bipolar disorder treatment boosting cognitive function using mineral salts and brain nutrients

Bipolar Disorder Treatment: Boosting Cognitive Function Using Mineral Salts And Brain Nutrients
By A. Green

Modern bipolar disorder treatment embraces different modalities in treating the whole person. A multi-faceted approach can work wonders in restoring brain balance and leveling mood.

The potential of lithium was discovered by an Australian psychiatrist who discovered the effects of lithium salts on animals. The animals were tranquilized and the doctor went on to administer it to patients who had been hospitalized, who were suffering from mania. Since that time, lithium has been used as a treatment for bipolar disorder.

Pure lithium is a naturally occurring mineral. Lithium is found in certain rocks and in the sea. Minute amounts have been discovered in plant and animal tissues. Lithium also shows up in springs and spas where, in times past, people bathed in and drank the lithium-rich waters for their soothing effects. It is probable they were unconsciously using a natural form of bipolar treatment.

Today, lithium carbonate or lithium citrate is administered to patients under trade names such as Lithobid, Eskalith, Cibalith, or Lithane.

Lithium may be used with antipsychotic drugs. It can take up to a week before beneficial results become evident. Lithium is distributed in the central nervous system and interacts with a number of receptors and neurotransmitters. It decreases noradrenaline release and increases serotonin synthesis. Because of these actions, it has proven to be valuable in bipolar disorder treatment.

Lithium may also be used in conjunction with antidepressants and tranquilizers. Psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms but, like most drugs, they compensate for some malfunction in the body but do not cure mental illness. In treatment for bipolar disorder, a person still has to learn self-monitoring skills. It is important to be able to identify an episode as it is developing.

Psychotherapy or talk therapy can be a boon by giving insights that this is a real illness, not a sign of personal weakness. As well, support groups offer support, understanding, and can be a safe haven to discuss coping strategies and feelings about bipolar treatment.

Natural supplements also offer hope by providing important brain nutrients that can help to restore cognitive functioning and to level mood. Natural remedies combine vitamins and minerals, amino acids and enzymes. They incorporate herbals and specialty supplements that have tangible effects on thinking processes and brain function.

An exciting discovery has revealed that Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oils (EPA and DHA) render beneficial effects on brain functioning. Research has demonstrated that the human brain uses and needs DHA. Inositol has been shown to influence the action of several brain neurotransmitters. Vitamins B1 and B6 help with irritability and anxiety that often accompany episodes of manic depression. Calcium and magnesium regulate nerve impulses and contribute to neurotransmitter production. A good quality herbal remedy will be specifically formulated to target symptoms and can be a valuable bipolar disorder treatment, helping to minimize effects of mood dysfunction and supplying critical brain nutrients.

Certainly holistic and herbal remedies date back centuries. In modern times, their benefits have been rediscovered in the quest for wellness. Natural approaches offer decreased risk of side effects and possible drug interactions and offer a complimentary methodology when considering alternative treatment for bipolar disorder.

Supporting and strengthening the brain and body makes good sense. A practical approach to balanced living is invaluable in managing this illness. Modern methods offer a bipolar disorder treatment scenario that is less frightening than in former times.

Always keep your doctor apprised of any medicinal substances you are taking or considering taking when you are undergoing or embarking on any treatment for bipolar disorder.

Scientific advances and newer discoveries have shed light on mood disorders and substances that effectively treat these. Once you have obtained appropriate and effective bipolar disorder treatment, the rest of your life can be the best of your life.

Athlyn Green is an avid health enthusiast with an interest in natural remedies for treatment of health disorders. She has contributed to Treatment For Bipolar Disorder, a section of http://www.beat-your-depression.com dedicated to natural treatments and prescription drug alternatives for this disorder.

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are herbal memory vitamins the key to brain health

Are Herbal Memory Vitamins the Key to Brain Health?
By Mike Stevens

Herbal memory vitamins may help you from memory loss that can be both frustrating and embarrassing. While you may lose precious time in the morning by trying to remember where you put your car keys, it may embarrass you to ask for your client s name again during a business meeting. Memory loss can be due to several factors including age, poor eating habits or leading a sedentary life.

There are several herbs and vitamins for memory loss that can help you boost memory and provide that much required support for the brain. Taking these food supplements under medical supervision can restore the damage in your brain cells. While there are a wide range of synthetic products in the market more people are turning to food supplement that contain herbal memory vitamins and other nutrients.

