Author: Jenny

I am a public health nutrition counselor with fifteen years experience in the field of prenatal and early child health and lactation education (breast feeding support). Autoimmune disease, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and genetic defects that can cause nutrient deficiencies are also research interests.
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Health can not ever be a “right”

Health is not dealt with an even hand to all players in the game of life. Some are born with pre-existing conditions and some develop chronic conditions  later which are through no specific fault of the patient. Chronic issues can be due to underlying metabolic differences or other genetic differences that interact poorly with environmental toxins or with an infection that occurred at just the wrong stage of development for the fetus, infant or child.

Those dealt a fuller hand of health at birth, might not ever go on to develop a chronic illness unless they fail to live a healthy lifestyle, or they are exposed to increased toxins or an infection of some disabling sort.

The idea that health care is a human right is a nice idea that many nations do support with some form of national health care.  However the individual may still have started with more  or less “health” than average and may need more or less health care as a result. A national health care system based on for-profit high cost treatments that don’t really resolve underlying issues may be profitable for the health care system but could be a “right” to bankruptcy due to co-pays for the patient, and due to the total cost of care for the nation as a whole.

Health is cheaper and generally a lot more comfortable than illness. A system that focused more on individualized preventative care could catch underlying differences that leave some people more susceptible to developing chronic illness and provide guidance and any special supplements that might be needed to the person, before the person develops the chronic disease. Many chronic conditions are easier to prevent than to treat, sometimes a “cure” is not possible if lasting damage to an organ system occurred and ongoing management is then needed which might require medications or ongoing treatments of some (expensive) sort. If more people were able to prevent the expensive chronic illness from developing than they are less at risk for personal bankruptcy and the system as a whole would also be more stable. Insurance is based on the gamble that more people will be paying a basic fee each year that they don’t end up needing to use, while others end up using more dollars worth of health care than they paid into the system. Too many sick people using up more dollars than they paid means the insurance company can’t cover the total expense out of the fees – so then they increase the fees – which ups the risk of bankruptcy for the nation or individuals with excess costs due to their health needs.

My work still needs to be worked into a peer-review format and submitted to academic journals for the peer-review process. While it could help individuals who choose to read and think for themselves it can’t officially be recommended by health professionals until evidence based research supports the information. Those who look may see that I discuss topics and put things together differently than current standard knowledge – that doesn’t mean I’m wrong just because the standard says something different – look at the health statistics and ask yourself if the standard is providing health at a cost effective manner to most people?

No – the Social Progress Index suggests that some in the U.S. get excellent care but that most on average are getting results close to that of third world nations.  That’s where more research truly is needed – while it would be difficult to write a research study for individualized care compared to writing one for one specific medication it would still be possible. The study would need to measure something more like total sick days versus well days for the study group receiving individual guidance versus the control group receiving the guidance that would be provided by the current standard of care. Or total number of deaths within the many year time frame – this would have to be a large study that lasted many years to check long term effectiveness, however the short term sick day versus well day, or some other short term weight loss or blood pressure type measurements could be included to check whether individualized guidance was more effective at promoting general wellness than the current standard of care.

However, research on preventative health guidance, individualized somewhat for each person’s particular issues and skillset, has been found to be very cost effective at saving Medicaid spending. The supplemental nutrition, health screening and education program, WIC, has been found to save more in Medicaid spending than the WIC program costs. And my own experience professionally working with thousands of infants, children and women makes me very confident that my particular research findings and education methods can be very effective for individuals who listen and try the advice. It is that confidence that has kept me working towards sharing the information in a format that can be easy to use and  are safe grocery store type recommendations – for the most part. Sometimes supplements are needed for some conditions or special health issues.

I will also try to work with the health insurance system to pitch preventative health care services as being more economic for the insurance company – profit makes the capitalist world go round – and they are already encouraging the use of preventative care – they just don’t realize the current system isn’t really providing it. Until a lab test shows that you are “sick” enough for a diagnosis and medication, then you are likely to not get much further guidance about preventative health care beyond standard non-individualized recommendations.

The problem with “evidence-based recommendations” however, is that they are based on a research premise that any result better than placebo effect (~40%) is significant and the recommendation can then be made for 100% of the people. That leaves potentially 60% of the people receiving a medication that may not help them and may actually hurt them.

Individualized care is needed for all the people with conditions that occur in less than 40% of a research group. Some diseases and conditions are varied enough that all the patients need more individualized care – autism spectrum disorder includes many variations in symptoms with some common themes. It is recommended to treat each patient on the autism spectrum as an individual patient rather than trying to apply a “standard” care plan. Standardized care plans are only helpful for conditions that are fairly consistent for most patients with the condition – and as a baseline to start from for individualizing with further detail or modifications to the standard care plan.

  • Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes. 
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The dark side of the cuddle hormones is aggression

The try, try, again – thanks for the love and attention but it is driving me and my family crazy. I love my dog and am not healthy. International community of academics – please take my academic findings leapfrog to the next logical place you would take it to prove evidence based value in the information. The US is in a odd place right now. Please don’t let it hold back the world’s academic understanding of physiology. Nixon wanted to suppress blacks and hippies with his listing of marijuana as having no medial value. Please don’t let racist and inequal policy affect our modern treatment of healthcare. –

Regarding my mental health – it is rational at times and when I’m “triggered” or have run out of my medication than I’m not rational, and not myself, and get stuck in patterns of behavior or speech that are not rational and include my worse fears. If I were being observed it would likely be frightening – seek therapy is good advice – for any observers – countertransference/transference of symptoms can be a problem in counseling type settings and may affect others who spend time with someone with mental health symptoms. I included resources in my my new website in several places because I wanted the information to be right there available at that point in the text in case the reader had just reached the point of acceptance that they might benefit from seeking help. We don’t know what we don’t know until we suddenly just learn it – and then it is nice if the next step is obvious.

