Human Psychology 101………

About 6 of every 10 lottery winners of $10 million or more have lost most or all of it within 5 years.

Lottery winners are more likely to be bankrupt within 3 to 5 years than other Americans.

About 50% of NFL players have lost most or all money within 3 to 5 years after leaving the league.

The brain is a computer.

The self-image is the programming.

How you see yourself. The self-image is everything.

What you’ll accept and what you’ll reject. Where you will and won’t go. What you will and won’t do. What you will and won’t pursue. What you will achieve and what you will fail. What you can and can’t have. What you’ll get but won’t let yourself keep.

The self-image….If you aren’t constantly and intentionally throughout your life improving it and moving it forward, it’ll keep you where you are. Or worse, it’ll return you to where you’ve been following an experience of a level of success or achievement that exceeds what your brain’s programming will allow to stay in your life. In your life experiences, your job and career, your finances and money issues, your romantic relationships, it’ll have you sabotaging, pushing away, or avoiding every bit of success and achievement that is beyond what your brain is programmed to acquire, accept, and embrace.

In sport, in business, in life in general, you’ll see this phenomena occurring everywhere you look. There’s a reason so many lottery winners and pro athletes end up back to where they were financially. There’s a reason so many people get in, stay in, and/or return to bad or abusive relationships.

“Self-image congruence”……When one’s achievements or the goals one sets and pursues are beyond the self-image, thus outside the upper boundary of the comfort zone, some sort of sabotage of one’s success or goal achievement is inevitable.

It is the boundaries of your comfort zone, the vehicle of your success, the anchor slowing your movement, the 4 walls of a prison cell keeping you in place.

In a world packed with self-hating, self limiting, self-sabotaging humans, everybody has a responsibility to themselves in their adult years to improve the way they see themselves. To move their self-image forward. To fix their self-talk. To develop and create more things about themselves to hold in high esteem.

In this area, self-responsibility is the engine of change.

Overcome yourself, the status quo, resistance to change. Be responsible for the choices you make and the actions you take to move forward, to stand still, to stay stuck, to move backward.

Do the work within yourself. In the pursuit of your goals, remove all potential self-created limitations from your path.

Implement the process of purposely programming yourself with the beliefs, philosophy, values, and self-image that you want guiding your behavior patterns and determining your quality of life.

Be aggressive. Create an unstoppable juggernaut.

————————–

[Iyanla Vanzant]—“When something unbelievably phenomenal is happening in your life and you don’t believe you are good enough to have it, you will consciously or unconsciously find a way to sabotage your dreams come

true.”

————————–

“…what people are seeking is not the answers to problems, but the reassurance that no answers are possible. A friend of mine once said that today’s attitude, paraphrasing the Bible, is:’Forgive me, Father, for I know not what I’m doing, and please don’t tell me’.”

[Ayn Rand]

————————–

[Joel Osteen]— “If you’re against yourself, you will never fulfill your destiny.”

“…..the close connection between leading psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry, once a sign of progress for the profession, is now cited as evidence of corrupt influence.”

“…..do financial payments to academic leaders influence clinical practice guidelines?……reviewing the 20 work group members who authored the American Psychiatric Association guidelines for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, reported that 90% had financial ties to industry……None were disclosed.”

“A review of 192 authors of 44 clinical practice guidelines for multiple common adult diseases found 87% with some form of industry involvement, and in only 2 cases were disclosures included.”

“…..what is clear is that current pharmaceutical industry investment in academic psychiatry is prevalent.”

T.R.Insel

Psychiatrists’ Relationships With Pharmaceutical Companies: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

The Journal of the American Medical Association……Volume 303 #12…..March 24/31, 2010…..page 1192 – 1193

Tuesday, June 8 at noon ET.

Dr. Alicia Heapy of Yale School of Medicine…..discuss research she is leading on a nondrug pain management intervention……a technology-based form of cognitive behavioral therapy being tested in the Veterans Health Administration.

Brain research 101.

Sexual orientation and gender identity.Female, male, gay, straight, bi, transgender.

Across the last several decades, the frontal lobe and hypothalamus have been the 2 broad areas that brain researchers have successfully identified thus far……where the brain cells are located that determine human sexual orientation and gender identity.

As to say that looking at genitals or measuring testosterone levels isn’t the most educated, accurate, or up to date approach.

Regardless of subject matter, when it comes to the human brain, just about everything having to do with humans exists along a broad, linear spectrum.For stuff like autism, spectrums look like most people clumped together at one end, with a sprinkling of folks spreadout to the opposite end.

For human sexual orientation and gender identity, the largest groups of humans are clustered at 2 polar extremes of straight female and straight male, with a very large number of people spread out between those 2 polar opposites. This would likely be far more obvious had humans historically been less culturally, religiously, and politically problematic towards the subject.One wouldn’t need brain scan technology and several decades of brain research to be aware of such things.

I equate this subject of human physiology to that of fast twitch vs slow twitch muscle fibers in 1970’s and 80’s Exercise Physiology. Folks believed that these muscle fiber types were genetically set in stone. For a couple decades after the hard data existed showing this wasn’t the case, people continued to believe otherwise.

Hence my mantra during my 30 years of following 60 research journals…..

Put data ahead of dogma.

Follow the data not the crowd.

A 12 year old that can’t sit still because they’ve been taught that its not allowed is an adult that will suffer from relaxation induced anxiety. Mind-Body medicine 101……That adult will be standing in the early onset dementia/Alzheimer’s/Parkinsons line when they hit 50 or 60 years old. A kid isn’t going to join a gang and go to jail for murder or end up as homeless adult because you didn’t sign them up to fill that 60th hour of weekly activities with mandarin Chinese or their 5th soccer team.

Let 21rst century kids have some 1970’s time to themselves.
And parents should consider exiting the mini-van and do the same.

Set aside the noise of the norm, the hypnosis of social conditioning. Let other people continue to run themselves and their kids into the ground.No need to join them. ..Mind-Body medicine……Mind-body medicine is founded on the basic principle that the brain controls or influences the function of all cells in the body by direct connection to them via the nervous system, or via chemical interaction via release of hormones or substances called neuro-peptides. Hence the importance of and awareness of the existence of mind-body medicine. And the importance of utilizing mind-body medicine and integrating into the practice of medicine in the United States.

TheETG mind-body medicine —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmindbodymed.pdf

TheETG human psychology —–https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

TheETG brain cell overwork, overwhelm, “mental illness” repair —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGbrain.pdf

TheETG mechanisms of aging —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmechanismsaging.pdf

[my facebook post on June 14, 2014]
Last night’s episode of “Oprah’s Master Class” on OWN channel.
Vanessa Williams.
After you’ve seen quite a few of these and stuff on Biography channel, you’re able to see extraordinarily common experiences across the lives of a massive number of folks. It allows one to come to a common standard of advice.
That advice is;

Don’t be “that” guy.
Don’t be that guy that laughs at and turns away the kid building computers in his dorm room at the University Of Texas [Michael Dell, Dell Computers Inc]. Don’t be the shallow minded short sighted idiot.

Don’t be “that” guy.
That guy that tells the local TV news anchor in Baltimore [Oprah Winfrey] that she’s too black and fat to be a successful talk show host [now a Billionaire with her own TV channel], and so she’ll be eaten alive when she moves to Chicago and goes up against Phil Donahue. Don’t be the shallow minded short sighted idiot.

Don’t be “that” guy.
That guy that turns away those dudes tinkering with computers in their parent’s garage [Bill Gates, etc]. Don’t be the shallow minded short sighted idiot.

Don’t be “that” guy.
That guy that tells Vanessa Williams that her Miss America status means she doesn’t have what it takes, can’t be a good singer [11 Grammy nominations], can’t make it as an actress on Broadway [Tony award], on TV [Emmy award], on film. Don’t be the shallow minded short sighted idiot.

Don’t be “that” guy.
That guy that tells Albert Einstein he isn’t good enough at math to make it in physics.

There is a saying…..”People are either a wind in your sails or anchors on your tail”.

If you insist on being an anchor, try being an anchor on the tail of
“that” guy. The guy starting up a successful chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Be an anchor on the tail of a serial rapist. Be an anchor on the tails of those folks constantly clamoring for warfare somewhere on the planet. Be “that” guy.

The inability to recognize intelligence, talent, and drive when its standing directly in front of you, asking you to be its business partner, agent, employer, helper, etc, etc.. If you can’t see what’s standing in front of you, try to cram the words of the shallow minded short sighted idiot in you so far up your ass that they can never find their way out of your lips and into someone’s ears and brain.
.

John Newborn—-
“People can be divided into 3 groups;
Those that make things happen.
Those who watch things happen.
Those that wonder what happened.”

Let growth be your first option, not your last resort.

“People are either a wind in your sail or an anchor on your tail”
[anon]

Was first introduced to this in my early 20’s.
Was in a self-help type of book my dad gave me during an era when I was getting pretty hardcore about the concept of creating the environment around you.
Creating your own support group.
The importance of moving away from people that screw it up. Limiting your exposure to them or getting them outta your space entirely.

“People are either a wind in your sail or an anchor on your tail”
[anon]

Today I view this more in the context of self-worth.
Give enough of a damn about yourself to care about who you hang with. Who is around you most, either enriching or screwing-up your environment.

Having a job typically comes with being around people, but that doesn’t cut your choice of whether certain people are let into who you are and what you’re about. No one gets into your support group without your permission.

That area comes down to a matter of how accountable are you willing to be to yourself. Which as previously stated, is a matter of self-worth.

When you elevate and embrace rather than diminish or reject your value, your tolerance for poison and bullshit is lowered.

“People are either a wind in your sail or an anchor on your tail”
[anon]

Studies like this one.
Among the reasons I got interested in mind-body medicine in the 1980’s. Published this month, this small study advances the ball way forward.
Demonstrates that measurable impact on aging, immune function, etc all the way down to the level of our genes, happen immediately…….

“….evaluated the impact of a day of intensive meditation practice (8 hours) on the methylome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in experienced meditators (n = 17). In parallel, we assessed the influence of a day of leisure activities in the same environment on the methylome of matched control subjects with no meditation experience (n = 17).”

