The Governement Actuaries Department (GAD) will be opening a new office in Glasgow in the New Year.

GAD provide actuarial advice to the public sector anywhere in the world and are growing their insurance team because, as they explain,

“Actuaries can play a key role in helping insurance companies run efficiently and effectively. They can also help insurance regulators and others in the public sector understand the work of insurance companies.”

The insurance industry focuses on the measurement and management of risk, particularly important in the current economic climate.

For more information about GAD and the insurance industry, read their latest newsletter.

Search for actuarial insurance jobs.

By Lina and Boy

People throw the garbage IPJNews/boy

It was a cold and frosty morning at the Gewestelijke Afvalstoffen Dienst (GAD), a waste disposal company in a small town northern of Holland, Hilversum. An elderly lady in red jacket looks busy carrying away the garbage from her caravan to one of the huge green garbage container.

She and her husband take a few boxes of garbage such as wood, grass, plastic, and broken lamp from their house.

“We just build a new house for our dog. This is the garbage that we can not put in our house, so we carry it here,” the housewife who lives in local, de Bruijn J.D. (64).

Collecting garbage

Set up in 1990, as a private company, GAD now has nine branches in Holland and its headquarters is located in Bussum City. Its service is collecting non-organic garbage from local people so they can resell it to another company who recycle the rubbish. Besides, people have to pay 16 Euro for each cubic meter if they throw more than 1 cubic meter of garbage to GAD. By doing so, this company can earn money.

To the station, between 400 and 500 people usually visits each day. By doing this both ways, The GAD Hilversum Station collects between 100 and 200 cubic meter a day. Noorman can not mention the profit they got from their business.

Different containers

In this station, GAD has provided 15 different containers depending on kinds of material, such as wood, PVC (hard plastic), glass, soft plastic, paper, steel, electronic, bed/pillow, chemical things, bottle, etc. People must put the waste in the right container.

Ronald Noorman IPJNews/ Boy

“Sometimes many people put the garbage in the wrong container. So we work here to assist them to separate their waste before they throw it away into the container,” Chief of GAD Station in Hilversum, Ronald Noorman said.

The garbage from GAD will be picking up by the train to the other company in different cities. For example, grass will be processed to become compost by other company in different cities.

Helpful

Helping to throw the garbage IPJNews/lina

De Bruijn visits GAD once a week depending on the amount of garbage that she has in her house. She doesn’t have to pay GAD because mostly she has less than 1 meter cubic of garbage. “It [GAD] is very helpful for us so we don’t have to store the garbage in our house,” Bruijn said.

Innan alt forsvinn:Två unga damer ställer just nu ut på GAD i Oslo. Ragnhild Ohma målar familjeporträtt på mdfskivor fantastiska enkla målningar i tillbakahållna färger. Säker och enkelt ligger ytorna invid varandra. Mdf:en skiner ofta igenom och ger bilderna ett fint skär. Ibland har hon klippt in en tapetbit eller ett annant mönstrat papper som för att understryka idyllen. Det är tungt, det är trist, inga lyckliga familjer som de avbildade själva försöker ge sken av. De är alla levande döda tror jag, de stirrar på mig med livlösa ögon. De stirrar på mig och jag tänker på realistisk tv-teater från 60-talet Bergman och Norén. Skrämmande bra. Bredvid Ragnhilds målningar hänger Ingas bilder av ruttnande träsk, dimman hänger tung över vattensamlingar mellan träden som kastar långa skuggor. Bilderna är målade på ett nästan impressionistiskt sätt, snabbt säkert och precist.De är vackra. Inga har också gjort vaxskulpturer som utstrålar samma sköna obehag. Smygritade lite. Här är några snabba. Tack för en fin kväll Alexandra och Knut, en fin utställning, gå och se sen innan allt försvinner!

Är ganska påverkad av min egne horror idér här.

Knut som vampyr, kanske den mest osannolika vampyren i världen!

Betraktar betraktaren

Konversation

Mannen med väskan

Artisttalk

Christian Kolverud med damer

It has been a little over three years since I was first diagnosed with major depression (or clinical depression) and GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). Since that time, I had been taking medications (Imipramine for the depression and Diazepam for the GAD) to help get back some balance in my head and my life. I thank God for the treatment and the freedom it has given me – the freedom from pain, loneliness and sense of hopelessness. I was finally able to function again and perform even the simplest tasks which I had taken for granted before. I was able to enjoy life again and feel compassion for others. In other words, I felt alive again!