But overall I’m fine and never asked for help except for a rhetorical request for editing advice – which I received and it was helpful. The point about “I’m fine” is that this is a lifelong change, I can do things to be more stable and less likely to be triggered but the underlying health change seems to be permanent – just “trying harder” is not going to change anything. Eating regularly and not being stressed by crazy nonsense does help reduce the chances of being triggered. Thanks.

My goals are academic and have always been academic – share information about the benefits of magnesium for many chronic illnesses and mood problems. An office and IT support is all I wanted. I’m sorry if my health issues and inability to travel easily have been confusing. Writing is how I organize my thoughts well and then it is easier for me to work with individual  needs once I have my notes in order. My health is much better with the information that I have learned on my own then it would be if I had left myself only in the care of the current medical industry. My academic findings are critical to our future health – please academics who have some common sense – please ignore the utter nonsense of current politics and just get this information moving along the publish or perish track towards actual patient care. There is allegedly video of my personal life for seven years funded by US taxpayers and it is really embarrassing to the public that I exist – so leave my out of your academic work – just move the ideas the next rung of the relay race.

/The too long didn’t read – love and caring may be feelings that can lead us into hurting strangers out of some misguided sense that we are helping someone else who seems to be in need of help and who seems more in need of help than the person being sabotaged. Sabotage of other countries because we feel “patriotic” to our own country is still sabotage of another country though, and it would be considered a war crime if there were people able to hold the U.S. accountable for the actions performed by our nation. Be cautious about patriotically supporting policies that are harmful to other nations just because our current administration suggests a course of action.

My concern ever since I started writing online is and always has been about our planet and its long term survival. Helping individual humans be healthier with simpler strategies simply helps produce less waste for the planet – it’s math. Our human actions are having devastating and long lasting consequences on the planet, and ecologically and politically are leading to worse risk and more terrorists. People who are attacked are going to work harder to defend themselves – or maybe if we spend enough borrowed money, eventually they may all give up or all be destroyed but are we, as proud patriots, supposed to then feel proud of our “superior” and “patriotic” ability to destroy others?

On an individual level my own story has been inflated and lied about in positive ways and in negative ways at different times. I’ve overshared about myself and my life at times in an attempt to correct misrepresentations. It tended to not go well – but creating a kickball might be fun to distract the voters and smear political topics but is it a good use of taxpayer money and might it not be causing more harm to occur to other women because an example is being made? Personally, yes, I have issues, many, and have since I was a baby, a difficult baby in some ways, but I persevere. Any day when I can breathe out of both nostrils at the same time is a good day. Any day without a migraine is an excellent day – lately I’ve been having mostly excellent days. I have sought a variety of medical and psychiatric evaluations to try to figure out why I tended to be slightly sick most of the time and it has helped but reading was also important. In a nutshell though, any speculation about my mental health that includes narcissism is false. Personality disorder, No Origin Specified, is one of my diagnoses and I asked for clarification. All the psychiatric professional offered as detail was that I showed childlike body language when I laughed and emotional lability – fleeting changes between emotions -also common in children.

It can help a team bond to have a common foe but do you really need to create enemies out of a person who just was trying to offer a personal account of successfully recovering health with diagnoses that are not well understood? not everyone has a disease or condition that is common enough for funding to be available – but they should still have a right to some level of individualized health care – care targeting their  body’s condition and its needs. /

Regarding love and two different types of hormonal receptor activity:

Two different variants of the vasopressin and oxytocin receptors have been identified in humans and a few other animal species. One of the variants of each type was found to be associated with more aggressive behavior of the research participant’s on the behalf of other people who were portrayed as being in need of help in a simulated “game” scenario – would you help one person even if it meant you had to do so be harming one of their competitors?

The study results showed that the people with one type of receptor on average would help the competitor who seemed to need help even if it meant sabotaging one of the competition with a substance that would cause physical pain.   Read more: The Neurohormones Oxytocin and Vasopressin Explain How Empathy Leads to Aggression. (medicaldaily.com)

Protecting loved ones is important and helping strangers in need of help is also important, however within my value system sabotaging competitors or causing people pain on purpose is not a valid response to any typical scenario that I can imagine. I’m sure if there was some end-of-the-world-if-you-don’t situation then I would likely try to save many, even if it meant harming one, but just to help someone win a race? – no way. I have been working very hard for a long time actually on the topic of ways to help prevent the end of the world -as we know it- and at great expense of myself and it turns out also at the expense of my dog’s health and of other family members who have also suffered increased stress. But the goal is worth it – better health for humans would also be healthier for the planet.

I love my dog and I care about humanity but I also care a lot about the planet and all of its life forms – we can’t buy a new planet and terraforming other planets or building a dome on them is still in the early stages so I wouldn’t count on living somewhere else soon. Working with others towards developing and using more sustainable methods for supporting life here on Earth is my short term and long term goal.

Overly aggressive vasopressin and oxytocin receptors seem a little too aggressive on behalf of complete strangers, at times, to me at least.  Fighting tooth and nail to protect my children is the motherly form of the hormonal aggression that was being measured in the study scenario, but in the rsearch study the scenario presented the question of how much would a study participant be willing to do to help a stranger in need, not their own children.

I would do a lot to help someone but not necessarily sabotage someone else. Equal rights doesn’t mean hold back one or a few, so that the others can catch up and everyone will be at the same place – say at a level that is average or below average – but now designated as all equal “winners.” The dictionary definition states that “equal rights” is the concept that all people will be treated equally under the law. (yourdictionary)

Equal opportunity to me means that everyone who wants to try is allowed to try and allowed to access education or tools that will be comparable to the competition’s. If the game scenario allowed you to help the competitor in distress buy a better track suit or pay for a refresher course or coach, then I would definitely do that for the person – but cause pain to a competitor so a weaker competitor could win? – no way.

