Aghaz-e-Nau

World AIDS Day, 2011

2011-12-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day

2011-11-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

Held every year on 1st December, World AIDS Day is a date for people to think about and act upon the global HIV epidemic. HIV continues to have a devastating impact on millions of people around the world. Whilst this infection can be prevented, HIV transmission continues to occur. Although HIV can be treated, many people infected with HIV do not have access to life-saving drugs.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2011 is 'Getting to Zero'. After 30 years of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, this year the global community has committed to focusing on achieving 3 targets:

1- "Zero new HIV infections".

2- "Zero discrimination".

3- "Zero AIDS-related deaths".

The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn by people all year round and particularly around World AIDS Day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment.

The red ribbon started as a "grass roots" effort; as a result there is no one official AIDS ribbon manufacturer, and many people make their own. It's easily done - just use some ordinary red ribbon and a safety pin!

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CCPO in search for a drug free Lahore

2011-08-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

CCPO in search for a drug free Lahore

Lahore Drug Free City

2011-08-07T07:32:00.001-07:00

LAHORE: Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Muhammad Aslam Tareen launched the Lahore Drug Free City Project on Saturday, in his capacity as its chairman, by ordering an immediate crackdown on all drug peddlers throughout the city.

The CCPO said that those elements that spread drug addiction among the youth of the city were perpetrators of a heinous crime, due to which, not only an individual, but a whole family gets devastated.

He ordered the Lahore police to take strict legal steps against drug peddlers, during its special crackdown against them, so that Lahore could be made a drug free city. He warned that quick eradication of drug dens in the city should be ensured, otherwise six police teams, formulated by the CCPO, would raid any area of the city and take strict action against gangs involved in such heinous activities.

Aslam Tareen was presiding over the first high-level meeting of the Lahore Drug Free City Project on Saturday, in which Anti-Narcotics Force Deputy Director General Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Force Commander Anti-Narcotics Brigadier Shahid Afzal, DIG Operations Rao Sardar Ali, SSP Discipline and Inspection Shariq Kamal, representative of DIG Headquarters Prison Mian Salik Jalal, representative of DIG Pakistan Railway Muhammad Aslam, Punjab Rangers Director General Col Sahibzada Sajjad, Social Welfare Punjab Director General Iqbal Tariq, representative of Excise and Taxation Lahore Director General Khawaja Daud, representative of Sports Punjab Director General Salman Ijaz, representative Additional Secretary Prosecution Department Additional Secretary Kiran Khurshid representative of Education Additional Secretary Dr Mushtaq Ahmed representative of Health Additional Secretary Dr Aitazaz Ahsan representative of Customs Additional Collector, Zonal Administrator Auqaf Rana Karamat Ullah and Lahore Labour Director Zaigam Abbas participated.

Tareen said no country could achieve progress and prosperity unless and until it creates higher ethical values among the younger generation. He pointed out that, along with the police, parents and educational institutions have a far-reaching role in keeping the younger generation away from drug use, therefore it is incumbent upon parents and teachers to discharge their national duty of keeping the younger generation away from drug use, so that Lahore could be purged of the scourge of drug peddling and drug use.

He said that Islamic teachings and the propagation of Pakistani culture could also go a long way in eliminating the scourge of drug use and drug peddling in the city. He warned that the officers concerned would also be proceeded against, as per law, under whose areas drug dens are found operating.

He said that six divisional teams, under the leadership of divisional superintendents (SP), the divisional superintendent police officers and station house officers, have been formulated for the elimination and eradication of drug trade in the city and frequent raids would be conducted against those found involved in such heinous crimes. He called upon all divisional SPs to launch a city wide crackdown against people involved in such heinous activities of drug peddling by improving their system of search and surveillance and keeping a close liaison with the notables of the area, in order to make the Lahore Drug Free City Project a success.

Seminar at F.C College University

2011-05-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Seminar on Drug Abuse Prevention

1- General Information

Date: 2. 05.2011

Time: 11:00 am to 01:40 pm

Venue: Hall No. E-25, F. C. College University, Lahore

Chief Guest: Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, ANF, Pakistan

Guest Speakers: Brig. Shahid Afzal, Force Commander, ANF, Punjab

Mr. Khalid Dher, Advisor to Chairman Youth Parliament

2- Aims and Objectives:

To introduce “Lahore Drug Free City Project”
To discuss the Role of ANF in Drug Supply Reduction and Drug Demand Reduction
To carry out Drug Abuse Prevention Activities
To create awareness on harmful effects of drugs
To convey a message to live a drug free life by facing the challenges of life
To motivate the Students to create massive awareness against drug abuse in the society
To educate the students to work towards a drug free society

3- Organized By:

The seminar was organized by Aghaz-e-Nau in collaboration with Maj. (R) Nadeem Abbas, Project Manager, Lahore Drug Free City and Red Crescent Youth Group of Forman Christine College University

4- Target Audience:

Students
Faculty Members
NGO Representatives

5- Audience Response/Objectives achieved

· The play was highly appreciated by the audience. It was a true story of a girl, who started using hash at a very young age and eventually developed drug induced psychosis. They were able to understand the hazards of hash.

· Slide show was appreciated by the students and the teachers. All the teachers felt that it was informative, especially the part of “steroid abuse” as it is a commonly used drug by the young students as said by the teachers.

· The Chief Guest’s Presentation was highly appreciated and liked by the audience. All the students took an oath to spread the message around and to turn Lahore into a drug free city.

· All the faculty members liked the seminar and wanted to have more intensive activities like training programs in the future.

· Though there was some mismanagement due to technical problems related to multimedia and the sound system, yet the entire event was appreciated by the audience.

· Some participants gave their positive feedback on Facebook

6- Photographic Coverage of the Activity:

6.1- Comparing was done by Sayeda Komal Farooq President Red Crescent Youth Group of F. C. College University

6.2- A brief introduction of the guest speakers and the Chief Guest was given by Dr. Farahat Iqbal, Advisor of Red Crescent Youth Group of F. C. College University

6.3- A Play “The Lost Soul” was presented by the students. It was on harmful effects of Hash

6.4- A Speech on "Drugs and Youth" was delivered by Mr. Khalid Dher, Advisor to Chairman Youth Parliament

6.5- A Poem on Hazards of Alcohol “I Never Asked You to Be My Dad” was presented by one of the students

6.6- A brief description of harmful effects of Drugs was given by Dr. Mahmooda Aftab followed by a Slide Show

6.7- A Student sang a song on "Bright Star"

6.8- A well elaborated Speech was delivered by Brig. Shahid Afzal, Force Commander, Anti Narcotics Force, Punjab

6.9- A Shield was given by the Chief Guest to Dr. Farahat Iqbal

6.10- Certificate of Appreciation was given by the Chief Guest to 28 Students who participated in different activities

6.11- Address by the Chief Guest on “Lahore Drug Free City” followed by Pledge

6.12- Pledge to Turn Lahore into a Drug Free City

Lahore Drug Free City

2011-05-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

A seminar was held at Workers Welfare Higher Secondary School, Nishtar Colony, Lahore on 28. 04.2011 from 11:00 am to 01:00 pm. The seminar was held with the following objectives:

To introduce “Lahore Drug Free City Project”
To discuss the Role of ANF in Drug Supply Reduction and Drug Demand Reduction
To discuss harmful effects of drugs
To educate parents and teachers on how to help youth stay away from drugs
To Motivate Students to create massive awareness against drug abuse in the society

The seminar was organized by Aghaz-e-Nau in collaboration with Maj. (R), Nadeem Abbas, Project Manager “Lahore Drug Free City”.

Audience:

· Yong Students (Approximately 300)

· Parents (300)

· Teachers (40)

· Total: More than 60

Audience Response/Objectives achieved

All the participants took interest and showed keen interest to learn more.
One child volunteered to speak on drug addiction
One of the teachers volunteered to deliver a short speech on the causes of drug addiction
One of the mothers also volunteered to discuss on the causes of drug addiction
All the participants got motivated to turn Lahore into a drug free city.
All the participants took an oath to turn Lahore into a drug free city.
All the faculty members liked the seminar and wanted to have another seminar after summer vacations.
The Principal appreciated the efforts of Aghaz-e-Nau and mentioned that the program was highly informative for her and the participants.

Presentation by Dr. Mahmooda Aftab, Executive Director AeN

A young student talking about drug abuse problem in his area

A mother talking about the causes of drug abuse

Students singing a song on “Purpose of Life”

A teacher is talking about drug abuse problem amongst youth

Principal of Workers Welfare Higher Secondary School giving her views about the seminar

Seminar on drug free city

Salim Ahmed

Lahore—The menace of drugs is destroying our society. All persons of the society and organizations should make coordinated efforts for saving the young generation from this curse. We should come forward to make the drug addicts an active member of the society.

This was stated by Dr. Mehmooda, a renowned psychiatrist, while addressing a seminar on the subject “drug free city” held under the aegis of an NGO “Aghaz-e-Nau” at Workers Welfare Higher Secondary School Nishtar Labour Colony Ferozpur Road Lahore.

She said that the use of drugs was increasing in the society. She said that economic problems, mental anxiety and domestic problems were the cause of use of drugs. She stressed upon the parents to keep an eye over their children and provide them better training.

She said that NGO “Aghaz-e-Nau” was working for eradication of drugs since 1993 and treatment and rehabilitation facilities were being provided to the drug addicts.

She disclosed that important steps were being taken for making Lahore a drug free city and, besides awareness campaign, other necessary steps were also being taken in this regard. She said that lectures and seminars were being organized in schools and colleges about the harmful effects of this menace.

Call for efforts for drug-free society

Our CorrespondentFriday, April 29, 2011

The menace of drugs is destroying our society. All persons of the society and organizations should make coordinated efforts for saving the young generation from this curse. We should come forward to make the drug addicts an active member of the society.