Some of the popular herbs and vitamins for memory loss include Ashwagandha, Grape seed extract and Ginkgo biloba. Indians have used the medicinal plant of Ashwagandha to treat a wide range of age-related disorders for a long time. The plant is especially helpful in preserving the health of the ageing brain.

Nutrients contained in the Grape seed extract have shown to protect the brain by preventing neuronal toxicity. While other herbal memory vitamins and food supplements are usually recommended for adults, Ginkgo biloba enhances memory in young individuals. Research has shown that this readily available extract improves cognitive function in people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition to Ashwagandha other herbs such as holy basil and brahmi positively influence mental function, and cognition. These contain herbal memory vitamins that can be included in your diet to naturally recover from memory loss and other memory disorders.

Other popular herbal memory vitamins include Vitamin E and B. Low levels of Vitamin E may increase the risk of neurological diseases including the dreaded Parkinson’s. Similarly adequate intake of vitamins B6 and B12 are essential for proper brain function. People who are not taking these vitamins in required quantities are known to suffer from memory loss, dementia, and forgetfulness.

The inclination of people to use herbal products as compared to food supplement manufactured using synthetic ingredients have made a large number of manufacturers to come up with products that contain natural herbs and vitamins for memory loss.

It is strongly recommended to take the herbs and vitamins for memory loss only after consulting a health care provider. If you are upset about your forgetful nature and are searching for a cure, you can now safely reverse impairment of cognitive function with food supplements containing herbal memory vitamins and other nutrients.

Mike Stevens has been studying the causes of memory loss and cognitive decline for years, and has written many articles on the subject. He is well-versed in herbal memory vitamins and supplements, and contributes regularly to http://www.memory-enhancement-guide.com, a site discussing ways to enhance mental ability and prevent memory loss.

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brain revving at top speed 5 tips to kept your brain creative

Brain Revving At Top Speed - 5 Tips To Kept Your Brain Creative
By David Aleh

1) By becoming actively involved in an exercise program on a regular basis, you may be able to help improve general short term memory. Those that exercise on a regular basis performed significantly better on tests. Do I have to tell you that aerobic exercise increase your memory function, yes. That is it because it increased oxygen efficiency to the brain thereby partly an increase in glucose metabolism which lay a important role in increasing memory which is vital in recalling names, direction and telephone number or pairing a name with a face.

2) Having a good or positive attitude toward what you learn will ensure a good performs, when you have a negative attitude towards something or your are in a bad mood your memory is unpaired. The mind usually choose to forget unpleasant things, so when your brain bass choose something as negative then it will forget it.

3) Relaxation strengthens the memory hence enhance its performers. The idea is to balance your stress level. If you find your memory falling during a test, just take a deep breath and hold it, than let it out slowly. This will relax you.

4) Your memory works better when you comfortable with yourself. If you have light clothes, shoe on, have just eaten a heavy meal, then you don’t expect your memory to behave well so when you are about to study or take a test, put on clothes or shoes that are not tight and remember to have a light meal.

5) Repeat out loud something you need to remember and also make a sentence with it. Techniques like this shows that they work. It force you to process the information that you need and can increase recall by 400 percent.

6) Let the word that you read form a picture in your mind. This memory - improvement works at any time. The idea is to mentally put the image on a space that is familiar to you. This strategy is very effective.

7) When you have a (an important presentation) test tomorrow. To do, it as not good that you keep on referring to your notes. Do you know what you should do? Now, I will tell you first study it, and relax for about two minutes thinking over it and study it again and this time go to bed and sleep on it. By the time you make up, ha my friend, you will remember more than if you stay up and do something else before sleeping.

You can boost your ability to remember information if you don’t cram, cramming is dangerous, it can danger the brain. Instead review the material and allow some time to pass before going over it again. You will remember more information by studying once a day for several days than you will by studying for several hours.

Author : David Aleh http://wwwmyblowsuccessdav.blogspot.com

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what exactly is cerebral palsy

What Exactly Is Cerebral Palsy?
By Jennifer Petry

Understanding cerebral palsy is the first step towards preventing it. Cerebral palsy is a condition when muscle movements and posture is affected (palsy) due to brain damage (cerebral). Unlike chicken pox or measles, cerebral palsy is not a disease but it is a condition. It is not communicable and although there is no cure it is not progressive, as brain damage does not increase over time.