After tapering down my dosage from five tablets of Imipramine a day for a year and a half to one tablet within the remaining one and a half years, I finally stopped medicating two weeks ago. I honestly felt that my body, mind and emotions were sound and stable and I had been able to drink regular coffee and other caffeinated beverages without any untoward effects for several months now.  Prior to this, even just a few sips of diluted regular coffee would put my mind in a spin and cause me to have heart palpitations. I was once stuck in a McDonald’s near our place because I could not stand up after a cup of “leaded” coffee. Unfortunately for people like me who drink decaf, fast food establishments do not offer them. “Unleaded” coffee also costs around P10 o P15 more.

I realize now that I am still not ready to chuck my meds. My depression hit me so bad that I lost all motivation to do anything except vegetate in front of the TV or sleep. Even now that I have resumed taking a tablet of Imipramine, the symptoms of depression are back in full force. I am discouraged. I could only hope that I am not back to square one. I don’t want to have to take five tablets a day again.

It was a mistake for me stop medicating, especially since many of the stressful situations that triggered my bouts of anxiety and depression before are still very much present. I only realized this after reading up on depression relapse. This is what I’m having – a relapse. At least I hope it’s “just that”.

So, I am struggling again and striving to gain some measure of control over my life. There is not much I can do when the chemicals in my brain are all screwed up. This needs to be addressed first, and I will need to see my doctor again. Meanwhile, I wake up everyday and try to be hopeful. Even this is not easy – hope is difficult to grasp when I wake up wanting desperately to cry but don’t. The sun may be up, the breeze may be cooling my head, the birds may be singing, but I don’t notice all that. I feel several stabs of pain in my chest and just want to be well again. I will be. It will just take time.

Ahora los integrantes de Golden Art Designs, participamos en Bloguzz.

Nosotros podemos probar y comentar productos y prototipos.

Así que no esperes más

Apple tiene algo nuevo.

Por Daniela Ugalde

Para contrarrestar el próximo lanzamiento de Windows 7, Apple dio un golpe de respuesta anticipado con la muestra de sus nuevos productos, entre ellos una Macbook bastante alcanzable y que regresa a lo conocido por los maqueros: estará disponible en blanca. También nos presentaron una nueva iMac con un display más grande, pero lo más destacado fue el lanzamiento del mouse  como nunca antes visto en Apple. El mouse multitáctil del cual ya habíamos hablado en posts anteriores( http://bit.ly/379ekc ). Pronto llegará a México, así que chicas, no duden en estar al pendiente de los detalles aquí en Girltalk.

Fuente de imagen: apple.com

Disney ya tiene su propia laptop.

Por Daniela Ugalde

Presentadas por la compañía Asus en conjunto con Disney esta gama de computadoras ultraportátiles sin duda les encantará a todos los amantes del mágico mundo de Disney, ya que vienen precargadas con logos, temas y todo lo referente al universo paralelo que nos ha creado esta compañía desde que éramos chiquitas. Obviamente así como están llenas de  Disney por dentro lo están por fuera, hay dos modelos: Princess Pink y Magic Blue. Las podrás conseguir en Amazon. Chécate las imágenes:

Fuente de imagen: xakata.com

Essay written by Giancarlo de Vera, (c) 2009

The idea of development stands like a ruin in the intellectual landscape. Delusion and disappointment, failures and crime have been the steady companions of development and they tell a common story: it did not work. Moreover, the historical conditions which catapulted the idea into prominence have vanished: development has become outdated.

-       Wolfgang Sachs (1992 : 1)

In an attempt to answer this question, this essay will focus on multiple discourses of development as they are featured within the context of gender mainstreaming policies. By way of definition, the word ‘discourse’ will draw heavily on Foucault’s (1970) notion of discourse, and the concept of ‘development as discourse’ will be defined as a “system of knowledge, technologies, practices and power relations that serve to order and regulate the objects of development” (Lewis et al, 2003: 545; see also Sachs, 1992; Ferguson; 1994; Escobar; 1995). Along with this essay’s discursive approach, this essay will note how meanings associated with development are “… produced, contested and reworked in practice – and thus … illuminat[ing] the multiple significances that the term holds for actors involved in the development process” (Lewis et al, 2003: 546). Hence, this essay will argue that the factors that make it difficult for the voices to be heard, despite the changes to the way development is practiced, is this: the development apparatus constitutes multiple discourses, as lessons from post-structural development critique illustrate, but that there are many discontinuities between discourses’ formal order and the local practices among local actors. Furthermore, it will be argued that actors on all levels involved, face a perpetual gap between local knowledge and practices, and the development discourses that impart meaning and legitimacy upon development practices.