“In the meditation group, we identified 61 differentially methylated sites after the intervention. These differentially methylated sites were enriched in genes mostly associated with immune cell metabolism and ageing and in binding sites for several transcription factors involved in immune response and inflammation, among other functions. In the control group, no significant change in methylation level was observed after the day of leisure activities.”
.
“These results suggest that a short meditation intervention in trained subjects may rapidly influence the epigenome at sites of potential relevance for immune function and provide a better understanding of the dynamics of the human methylome over short time windows. “
.
R.Chaix, et al
Differential DNA methylation in experienced meditators after an intensive day of mindfulness-based practice: Implications for immune-related pathways
Brain, Behavior, & Immunity — Volume 84 — February 2020 — page 36

Program the brain. Implement the process of purposefully programming yourself with the beliefs, philosophy, values and self-image you want guiding your behavior patterns and determining your quality of life. The programming tools….affirmations, visualizations, thought stopping and replacement exercises, self-discipline challenges.

TheETG human psychology —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

brain cell overwork, overwhelm, “mental illness” repair —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGbrain.pdf

“Teach guys they can be better men.””Teach women there are better men.”– nearly 80% of women report they are verbally abused by a partner.– individuals with a history of physical violence against their partners are 13 times more likely to commit future acts of physical aggression compared to persons who have never committed this form of physical abuse.– [by Laura Larkin, Independent Irish New, May 14, 2017]….The male intimate abuser follows same tactics as the pedophile……select the same type of target. — people who were being abused…..the type of people who would put others before themselves. — The kind people were the people who were targeted and subsequent to that there was a process of setting-up. — It’s done in a way which gets her to take responsibility and take the blame when things go wrong between them. — Once she is doing that she is into the mire of an abusive relationship and it develops from there. She is also groomed. — If she tries to explain it everyone says ‘oh you’re too sensitive, or you’re too naïve’.”.The brain is a computer. The self-image is the programming. If you aren’t constantly and intentionally throughout your life improving it and moving it forward, it’ll keep you where you are. Or worse, it’ll return you to where you’ve been.In your life experiences, your romantic relationships, it’ll have you sabotaging, pushing away, or avoiding every bit of success and achievement that is beyond what your brain is programmed to acquire, accept, and embrace. .There’s a reason so many people get in, stay in, and/or return to bad or abusive relationships. .The brain is a computer.

The self-image is the programming. Constantly and intentionally throughout your life improve it, move it forward.

human psychology —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

brain cell overwork, overwhelm, “mental illness” repair —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGbrain.pdf

mechanisms of functional romantic relationships —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGromanticrelationships.pdf

Yet another massive group of studies on thousands saying stop druging people into oblivion……
“Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) alone proved to be superior to the combination of psychotherapy and antidepressant medicationin the treatment of major depressive disorder in a systematic review and meta-analysis……”
“The investigators….included 11,374 patients”
.
“The researchers contend that “considering the superiority of CBT alone and the side-effects, tapering problems and withdrawal symptoms associated with [antidepressant medications], combined treatment should be prescribed…..only in complex cases….”

https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/mood-disorders/depressive-disorder/depression-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-interpersonal-therapy-antidepressants/?fbclid=IwAR3RutFKLQc3OpNvMymPnBccXey7Blpm3x9vjIzWrGMe4KNGJ2oE9liwm4k

No better, more productive thing you can do for yourself than to do the work in John Bradshaw’s Homecoming. Getting the DVD and doing the work is easily the best gift you can give yourself, the people around you, including your significant other.Should be all but required of everybody that has grown-up in America.

I saw his multi-hour, multi-day PBS Special when it first aired around 1990. Recorded it onto a VHS tape from start to finish. I was watching in the mid-1990’s on the day he was on The Oprah show putting Oprah and the studio audience of 300 through a 2 minute exercise that had all of them crying. That led to him getting his TV own show that lasted 2 seasons..When I put up TheETG website in 2006 and created a links page, a link to the DVD on his webpage was among the first..He died in 2016 leaving behind his huge impact on Cognitive Psychology in an otherwise struggling field.The DVD is about $150 and worth every penny…

https://www.johnbradshaw.com/new-products/bradshaw-on-homecoming-reclaiming-championing-your-inner-child-pbs-10-hour-inner-child-workshop-cd

https://www.johnbradshaw.com/

I wrote this in the late 1980’s.
I implemented it in coaching high schoolers as well as in my own life.
The brain is a computer that is programmed early on by the family environment we grow up in, and afterward…by us and the evironment around us created by the people around us.
Surround yourself with people that make you better.
Surround yourself with people that help you grow.
Once a growth oriented support group is created, overtime it contributes and developes a level of self-perpetuating growth within its members.
.
.
The full page is in this pdf packet
TheETG human psychology —–
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

“Given the moderate efficacy of the currently available antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder, the identification of agents that are both able to enhance the effectiveness of antidepressants and have a good safety profile is a reasonable task for current psychopharmacology.”
“….investigations suggest that several nutraceuticals…..may be effective and safe as adjunct therapeutic agents to conventional antidepressants. To identify such active ingredients we first performed a systematic literature search….”
.
“As a result of those efforts, we found more than 20 agents (e.g. S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine; folate; ω-3 fatty acids; curcumin; N-acetylcysteine….) that are supposedly effective in the augmentation of standard antidepressants treatment. We discussed the possible mechanisms of the antidepressant actions of those agents, as well as the preclinical and clinical evidence for their efficacy as stand-alone and adjunct treatments for major depressive disorder.”
.
P.Dome, et al
Natural health products, dietary minerals and over-the-counter medications as add-on therapies to antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder: a review
Brain Research Bulletin — Volume 146 — March 2019 — page 51

As has been known for over a decade, schizophrenia, as with most “mental illness” is due to brain cell loss. Reverse and repair cells and you reverse “mental illness”. Can’t get that done via medicating people into oblivion for the rest of their lives…..
“Excessive synapse elimination during adolescence and early adulthood has long been hypothesized to underpin the emergence of schizophrenia.”
“A new study reports that induced microglia-like cells derived from schizophrenia patients display increased synapse engulfment….”

M.Wang, et al
Microglia, complement and schizophrenia
Nature Neuroscience — Volume 22 #3 — March 2019 — page 33

TheETG relationship psychology.”Feelings buried alive don’t die.” [Iyanla Vanzant].

TheETG mechanisms of functional romantic relationships —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGromanticrelationships.pdf

“Marital distress and depression work in tandem to escalate risks for inflammation-related disorders. Translocation of bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) from the gut microbiota to blood circulation stimulates systemic inflammatory responses.”
“To investigate increased gut permeability (a “leaky gut”) as one potential mechanistic pathway from marital distress and depression to heightened inflammation, this secondary analysis of a double-blind, randomized crossover study examined serial assessments of two endotoxin biomarkers, LPS-binding protein (LBP) and soluble CD14 (sCD14), as well as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) during two separate 9.5 h visits.”
.
“The 43 (N = 86) healthy married couples, ages 24–61 (mean = 38.22), discussed a marital disagreement during both visits; behavioral coding of these interactions provided data on hostile marital behaviors, a hallmark of marital distress.”
.
“Participants with more hostile marital interactions had higher lipopolysaccharide binding protein than those who were less hostile.”
.
“These bacterial lipopolysaccharide translocation data illustrate how a distressed marriage and a mood disorder history can promote a proinflammatory milieu through increased gut permeability, thus fueling inflammation-related disorders.”
.
J.K,Kiecolt-Glaser, et al
Marital distress, depression, and a leaky gut: Translocation of bacterial endotoxin as a pathway to inflammation
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 98 — December 2018 — page 52
.
.
Mind-Body medicine……
Mind-body medicine is founded on the basic principle that the brain controls or influences the function of all cells in the body by direct connection to them via the nervous system, or via chemical interaction via release of hormones or substances called neuro-peptides. Hence the importance of and awareness of the existence of mind-body medicine. And the importance of utilizing mind-body medicine and integrating into the practice of medicine in the United States.

.TheETG mind-body medicine —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmindbodymed.pdf

TheETG mechanisms of functional romantic relationships —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGromanticrelationships.pdf

TheETG human psychology —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

“Interactions between the digestive system and the brain functions have become in recent years an important field of psychiatric research. These multidirectional interactions take place in the so called microbiota-gut-brain axis and emerging scientific data indicate to the significant role of microbiota in the modulation of the central nervous system including affective and cognitive functions.”
“An assessment of psychobiotic and immunomodulatory effects of probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v by measuring affective, cognitive functions and biochemical parameters in patients with major depressive disorder undergoing treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).”
.
“79 patients with major depressive disorder were randomized and allocated to a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Participants received either a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors with the probiotic LP299v (n = 40) for a period of 8 weeks or a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors with the placebo of the probiotic (n = 39) for the same period.”
.
“60 participants finished the study and were analyzed: 30 participants in the LP299v group and 30 participants in the placebo group.”
.
“Augmentation of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors treatment with probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v improved cognitive performance and decreased KYN concentration in major depressive disorder patients. Decreased KYN concentration could contribute to the improvement of cognitive functions in the LP299v group compared to the placebo group.”
.
“To our knowledge results of this study are the first evidence of improvement of cognitive functions in major depressive disorder patients due to probiotic bacteria and this is the first evidence of decreased KYN concentration in major depressive disorder patients due to probiotic bacteria.”
.
L.Rudzki, et al
Probiotic Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v decreases kynurenine concentration and improves cognitive functions in patients with major depression: A double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled study
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 100 — February 2019 — page 213

vets w/PTSD -vs- exercise……
“The Met allele of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism is associated with reduced levels of BDNF release, heightened hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity, and impaired fear extinction.”
“As a result, Met allele carriers may be at risk for greater severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.”
“In this study, we examined the relationship between the brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism and PTSD symptoms in two nationally representative samples of European American U.S. military veterans (main sample, n = 1386; replication sample, n = 509).”
.
“Results revealed that…..Met allele carriers reported greater severity of lifetime and current PTSD symptoms, specifically re-experiencing symptoms.”
.
“Met allele carriers with high trauma burden also reported greater severity of lifetime and past-month PTSD symptoms.”
.
“Greater engagement in physical exercise moderated this gene-by-environment interaction.”
.
“Specifically, among veterans with high lifetime trauma burden, Met allele carriers who exercised had significantly lower severity of PTSD symptoms compared to those who did not exercise.”
.
“These findings suggest that interventions designed to bolster engagement in physical exercise may help mitigate PTSD symptoms in veterans who are Met allele carriers and highly exposed to trauma.”
.
B.L.Pitts, et al
BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and posttraumatic stress symptoms in U.S. military veterans: Protective effect of physical exercise
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 100 — January 2019 — page 198

