unfortunately, for the addict or alcoholic, that vacuum is often filled with the drug of choice. The addict and alcoholic cannot be spiritually passive in recovery. With the aid of a spiritual counselor, the addict and alcoholic can fill the emptiness with real meaning in their lives, providing a reason for living. Successful addiction recovery treats the whole person - body, mind, and spirit.
Advanced Information
As far back as the early 1900s, William James, MD (The Varieties of the Religious Experience, 1902) ², found striking similarities between intoxication and the mystical state. He labeled them "pathological mysticism" and "the anesthetic revelation." James believed there were two basic functions in man and woman, the "yes" function and "no" function. There should be a proper balance between the two. When the "no" function dominates, the person desperately looks for something to bring back a spiritual equality in his or her life. What the person discovers is that intoxicants become "the great exciter of the yes function in man" and appear to restore the balance.
Another pioneer in the field, Howard Clinebell, PhD (Understanding and Counseling Persons with Alcohol and Drug and Behavioral Addictions, 1984), maintains that "we will never understand intoxication as a problem until we see it as a solution." He also observes that the spiritual anxiety of the addict and alcoholic is "quieted" by the "pseudo-religious sense of oneness with themselves, others, and the divine spirit." The addict and alcoholic attempt to satisfy spiritual needs with chemical means.
In the late 1980s Gerald May, MD (Addiction and Grace, 1988), a layman, reminded clergy of the major spiritual elements in addiction and called on them to utilize their tools in their ministry to the addicted. According to May, addicts and alcoholics attach themselves to things that appear to fill their spiritual void. Because intoxicants produce a good feeling they become substitutes for the authentically spiritual.
Stephen Anthrop (Alcohol and Substance Abuse: A Handbook for Clergy and Congregations, 1990), believes that we seek out things in our lives that appear to have apparent spiritual potential. When the spiritual potential is not activated, the person sees little reason to exist. Intoxicants become resources with apparent spiritual value: unfortunately, they can also become the primary source of value in the life of the addicted.
Thomas Baker, D.Min. (Understanding the Spiritual Nature of Addiction, 1995), argues that both spirituality and intoxication involve a search for meaning, value, and purpose in life. All persons desire these, but addicts and alcoholics are afflicted with a unique spiritual hunger that they cannot seem to satisfy with traditional forms of spirituality. He also observes that addicts and alcoholics suffer greatly from estrangement and intoxicants seem to provide a sense of connectedness.
Related Information
1. Andrew Sheehan, Chasing the Hawk: Looking for my Father, Finding Myself, (New York: Delacorte Press, 2001), 203.
2. An historical note: It was James' book that Ebby Thacher gave to Bill Wilson (founders of A.A.) in November 1934 at Towns Hospital, NYC.
3. Offering Spiritual Support for Family or Friends (Caring Connections)
4. What is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
5. Mind-Body Medicine: An Overview (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)