Around a hundred and fifty years ago an English surgeon named William Little first documented and collected information on a peculiar condition that affected children in their early years leading to stiff, spastic muscles in their legs and to a lesser degree their arms. Little found that this condition did not worsen over the years nor did it improve. This condition, known for many years as Little’s disease, is today known as spastic diplegia, one of several types of cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a very diverse and complex condition with different people being affected differently. Each specific case is, therefore, as individualistic as the individual patients themselves. It is characterized by an inability to fully control motor function, particularly muscle control and coordination.

Depending on which areas of the brain have been damaged, one or more of the following may occur: muscle tightness or spasticity involuntary movement disturbance in gait (walk) or mobility, difficulty in swallowing and problems with speech. In addition, the following symptoms are sometimes associated with cerebral palsy: abnormal sensation and perception impairment of sight, hearing or speech seizures and/or mental retardation. Other problems that may arise are difficulties in feeding, bladder and bowel control, problems with breathing because of postural difficulties, skin disorders because of pressure sores, and learning disabilities.

Despite the pain and suffering that cerebral palsy patients and their caregivers have to bear, the most heartening thing about this disorder is that today there are many measures that can be taken to try and prevent its onset. Tests and prenatal care can prepare a woman and alert her when possible causes arise.

Pregnant women are tested routinely for the Rh factor and, if Rh negative, they can be immunized within 72 hours after the birth (or after the pregnancy terminates) and thereby prevent adverse consequences of blood incompatibility in a subsequent pregnancy. If the woman has not been immunized, the consequences of blood incompatibility in the newborn can be prevented by exchange transfusion in the baby. If a newborn baby has jaundice, this can be treated with phytotherapy (light therapy), which breaks down the bilirubin around the brain. Immunization against measles for all women who have not had measles and are susceptible to becoming pregnant is an essential preventative measure.

Other preventative programs as well as facts about cerebral palsy are directed towards the prevention of prematurity reducing the exposure of pregnant women to virus and other infections recognition and treatment of bacterial infection of the maternal reproductive and urinary tracts avoiding unnecessary exposure to X-rays, drugs and medications and the control of diabetes, anemia and nutritional deficiencies. Of great importance is optimal well being prior to conception, adequate prenatal care, and protecting infants from accidents or injury.

Although incurable, the disorder can be treated and managed to provide relief to patients. With doctors accumulating new knowledge and information about the disorder every passing day, new techniques and treatments are coming to the fore. Botox, or botulism toxin, is the newest treatment to show high success rates. The Botulism toxin relieves cerebral palsy symptoms by reducing tightness in muscles, which allows better control of movement, and increasing the stretch of muscles, reducing the risk of permanent muscle contractions. In recent tests, some children were even able to write with a pen or use a computer touch screen to communicate for the first time. The continuous finding of new information on cerebral palsy leaves the door wide open for the future of cerebral palsy treatment.

Jennifer Petry recommends you visit http://www.cerebralpalsysource.com/ for more information on cerebral palsy.

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brain concussions in sports whats the fuss

Brain Concussions in Sports: What s the Fuss?
By Gary Cordingley

If you re having difficulty understanding what a brain concussion is, and how your son or daughter s head-injury affects their further participation in sports, then you re in good company. The nature and effects of concussions are still poorly understood by many athletes, parents, coaches, news reporters and, to a certain extent, even the medical community. But because the brain is a treasured organone that athletes should want to keep in good working order for the rest of their livesa good understanding of concussions is crucial.

Neurologists and neurosurgeons cringe when they hear sports-reporters make comments like, “Johnny had a CAT scan and it showed that he didn t have a concussion.” The truth is that CAT scans don t show concussions. They do show other serious consequences of head injuries, like bleeding within the brain, or hemorrhages that compress the brain. But concussionswhile no less realare invisible to brain-imaging tests like CAT scans and MRIs.

So what is a concussion? If a blow to the head caused unconsciousness, a concussion occurred. Most people know this. But a concussion can occur even when there is no loss of consciousness. Other symptoms after a head-injury indicating a concussion include:

1. impaired attention, e.g. vacant stare, slowness to respond, easy distractibility
2. slurred speech, or speech that doesn t make sense
3. clumsiness or unsteadiness
4. disorientation, e.g. walking in the wrong direction, forgetting the day of the week
5. excessive emotional reaction, e.g. easy tears, overly upset
6. memory impairment, e.g. asking same question repeatedly, can t memorize new facts

Other symptoms can develop hours or even weeks after the injury, including headache, dizziness, poor concentration, irritability, impaired memory, fatigue, disrupted sleep, anxiety, depression, and a lack of good judgment or insight.