This was stated by renowned psychiatrist Dr Mehmooda while addressing a seminar on the subject “drug free city” held under the aegis of an NGO at Workers Welfare Higher Secondary School, Nishtar Labour Colony, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, said a press release here on Thursday. She said that the use of drugs was increasing in the society. She said that economic problems, mental anxiety and domestic problems were the cause of drogues. She stressed upon the parents to keep an eye on their children and provide them better training.

She said steps were being taken for making Lahore a drug free city and besides awareness campaigns, other necessary steps were also being taken in this regard. She said that lectures and seminars were being organised in schools and colleges about the harmful effects of this menace.

Seminar at Gulberg College

2011-05-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

A seminar was held by Aghaz-e-Nau for the students of Government College for Women Gulberg, Lahore. The seminar was organized by Aghaz-e-Nau in collaboration with Anti Narcotics Force and Government College for Women, Gulberg with the following objectives:

To introduce “Lahore Drug Free City Project”
To discuss the Role of ANF in Drug Supply/Drug Demand Reduction
To carry out Drug Abuse Prevention Activities
To create awareness on harmful effects of drugs
To convey a message to the students to live a drug free life
To motivate Students to create massive awareness against drug abuse

Target Audience:

Yong Students
Faculty Members
NGO Representatives

Audience Response/Objectives achieved

A few students participated in drug abuse prevention activities with enthusiasm to convey the message to their fellow members to turn Lahore into a drug free city.
These students did their job successfully on a very short notice.
All the students took an oath to turn Lahore into a drug free city.
All the faculty members liked the seminar and wanted to have more intensive activities like training programs in the future.
The Chief Guest commented that it was a very well organized seminar, presented in a totally different way as compared to any other seminar and it was highly informative and interesting at the same time. The Principal, Mrs. Praveen Qamar appreciated the efforts of Aghaz-e-Nau, ANF and all the students who took part in different activities and mentioned that seminar was highly informative for the students.

Comparing was done by the students

Recitation of Holy Qur’an

Recitation of Naat

Presentation by Ms. Maria Ali, Drug Demand Reduction Officer, ANF

A Short Play on Hazards of Drugs

A Poem on Hope to make Lahore a Drug Free City by Ms. Sumaira Shahzad, Psychologist

Aghaz-e-Nau

A Mime was presented with the idea to help drug addicts stay away from drugs

Address by the Chief Guest, Mr. Khalid Dher, Advisor to Chairman Youth Parliament

Audience

Harmful Effects of Drugs

2011-04-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

Seminar on Drug Abuse Prevention at Samnabad College for Women

2011-03-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

A seminar was held by Aghaz-e-Nau (a nonprofit organization) and Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan in collaboration with Samnabad College for Women, Lahore on 24th March, 2011.

Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force, Pakistan joined the event to grace the occasion.

The seminar was carried out to introduce the objectives of “Drug Free Lahore City Project” and to educate young students on harmful effects of drug abuse.

The Seminar started with The National Anthem. Comparing was done by Ms. Saira, one of the students of Samnabad College for Women.

The formal session started with the Recitation of Qur’an followed by Naat by Ms. Varda, one of the students of Samnabad College.

Ms. Maria Ali, Drug Demand Reduction Officer, Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Punjab gave a presentation on Classification of drugs and how drugs are used. She discussed the “Role of ANF in Drug Demand Reduction and Drug Supply Reduction”.

Students of Samnabad College for Women performed different activities including a short play, mime and poems. All the activities performed by the students were highly informative and full of entertainment. The idea behind these activities was to educate students staying away from drugs and helping others as well. These students should become the leaders and role models for others.

A play was presented on hazards of alcohol by the students. It was a story of a man with alcohol abuse and becomes an alcoholic. He gets angry because of alcoholism on trivial matters. He usually gets angry at his wife. His nephew wanted him to be alcohol free but he never tried to quit. After 10 years of alcohol abuse he develops cirrhosis (disease of the liver) and due to the liver damage, his death takes place.

A mime was presented on poor parenting skills. When parents are unable to handle their children with care, they put them at high risk of using drugs unknowingly. Children experience: Stress, Tension, Anxiety, Depression, Loneliness, Lack of Confidence and Low Self Esteem. These children need to develop protective factors to resist peer pressure and drug abuse.

Students holding flowers to reinforce the message given in a song produced by ANF “We Love Life”. When we love life, we stay away from drugs.

Flowers a Symbol of Life: Drugs Kill

Love Yourself

Love Life

Address by the Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, ANF, Pakistan

The Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan thanked the management of Samnabad College for Women for holding an amazing seminar and for being helpful. He also acknowledged the hard work being put in by Aghaz-e-Nau.

He started his address with the name of Allah. In his address, He discussed the project, which is being implemented by Anti Narcotics Force, Pakistan to make Lahore a drug free city. He discussed the total number of drug addicts living in Lahore in a very bad condition. He showed a few clips of drug addicts to show the present situation of Lahore. Being a good speaker, he managed to get the full attention of the audience. He mentioned that we have to create Drug Free Homes, Drug Free Youth, Drug Free Colleges and Drug Free Society.

Then he asked the students whether they would join hands with ANF or not. He managed to motivate all the students and they all forcefully said “YES” to his question. His address was highly appreciated by the audience. His address was ended followed by “Oath Taking” to turn Lahore into a Drug Free City.

Vote of Thanks was given by Dr. Shahryar Aftab, Chairman Aghaz-e-Nau

A shield was given to the Chief Guest by the Dean of Arts

The Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan giving a shield to the Dean of Arts, Samnabad College for Women, Lahore.

Approximately 500 Students and Faculty Members Attended the Seminar

Seminar on Drug Abuse Prevention at Punjab Group of Colleges

2011-03-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

A seminar on "Drug Abuse Prevention" was conducted for the students of Punjab Group of Colleges on 15^th March 2011, from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm. The seminar was held by Aghaz-e-Nau in collaboration with Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) and Punjab Group of Colleges.

Mr. Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force, Pakistan joined the event as a Chief Guest to grace the occasion with his presence.

Comparing was carried out by Delawar, one of the students of Punjab Group of Colleges.

Welcome Note, a brief introduction of Aghaz-e-Nau (AeN), Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) and Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) was given by Hayyab Tariq.

A short play on “Poverty and Drugs” was performed by the students of Punjab Group of Colleges. It was a story of a poor family. The mother keeps discussing financial problems all the time, which affects his children badly. The elder son plans to do something to help out his family overcome financial problems.

One day he meets a person and gets forced by him to push drugs. He starts doing it reluctantly but it becomes his source of income as he keeps doing it.

He gives a huge amount of money to parents on daily basis. His parents suspect that their son is doing something wrong. They express their concern and the son not only tells a lie but gets angry as well. He claims to be working hard along with his studies. He tries to realize his family that because of him their status has gone up and they eat well and wear nice cloths now.

He keeps doing pushing drugs and using drugs. Eventually his younger brother starts using drugs too and finally he dies because of over dose and the elder brother gets arrested the same day.

A poem was recited by Ms. Sumaira Shahzad, Clinical Psychologist (AeN). In her poem, she gave a message of hope that drug abuse is a preventable behavior and we can do it by putting our hands together.

A mime “The Mirror Never Lies” was presented by the students of Punjab Group of Colleges. It was a story of two friends. One of the friends is heavily into drugs and the other one is trying to help him out to quit drugs. He keeps telling his friend to stop using drugs as his friend’s condition is going down day by day but it doesn’t work. The more he tries, the more reluctant his friend becomes. Finally, he says “I kept telling you to stop using drugs but this time I will give you a visual as I am your mirror and the mirror never lies”. He takes care of his friend and his friend starts his journey towards recovery.

Address by the Chief Guest

The Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, DDG, ANF, Pakistan started his address in a unique way with some humor and managed to put all the audience in a positive state of mind.

First of all, he appreciated Aghaz-e-Nau for its creative efforts then he appreciated all the students and congratulated them for presenting wonderfully informative activities on drug abuse prevention.

He discussed the hazards of drugs and mentioned that drug addicts live in pain and agony, which was visible in the activities presented by the students.

After that he showed a song by a child “Tell Me Why” and the Chief Guest explained that the child in his song was talking about the destruction on earth. The child said I came to this world with a different vision but the world is totally different…..tell me why?

Then the Chief Guest showed a few clips of people living with drug addiction including males, females and children in Lahore, living in a very bad condition. He mentioned that there are 90 lacks drug addicts in Pakistan with an increase of 6 lacks every year and there are 100,000 drug addicts living in Lahore.

Then he discussed the effects of drug addiction on the family members. There is no laughter but crying, crying and crying as drug addicts tend to lose their morality also.

Finally he said “we need to do something” as no one is safe. He talked about Drug Free Lahore, Drug Free Homes, Drug Free Youth and Drug Free Colleges. He ended his address with Oath Taking Ceremony.

Seminar on Drug Abuse Prevention at Punjab Group of Colleges

2011-03-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

A seminar on "Drug Abuse Prevention" was conducted for the students of Punjab Group of Colleges on 15^th March 2011, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The seminar was held by Aghaz-e-Nau in collaboration with Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) and Punjab Group of Colleges. Brig. Afzal Shahid, Force Commander, Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Punjab joined the event as a Chief Guest to grace the occasion with his presence.

Comparing was carried out by Nida Asghar, one of the students of Punjab Group of Colleges.

Welcome Note, a brief introduction of Aghaz-e-Nau (AeN), Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) and Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) was given by Hayyab Tariq.

A presentation was given by Ms. Maria Ali, Drug Demand Reduction Officer (ANF, Punjab). She discussed the classification of drugs, history of different drugs, how drugs are used and hazards of drug abuse.