[“Today”……by Beah Richards]
Today is ours, let’s live it
And love is strong, let’s give it
A song can help, let’s sing it
And peace is dear, let’s bring it
The past is gone, don’t rue it
Our work is here, let’s do it
Our world is wrong, let’s right it
The battle hard, let’s fight it
The road is rough, let’s clear it
The future vast, don’t fear it
Is faith asleep? Let’s wake it
Today is ours, let’s take it
.
Poem recited by actor Lynn Whitfield at the end of her interview, show on OWN called “Oprah’s Master Class”.

migraines -vs- fish oil, meditation, autogenic relaxation……….
“Research supports the general benefits of mind/body interventions for migraines….”
“…..randomized controlled trial with 19 episodic migraineurs randomized to either mindfulness-based stress reduction (n = 10) or usual care (n = 9).
“….daily meditation average: 34 ± 11 minutes, range 16-50 minutes per day.”
“Median class attendance from 9 classes…”
“Mindfulness-based stress reduction participants had 1.4 fewer migraines per month (range = 3.5 to 1.0 vs control)…”
“Headaches were less severe….and shorter (-2.9 hours per headache vs control)….”

Headache — Volume 54 #9 — October 2014 — page 1484
————
“27 adolescents suffering from frequent migraines…..randomized, double-blind, cross-over study consisting of 2 months of fish oil, 1-month washout period, and 2 months of placebo (olive oil).”
“…frequency of headaches before the study (31 episodes per 2 months)….”
“…reduction in headache frequency during fish oil treatment (4 episodes per 2 months)…”
“….significant reduction in headache severity during fish oil treatment (2.9 +/- 0.5)…”

Journal Of Adolescent Health — Volume 31 #2 — August 2002 — page 154
————
“Central information processing, visible in evoked potentials like the contingent negative variation is altered in migraine patients…..”
“16 migraineurs and 21 healthy participants conducted a 6-week Progressive Muscle Relaxation-training….”
“After Progressive Muscle Relaxation-training, migraine patients showed a significant reduction of migraine frequency.”
“Preliminary to the Progressive Muscle Relaxation-training, migraine patients exhibited higher amplitudes in the early component of the contingent negative variation (iCNV) and the overall contingent negative variation (oCNV) than healthy controls…..”
“After completion of the Progressive Muscle Relaxation-training, migraineurs showed a normalization of the iCNV amplitude…..”
“The results confirm clinical efficacy of Progressive Muscle Relaxation for migraine prophylaxis.”

Journal of Headache Pain — Volume 17 #37 — April 2016
————
“Spiritual meditation has been found to reduce the frequency of migraines and physiological reactivity to stress.”
“92 meditation naïve participants…”
“Migraine frequency decreased in the Spiritual Meditation group compared to other groups. Headache severity ratings did not differ across groups.”
“Spiritual Meditation…..improve pain tolerance with reduced headache related analgesic medication usage.”

Behavioral Medicine — Volume 43 #1 — January-March 2017 — page 1

Doing stuff that increase production of brain neurotrophins and/or reduces production of cortotrophin-releasing-hormone will reduce number, frequency, and severity of migraine headaches, and headaches in general.
That’s autogenic relaxation, meditation, hot jacuzzi, hot bath, etc

TheETG mind-body medicine —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmindbodymed.pdf.

TheETG repair of brain cell overwork, overwhelm, “mental illness” —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGbrain.pdf

Major Mechanisms of a Functional Romantic Relationship
1. Stability, Security, Expectations……Commitment is a verb, reflected in one’s —–planned and purposeful actions—– to create……stability, secure attachment, and emotional security.
— Both people must be committed to making deposits and investments into each other, major withdrawls avoided.
— Identify and share up front, major principles and ideals that each person values and lives by. Several major values must be common to both people, and each person must commit and have integrity to the common value system.
— Discuss expectations each person has of the other, and there must be a commitment to meet reasonable expectations each person has of the other.
— Create an environment of unconditional attention, affection, and praise.
.
2. Self-Development…..Invest in your own self-development. Accept the challenge and opportunity to become more powerful within yourself. Avoid seeking to use your relationship as a distraction from yourself. Choose to never pick your relationship partner based on his/her ability or willingness to be a co-conspirator or facilitator in you maintaining your weaknesses, faults, personal problems, etc..
And always remember, there can be no relationship, without friendship. If there can be no friendship without the relationship………this highlights something within yourself, and is most likely a large part of why the relationship will have difficulty. There should never be a time before, during, or after the relationship when one says….”We can’t be friends”….I can never see you again”..,,,,”I will never speak to you again.”
.
3. Resolving Conflicts…..Commitment to logic, reason, and rationality as the highest priority during conflicts. Commitment to creating solution oriented win-win situations in solving conflicts. Show kindness and love…always….no matter what! Remember that love is a verb. Never repay, evil for evil. Always do what is good for building up yourself, and your relationship partner.
Avoid……
— entering the typical contest of seeing which person can hurt the other more, or which person can make the other more jealous.
— using “the silent treatment” to communicate. Letters or other written communications are usually best, in that they allow you to speak uninterrupted, and express everything you want to communicate. Speak directly. Avoid using sarcasm and statements intended to hurt or shame.
— using “put-downs” to defend your hurt. Speak openly and directly to the person about what you feel….. “especially” if you feel hurt or frustrated. Be strong by giving yourself permission to feel hurt by what the person has said and/or done.

.TheETG mechanisms of functional romantic relationships —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGromanticrelationships.pdf

Mind-body medicine 101……..
“Low socioeconomic status in early-life and adulthood independently contribute to increased risk for aging-related chronic diseases.”
“One mechanistic hypothesis for these associations involves faster cellular aging of immune cells, which could plausibly contribute to chronic disease pathogenesis by compromising host resistance and/or up-regulating inflammation.”
.
“The present study examines the association of early-life and current low socioeconomic status with a novel biomarker of cellular aging termed the “epigenetic clock,” in monocytes. Additionally, we examine health behaviors and depressive symptoms as potential explanatory pathways.”
.
“The study involved 335 participants between the ages of 15 and 55 from Vancouver, Canada and surrounding areas.”
.
“Results indicated that socioeconomic disadvantage during early-life, but not later in life, was associated with accelerated epigenetic aging of monocytes.”
.
“These findings suggest socioeconomic disadvantage in early-life is independently predictive of cellular aging of immune cells, with potential implications for aging-related diseases later in life.”
.
M.K.Austin, et al
Early-life socioeconomic disadvantage, not current, predicts accelerated epigenetic aging of monocytes
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 97 — November 2018 — page 131
.
.
Mind-Body medicine……
Mind-body medicine is founded on the basic principle that the brain controls or influences the function of all cells in the body by direct connection to them via the nervous system, or via chemical interaction via release of hormones or substances called neuro-peptides. Hence the importance of and awareness of the existence of mind-body medicine. And the importance of utilizing mind-body medicine and integrating into the practice of medicine in the United States.
.
TheETG mind-body medicine —–
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmindbodymed.pdf
.
TheETG mechanisms of aging —–
https://theetgtrackclub.com/docume…/TheETGmechanismsaging.pdf
.
TheETG human psychology —–
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

“Studies have shown that omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), might have beneficial effects on somatic and mental health, potentially partly due to their mitigating effects on three major biological stress systems: the immune-inflammatory system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis, and the autonomic nervous system.”
.
“….2724 participants from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety.”
.
“Participants had a mean age of 41.8 and 65.7% were female.”
.
Higher levels of all three inflammation markers, evening cortisol and heart rate were significantly negatively associated with omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids . Suggesting an exposure-response relationship, a higher number of markers indicative of inflammation and hyperactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis, but not of autonomic nervous system dysregulation, was found in persons with lower omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids levels.”
.
“An exposure-response relationship was also found for having a higher number of different stress system dysregulations with lower omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids levels. For DHA, results were in line with those for omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, although with slightly smaller effect sizes.”
.
“Our study confirmed that having various (cumulative) indicators of dysregulation of three biological stress systems was significantly associated with lower omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and DHA plasma levels. If low omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids levels are the cause of dysregulated stress systems, then omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids supplementation might reduce biological stress and thereby improve somatic and mental health.”
.
C.S.Thesing, et al
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid levels and dysregulations in biological stress systems
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 97 — November 2018 — page 206

The quackery of -traditional- psychiatry & psychology in America.
Drugs, drugs, and more drugs…….
“I would say at least half the folks who are being treated with antidepressants aren’t benefiting from the active pharmacological effects of the drugs themselves but from a placebo effect, If people knew more, I think they would be a little less likely to go down the medication path than the psychosocial treatment path.”
Steven Hollon….Inappropriate prescribing….American Psychological Association, Volume 43 #6….2012…page 36
.
“Practice is not reflecting the research. Ninety to 95% of programs have no research base. The gap between what is known and what is being provided in routine care is huge.”
Kimberly Hogwood [New York Office Of Mental Health] Associated Press, The Daily Texan, April 11, 2002
.
“The U.S. mental health system is in crisis….according to a federal report.”
“The fundamental problem: emphasizing medicating people over fostering ways to help them lead productive lives.”
Associated Press, The Daily Texan [September 17, 2002]
.
“The difference between the effect of a placebo and the effect of an anti-depressant is minimal for most people……People get better when they take the drug, but its not the chemical ingredients in the drug that are making them better, its largely the placebo effect.”
Irving Kirsch [Associate Director Placebo Studies, Harvard Medical School]
.
“……the benefits that US health care currently deliver may not outweigh the aggregate health harm it imparts.”
Journal Of The American Medical Association…Volume 302 #1..July 1, 2009…page 89 – 91
.
“Most drugs are only effective for a small percentage of people who take them.”
[Michael Leavitt….U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services 2005 – 2009]
.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy [CBT] is -the- most effective approach to resolving an array of brain issues from addiction to schizophrenia and all points in between. It is proven as or more effective than the drug approach to depression, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
As with McKenzie Method [MDT] doctors and physical therapists for resolving back and neck pain, CBT is also relatively cheap compared to standard approach psychiatrists and counseling psychologists.
.
.
“It costs the Department Of Defense over a million dollars in absenteeism and over a million dollars in medical costs per year,” Boutelle said.