Take home point – sabotage is not nice for most reasons or occasions that tend to occur.

In business settings I’ve done fairly well, only two customer service type complaints in fifteen years in a job with daily customer service type tasks. I’ve helped save lives of patients whose parents were extremely grateful, and I can certainly appreciate the strength of my own maternal love – but love is also universal in my opinion.

I believe in a collective unconscious type cosmos of energy that includes all of us and all of our past ancestors in the form of loose paired quarks. Quarks are like the smallest fragment of an atom that can still include all of its information, like a computer file or a book or recipe card. Loose quarks can be entangled with other quarks somewhere else in space – and possibly somewhere farther away in time if we are viewing time as something the planet orbits slowly around and dips in and out of its own previous paths. Quarks might be anywhere physically on that orbital path but entangled with another quark that is physically somewhere else. Heaven and hell are fairly universal concepts across human cultures of this world and they might both be represented within the collective unconscious of a cosmos energy pool made up of something like loose quarks or some other energy that we don’t understand yet. What exactly it is like would likely vary based on the person’s expectations but there have been some consistent stories shared by people with dissociative or near death experiences.

People who have had near death experiences share very similar stories, and even with people from different cultures sharing the similar stories. Our after death experience would likely be connected to our physical life and the emotional bonds we made with our family, friends and whatever communities we became part of – whether church or social or business. Quantum entangled quarks might form with these emotional bonds and after death become loose quarks that might remain entangled with the friend from the physical life connection. We don’t know what we don’t know until we open minds enough to ask questions, seek experiences, and learn from them. If we never ask questions or suppress those who do, then we will never learn what we don’t know.

Towards the end of this post I return to this topic of the possibility of a “collective unconscious,” quarkian pool of energy with the story of Wilhelm Reich and his discovery of a physically measurable type of energy he called orgone energy. Might it include loose quarks? I don’t know, I’m not a quantum physicist and just like to read about it, but it would be interesting for the research to advance so I could read more about it. Might it include brimstone and pitchforks, or angels and harps? – that part might depend on what the person expected before they became a diffuse loose quarkian energy field – the suggestion I’ve read a few places is that it is a mixture – arm your spiritual strength now and be ready to find out later is my attitude. I personally am looking forward to finding out and am not worried about pitchforks – I’ve saved lives so if I hadn’t stuck around to do that then those people wouldn’t still be here or wouldn’t have had a few more years in their physical form. Some were very grateful for my help and others oddly weren’t,  so I learn, some people need to be in control even if it means refusing help.  You don’t know what you don’t know until you learn it – but you can only lead a horse to water, you can’t make it drink.

A woman who has a successful career as a “psychic” shares relationship tips regarding the four biggest myths that she feels Americans have about relationships and which have made a lot of money for her. The first, and most important point she felt was in helping hearts to recognize that love has to start first within oneself, for oneself before love for another can ever really “work.” Sharing trade secrets? maybe she is hoping for some different types of questions from her callers in her own future. Whether you believe in reading the future or not, “psychics” are good at reading people, The Four Worst American Myths about Relationships: (huffingtonpost).

A few more specific details that people may view as possibly being bad for a relationship but which actually might strengthen it are discussed in an article on businessinsider:  7 Things You Think Are Bad for Your Relationship but Aren’t.

Romantic comedy themes may be part of the problem for the segment of the population that has watched them at some point during their formative years (most of us?). A study found the material in romantic comedies normalized stalking behavior:  Romantic Comedies: When Stalking has a Happy Ending: (theatlantic)

An excerpt from the article provides a definition of “stalking“:

“According to the National Institute of Justice, “stalking is conservatively defined as ‘a course of conduct directed at a specific person that involves repeated (two or more occasions) visual or physical proximity, nonconsensual communication, or verbal, written, or implied threats, or a combination thereof, that would cause a reasonable person fear.’”  (theatlantic)

If someone said to me, “you seem familiar, like you’re from the movies,” my initial reaction is somewhat literal – my story does in some ways remind me of comedies I saw during my younger years – did someone follow me around and write it up? No, probably not, it is much more likely that we all have something in common with romantic comedies – if we are honest with ourselves.

However, possessiveness and overly aggressiveness does not seem at all romantic to me at least. It seems frightening and demanding and controlling, and when it is publicly obvious attention it seems to increase jealousy or aggressiveness in some observers.

My personal health habits are personal but in the past I have written about strategies that I’ve found beneficial for pain relief and mood benefits because as a health educator I believe in offering help to those who might be interested when possible. Sexual health and sexual release have health benefits for mood and pain control, however discussing anything about intimate health seems to be a problem for many people. Fundamentalist cultures prefer no mention of *** at all.

The psychic hotline at least has someone who talks and listens. Crisis hotlines can also be helpful.

Over the last few years I haven’t been crying over relationships, I’ve been crying over the public health epidemic that could be resolved so easily if we were only allowed to admit that our support of corporate profit in agribusiness and in the medical and pharmaceutical industries has hijacked our ability to be healthy in the way our grandparents were. They were able to choose healthy foods and habits and actually achieve health by doing so instead of it not working.

Too many people are frustrated with “health advice” now – sometimes rightly so because it turned out to be wrong, but more often now the health advice is not working because most of the nutrition advice is based on older research that used foods that are no longer the same as what the original research would have used prior to around the 1980’s. Some significant changes in the food supply also occurred in the 1950s and 60s. Those older foods likely promoted health in a way that the comparable modern “food equivalent” is no longer truly equivalent in being able to promote. (antioxidants and vision) (disease prevention) The chemical content is different now – slightly or significantly depending on the toxins involved. However that is a corporate trade secret. Some whistle blowers have tried to draw attention by revealing collusion at regulatory levels but the news doesn’t cover that sort of news.