A short play on “Drugs Kill” was performed by the students of Punjab Group of Colleges. It was a story of a boy who belonged to a rich family but always felt neglected and rejected. His negative feelings and peer pressure caused him to use drugs and his parents remained ignorant of his drug addiction. He started missing his college and finally developed health problems. The play ended with a message that “Drugs can Cause Premature Death”.

The play was followed by a poem by Ms. Sumaira Shahzad, Clinical Psychologist (AeN). In her poem, she encouraged all the students to help other students stay away from drugs.

Address by the Chief Guest

The program ended with the address of Chief Guest, Brig. Afzal Shahid, Force Commander, (AN F, Punjab). He delivered a very informative and heart touching address. He explained that drug addiction is a serious problem having serious problems not only for the person who is using drugs but for the family as well. He shared a story of a father whose son was dependent on hash and discussed painful feelings of the father.

Then he came down to “Role of ANF” and he mentioned that ANF is working with five objectives with special focus on “Drug Supply Reduction” and “Drug Demand Reduction”.

In Drug supply reduction, he discussed Law enforcement, Punishments and Seizures. He also mentioned that drugs come from Afghanistan and synthetic drugs come from western countries and distributed by a very well organized network. He mentioned that ANF is working hard for drug supply reduction through different means. At the same time, it is important to work on drug demand reduction.

While discussing drug demand reduction, he gave an example that after the World War-II when there was no sugar and as a result there was no demand of sugar. So, if there is no supply of drugs then there will be no demand for drugs.

He further discussed that ANF; Punjab is working to create awareness against drug abuse in collaboration with 300 NGOs in major cities of Punjab including, Lahore, Gujranwala and Faisalabad. He also mentioned that drug use causes dependency and other issues and leads towards premature death.

He also mentioned that the role of youth in drug abuse prevention has a very important role and said that cooperation is needed from the educational institutes and young people. He further reinforced that young people can play a vital role in drug abuse prevention by gaining knowledge and passing it on to others.

He was thankful to the team of Aghaz-e-Nau and Punjab Group of Colleges for organizing a seminar on drug abuse prevention.

Thank You Note

Dr. Lodhi, Principal Campus No-10 liked the whole program and felt the need to do more in the area of drug abuse prevention. He expressed his feelings of thankfulness to Brig. Shahid Afzal, Force Commander (ANF, Punjab) and the team of Aghaz-e-Nau.

Life is Precious

2011-03-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

Students Against Drug Abuse: Drug Free Lahore

2011-03-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

Seminar on Drug Abuse Prevention at Punjab Group of Colleges

2011-03-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

A seminar was held on 5^th March, 2011 in collaboration with Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) by Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Government of Pakistan and Aghaz-e-Nau, a nonprofit organization. The main focus of the seminar was to introduce “Drug Free Lahore City Project” and to educate the students about the hazards of drug abuse.

Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force, Government of Pakistan joined the program as a Chief Guest. Col. Iftikhar Chaudry, Joint Director (RD), Mr. Javed Iqbal, Joint Director (DDR) and Ms. Maria Ali, Drug Demand Reduction Officer, Anti Narcotics Force, Punjab also attended the program.

The program started with the National Anthem.

Ms. Maria Ali, Drug Demand Reduction Officer, Anti Narcotics Force, Punjab gave a presentation and explained the role of ANF in drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction. She also discussed the role of educational institutes in drug abuse prevention.

Ms. Maria Ali Talking about Drug Abuse Prevention

A short play was performed by the students of Punjab Group of Colleges on "Hazards of Drug Abuse". Use of Shisha and other drugs was discouraged in this play. Use of Shisha is becoming popular amongst youngsters. The conclusion of the play was that drugs can cause death.

Peer Pressure and use of Drugs

Young Group of Students using Shisha

Drugs Kill

A poem on "HOPE and RECOVERY" that drug abuse can be prevented and drug addiction can be treated was presented by Ms. Sumaira Shahzad, Psychologist, AeN.

A mime was presented by the students of Punjab Group of Colleges showing the hazardous effects of drugs on life.

Address by the Chief Guest

The main focus of the his address was to introduce “Drug Free Lahore City Project”. Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force, Pakistan thanked the management of PGC for holding an amazing seminar and for being helpful. In his speech, he discussed a true story of a boy who was on drugs and the way his drug addiction affected his mother and sister. His speech was not only full of emotions and heart touching but motivational as well.

Towards the end, he delivered his message to the audience to jump into this noble cause to help others stay away from drugs and to create a drug free society. His speech was liked by all the students.

Mr. Suhail Azhar, Group Executive Director of PGC called up to appreciate the whole program and the address by Chief Guest, Mr. Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force, Pakistan. His address was followed by Candle light vigils.

Pledge: To Create a Drug Free Community

Vote of Thanks was given by Dr. Shahryar Aftab, Chairman, Aghaz-e-Nau.

Momentous Given by Punjab Group of Colleges

Slide Show: Drug Free Lahore City Project

2011-03-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Seminar on Drug Abuse Prevention at Lahore College Women University

2011-02-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Aghaz-e-Nau (AeN) conducted a seminar on "Drug Abuse Prevention" for the students of Lahore College Women University in collaboration with Anti Narcotics Force Punjab on 9th February, 2011.

AeN is thankful to Mr. Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan and Brig. Shahid Afzal; Force Commander, Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), Punjab to grace the occasion with their presence.

Ms. Shireen Asad, Associate professor & in charge students’ academic affairs of Applied Psychology Department (LCWU) started the formal session.

The session started with the National Anthem followed by the recitation of Qur’an and Naa’t by the students of LCWU.

A brief introduction of AeN was given by Ms. Shireen Asad. After that she handed over the comparing to Ms. Arjumand Ayub and Ms. Fatima Malik for further proceedings.

Welcome note was given by Ms. Arjumand Ayub, Clinical Psychologist (AeN) followed by a speech by Brig. Shahid Afzal. In his speech, he discussed the role of ANF in Drug Abuse Prevention. He discussed the hierarchy of ANF—the way ANF works. He discussed the MANDATE of ANF including Drug Supply Reduction and Drug Demand Reduction. He elaborated the efforts of ANF in Drug Supply Reduction including Seizures and conviction cases and Drug Demand Reduction including Awareness/Treatment & Rehabilitation.

We believe that information through entertainment is more effective and helps achieve the desired results. The seminar was full of activities performed by young students. Moreover, involvement of youngsters in such activates helps them put at less risk of using drugs. A short play on “Hazards of Drugs” was performed by the students of Punjab University followed by mime by Sana Saleem, student of Health Psychology (LCWU) and a poem by Ms. Sumaira Shahzad, Clinical Psychologist (AeN). All three activities were interrelated. Giving information on hazards of Drug Abuse, Hope that recovery from Drug Addiction is possible and Drug Abuse is a preventable behavior.

There was mime expressing the feelings of a drug addict for the mother. The mime was presented by the student of LCWU.

Sumaira Shahzad recited a poem on "Hope" that recovery from drug addiction is possible and we can make "Lahore A Drug Free City" with determination.

A well A Avery well elaborated presentation was delivered by Dr. Salman Shahid, Project Director Punjab Aids Control Program (PACP) on HIV/AIDS. He explained the relationship between Drugs and HIV/AIDS.

A mime on “Risk Factors and Protective Factors” was presented by the students of LCWU. The idea was to educate the participants about different factors, which put youth at risk to use drugs and factors, which can help them stay away from drugs.

A Poem “My Name is Cocaine” was recited by Zain Aftab and Hassan Aftab. The poem was about the dangerous effects of cocaine on mind, body and other areas of life.

Address by the Chief Guest

The Chief Guest Mr. Altaf Qamar, Deputy Director General, ANF Pakistan started his address with the name of Allah and then paid an attitude of gratitude to the faculty members of LCWU for their help and cooperation. He was also thankful to the organizers of seminar, two of board of directors of Aghaz-e-Nau.

He discussed about “Drug Free Lahore City Project.” Then he showed a song on multimedia projector “Tell Me Why: a song of love for every girl and boy” and explained the rationale behind the song.

In his address, he discussed the present situation of drug addiction in Lahore along with a few clips of people using drugs in Lahore. These clips were really an eye opener as it showed that not only males but females and children are heavily into drugs. He urged to make Lahore a “Drug Free City.” He requested the audience to pray for his words to come true. His address was finished followed by a song produced by ANF and sang by Najam Sheraz. The message given by the song was to “We Love Life.” The message was reinforced by candle light vigils by the students of Applied Psychology Department (LCWU).

The formal session was ended by “Pledge” (Oath Taking Ceremony) to live a drug free life and helping others to remain drug free and finally to create drug free Lahore by Seher Aftab.

Vote of Thanks

Vote of Thanks was given by Dr. Shahryar Aftab, Chairman (AeN)

Participants

More than 1200 people attended the seminar including 1200 students, 35 faculty members of LCWU and 40 guests from GOs and NGOs.

Media Coverage

The program was covered by 10 News Papers and 5 TV Channels including City 42, GEO News, ARY TV, Din TV and Sama TV.

Slide Show: Drug Abuse Prevention

2011-02-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day: Movie

2011-01-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Aghaz-e-Nau carried out a seminar to observeThe World AIDS Day

2010-12-26T04:07:00.000-08:00

Activities Carried Out by the Members of Aghaz-e-Nau

The program started with a ceremony of wearing red ribbon. The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn by people all year round and particularly around World AIDS Day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment.

The formal session started at 11:00 am with the Recitation of Qur’an by Muhammad Ahmad followed by a Naa’t by Hira Tufail. The program was hosted by Waqas Hassan and Raqia.

A very well elaborated presentation on “Role of Youth in Prevention of HIV/AIDS” was delivered by Arjumand Ayub, Clinical Psychologist. She explained the difference between HIV/AIDS, Means of transmission and ways to prevent it with special focus on youth and their role in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

She also focused on to accept those living with HIV/AIDS as any other diseased person to minimize the stigma and discrimination.