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california/UCSD-binge-eating-study-department-of-defense-first-time-grant-500238531.html?fbclid=IwAR2VioKk_ZPfCIAdVbE68epy3_KqihPXBNoilNCkOQEGEP7AFrm0Y20iDdY

2016 study by U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs.
Based on 55 million veterans records, 1979 to 2014.
Avg 20 suicides/day = 7300/year = over 250,000 in 35 years.

“The evidence base for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression…..cognitive behavioral therapy as having the strongest research base for effectiveness….”
G.Whitefield, et al
The evidence base for cognitive–behavioural therapy in depression: delivery in busy clinical settings
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment….Volume 9….2003…..page 21 – 30

———–

“Studies have shown that cognitive therapy is as efficacious as antidepressant medications at treating depression, and it seems to reduce the risk of relapse even after its discontinuation.”
R.J.DeRubeis
Cognitive therapy vs. medications for depression: Treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms
Nature Reviews Neuroscience…..Volume 9 #10….October 2008….page 788 – 796

———

[Journal Of The American Medical Association Sept 27, 2016]
“A simple type of psychotherapy known as behavioral activation is not inferior to the gold-standard cognitive behavioral therapy in reducing depression symptoms, found one of the largest trials of psychological treatment for depression to date. The authors also note that there may be a health care cost advantage to behavioral activation because it can be delivered by mental health workers with no formal training in psychological therapies.

———

“Many studies have confirmed the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for depression.’
“…..the more individuals improved their problem-solving appraisal, the more their depression decreased.”
“….it was discovered that the poorer individuals’ problem-solving appraisal before the cognitive behavioral therapy, the more improvement they had on depression and problem solving appraisal after the cognitive behavioral therapy.”
“In sum, findings suggested that problem-solving appraisal might play an important part in cognitive behavioral therapy for depression reduction…..”
Szu.Y.Chen et al
The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on Depression: The Role of Problem-Solving Appraisal
Research on Social Work Practice……Volume 16 #5……September 2006…..page 500 – 510

——–

“Cognitive rehabilitation has shown efficacy in improving cognition in patients with schizophrenia….”
“…..examine differential changes in brain morphology in early course schizophrenia during cognitive rehabilitation vs supportive therapy”
“….2-year trial with annual structural magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive assessments.”
“Patients who received cognitive enhancement therapy demonstrated significantly greater preservation of gray matter volume over 2 years in the left hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus, and significantly greater gray matter increases in the left amygdala….”
“Less gray matter loss…..significantly related to improved cognition and mediated the beneficial cognitive effects of cognitive enhancement therapy.”
“Cognitive enhancement therapy may offer neurobiologic protective and enhancing effects in early schizophrenia that are associated with improved long-term cognitive outcomes.”
S.M.Eack, et al
Neuroprotective effects of cognitive enhancement therapy against gray matter loss in early schizophrenia: results from a 2-year randomized controlled trial
Archives Of General Psychiatry…..Volume 67 #7……May 2010…..page 674 – 682

——-

cognitive behavioral therapy -vs- tinnitus……
“Tinnitus has a substantially negative impact on quality of life in up to 5% of the general population. Internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment has been shown to be effective in a few trials.”
“Patients with severe tinnitus-related distress were randomly assigned to therapist-guided internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment or to a moderated online discussion forum.”
“Using a randomized controlled trial design, we replicated prior findings regarding positive effects of internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment on tinnitus-related distress and associated symptoms. Implementing internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for tinnitus into regular health care will be an important next step to increase access to treatment for patients with tinnitus.”
C. Weise-Kleinstäuber
Internet-Delivered Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Tinnitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Psychosomatic Medicine — Volume 78 #4 — May 2016

———–

“The epidemic co-occurrence of chronic pain and opioid use has resulted in an expensive ($635 billion per year) and deadly (72,000 overdose deaths per year) problem in the United States.”
“Many individual studies and meta-analyses have demonstrated the efficacy of Cognitive Behavior Therapy for chronic pain and substance use disorders.”
“Cognitive Behavior Therapy can help alleviate suffering for patients who have chronic pain and use opioids with the hope of getting relief. The Cognitive Behavior Therapy therapist uses many strategies.”

by Allen R. Miller, Ph.D., MBA
Chronic Pain and Opioid Use: The Important Role of CBT Therapists

“…..potential sources of harassment include not just colleagues and supervisors, but also patients and their families. To highlight one statistic, as many as 50% of female medical students report experiencing sexual harassment.”
“Imagine a medical-school dean addressing the incoming class with this demoralizing prediction: “Look at the woman to your left and then at the woman to your right. On average, one of them will be sexually harassed during the next 4 years, before she has even begun her career as a physician.”
.
E.K.Choo, et al
Time’s Up for Medicine? Only Time Will Tell
New England Journal Of Medicine — Volume 379 #17 — October 25, 2018 — page 1592

.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1809351

“Prenatal maternal stress might be a risk for the developing fetus and may have long-lasting effects on child and adult vulnerability to somatic and psychiatric disease. Over-exposure of the unborn to excess glucocorticoids and subsequent alteration of fetal development is hypothesized to be one of the key mechanisms linking prenatal stress with negative child outcome.”

“In this prospective longitudinal study, mothers-to-be (405) in late pregnancy (36.8 ± 1.9 weeks of gestational age) and their singleton neonates were studied.”

“We investigated the impact of different prenatal stress indices derived from six stress variables (perceived stress, specific prenatal worries, negative life events, symptoms of depression, trait anxiety, neuroticism) and diurnal maternal saliva cortisol secretion on gestational age and anthropometric measures at birth.”
.
“Maternal prenatal distress during late gestation was associated with significant reduction in birth weight (−217 g), birth length (−1.2 cm) and head circumference (−0.8 cm).”
.
“Prenatal stress was modestly but significantly associated with altered diurnal cortisol pattern (flattened cortisol decline and higher evening cortisol), which in turn was significantly related to reduced length of gestation.”
.
“Prenatal stress is associated with flattened circadian saliva cortisol profiles and reduced infant’s anthropometric measures at birth. HPA system activity during pregnancy may be related to low gestational age. The effect of prenatal stress might be partly mediated by maternal-placental-fetal neuroendocrine mechanisms especially the dysregulation of diurnal cortisol profile.”
.
M.Gilles, et al
Maternal hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system activity and stress during pregnancy: Effects on gestational age and infant’s anthropometric measures at birth
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 94 — August 2018 — page 152

“The use of antipsychotic medication for the prevention of psychotic disorders is controversial. Long-chain omega-3 (omega-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may be beneficial in a range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia. Given that omega-3 PUFAs are generally beneficial to health and without clinically relevant adverse effects, their preventive use in psychosis merits investigation.”
.
“To determine whether omega-3 PUFAs reduce the rate of progression to first-episode psychotic disorder in adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 25 years with subthreshold psychosis.”
.
“Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between 2004 and 2007.”
.
“Psychosis detection unit of a large public hospital in Vienna, Austria.”
.
“81 individuals at ultra-high risk of psychotic disorder.”
.
“A 12-week intervention period of 1.2-grams/day omega-3 PUFA or placebo was followed by a 40-week monitoring period; the total study period was 12 months.”
.
“76 of 81 participants (93.8%) completed the intervention.”
.
“By study’s end (12 months), 2 of 41 individuals (4.9%) in the omega-3 group and 11 of 40 (27.5%) in the placebo group had transitioned to psychotic disorder”
.
“Long-chain omega-3 PUFAs reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20124114/?fbclid=IwAR17X6ancRZI5mu3irmUhtLkzD95WHBM0qP1UMzLXc0eOQk0CsGJXfApHGg

Great interview by facebook friend, Rhonda Patrick.
Based in San Diego, Rhonda & Dan Patrick own the Found My Fitness website containing info and interviews with some of the top researchers around the planet.
.
Final 30 minutes or so digs in pretty deep to where depression treatment will be once mental health folks get caught-up to where the research is and grant themselves permission to treat depression rather than medicate it.

https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/charles-raison?fbclid=IwAR0bJsxftVDcEvdZxln8z86idGA-WThOib1AZWuVhmlkYym944S48q2VgE0

“The epidemic co-occurrence of chronic pain and opioid use has resulted in an expensive ($635 billion per year) and deadly (72,000 overdose deaths per year) problem in the United States.”
“Many individual studies and meta-analyses have demonstrated the efficacy of Cognitive Behavior Therapy for chronic pain and substance use disorders.”
“Cognitive Behavior Therapy can help alleviate suffering for patients who have chronic pain and use opioids with the hope of getting relief. The Cognitive Behavior Therapy therapist uses many strategies.”

Chronic Pain and Opioid Use: The Important Role of CBT Therapists

“Traumatic experiences during childhood are considered a major risk factor for depression in adulthood.”
“Childhood trauma may induce physiological dysregulation with long-term effects of increased allostatic load until adulthood, which may lead to depression. Thus, our aim was to investigate whether allostatic load – which represents a multi-system measure of physiological dysregulation – mediates the association between childhood trauma and adult depression.”

“…..324 depressed inpatients participating in the Munich Antidepressant Response Signature (MARS) project and 261 mentally healthy control participants.”

“…..childhood trauma, i.e., physical and sexual abuse, as predictor variables and an allostatic load index comprised of 12 stress-related biomarkers….”

“….the influence of physical abuse, but not sexual abuse, during childhood on depression in adulthood was mediated by allostatic load. This effect was moderated by age: particularly young (18–42 years) and middle-aged (43–54 years) adults with a history of physical abuse during childhood exhibited high allostatic load, which in turn was associated with increased rates of depression, but this was not the case for older participants (55–81 years).”

“Results support the theoretical assumption of allostatic load mediating the effect of physical abuse during childhood on depression in adulthood.”

