Andrew da Roza speaks with Straits time on how some young drug users develop the habit as a result of pressures at home and school. Read on to find out the details.
Follow the link to read the full article: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parents-must-help-shape-their-children-s-attitudes-towards-drug-use-counsellors
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CNA interviewed Dr. Joseph Leong about why some people become bystanders when their loved ones abuse their maids. He highlighted a “power differential” in which the maid abuser is typically the head of the household. Read on to find out the details.
Follow the link to read the full article: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/maid-abuse-helper-bystander-effect-psychology-3092276
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Andrew da Roza speaks with an editor at Today Online about the Tobacco tax hike. Read on to find out the details.
Follow the link to read the full article: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/tobacco-tax-hike-some-smokers-will-cut-back-others-illegal-vaping-2110991
*Visions is an addictions arm of Promises and we help assist clients in Singapore to enable them to improve their lives; and our website provides the images, names, languages, qualifications, and experience of specialists who can help.
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Senior Clinical Psychologist Dr Elain Yeo was interviewed by the popular YA YouTube channel, LadiesFirstTv (Titan Digital Media) about struggling with Anxiety.
Click on the red play button to watch this 11min 37sec video.
Anxiety refers to a state of anticipation of alarming future events. Anxiety is usually a normal transient response to stress and may be a necessary cue for adaption and coping, the body’s protective mechanism known as the ‘fight or flight response’.
However, anxiety can become pathologic, where it is excessive and inappropriate to the reality of the current situation. It is often described by many as a distressing experience of dread and foreboding.
Anxiety is manifested in the affective, cognitive behavioural and physical domains. The affective states could range from edginess and unease to terror and panic. Cognitively, the experience is one of worry, apprehension and thoughts concerned with emotional or bodily danger. Behaviourally, anxiety triggers a multitude of responses concerned with diminishing or avoiding the distress.
Stimulating the autonomic nervous system results in an array of bodily perturbations.
Several nervous system structures are involved in fear and pathologic anxiety.
The amygdala is responsible for initiating the fight-or-flight response. When activated, the amygdala triggers a series of changes in brain chemicals and hormones that puts the entire body in anxiety mode.
Left untreated, over time the affected individual’s body physically responds more frequently and intensely to worries. Co-morbid depression often sets in. One’s ability to meaningfully function academically, occupationally and socially gets hampered, leading to a deterioration in the quality of life.
The first point of contact for many patients would be their general practitioners or even the hospital Accident & Emergency department. It is important to evaluate and rule out underlying medical illnesses that may mimic an anxiety disorder, such as thyroid disorders, heart rhythm disturbances, gastrointestinal diseases or alcohol withdrawal. The doctor may order some basic investigations, such as a thyroid function blood test or an electrocardiogram (to check one’s heart rhythm). Once medical causes have been excluded or identified and treated, persisting anxiety symptoms would warrant a psychiatric consultation.
A prescription of anti-depressants such as Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) to aid in the balancing of the brain neurotransmitters may be suggested. Anxiolytics such as benzodiazepines e.g. Clonazepam may be used in the initial phase of treatment, and thereafter only short courses are prescribed to reduce the risk of dependency.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) involves cognitive restructuring and anxiety symptom management. Cognitive interventions are aimed at challenging and correcting the inaccurate and maladaptive thought patterns that maintain anxiety disorders. Symptom management techniques e.g. relaxation and breathing re-training procedures, help to eliminate anxiogenic bodily reactions.
Lifestyle adjustments to one’s hectic pace of life need to be made to break the vicious cycle of stress and worry. Developing a healthy routine with regularly scheduled self-esteem-raising activities, ensuring adequate rest and nutrition as well as maintaining social connections are pivotal for mental wellness.
References
Massachusetts General Hospital, Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry, seventh edition, chapter 13: Anxious Patients.
Kaplan & Sadock’s Concise Textbook Of Clinical Psychiatry, fourth edition, chapter 6: Anxiety Disorders.
Anxiety symptoms stem from the very helpful ‘fight or flight response’. CBT4Panic. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://cbt4panic.org/anxiety-symptoms-stem-from-the-very-helpful-fight-or-flight-response/
The fight or flight response symptoms. CBT4Panic. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://cbt4panic.org/the-fight-or-flight-response-symptoms/
How Does Anxiety Affect Your Brain? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.xcode.life/genes-and-health/how-anxiety-affects-brain/
Hundreds of anxiety symptoms explained. AnxietyCentre.com. (2022, November 20). Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-disorders/symptoms/
Psychreg. (2022, July 30). Anxiety disorders: Causes and treatments. Psychreg. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.psychreg.org/anxiety-disorders-causes-treatments/
Senior Clinical Psychologist, Henny Tan, was interviewed by the popular YA YouTube channel, LadiesFirstTv (Titan Digital Media) about the stigma a person might face when being identified as having a mental illness.
Click on the red play button to watch this 13min 24 sec video.