A video of a person was shown to the participants. The video was a true story of a person living with HIV/AIDS. He shared his experience of fear; stigma; and discrimination and he talked about the way he managed to overcome these issues. He developed courage, confidence and energy to live a normal life. Other than Antiviral Treatment he talked of taking help from Alternative Therapies including Reiki, Yoga, Swimming and Massage. His main focus was on Mind-Body-Soul Relationship. The idea behind was to convey a message of “HOPE” that AIDS is not curable but can be managed though in a hard way.

A Poem was recited by Raqia and the gist was how HIV (Virus) attacks the body and weakens the immune system yet an infected person needs to learn to accept it and take care of himself. Another poem was presented by Sumaira Shahzad. It carried a message for the general population to accept people living with HIV/AIDS and to minimize the stigma.

Mime is a type of acting using only gestures and facial expressions. Mime was presented by Hira Aziz and friends. It was a story of a young girl who encountered certain risk factors and became HIV Positive. Initially, she was in pain and agony. Finally, she came to realize that she will have to learn to live with it. She decided to educate the general population that it is very much normal to interact with HIV/AIDS patients at the same time one needs to take certain precautions.

A Rap was presented by Arslan Austin. The Rap was about a young man whose mother was on drugs and she was a sex worker. She died because of AIDS. In this rap the young man was coming up with his feelings of pain, sadness and anger as for him it was a traumatic experience.

Address by the Chief Guests

Dr. Salman Shahid, Director Punjab AIDS Control Program (PACP) said there is a dire need to spread the information and create awareness regarding the threat of HIV/AIDS and use of drugs among the masses so that they could protect themselves from this menace.

He also highlighted the causes and preventive measures of HIV/AIDS. He said that majority of the population of our country consisted of youth and they are the most at risk population, which needs to be targeted.

Ms. Shahtaj Qazalbash, one of the founding members of AGHS and is the member of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. She is working with “AGHS Legal Aid Cell” as a Coordinator Para Legal and Para Legal Extension Program since 1989. She appreciated different activities carried out by students and expressed her desire to create awareness regarding HIV/AIDS at the grass root level. She also felt that attending the program was a good learning experience.

The program was ended with Candle light Vigils and a song.

World AIDS Day

2010-12-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.
According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS.Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.
The protection of human rights is fundamental to combating the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Violations against human rights fuel the spread of HIV, putting marginalized groups, such as injecting drug users and sex workers, at a higher risk of HIV infection. By promoting individual human rights, new infections can be prevented and people who have HIV can live free from discrimination.
World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us - individuals, communities and political leaders - to take action and ensure that human rights are protected and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are met.

Aghaz-e-Nau is holding a seminar on 22^nd December, 2010 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm followed by lunch. The seminar is being conducted to observe the World AIDS day. It will be informative and full of entertainment. Students are encouraged to participate. Music Society will be performing too.
Venue: 9-G, Model Town, Lahore
For free Registration Contact: maftab92@gmail.com

AIDS Retrospective Pictures Slideshow: A Pictorial Timeline of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic on MedicineNet.com

2010-12-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

AIDS Retrospective Pictures Slideshow: A Pictorial Timeline of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic on MedicineNet.com

PayBox

2010-12-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

PayBox

9 December: Anti-Corruption Day

2010-12-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

Invitation to observe World AIDS Day 2010

2010-11-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Punjab AIDS Control Program (PACP) is organizing a Drama Competition. The program is being organized in collaboration with UNICEF, UNAIDS along with different educational institutes on 1st December, 2010 at Hotel Holiday Inn. Students who wish to attend the event can collect invitation cards from me.

Training Workshops for Young students

2010-10-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

Aghaz-e-Nau (AeN) plans to start certified training workshops for young students on "Drug Abuse Prevention Counseling". AeN will run 2 training workshops over a period of 2 months starting from November, 2010. Training workshops will be conducted twice a week (Saturday & Sunday) from 10:am to 2:pm (32 credit hours). All the training sessions will be full of activities and highly interactive.

First session will start from Saturday, 6th of November. Interested students from different colleges and universities of Lahore are requested to get registered by Friday, 5th of November. Second session will start from December 2010. There are no charges for these training workshops.

Students will receive training in the following areas:

Drug addiction is a brain disease
Commonly used drugs
Health hazards of drug abuse
Other hazards of drug abuse
Identification of personal risk factors
Developing protective factors
Helping others to stay away from drugs

For further details contact: maftab92@gmail.com

Innovative Community Based Drug Abuse Prevention Program

2010-10-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

Aghaz-e-Nau (AeN) plans to carry out “An Innovative Community Based Drug Abuse Prevention and Awareness Program” with the following features:

1- Youth development program – AeN will provide training to young students in drug abuse prevention counseling. A total number of 240 students will receive training. These students will be certified as youth leaders. A group of 30 students will receive training every week in the following areas:

Drug addiction is a brain disease
Hazards of drug abuse
Identification of personal risk factors
Developing protective factors
Staying away from drugs

Training workshops will help young students develop communication skills, assertiveness skills, confidence building and healthy self esteem to resist the influence of drug abuse and to help them taking healthy decision at the right time.

Training workshops will be helpful for young people to learn how to act in the world around them, to explore, express, belong and influence. Opportunities give young people the chance to test ideas and behaviors and to experiment with different roles. It is important to stress that young people, just like adults, learn best through active participation and that learning occurs in all types of settings and situations.

Training workshops will provide motivational, emotional and strategic supports to young students to succeed in life. The supports can take many different forms, but they must be affirming, respectful, and ongoing. The supports are most powerful when they are offered by a variety of people, such as parents, community/social networks, teachers, youth workers and peers who are involved in the lives of young people.

2- Club Activities – AeN will work as a student membership organization (Club). Youth leaders will work to carry out drug abuse awareness activities, provide training and leadership development to help other students develop “protective factors” sponsor prevention activities, and encourage volunteerism & mentoring.

3- Parents’ Power – AeN will conduct “parent education program” that has been designed to enhance parenting skills to foster healthy families to be able to resist drug abuse. A total number of 8 training workshops will be carried out for parents in 8 different schools. These training workshops will help parents know the hazards of drug abuse and empower them to learn and develop positive preventive action. Training workshops will help parents:

Be a good listener
Give clear no-use messages about drugs and alcohol
Help their children deal with peer pressure
Get to know their children’s friends and parents
Monitor their children’s whereabouts
Supervise teen activities
Maintain an open and honest dialogue with their children

4- Teachers’ Power – AeN will conduct “teacher education program”. Teachers exert a significant influence on students' attitudes, knowledge, and opinions. They can complement a drug abuse prevention program. Teachers will learn to structure activities that require students to consider several options before making a decision.

5- Networking - AeN will develop linkages with local health providers and medical stores for information exchange, service needs identification and referral encouragement. Community action box – AeN will develop IEC material for students, parents, teachers and community leaders including leaflets and posters.

6- Heroes Program/Media – AeN will involve national heroes as role models to reinforce drug abuse prevention and awareness activities. AeN will also involve media to reach the masses. All the prevention activities carried out by AeN will be documented and 4 programs will be taken “on air” on weekly basis on a local TV Channel. The most appropriate role the media can play in preventing drug abuse is the dissemination of school-based approaches of proven efficacy. It will encourage positive interpersonal communication. Mass media programs are seen as means to improve acceptance of school-based prevention programs by parents.

Join free!

Behavior Therapy for Children

2010-04-22T01:17:00.000-07:00

Behavior charts are a great way to motivate kids and help them eliminate negative behaviors. Not only can behavior charts help kids get a handle on tricky behaviors, but they can help kids keep track of chores, homework, reading, instrument practice, and pet care. For behavior charts to work most effectively, you need to use them correctly. For further information contact at
maftab92@gmail.com

