Let's say a guy named Fred is attracted to a woman named Martha. He asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, and again they enjoy themselves. They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else. And then, one evening when they're driving home, a thought occurs to Martha, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: "Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?" And then, there is silence in the car. To Martha, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself: I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he's been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn't want, or isn't sure of. And Fred is thinking: Gosh. Six months. And Martha is thinking: But, hey, I'm not so sure I want this kind...
Think about what it would be like to spend most of your time alone because being around other people is just too difficult. You feel that others are judging you for your mental illness, and so you are scared to face the world. You withdraw to avoid this stigmatization. This social withdrawal is emotionally very costly. But this is a two-way street — the mentally ill withdraw from society–society withdraws from them. An Australian survey reported that two-thirds of people affected by a mental illness feel lonely “often” or “all of the time”. The research says in contrast, just 10 percent of the general population reported feelings of loneliness. (1) Social relationships are important for anyone in maintaining health, but for the mentally ill it is especially important. People with mental illness value contact with family. But families may be unwilling to interact with their mentally ill family member. Social isolation is also sometimes due to the unwillingness of others to b...
Although pregnancy is a normal, healthy state, changes that occur in an expectant mother’s body can produce a range of relatively minor but troublesome ailments. Many symptoms are a result of high levels of placental hormones in the mother’s circulation (mainly oestrogen and progesterone), but as pregnancy progresses the increasing size of the fetus produces physical stresses on the body that can also give rise to uncomfortable symptoms. Losing weight this early is not uncommon, and in a few weeks things will begin to shift in the other direction. You may also be experiencing other early pregnancy symptoms. The value of the signs and symptoms of pregnancy and of the pregnancy diagnostic test as predictors of pregnancy was estimated for 1,592 women seen in general practice. The presence of a sign or symptom alone is a poor pointer to a diagnosis of pregnancy. The combination of pairs of features improves the value, the best being breast signs combined with either the presence of sig...
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