Monthly Archives: August 2012

We were drawn to this endearing picture of these wee, snuggling preemies in an incubator, and then read the story that came with it.  Here it is:
 
In the first week of life for this set of twins, each was in her respective incubator. One was not expected to survive.

A hospital nurse (with a brain and a heart) defied hospital rules and placed the babies together in the same incubator. (Hello-o!  Isn’t this what they’re used to?) When they were put together, the healthier of the two managed to put an arm over her sister in a sweet embrace.  

Not long after, the smaller baby's heart rate stabilized and her temperature rose to normal.

Something tells me these sisters will be very close, growing up… don’t you think?

A stroke survivor in rehab who has used guided imagery successfully in the past for other health challenges wonders if the TBI imagery can help her with her recovery  from a recent stroke…

Question:

Dear Belleruth,

I love your recordings and use many for health problems, as I have had a lot of them.  The CFS and M.S. guided imagery are just so healing for me. The Affirmations are as if you were reading my mind!

I have had a stroke and used the heart guided imagery, and I was wondering if the new Brain Trauma would help me, as I have many of these problems too.

Thank you for your work.

Jeanette

Online CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) has already proved effective for alleviating depression in adults. So, researchers from the Trimbos Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands explored whether an online course for depressed adolescents would be efficacious as well.
 
This randomized, controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of online treatment for depressed young people (ages 16-25) used for the intervention arm an online group course called Grip op Je Dip (Master Your Mood, or MYM).
 
The investigators randomly assigned 244 young people with depressive symptoms to the online MYM course or to a wait-list control condition. The primary outcome measure was the Center for Epidemiologic Studies’ Depression Scale, administered at 3 months and 6 months post-treatment.  Secondary outcomes were anxiety (measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and mastery (Mastery Scale).

For those of you who’ve never experienced the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music, there’s a workshop you should know about that will be held at the New York Open Center, given by Ginger Clarkson on December 15-16.
 
Unlike the kind of guided imagery that we create and publish at Health Journeys, where the narrative is the main event and the music underscores it, with GIM, the music is the driver and that’s what catalyzes the imagery.  Carefully sequenced classical music programs are used to stimulate and sustain spontaneous inner journeys and images that often lead to insights on pesky emotional issues or elicit spiritual openings or clear blocks to creativity.

Adam at Ease is a video blog created by former Army Sergeant Adam Anicich, a current Department of Veterans Affairs employee, a service-disabled vet, and someone living with a brain injury.

He now works as the assistant director of the Congressional Liaison Service for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where he and his team communicate the Secretary’s initiatives to members of Congress, provide information on all programs and services the VA provides, annually resolve over 21,000 Congressional Inquiries dealing from casework to policy, and act as on-site liaisons between 541 members of Congress and the VA.  As a former Army Sergeant and polytrauma patient, he’s uniquely qualified to identify and communicate the needs of our vets to Congress.

And he’s getting married this fall.  

In this video, he tells the story of his injury and recovery. His blog is filled with practical tips for day to day coping with brain injury, and provides a lot of support and inspiration.  Check it out!

We’ve gotten half a dozen questions like this one in the last week alone, so we figured we’d best post this question and answer this question from a program manager of a Kingston, Ontario agency that provides community-based services to adults with brain injury:

Question:

Dear Belleruth,

Thank you for your efforts with producing a guided imagery for TBI.  I am a Program Manager in Kingston, Ontario, providing community-based services to adults affected by brain injury. I have been an admirer of your work for many years and have been pleased with your more recent focus on brain injury.
 
You may remember I had hoped to have you come to Kingston for a conference on TBI, particularly from military service. Unfortunately, the government funding did not come through and we had to cancel your engagement. I still hope this can happen some day.

My question to you is about the TBI guided imagery. Do you think it would also be helpful to people with acquired brain injury? Our referral base is about 50% TBI and 50% ABI with the causes of ABI being infection, tumours, and stroke (with diffuse effects).

Thank you,

Deirdre

Researchers from the Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom investigated the feasibility of integrating a motor imagery program into a treatment regimen of physiotherapy and occupational therapy for patients diagnosed with stroke, brain injury or multiple sclerosis.

Thirty inpatients and outpatients in treatment at a neurologic rehabilitation center participated in the study. A parallel-group, phase II, assessor-blind randomized controlled trial compared motor imagery embedded in treatment as usual with treatment as usual only. Subjects were assessed at baseline, after 6 weeks (post-intervention), and after 12 weeks (follow-up).

A motor imagery strategy was developed and integrated into treatment as usual (physiotherapy and occupational therapy) which was tailored to individual goals, and applied to any activity. The control group received standard care (physiotherapy and occupational therapy).

Hello and greetings.  Summer seems to be whisking by so fast, I’m getting whiplash.  Maybe that’s because there’s a lot going on around here!  

For one thing, Traci Stein’s Healthy-Self Esteem imagery and its cousin, Self-Esteem during Sleep continues to fly off the shelves.  This is clearly meeting a big need out there, and we’re getting great feedback on it from many of you, too.

We have a terrific, fun, energizing new presence in Akron, Jim Mosnot, our Client Relationship Manager, who’s generating all kinds of creative ideas and outreach to hospitals, clinics, HMO’s, patient advocacy groups, health and wellness divisions of corporations as well as the military and V.A.

He’s finding new ways to get guided imagery into the zeitgeist.  He’s already had several discussions about private labeling our recordings, not to mention get them on websites, TV screens and phones.  So if you’ve got some ideas for your hospital, organization, institution or agency and want somebody to run ‘em by, Jim’s your man.

Hi BR...

I had learned from you about, and then found, the opportunity to take the  Dr Paul Lam's Tai Chi for Arthritis Instructor/Leader Course with Dr. K as my Master Trainer.  It was and continues to be a life changin' experience! 

I don't have arthritis, tho' I do have creaky knees from ski injuries and my original born-with em' knock knees.  Wore corrective shoes all during grade school...hated the d....  things. 

My docs promised me that someday I would understand and be glad and that day came for sure! 

I actually took the training for my work on stress and focus.  I now know it has been another piece of my healing from PTS and on so many levels. 

b.

Researchers from the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (SVYASA) in Bangalore, India evaluated changes in pain, anxiety, depression and spinal mobility for chronic low back pain patients on short-term, residential Yoga and physical exercise programs, including comprehensive yoga lifestyle modifications.

This seven-day, randomized, controlled, single-blind study, in a residential Holistic Health Centre in Bangalore, India, assigned 80 patients (37 female, 43 male) with chronic low back pain to yoga and physical exercise groups.

The Yoga program consisted of specific asanas (body postures) and pranayamas (breath exercises) for back pain, meditation, yogic counseling, and lectures on yoga philosophy. The control group program included physical therapy exercises for back pain and matching counseling and education sessions.