PSYCHIATRY lessons for high school students

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   Psychiatry Lessons For

   High School Students

 1.The 4 Best Ways To Protect

Your Child From Alzheimer's

Science says 98% of Alzheimer's are preventable

  What we know about Alzheimer's today that we did not know two decades ago?  Recent years have brought some surprising news: Alzheimer's is a chronic degenerative illness that is often a complication of many treatable conditions. 
   Alzheimer's is brain death. It's no different than how our hearts function and die. If you have high blood pressure kidney disease diabetes they may lead to heart attacks and death. The same is true for our brain. Below is my list for prevention.

1.     Avoid head injuries. Do not let your children participate in any sport that risks concussions or any kind of head trauma. Even one punch or a soccer ball striking a fragile brain is harmful. The more traumas the greater the risk. Let's learn from NFL players and boxers.

2.     Always maintain healthy blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol .

3.     Actively prevent and treat anxiety, excessive worry depression, psychosis sleep apnea ,chronic pain. They all cause slow brain degeneration.

4.     Physical fitness: Exercise alone is not enough. You must be fit. This generally means pulse rate 65 or below and body temperature 36 C or below (rectal c).

2.The 4 Best Ways To Teach

 Children When To Lie

science says most adults lie occasionally or more often

Biology teaches us that living things often engage in deception. This is as true for  unicellular organisms as well as more complex complex creatures such as humans. The more intelligent and the more complex and organism the more sophisticated and the more profound the gains from deception.      Just imagine how much we would have suffered if FDR had not baited and outsmarted the Japanese Air Force at Pearl Harbor. FDR's brilliance was his conviction that unless Americans felt the ravages of war there would be no American participation. The second world war offered many examples of deception. Hitler lied to Stalin and invaded Russia. Stalin lied to FDR and massacred 10,000 Polish officers who had surrendered. Gen. LeMay lied to Pres. Truman and without Truman's authorization dropped the second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki. After the war Alan Dulles then the CIA director lied to Pres. Eisenhower to sabotage the  scheduled dialogue between the world leaders. Alan  Dulles also lied to JFK and was responsible for the Bay of Pigs  fiasco.

    Nixon lied  and had to resign.  Bill Belicek got caught at least once for cheating. Did not lose his job.Neither of them  was faced with military conflict.
 How about our ordinary lies of calling mentally ill homeless?
Here is my list of what to teach children about lies.

1.Lies are part of life . Lies are  evolutionary tools for survival.

2. White lies are expected to be harmless to others . It is intended to protect another human being. Many physicians routinely lie to terminally ill patients.

3 .Covering up a lie is as common  as lying.

4. Lying doesn't  mean lack of integrity . People lie for many reasons.  NBC anchor Brian Williams hurt himself  did not hurt anybody.

3. The 4 Best Ways Preparing Your Child For A Racist  World . Evolution And Racism

science says racism is in our DNA

     What many of us may not appreciate about racism is its connection to our DNA.
   As we living things have evolved we have developed   more complex and more intelligent brains.      Human brain has all the signature traits of evolution . Its architecture mimics the evolutionary tree with the  vestiges of our mammalian ancestors well represented in the limbic brain . Our fight -flight responses are regulated by hippocampus hypothalamus and amygdala. They remain  active in our brain under the  governing influence of the prefrontal cortex brain,  the brain region right beneath forehead.

  In the jungle it's natural to fight or flee living things that are of different color, shape ,smell , motion. Animal brain reacts quickly. It's either a positive or a negative response. That's why it is  natural for  us to be more easily unnerved by strangers who are  different than us.
Am I a racist just because my chest tightens up for a nano second when I walk by an African-American at night.?It is true that once I  felt ashamed of myself and proud that I did not yield   to  my  fearful genes by avoiding a black man.

   A  visceral response  is different  than  consistent acts or pattern of hostile or avoidant behavior toward any group with different psychological or biological markers.  Almost always instinctual responses are signs of life  They are our DNA , they are our roots. No reason for shame. No logic to deny their existence. Thank God our PFX could govern them. Here is my list.

