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.

Resilience

Where does one attain resilience? We talk about resilience as a factor of strength of character, strength of mind, body and thinking that protects us from trauma. Just like we can have an immune resilience there is a psychological resilience. Most of this research is related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but I think this is relevant to the whole of life's experiences.
Our parents and community can teach and model resiliency of course. Good parenting is teaching coping mechanisms, cognitive strategies and ego strength in the face of normal life problems. Rather than falling over becoming a major trauma for a baby, we lift him up and say- try again, you were doing so well.
I found Viktor Frankel and Bruno Bettelheim books on surviving and logotherapy useful narratives to help overcome severe trauma. These are dated but still relevant. Stories about how people overcome adversity are all around us but do not often get told in news flashes, so we miss out these uplifting accounts of the human capacity to endure and triumph.
We all have our own repertoire of course. Some take on a new activity, sport, education, community service. Some find support with friends and family. All these things require a transformation,, a new learning and a new position to take regarding yourself. Change is hard.
Resilience however gives us hope.

MH17

How sad.
Not since 9/11 have we lost so many and had such 24/7 news-casting. I extend my heartfelt sorrow and support for the victims and their families.
We learned however after 9/11 that the news addiction and continual scenes of death and trauma were counterproductive. Children were traumatised by this news addiction and people felt unsafe and in imminent danger.
We learned that turning off the television, news, computer news, social media about the event was important to restore our lives to normal, support our families with normal resiliency and move beyond the tragedy. Isolating ourselves in news and computers means that we do not have the normal emotional support. So, not to downplay the events, can I suggest that we celebrate life, enjoy the freedom we have and share love with our family and friends. These are our strengths. Turn off the news. Refuse to look at the increasingly horrific pictures and send a message back to the newsmen and women that we want balanced news and not sensationalism. 

ADHD

Attention deficit, with or without hyperactivity disorder has long been diagnosed in children. It is now also described in adults who have not outgrown the disorder from their childhood, although this is not a common outcome. The disorder raises much community controversy because dangerous drugs of addiction are then used to treat such a disorder.
It seems to me that some children/adults need help with medications under strict supervision of course. Sadly I see many children/adults labelled ADHD/ADD without a full look at the myriad other issues and potential diagnoses that are more likely. Imagine sitting in class trying to listen tot he teacher and there is a huge pain in your tummy. Hard to concentrate and pay attention- of course. Imagine if that pain is emotional- you are depressed, anxious, feel terrible because your parents are fighting, or they are ill or dying. Equally hard to concentrate. Imagine that you cannot hear/see properly or your brain cannot process information even though you are intelligent. What about the child who feels self conscious, bullied and un-liked?
So there are many reasons for poor concentration, distractibility, poor attention and impulsivity.For many people there are more than one factor in their lives causing these symptoms. Sometimes these issues mask an underlying ADHD as well.
So if the diagnosis is confirmed, ADHD, ADD, I do not think medications are the first approach to management. We are used to the simple medical approach, here is an illness so we can match up the cure. There is no cure. There is a management strategy that maximises potential and minimises harm and suffering ( for everyone, child, parent, teacher, school and community). Simple support strategies are important. If your attention span is five minutes then dont do something for hours unless you have a break and change your focus every 5 minutes. Reward achievements, dont berate failure. Set goals, order and boundaries in place and distractions reduced to keep the mind focussed. Don't work in a room full of noisy people. Do games that aim towards extending concentration. Computer games are great for this. Look for the positives. Kids with ADHD are usually great at activity, like sports. So you can steer them into areas where they do well, feel good about themselves and enjoy rather than feel oppressed.
Learning is through fun, FUN, FUN. 
Look at the levels of information in the environment. Bombarding a child/ adult with ADHD with lots of emotion, noise, activities, the television on, talking is bound to overwhelm them. This is fine at a party, outside playing or kids playing together but not when you need to concentrate on chores and homework, schoolwork and assignments.
Understand that everyone has a limit to their concentration and attention span. Some have more and some have less. This is something we are born with, slowly develops with maturation. A baby has a split second attention span. The mismatch of adult attention span and children's span is confusing and wearying for adults.

Bad behaviour is not a symptom of ADHD or ADD. Bad behaviour is merely learned. It has a whole new approach needed. Medications do not stop bad behaviour.
I hope this starts some alternative thinking about the issue of ADHD/ADD treatment.