In order to arrive at this conclusion, we must first look at what exactly is meant, and what constitutes the development apparatus. The term apparatus originates from Foucault’s dispositif, and is a useful concept in understanding the operation of power (Briggs, 2002: 426). In the Foucauldian context, the development apparatus is understood and allows for the recognition of “both the good intentions of agents and a wide range of both positive and negative outcomes generated through development” (Briggs, 2002: 427; see also Escobar, 1995). Hence, in this light, Morgan Briggs (2002) asserts that the development apparatus “…does not aggregate the operation of power or allow default to the oppositional position that development is ‘bad’” (p.427). These insights are important to understand, as all development discourses will invariably be reproduced (Ferguson, 1994: 13), and as such the development apparatus merely delivers methods on how actors reflect, adhere and act upon a discourse (Nustad, 2001: 484). In this sense, it must be understood that the formal development apparatus manifests development discourses both conceptually and institutionally through practices.

Recognising that the development apparatus operates on both a conceptual and institutional level is key in understanding how the gap between the formal development apparatus and local practices emerged. International and discursive developments in the postwar period led to the emergence of a development apparatus that ‘inserted’ and ‘normalised’ nation-states as a component element of the overall formal development apparatus (Briggs, 2002: 427). However, the development apparatus’ focus on the nation-state, did not preclude other actors in the development process. In fact, it “relie[d] upon the operation of normalization [of development discourses] at a range of other levels and sites, including that of individual subjects” (Briggs, 2002: 427; emphasis mine).  As a result, development discourses such as human development, gave rise to practices like microcredit programmes. During 1997-2005, the number of people receiving microcredit increased from 13.5 million to 113.3 million in India, and 84% of them were women (Daley-Harris, 2006). It was anticipated these loans would promote gender equality and the empowerment of women (see Kabeer, 2005) leading to the ability to overcome cultural asymmetries (see, for instance, Hashemi et al, 1996; Kabeer, 2001; Pitt et al, 2006). However, in a study conducted by Supriya Garikipati (2008) that assessed the impact of lending to women in India, it was found that the loans were mainly used to enhance or create enterprises controlled primarily by their husbands, whereby a mere 20.66% of the loans were used for assets that women managed or helped manage (p. 2633). Despite this statistic 29.3% of women did report a positive income after the loan was repaid (Garikipati, 2008: 2636). However, this was due to women ‘pooling’ their loans in high investment and high return enterprises, diversifying their risk (Garikipati, 2008: 2636). Thus indicating that microcredit had no inherent capability to address gender inequality or empower women.

What makes these findings so peculiar, is the fact that the development goal of gender equality and empowerment of women was borne out of a very strong acknowledgement of their invisibility and lack of voice in the development paradigm (see Leonard, 2003; Kabeer, 1994; Tinker, 1990, Parpart, 1995). As a result, the formal development apparatus attempted to address this lack of voice, through multiple changes at both the conceptual and institutional level, with the emergence of the ‘Women in Development’ (WID), ‘Women and Development’ (WAD) and finally ‘Gender and Development’ (GAD) discourses (Rasavi & Miller, 1995).  While criticisms of these discourses abound (Moore, 1998, amongst others), the most important criticism comes from J.L. Parpart (1995) who recognised that these discourses fell into ‘modernist stereotypes’ (p.236; see also Kabeer, 1991; Rai, 2003). For Parpart, these ‘modernist stereotypes’ continued to restrict analysis to modernist definitions of development (p.236). As such, despite the formal development apparatus’ attempt to incorporate and address the lack of voice, the development goals of gender equality and empowerment of women was limited.

Hence, microcredit programmes, despite their intentions, were empty signifiers within the development apparatus, urging us to question why. As previously stated, discourses will be invariably reproduced, whereby the development apparatus merely “delivers methods on how actors reflect, adhere and act upon a discourse” (discursive practices) that include “a wide range of both positive and negative outcomes generated through development”. Considering this, and how development discourses such as WID, WAD and GAD have attempted to be transformative; it is little wonder they have not obtained the material outcomes they intended. However, as Briggs rightfully states, this does not mean the development apparatus should “default to the oppositional position that development is ‘bad’”, for the development apparatus will always be subject to, and reflexive of the discourses that imparts meaning onto it.

