Here are more ways of helping your kids deal with trauma and stress. (If you haven’t read the part 1 of this blog, it is highly suggested that you do it first before indulging in this write-up.)

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Children can feel aggravated and fearful emotions when they experience a traumatic event such as a natural disaster or when they see disturbing images on TV or the Internet. “To be diagnosed with PTSD, you usually have to be directly affected by the traumatic event, believing that your own life or those you care about are in danger,” says psychiatrist Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, chief of psychiatry at Medstar Washington Hospital Center. In this article, we will provide advice on how to help kids cope with trauma and stress.

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Therapists are used to dealing with people with different mental disorders. Hundreds of individuals have probably come to visit one throughout their career. Not to mention, there are also folks who have various forms of addiction, bipolar and personality disorders, etc., which may be impossible to recover from without professional help. Nevertheless, one of the trickiest mental illnesses to overcome is an eating disorder. According to eating disorder specialist Nicole Pipitone, MAAT, LPC, “Eating disorders are one of the most complex disorders, and have the highest mortality rate of any other psychiatric illness.“

If the problem has something to do with drugs or alcohol, for instance, the easiest way to get over them is by not hanging around people who use and abuse such substances. In case you are depressed, you need to go out of your room and be with your loved ones more often. However, when you have an eating disorder, food is practically everywhere, so it can be difficult to mend your relationship with it. That is especially true if your original goal is to lose weight and show your detractors that you will not be obese forever.

Now, if you genuinely want to heal from such a disorder and help your therapist help you, here’s a quick food guide that you can follow.

What Can I Eat?

As what psychologist Lauren Muhlheim PsyD said, “Many patients with eating disorders will only eat a restricted range of foods.” These days, there are lots of products in the market that are made for burning your body fats, but very few of them work. Most of the labeled products say that they do not have saturated fats, but it is the opposite in a lot of other foods. In truth, they are filled with this kind of fat which is very harmful to any person who is going to digest it. However, even if that’s the case, there are still a few fat burning foods which are effective for burning the extra fat in the body.

Millets & Peanuts

Foods that contain fibers are the ones which are always useful for burning fat. Fiber-rich foods like millets and peanuts absorb cholesterol and help to emulsify extra fat in the human body. Just to digest this type of food, we have to burn a good amount of calories, which can also help us to burn unwanted fats.

Honey

Every morning, just take a tablespoon of honey with warm water so that the extra fats will be burned while you are getting extra energy for your body.

Garlic

Garlic contains anti-bacterial compounds such as sulfur, which helps to reduce excess fat and cholesterol, making it a sufficient fat-burning food.

Chilis

Chilis are filled with capsicum, a component which helps to increase the metabolism of the human body. You should know that when the metabolism increases, the burning of the extra fats in our body also increases. This is the reason why you should eat chilies if you are looking for a fat-burning food.

Curry Leaves

Curry leaves can directly help our body to burn unwanted fats. Aside from that, curry leaves works as a good eliminator of some harmful toxins in the body as well.

Dark Chocolate

Stress is responsible for low metabolism of the human body; that’s why stressed people often get extra fat and weight gain. Scientifically speaking, it is now proven that daily consumption of 1-2 tablespoon of dark chocolate reduces our stress. Hence, it is also a valuable food for burning fats.

Sesame Seeds

After a long time of doing researches, it has been found out that liver enzymes and some essential fatty acids increase the metabolism of our body and burn extra fat cholesterol. Luckily, sesame seeds are filled with essential fatty acids to help improve the liver enzymes and are therefore the kind of food that should be taken by someone who wants to flush out his or her extra body fats.

Smoothies

According to scientists, smoothies can also help you to burn the additional fats in your body. Smoothies can make the satiety hormones more active, and that is a good thing because it is the hormone that is responsible for burning fat. A glass of smoothie a day will be useful to burn your fats away.

Yellow Bell Peppers

Vitamin C deficiency is also responsible for gaining extra fat in the human body. Vitamin C produces a compound called carnitine, which is very important for burning excess fat. Carnitine helps our muscles to function, and it can turn those fats to the energy that can be used by our body.