“This predominantly holds for younger participants, while depression in older participants was independent of physical abuse and allostatic load. The effect of sexual abuse on depression, however, was not mediated by allostatic load. Identifying allostatic load biomarkers prospectively in the developmental course of depression is an important target for future research.”

S.Scheuer, et al
Childhood abuse and depression in adulthood: The mediating role of allostatic load
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 94 — August 2018 — page 134

TheETG applied sport sciences
sport psychology
In the mid to late 1980’s when I coached high schoolers in cross-country and track, every 1 to 2 weeks I sent their parents a newsletter geared toward providing them with info and ways they could encourage, help, support, and/or cheer for their son or daughter.
Info in the study below is among the reasons why I did that. Parents can be a huge boost or a source of decline and burnout…….
.
“Motivational climate research has focused more empirical attention on coach-initiated motivational climate than on the parent-initiated climate.”
.
“In this study of 238 competitive swimmers (ages 9–14 years), we compared the strength of relations between athletes’ late-season perceptions of coach and parent-initiated climates and their self-esteem, performance anxiety, and intrinsic–extrinsic motivation.”
.
“…..analyses revealed that parent-initiated motivational climate was a significant predictor of late-season self-esteem, trait anxiety, and autonomous regulation over and above coach-initiated motivational climate.”
.
“We discuss when and why the parent-initiated climate is likely to be more influential and imply that more empirical attention to parents is warranted.”

[Iyanla Vanzant]—“Ladies who are in a hurry to find the right man or get married, remember a piece of Biblical advice. Ruth patiently waited for her mate Boaz. You must wait patiently for your Boaz and never settle for any of his relatives, Lyin-az, Cheatin-az, Dumb-az, Drunk-az, Cheap-az, Lazy-az, Lockedup-az, Goodfonuthin-az and especially his third cousin, Beatinyo-az. Make sure your Boaz respects Yo-az.”
.
[Iyanla Vanzant]—“Don’t stay in a relationship to avoid being alone. Stay in the relationship because it is your choice, not your only option.”

“Defining the environmental context in which genes enhance disease susceptibility can provide insight into the pathogenesis of complex disorders. We report that the intra-uterine environment modulates the association of schizophrenia with genomic risk (in this study, genome-wide association study–derived polygenic risk scores (PRSs)).”
.
“In independent samples from the United States, Italy, and Germany, the liability of schizophrenia explained by polygenic risk scores is more than five times greater in the presence of early-life complications compared with their absence.”
.
“Patients with early-life complications histories have significantly higher polygenic risk scores than patients without early-life complications histories, which is confirmed in additional samples from Germany and Japan. The gene set composed of schizophrenia loci that interact with early-life complications is highly expressed in placenta, is differentially expressed in placentae from complicated in comparison with normal pregnancies, and is differentially upregulated in placentae from male compared with female offspring.”
.
“Pathway analyses reveal that genes driving the polygenic risk scores-early-life complications interaction are involved in cellular stress response…..”
.
“We conclude that a subset of the most significant genetic variants associated with schizophrenia converge on a developmental trajectory sensitive to events that affect the placental response to stress, which may offer insights into sex biases and primary prevention.”
.
G.Ursini, et al
Convergence of placenta biology and genetic risk for schizophrenia
Nature Medicine — Volume 27 #6 — June 2018 — page 792
.
.
TheETG repair of brain cell overwork, overwhelm, “mental illness” —–
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGbrain.pdf

“Abnormalities within hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis might interact with other neurobiological systems to enhance the risk of psychosis.”
“More knowledge about how various stress components interact can advance understanding of the link between psychosis and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.”
.
“We examined 41 ultra high-risk patients and 40 antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophreniia patients and compared them with 47 matched controls. The Perceived Stress Scale and the Recent Life Events Questionnaire were used to assess the stress levels. Day-time saliva samples were taken to measure cortisol.”
.
“Only the ultra high-risk patients, had a higher cortisol increase just after awakening compared to healthy controls.”
.
“Symptom severity during the very early phase of illness ultra high-risk patients seems to be associated with altered cortisol increase. Longitudinal studies in ultra high-risk patients would be useful to examine how stress levels affect the course of the illness.”
.
D.Nordholm, et al
Multiple measures of HPA axis function in ultra high risk and first-episode schizophrenia patients
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 92 — June 2018

[Joyce Meyer]—“You can’t use your past as an excuse to stay that way. Take responsibility for your behavior today.”

[Joel Osteen]—“Your habits today will determine your future. Examine your life, take inventory of your behaviors, and when you find something that’s not right, be quick to change.”

[Iyanla Vanzant]—“Harmony means creating a life in which everything gives to and supports every other aspect of your life. It requires that your mind and heart, your work and play, your physical reality and spiritual reality enhance each other and add value to others.”

terms…..
— leukocytes = a type of immune system cells
— telomeres = things at the end of your DNA strands, their length is used to measure the rate of aging of certain cells
study…..
“Reduced leukocyte telomere length has been found to be associated with multiple common age-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. A link has also been suggested between shortened leukocyte telomere length and major depressive disorder, suggesting that major depressive disorder may be a disease of accelerated aging.”

“This prospective, longitudinal study examined the association between depression diagnosis at baseline and change in leukocyte telomere length over two years in a well-characterized sample of N = 117 adults with or without major depressive disorder at baseline, using rigorous entry criteria.”

“Participants aged 18–70….”

“Individuals with major depressive disorder at baseline had greater leukocyte telomere length shortening over two years than individuals without major depressive disorder, even after controlling for differences in age, sex, and body mass index.”

“A baseline diagnosis of major depressive disorder prospectively predicted leukocyte telomere length shortening over two years. Our results provide further support for major depressive disorder as a disease associated with accelerated aging……”
.
M.C.Vance, et al
Prospective association between major depressive disorder and leukocyte telomere length over two years
Psychoneuroendocrinology – Volume 90 – April 2018 – page 157

“The present study compares community-based minor-attracted persons with and without histories of sexual activity with children.”
“Minor-attracted actors (N = 342) were significantly older than non-actors (N = 223), with longer duration of pedophilic attraction, more antisocial traits, greater attraction to boys, greater difficulty controlling their attraction, and more positive attitudes toward adult-child sexual activity.:

“Additionally, more minor-attracted actors reported prior mental health treatment, nonsexual offenses, and childhood sexual and nonsexual abuse.”

“Over a third of the whole sample reported chronic suicidal ideation.”

“These findings support the existence of minor-attracted persons who successfully refrain from sexually engaging with children, identifying multiple protective and risk factors.”
.
L Cohen, N.Ndukwe, Z.Yaseen, I.Galynker
Comparison of Self-Identified Minor-Attracted Persons Who Have and Have Not Successfully Refrained From Sexual Activity With Children
Journal Of Sex & Marital Therapy – Volume 44 #3 – page 217
.
.
“The recurrent use of child sexual abuse images for sexual arousal is considered a valid indicator for the existence of a pedophilic preference, which in turn represents a significant risk factor for committing contact offenses against children.”

“Treatment programs for (potentially) sexually delinquent men endeavor to reduce the risk to offend by addressing relevant risk factors and emphasizing functional and socially acceptable alternative behaviors. Users of child sexual abuse images are a particular target group for prevention services and it has been suggested that the primary treatment focus should be on sexual self-regulation deficits.”
.
A.Konrad, T.Amelung, K.M.Beier
Misuse of Child Sexual Abuse Images: Treatment Course of a Self-Identified Pedophilic Pastor
Journal Of Sex & Marital Therapy – Volume 44 #3 – page 281

.

“…..associations between physical exercise and cognitive function across different age groups in a nationwide population-based sample of adults aged 18–79 years in Germany.”
.
“Cognitive function was assessed in the mental health module of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (2009–2012, n = 3535), using a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery.”
.
“Compared to no exercise, more weekly physical exercise was associated with better executive function….”
.
“Higher levels of physical exercise were associated with better executive function and memory in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses with no evidence for differential effects by age.”
.
B.Gaertner, et al
Physical exercise and cognitive function across the life span: Results of a nationwide population-based study
Journal Of Science & Medicine In Sport – Volume 21 #5 – May 2018 – page 489

Sunset meditation and evening walk along the Colorado river that bisects downtown Austin. Sunset meditation and evening walk along the Colorado river that bisects downtown Austin.
Production of brain neurotrophins, neuropeptides, immune system cells, etc, etc.
.
Hundreds of fellow residents large and small out on the trail in the evenings running, walking, baby strolling, etc. Makes Austin a great place to live.

[Today, by Beah Richards]
Today is ours
Let’s live it

Love is strong
Let’s give it

“Recently developed indices of cellular age based on DNA methylation (DNAm) data, referred to as DNAm age, are being used to study factors that influence the rate of aging and the health correlates of these metrics of the epigenetic clock. This study evaluated associations between trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and accelerated versus decelerated DNAm age among military veterans.”

“We also examined whether accelerated DNAm age predicted mortality over the course of a 6.5-year medical record review period.”

“339 genotype-confirmed white, non-Hispanic, middle-aged, trauma-exposed veterans underwent psychiatric assessment and genome-wide DNAm analysis.”

“Medical records were available for a subset of 241 veterans and were reviewed approximately 6.5 years after DNA collection and PTSD assessment.”

“PTSD hyperarousal symptoms were associated with accelerated DNAm age but trauma exposure and total PTSD severity were not. Accelerated DNAm age was also associated with 13% increased risk for all-cause mortality during the medical record review period.”

“Findings of this study replicate the association between PTSD and accelerated DNAm age and suggest that this effect may be specific to the hyperarousal symptom cluster.”

“Results point to the potential utility of DNAm age algorithms for identifying individuals who are aging at an accelerated rate and for determining the factors that influence this process.”

E.J.Wolf, et al
Accelerated DNA Methylation Age: Associations With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Mortality
Psychosomatic Medicine – Volume 80 #1 – January 2018 – page 42

Mind-Body medicine……
Mind-body medicine is founded on the basic principle that the brain controls or influences the function of all cells in the body by direct connection to them via the nervous system, or via chemical interaction via release of hormones or substances called neuro-peptides. Hence the importance of and awareness of the existence of mind-body medicine. And the importance of utilizing mind-body medicine and integrating into the practice of medicine in the United States.