One summer, anecdotal evidence was provided to me regarding the unhealthiness of the U.S. food supply when three college age students all went to visit Europe for the summer. They all left looking slightly pale and pudgy – watery bloat plus a little overweight, pale slightly anemic skin – and they all came back looking pink and radiant, happy, excited and curious, and glowing sparkle in the eyes, and thinner and more muscular instead of puffy looking. It took about three to four weeks and all three were looking a little pale and puffy again, the sparkle in the eyes was a little dulled – magnesium deficiency would cause all of those symptoms and could be caused by the effect of glyphosate on the CYP enzymes which are involved in the metabolic pathways of vitamin D, magnesium and  calcium. (Nutrients for healthy eyes.)

Magnesium deficiency can also increase the risk of aggression and violence.

Denial of reality doesn’t help us recognize underlying issues and that prevents or inhibits our ability to stop doing whatever it is that is causing the problem.

If we want peace, then providing a food supply that promotes peaceful nutrient balances in our bodies would be helpful for supporting the goal of having a peaceful society. If we want war and chronic illness for the purpose of corporate profit then saying so would save time at least.

Pesticides and herbicides were used prior to that point in time but not quite to the same extent, especially since the introduction of chemically resistant plant species. Going farther back though, some of our grandparents would have had baked goods without bromide and would have had more iodine in their diets prior to the 1950’s. If our bodies don’t have enough of an essential nutrient then whatever substitute that is similar and is available may be used in place of the missing nutrient, but our current medical system isn’t testing for that let alone admitting it is an underlying problem of many types of illness. See Dr. Brownstein’s work on iodine, and the halides.

Our health care system is too expensive because too many people are critically and chronically very ill. It’s a basic math problem – health insurance is based on more healthy people paying in to cover the few unhealthy people – it used to work. Now the balance has shifted too far towards expensive care of many unhealthy people and expensive care of managing “prevention of chronic disease by use of expensive medications.” Providing a food supply and medications that are toxin free and support our own innate ability to fight disease and repair damage before it becomes chronic would be more effective and likely be more cost effective even with the lost profit for some health care and agricultural businesses.

After reading and learning more about human nature and news cycles I’ve stopped crying because I’ve learned that news spreads. I got hopeless for a little while because I saw how many alternative practitioners there are all trying to share the good news too, and getting mistreated for it. Exactly how fake or real the news about any topic these days varies quite a lot and it is not always clear which news is real or fake anymore. But good news travels — and bad news travels faster. (2016 in graphs)

The research that confirmed my gut feeling that news travels, eventually, is from the early 1900’s. It was found that roughly 85% of success in business is related to personality and charisma and only 15% to technical ability. Now my offer of closer to 85% technical ability and 15% personality and charisma is just not adequate – for the majority, (or 110% technical ability and -10% personality).  (Carnegie Institute)

However, what I’ve observed to define “capitalism” is that the 85% personality and charisma is really equal to connections and capital  that sometimes just needs to be spent so it may not even end up purchasing 15% technical ability. It might just get spent on a feel-good-end-of-year-use-up-the-budget party or poorly thought out purchase because the end of the year is a busy time with end of the year reports and inventories to complete. So creatives create because they need to get the creation out of their head or their brains get squeezed with too many creative thoughts (roughly) and capitalists with 85% capital and connections spend money on whatever happens to catch their attention and that of their consumers, and consumers give them profit for something with 15% technical ability and a pretty package.

So beta phase free software early adopters get to try out stuff during the early phase before it reaches the 15% technical ability, 85% personality phase. (The help-yourself-creatives-are-nuts phase – have fun.) Eventually, corporate profit protectors figure out how to buy innovative inventions and prevent them from reaching the public, or the innovative invention is suppressed, so there aren’t enough early adopters to adapt it to their own uses and help it spread to mid level success or to widespread acceptance where it enters into production by the corporate profit system. (Roughly.)

In grade school we learn how evil terrorists are capable of magically disintegrating skyscrapers with an airplane – in architect school, thank goodness, physically anomalous events are not part of the curriculum and sky scrapers are designed based on actual physics. So should grade school children who live in sky scrapers be afraid of airplanes? or terrorists? or thankful for architects? or be afraid of flimsy investigative committees?  (unz.com/pgiraldi/the-dancing-israelis) (wakeup-world.com/2017/09/21/20-declassified-files-that-prove-government-crime-and-conspiracy/)

When we have a bad relationship with the truth then we all suffer. When we have a bad relationship with ourselves then any other relationship is likely to be difficult.

When you have oxytocin or vasopressin receptors of the less aggressive type then you might actually be happier with a person who also has oxytocin or vasopressin receptors of the less aggressive type.  I will look forward to being an energy spirit eventually. Love is in the air in the form called “orgone” by a scientist whose career was ended and books burned – literally here in the US in the 1950’s. The research itself was never questioned though. A product was considered unsafe and pulled from the market, politics may have bee involved as he had made significant progress on being able to manipulate weather systems and the government was interested in that research. It was only discovered though, due to earlier research he had performed investigating what happened with energy patterns during sexual release. Sexual health was the early research which led to the discovery of the “orgone” energy. Excess energy in our bodies may build up and  it may end up feeling better after the excess is released during sexual climax. The level of energy that was discharged was found to be greater when the partners were in love versus not in a loving relationship. (Wilhelm Reich)

People need people – people they are compatible with rather than trying to make it work based on the four myths about relationships Americans tend to share, (huffingtonpost), – and the Wilhelm Reich research also suggests that a sex IA robot will be unlikely to completely fulfill the physiological benefits that a real person would likely be providing in a real loving relationship. Short term relationships between people with oxytocin or vasopressin receptors that are less overly aggressive might reach a “loving” response upon shorter acquaintance than people with the overly aggressive types of receptors.

