Ancient Egypt at the Museum of archeology, Madrid

This relief of a young naked man in polychrome on limestone, 2543- 2000 BCE - Old Kingdom. Religions to the ancient Egyptians were full of life, ethics politics.and included worship, prayer, piety, faith and ritual.

 The ancient Egyptians had many cultural influences and this is how they depicted the Syrians, Nubians, Asians and the Egyptians in their art work. 

Head of a woman in pink granite.

 Relief of men pulling a rope, 2100-1940 BCE from Herakopolis

Snake decoration from Nag Gamus, 300 BC.

Amulets were related to the gods, 
were protective
reflected similarities
celebrated power and
protected property. Here are some ivory amulets which were to protect the sleeping child.  They scared off the evil genies and venomous animals. 

People did not directly participate in the state religion as they were excluded.  They had private worship, with their gods who controlled fate. 

 This is the false door in tomb. The dead could see through the door and see what tributes, food had been brought whereas the people could not see through the door into the tomb. This one is from Herakopolis, 2100-1940 BCE.

 TO Shabti box, containing the shabti or models of humans to help in tasks during the voyage to eternity. 1292-1191 BCE from Thebes.

Amun. ' You alone created all things'.

 The household god, Bes, an amulet which was placed in the house shrine, especially for pregnant women and childbirth. Made of faience, glass with copper glaze. 664-322 BCE. 

Isis and Osiris.

 An offering table for sacrifices. 

 A Canopic jar for the internal organs of the Mnevis bull at Heliopolis, 664-332 BCE.

 The Mummy in the sacophagus, covered in the scrips from the Book of the Dead.

 Sistrum, 664-332 BCE.

Herakopolis tomb wall relief, 2100-1940 depicting people bringing food, meals for the dead. 

 The scarab or dung beetle, 1539-1077 BCE with 2 figures of Bes in the act of worship before the lotus flower with hippopotamus at the bottom. This protected the family and scared away demons. 

Osiris

 A basket of seeds 1539-1077 BCE. This was an offering of food for the deceased 

Snake decoration on a cup, 300 BCE. 

Community survery for children and mental health

The release of the community suvery conducted by Headspace
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-07/landmark-youth-mental-health-survey/6679320
shows significant mental health problems for children and young adults goes undetected.
It should not be a suprise that children and young people suffer from various mental illnesses, because they are the same as adults- except they have special developmental needs, are disenfranchised, dependent, lack cognitive ability to identify their problems and lack services to address their needs.
Hopefully the survey will open the way to further research, understanding of needs and treatment options available.
Children need special assessment as their probelms iact on their siblings, family, friends, school/education and future progress. Help should be timely or the impact is long lasting. Developmental characteristics need to be taken into account. Treatment should be less medication skewed, although there are good medications available for children, in paediatric doses.
Many children suffer from their parents mental and physical illnesses. They also suffer when marital problems occur. Bullying, educational pressures, social pressures and social skills are all important aspects of understanding children's needs.
See your doctor for help.

National Heart Foundation

Lets keep it positive.
The Hear Foundation, has issued a report, says the journalists
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/five-queensland-regions-the-fattest-in-the-nation/6441968?WT.ac=statenews_qld
The CPI, Couch Potato Index, and fattest, least healthy geographical area in Australia is... and an ill defined region is nominated for this dubious award. This is as scientific as the research that shows how likely you are to develop breast cancer, depending on the suburb you live in. This seems to imply causation. Easily the answer is to move.
Sad journalism for maximum impact. Poor research for shaming people.
Surely if you want to do something about the cardiac, diabetes, overweight problems of the country, you reinforce the positives. What is the best way to be healthy? How can you incorporate exercise and healthy food into your regimes. Lets have some good stories and role models, not underweight obsessional people verging on an eating disorder telling us how good they are.
The results of the Norm advertisements twenty odd years ago show how the negative press backfires, Norm was a couch potato and became a national hero.
The research tells us that our body shape, size, colour, function is genetically pre-ordained. Research also tells us that the abundance of food is to blame, just as the lack of food is to blame in other countries for lack of nutrition.
The lack of exercise is not a blameworthy issue. It is a function of society. While some people are obsessed, they run the risk of sudden death, hit by a car, mugged or raped, where are these statistics to balance the whole story?
I challenge the huge politically motivated discussion about health and diet, exercise, food and social factors to provide evidence, a balanced approach and to be respectful of people. 