You ll notice that all these symptoms share a common featurean alteration in brain function. The normal brain processes, which depend on proper signaling among the brain s 20 billion brain cells, are out of whack.

There can also be physical damage to the brain s cells. Because brain-cells are so tiny, brain scans don t detect them. Injuries causing more severe concussions can tear apart the cells axons (the long filaments that carry coded messages over long distances within the brain). As you can imagine, these rips in the very fabric of the brain can cause lasting impairments in brain function or require long periods of time for recovery.

One certainty about sports-related concussions is that they are very frequent. The Centers for Disease Control estimates there are at least 300,000 of them in the U.S. per year and they comprise about 20% of all head injuries. Research also indicates that the brains of high school athletes are more vulnerable to concussion than those of older athletes, and require longer periods of time to fully recover.

Individuals who have had one concussion are at greater risk for another. For example, in one study of high school and college football players, concussions occurred about six times more frequently in student-athletes who had experienced prior concussions than in those who had not. Moreover, repeated concussions can have more severe outcomes than first concussions.

A rare but particularly scary phenomenon has been called the “second impact syndrome” in which a second concussion occurring within days or weeks of an earlier concussion can produce catastrophic consequencesincluding deathway out of proportion to the apparent severity of the re-injury.

Because of the potentially serious consequences, athletes, coaching staffs and parents need to have a heightened awareness of head-injuries and their need for proper evaluation, including by medical personnel. Various guidelines have been created for decisions about when it is safe to resume participation in contact sports. These guidelines, while based more on expert opinion than on medical evidence, are still the best benchmarks we have until more studies are done.

All guidelines agree that an athlete needs to become symptom-free in all areasthinking, memory, emotions, coordination, balance, etc.before resuming play. After a first concussion, the athlete should have been normal for at least a week, and after a second concussion, for probably two weeks.

When should an athlete hang up his or her cleats and retire from the sport? How many concussions are too many? No one has a definite answer to either question. As Clint Eastwood s “Dirty Harry” might ask, “Are you feeling lucky?” Three concussions in the same seasonor even in an entire sports careershould certainly raise concern about long-term damage to the brain.

Of course, student-athletes often pressure their parents to allow them to return to play sooner than might be wise. In these circumstances it is useful to recall that many professional athletes in football, hockey, boxing and other sports have retired from their lucrative careers rather than suffer additional concussions. If these high-profile individuals were willing to give up their big paydays in order to protect their brains, then perhaps your son or daughter will be able to follow their examples when less money is at stake. However, if you are the parent and are being pressured to allow an early return to play, you just might have to stand tall, do the right thing, and say no.

For more information about traumatic brain injury see the websites of The Brain Matters and The Brain Injury Association of America.

(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley

Gary Cordingley, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist, teacher and researcher who works in Athens, Ohio. For more health-related articles see his website at: http://www.cordingleyneurology.com

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aerobic exercises for the brain

Aerobic Exercises for the Brain
By Graham Harris

Over the past 30 years some of us have spent hours and hours doing aerobic exercises to maintain our body fitness and keep us looking good. We have attended dance studios, step classes, hi and lo impact classes, some of us have even attempted martial arts and water aerobics! In a nutshell, we have put a great deal of time and effort to keep time and nature at bay.

We ve accepted it s important to maintain the outward appearance and keep our bodies trim. But what about your mind and brain?

The question is have you spent the same amount of time on mental aerobics? Have you put in the same amount of effort to keep your mind and brain fit?

Our minds and brains need help too. Just like our bodies, without the right type of exercise they deteriorate, become lethargic, unhealthy and resemble the behaviour of a couch potato.

But all is not lost.

Dr. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has discovered a way in which we can keep our brains healthy. Something you can do everyday to stop the ageing process of your brain. In her research she used MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to compare the brain structure of 30 people who lived in and around Boston in the US. She examined 15 people who meditated regularly and 15 people who had never meditated.

She found that meditation:

“increases the thickness of the cortex in areas involved in
attention and sensory processing, such as the prefrontal cortex
and the right anterior insula”.

Now what does that mean to you and me?

The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the brain that is associated with decision making, planning and memory and naturally thins as we get older, thus reducing our ability to think clearly and make rational decisions.

This research shows that you don t have to be a professional meditator and practice meditation all day to stem the aging process. Anybody can do it.

When you meditate you are doing a type of aerobics that benefits the brain. Through daily meditation you are slowing the ageing process. You are having an effect on the deterioration of the brain tissue.