Music can help with soothing pain (sciencedaily).  Music and thinking about friends and helping others, learning something new, and many things  can help boost dopamine which has positive mood effects. Doing new fun things together can help a couple keep more early stage levels of hormones active in their relationship and bodies. The “Falling in love” stage of a relationship has the sense of newness when everything is a new detail to learn about the other person and so having a routine date night where something new to both individuals is planned might help by physically providing a chance fro them both to learn something new about each other while learning something new about themselves  – can they do whatever it is that the event or class involve

// However I’m fairly sure that I’m not an average woman. I needed help with my family surviving and with observing role models for healthier relationships and with my own unmet emotional needs. A divorce would have been the recommendation by society but in a weird situation it would likely have been the wrong decision for my children. In reading more in trying to understand what happened better I found that animal studies do show two distinct types of mating. The difference is based on oxytocin receptor activity in the females and vasopressin receptors in the males. In species or individuals with monogamous pair bonds a getting-to-know-you phase is needed before an increase in the feel good hormone will be produced. An epigenetic change occurs in the pair after the getting to know you phase (just 6 hours in this study, this isn’t the one I was looking for though: http://www.nature.com/news/gene-switches-make-prairie-voles-fall-in-love-1.13112 , these authors may be the original source, I read about it in a book. Paywall: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v9/n1/full/nn0106-7.html?foxtrotcallback=true) Monogamy or serial monogamy would be comfortable for those types. In the not monogamous species or individual the feel good hormone will be produced with any friendly contact – which likely doesn’t mean at random but with some chemistry between the two. Polyamory of some type might be comfortable for those types, more accepting of the natural feel good response with a variety of special friends.

More oxytocin (or vasopressin) is better than too little. Although the feel good hormones have also been found to lead to aggression against non pair bonded individuals – the aggression of a mother protecting her cubs. The research on the difference in types of pair bonds found that the monogamous types were more likely to sabotage someone if they thought it might help someone who seemed in need of help. I would fight to protect cubs but I wouldn’t sabotage a race just to help a stranger who seemed in need of help. I’d give them better running shoes if I had the money or some other aid like that but I wouldn’t sabotage their competition for them.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/neurohormones-oxytocin-vasopressin-explain-how-empathy-leads-aggression-305144

 

  • Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.

 

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Springcleaning is over: Effectivecare.info, website launch

I’ve been posting a few of the first sections from the new website, effectivecare.info on the blog that is embedded within it, effectiveselfcare.info,  Having information in different formats makes the information it is trying to organize searchable in different ways.

The series on oxidative stress is skipping ahead of the main text of the new website. Read more:

  1. G3. Relaxation & Stress, (G3)
  2. the series continues in G4. Autoimmune Disease & Vitamin D, (G4),
  3. G5. Pre-eclampsia & TRP Channels, (G5)
  4. and G7. Fear & our Inner Child. (G7)
  • Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes. 
  • The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a service for locating a nutrition counselor near you at the website eatright.org: (eatright.org/find-an-expert).
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Marginalization and violence

Additional resource: Workplace Violence Prevention Starts with the Recognition of the Aggression Behaviors and Managing the Outcome (naterassociates.com)

*Additional note – this post is not about me or a specific group or any individual in particular but is about all those observing and the affects they may face. It is about nations being isolated and groups of people needing something to believe in – we need to believe in each other instead of building one group up by bashing on another.

Social isolation causes physical damage by increasing oxidative stress. More information on that is included in this post: Social isolation and oxidative stress; and ginseng, [transcendingsquare.com, 11/30/17]

People have to go along with a group but it can leave them psychologically uncomfortable. And someone who is already being persecuted too, in their own life and are observing group persecution of someone else, may be less likely to feel hope and more likely to feel even more worthless – the goal of those doing the marginalization of someone tends to be to make the person feel unworthy of belonging.  All I’m suggesting and asking possibly, is that toning down the volume of the jokes and dislike of each other might have a positive ripple effect, because the negativity in itself may be increasing risk of random violence anywhere and everywhere.  This post is simply about the repercussions, the ripple effect for observers – please think about the other marginalized people who may see the extreme treatment of some people or person, as a reason for them to give up hope within their own lives.

I’m not asking for any special favors for myself just trying to point out that negativity is not healthy for observers and likely isn’t healthy for child observers either.

I’m adding a section from a project I’m working on that is about transference and countertransference and working with others without getting too involved and a quote by Abraham Lincoln who encourages us “to act in the interest of peace.” This is like giving you the solution to a problem first and then giving you the problem but since it is about a severe problem maybe it may help to first have a solution in mind before reading about the problem.

“With Charity to All.”

“Enough lives have been sacrificed; we must extinguish our resentments if we expect harmony and union.  We must now begin to act in the interest of peace. With charity to all.” – Abraham Lincoln, to associates regarding letting Civil War leaders leave the country rather than be caught and executed. (pp23-24, Lincoln)

11.4.4. Transference and Countertransference – getting too involved.

Successful leaders and mental health counselors don’t let someone else’s bad day ruin their own good mood.

If as a modern business our goal is to overcome these natural instincts to trust those and want to be led by those who are more similar to ourselves than those who are different, then first it is necessary to simply admit that the instincts exist instead of suggesting that simply saying we are “equal” truly can make us equal to each other at an instinctual level. Remember we don’t have to emotionally “feel” like family or best friends in order to complete a project with someone. Advice from successful leaders suggests not taking it personally, don’t let your own emotions be affected by another person’s mood, and remember that even difficult people can add value to a team.