Brain and Gut

It has been long known that stress and duodenal ulcers are somehow related. Diabetes, Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, reflux oesophagitis, gastritis, irritable bowel syndrome and various bowel cancers have also been linked to anxiety and depression. The mechanism always seemed obscure. Psychotherapy and medications often treat these bowel complaints
Research has looked at bowel flora, the germs that live in our gut, with interesting links to brain function. This has led to recent 'poo' transplants being used in limited situations and some early studies have used probiotics as preventative treatments for PTSD in animal models. Keightley, Koloski & Talley from ANU Medical School recently reviewed the evidence for gut-brain pathways of communication (Keightley PC, Koloski NA & Talley NJ, 20015, Pathways in gut-brain communications: Evidence fr distinct gut-brain and brain-gut syndromes,  Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 49 (3) pps 207-214).
Although there are many pathways of communication proposed between gut and brain, the evidence is still lacking for full understanding. Hopefully it will provide a rich area for future research and simple treatments for a variety of psychiatric and gastro-enterological illnesses.
Perhaps ' you are what you eat' has many deeper meanings than we see at first glance.

Domestic violence

The news seems to have related a huge increase in domestic violence, especially murder, la crime passioanlle of late. This is only one phase of the cycle, albeit dramatic and tragic.
What happens to the children and how will they cope? They lose both parents. How will they learn about love, communication and anger management or will they create the intergenerational progress of this problem? How to help the perpetrator cope, learn, move on in life.
Most of these families have been dealing with the problem for many years. How can love for a partner turn to fear and then loathing. At what time do you realise that love will not fix all problems and the idyll of romance is not as it should be? When to support and when to cut and run? Protection of children versus giving them the right to know their parents becomes such a subjective matter that the Courts have to make decisions over.
How much of this private space should be aired in public? Is one ever safe?
I have seen many perpetrators of domestic violence realise that they have a problem and seek help. They have turned their lives around and learn valuable skills for their future. Sometimes too late for their marriage or relationships with family, friends and children. Of course there are many who do not see that they have a problem, will not seek help and remain a danger.
May I suggest that getting help early avoids total breakdown and tragic ends.
May I suggest good communication learning early in life, throughout a relationship and when a problem arises. Relationships can be fragile but they are the cornerstone of our society.

Alcohol tragedy

A young lady went out for a birthday party in Brisbane recently. She was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, early hours of the morning, had an argument with her friends and stormed off to walk home about 10 klms. She was lying, kneeling in the middle of the freeway when struck by a car. The driver allegedly did not know he had hit a person. He was defamed as a hit and run driver and Police went to seek him out. He allegedly killed himself.
Where were the friends to care for this girl? Who allowed this girl to drink this much? Should trial by media have some responsibility.
Alcohol has a lot to answer for.
Most people wish to deny the statistics related to medical complications, accidents, domestic violence, divorce, loss of work, homelessness, crime related to alcohol misuse.
If we could turn back the hands of time........and this young lady did not use alcohol to celebrate her birthday party, perhaps the outcome for two people and their friends and family would have been different.
Alcohol addiction treatment is available- see your local doctor. Contact Alcoholics Anonymous. Any more than one standard drink in 24 hours, is an alcohol abuse disorder.

Children in detention centres

Who would have thought that such a modern, informed caring multicultural country as Australia would be written into the history books for placing children in prison. One can follow the logic to stop people dying at sea in leaky boats, but I cannot see that a child is a potential risk to our society.
The RANZCP issued a media statement yesterday https://www.ranzcp.org/News-policy/News/Human-rights-report-proves-detention-harms-childre.aspx
which follows its 2012 position statement and its 9 page report to the investigation of children in detention.
It must be common sense surely to know that locking up children for long periods, sometimes indefinately, will cause harm in their developing minds. 30% incidence of psychiatric disorders has been quoted. Some of the reactions by children has been self harm and suicide attempts it seems. I suspect that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
It would seem to me that Australians uphold the concept of land of the free, a free childhood. Australian children are known to have a wonderful experience in Australia, outdoors, sports, beaches and political democracy. There is no war on our soil thank goodness.
We have child protection laws and agencies and NGOs that support children whose parents are ill, mentally ill, suffer from alcohol and drug addiction. We have supports in place for a range of mental illnesses for children. Thank goodness we do not have 30% incidence of mental illness in this country.
Thank goodness the children are now being placed in our community. Please lend them a hand, welcome them to Australia and look after them as they have suffered enough trauma in their tender lives.