Drawing on J.L. Parpart’s (1995) ‘modernist stereotypes’ critique of the WID, WAD and GAD discourses, we can begin see how modernist undercurrents are still prevalent today despite orthodox theories falling into disrepute within the development industry. Commenting on this, Parpart states:

The assumption that development requires planning (and expertise) inhibits new ways of imagining development, at the level both of theory and practice. It restricts GAD analysis to modernist definitions of development with their emphasis on Northern (or North-trained) technical expertise and the universal applicability of Northern models to development problems (p. 236)

What this highlights is the idea that anthropological and ethnographical approaches to development highlights: how development discourses bear significance on development actors, and how changes within the apparatus act upon ‘objects’ of development (such as women) (Lewis et al., 2003: 544-45; see also Gardner & Lewis, 1996, 2000: Bebbington, 2000; Bebbington et al., 2000; Batterbury, 1998; Rhoades, 1984; amongst others). While the emergence of anthropological and ethnographic approaches to development was intrinsically linked to the evolution of the globalisation research agenda (Lewis et al., 2003; 545) and radical critiques of modernist definitions of development such as post-development (Escobar, 1995; Sachs 1992, Nustad, 2001; Pieterse, 1998; amongst others), their attempt to incorporate the voice of those impacted by development practices, remained lacklustre.

Through the anthropological and ethnographical lens, development actors and organisations are viewed as a text, and part and parcel of the “system of knowledge, practices and power relationships that serve and order the objects of development” (Lewis et al., 2003: 545-46). However, this post-structural analysis offered little ethnographic details on how development actors worked, and how development actors influence the texts they produce and the practices they effect (Watts, 2001). As such, a slippage between the development text and effect was occurring both conceptually at a theoretical level (discourse) and institutionally (discursive practices). What was observed was the fact that development goals, as stated formally within the development apparatus (such as policy documents etc), the goals pursued in operational practice, and the personal goals pursued by ‘clients’ and local bureaucrats in the course of implementing the goals (or ‘performing’) were very different (Long, 1992: 34; see also Hebinck & Verschoor, 2001). Hence, if the slippage between development text and effect was so prevalent, then the implication is that analysis of practice must accompany analysis of text if one is to fully understand how development actors produce ideas, how slippage occurs in their translation into practice, and the material effects of this.

Thus, deconstruction of development practices is needed, in order for voices to be heard effectively. It is apparent, at least in the respect of women in India, that voices are being heard, but not effectively. The term ‘gender’ meant different things to the actors involved in the process and as such was contested, appropriated and reworked in practice (for further studies in India, see Walby, 2005; George, 2007; amongst others). In this sense, how actors understood gender was inherently a political process (Kabeer, 1994), and as such, political structures allowed multiple meanings to be associated with the term ‘gender’. Hence, if we were to accept that political structures gave way to multiple meanings for the term ‘gender’, then it logically follows that the term ‘gender’ was understood through social and cultural frames, for gender analysis to be articulated in culturally resonate ways. In this context, in respect to the development goals of gender equality and the empowerment of women, gendered critiques and discourses simultaneously legitimised limited practices like microcredit lending to women in India, without due regard to how they reinforced, reproduced and ultimately negated their purported development goals. Hence, while microcredit lending involved participation of women on all fronts, their participation operated through existing power relations, that inevitable become entrenched through further reproduction (White, 1996: 6). In this trajectory, women can even replace men in economic positions (which microcredit lending saw as an mean to their empowerment and greater equality), without necessarily transforming structural inequalities in society (Steady, 2006: 2). Herein, legitimacy of discursive practices was inextricably linked to representation, for it was thought that mere participation equated to inclusiveness.

In fact, this was not the case. These gendered critiques and discourses were a corollary of Western feminism, which assumed there was ‘… a global sisterhood linked by invariant universal feminine characteristics’ (McNay, 1992: 2). Essentialism trumped anti-essentialism, which lead to a disregard for prevailing norms that were at the root: “although an analysis of women’s subordination was at the heart of these approaches [WID, WAD, GAD], the essentially relational nature of their subordination had been left largely unexplored” (Rasavi & Miller, 1995: 12; see also Parpart, 1995: 233). This essentialist tendency was a direct result of the continued use of modernist definitions that was noted earlier, as they focused on the construction and reinforcement of gender inequalities superficially (Kabeer, 1994: xiii), and at the expense of a proper analysis that looked at the power that presupposes the construction based on patriarchal knowledge, and the reinforcement of practices based on that construction (Mosner, 1993).

By extension, we can also argue broadly speaking, that this nuanced dynamic is occurring for other ‘objects’ of development. Whether they be the peri-urban poor in India, disenfranchised women in the Persian Gulf, or dispossessed indigenous peoples in Botswana; what is needed in the deconstruction of development practices is the wholehearted recognition that the development process is “… an ongoing, socially constructed and negotiated process, not simply the execution of an already-specified plan of action with expected outcomes” (Long, 1992: 35). Herein we must move away from discourse being central, to agency being central in the analysis. 

