Aghaz-e-Nau

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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 doi...

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 ...

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 t...

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 biolog...