TheETG mind-body medicine —–
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmindbodymed.pdf

“Poor omega-3 fatty acid status has been linked to anxiety in the general population…..”
“Whole blood samples were obtained from 54 female collegiate athletes and analyzed for fatty acids as a part of this cross-sectional observational study.”

“Both blood and dietary omega-3 fatty acid levels are associated with general but not sport-specific anxiety in female collegiate athletes during an off-season period. Randomized trials should be conducted to evaluate the effects of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on anxiety and mental toughness in athletes.”

P.B. Wilson, L.A.Madrigal
Associations among Omega-3 Fatty Acid Status, Anxiety, and Mental Toughness in Female Collegiate Athletes
Journal Of The American College Of Nutrition — Volume 36 #7 – 2017 – page 602

“…..coping strategies used by elite athletes in response to emotional abuse experienced within the coach–athlete relationship. The athletes in this study adopted emotion- and avoidance-focused coping strategies to manage their feelings in the moment that emotional abuse occurred.”

“Over time, athletes accessed support networks and engaged in sense making to rationalize their experiences. The potential of coping-level intervention to develop individual resources and to break the cycle of emotional abuse in sport is highlighted.”

“We suggest that as primary agents of ensuring athlete’s protection, sport psychologists need appropriate safeguarding training.”

E.Kavanagh, L Brown, I Jones
Elite Athletes’ Experience of Coping With Emotional Abuse in the Coach–Athlete Relationship
Journal Of Applied Sport Psychology – Volume 29 #4 – 2017 – page 402

“While few treatment options exist for low sexual desire and arousal, the most common sexual dysfunction in women, a growing body of research supports the efficacy of mindfulness-based approaches.”
“….we designed and pilot-tested an eight-session group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for sexuality (MBCT-S) program that includes more extensive practice of mindfulness skills and closely aligns with the evidence-based MBCT program for depression and anxiety. A total of 26 women (mean age 43.9, range 25 to 63) with a diagnosis of sexual interest/arousal disorder participated in eight weekly group sessions…”
.
“The majority of women attended all sessions and completed the recommended at-home mindfulness exercises.”
.
“Compared to baseline, women reported significant improvements in sexual desire, overall sexual function, and sex-related distress, regardless of treatment expectations, relationship duration, or low desire duration.”
.
“Depressed mood and mindfulness also significantly improved and mediated increases in sexual function. These pilot data suggest that eight-session MBCT-S is feasible and significantly improves sexual function….”
.
L.Q. P.Paterson, A.B.Handy, L.A.Brotto
A Pilot Study of Eight-Session Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Adapted for Women’s Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder
Journal of Sex Research — Volume 54 #7 — 2017 — page 850

UCLA free guided imagery, mindfulness medication online

http://marc.ucla.edu/mindful-meditations

.

TheETG repair of brain cell overwork, overwhelm, “mental illness” —–

http://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGbrain.pdf

“Empirical evidence suggests that power elicits a generic tendency to disregard advice. We examined different responses power holders may show in their tendency to take advice depending on the construal of power.”

“We report a field study and an experiment among managers and other powerful professionals and an experiment in which participants were assigned to a powerful role. Across studies, we found a higher tendency to take advice among those who construed their power as a responsibility rather than as an opportunity.”

“This effect of the construal of power on advice taking was mediated by a heightened perceived value of advice, not by decreased confidence in own judgments or sense of power. Accordingly, the increase in advice taking when power was construed as a responsibility was observed regardless of whether the advice came from subordinates, expert advisors, or a less powerful teammate.”

“This highlights the relevance of considering how power holders construe their power in order to understand their tendency to take advice from others.”

F.R.C. De Wit, et al
Whether power holders construe their power as responsibility or opportunity influences their tendency to take advice from others
Journal of Organizational Behavior — Volume 38 #7 — September 2017 — page 923

“Recent data suggest that ghrelin is involved in the pathophysiology of alcohol use disorders, affecting alcohol self-administration and craving.”

“Gastric ghrelin secretion is reduced by stomach distension.”

“In this randomized human laboratory study, we included 23 alcohol-dependent male inpatient subjects who underwent alcohol cue exposure. Participants of the intervention group drank 1000 ml of mineral water within 10 minutes directly thereafter, compared to the participants of the control group who did not.”

“In the intervention group, a significant decrease in acetylated ghrelin in plasma compared to the control group was observed.”

“This decrease was correlated to a reduction in patients’ subjective level of craving.”

“In the control group, no decrease of acetylated ghrelin in plasma and no association between alcohol craving and changes in plasma concentrations of acetylated ghrelin were observed.”

“Our results present new evidence that the modulation in the ghrelin system by oral water intake mediates the effects of volume intake with craving reduction in alcohol use disorders.”

A. Koopmann, et al.
Drinking water to reduce alcohol craving? A randomized controlled study on the impact of ghrelin in mediating the effects of forced water intake in alcohol addiction
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 85 — November 2017 — page 56

.

ETG info: addiction —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGreverseaddiction.pdf

Our Kindergarten thru college…educational system.
Is one where we blindly hope that millions of folks live in households where self-worth is synonymous with good grades, and thus everyone behaves accordingly in school regardless of curriculum content or quality of presentation.
— where we value grades, diplomas, and degrees over critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem solving ability

— Where we want you to read, acquire, and understand large quantities of information without teaching you learning skills [reading velocity, photographic memory, audio recording memory]

— Where we want you to sit at a desk for 6 hours a day though we know that physical activity is required for normal brain function in information acquisition, storage, and recall ability.

— Where most of the information we expect you to acquire is information you can use only on a trivia TV game show, and we’ll spend $Billions testing you on it and prepping you for those tests, and spend hours arguing about whether or not we should use the standardized tests and teach to those tests

— Where the cliché phrase, a “well rounded education” is a code phrase academicians use to put lipstick on a pig

— Where the letters “AP” are a badge of honor for teenager and parent that many colleges choose to ignore, not a class offering information you’ll need to know in life or on your future job

TheETG school curriculum —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/docum…/TheETGschoolcurriculum.pdf

TheETG academic training —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGLearning.pdf

Our country has reached a point where a number of folks on the FBI watch list have carried out attacks. A number of folks in counseling with a psychologist have carried out rapes, child molestations, spouse assault, etc, etc.
Obviously we’re not gonna fix these situations on the civil liberties side of things. That leaves the human psychology side.
The place that as a country we’ve been unwilling to go because “touchy feely” isn’t allowed here.
Therefore in our homes and at our schools we produce socially acceptable sociopaths at epidemic levels with no concern until somebody acts out. You need a license to drive to down the street to the corner store but only need a sperm and an egg to be a parent. And we’re ok with that.

Rage-aholics, molesters, serial rapists. Since we don’t understand the psychology [or don’t want to] we stamp it all as “its genetic”.

Stomp the feet, pump the fist, call somebody a low-life scumbag.
That is now officially the United States Of America’s stereotyped standardized response to the date rapist, the wife beater, the school shooter, the child molester, the serial killer, etc, etc.

Its the 21rst century.
Lets decide its ok to rap our brains around human psychology.
We don’t have to be know-nothings. Its the “information age” we know something.
Gotta be willing though to part ways with the Sigmun Freud, the prescription pad, the time-out and the spanking, slapping, yelling and enter the current century to do the teaching of real mental health and real parenting.
.
.
TheETG Model Of Understanding Serial Rapist, Serial Killer, Child Molester
https://theetgtrackclub.com/…/TheETGunderstandingserialrapek…

TheETG Parenting Packet
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGParentcoach.pdf

TheETG Human Psychology Packet
https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGpsychology.pdf

Major Mechanisms of a Functional Romantic Relationship

1. Stability, Security, Expectations

Commitment is a verb, reflected in one’s —–planned and purposeful actions—– to create…stability, secure attachment, and emotional security. Both people must be committed to making deposits and investments into each other, major withdrawls avoided. Identify and share up front, major principles and ideals that each person values and lives by. Several major values must be common to both people, and each person must commit and have integrity to the common value system. Discuss expectations each person has of the other, and there must be a commitment to meet reasonable expectations each person has of the other. Create an environment of unconditional attention, affection, and praise.

2. Self-Development

Invest in your own self-development. Accept the challenge and opportunity to become more powerful within yourself. Avoid seeking to use your relationship as a distraction from yourself. Choose to never pick your relationship partner based on his/her ability or willingness to be a co-conspirator or facilitator in you maintaining your weaknesses, faults, personal problems, etc.. And always remember, there can be no relationship, without friendship. If there can be no friendship without the relationship………this highlights something within yourself, and is most likely a large part of why the relationship will have difficulty. There should never be a time before, during, or after the relationship when one says….”We can’t be friends”….I can never see you again”..,,,,”I will never speak to you again.”

3. Resolving Conflicts

Commitment to logic, reason, and rationality as the highest priority during conflicts. Commitment to creating solution oriented win-win situations in solving conflicts. Show kindness and love…always….no matter what! Remember that love is a verb. Never repay, evil for evil. Always do what is good for building up yourself, and your relationship partner. Avoid entering the typical contest of seeing which person can hurt the other more, or which person can make the other more jealous. Avoid using “the silent treatment” to communicate. Letters or other written communications are usually best, in that they allow you to speak uninterrupted, and express everything you want to communicate. Speak directly. Avoid using sarcasm and statements intended to hurt or shame. Avoid using “put-downs” to defend your hurt. Speak openly and directly to the person about what you feel….. “especially” if you feel hurt or frustrated. Be strong by giving yourself permission to feel hurt by what the person has said and/or done.

.

TheETG mechanisms of functional romantic relationships —–

https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGromanticrelationships.pdf

 .

Today……by Beah Richards
Today is ours, let’s live it
And love is strong, let’s give it
A song can help, let’s sing it
And peace is dear, let’s bring it
The past is gone, don’t rue it
Our work is here, let’s do it
Our world is wrong, let’s right it
The battle hard, let’s fight it
The road is rough, let’s clear it
The future vast, don’t fear it
Is faith asleep? Let’s wake it
Today is ours, let’s take it
.