Mrs. X Y Z

2009-11-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

You can call me Mrs. X Y Z. I can't reveal my identity because of so many reasons but I would like to share my experience of recovery with others. It might help other females to get out of their shells. I know there are so many females like me wanting to quit alcohol but are unable to do so. They need to get educated and accept the concept of disease of alcoholism the way I did.
I am married and a mother of two sweet children. My history of problem drinking goes back to 20 years. I started drinking at age 20 because of my husband, who was an alcoholic. Now we both are free from the disease of alcoholism. I am in recovery for more than one year now.
I was 16 years old, living abroad and studying there. This was the time when I met somebody who was much older than my age. I fell in love with him and got married against my parents' will. Before getting married I knew he was heavily into drinking but for me it was acceptable or may be it was my childish thinking. I didn't know it will mess up my life.
After getting married we came back to Pakistan and started living in a posh area. I got everything, which a girl could think of like a nicely furnished house, a force of servants, a lot of money to buy anything I would love to, and a number of cars to move around or to go for shopping. You must be thinking that I was the happiest person on earth. May be yes, I was the happiest person but for some time. My marital life remained ok for 3-4 years but it was not a happy marriage at all. To my knowledge marriage means having a companion whereas my husband couldn't become my companion. Material things can give you comforts but not companionship. So, deep inside I was a lonely person. My husband used to be away from home for days and days. He used to go abroad for his work and after coming back, at home he used to be badly drunk.
I was unable to accept my husband's drinking pattern. My mind used to wonder "why can't he become a normal person?" "Why can't he keep himself in control while drinking?" In other words I had no objection on his drinking I just wanted to see him as a normal person, the way others drink and remain functional. They have a peg of wine or vodka and remain functional but my husband was different. His drinking was not in his control. I needed his love and his attention. I started asking him to control his drinking. This was the time when we started having problems with me. He never liked my interference….he didn't like my telling him to control drinking. I raised my voice and I became a victim of his verbal and physical abuse. We started having fights on this issue quite frequently. It used to affect me very badly. I used to get angry, resentful and depressed.
I was helpless and was unable to share with others. I went to see a psychiatrist, who had put me on medicines. I used to pop up a few pills at night but I was not at peace….no mental peace at all but fight only. We kept fighting, fighting and fighting but reaching nowhere.
One fine day he offered me a peg of wine saying "from today onwards if you give me company I will be able to control my drinking and I will become a normal person the way you want to." At that time it seemed to be a great deal. So, I joined him to give him company. I was thinking in this way I will be able to stop him after one peg of wine. I had a peg of wine and I felt as if all the tension and stress had melted away. I was flying and I was enjoying. My husband managed to manipulate me and I got manipulated as for me one peg of wine was more than enough but his drinking was endless. He kept drinking, drinking and drinking. I was angry again. I left him with his drink and went off to sleep.
From that day onwards it became our daily routine to drink together. Initially I was confined to one peg of wine a day but with time I became a regular drinker. Now I was drinking and I was on prescription drugs as well.
I never thought of myself as an alcoholic, because my drinking and occasional prescription drug abuse occurred within the confines of the upper class home. For a long time, it was easy for me to deny that my drinking had become a problem for me. I never drank in the morning or at lunch time. My kids never came home from school to find me drunk. Despite a daily hangover, I would get out of bed each morning, get my children off to school, participate in community activities, keep lunch dates with friends, and shop at the supermarket. I looked like a normal house wife. I wasn't bleary-eyed, my teeth were fine, and my clothes were fine. I went through a lot of effort to look inside. That was very important for me because if I looked okay on the outside, maybe I was okay on the inside. But I wasn't.
If I look back there was not a single day that went by in which I didn't drink alcohol. But I always considered my husband being responsible for all the mess in our lives. I never looked at myself having a problem. Because I used to think that my drinking pattern was not that of the stereotypical alcoholic like my husband. I didn't go out and have affairs, didn't go to dance parties, or crack up my car. I drank at home. I didn't start drinking until around seven o'clock each night and it used to be with my husband only. When he used to go out of country because of his work sometimes I used to be with him but the other time I used be at home in Pakistan. In either case my drinking behavior was the same. Despite knowing that my drinking had gone up to one bottle a day or may be more than that, I remained in denial "I not an alcoholic but my husband is". I can clearly recall I would drink until I went to bed, and, the next day, I would be amazed at how much I imbibed….often nearly a half gallon of wine. I felt horrible physically.
I tried to quit for a number of times, but my vows of abstinence were always short-lived. It's amazing: You wake up every single day and say, 'That's it, I'm not going to drink anymore. But by four o'clock I knew I would have to take a drink that night. Then I'd say, Well, I am going to stop at two, or stop at three. I went to Mass every morning and I would pray that I could stop at three drinks, which in fact I did, but they were in vats. The glasses got bigger and bigger and the problem was that I was dying.
I drank mostly wine out of a stem glass and I drank very large quantities. You don't have to be drinking vodka out of a bottle, to become an alcoholic. My drug of choice was wine, and I was a full-blown alcoholic. This I realized after my treatment. It can be hard for non-alcoholics to imagine the alcoholic's overwhelming desire to drink even when it's destroying life and health. In the morning you say, 'I am not going to drink.' Then you seem to hit like a blind spot in your brain, where you go on automatic. You're not thinking anymore, 'What about the kids? What about the house?'. . . You just hit this blank spot, and you go to the refrigerator, you open it, and you pull out that bottle of wine. Now I realize that I was a full-blown alcoholic but at that time I used to think my husband should seek professional help. To my knowledge he needed treatment and not me.
So, I started seeking help for his recovery but he was not ready for that. He was also in denial the way I was. My journey towards recovery began when I passed out in my bed one night and woke to learn that my younger child had become ill in the night and tried to wake me up, but was unable to. Finally, the child had instead woken me up went to 11-year-old sibling, who took care of her. The thought of putting my children at risk was the push for me to take back control of my life. After staying sober on my own for about three days, I sought treatment.
I was "falling apart" when I started recovery. Having to admit that I was an alcoholic was one of the most difficult things I had to face. But now I realize that one of the first steps to accepting the disease of addiction is acknowledging that the drug has taken control of one's life: "Once you admit, 'I am completely powerless over this, it's got me beaten, my life is ruined,' then you have a chance."
Also, identifying alcoholism as a disease helped me. It helped me enormously to think that I had a disease, that it was not just a moral failure on my part or on my husband's part. I think alcoholics and other addicts should be viewed as sick people. Finding spirituality also helped me on the road to healing. There is now a spirit within me that gives me strength to be in recovery.
I also realize that I can rely on my treatment team to help myself in the process of recovery. Now I realize that there are many different routes to recovery and believes that once a person is given a chance, he or she should go for it: "We didn't ask for the disease, but it's our responsibility to…. once it's presented to you…. grab a hold of some ring and try for your own recovery."
My recovery has given me freedom to be honest and not wear masks. Now I realize that active addiction is like a "terrible monkey on your back, this terrible weight you carry around." Today, after more than one year of sobriety, when I think about alcohol or looks at a glass of wine, I am reminded of what they did to me. "I can look at a glass of wine and say, 'There goes my whole life in that one glass. There goes the best part of me.'" Recovery enabled me to learn to love my life and like myself. I don't want to sign up again for feeling so terrible.

Goal Setting

2009-10-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

The difference between a goal and a dream is the written word.

Gene Donohue

Goal setting is simply having a clear plan and a future vision of where you want to be somewhere in the future, in order to set goals or have a plan you first need to know where do you want to be in the future, you need to have some kind of a dream, something that you really desire to achieve, this can be anything starting from being successful in your academics, getting a good job, having a successful relation, buying a big house or car to being the president of U.S.A. You will have to follow a few simple steps to set your goals.

Step 1: develop a burning desire

Just sit and think of what do you really desire to achieve, what is the thing that will change your life if you get it, what you really need, what will make you live a happy and proud life rather than living defeated. Visualization can help you much in knowing what you really desire to achieve. Just sit in any place where you won’t get disturbed and dream “what you desire to be”! After visualizing your dream the goals that you are going to set are going to have the purpose of serving the big dream or the plan, for example suppose that you decided to be an ambassador, most likely your goal list will contain items like studying political science, learning more than two languages and having superior communication skills. Each goal on its own doesn't make you become an ambassador but together they serve the plan and will help you to get closer to your dream.

Step 2: Goal setting rules and guidelines

2.1- Goals need to be challenging but achievable:
It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, and society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance. So, be realistic, keep your goals challenging yet achievable. If your goals are challenging, you will get motivated. Make your goals achievable to prevent yourself from depression.

2.2- Goals need to be time limited:
In order to set a goal you have to have a time limit set for it, after all you aren't going to live hundreds of years, life is short, not setting time for your goals may result in lacking motivation or being indifferent.

2.3- Goals need to be measurable:
You can't set a goal like "I want to be good at computers, what do you mean exactly by being good? Instead you have definite phrases like reading 50 computer related articles and learning two programming languages over a period of 3 months.

2.4- You need to be flexible in setting the goal:
You need to be focused on what you want and not on how you are going to do it. There are hundreds of ways to do it. Flexibility is reaching your final goal using whatever method you could find and not getting bounded to a certain method that don't work. It was found that people who set long term goals usually achieve what they have planned for as compared to people who set short term goals and usually end up with disappointment, frustration or depressed. Planning on the long run can increase your chance of reaching your goals and can compensate for the lack of some resources like time or money.
Usually when goal setting is mentioned, another topic is mentioned along with it which is time management. Learning time management will make you more capable of using your time efficiently; this will lead to faster results in reaching your goals.

2.5- Crisis management:
Finally you need to have scenarios for what to do in case that you were unable to achieve your goal, having a scenario for an unexpected event that may occur will prevent sudden emotional decisions when the event happens as you will be already prepared, it will also prevent depression in case that the goals are not met and that there is no other choice rather then getting depressed.

2.6- Goal setting and having a vision:
A vision is a mental image or a mental video that you have in your mind for where you want to be in the future, it’s like imagining your goals and dreams after they have came true. A vision is also your expectation for the future of your business, yourself or a technology change. Having a vision is an essential item for reaching your goals.

The Serenity Prayer

2009-10-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

New Life

2009-08-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

Let’s be connected with ourselves

Let’s bring all our fears to an end

Let’s stop hating the mistakes

Losing trust because of the one "fake"

Let’s find the time for deep mental rest

Deep, deep and for deep relaxing breath

Let’s accept ourselves in the way we are

Placing the self in the place of stars

Let our eyes free to dreams

Sparkling in all the shiny blue beams

Let’s take a new positive start today

starting a new life and new everyday

by
Sumaira Shahzad
Psychologist
Aghaz-e-Nau

Overcome Procrastination

2009-07-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

One of the most important steps to develop positive attitude is to overcome procrastination. What is procrastination? Procrastination is when we "put off, delay or postpone important tasks, which we have to complete within a time frame. For example a student might procrastinate when he has to prepare for his exams, submit an assignment or a presentation. Another example could be of a business executive who has been given a deadline to achieve certain goals. Instead of doing that important task at time one will say “I will do it tomorrow” and tomorrow never comes. We might complete it at the eleventh hour if there is no other way out. Doing any important task at the eleventh hour might cause problems like tension, stress, apprehension, anxiety, fear and poor performance. So it is recommended to overcome procrastination. Why do we procrastinate?

Causes of Procrastination
Early childhood training
Poor time management
Lack of interest
Lack of motivation
Inability to organize one’s thoughts
Fear of failure
Perfectionism
At times procrastination works as a reinforcement

How to overcome procrastination?
Remember we all procrastinate at some point in life. Some people procrastinate rarely and some tend to develop a habit to procrastinate. We develop habits in our early childhood. The way we learn habits we can de learn too. So, instead of cursing yourself or feeling bad about yourself you make a commitment to overcome procrastination.