  • Read more, a list of tips for a business reader regarding how successful leaders cope with working with people they don’t like: 11 Ways Successful People Deal With People They Don’t Like. (11.21)   

Transference and countertransference of mood and symptoms is seen in the field of psychiatry and mental health counseling. The patient and counselor may form emotional patterns learned in their childhood and negative symptoms may develop in the counselor. The theory may apply to long term relationships formed in other areas of life:

    • Read more: The Space Between: Transference and Countertransference (11.22)
    • Transference and Countertransference: A Common Sense Perspective, includes exercises to help a person become more aware of their own body tension or relaxation and other responses that occur naturally during a conversation. We tend to “mirror” each other’s body language and style of speaking without being consciously aware of the tendency. The physical tension however can have very real effects on our mood. (11.23)
  • Transference and Countertransference in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, is a journal article with examples of scenarios and clinician responses: (11.24)

11.4.4.1: Social workers are less likely to commit suicide than physicians.

Social workers may commit suicide less often than physicians due to a difference in training about self care. Social workers are reminded to not become overly invested in the job or with a particular client’s troubles by having balance in their other roles in life. It did not seem to me that I was as good as the social workers whom I worked with at balancing my own life roles, but having role models who were good at it and who reminded me that it helps to have balance and variety in life, did help to let me know what is possible and worth working towards as a goal.

11.4.4.2: Resources for help or just someone to talk to:

  • U.S. National Suicide Prevention Hotline: Call 1-800-273-8255, Available 24 hours everyday. (I.suicidepreventionlifeline.org)
  • National Helpline: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: “SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.”  (I.samhsa.org)
  • Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE, (I.RAINN.org)
  • Child Welfare Information Gateway: a variety of toll-free hotline numbers for concerns involving the safety of children. (11.18)
  • Power and Control and Equality Wheels  The following training materials are for helping victims of domestic violence and batterers learn how to recognize problem behaviors but emotional manipulation or abuse of power and control can occur in many types of relationships not just between couples.The Power and Control Wheel (11.15) was developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP). (11.16) Manipulative behaviors are grouped into eight categories in the model. An additional Equality Wheel (11.17) was developed to help guide batterers and victims of emotional or physical abuse towards healthier ways to interact. It is grouped into eight equivalent categories with examples of healthier ways to interact with each other. Problems frequently can involve communication issues by both people in a relationship.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a service for locating a nutrition counselor near you at the website eatright.org: (eatright.org/find-an-expert)

And a section from G. Relaxation & Stress,  Four: Social contact would help protect against oxidative stress.

Social contact soothes stress and helps prevent children from developing PTSD:

Having a role that fulfills a valued purpose for the group is associated with an increased sense of happiness. Read more: A Better Kind of Happiness, by Will Storr, (G.9). Stress may become more overwhelming however if the person is isolated or never learned social skills or developed enough trust in others to ask for help or seek out help. Children in situations with emotionally immature caregivers may learn that people around them can’t be trusted or that trying doesn’t lead to success so why bother trying – they can learn a sense of helplessness and hopelessness and not even try to seek help because they are unfamiliar with finding strength or support from others.

In the book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents, by Lindsay C. Gibson (G.10) four different types of emotionally immature caregivers are described and how growing up with them might affect children. Solutions are also provided in the form of techniques for how, as an adult, a person might overcome the lessons they learned as a child once they discover that emotions aren’t dangerous things to never be discussed or worse that one might be punished for exhibiting them.

Some emotionally immature people may feel threatened by strong emotions and may react negatively to children who are simply being children. The child in that situation learns to not trust themselves and may not learn that emotions are normal rather than upsetting or frightening.

Severe childhood trauma can lead to changes in the brain that cause ongoing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A new strategy for treating PTSD has been developed which involves electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve called Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS).  

The excerpt summary from the book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents (G.10) regarding the research by Stephen Porges suggests that the vagal nerve is the nerve pathway that naturally is stimulated when social contact is sought by mammals who are enduring a stressful situation. (G.11) (G.12) Infants and children depend on their caregivers for everything and try to please with their smiles, eye contact, or baby coos. If the infant isn’t receiving eye contact in return however they may stop trying or are scolded they may learn to look away and to avoid eye contact. Children ideally need emotional support in order to develop trust in themselves and in others. Parents who have limited skills in understanding and accepting their own emotions may not be able to teach their children what they don’t understand themselves. Children who have some role model in their lives who understands emotional skills may cope better than children who don’t.

The topic is discussed in more detail in the book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents, by Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD, (New Harbinger Pub., Inc., 2015, Oakland, CA) (G.10) (This book is not a twelve step book and is not affiliated with the Adult Children of Alcoholic or Dysfunctional Parents twelve step group.) On page eight the author discusses the importance of emotional connection for humans and other mammals for responding less negatively to stress. Stephen Porges published work in 2011 suggesting that mammals evolved a way in which we can get additional soothing during fear situations when we are in touch physically or possibly even mentally – thinking about them during times of need. It involves vagus nerve pathways that can be inhibited to reduce the fight, flight, or freeze stress reaction. (G.10)

**** It is not easy being a parent or a child is what I’ve learned about life.

Original beginning of the post:

Studies on random violence and terrorist acts have found that individuals and groups who are marginalized may be more at risk. Persecution and humiliation and child trauma or neglect was more common in the history of people arrested for a violent crime. The recent death of a peaceful protester in Charlottesville is tragic for the family and community, and the nation. (bloomberg.com/2017-08-14)

We are becoming even more divided since the difficult campaign season but marginalizing young adults may just lead to more violence. A group that has appeared to be supportive of or producing the Nazi themed memes  has a petition up to help save them from oppression, whether it might be satire about saving Pakistan is unclear. (change.org/p/the-recognition-and-freedom-of-the-kekistani-people)