The good news is that you don t have to have been meditating for 30 years to gain this benefit. As Dr. Sara Lazar stated in an interview with CNN,

“what we saw is — the thickness was correlated with the
amount of practice they had. So even people with a just few
years of practice had bigger cortex”.

In other words it s never too late to start.

The secret is to find a meditation practice that suits you. One you enjoy doing. If you have tried meditation before and didn t feel comfortable with that practice don t give up try something else. It s the same as physical aerobic exercises success comes from choosing the method you feel most comfortable with. The more you enjoy it the more time you will put in and the better the results.

The next step is yours. If you want to stem the ageing process of the brain, give yourself time each day to meditate.

Good Luck

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com

Graham and Julie have been practicing meditation for the past ten years or more and provide a free user friendly site offering an interactive meditation slide show at http://www.desktop-meditation.com for people interested in trying meditation.

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a passion for people whose lives have been touched by brain injury

A Passion for People Whose Lives Have Been Touched By Brain Injury
By Patricia Fountain

A Passion for People Whose Lives Have Been Touched By Brain Injury I d like to introduce myself. I want to tell you what it is that brings me to this passion for life coaching people whose lives have been touched by brain injury.

My name is Pat, and I am the sister of a TBI survivor.

My Brother s Story:

It was 1992. My brother was 34 years old, the husband of a 22 year old wife and father to two little girls ages 3 and 1. On an otherwise routine day, my brother became the victim of a freak accident. He was at work when the cable TV company sent a crew to take down old telephone poles and lines along a railroad track that ran through his company s property. They cut the wires but did not realize that one pole had a guy wire and was rotten at the base. It broke off and swung around and hit him in the head while he was sandblasting. The tank of the compressor prevented the pole from finishing its fall right into his face. The cross arm was right above his face.

We have a photo from the front page of the newspaper when that happened. It shows paramedics all around him. He was only unconscious for a short while. He came to as he was being worked on but does not remember how long they were there. The newspaper story caption has this last line &ampquotWas treated at the hospital for head lacerations and released.&ampquot Isn t that disturbing given what we all now know?

The week following the accident he had crippling headaches. He called the ER doctors to ask what to do. They told him to take Tylenol and see his primary care doctor if it got worse. It got worse, but he didn t go as he was now more confused, sick to his stomach and sleeping a lot. His young wife didn t understand what was happening so didn t do anything else. The family never learned of the accident for weeks.

Of course we know now that his brain was swelling and damage was being done. Today he is doing fairly well but it was a long road getting here. As a person with what started out as a moderate TBI now milder, he could not get services that would have helped him. The best thing that he got was some counseling. The woman he saw did help with his grief and loss but did not have any supports or strategies to offer for any type of rehabilitation. So he got none.

In the last few years our state (NY) had developed a Medicaid Waiver for services for people with TBI. There are some great supports there and many people have come home from nursing homes and others never had to go. But the services are for people who would otherwise need to be in a nursing home so aren t available to others. Most of the available services do not fit with his needs as he has been able to (with difficulty) keep his job, raise his now teen-aged daughters, and continue his hobby of building hot rods (he is somewhat well known for his wonderful skills in this!) I am grateful that our many conversations, often over the telephone, were helpful in listening, discovering and celebrating his still wonderful inner resources, reaching for new goals and finding strategies to keep him moving forward in his recovery.

I am a teacher who was looking for work in 1994 when I was hired by an agency that provided services to people with developmental disabilities. By 1996 I had started a nice day program that people really enjoyed. When that agency decided to become a provider for the TBI Waiver, they asked me to start a day program for people with brain injury. It was then that I became really educated in what that is all about. Since then I have had other positions including directing an agency that strictly provided services to people with TBI.

Last year when I was researching some new training for the life skills coaches I ran across the life coaching model and it immediately began to attract me. There is so much in this model that would be ideal for so many if the service could be developed for people with TBI.

Are you familiar with what that is? It is not counseling or therapy but a coaching approach to supporting personal growth. I am combining some of the skills supports I have learned in my professional work and with my brother. So, to that end, I thought, &ampquotwhy not become a life coach&ampquot? I found a wonderful training program, and found some other agencies and coaches providing services. I am in the beginning stages of forming collaborative relationships with two that are outstanding.