Was watching some of the shows accumulated on my DVR.
Heard this poem recited by mega-actor Lynn Whitfield at the end of her interview on one of my favorite shows on OWN called “Oprah’s Master Class”.

“Current evidence indicates that sexual differentiation of the human brain occurs during fetal and neonatal development and programs our gender identity—our feeling of being male or female and our sexual orientation as hetero-, homo-, or bisexual.”

“This sexual differentiation process is accompanied by many structural and functional brain differences among these groups.”

“The excellent imaging research of Ivanka Savic’s group in past years has provided strong evidence for structural and functional brain differences related to gender and sexual orientation. The study of these differences has emerged from an era of prejudice and fear such as I experienced 20 years ago.”

“Neurobiological research related to sexual orientation in humans is only just gathering momentum, but the evidence already shows that humans have a vast array of brain differences, not only in relation to gender, but also in relation to sexual orientation.”

D.F. Swaab
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences
Volume 105 #30 — 2008 — page 10273
.
.
“….brain research has revealed structural differences in the hypothalamus in relation to biological sex and sexual orientation.”
“Differences in size and cell number of various nuclei in the hypothalamus for homosexual versus heterosexual men have recently been reported in two studies. We have found that a cluster of cells in the preoptic area of the human hypothalamus contains about twice as many cells in young adult men as in women.”

“We have called this cluster the sexually dimorphic nucleus.”

.

ETG info: major social issues —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGSocialIssues.pdf

.

“Pregnant women’s placental gene expression differed by socioeconomic status.”
“Profiles of lower socioeconomic status women suggested immune activation and tissue immaturity.”

“Cord blood cells of low socioeconomic status newborns also showed indications of immaturity.”
.
G.E.Miller, et al
Maternal socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with transcriptional indications of greater immune activation and slower tissue maturation in placental biopsies and newborn cord blood
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity — Volume 64 — August 2017 — page 276

“Early life adversity is associated with a higher risk for diseases in adulthood.”
“Although the pathophysiological effects of Early life adversity are varied, there may be a unifying role for the immune system in all of the long-term pathologies such as chronic inflammatory disorders (autoimmune diseases, allergy, and asthma).”

“Recently, significant efforts have been made to elucidate the long-term effects Early life adversity has on immune function, as well as the mechanisms underlying these immune changes.”
.
“Besides the immune system, also the stress system and health behaviors are altered in Early life adversity.”
.
“We discuss probable underlying mechanisms based on epigenetic programming that could explain the Early life adversity immune phenotype and whether this is a direct effect of immune programming or an indirect consequence of changes in behavior or stress reactivity.”
.
“Understanding the underlying mechanisms will help define effective strategies to prevent or counteract negative Early life adversity-associated outcomes.”
.
M.M.C.Elwnspoek, et al
The effects of early life adversity on the immune system
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 82 — August 2017 — page 140

Nutrition Medicine 101
“…….double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial of nutritional
supplements on 231 young adult prisoners, comparing disciplinary
offences before and during supplementation.”

“That’s why its called a currency, its a current.
It runs through every life. Its like water.
Money is something that flows. And when we try to hoard it and hold onto it, just like water it becomes stagnant and toxic to those who hold onto it. No matter how much or how little money you have flowing through your life, when you direct that flow with soulful purpose, you feel wealthy. You feel vibrant and alive when you use your money in a way that represents you, not just in response to the market economy but also as an expression of who you are. When you let your move through things you care about, life lights up. That’s really what money is for.”
[Lynn Twist]

[terms…..hippocampus = area of the brain largely responsible for memory]
[terms…..hippocampal volume loss = loss of brain cells in the hippocampus]
[terms…..hippocampal volume loss is also called dementia, Alzheimer’s dementia, etc]

“Low socioeconomic position has been linked to an increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline…..This study examines the relationships between indicators of life-course socioeconomic position with both hippocampal volume and hippocampal volume loss in a population-based cohort of 1,328 older adults aged 65 to 80 years.”

“…..associations of socioeconomic position with baseline hippocampal volume and the annual rate of hippocampal volume atrophy….”
.
“Participants with lower midlife socioeconomic position had smaller hippocampal volume and faster hippocampal atrophy than participants with higher midlife socioeconomic position.”

“Childhood and early adulthood socioeconomic positions were not related to hippocampal measures.”

“The accumulation-of-risk and the social mobility models revealed that the accumulation of socioeconomic disadvantage and declining socioeconomic trajectories were related to faster hippocampal atrophy.”

“In this cohort of older adults, lower socioprofessional attainment in midlife and disadvantageous life-course socioeconomic position were associated with faster hippocampal atrophy, a cerebral change linked to cognitive disorders. Results support the hypothesized links between socioenvironmental exposures related to stress and/or cognitive enrichment and brain/cognitive reserve capacities.”

M. Elbejjani, et al
Life-Course Socioeconomic Position and Hippocampal Atrophy in a Prospective Cohort of Older Adults
Psychosomatic Medicine — Volume 79 #1 — January 2017 — page 14

Stephanie Zaza, MD, MPH, Laura Kann, PhD, Lisa C. Barrios, DrPH
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual AdolescentsPopulation Estimate and Prevalence of Health Behaviors
Journal Of The American Medical Association — Volume 316 #22 — December 13, 2016 — page 2355

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2544466

Mind-body medicine……
“Major depressive disorder is a stress-related psychiatric disorder. A subgroup of major depressive disorder patients is characterized by increased inflammatory activation. We aimed to investigate whether increased inflammation particularly occurs in major depressive disorder patients with a history of stressful early or later life experiences.”
.
“….in the subgroup of traumatized major depressive disorder patients, higher severity of childhood sexual abuse was associated with higher levels of both IL-6 and TNF-α in a linear fashion.”
.
“Our data suggest a linear relationship between childhood sexual abuse and increased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in major depressive disorder patients, while more recent stressful life events were not related to these inflammatory markers.
.
L.Grosse, et al
Cytokine levels in major depression are related to childhood trauma but not to recent stressors
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 73 — November 2016 — page 24

.

TheETG mind-body medicine —– https://theetgtrackclub.com/documents/TheETGmindbodymed.pdf

rat study on probiotics -vs- major depression……
“The gut microbiota has recently emerged as an important regulator of brain physiology and behaviour in animals, and ingestion of certain bacteria (probiotics) therefore appear to be a potential treatment for major depressive disorder.”
“We therefore aimed at investigating whether the habitual diet may interact with the effect of probiotics on depression-related behaviour and further examined some potentially involved mechanisms underlying the microbe-mediated behavioural effects.”

“Independently of diet, probiotic treatment markedly reduced depressive-like behaviour….”

“…..probiotic treatment skewed the cytokine production by stimulated blood mononuclear cells towards IFNγ, IL2 and IL4 at the expense of TNFα and IL6. In addition, probiotics lowered hippocampal transcript levels of factors involved in HPA axis regulation….”

“…..probiotics raised the level of indole-3-propionic acid, a potential neuroprotective agent.”

“Our findings clearly support probiotics as a potential treatment strategy in Major Depressive Disorder. Importantly, the efficacy was not attenuated by intake of a “Western pattern” diet associated with Major Depressive Disorder. Mechanistically, the HPA axis, immune system and microbial tryptophan metabolism could be important in this context. Importantly, our study lend inspiration to clinical trials on probiotics in depressed patients.”

A.Abildgaard, et al
Probiotic treatment reduces depressive-like behaviour in rats independently of diet
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 79 — May 2017 — page 40

“…..reduced gray matter volume in several cerebral areas and with cognitive performance decline in different cognitive domains.”
“Older adults showed less gray matter volume than younger adults within frontal, striatal, and cerebellar brain regions. In the group of older adults, significant correlations were found between striatal gray matter volume and memory performance and between prefrontal/temporal gray matter volume and executive functioning. The only direct overlap between brain regions associated with regional atrophy and cognitive performance in older adults was found for the right caudate: older adults showed reduced caudate volume relative to younger adults.”

“Moreover, caudate volume was positively correlated with associative memory accuracy in older adults and older adults showed poorer performances than younger adults in the respective associative memory task. Taken together, the current findings indicate the relevance of the caudate for associative memory decline…..”

E.Bauer, et al
The significance of caudate volume for age-related associative memory decline
Brain Research — Volume 1622 — October 5, 2015 — page 137

“…investigate whether high performance on college preparedness tests at 18 years of age can be predicted from brain activation patterns during narrative comprehension at 5–7 years of age.”

“In this longitudinal study, functional MRI data during an auditory narrative-comprehension task were acquired from 15 children (5–7 years of age) who also provided their American College Testing (ACT) scores at the age of 18 years.”

“Higher composite ACT scores and behavioral scores for reading comprehension were positively correlated with greater activation in frontal and anterior brain regions during the narrative-comprehension task.”
.
“Our results suggest that neural circuits supporting higher ACT performance are predictable from a narrative-comprehension task at the age of 5–7 years.”
.
“This supports a critical role for the anterior cingulate cortex, which is a part of the cingulo-opercular cognitive-control network early in development, as a facilitator for better ACT scores. This study highlights that shared neural circuits that support overall ACT performance and neural circuits that support reading comprehension both rely on neural circuits related to narrative comprehension in childhood, suggesting that interventions involving narrative comprehension should be considered for individuals with reading and other academic difficulties.”

T.Horowitz-Kraus, et al
Predicting better performance on a college preparedness test from narrative comprehension at the age of 6 years: An fMRI study
Brain Research — Volume 1629 — December 10, 2015 — page 54

[Journal Of The American Medical Association Sept 27, 2016]

“A simple type of psychotherapy known as behavioral activation is not inferior to the gold-standard cognitive behavioral therapy in reducing depression symptoms, found one of the largest trials of psychological treatment for depression to date. The authors also note that there may be a health care cost advantage to behavioral activation because it can be delivered by mental health workers with no formal training in psychological therapies.”

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2556121

Treatment of depression via body heating using infrared light sauna.
[from the Journal Of The American Medical Association]…….
“Heating the body to a state of mild hyperthermia created an antidepressant effect in people with major depressive disorder, according to a recent study. Raising participants’ core body temperature to 38.5°C significantly reduced depressive symptoms within 1 week of the intervention, and the effect was sustained for several weeks.”