Teach your child

1.     Darwin and evolution

2.     Human brain

3.     Hitler,Talat Pasha

4.     Cerebrogenocide

4.The 4 Best Ways Of Preventing Your Child From Becoming Homeless

science says the great majority of all homeless are mentally ill

   English language is rich with confusing words such as homelessness.

    Science says the great majority of homeless are victims of brain disorders .  To identify them as homeless is harmful because it leads to not very intelligent solutions.

   People with broken brains need brain help. Of course they need food and shelter but the primary goal for any intervention should not be food or physical safety. Homeless veterans can teach us a lot about what's wrong with with our current approach. Homeless veterans  have serious brain injuries. Some of it has to do with combat but not all.

 Fragile minds who join the armed services will have a greater likelihood of becoming mentally ill under stress. The structure and the education that the armed services offer attract more people with greater socioeconomic challenges and often with bigger brain problems. So it's not surprising that so many veterans end up homes. Here is my list.

1.     Prevent brain injuries. Do not lead your child participate in any export where head shots are allowed.

2.     Identify mental problems . To not mislabel them as homelessness.

3.     Educate your child, nurse, Dr. and politician about brain disorders.

4.     Help  ban boxing.

5. The 4 Best Ways Of Mastering

Fear Of Public Speaking , Flying

science says they come from your rabbit brain

    Recent advances have suggested that in general most phobias -public speaking or flying- are caused by faulty brain wiring in our rabbit brain.  Or in Amygdala ,hypothalamus hippocampus that mediate our stress responses.

    Just imagine a rabbit in an open field. That's how your rabbit brain responds to your getting ready to speak before a crowd. Your rabbit brain warns you ,you're vulnerable.  The rabbit reminds you that you are in an open field with many unknown or invisible enemies. Regardless of what your prefrontal cortex – your Homosapien brain – tells you, you're still under siege because of messages from your rabbit brain.

  Not to run, not to panic not to faint you need to comfort  your rabbit brain and reassure him that he is safe . Here's my list for treatment.

1.   Educate yourself about your brain and your rabbit brain.

2.   A glass of wine or smoking weed may calm your rabbit brain. Travel with someone who knows how to deal with numerous pets or kids. Sorry you can't do this for public speaking.

3.   High schoolMany medications that calm the rabbit brain may be of help.  Xanax (alprazolam) can be very effective and used on PRN or as necessary basis .SSRIs (Prozac, Paxil ,Celexa) must be taken regularly to be effective. Beta blockers (Inderal etc) could also help and be taken as necessary.

4.   Short-term therapy  with a therapist willing to be with you  initially when you enter the war zone.

6.The 4 Best Ways To Improve ADD

science says ADD is both a natural gift and a handicap

   Our brain has different parts. When the prefrontal cortex- the brain region right beneath forehead- is less than perfect then ADD is born. Of course the underlying causes are multiple, some genetic and some acquired. The most common cause is damage is from injuries that harm the prefrontal cortex. Any concussion even as harmless as a soccer ball striking  a fragile brain may trigger a chain of events that would compromise prefrontal cortex function.

   The prefrontal cortex is the ultimate boss of human behavior. Any weakness exacerbates problems with concentration ,attention and impulse control. People with ADD are prone to impulsive behavior, creativity and spontaneous acts partly because their prefrontal cortex do not have total mastery over their rabbit brain – amygdala hypothalamus hippocampus – that mediate our stress responses.

 In essence when phylogenetically the youngest brain region, the smartest, the homosapien advantage over more ancient brain regions ADD. With age most of us become ADD because of a less efficient prefrontal cortex. Dopamine is the fuel of prefrontal cortex. It's understandable that dopamine also activates the rabbit brain. This may explain some of the complications from medications that increase dopamine such as  Adderall  and Ritalin. Here is my list.

1.     Prevent head injuries. Ban boxing. Eliminate  any  sport  that promotes head shots . Even one is too many.

2.     Medications that increase dopamine in prefrontal cortex are effective. There is theoretical reason to think TMS that could precisely target prefrontal cortex may be of help. Current technology lacks MRI guided systems.

