The Effect Of Stress On Mental Health

Last Updated on Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:20 Written by Natural Health Team Sunday, 18 September 2011 10:20

Health Information about The Effect Of Stress On Mental Health

A person exposed to long-term, unrelenting severe stress is particularly susceptible to experiencing a ‘ mental breakdown. Stress can be defined as the condition or the situations that disturb the normal functioning of physical and mental health of an individual. In the present scenario every person is bound to be effected by certain amount of stress.

In extreme stress conditions which are harmful to human health but a moderate amount of stress is acceptable. There are a number of reasons that causes stress and the symptoms of stress and depression that people face in the present world of rapid diversification of human activities.

Everybody is bound to face certain amount of stress in their life. The demands relating to relationships, physical demands, pressure at workplaces, meeting deadlines, the tension that grows and all these conditions and situations are the cause for stress.

In some people this stress has a long term effect and tends to persist and intensify. Hence learning to understand and master the stress management techniques will help to prevent the effects of depression. The stress hormones namely the cortisone and adrenaline are released to fight the stressful situations.

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Hormones and its effect on stress

These hormones increase the blood pressure and the body is prepared to react to the situations accordingly. This stress hormone in the blood is used and it results in the reduction of stress effects and the symptoms of anxiety. When a person under the stress condition fails to respond to the stress situations the hormones remain unreleased in the blood stream for prolonged period of time.

These result in the stress related symptoms such as the tense muscles, non-focused anxiety, dizziness and the heart beat increases rapidly. The state of accumulation of stress can increase the risk of both acute and chronic and mental illness like nervous breakdown and also weaken the immune system of the body.

Stress has number of bad effects on the body, problems like headaches, irritable bowel symptoms, eating disorder, allergies, asthma, diabetes, heart elements, frequent colds and fatigue. Every person is bound to face certain stressful situation in some point or the other but in some people it intensifies and sometimes persists. Managing stress can definitely help one from the bad effects of stress that leads to mental disorders in some.

Methods of stress reduction

There are a number of methods to reduce stress and the most sensible way is to change our lifestyle. Trying to be relaxed and practice the relaxation techniques such as meditation, physical exercises, listening to soothing music, deep breathing and various natural and alternative methods.

One can work a stress condition to one’s advantage or to protect oneself from its untoward follow-throughs, subject to how we handle a stress situation. The choice is between becoming a slave to the stressful situations of life and using them to our advantage.

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Electronic Health Records – How they Effect Mental Health and Behavioral Healthcare Organizations

Last Updated on Thursday, 1 September 2011 04:21 Written by Natural Health Team Thursday, 1 September 2011 04:21

Health Information about Electronic Health Records – How they Effect Mental Health and Behavioral Healthcare Organizations

WHEN

In 2004, President Bush issued an executive order requiring fully operational EHR adoption throughout the healthcare industry by 2014. He also established the Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator and charged it with developing a “health information technology infrastructure” that “reduces healthcare costs resulting from inefficiency, medical errors, inappropriate care and incomplete information.” In November 2006, the Medicaid Commission completed its second and final set of recommendations to Congress, recommending that EHRs, including compatibility among different healthcare providers, be required for all Medicaid beneficiaries by 2012. Congress will focus on healthcare information technology during its 2007 legislative session.

Today, EHR adoption is slow among healthcare providers in general – one study shows that only eight percent of community health centers are using full electronic medical record systems. A September 2006 National Council quick poll of community behavioral health providers across the country indicates that just under eight percent have implemented the EHR with clinical components fully functioning, while 32 percent have implemented the EHR with billing components in place. Another 11 percent of providers are in the process of installing an EHR. Lack of funding and the complex demands of multiple payer and reporting systems are the biggest barriers to EHR adoption in behavioral and mental health patients.

WHY

EHR adoption is expected to reduce healthcare costs by up to 20 percent, significantly cutting back on the approximately 25 cents of every healthcare dollar that is now spent on record keeping and “administrivia” (according to James Kretz, MA, a senior survey statistician at SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services).

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The National Council quick poll revealed that 26 percent of behavioral healthcare and mental health organizations with functional EHRs realized improved quality assurance. Twenty two percent had been able to reduce billing errors and 17 percent realized improved clinical productivity with EHR implementation. Providers also point out that the EHR offers critical support to the service improvement process. The EHR promotes the application of protocols and guidelines, helps to maintain contact with individuals who move through a complex system and who are hospitalized in local or state hospitals, lose stable housing, or become entangled in the criminal justice system.

