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| HEALTH & FITNESS |
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The best way to treat mental health problems
How diet helps in having healthy eyes
Safe blood can save thalassaemics
Health Notes iPods increase doctors'
stethoscope skills
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The best way to treat mental health problems Traditionally, a GP with a patient suffering from emotional distress would offer medication or, if available, a referral to a psychologist for a talking therapy. For many people, the clichéd image of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is that of a patient lying on a couch being encouraged to talk about their mother. In the 1980s, talking therapies took a different turn as scientific trials - as rigorous as those used for new medications - indicated that shorter-term treatment could be as effective as conventional analysis. Instead of dwelling on the past, patients were encouraged to find more balanced perspectives from which to view their negative and self-limiting thinking. They were also offered support in structuring activities in order to become more active and participate in life more fully. This combination therapy was called cognitive (thinking) behavioural (action) therapy, also known as CBT. Despite the marked differences between analytic and cognitive therapy, meeting with your therapist weekly was expected and uncontroversial, until now. Today, however, when you visit your GP suffering from anxiety or depression, you might not get to see a therapist at all. A new development in psychological treatment potentially removes the need for one-to-one sessions in a process called "stepped care". This simply means that you enter treatment at the level appropriate to the severity of your problems. If, for example, you are feeling low but have few debilitating symptoms, you might be offered a "book referral scheme", whereby appropriate self-help literature is recommended. You might also be offered "guided self-help", where someone with a brief training in CBT can help you identify goals and direct you to source material and activities that can help you recover more quickly than if left to your own devices. You could also be offered a six-week computerised CBT package, often in your local library or health centre. But - in none of these initial interventions - would you see a trained psychologist at all. If, and only if, your problems are complex enough to warrant it, will you receive a talking therapy from a mental-health professional. Again, the aim is to keep treatment in the community, so you are likely to see a psychologist or counsellor attached to a GP practice for an average of six sessions. Training psychologists is expensive and there are not enough of them to meet the public's reasonable expectation of receiving psychological help when they need it most, which is when they ask for
it.
— The Independent
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How diet helps in having healthy eyes “ “Doctor what should my child eat so that his eyes remain healthy and he won’t get any glasses? Both of us are having glasses!” Everybody wants to have bright and twinkling eyes. Eyes are the windows to our body and soul. They give us clues about our overall health. One should have a complete and balanced diet to have good health. That should involve carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins. Antioxidants are substances which clear or prevent the bad effects of free radicals formed in the body. Free radicals are formed in the body as a byproduct of normal body chemical reactions. These free radicals cause damage to the body cells. In the eyes, they may lead to cataract formation and macular degeneration. There are foods which are sources of antioxidants which act as filters to protect the retina and lens inside the eye from damage. Antioxidants that protect the eye include Vitamin A, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E. A simple good diet rich in antioxidants helps in slowing down age-related changes. Research has shown that they prevent such changes in about 25 per cent cases. Antioxidant-rich foods include:
Vitamin A deficiency is a major cause of preventable blindness in children the world over and still remains a problem in the developing countries. In India alone, there are over 200,000 children blinded from this condition. It most commonly occurs in children during three to six years of age. So, its prevention is the best management done at the personal level. We should ensure that our child eats lots of green vegetables and fruits, and drinks a glass of milk everyday to keep himself away from Vitamin A deficiency. The early signs of a disease are often seen in the eyes before they can be found in other parts of the body. We hardly realise the importance of our eyes, needed to see this beautiful world. We take our eyes for granted and fail to ensure their proper care. The harsh reality is that we take care only after the damage is done. The writer is Chairman and Medical Director, Centre for Sight, New Delhi. Email: msachdev@bol.net.in
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Safe blood can save thalassaemics The outlook for life in thalassaemic major has changed remarkably. Prognosis is clearly related to the treatment in the form of a high transfusion programme and the adequacy of chelation therapy. Patients are now surviving into their third and fourth decade and beyond and some have married and have children. Most patients with the classic form of B-thalassaemic major, who do not undergo stem cell transplantation, require transfusions from the first six months of the life if they are to survive. However, if a regular transfusion regimen is not established early, the classic picture of severe untreated B-thalassaemia develops. It has become a must to screen the parents so that the children do not develop thalassaemia. Nowadays we are giving leucoreduced packed cells to the affected children and this has minimised the rate of transfusion reaction. We have seen that the children who have received transfusion from outside hospitals are at a risk of developing hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV infections. So, it is a must to screen these children and give them safe blood transfusion. That is why our motto is “Safe Blood, Economy of Blood, Proper Utilisation.” The writer is Professor & Head, Dept. of Transfusion Medicine, DMCH, Ludhiana