Life coaching has the potential to be a wonderful support to help people with TBI to move forward, get back to having dreams and purpose, finding strategies and make real plans and work toward them. A coach is the support person, just like in sports, helping each person get the most out of every opportunity and finding strategies to make those &ampquotend funs&ampquot around the challenges. For people whose lives have been touched by TBI, survivors, families and caregivers it has the potential to make something available that has been needed for a long time.

Over the years, I have made close friends in the brain injury association, the department of health, families and friends, other professionals and provider agencies. Best of all I have support of many wonderful friends with TBI who have graciously allowed me to partner with them on their journey and taught me all we both know about living with brain injury.

It is a journey we who are survivors, or loved ones of survivors know all too well. &ampquotBig need - little resource&ampquot. It has always been up to us to advocate, design and develop what we need. This is one more step on our journey. Glad you could join me for my story. Cheers to all of you who are on this journey, too.

All the very best to you and those you love,

Pat

Pat Fountain, Life Coach
New Perspectives for People Whose Lives
Have Been Touched by Brain Injury
Subscribe to my FREE monthly Newsletter
http://www.TBICoach.com/subscribe.html
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brain research blueprints of a new era

Brain Research - Blueprints Of A New Era
By Pedro T Gondim

Brain science has been one of the central topics in the scientific world in the last decade. The development of several new technologies has allowed scientists to reach a superior level in research methods.

Such technologies - particularly brain scanning techniques (PET, fMRI, CT, etc.) - have enabled experts to perform procedures which were thought to be in the realm of science fiction in a near past. In the verge of an advanced era in the perception and manipulation of the human mind, an ethical discussion was raised in the Old continent.

Meeting the ‘Meeting of Minds’

“Meeting of Minds - European Citizens Deliberation on Brain Science, was a unique exercise involving the general public in a discussion on cutting-edge science. Citizens from nine European countries will suggest what they think should be done with our new-found knowledge of the brain. They will debate the ethical, social and legal implications with international experts. The citizens’ conclusions on the use of new technology, medicines and techniques will be offered to policy-makers at the European, national and transnational level. meetingmindseurope.org

Breaking through Brain Research
The outcome of the meeting of minds was one of the most elaborate displays of democratic decision-making in history. 126 citizens, 9 countries, 12 organizations and another dozens of professionals from several areas: resulting in over 100 recommendations that are being analyzed by stakeholders in the fields of brain research and politics. The meeting’s organization committee recognized several ‘new’ areas in brain research which are becoming increasingly relevant in our daily lives, and designed most recommendations based on probable outcomes from these areas.

Brain Stimulation
The initiative to solve psychiatric problems derived from common mental health disorders, such as OCD, has provided the background for neuro-surgeons to endeavor in “tinkering at people’s brains”. Innovative procedures, such as the insertion of electrodes that emit mild currents to communicate with the patient via a wireless system, are part of this area. Issues? The definition of normality: how are medical treatments going to affect different social groups and who should, and should not, be treated.

Brain Scanning Technologies
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been used to identify patterns of cognitive behavior in the human brain. Scientists have attempted to use it for lie detection and even to recognize which areas of the brain are being used when a stimuli is provided. Scientists have even attempted to scan several different people in order to define a ‘normal’ brain structure. Issues? Privacy and a patient’s right to refuse treatment are the major concerns which result from this type of research.

Regulatory Drugs
Several drugs have been developed to treat patients with brain disorders, such as compliance and conduct disorders. The ability to provide a ‘quick fix’ to particular behaviors has induced research in this area. Issues? Again the definition of normality: there is a concern on whether some conditions are in fact disorders that should be treated. With further development of research, such drugs could be used for social control.

Cognitive Enhancers
In the last decade cognitive enhancers have been a central topic of discussion in brain research. Drugs which improve memory, alertness and other cognitive functions have been developed, and drug companies are prepared to market them to the general public. Issues? There are several concerns about the non-regulation of such drugs, which could become a quick fix for ‘mental problems’. This culture would play a role in decreasing the importance of preventive treatment.

Genetic Profiling
Increased research in the brain’s structure and functioning is giving scientists the opportunity to relate the genetic structure of individual’s with the possible development of particular brain conditions. Such procedure could allow the recognition of pattern which would predict the incidence of mental health diseases prior to the actual development of the disease. Issues? The burden of knowing the future for an individual that is likely to develop a mental health disease.