Most of all, the EHR holds the promise to reduce the enormous financial burden of paperwork and reporting duplication. We know the problems of a paper-based system and certainly the substantial and cumulative economic impact.

A study of one community mental health center in California found a host of inefficiencies that could be easily overcome with adoption of an EHR.

- 3,000 to 10,000 hours of care, with an annual value between 0,000 and ,000,000, were going undocumented.

- 25,000 to 42,000 hours of clinician time, with an annual value of .2 to .7 million, were lost due to inefficiencies in the manual paperwork completion process.

- 13,000 to 20,000 hours of support staff time, with an annual value between 0,000 and 0,000, were spent on unnecessary medical records work.

HOW

Implementing the EHR is a difficult challenge in any healthcare organization. In behavioral healthcare and mental health, it’s particularly difficult because of the extraordinary regulatory burden placed on provider organizations by the combination of federal, state, and local funding sources. In Oregon, as counties were completing their specifications for the EHR, one county identified 188 different forms that they use on a regular basis.

Providers must recognize that the adoption of EHRs is much more than simply purchasing software. It represents a cultural and technological revolution. Members sharing their experiences in this issue of National Council News highlight that there are two keys to successful implementation – outstanding leadership and intensive project management. The organization’s leadership must drive the revolution, recognizing that it impacts every aspect of the organization’s structure and staff. The project manager must especially focus on bringing all facets of the organization together to collaborate on EHR implementation.

Providers going down the EHR path are rightly concerned about the lack of standards for software and hardware. The federal Behavioral Health Treatment Standards Group at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is working to address this very concern. BHTS comprises mental health and addiction treatment providers, the National Council, national trade associations, technology vendors, and federal organizations. This group was convened in 2004 to ensure that the national standards-setting process for the EHR reflects the needs of behavioral healthcare stakeholders.

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Meditating Can Help Break Old Bad Habits That Can Lead To Insomnia

Last Updated on Sunday, 1 August 2010 07:58 Written by Natural Health Team Tuesday, 29 September 2009 12:12