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Health Notes Because the caffeine in coffee and other foods can cause a short-term spike in blood pressure, there’s been concern that coffee drinking may over time raise the risk of high blood pressure. Studies, however, have come to inconsistent conclusions. In the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that healthy women who drank upwards of six cups of coffee per day were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure over the next decade. — Reuters
High-fat diet may raise
breast cancer risk NEW YORK: A large study of middle-age women with a wide range of fat in their diet shows that eating a high-fat diet raises the risk of developing invasive breast cancer. The findings, reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, stem from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, in which 188,736 postmenopausal women reported detailed information on their diet in the mid-1990s. During an average follow-up of 4.4 years, 3501 women developed breast cancer. Based on responses to a 124-item “food frequency” questionnaire, researchers found that women who got 40 per cent of their calories from fat had about a 15 per cent increased risk of developing breast cancer compared with women who got 20 per cent of their calories from fat. — Reuters
Job strain increases obesity risk New York: Being stressed out at work can make you fat, a new study suggests. The more job strain men and women reported, the more likely they were to become obese, Dr Eric J. Brunner of the Royal Free and University College London Medical School and colleagues found. Higher stress levels were also tied to excess fat around the middle which is particularly harmful for health. Chronic stress has been linked to heart disease and the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of symptoms, including excess belly fat that increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Brunner and his team note. They hypothesised that job stress might make people more likely to develop obesity during adulthood as well. — Reuters
Multi-drug resistant
TB hits the rich The multi-drug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, which is resistant to two most powerful first-line drugs available, has now been detected in most countries and could be found in high levels in China and parts of the former Soviet Union, according to experts. Contrary to common belief, they say tuberculosis has not been wiped out but is killing 5,000 people per day, helped by the spread of highly drug-resistant strains in countries ranging from thsoe in the east and south of Africa to industrialised countries.
— PTI
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iPods increase doctors' stethoscope skills WASHINGTON: A study at the Temple University has revealed that listening to heart beat sounds on an iPod improves physicians' stethoscope skills significantly. Intensive listening sessions of at least 400 times to each heart sound, significantly improved the stethoscope abilities of doctors. During a single 90-minute session, 149 general internists listened 400 times to five common heart murmurs including aortic stenosis, aortic regurgitation, mitral stenosis, mitral regurgitation and innocent systolic murmur. Previous studies have found the average rate of correct heart sound identification in physicians is 40 per cent. After the session, the average improved to 80 per cent. "It's important to know when to order a costly echocardiogram or stress test, plus, internists are now tested on this skill for board recertification. Requirements for residents and other specialists are sure to follow," investigator Michael Barrett, M.D., clinical associate professor of medicine and cardiologist at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital. According to Barrett, listening to the heart, known as cardiac auscultation, is a technical skill and is best learned through intensive drilling and repetition, not by traditional methods, usually a classroom lecture or demonstration in medical school and then on the job. "You don't build this proficiency by osmosis," Barrett said. He foresees a day in the near future when doctors are listening to heart sounds during their work commute. "There are two times when a busy practitioner can learn a new skill: at professional meetings and during their work commute," observed Barrett. Barrett advised the American College of Cardiology to make the CDs car-friendly and about the length of an average commute. — ANI
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You are probably unaware that a revolution is occurring in the way in which you will receive psychological therapy if, unfortunately, you become one of the many people who will suffer from anxiety or depression. This revolution is not of the velvet variety, with everyone in agreement that "things must change" to meet the exponential demand placed on psychological services. Instead, it is exciting passions, anger and schisms among mental-health professionals across the country. 
New York: Coffee lovers who are in good health may have little reason to cut back, at least as far as their blood pressure is concerned, a new study suggests.
UNITED NATIONS: In a development that is worrying medical experts, highly drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, once considered affecting only poor nations in Africa, have spread to industrialised and rich countries, including Italy and the United States.