Update, 8/18/2017, I’ve looked into this group further and it does seem to be a satire group whose artwork got taken up by other extreme right wing groups.. Their group’s name and artwork was not visible in any of the video footage that I saw of the event at Charlottesville. And a police officer has stated that the event may have been allowed to happen as a political move to show that the current administration is inciting violence. If the police officer is correct than the Charlottesville administration was the ones inciting it, but they deny it. Snopes has a debunking statement up about the police officer’s claim. Ever since the site debunked a story by suggesting it was simply a math anomaly I’ve been suspicious of their results – yes odd math happens but that is not a “debunking” – you’re not supposed to simply throw out the unusual experimental results simply because they fall at outside of the 98th percentile. See this article:  (yournewswire.com/charlottesville-inside-job) there’s a Snopes factcheck of it that says its false: (snopes.com/were-police-told-stand-down-charlottesville)

Young adults who are just looking for recognition and freedom from “normies” may need more variety of role models to follow. When “normal” society is the bad guy and Trump is the savior figure in the artwork – we all have a problem.

There are a few articles on my website about Zionism and World War II but the information is not in support of Hitler. Anti-Zionists at the time of World War II included Jewish people, such as Albert Einstein. There was collusion between Hitler and the Zionists at the time which may have left more of the non-Zionists Jews at risk for the concentration camps while a few left early for Palestine and they were allowed to take their possessions.  It all may involve banking and the national monetary system that Germany put in place after WWI cost them a large amount in reparations. History is complicated and the winners write the books. (The Israel leader supports Donald Trump, that seems significant: theantimedia.org/israel-trump-relations-important-condemning-nazis)

I’ve been working on a health information website, a directory of links to other resources with narrative about their value. It started out as an example of a policy manual for preventing harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

I’m posting a section regarding random violence and humiliation of others as it seems pertinent to our modern interconnected society. When one is singled out for persecution it is warning all the others in the group and other marginalized groups, that if they aren’t careful then they could get the same treatment – so follow the group’s expectations – their norms, but for the wrong person on the wrong day it might build up to a tipping point and an angry outburst might occur. Plan ahead for a pleasant work environment for employees and customers and have business as usual days instead of a tense environment or one that unfairly singles out certain individuals or groups for mistreatment by having open communication and supportive management. Employees like autonomy – some control over or input into how their jobs are performed.

Policy manuals are boring so that the most exciting event of the year is the company party or the baby shower for so-and-so or the annual fundraiser event or whatever the company thing is – celebrate that and it helps celebrate the whole team.

9.4: “Running amok,” “going postal,” or “a red stapler” moment.

Creating a pleasant work atmosphere where people feel safe from unfair persecution or humiliation may help prevent sudden violence where people who had seemed like quiet average people snap and try to harm others.  

The sudden outburst of violence is not that common and is not about a serial killer who is concealing themselves as average among peers, or the manipulative and charming boss with a narcissistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic side. A random violent outburst more likely might be the hard worker who finally reached a “camel straw” moment – the proverbial final straw added to a load that makes the already overloaded camel’s burden too heavy for it to carry any further.

Verbal and physical intimidation are more common problems in the workplace; and not reporting problems is also common. When is problem behavior serious? Or when is joking and teasing and pranks approaching harassment?

  • More information and guidance about workplace violence, and examples of common situations in Canadian workplaces is available at violenceautravail.ca/Understanding violence.  The site includes a list of “Examples of Workplace Violence:  being threatened with death or injury; getting hit or pushed; having an object thrown at us; being subjected to sexual touching and sexual assault; being scratching or pinched; being spat at; being yelled at; receiving threatening messages or emails; being ridiculed or humiliated; being threatened physically (for example, being shown a fist); having our property damaged. (9.105)

Labeling situations as serious and reportable may help an employee see that what they are experiencing is “bad enough,” and that they should seek help before anything “really serious” happens.    

    Labeling emotions can help to recognize when they are starting to build in one self or others. Unrecognized emotions may be more difficult to control because they are unrecognized but are uncomfortable and may lead to agitation and gradually build to more intense out of control anger or fear.

   “Running amok” is an older term and “going postal,” is a newer term for sudden violence. A “red stapler” moment is a reference to a movie from the 90’s that became an instant classic among disgruntled workers everywhere: Office Space.

  • If you happened to missed it, then if you would just go watch Office Space, “That would be great.” (9.79)
  • Or go read this article about it: 20 Things You Might Not Know About Office Space (9.80)

The movie Office Space shows all the “do not do this to your employees” bad boss examples to avoid following. Don’t be left holding only a stapler, plan ahead and give everyone their own. Fair treatment and a sense of autonomy, a right to some control over one’s work, are important for employees in addition to earning a fair paycheck. Threatening job loss or other retaliations can leave workers feeling trapped and hopeless because they may need that paycheck even if it isn’t fair.

9.5: “Amok” was a medical condition during stressful times.

Research has found that during stressful times, whether due to economic or environmental reasons, people are more likely to act out verbally or physically against people who are not of their same ethnic group. (9.41) During times of stress, violence against women is also more common, particularly against women who are suspected to be sexually active or to have been unfaithful in a relationship. (9.43) Other research has found that the rate of violent crime is associated with the rate of infection in the population. Research into group and individual behavior suggests that the rate of infectious disease in a group is significantly associated with the rate of violent and property crime and with the rate of violent crime against strangers. (9.41)

    It is unclear from epidemiology studies whether an association is causal or correlated, but if health is associated with less violence, it seems like a reasonable goal to promote health and try to prevent infectious disease.     