Themes and Final Recommendations

The project’s meeting on January produced more than 100 recommendations in six different areas of brain research. Following are some of them:

Regulation and Control

- Increase the transparency of public funding allocation mechanisms and its links to solving social issues.
- Extend the reach of ethical oversight to non-experimental research.
- Prevent the misuse of human beings for experimental research.
- Make disclosure of privately-funded brain research activities into a legal requirement.
- Increase transparency of ongoing research to align public funding.
- Increase public funding for fundamental research.
- Minimise bureaucratic barriers to encourage collaborative research.
- Strengthen legal regimes on discrimination against persons with mental conditions, particularly in their workplaces.

Normalcy versus Diversity

- Foster greater inter-disciplinary knowledge to improve thinking about norms
.
- Take into consideration that diversity is “normal” and positive for the development of society, the arts and science.
- Counteract a “social pressure” for medical treatment.
- Do not treat patients if they do not wish it.
- Offer a broad range of treatment options and support, provide alternatives to medical treatment and complementary medicine or combine various approaches.
- Put more emphasis on prevention.
- Reinforce communication between patients and specialists in charge.
- Reallocate resources in favour of basic research.
- Give high priority to brain research.
- Ensure that the increased knowledge that brain science provides is also applied in other fields such as teaching, learning, thinking, and creativity.
- Do not allow enhancing drugs for people who have to pass exams.
- Definitions should be flexible as society moves on.

Public Information and Communication

- Promote broadcasting of scientific documentaries during viewer-friendly hours.
- Start a “Brainpedia” similar to the general Wikipedia encyclopedia in the internet.
- Mobilize medical students and create opportunities for them to go public in order to enter a permanent discussion with practitioners, organizations, and citizens.
- Keep the medical press independent of pharmaceutical industries.
- Promote the information flow between experts.
- Encourage a more interdisciplinary approach.
- Introduce or improve communicative skills in the education for medical doctors in order to improve the doctor-patient relationship and the quality of information.
- Establish more direct information links between experts and patients. Scientists should be discouraged to publish immediately every new development in research in popular media.

Pressure from Economic Interests

- Introduce incentives for pharmaceutical companies to conduct fundamental research.
- Initiate foundations that support patients with rare diseases.
- Foster independent information about drugs that are positioned as consumer products.
- Keep the ban on advertising for prescription drugs.
- Require that sources of financing are listed with every academic contribution.

Equal Access to Treatment

- Make efforts to ensure equal access regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, economic capacity and social status.
- Make sure that people are well informed about treatments and non-medical alternatives in order to avoid exclusion from services.
- Extend the understanding of necessary treatment to prevention and create respective institutions and programs.
- Incorporate citizens and patients’ organizations in decision making on allocation of resources.
- Target mental health care to particular groups (elderly, ethnical groups, socially weak groups) to increase efficiency.

Freedom of Choice

- Create interdisciplinary support teams for patients and their families.
- Improve the geographical distribution of diagnosis and treatment units for patients and their families.
- Set up a multidisciplinary group to define “unbearable psychological suffering”. The established criteria should serve as a foundation for laws on euthanasia independent of public opinion, one group emphasized.
- Guarantee equal access to treatment as a self-evident precondition for choice.
- Carefully prioritise public funds. Conduct a clear information policy on the costs of prophylactic measures, check-ups, and treatments.
- Don’t streamline research along political, financial or materialistic deliberations but keep it open in all scientifically relevant directions (blue sky research).

The Next Steps

“Since January 2006 the partner organizations have launched different types of initiatives at both national and European level to disseminate results and provide policy advice to relevant stakeholders and policy makers. Such initiatives include presentations in relevant for a such as national parliaments and scientific conferences, and the organization of policy advice workshops. Willing citizens can play a key role during these events.”

Will the international efforts to overlook brain research work? The process is on its way, and time will tell. If the implementation of the several proposed recommendations is effective through the political, medical and social layers of participant EU countries - it may be time to consider how scalable this project could be.

As the knowledge of brain functioning and particular interactions between neural networks is increasingly expanding, a discussion could arise from the very heart of mental health: how much impact can brain research provoke in the several mental health disciplines? Will learning paradigms shift - or will brain research support contemporary theories? The blueprints of a new era are under development - and the next steps will be promising.

Pedro Gondim is a writer and publisher for the Australian Institute of Professional Counselors. The Institute is Australia s largest counselor training provider, offering the internationally renowned Diploma of Professional Counseling.

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cerebral palsy in infant ways to prevent it

Cerebral Palsy in Infant- Ways to Prevent It
By Low Jeremy

Half a million members of the population in United States are suffering from one form of cerebral palsy to another. This is a wide spreading congenital disorder experienced by both children and adults. It is a disorder that hinders the ability of a person to move in a coordinated and determined way.

