For a Healthy Mind and Body...
Talk to a Psychologist
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Your mind and your body work together
Psychological studies show that your mind and your body are strongly
linked. As your mental health declines, your physical health can wear
down, and if your physical health declines, it can make you feel
mentally "down." A positive outlook can help keep you healthy.
You can improve the quality of your everyday life by building the
skills of resilience, which will help you adapt to stress and bounce
back from life's most difficult times. Resilience isn't something
you're born with - it's something you can learn over time. Resilient
people are people with strong emotional well- being who have healthy relationships with people and an optimistic outlook. Optimism and good
relationships both have been shown to improve health and longevity.
You can also pay attention to what your body is telling you about
the state of your mind. If you're getting tension headaches, for
example, your body may be telling you that you need help dealing with
whatever's on your mind.
A psychologist can help with everyday life
A psychologist can help you meet the challenges and stress you face
every day by working with you to create strategies that build
resilience.
Talking to a psychologist can help you deal with emotions
that can make you sick.
Psychological well-being and learning resilience go hand in hand and provide:
*The capacity to make realistic plans to deal with stressors in your life and carry them out *A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strength and ability to confront life's challenges *Skills in communication and problem solving *The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses associated with stress *Ways to avoid illness brought on by stress, anxiety and other mental stressors.
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Free Speakers for Your Organization
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PPA members are willing to provide free talks for your
business, club or
organization.
In recent years psychologists have given public lectures on topics such as:
Stress
Resilience
Depression
Communication
Motivation Body/Mind DivorceOf course, there are literally scores of topics that can be chosen for your talk. A typicalpresentation may last 30-45 minutes with about 15 minutes for questions and answers. We would request that your audience includes at least 10 persons. For more information, please contact Marti Evans at Pennsylvania Psychological Association.
717-232-3817 This service is being offered as part of the joint mission of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association to advance public knowledge of the field of psychology. |
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Welcome...
Four times a year the Pennsylvania Psychological Association provides practical and creative ways that psychology can help parents, businessmen and women, professionals and members of the public to improve their lives and their careers. Please feel free to forward these articles to friends, family and colleagues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Free Psychology Workshops for the Public
Because of the success last year of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association's first
Mind-Body Health Workshops for the Public series, the free one-hour workshops will once again be offered on June 17 and 18, 2009, 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Hilton Harrisburg.
You are invited to attend workshops presented by leading experts in the field of psychology. All sessions are free, and will address common life problems. The experts will also answer questions from the audience.PPA wants to help you to make healthier choices in your life, and in the lives of those you love. Here are some of the things you will learn: - How to Respond to Bullying
- Achieving Work-Life Balance with Support Systems
- Signs & Symptoms of Eating Disorders in Children
- Identifying and Caring for Returning Veterans' Hidden Psychological Wounds
- Caring for the Family Caregivers of Aging Parents
- Resilience in the Family
- Promoting Closeness with Your Child When You Have No Time
- Fostering Self-Esteem in Your Child
- Qigong for Mind-Body Health
Registration is free at psychologycanhelp.com, or call the PPA office at 717-232-3817 for a complete brochure. PPA hopes you will plan to attend as many of these workshops as you can! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Animals Improve Your Health
Sybil L. Holloway, Psy.D.
Did you know that spending quality time with animals might be one of the best ways to protect your health? Animals offer companionship and unconditional love, and they can have positive effects on one's physical and psychological health. It has been shown that interactions with animals reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve heart health, increase mobility and independence, increase self-esteem, and improve mood. Whether the animal is a household pet or part of a medical treatment (animal-assisted therapy, or pet therapy, as it is often called), animal interaction can enhance the quality of your life and may increase your life expectancy.
Household pets
There are lots of animal lovers in the United States. Statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association show that "there are more than 72 million pet dogs in the U.S. and nearly 82 million pet cats." (www.avma.org/ reference/marketstats/sourcebook.asp). Their U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook (2007 Edition) also contains information on birds, horses, and specialty and exotic pets.
