Monthly Archives: September 2009
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Posted: September 26, 2009Read more »
A grateful parent posted this paean to the Sleep Fairy, and it’s amazingly similar to what my niece told me years ago – she’s the one who put me onto this phenom of a snooze-inducing CD for kids.
She had a child with night terrors who was too scared to fall asleep. Nights were hellish for the whole family for months – not to mention the cranky, exhausted days that followed.They tried all sorts of things, but to no avail. Then a friend suggested she try this CD, and it was like blessed magic fairy dust. Suddenly they had a sleeping child. It was right away.
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Posted: September 25, 2009Categories: Ask BelleruthRead more »
Question:
Do you have any suggestions for guided meditation or affirmation resources for adults with attention deficit disorder? ADD isn't limited to children, and not all of us have physical hyperactivity. Many women with ADD have the inattentive subtype where our minds are restless and we have difficulty focusing.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and recommendations.
Donna -
Posted: September 25, 2009Read more »
OK, Folks,
I decided to start blogging on Huffington Post about the value of imagery and other evidence-based, inexpensive, user-friendly therapies for troops coming home with posttraumatic stress.
This information needs to get to the hundreds – no, thousands - of soldiers who need it, but it’ll be months before this data will be published.So without giving away details that are proprietary to the research process, I’m blabbing about the bottom line: what we can see works to make a big dent on PTSD symptoms. So far, we know selected guided imagery does, along with a technique called Healing Touch. Other promising tools are out there, too – biofeedback, Reiki, Massage Therapy, acupressure and more. I plan to keep writing about these methods, to whatever extent I can.
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Posted: September 21, 2009Read more »
My husband has had M.S. for over 20 years. He is confined to a wheel chair most of the time, and he suffers from debilitating fatigue. At the suggestion of a support group friend, he started using yoga videos. I personally thought this would be a waste of time, but he found Carol Dickman’s yoga especially helpful – both the Seated Yoga and the Bed Top Yoga.
I’m delighted to have been wrong. This practice has done him a world of good. He has more energy and strength, and his mood is decidedly better. It’s great to see his spirits so lifted.
I’m asking you to post this, to let others know about the benefits of yoga, as it is not something one would necessarily think of for someone with debilitating fatigue in a wheelchair.
John’s Wife
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Posted: September 21, 2009Read more »
I am a recovering PTSD and substance abuse survivor who now has 1.5 years of sobriety. I have also been nightmare free, relatively panic attack free, and flashback free for about a year, after 15 years of personal hell.
For this, I credit my compassionate and loving therapist most, but I feel the tools you've created and taught have been a Godsend.
Well, with my AA participation, I was asked to tell my story in the woman's prison. Afterwards, a number of the women shared that they too are experiencing nightmares on a daily basis, secondary to chronic abuse. -
Posted: September 21, 2009Read more »
Researchers from the University of Bielefeld in Germany compared the efficacy of two different treatments for children in a refugee camp in Sri Lanka with severe PTSD, in the acute aftermath of the Tsunami of 2004.Thirty-one children were randomly assigned to one of two pragmatic, short-term interventions, delivered by trained local counselors: either 6 sessions of Narrative Exposure Therapy for children (KIDNET) or six sessions of meditation-relaxation (MED-RELAX).
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Posted: September 21, 2009Categories: Update from Health JourneysRead more »
Hello, everyone.
Two new studies – possibly three – have been funded and are being launched to study the impact of guided imagery on sleep disturbances and insomnia. If the data reflects the feedback we’ve been getting, these studies should produce some awesome outcomes. Time will tell. (Actually, in recent years we’ve noticed that more people order our Healthful Sleep imagery than anything else, outselling even our popular Weight Loss CD. )
I want to take a minute to commend Kaiser Permanente for offering free guided imagery to its members. Currently KP lets members download imagery for Chemotherapy, Radiation, Surgery, Healthful Sleep, Weight Loss, Pain, Cancer, Pregnancy & Childbirth and Menopause. Kaiser was the first HMO to use and recommend our imagery, way back in 1991, and they continue to lead the field by creating web based tools for their members to use. Many kudos to David Sobel MD and Harley Goldberg DO for making this happen. -
Posted: September 11, 2009Read more »
Need a little uplift? A hug, perhaps? Wanna smile? Feel hope for the planet?? Check out this Youtube video of the FREE HUGS outreach campaign.
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Posted: September 11, 2009Read more »
Researchers from the Université de Lyon in Villeurbanne Cedex, France, investigated whether guided imagery can improve motor performance in the rehabilitation of burn patients, the way we know it does with central nervous system injury.
This study aimed to investigate the effects of a 2-week Motor Imagery (MI) training program, combined with conventional rehabilitation, on the recovery of motor functions in patients with hand burns.Fourteen patients admitted to the Medical Burn Center took part in the study and were randomly assigned to the imagery or the control group. Behavioral data related to the ability to perform each successive step of three manual motor sequences were collected at five intervals during the protocol.
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Posted: September 11, 2009Categories: Update from Health JourneysRead more »
Well, imagine my surprise when two practitioners of Healing Touch (there’s a good definition of this modality here) said hi at last week’s annual HT conference in Tucson where I was speaking, and mentioned they were involved with a PTSD study that will eventually include over 200 recently returned troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re testing the effects of a combination of guided imagery and Healing Touch on the symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Although they’re not at liberty to disclose results yet, it was clear that this combination was exceeding expectations and delivering dramatic results with, in the parlance, an unlikely bunch of Marine grunts.