Thus, if we recognise that the development process is an ongoing, socially constructed, and negotiated process, then we can begin to see how the voices of the ‘objects’ of development have not been heard effectively due to conceptual, normative and therefore institutional constraints. It is peculiar to think why Wolfgang Sachs concludes development is now outdated. On one level it is the product of developments in philosophy that have manifested itself throughout history, and on another its something more banal like politics that govern the operation of the development apparatus. Regardless, what is essentially lacking is indeed the individual subjects’ inherent agency in the development process. What is ironic is the fact that the development apparatus “relie[d] upon the operation of normalization [of development discourses] at a range of other levels and sites, including that of individual subjects”, and yet individual subjects have gone amiss. What emerges from the rumble is a disconnected, contradictory and spurious picture, lacking transformative potential to incorporate the voice of those impacted by development effectively.

References

Batterbury S.P.J. (1998), ‘Local Environmental Management, Land Degradation and the Gestion des Terroirs Approach in West Africa; Policies and Pitfalls. Journal of International Development, vol 10 : 871–898.

Bebbington AJ. (2000), ‘Reencountering Development: livelihood transitions and place transformations in the Andes, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 90, no. 3: 495–520.

Bebbington AJ, Woolcock M, Guggenheim S. (2000). ‘Mapping discourse explaining action: social capital in theory and practice at the World Bank’ Paper presented at the workshop Practical Theory, Reflective Action: Social Capital and Development Projects at the World Bank, October 27–28th, 2000, Boulder, University of Colorado at Boulder.

Brigg, M., 2002, ‘Post-Development, Foucault and the Colonisation Metaphor’, Third World Quarterly,Vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 421-436.

Daley-Harris, S. (2006). ‘State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2006’, Washington DC: Micro-credit summit campaign.

Escobar, Artur (1995) Encountering development: the making and unmaking of the Third World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ferguson, James (1994), The Anti-Politics Machine: “Development”, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minnesota: Univeristy of Minnesota Press.

Gardner K, Lewis D. (2000), ‘Development Paradigms Overturned or Business as Usual? Development discourse and the UK White Paper on International Development. Critique of Anthropology vol. 20, no. 1 : 15–29.

Garikipati, Supriya (2008), ‘The Impact of Lending to Women on Household Vulnerability and Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from India’, World Development, vol. 36, no. 12 : 2620-2642.

George, G.R. (2007) ‘Interpreting Gender Mainstreaming by NGOs in India: A Comparative Ethnographic Approach’, Gender, Place & Culture, vol. 14, no. 6: pp. 679-701.

Hashemi, S. M., Schuler, S., & Riley, A. P. (1996). ‘Rural Credit programs and Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh’, World Development, vol. 24, no. 4 : 635–653.

Hebinck P, Verschoor G (eds) (2001), Resonances and Dissonances in Development. Actors, Networks and Cultural Repertoires, Royal Van Gorcum: Assen.

Kabeer, N. (1994), Reversed Realities: Gendered Hierarchies in Development Thought, London, Verso.

Kabeer, N. (2001), ‘Conflicts over Credit: Revaluating the empowerment potential of loans to women in rural Bangladesh’, World Development, 29(1), 63–84.

Kabeer, N. (2005). ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A critical analysis of the third millennium development goal. Gender and Development, vol. 13, no. 1: 13–24.

Lapart, J.L. (1995) ‘Deconstructing the Development ‘Expert’: Gender, Development and the ‘Vulnerable Groups’, in Marchand, M.H. & Lapart, J.L. (eds.) Feminism, Postmodernism, Development, London, Routledge.

Leonard, M. (2003) ‘Women and Development: Examining Gender Issues in Developing Countries’ in McCann, G. & McCloskey, S. (ed.), From the Local to the Global: Key Issues in Development Studies, London, Pluto Press: pp. 76-92.

Lewis, David, Bebbington, Anthony J., Batterbury, Simon P. J., Shah, Alpa, Olson, Elizabeth, Siddiqi, M. Shameem, and Duvall, Sandra, (2003), ‘Practice, Power and Meaning: Framework for Studying Organizational Culture in Multi-Agency Rural Development Projects’, Journal of International Development15: 541-557.

Long N. (1992), ‘From Paradigm Lost to Paradigm regained? The Case for An Actor-Oriented Sociology of Development’, in Battlefields of Knowledge: The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development, Long N, Long A (eds). Routledge: London; 16–43.

McNay, L. (1992) Foucault and Feminism, Cornwall, Blackwell.

Nustad, K.G., 2001, ‘Development: The Devil We Know?’, Third World Quarterly, Vol.22, no. 4, pp. 479-289.

Parpart, J.L. (1995), Feminism, Postmodernism, Development, New York, Routledge.

Nederveen Pieterse, J., 1998, ‘My Paradigm or Yours? Alternative Development, Post-Development, Reflexive Development’, Development and Change, Vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 343-373.