Give yourself targets to complete the assigned task within the time frame. Write down on a piece of paper what you have to do and when you have to do it. Then put that piece of paper in your room/office. It will help you develop motivation.

A very simple way to overcome procrastination is to develop a habit of “just do it and do it now.
So, you make a commitment, set a target, write down your target, paste it in your room and now organize your thoughts. Avoid diversions while doing so and do it with interest. Just imagine you have completed your assigned task and feel your feelings. You will definitely feel good and it will help you develop interest in your work. Moreover, you will feel focused and your motivation will grow further and further.

To organize your thoughts, you can write down important points on a piece of paper and start working. Remember! “just do it and do it now”.

If you are a perfectionist, you will have a fear of making mistake. Learn to kill your perfectionism and “just do it and accept it”. Remember to admire your work even if you see yourself making mistakes. This is the only and the best way to get rid of perfectionism. Once you kill your perfectionism, you will get rid of your fears.

Hope you will be able to achieve your deadlines by following these simple suggestions. Once you achieve your deadline give yourself a treat. It will reinforce your habit of “just do it and do it now”.
Follow these steps and you will be able to overcome procrastination, which will help you develop a positive attitude towards life. Positive attitude will lead you towards success.

Develop Positive Attitude

2009-06-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

We need to shift our focus to develop positive thinking. When we start putting focus on positive things, we develop a positive attitude. We can avoid a number of problems and life seems to be colourful. We feel full of energy and we can do a lot in less time. Success becomes our destiny.
You can use a few simple techniques to shift your focus from the negative to the positive.

• Build a desire to become positive

• Look for the positives in self and others

• Whenever you become a victim of a negative thought put your focus on your blessings, strengths and achievements

• Learn to relax and in relaxed state of mind imagine yourself having a positive attitude

• Get in touch with your positive feelings

• Share your positive feelings with others

Characteristics of People with Positive Thinking

2009-06-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

People with positive thinking will acknowledge their strengths
They will appreciate themselves and others
They will be relaxed, at peace and happy
They will enjoy the company of others
They will make others feel happy
They will keep realistic expectations from self and others
Their focus will remain on the blessings, which they have
They will have an attitude of gratitude
Their focus will be on success
They will be successful in their lives

Put your Focus on Positive Things

2009-06-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

To develop a positive attitude for a positive living we need to shift our focus from the negative to the positive. Some people become habitual of thinking in a negative way about themselves and others. To the extent when they see something positive, they will not appreciate rather they will keep putting their focus on the negatives. We need to remember this will cause more problems for us. As we all know that there is a mind and body relationship. What we think will affect our body. Negative thinking can cause a number of problems for us including tension, stress, anxiety, depression and physical health problems or psychosomatic problems.

Importance of Positive Attitude

2009-06-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

We are not born with a positive attitude, we develop it with time. To develop a positive attitude, you need to follow a step by step plan and remain consistent to follow it. Given below are easy to follow steps:
1-Always put your focus on positive things
2-Overcome procrastination
3-Stay away from negative influence
4-Acknowledge your strengths
5-Develop an attitude of gratitude
6-Be a winner, feel like a winner, behave like a winner

Anger Management

2009-06-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

1- Relaxation
Simple relaxation tools, such as deep breathing and relaxing imagery, can help calm down angry feelings.

Some simple steps you can try:
Breathe deeply, from your diaphragm; breathing from your chest won't relax you. Picture your breath coming up from your "gut." Slowly repeat a calm word or phrase such as "relax," "take it easy." Repeat it to yourself while breathing deeply. Use imagery; visualize a relaxing experience, from either your memory or your imagination. Nonstrenuous, slow yoga-like exercises can relax your muscles and make you feel much calmer. Practice these techniques daily. Learn to use them automatically when you're in a tense situation.

2- Cognitive Restructuring
Simply put, this means changing the way you think. Angry people tend to curse, swear, or speak in highly colourful terms that reflect their inner thoughts. When you're angry, your thinking can get much exaggerated and overly dramatic. Try replacing these thoughts with more rational ones. For instance, instead of telling yourself, "oh, it's awful, it's terrible, everything's ruined," tell yourself, "it's frustrating, and it's understandable that I'm upset about it, but it's not the end of the world and getting angry is not going to fix it anyhow."

Remind yourself that getting angry is not going to fix anything that it won't make you feel better (and may actually make you feel worse). Logic defeats anger, because anger, even when it's justified, can quickly become irrational. So use cold hard logic on yourself. Remind yourself that the world is "not out to get you," you're just experiencing some of the rough spots of daily life. Do this each time you feel anger getting the best of you, and it'll help you get a more balanced perspective.

Angry people tend to demand things: fairness, appreciation, agreement, willingness to do things their way. Everyone wants these things, and we are all hurt and disappointed when we don't get them, but angry people demand them, and when their demands aren't met, their disappointment becomes anger. As part of their cognitive restructuring, angry people need to become aware of their demanding nature and translate their expectations into desires. In other words, saying, "I would like" something is healthier than saying, "I demand" or "I must have" something. When you're unable to get what you want, you will experience the normal reactions—frustration, disappointment, hurt—but not anger. Some angry people use this anger as a way to avoid feeling hurt, but that doesn't mean the hurt goes away.

3- Problem Solving
Make a plan, and check your progress along the way. Resolve to give it your best, but also not to punish yourself if an answer doesn't come right away. If you can approach it with your best intentions and efforts and make a serious attempt to face it head-on, you will be less likely to lose patience and fall into all-or-nothing thinking, even if the problem does not get solved right away.

4- Better Communication
Angry people tend to jump to—and act on—conclusions and some of those conclusions can be very inaccurate. The first thing to do if you're in a heated discussion is slow down and think through your responses. Don't say the first thing that comes into your head, but slow down and think carefully about what you want to say. At the same time, listen carefully to what the other person is saying and take your time before answering.

Listen, too, to what is underlying the anger. For instance, you like a certain amount of freedom and personal space, and your "significant other" wants more connection and closeness. If he or she starts complaining about your activities, don't retaliate by painting your partner as a jailer, a warden, or an albatross around your neck.

It's natural to get defensive when you're criticized, but don't fight back. Instead, listen to what's underlying the words: the message that this person might feel neglected and unloved. It may take a lot of patient questioning on your part, and it may require some breathing space, but don't let your anger—or a partner's—let a discussion spin out of control. Keeping your cool can keep the situation from becoming a disastrous one.

5- Using Humour
"Silly humour" can help defuse rage in a number of ways. For one thing, it can help you get a more balanced perspective. When you get angry and call someone a name or refer to them in some imaginative phrase, stop and picture what that word would literally look like. If you're at work and you think of a co-worker as a "dirt bag" or a "single-cell life form," for example, picture a large bag full of dirt sitting at your colleague's desk, talking on the phone, going to meetings. Do this whenever a name comes into your head about another person. If you can, draw a picture of what the actual thing might look like. This will take a lot of the edge off your fury; and humour can always be relied on to help overcome a tense situation.

There are two cautions in using humour. First, don't try to just "laugh off" your problems; rather, use humour to help yourself face them more constructively. Second, don't give in to harsh, sarcastic humour; that's just another form of unhealthy anger expression.

What these techniques have in common is a refusal to take yourself too seriously. Anger is a serious emotion, but it's often accompanied by ideas that, if examined, can make you laugh.

6- Changing Your Environment
Sometimes it's our immediate surroundings that give us cause for irritation and fury. Problems and responsibilities can weigh on you and make you feel angry at the "trap" you seem to have fallen into and all the people and things that form that trap. Give yourself a break. Make sure you have some "personal time" scheduled for times of the day that you know are particularly stressful.

Causes of Anger

2009-06-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

Anger is a natural and mostly automatic response to pain of one form or another (physical or emotional). Anger can occur when people don't feel well, feel rejected, feel threatened, or experience some loss. The type of pain does not matter; the important thing is that the pain experienced is unpleasant. Because anger never occurs in isolation but rather is necessarily preceded by pain feelings, it is often characterized as a 'second-hand' emotion.

Pain alone is not enough to cause anger. Anger occurs when pain is combined with some anger-triggering thought. Thoughts that can trigger anger include personal assessments, assumptions, evaluations, or interpretations of situations that makes people think that someone else is attempting (consciously or not) to hurt them. In this sense, anger is a social emotion; you always have a target that your anger is directed against (even if that target is yourself). Feelings of pain, combined with anger-triggering thoughts motivate you to take action, face threats and defend yourself by striking out against the target you think is causing you pain.

A Substitute Emotion: Anger can also be a substitute emotion. By this we mean that sometimes people make themselves angry so that they don't have to feel pain. People change their feelings of pain into anger because it feels better to be angry than it does to be in pain. This changing of pain into anger may be done consciously or unconsciously.

Being angry rather than simply in pain has a number of advantages. People in pain generally think about their pain. However, angry people think about harming those who have caused pain. Part of the transmutation of pain into anger involves an attention shift – from self-focus to other-focus. Anger thus temporarily protects people from having to recognize and deal with their painful real feelings; you get to worry about getting back at the people you're angry with instead. Making yourself angry can help you to hide the reality that you find a situation frightening or that you feel vulnerable.

Anger

2009-06-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

Anger is a basic human emotion that is experienced by all people, which is usually triggered by an emotional hurt. It is usually experienced as an unpleasant feeling that occurs when we think we have been injured, mistreated, opposed in our long-held views, or when we face problems achieving our personal goals.

The experience of anger varies widely; how often anger occurs, how intensely it is felt, and how long it lasts are different for each person. People also vary in how easily they get angry (their anger threshold), as well as how comfortable they are with feeling angry. Some people are always getting angry while others seldom feel angry. Some people are very aware of their anger, while others fail to recognize anger when it occurs. Regardless of how often we actually experience anger, it is a common and unavoidable emotion.