Infant cerebral palsy takes place even prior to the child’s birth or during the first three or five years of his life. This is a crucial stage in the life of a child because the disorder can lead to the impairment of hearing, vision, speech and learning disabilities.

The causes and treatments of cerebral palsy in infant are not definite. Although there are alternative cures such a therapy and surgeries available. These kinds of special treatments can help them alleviate the aggravating experience of a child with his living condition.

Cerebral palsy in infants can be diagnosed through the help of pediatricians and neurological specialists. They usually keep track of the lives of the child from birth up to a particular stage. Finding out that there is a developmental delay in the muscle function of a child, can be a great manifestation of cerebral palsy.

Other implications of cerebral palsy on a child are abnormal muscle tone, poor coordinated movement and persistent infant reflexes beyond a certain age. If you have also observed that your child has a difficulty in reaching for his or her toys at four to seven months after birth, then it is better to send the infant to a doctor for a series of tests.

Since the real cause of the disorder is undetermined, there is no way to prevent it as well. However, there are some possible ways to decrease the chances. First is for the moms to ensure a healthy pregnancy and as much as possible carry the baby on the right term. Premature babies are more likely to develop cerebral palsy.

Future or expectant mothers should also make sure that they should distance themselves from many different possible health problems like hypertension, diabetes and heart deficiencies that could inflict them. Immediately after a pregnant woman finds out that they are carrying a child inside their womb, proper prenatal care is very necessary.

Once the baby is born, brain damages should also be prevented. Avoid scenarios where the head of the child bumps into hard things. Never shake an infant as well because it can result to baby syndrome and brain damage.

The health of your child will depend on how you care for them. Cerebral palsy in infant can be prohibited only if you know how to avoid its probable causes.

This content is provided by Low Jeremy and may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more info on Cerebral Palsy, please visit http://cerebral-palsy.articlekeep.com

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are there left and right brain exercises how each part of the brain needs a different workout

Are There Left and Right Brain Exercises? How Each Part of The Brain Needs a Different Workout
By J Wall

For the most part people are familiar with left and right brain thinking, but did you know you can stimulate the growth of each through left and right brain exercises? Understanding the basics of how each hemisphere works is key to giving each a workout.

Some people may question what the point of such exercise would be, but there is good reasons behind it. Since the right brain in general is responsible for visual processing, “big picture” thinking, intuitive processing and processes ideas simultaneously doing right brain exercises would help enhance those functions. Conversely, since the left brain in general is the hemisphere that is analytical, processes step by step, verbally oriented, etc. Left brain exercises would help boost those processes.

So what exactly would such exercise entail? For the right half of the brain, it would involve performing tasks that stimulate visual usage, intuitive thinking, etc. Right brain exercises might be things like painting or drawing that use the right brain functions of visual processing as well as big picture or wholistic processing that goes on in the right hemisphere.

Right brain exercises would also include games that involve strategy or working through various tasks simultaneously. These games require that you take a look at things as a whole and at times think outside of logical deductions to achieve the goal. This would also help build up function in the right hemisphere.

For the left side, you would need left brain exercises that require word usage, logical reasoning or step by step processing. Brain teasers or word puzzles would be a couple of good examples that utilize the left hemisphere and strengthen its function.

Spelling and math activities are also good left brain exercises. These processes are done predominantly in the left hemisphere so the more you use them the more neural connections are built in that part of the brain increasing function. Basically any task or test that involves deductive reasoning, working through a problem in a sequential order or working with distinct facts and figures will enhance this part of the brain and how it works.

Whatever your preference, researchers have noted that the overall brain works more efficiently if we not only work the side that is dominant for us, but spend some time working the less dominant parts. In other words right brain exercises will be beneficial to left brained individuals and left brain exercises will help right brainers. Building up both sides actually serves to facilitate better interactions between both halves which gives your brain a more well rounded ability.

As with physical exercise, the brain is best helped if the exercise is regular and not sporadic. The brain, like muscle works on the use it or lose it principle. The more we are inactive with certain parts of our brains the harder it is for us to perform those functions. The more we work them the easier it is for us to use those functions. So whether you need a good dose of right brain exercises or left brain, the point is to get that brain in shape.

J. Wall has an avid interest in natural remedies for the treatment of memory loss. He is a regular contributor to the Enhancing Memory section of http://www.memory-enhancement-guide.com, a site dedicated to improving mental ability and cognitive function.

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