Pitt, M. M., Khandker, S. R., & Cartwright, J. (2006), ‘Empowering Women with Microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh. Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol 54, no 4: 791–831.

Rai, S.M. (2003) Mainstreaming Development, Democratizing the State? Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women, Manchester, Manchester University Press.

Rasavi, S. & Miller, C. (1995) ‘ From WID to GAD: Conceptual Shifts in the  

Women and Development Discourse’ , Occasional Paper 1, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

Rhoades R. 1984. Breaking New Ground: Agricultural Anthropology,  International Potato Center, Lima.

Sachs, Wolfgang (ed.) (1992). The Development Dictionary. A Guide to Knowledge as Power. London and New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd.

Steady, F.C. (2006) Women and Collective Action in Africa: Development, Democratization, and Empowerment, with Special Focus on Sierra Leone, New York, Palgrave.

Tinker, I (ed.) (1990) Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development, New York, Oxford University Press.

Walby, S. (2005) ‘Introduction: Comparative Gender Mainstreaming in a Global Era’ International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 7, no. 4: pp. 453-70.

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White, S.C. (1996) ‘Depoliticising Development: The Uses and Abuses of Participation’ Development in Practice, vol. 6, no. 1: pp. 6-15.

Hot flashes triggered by anxious feelings are characterized by dramatic blood flow to the surface of your body and sensations of warmth. Anxious hot flashes have several additional small side effects such as sweaty palms of your hands. Anxiety hot flashes are similar to the hot flashes experienced by menopausal women.

Hot flashes are characterized by a feeling of heat, often felt first in your bosom and face. Alternatively, your shoulders, top of your back, and the neck may be the first areas that you feel the warmth. From the origin, the heat will typically travel in a meandering way throughout the remainder of your body.

Some of the symptoms of anxiety hot flashes that do occur are shortness of breath and lightheadedness. You will feel dizzy as though you may faint. In a few cases this feeling will lead to passing out, presenting a very serious danger. Visible perspiration in the areas where the hot flash is centralized is common. Hot flashes can initiate and stop very quickly in a in a select few, but everyone feels a level of discomfort during the hot flash.

Focusing on what it is others think about the anxiety hot flash can lead to further anxiety. This has a tendency to lead to a vicious cycle in which the anxiety hot flashes cause you to be embarrassed, which promotes additional anxious feelings, which increases the hot flash symptoms.  You can discover additional info about how a variety physical anxiety symptoms occur at the Anxiety Details website.

During your hot flash, you may hyperventilate and feel as though the wind is being pushed out of your lungs. Of course anxiety drives the hot flash, but sticking around in an overheated room can worsen the situation.

While this following is unlikely to resolve the issue, there are several simple things that everyone with anxiety can take to reduce the intensity and recurrence of hot flashes from anxiety(more at http://anxietydetails.com/anxiety-hot-flashes.php):

• Eat mild foods

Heavily spiced and spicy meals provoke responses similar to hot flushes. This can actually set off a hot flash episode. The familiar hot flash feeling may also create anxiety, which then leads to a genuine hot flash from anxiety.

• Avoid beer and liquor

The alcohol-avoidance tip is about reducing your total level of anxiety, rather than hot flashes specifically. If you do use alcohol as a measure to control your anxious feelings, you actually end up worsening the issue and causing more anxiety. More anxiety will ultimately lead to additional experiences of hot flashes.

• Draw a cool relaxing bath

Excitement of your adrenal glands comes along with anxiety hot flashes. Reducing the body’s temp also constricts the veins and arteries up by your skin, moving blood into a more full coverage down through the remainder of the body.

The complete removal the cycle of anxiety is the genuine resolution of the anxiety hot flashes problem  that hampers your life. There is a chance for you to learn more about full-fledged methods for removing anxiety from your life completely by reading the in-depth panic away review here.

Although an intricate and complicated sequence, the anxiety hot flashes are really a piece of the greater anxiety puzzle.

Battaglia tra Ricci e Lerner, un litigio tra primedonne di sinistra.

Gad Lerner, l’Emilio Fede di sinistra de La 7, è palesemente schierato con la sinistra, come la quasi totalità dei commentatori e giornalisti in tv.

Ma molti forse non sanno che anche Ricci è un noto supporter della sinistra, che usando Striscia la notizia, attacca tutte le sere Berlusconi, Fede, i rappresentanti del governo e la destra.

Uno dei tanti Emilo Fede di sinistra che occupano l’informazione.