Final Thoughts

“Recovery from an eating disorder can be challenging”, states Marriage and family therapist Susan Cowden, MS. I know that overcoming an eating disorder is not as easy as changing clothes. You will mostly have to deal with yourself, which you may or may not like due to your weight issues. Despite that, you merely have to lean on your therapist for support for a while, as well as your friends and family. This way, you increase your chances of recovering from the disorder.

Good luck!

Trauma is the result of stressful experiences such as prolonged abuse, violence, road accidents, serious illnesses, and natural disasters. The experience can leave a long-lasting effect on your body by increasing its defenses and creating a defense response when you face a similar situation. According to Kathleen Smith, PhD, LPC, “Sometimes they will experience memories or “flashbacks” of the event, or they may have nightmares about it that feel very real.” It pushes your body into a fight-or-flight condition that causes an increase in blood pressure and heart rate and loss of appetite. The psychology of trauma is a delicate topic that leads to mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorders.

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One of the most productive means of mitigating the symptoms and effects of such experiences is through the help of a counselor. There are specialists known as trauma counselors who help people with such a condition. They provide means to help an individual address, come to terms with, and face their past experiences from these traumatic events. Each of their treatment plans is different and may take months or longer to help a patient fully.

However, becoming a trauma counselor is no easy feat. Those who take up a degree in psychology or sociology can end up as a trauma counselor. They’re required to go to a graduate school under a program that is concerned with trauma or psychology. Also, upon graduation, a license is necessary for them to pursue this job. Experience is one of the hardest things for them to gain since they don’t get too much exposure from their internship. Also, they require skills such as patience, control over emotions, and keen attention to detail in dealing with their patients.

Why See A Counselor?

“People with PTSD should seek out treatment with a mental health professional — such as a psychologist or therapist — who has specific experience and background in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder,” according to John M. Grohol, Psy.D. When the trauma is too much to handle to the point that you compromise your daily activities, seeking professional help may be necessary. Seeing a trauma counselor has many benefits. Here are three reasons why.

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• Experience And Training

They underwent training in dealing with people from a broad spectrum of traumatic experiences. It may be something frequent, such as prolonged abuse, or something not many experience, like war and traumatic accidents. Given the experience and training they had for dealing with such cases, they can provide the most appropriate treatment plans to help an individual recover at the pace they need to.

• The Person Who Listens To You

Not all of us have a person to talk to; if ever you do, there are times that you prefer to keep these stories to yourself. If you fear judgment or feel uncomfortable sharing such experiences to anyone, this may serve as your best outlet. Sometimes it is necessary to talk to someone to release the pent up feelings you’ve had. Keeping everything within may cause you to explode someday. Through them, you can remain confidential and lose that fear of judgment.

• Treatment Plans

Trauma counselors design the most appropriate and effective treatment plans for their patients. After hearing what their patient is going through, they set up a scheme that best tackles both the root cause of the experiences and means to deal with it if ever the symptoms start to show once again. These treatments help you improve and deal with your symptoms and restore your self-esteem.

Having Difficulties Seeing One?

If you’re having difficulties in getting an appointment for a trauma counselor or don’t think that your condition is severe, you may consider self-treatment. However, this is a complicated procedure that requires the utmost patience. Here are step-by-step plans you can take.

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1. Break free from your sense of hopelessness. Sometimes, when you get the desire to depend on something like drugs or alcohol, you should learn to stop it. By depending on these substances, you may only be contributing to worsening your condition. It is necessary that you have self-control on the things you want to do.
2. After getting over your dependence on such substances, try to start depending on yourself. Sometimes all you need is a pastime or activity which can help get your mind over such worries. “If you’re currently working with a mental health provider, it may also be important to let him or her know that you’re interested in starting an exercise program,” states Matthew Tull, PhD. Try new activities such as sports, writing, or exercise. These can serve as an outlet for all your fears.
3. You can then seek someone to talk to if ever you have enough courage and trust to share your experiences with them. Who knows? Maybe they are going through the same situation. They may also offer useful advice that can help improve your condition. Don’t limit this to your friends; try joining support groups or volunteering.

These may serve as a temporary means in dealing with your condition. Should things get worse or hard to handle, it is best to seek professional help.