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2536633

[from the Journal Of The American Medical Association]……
“The CDC’s call for nonpharmacologic approaches may serve to heighten clinician interest in nonpharmacologic strategies for managing chronic pain, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), commented Steven Stanos, DO, medical director for the Swedish Pain Services at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, and president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.”

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2524308

.

from TheETG……..Mind-body medicine is founded on the basic principle that the brain controls or influences the function of all cells in the body by direct connection to them via the nervous system, or via chemical interaction via release of hormones or substances called neuro-peptides. Hence the importance of and awareness of the existence of mind-body medicine. And the importance of utilizing mind-body medicine and integrating into the practice of medicine in the United States.

chronic stress, adrenalin receptors, & cancer cell proliferation…..
“Chronic stress accelerates metastasis – the main cause of death in cancer patients – through the activation of β-adrenoceptors (βARs).”
“….to investigate the contribution of β2-adrenoceptor signaling in tumor cells to metastasis in vivo, we used RNA interference to generate MDA-MB-231HM breast cancer cells that are deficient in β2-adrenoceptors.”
.
“These findings highlight a crucial role for β2-adrenoceptor tumor cell signaling in the adverse effects of stress on metastasis, and indicate that it may be necessary to block β2-adrenoceptors on tumor cells to fully control metastatic progression.”
.
A.Chang, et al
β2-Adrenoceptors on tumor cells play a critical role in stress-enhanced metastasis in a mouse model of breast cancer
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity — Volume 57 — October 2016 — page 106

cognitive behavioral therapy -vs- tinnitus……
“Tinnitus has a substantially negative impact on quality of life in up to 5% of the general population. Internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment has been shown to be effective in a few trials. The aim of our study was to investigate internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for tinnitus by using a randomized controlled trial.”

“Patients with severe tinnitus-related distress were randomly assigned to therapist-guided internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment or to a moderated online discussion forum.”
.
“Within-group effects for the internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment, from pretreatment to follow-up, were substantial in regard to tinnitus-related distress….”

stress hormones [glucocorticoids] & brain aging…….

"Elevated glucocorticoid levels putatively damage specific brain regions, which in turn may accelerate cognitive ageing. 
"In this study, 90 men, aged 73 years....."

"Significant associations between reactive cortisol at 73 and cognitive ageing differences between 11 and 73...."
.
"These data support the hypothesis that glucocorticoids contribute to cognitive ageing differences from childhood to the early 70s, partly via brain white matter structure."
.
S.R.Cox, et al
Does white matter structure or hippocampal volume mediate associations between cortisol and cognitive ageing?Original Research 
Psychoneuroendocrinology -- Volume 62 December 2015 -- page 129

essential fatty acids for concussion & brain injury……
“Traumatic brain injury…..remains a clinical challenge. Clinical studies thus far have failed to identify an effective treatment strategy.”
“……controlling aspects of neuroprotection, neuroinflammation, and neuroregeneration is needed.”
“Omega-3 fatty acids offer the advantage of this approach.”
.
“…..there is a growing body of strong preclinical evidence and clinical experience that suggests that benefits may be possible from aggressively adding substantial amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids to optimize the nutritional foundation of traumatic brain injury, concussion, and postconcussion syndrome patients.”
.
“Early and optimal doses of Omega-3 fatty acids, even in a prophylactic setting, have the potential to improve outcomes from this potentially devastating problem.”
.
“….Omega-3 fatty acids should be considered mainstream, conventional medicine, if conventional medicine can overcome its inherent bias against nutritional, nonpharmacologic therapies.”
.
M.D.Lewis, et al
Concussions, Traumatic Brain Injury, and the Innovative Use of Omega-3s
Journal Of The American College Of Nutrition — Volume 35 #7 — July 2016 — page 469

TheETG applied sport sciences
Concussions.
In the words of a few doctors working in the medical research portion of the U.S. government, as a country we do a poor job of disseminating and proliferating research information to doctors, as well as to the public. Estimates are that only about 15% of information that we acquire as a species from research gets disseminated. Most doctors don’t read research, and many resist information that contradicts strongly held beliefs.
Some research based information that we as a species have known for many years…….
One of the major mechanisms of long term damage to brain caused by repeated concussions is the production of things called oxidants that cause something called oxidative damage.Thus, avoidance of long term damage to brain from repeated concussions is a matter of anti-oxidant supply. As tends to be the norm in our popular culture in areas of cancer and heart disease, etc…on the subject of concussions, brain research and brain researchers specializing in nutrition medicine are being ignored. Logical, science based approaches to resolving such issues fail to attract the attention of the popular media, and people suffer as a result. Hence a commonly used slogan..”my people perish from a lack of knowledge.
.
Long term oxidant induced damage to brain cells is one of the major mechanisms of aging. Dramatically accelerated oxidant induced damage to brain cells caused by -very- high levels of stress, repeated concussions, or traumatic brain injury causes dramatically accelerated aging in brain cells. This kills them off by the million, a rate exceeds the rate of regeneration. Thus obviously the fix is to reduce the level of oxidants by supplying anti-oxidants. And at the same time, engage in activities and consume foods to elevate brain cell regeneration levels. Engaging in these for one or 2 months post-concussion will likely prove sufficient to resolve concerns of long term brain injury.
—– Consume foods and supplements to reduce oxidants……..
Consume at one time, the combination of these mixed berries…..strawberries– black berries– blue berries– raspberries– grapes
Consuming at one time, the combination of these 4 vegetables…..broccoli florets– chopped carrot– chopped romano tomato– chopped cucumber

The combination of these 4 anti-oxidant supplements….selenium [200mg]– beta carotene [25,000 IU]– vitamin E [400 IU]– vitamin C [500mg]
—– Consume other anti-oxidant supplements……..resveratrol [100mg]– n-acetyl-Cysteine [500 – 600mg]
—– Consume a gluthathione [anti-oxidant] producing probiotic……probiotic brand called “Reg’Activ”
—– Engage in activities to elevate brain cell regeneration levels…..autogenic relaxation– meditation– math problems [do in your head, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division

Exercise –vs– Antidepressants………
“Depression is common in patients with cardiac disease, especially in patients with heart failure, and is associated with increased risk of adverse health outcomes. Some evidence suggests that aerobic exercise may reduce depressive symptoms…..”

“Objective — To determine whether exercise training will result in greater improvements in depressive symptoms compared with usual care…..”

“The difference between the effect of a placebo and the effect of an anti-depressant is minimal for most people.”
“People get better when they take the drug, but its not the chemical ingredients in the drug that are making them better, its largely the placebo effect.”
Irving Kirsch [Associate Director Placebo Studies, Harvard Medical School]

60 Minutes segment….Treating Depression: Is there a placebo effect?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zihdr36WVi4

60 Minutes segment….The placebo phenomenona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fG4AXXMPXc

Personal Power

The most powerful people in this world, are not those who have power over others, but those who have mastery over themselves. You are not your social status, your bank account, your grades, or your job title. You are, above all else…..Powerful. You are in this world;

— to discover that

— to grow into living it

— to overcome the distractions from it

— and to help others do the same.

Love is power. Self-love is the root of Personal Power. Show kindness and love to yourself and others by aggressively pursuing self-improvement as a way of life. Improving yourself provides more things about yourself for you to value and hold in high esteem…..producing a more powerful self-image and higher levels of mastery over self. Self-improvement is a process of improving one’s thoughts, choices, behaviors, and actions. You can never say that you love yourself while you are unwilling or resistant to change and improve yourself.

The purpose of life is not to see how many personal problems we can choose to deny or do nothing about, or to see how many limitations we can set or accept for ourselves. The purpose of life is to grow into living your personal power. Fill your life, not with the distractions of substances, things, or shallow relationships, but with the shameless pursuit of self-change, improvement, and growth.

The true source of abundant happiness, is not outside yourself, but within. All of your possessions in this world are within you. What you….choose…..to do with them, is what life is all about. The instruction to “Preach to all nations the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”, is an instruction of Self-Change through the conscious, intentional, and aggressive pursuit of self-improvement.

“The universal human journey is one of becoming conscious of our power, and how to use that power.” [Carolyn Myss….Anatomy of The Spirit]

“The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.” [Stephen Covey….7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, page 123]

“Not that I have already obtained, or am already perfected, but I pursue.” [Apostle Paul….Phillipians 3:12]

Your 5 Outlets Of Power

— What you are

— What you do

— What you say

— What you give

— What you pray

“Many studies have confirmed the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for depression. This study explored the mechanism of cognitive behavioral therapy from the perspective of individuals’ problem-solving appraisal.”

“Findings supported the research hypothesis that the more individuals improved their problem-solving appraisal, the more their depression decreased.”

“Additionally, it was discovered that the poorer individuals’ problem-solving appraisal before the cognitive behavioral therapy, the more improvement they had on depression and problem solving appraisal after the cognitive behavioral therapy .”

“In sum, findings suggested that problem-solving appraisal might play an important part in cognitive behavioral therapy for depression reduction…..”

Szu.Y.Chen et al
The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on Depression: The Role of Problem-Solving Appraisal
Research on Social Work Practice……Volume 16 #5……September 2006…..page 500 – 510

Cognitive Behavior Therapy [CBT]

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy.

Tend to be the among the only treatments for depression, schizophrenia, and various forms of “mental illness” that address the underlying issues of brain cell loss. Arguably “mental illness” is due to brain cell loss. The drug approach focuses on neurotransmitters, ignoring the loss of brain cells that produce the neurotransmitters.

.

“The evidence base for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression is discussed…….identifies the need to deliver evidence-based psychosocial interventions and identifies cognitive behavioral therapy as having the strongest research base for effectiveness….”
G.Whitefield, et al
The evidence base for cognitive–behavioural therapy in depression: delivery in busy clinical settings
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment….Volume 9….2003…..page 21 – 30

.

“Depression is one of the most prevalent and debilitating of the psychiatric disorders. Studies have shown that cognitive therapy is as efficacious as antidepressant medications at treating depression, and it seems to reduce the risk of relapse even after its discontinuation.”

R.J.DeRubeis
Cognitive therapy vs. medications for depression: Treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms
Nature Reviews Neuroscience…..Volume 9 #10….October 2008….page 788 – 796