If you are suffering from, or have had in the past, some rather unpleasant experiences of not being able to sleep, take heart. You are not alone, and you definitely have lots of wide-eyed company sharing this dilemma with you.
Roughly, about 35 million Americans, currently, have some precarious night owl tendencies. They find themselves up all hours of the night reading, watching late night movies, or listening to soothing music or sounds, in an attempt to go to sleep.
Many of you who have, or have had, sleep problems can attest to the fact, that the repercussions of losing a good night’s sleep, or more, has far more serious consequences than just extreme tiredness, sluggish thinking, or impaired memory functioning the next day.
Frequent bouts with insomnia can lead to an increased sensitivity to aches and pains, bad moods, and an eventual over all feeling of negative mental and physical health.
Many of the symptoms of chronic insomnia can mimic the symptoms of other health conditions such as pain disorders like fibromyalgia, and mood disorders like depression, anxiety, and dementia. Unless your insomnia is not caused by an underlying medical condition, like sleep apnea, there is definitely more than one good road leading back to a better night’s sleep.
Most, who have had repeated rounds of unproductive attempts to reduce sleepless nights, on their own, end up visiting their physicians hoping for a quick-fix pill solution. Antidepressants, tranquilizers, or other special sleep medications, oftentimes, offers no real long-term relief you can reliably trust.
Inherent drug side effects comes with the territory, here, as well as drug tolerance to the initial effective dose that may bring about a remission of your symptoms. Eventually, if one decides to remain on chemical substances, a raising of the dose, or a substitution of a different drug often becomes necessary. Frustration begins to set in as you discover that, without the medications, your sleep problems are, predominately, still with you.
According to ‘The National Institute of Health’, primary insomnia is a common condition, on its own, and is not caused by an underlying medical problem. To be considered true insomnia, though, the difficulty in getting to sleep or staying asleep must be present for at least one month.
And, according to the ASDA (American Sleep Disorders Association) insomnia is considered ‘chronic’ when you have experienced the inability to go to sleep or stay asleep three nights a week for at least 3 months.
Primary insomnia, the type more commonly experienced by most, is often triggered by specific circumstances, like a traumatic event or situation in one’s life. The main theme that is most likely to cause insomnia is some type of precipitating event-like a divorce or other personal relationship problems, job or career changes, or a death of a friend or loved one. When the initial trauma of the precipitating event, eventually, goes away, sometimes the insomnia part does not.
Sometimes, too, the insomnia continues on because bad sleeping habits were adopted to cope with a stress-filled inability to go to sleep during the course of the triggering event. Over indulging in alcohol, chemical pills, over eating, and lack of regular physical exercise are considered to be bad sleep hygiene habits. It is a good idea to try to break these habits and avoid stimulants, both chemical and technological-like coffee, tea, television, and computers.
We can all become susceptible, to developing certain conditioned pattern responses, in trying to cope with long-term sleep deprivation problems. Certain individuals even develop what is known as ‘sleep dread’, in developing a persistent anxiety about not being able to fall asleep, or stay asleep, before bedtime.
As you already know, worrying about anything before you go to bed at night, or while you are trying to go to sleep, is not a great time to try and resolve problems with bills, jobs, or personal relationship issues. Try really hard not to worry about things you have no control over, even if you think you do have some control over some of these things, take a break for the night, for the sake of getting a better night’s sleep.
If you have faith in a higher power, pass most of your worries on to God or another source of spiritual comfort. Never underestimate the power of developing a spiritual practice to help you sleep better, and to help you in many other areas of your life.
At one time, I considered myself to be a chronic insomniac. Sleep would evade me several nights a week, and this amounted to many nights over the course of a month. I had developed a distinct pattern that would wax and wane, due to a troubled personal relationship, over a 15 year season of my life.
By and large, in all those years I tried just about everything, from prescription drugs to over the counter sleep aides, that I could find to help ease me into a restful night’s sleep. Out of desperation, I read about and tried quite a few natural herbal remedies as well. For a while, most of these substances would actually work for me.
During a long and drawn out process of 15 years I , eventually, discovered that all of these substances were just merely short-term band aides fixes. They were fine for the occasional relief of a rare sleepless night. If there is a precipitating event or situation in your life that is contributing to a lack of sleep, however, the issue will have to be uncovered and resolved. Whether it is a conscious issue or a subconscious one, meditating can help spot some light on the issue and bring it to your visual awareness.
Luckily, after approaching my sleep problems in only one way for many years, I happened to find a meditation audio created by the ‘Immrama Institute’, that used harmonically layered binaural beats gently interwoven inside the sounds of soft rainfall very sensitive, soothing, and relaxing.
Meditation can take years of dedicated practice, and can be quite difficult to learn and master in the traditional way. A well crafted sound audio, however, can make it almost effortless to achieve deep relaxation. I began using it regularly. It helped me to get completely quiet for about 20 minutes, or longer, a day. I managed, in a rather short amount of time, of about a month, to improve my over all sleep quality dramatically.
Regular meditation has, also, helped me gain more control over several other troubling issues in my life such as:
1. reduced overall daily anxiety levels
2. achieved prolonged states of deep relaxation
3. improved outlook on life, in general
4. found the motivation to pursue personal life goals
5. heightened sense of self-awareness, and intuition
6. increased creativity
I have been using this relaxation audio for two years, and simply love it!
The long term benefits of regularly using a sound based relaxation technique in combination with a basic rudimentary understanding of biology, physics, and in faithfully applying ancient, spiritual wisdom teachings to improve one’s life are not to be underestimated, either, in their over all effectiveness. Becoming a more spiritually centered individual has its perks and long-term advantages in overcoming any physical health issue. I recently found a wealth of written information and a creative sound treatment program called, “Sound Health Sound Wealth” I found it not only to be truly helpful, but very effective too in calming and soothing any psychological fears one may have.
Strategies such as those mentioned above, can help you to want to embrace improvement. Desire can bring about some much needed, wanted, and longed for self-loving, changes within yourself. Consciously choosing to get more consistent nutritional elements in your daily diet, engaging in more physical exertion, and, yes, even improving one’s spiritual awareness of sounds, colors, and light can take you as far as your intuition and intelligence will not be an inhibiting factor.
Upon embarking in such an incredible journey, I’ll make a wish for all of you, who have trouble sleeping. I hope you are, soon, sleeping better, more soundly, and challenging your thinking mind, more often. Open yourself up to more exciting possibilities in the near future.

Bad+Mood