3.     Avoid any therapy that involves groups and lots of talking. They make things worse.

4.     Tutoring and individualized pharmacotherapy sensitive to other coexisting conditions are of essence.

7.The 4 Best Ways To Protect Your Child From

Alcohol And Drug Abuse

Science says all substance abuse problems or complications of other brain disorders

Thanks to the advances in neuroimaging technologies we know today that substance overuse problems develop as complications of often unrecognized

brain dysfunction.  Traditional psychiatry does not differentiate between disease and disease complication and instead defines them as comorbid conditions . Sadly millions of people  with underlying brain disorders are  misdiagnosed as suffering from  substance abuse and receive  inappropriate treatment. Below is my list for prevention.

1.     Avoid head injuries. Do not let your children participate in any sport to risk concussions for any kind of head trauma. Even one punch or a soccer ball striking a fragile brain is a harmful. The more Tom was the greater the risk. The four best ways Let's learn from NFL players and boxers.

2.     Actively diagnose and treat anxiety, excessive worry, compulsions ,depression and chronic pain. They all lead to substance abuse. And worse their traditional treatments with AA and NA cause more damage than help.

3.     Teach responsible drinking from an early age on. Do not ban  alcohol. Help  kids learn how to drink and how to pace. Teach them the connection between brain function and blood alcohol concentration. Help your public officials politicians and most importantly the good people of law reinforcement learn more about brain disorders.

4     Dismiss misinformation  from the Department of Justice,, DEA CDC and unscientific groups such as AA ,NA that promote interventions that are not based upon evidence-based medicine.

8.The 4 Best Ways To Prevent Your Child From Becoming A Terrorist Mass Murderer

Science says most killers suffer from treatable brain disorders

In the past half-century we have learned a lot about suicidal killers or mass murderers . Thanks to the advances in neuroimaging technologies we know that in general young adults or people who commit violent crimes suffer from  specific abnormalities that influence their behavior. And in general their shared brain dysfunction involves the prefrontal cortex is specific brain region beneath forehead. Below is my list for prevention:

1.   Avoid head injuries. Do not let your children participate in any sport that risks concussions are a kind of trauma. Even one punch on a soccer ball striking a fragile brain is harmful. The more brain injuries ,the greater the risk. Let's learn from NFL players and boxers.

2.   Actively prevent and treat anxiety, excessive worry, depression, psychosis, sleep apnea and chronic pain. They all  cause brain damage.

3.   Dismiss government propaganda or unscientific reports from the department of justice, DEA, CDC, AA or NA as substance abuse causing mental illness or terrorism.

4.   Spend time with your kids. Listen to them. Do not give them advice. Try to understand them. Engage in a dialogue.  Treat them, the same way  you  should deal with a sick puppy.

  

9.The 4 Best Ways To Treat Depression

Evidence-based medicine says most Depressions are complications of often undiagnosed brain disorders.

  

Recent studies elucidated the governing influence of prefrontal cortex in the pathogensis and treatment of depression. Of importance is the discovery that in general depression is a complication of many other brain conditions. Even the worst genetically inherited depressions the original defect is amygdala dysfunction with heightened sensitivity to fear and stress. Treating depression means normalizing prefrontal cortex function. The brain region right beneath fohead. The anatomical regions # 8,9,10,42 are crucial to maintain normal executive function and mood. Below is my list of treatment.

1.    Physical fitness: maintain the best possible physical fitness to enhance improved oxygenation of prefrontal cortex.

2.    Recognize and treat the underlying regional brain injury. Chronic pain, sleep apnea,  excessive worry, chronic stress ,cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, strokes are the most common culprits.

3.    Increase exposure to sunlight. With caution  may use tanning machines.

4.    TMS especially if it's targeted properly and precisely (MRI assisted technologies) are the safest and most effective treatment. One drawback  for current TMS efficacy is lack of precision in targeting  PFX.