Anger can be constructive or destructive. When well managed, anger or annoyance has very few detrimental health or interpersonal consequences. At its roots, anger is a signal to you that something in your environment isn’t right. It captures your attention and motivates you to take action to correct that wrong thing. How you end up handling the anger signal has very important consequences for your overall health and welfare, however. When you express anger, your actions trigger others to become defensive and angry too.

Out of control anger alienates friends, co-workers and family members. It also has a clear relationship with health problems and early mortality. Hostile, aggressive anger not only increases your risk for an early death, but also your risk for social isolation, which itself is a major risk factor for serious illness and death.

Stress Management

2009-05-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Being able to identify what is causing stress is an important step in preventing it. Identifying the triggers will enable you to take steps to avoid them and will help you to recognise when you are becoming stressed out again. There are several ways that stress can be prevented. You may find some of the methods that are outlined below useful.

Deep breathing
If you feel yourself getting stressed out, try to halt those feelings in their tracks by relaxing your muscles and taking deep breaths. Start by inhaling for three seconds, then exhale for a little longer. This will help to remove the older oxygen from your lungs and replace it with fresh oxygen that will improve your circulation and alertness.
Continue these deep breathing exercises until you feel calmer and ready to continue what you were doing. It might be better to do something else rather than continue with the stressful task.

Healthy eating
It is important to eat a healthy, balanced diet when you are stressed because food and drink can have a big impact on the way that you feel and act. Some people find that stress causes them to snack on sugary, unhealthy foods such as crisps and biscuits. This gives your body a sugar rush followed by a sharp drop in your sugar and energy levels. However, this can make you feel tired or irritable, as well as making it harder for you to concentrate.
Eating at regular times and not skipping meals can make a big difference. This will allow your body to release a steady stream of energy throughout the day which will help improve your concentration and mood. You should also try to reduce the amount of caffeine that you drink because they can have similar effects on your body as stress and anxiety. Drinking too much caffeine - found in tea, coffee and cola drinks - can leave you feeling anxious, irritable and restless.

Exercise
The benefits of exercise are numerous. Not only does it release a chemical called serotonin, which makes you feel happier and less stressed out, it also improves circulation and also allows you to take out your frustration and anger in a constructive way. You should aim to do a minimum 30 minutes of exercise five times a week. Any exercise that increases your heart rate and leaves you slightly out of breath afterwards is beneficial. Examples of these type of activities include running, swimming and cycling.

Sleep
It is common for your sleep pattern to be disturbed when you are feeling stressed. If you are worried about something it can often be on your mind even when you try to forget about it. This may cause sleepless nights or bad dreams. You may find it difficult getting to sleep or you may wake up a few times during the night. This can also make you tired and groggy the next day, which can make you feel even more stressed out. Try using some relaxation methods that could help you get a good rest.

Quit smoking
Contrary to popular belief, smoking does not help to combat stress. In fact, it can make stress worse and it causes damage to your body. Giving up smoking is not easy and, in the short term, may lead to you feeling more stressed out, or annoyed. However, you should remember that the irritability and craving is a sign that your body is trying to repair itself.

Relaxation
When you are stressed out, your muscles often tense, which can cause muscular aches to develop later on. When you feel yourself getting stressed out, shrug your shoulders a few times and shake out your arms and legs. This will help to loosen your muscles. Some people find that it helps them to relax if they imagine a peaceful place, such as a desert island or a tranquil lake. Imagine yourself being there and the scenery around you. Diverting your mind to a calming environment will help to distract you from the stress and relax your body.

You can also help relieve tension by getting some 'me time'. Spend some time doing whatever you enjoy - for example, having a warm bath, reading your favourite book or doing some gardening.

Causes of Stress

2009-05-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

The causes of stress are known as stressors and there are literally hundreds of different types of stressors. Any event in life that a person finds threatening, difficult to cope with or causes excess pressure can be a potential cause of stress. It is important to bear in mind that stress is an individualistic, subjective experience and therefore what one person finds stressful another may not. Stressors can be broken down roughly into either external or internal (or a mixture of both.)

External Stressors
External Stressors are those situations, which are not in your control. It s known that the longer a stressor continues, then the more likely it is to cause stress and that the individuals perception of an event is the key to whether they will find a situation stressful or not. For example, if a person is happy living in their house, they’ve lived there for a number of years, have developed close friends in the area and do not want to move but are forced to move because their home is being repossessed, then they are going to find the event of moving infinitely far more stressful than a person who has lived in their home for a short time, next to a very noisy, difficult neighbour and who wants to move to get away from the noise.
The majority of causes of stress that we face on a day-to-day basis are not as extreme as life events. The day-to-day causes of stress are called daily hassles; they are those daily, minor irritations such as misplacing our car keys, traffic jams, minor arguments with family/colleagues, etc. Research by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), at the University of California, indicated that it was the daily hassles rather than the major life events that affected us the most. Life events do not occur every day, but daily hassles do; it’s the constant, daily frustration caused by these hassles that cause us the most stress, because they occur so regularly and therefore can undermine our health.

Internal Stressors
We tend to think that stress is solely caused by external events, situations and people, yet this is not strictly correct. Research has found that the Transactional Model of Stress is more accurate. This model says that stress is caused by a transaction, i.e. there is an interaction between the stressor, our view of the stressor and our perceived ability to cope with it. It’s our own internal beliefs, attitudes, interpretations, perceptions and other factors, in combination with the external events that tend to create stress. Internal factors which influence how we perceive stress include our:

Beliefs, Perception, Expectations, Perfectionsim, Low self esteem, People pleasing personality, Low assertion and Locus of control.

Stress

2009-05-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons of using drugs is stress as reported by a number of worldwide surveys. Stress is the way that you feel when pressure is placed on you. A little bit of pressure can be productive, gives you motivation, and help you to perform better at something. However, too much pressure or prolonged pressure can lead to stress, which is unhealthy for the mind and body. Everyone reacts differently to stress, and some people may have a higher threshold than others. Too much stress often leads to physical, mental and emotional problems. In this part of the manual you will learn healthy ways to cope with stress.

First of all you need to learn about stress. When faced with a situation that makes you stressed out, your body releases chemicals, including cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline. These invoke the 'fight or flight' response that helps us to deal with the situation. However, when you're in a situation that prevents you from fighting or escaping, such as being on an overcrowded train, these chemicals are not used.

If the chemicals that are released during stressful situations accumulate from not being used, their effects are felt by the body. A build-up of adrenaline and noradrenaline increases blood pressure, heart rate, and the amount that you sweat. Cortisol prevents your immune system from functioning properly, as well as releasing fat and sugar into your blood stream.

Stress affects different people in different ways and everyone has a different method of dealing with it. The chemicals that are released by your body as a result of stress can build up over time and cause various mental and physical symptoms. These are listed below:
anger, depression, anxiety, changes in behaviour, food cravings, lack of appetite,
frequent crying, disturbed sleep, feeling tired, and difficulty to concentrate, cramps or muscle spasms, dizziness, chest pain, constipation or diarrhoea, fainting spells, nail biting, nervous twitches, pins and needles, feeling restless, a tendency to sweat, breathlessness, muscular and aches.

Experiencing even one or two of these symptoms can make you feel frustrated or anxious. This can be a vicious circle - for example, you want to avoid stress but symptoms such as frequent crying or nervous twitching can make you feel annoyed with yourself and even more stressed out.

The Lost Soul

2009-05-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Lost Soul is a true story of one of my clients, written by me and being published with her consent. I believe her case history will be an eye opener for many of us.

I am 30 years old and my story is really sad and tragic. This is what I feel but others might not feel this way because everyone has a different perspective of life. I think life is pleasurable and one should enjoy life. If I look back starting from early childhood till today I can't recall a single day of pleasure or joy in my life. I wanted to enjoy life: my childhood, my education, my career, my marriage and my children but I couldn't. I was a little kid when I lost myself and till today I am in search of myself. I don’t think I can find myself now because I have been diagnosed with drug abuse psychosis: a condition, which is known to be as "bipolar". I think others can learn a lot from my experience and it might help them from getting lost.

I was the only child of my parents. My father was not doing anything except for smoking hash the whole day. My mother was a house wife and we were living in a joint family system, a middle class family. I always saw everyone fighting at home and the target used to be my father. My family used to blame him for being an addict and not doing anything. As a result my father used to react at my mother and I always saw my parents having fights almost every day.

Moreover, my other family members always blamed my mother for my father's addiction. I always saw my mother crying or feeling depressed. I remember my mother left house for a number of times and took shelter at her parents' place. But after a few days my father used to bring her back. The whole situation at home made me feel frightened. I was a neglected child; there was nobody to take care of me. This is not the end of the story rather the beginning. I was a frightened child…..this was the time when I lost my childhood. No pleasure, no excitement and no joy, which is a child's basic right to my understanding.

I remember going to school at age 3 or 4 feeling frightened, disturbed and confused. I was a shy and totally withdrawn girl having no confidence and no friends. Despite being an intelligent girl I couldn't complete my studies. I went up to matriculation. Why did I remain unable to complete my studies? Things at home used to bother me. At times I used to feel sympathetic for my father as he was living a miserable life. No one at home was pushed for his treatment but blaming him and hash was his escape. The other times I used to feel for my mother as she always remained depressed and there was nobody to help her out. I needed to help myself to overcome those miserable feelings, which I developed in my early childhood. I wanted to enjoy and build my confidence. I wanted my childhood back. I was aware of one thing that my father used hash whenever he felt low or upset because of my other family members at home. So, I decided to use hash. My first experience with hash was at age 13 and I used to take my father's stuff. I don't think hash helped me in any way but created more problems. My performance at school went down and I lost myself as a student. No education, no career and no goals in life. Everything just shattered.