“Tra me e Fazio c’è una differenza fondamentale: io e la mia generazione siamo diventati di sinistra perché avevamo i professori di destra. Lui è diventato di sinistra perché aveva professori di sinistra“.
Antonio Ricci

http://scavicchialanotizianew.blogspot.com/2008/09/antonio-ricci-per-la-rai-lavorerei.html

It’s no secret to anyone that things are a little bit stressful here in the SJ household.  We’re in a new location, not even in our own home, and we’re both job hunting.  With so much up in the air, yes, anxiety levels are sometimes a little bit high.

So how am I, a woman with a mild-to-moderate case of GAD, coping with the extra stressors that have been piled on since July?  You know, other than resenting the ever-loving crap out of my husband’s former employer.  There are definitely better, more productive ways to manage my stress.

One such method is something I had started back in the dark, dark days of PPD hell – a focus on the positive.  My therapist at the time urged me to try to find positive things about each day and write them down.  I kept with it for a while, and I did notice a difference.  I’ve done it sporadically since then, when things felt particularly bleak, but it never became a real, solid routine.

A week and a half ago, though, one of my dearest friends started posting Daily Positives in her journal, and urged her readers to do the same for a period of eight days.  I latched right on to that bait, and immediately started to notice a difference.  In so doing, I determined that it was something I should keep doing.  Not just for eight days, but for as long as it feels right.  I’m starting with a month (today is day #11), but it may well continue after that as well.

In this time of recession, job loss, and personal turmoil, it is really easy to get lost in negatives.  Every day is NOT all sunshine and roses, even here in tropical Florida, where it’s hard to even remember that it’s autumn.  But every day does have at least a few rays of hope.  No, those rays don’t take away the worries.  They don’t stop my brain from obsessing about finding work, missing loved ones, or trivialities like Christmas plans or something someone said to me in passing.  But remembering the positives forces me to shift my focus, at least for the length of the journal entry (and usually quite a while beyond), onto something good and away from anything negative.  That can only be a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.

A Randomized Clinical Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Applied Relaxation for Adults With Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Behavior Therapy, 2009

Michel J. Dugas

Abstract:

This randomized clinical trial compared cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), applied relaxation (AR), and wait-list control (WL) in a sample of 65 adults with a primary diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The CBT condition was based on the intolerance of uncertainty model of GAD, whereas the AR condition was based on general theories of anxiety. Both manualized treatments were administered over 12 weekly 1-hour sessions. Standardized clinician ratings and self-report questionnaires were used to assess GAD and related symptoms at pretest, posttest, and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-ups. At posttest, CBT was clearly superior to WL, AR was marginally superior to WL, and CBT was marginally superior to AR. Over follow-up, CBT and AR were equivalent, but only CBT led to continued improvement. Thus, direct comparisons of CBT and AR indicated that the treatments were comparable; however, comparisons of each treatment with another point of reference (either waiting list or no change over follow-up) provided greater support for the efficacy of CBT than AR.

Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk

Por Stephany Allen Niert

www.sony-latin.com

Seguro te ha pasado que vas en la caminadora, en la bici o en algún aparato del gym, te atoras con el cable de los audífonos y tu pobre reproductor mp3 sale volando. Pues para evitar esa clase de accidentes o el oso de que te enredes con tanto cable, Sony inventó estos audífonos con reproductor mp3 incluido… sí leíste bien ¡Incluido!

Su diseño super cool tiene un contorno suave y flexible que se ajusta a tu oreja y lo mejor son los colores de impacto que tiene para ti. Claro que si de capacidad hablamos, este reproductor de Sony Walkman cuenta con 2G de almacenamiento, además de sintonizador FM y batería que aguanta hasta 12 horas continuas de reproducción de música. Y si por algo olvidaste cargarlo y te urge ponerle ritmo a tu sesión de ejercicio, con que lo conectes 3 minutitos tendrás 90 minutos de música. ¿Está increíble no?

Así que ya no hay pretextos para no hacer ejercicio, desde hoy la música será tu mejor acompañante con el nuevo reproductor de mp3 con audífonos o ¿audífonos con mp3? de Sony Walkman.

Thinking about Stress

Life can be stressful.   While the media bombards us with talk of war, recession, and layoffs, we are busy working, raising our children, and caring for elderly parents.   The content of our minds reflects the way that we live, with thoughts rattling around all day and sometimes well into the night.  We review, plan, worry, and obsess, and can end up feeling stressed and out of control.

So, what can you do to manage your level of stress?  The common wisdom is that you should change how you think:  stop worrying and replace the negative thoughts with positive or more rational thoughts.   Think better and you will feel better.   Right?