Pets can offer you the physical benefits of exercise through activities such as walking your dog or riding your horse. They can also provide a calming influence for viewers of a fish aquarium or a napping cat. Common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression can be partially relieved through animal interaction. Animals are a source of social support and nurturing (e.g., the power of touch) and this can be extremely valuable for the sick, the elderly, the disabled, and the single person. It's hard to resist the validation and love of a welcoming meow, bark, or chirp of an appreciative and playful pet.
Therapeutic use of animals
Another way that animals provide health benefits is through their use in treatment programs. The Delta Society is "a human-services organization dedicated to improving people's health and well-being...through positive interactions with animals." (www.deltasociety.org/Page.aspx?pid=251).
Click here for complete article...
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 Support Groups Ease Pain Dana Fry, Ph.D.
The Challenge of Coping with Illness and Disability
Struggling with disease, disability, or illness can sometimes leave us overwhelmed. We must grapple with both the practical side of managing our health and our care, as well as the emotional aspect of adjusting to life with an illness or disability. Typically the demands we face are not adequately addressed by following simple medical prescriptions. Even when we have supportive friends and family members, we may feel alienated if they do not have first-hand knowledge of our condition. It is not unusual to feel anxious about complex medical information, treatment decisions, and major life changes that come with illness. The symptoms we experience, as well as the impact of the illness on our relationships and on our daily routines, can sometimes lead us to feel frustrated, depressed, disconnected and out of sync.
Particularly when illness is life-threatening or involves permanent disability or chronic pain, we may enter a process of grieving, as we adjust to ways in which previous priorities and concerns no longer make sense, and our life's meaning and purpose must be continually reconstructed. This may also be true for our loved ones whose lives are also affected.
How Support Groups Work
Support groups allow us to connect with others who are experiencing similar challenges. In hearing their stories, we can begin to identify aspects of our own private struggles that turn out to be universal and shared. They can provide us with a safe and accepting place to discuss our own experiences. We learn that we are not alone.
On a very basic level, support groups give us information about our care that goes beyond the viewpoint we get from medical staff. They can help us access medical and non-medical resources. Sometimes we might never uncover some highly useful and important resources without connecting to a larger community. For example, a friend with cancer discovered through his local cancer support organization that a very exclusive local fitness center offered free membership to people battling cancer.
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 You Can Manage Your Pain Peter O'Donnell, Ph.D.
You are in pain. You believe the pain should have gone away by now, but it hasn't. Your physician may or may not have run multiple tests. Life goes on and you still hurt. You feel like running away, but you can't escape your own body.
Did you know that pain is one of the most common reasons that a person sees a physician? Persistent pain, whether from disease, various disorders, or accidents, impacts nearly a third of the population each year. There are multiple costs when pain persists, such as emotional and physical distress, as well as the impact on functioning, productivity and being able to do the things you enjoy. It impacts those around you, especially your family. It touches your whole life. Low back pain is the major cause of morbidity and disability in people between the ages of 18 and 44, considered the most active productive work years (Hanson & Gerber, 1990). As one gets past the age of 60 the prevalence of significant pain is twice that in community - dwelling adults as compared to those under the age of 60 (Crook, Rideout and Brown, 1984). Reseachers (Gatchel & Dersh, 2002) have found that those with chronic low back pain have higher levels of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, health concerns, and interpersonal and family issues, and are less likely to return to work.
What is pain? The International Association for the Study of Pain defines Pain as, "An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage." It is common for those in pain to exclaim, "I wish someone could step into my body to experience what I am going through." And it can seem that no one can truly understand what you are going through.
Pain is not independent of the person. One must look at the whole person to understand his or her experience of pain. Pain is a complex, multidimensional dynamic experience that incorporates physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral components. Is there an aspect of your personhood that is not impacted by your experience of pain? One's experience of pain is impacted and modified by various components. Many aspects of your life such as your behavior (activities), thoughts and stress can also impact your pain. The type of relationship that exists between chronic pain and psychological health and dysfunction flows in many directions.
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