   Some types of infectious disease can directly lead to symptoms of increased irritability or rage and historically, and times of environmental or economic stress have been linked to a medical condition that was called “amok” where a previously healthy person suddenly started killing or assaulting people randomly. Historically a condition known as amok was first described in 1893 where an individual suddenly acted violently and then would forget the manic episode. Descriptions of the disorder were recorded by the British medical superintendent of the Government Asylum in Singapore. Increases in cases of amok were more associated with “times of social tension or impending disaster.”    

 The term fell out of use as a medical diagnosis but became commonly used in the phrase “running amok” to describe anyone who was acting unusually out of control. 99.42) Gun violence in modern times has involved racist xenophobia or religious ideology in many cases (9.53, 9.54, 9.56), it can also involve copycat reactions to news coverage of other violent offenders, (9.55), and in a few cases may have involved a shooter who claimed to have amnesia of the event afterwards. (9.44, 9.45)     

   Is “amok” a real condition that needs a more modern name? Controlling guns doesn’t control violence with knives or vehicles or explosives or with poisons. Promoting health might help more individuals control themselves.

   Negligence can also be lethal.

   Promoting compassion for others rather than supporting persecution and humiliation of those who are different is necessary. The young learn by observing the way others act and how they treat each other. Teaching compassion or another topic is easier with demonstration than discussion. Police brutality that goes unpunished teaches the wrong message that persecution and humiliation of some types of people is okay when it is done by other types of people. Recently teens filmed a man while he drowned and the group’s laughing and taunting was caught on the audio. The teens never reported the drowning and the man’s body was only found after a missing person’s report was filed. The video later became available and legally it has been found to fall into a loophole in the state’s laws. There is no legal requirement to help a person who is in danger in that state. (9.100)

   Divisive politics and economic hardship can lead to more focus being placed on differences in religion or culture, sexual orientation or gender, between oneself and others but it doesn’t have to. Being civilized can mean recognizing those differences and valuing and seeking to understand them better instead of fearing or mistreating those who are different from oneself.

  • TJ Brown suggests how in a section “Fight for a More Civilized Bigotry,” (pg 14) from a longer article: FEE’s Guide to Keeping Friends Despite Political Differences: How to Have Opinions and Friends (at the Same Time!), fee.org (9.106)

9.6: Gratitude and friendship boost dopamine, so does shaming.

Shaming others, reminding them of guilt, can cause an increase of dopamine in the brain of the person doing the shaming. However a compassionate exchange with a friend or acquaintance can also boost dopamine, and so can reading new and interesting information. Listening to music and enjoying good food can also. There are many positive ways to boost dopamine besides shaming others, such as being grateful for others’ diverse skills and unique backgrounds.

   Shaming others may be a natural instinct to promote one’s own morality by making it clear one is not in support of the topic or person being shamed, (9.21), or it may derive from a sense of guilt about the situation or person being shamed. (9.22)   

    Being fair in the first place would leave less to feel guilty about, accepting each other for our differences as well as our similarities might also.

     Shaming others, purposely humiliating them, can also be a form of control or intimidation to show power over another person or group of people. Shaming one member of a group can serve to humiliate and control the group. Less equal societies, with a group of wealthy elite at the top, may be more likely to use humiliation as a control tactic. (9.81) Human sacrifice in ancient cultures was found in a recent anthropology study to be more common in societies that also had greater inequality between the rich and poor. (9.82)  However, does shaming work as a form of social control to effectively promote changed behavior in the person being shamed?

    The answer is no – or at least not effectively and consistently when it comes to alcohol abuse. Research with reality shows focused on alcohol addiction and recovery have found that alcoholism or relapse were still likely to occur even after public shaming. (9.156)

“The results add to a body of literature suggesting that widely used shaming and humiliating methods of treating alcohol and other drug problems — such as those seen on shows like Celebrity Rehab — are not only ineffective but also may be counterproductive.” (9.156)

“Guilt” is a noun referring to the feeling one feels oneself over an error or misdeed, while “shame” can be used as a noun it is more typically used as a verb, “to shame.” Others shame the one who is guilty or believed to be guilty of something the group disapproves of. Other studies with alcohol counseling individually also found that shaming tactics did not effectively help individuals stop abusing alcohol. (9.156)

      Studies of serial killers and other types of violent offenders found an association with early childhood abuse. Rejection by a parent or other important person in their life was found to have occurred in the early lives of 48% of a group of 62 serial killers in the study. Other types of physical, sexual or emotional abuse such as humiliation have also been associated with violent offenders, and early adoptions, neglect, or abandonment in early childhood have been associated with violent crime. (9.63)

 In a study that included over 1000 violent offenders, shame and humiliation were found to be a common factor; violence was an attempt to restore a sense of pride or self-worth: “In the work, “Shame, Guilt, and Violence,” qualitative data from over 1,000 institutionalized offenders were gathered and analyzed over the course of four decades. According to Gilligan, self-conscious feelings of shame and a deteriorated sense of self-worth are the causal factors underlying violence; humiliation, Gilligan argues, compromises one’s identity, i.e. the way one sees oneself, and leads to feelings conceptualized as a loss of cohesion of the self, or a conceptual death of the self. This leads one to become violent in order to restore pride, or a sense of self-worth (Gilligan, 2003).”  Overcrowding and economic job stress, which leads to lack of parental time, are factors thought to be involved in the number of young men in gangs who may join them seeking the nurturing that was missing at an empty childhood home. (9.83)

If someone at work has a favorite stapler, maybe just let them enjoy it in peace instead of teasing them about it – and maybe get one of your own to find out what the appeal might be. The topic of shame and shaming is continued in the next section, and a therapy method for individuals who suffer from excessive guilt and a tendency to self-shame (9.158) is discussed in more detail.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.