No one at home could make out that I was using hash till I was 15 years old. When they got to know I was abused so badly that I decided to leave my home and I ran away. Not knowing where to go and what to do. I had an idea from where one can get hash and reached there. I took my stuff used it and was sitting there feeling confused about my future. There I met somebody who took me to his house and I started living with him. He wanted to help me out. He wanted me to quit hash but I was unable to do so. He used to go for his work in the morning and immediately after that I used to leave home to get my stuff. Now I was not only using hash but garda and alcohol also. Finally, he took me to a hospital and I remained under treatment for 10 days. After that we got married. My family didn't try to search me or may be they couldn't find me out if they ever tried.

I was married now! I was a house wife but I still had a strong urge to use drugs. I went back to my previous routine….going out, getting my stuff and using it. My husband was quite upset at it and we also started having problems and fights. History was being repeated….what I saw at my parents' house was going on in my home. My husband kept trying to help me get rid of drugs. He sent me to different hospitals for a number of times but I used to go back to drugs again. I used drugs for 15 years and I always blamed my parents to push me in this situation where I started using drugs. I was not using drugs to get fun out of it but to overcome bad feelings, which used to bother me a lot. No drug gave me pleasure but more and more pain.

While using drugs, I became a mother also but no pleasure, no excitement and no joy. My focus was not my son but my drugs. Because of my childhood experiences and obviously because of my drug use I was unable to feel anything but pain….only and only emotional pain….shame, guilt, anger, resentments and self pity. I was ashamed because of my drug use. I was guilty because I couldn't do well in my life. I was angry and resentful because my parents couldn't handle me properly. I used to pity myself for not getting what I wanted to get in life.

My son became my husband's responsibility. He was working, taking care of me and looking after our son also. Deep inside I knew he was doing a lot. I always felt guilty for not being a responsible wife and mother. At the same time I felt myself helpless. I was helpless because things were not in my control. I wanted to quit, I used to make an effort but each effort was a failure. I was totally broken. I lost myself as a wife.

Despite all that my husband remained helpful. He wanted me to live a drug free life. Finally, I got admitted at a clinic and I remained there for three months. My in-laws never accepted me as their daughter in-law. This was for the first time they came to see me when I was hospitalized. May be for the first time in my life I felt happy. But my sense of happiness disappeared in a moment when I was told that they wanted their grand son to be with them. They blamed me for not being a good mother. They took my son back with them and I lost myself as a mother too.

I managed to overcome drug problem. No more hash, garda and alcohol but there I was diagnosed with drug induced psychosis. I was told that I was having delusions and hallucinations. I get indulged in self talk or I am talking to somebody who is not present. I am not aware of it. I think I am perfectly alright. I can assume my responsibilities. Still I am on psychiatric medicine. I don't know for how long….the only thing I know is that I am a lost soul.

Learn to Cope with Anxiety

2009-05-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

In my previous post I mentioned that young students start using drugs because of anxiety. At the same time we see females using psychotropic drugs too. Aghaz-e-Nau carried out a pilot project to establish treatment and rehabilitation services for females and it was indicated that 41% females were using drugs because of stress, tension and anxiety.

Today I will give a few suggestions to cope with anxiety. Before I start let me tell you that anxiety has genetic reasons at the same time environmental factors play a great role to learn to experience anxiety in certain situations. Mostly, we learn to be fearful or anxious in early childhood.

Parents, Teachers and Other Significant people pay an important role by: Keeping high expectations from their children as a result children learn to become perfectionists . physical, verbal or sexual abuse is also one of the causes of anxiety, any other traumatic experience, children learn to feel shy and don't discuss with others.

In early childhood they manage to cope with it, some get out of it with time. But others feel that the problem has become severe to the extent they feel themselves to be helpless and many of them remain unable to continue with their studies or work.

Techniques to overcome anxiety

1- Learn that anxiety is a normal and natural bodily response

2- Accept that fight and flight response is Nature’s way to help you

3- Learn to break the vicious cycle, the moment you feel a “trigger”

4- Learn to relax through deep breathing, relaxation exercises and imagination

5- Overcome past unpleasant memories and learn to reprogram your mind

6- You can reprogram your mind by using imagination

7- Kill your perfectionism and stop becoming self conscious

8- Expose yourself to difficult situations and Just do it

9- Practice yoga and hypnosis

10- Remember having some anxiety is healthy and it will remain with you for some time and will disappear soon

Anxiety and Drug Abuse

2009-05-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

Some students start using drugs when they experience anxiety. They need to understand that anxiety is a normal and natural physiological response to a threatening situation. The situation could be actual or perceived. In either case it triggers the Fight or Flight response. The Fight or Flight Response is your body's automatic, inborn response that protects your survival. It prepares the body to "fight" or "flee" from any real or perceived threat to your survival. When the fight or flight response occurs, it stimulates an area of your brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus prepares your body for fighting or running. It does this by flooding your brain with chemicals such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. This process creates physical reactions.

If you lead a very stressful life, your sympathetic nervous system may be sending you “false alarms” much of the time. For example, your fight or flight response may be activated when your teacher gives you an assignment with a tight deadline and you have stage phobia. You are frightened of your presentation. In such situation the body interprets it as a “threat” and flight or fight response is activated. When the fight or flight response occurs you might experience a few of the following symptoms: rapid heartbeat, dizziness, muscle tension, numbness, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea or abdominal distress, trembling or shaking. Anxiety usually follows a vicious cycle that consists of five stages: Trigger, Fight or Flight, Internalizing, Assuming the Worst, and Intensification of Symptoms. The first stage of the vicious cycle involves a trigger. A trigger could be a lack of sleep because you were preparing for your assignment and you were conscious of your performance. As a result of the trigger, your body moves into the second stage. It activates the fight or flight reaction. This produces physical reactions such as faster breathing, sweating, and so on. At the third stage, you internalize your physical reactions. You make the reaction “mean something” about you. “What’s wrong with me? Why are my muscles so tense? I shouldn’t be feeling this tense.” That’s internalizing. It moves to the fourth stage. It assumes the worst. You may think, “I must be having a heart attack! What am I going to do?”

You go on to fifth stage there is an intensification of symptoms. You will find it harder to breathe, plus you start to experience additional symptoms.

When and how does drug abuse start and progress?

2009-05-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

Studies such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration indicate that some children are already abusing drugs at age 12 or 13, which likely means that some begin even earlier. Early abuse often includes such substances as tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, marijuana, and prescription drugs such as sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medicines. If drug abuse persists into later adolescence, abusers typically become more heavily involved with marijuana and then advance to other drugs, while continuing their abuse of tobacco and alcohol. Studies have also shown that abuse of drugs in late childhood and early adolescence is associated with greater drug involvement. It is important to note that most youth, however, do not progress to abusing other drugs.
Scientists have proposed various explanations of why some individuals become involved with drugs and then escalate to abuse. One explanation points to a biological cause, such as having a family history of drug or alcohol abuse. Another explanation is that abusing drugs can lead to affiliation with drug-abusing peers, which, in turn, exposes the individual to other drugs.Researchers have found that youth who rapidly increase their substance abuse have high levels of risk factors with low levels of protective factors.

Breakthrough System puts an end to Yo- Yo Dieting for Good

2009-05-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting article on weight loss at
http://mahmooda-aftab.blogspot.com/

Bright Stars Hope: A Poem by Sumaira Shahzad

2009-05-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

We all are the stars
Shining despite of the scars
Its is the brightness we are searching for
It’s the darkness we want to cure
It’s the destiny we want to ours

We all are the stars
What if we become sometimes a little dull?
Painful, restless with a fearful skull
But
We all have shine within us
That never lets us to burn
It’s the shine of truth & spirituality
It’s the shine of positivity & orignality

The only need is to take off our false masks
Is to be honest with our own hearts
Then we could be the Bright Stars
Shining brightly despite of the scars
We all are the stars
We all are the stars

Sumaira Shahzad
Psychologist

Aghaz-e-Nau

HIGH Risk Periods for Drug Abuse Among Youth

2009-05-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

Research has shown that the key risk periods for drug abuse are during major transitions in children’s lives. The first big transition for children is when they leave the security of the family and enter school. Later, when they advance from elementary school to middle school, they often experience new academic and social situations, such as learning to get along with a wider group of peers. It is at this stage—early adolescence—that children are likely to encounter drugs for the first time.
When they enter high school, adolescents face additional social, emotional, and educational challenges. At the same time, they may be exposed to greater availability of drugs, drug abusers, and social activities involving drugs. These challenges can increase the risk that they will abuse alcohol, tobacco, and other substances.When young adults leave home for college or work and are on their own for the first time, their risk for drug and alcohol abuse is very high. Consequently, young adult interventions are needed as well.Because risks appear at every life transition, prevention planners need to choose programs that strengthen protective factors at each stage of development.

Poem by Arjumand Ayub

2009-05-06T01:12:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

Bright star
I want relief…..
Some sanity,
I am drowned in ignorance.
I am in pain
I need help!

O Star! O Star! O Star!
Can you do something for me?
Kill my pain…
Take my woes,
Can you give me strength to face the world?

Here I am the bright star,
Yes I can help you fight the war.
O I am here to light your life,
There’s just a little to strive.
It’s your trust I have to take,
And turn it into your belief to find the way.

Arjumand Ayub
Trainee

http://mahmooda-aftab.blogspot.com/

Closing Ceremony

2009-05-06T00:42:00.000-07:00

Peer Counseling Training

2009-05-06T00:04:00.000-07:00

Bright Stars

Second session of Peer Counseling Training for drug abuse prevention and personal development has started from 4th May, 2009. A total number of 30 students got registered and this session will be over by the end of June, 2009. Another group is being formed at Law Coolege, Punjab University and planned to be started from 25th May, 2009.

http://mahmooda-aftab.blogspot.com/