This may work for some people, at least in the short-term.  But for most of us, this not a realistic long-term strategy.  Trying to change the content of your thoughts can be a very frustrating experience.  You push a thought away only to have it come back, sometimes stronger.   The realization that your thinking is “out of control” or at least beyond your control, can result in feelings of helplessness.   Why can’t I change this?  What is wrong with me?  Why can’t I control my thinking?

If controlling your thoughts doesn’t work, what can you do?  The solution is to give up the fight, to let go of your efforts to control your thoughts.    Even though you may not be able to change the content of your thoughts, you can change your relationship with your thoughts, the meaning that they hold for you.

Rather than viewing all of your thoughts as being true, valid, and important indicators of who you are and what your world means, try thinking of them as nothing more than habitual patterns that reverberate in your mind.   They are, for the most part, outside of your control.  They just sort of “bubble” up out of nowhere, products of your past history, your experiences, the media, and the world around you.  You can’t control them and you don’t need to control them.  You can accept them for what they are.

Practice taking the perspective that you are separate from the contents of your mind.  A useful metaphor is to think of your thoughts as being like cloud formations in the sky.  You can see how they form and change, but you know that you cannot control them, and you have no reason to try.  They simply are what they are.   Even though your thoughts may not be pleasant, as long as you view them as “just thoughts” and don’t imbue them with any special significance, their power to affect your mood and behavior is greatly reduced.

If you can cultivate this perspective and begin to let go of your need to control your thoughts, you can devote more energy to living the life that you want to live, and you may find that some of the stress and worry in your life will begin to fade away.

Dr. Albert Jerome is a Clinical Psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety, depression, and stress disorders.   To speak with Dr. Jerome or to schedule a consultation, he can be reached at Ashburn Psychological Services at (703) 723-2999.  Below please find Dr. Jerome’s bio.

Albert Jerome, Ph.D.

Dr. Jerome is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist.  He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Ohio University after completing internship training in the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry at the West Virginia University School of Medicine.  Further post-doctoral training was completed at NeuroScience, Inc. in Herndon, VA.

Dr. Jerome’s clinical practice focuses on anxiety disorders, health psychology, and problem behaviors among children and teens.  He specializes in treating panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social phobia, specific fears, (such as fear of flying), and childhood anxiety disorders.  His work in Health Psychology includes treatment of headache and chronic pain, health anxiety, and tobacco and drug use.  A wide range of problem behaviors among children and teens are addressed through a combination of individual therapy, behavioral reward systems, and parent training.

Dr. Jerome employs the latest in evidence-based therapeutic interventions, blending  Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with mindfulness training, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and solution-focused therapy.  A tailored, individualized treatment approach is developed through an active collaboration with each client or family who seeks his services.

Dr. Jerome has been the recipient of more than 20 research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) for the design, development, and evaluation of self-help and minimal contact behavior change programs, and he is a recognized expert in the area of gradual reduction techniques for tobacco cessation.

I bought two GAD Mid-Weight Windpro with Microfleece Pocket Diapers (1 small and 1 medium) with the intention for night-time use. However, the S-size diaper leaked several times (the pee flowed right out from between the side snaps, without being absorbed into the diaper insert) and I racked my brains to figure out the cause. Despite a lot of cleaning and changing, I persisted as I loved (and still loves) the diaper’s trimness, softness and breathablity. Moreover, side-snapping diapers are very suitable for babies with chunky thighs as the the snaps for waist and thighs can be adjusted independent of each other.

Shannon from GAD replied very promptly to my email enquiry with a few ideas:

• Tuck the flaps back onto themselves so that they don’t “get in the way”
• Add a microfibre towel to GAD hemp insert. Hemp insert may work in other diapers alone, but it may be the fit of the fleece diaper needs a little more to fill it up in the front so that is can work better
• Make sure when you put the diaper on him his “goods” are pointed down.
• Not every diaper works for every baby and your baby might just work better with front closing diapers until he gets bigger. Side-snapping diapers are fantastic for mobile babies because they can be put on while the baby is standing.

When Baby V grew a little bigger and fitted into the largest setting of the S-size diaper, it seldom leaked (provided he did not squirm about too much during breastfeeding). The M-size fits him perfectly now, as shown in the picture above. Due to the initial leakage experience, I only use this diaper on him for afternoon naps.

Since Baby V has learnt to roll over and fidgets a lot during diaper changes and breastfeeding, side snap diapers are probably not suitable for him at night.

Pros:

• Very soft, comfortable and breathable fabric that is great for baby’s skin
• Trim-fitting fleece diapers
• Gentle elastics
• Poo is easily removed from inner material
• Wash well and inner material is coloured so cannot see stain (even if there is any)

Cons:

• Potential leakage through in between snaps, especially when baby squirms about or breastfeeds in side-lying position