Mental Disorders

Mental Disorders

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about mental disorders. Mental disorders are conditions in which the brain is not able to function correctly. People with mental illnesses can be born with them or can be affected by their environment. Mental disorders can be defects in personality, education, social ability, phobias, depression, impulse-control, memory and eating disorders. These affect people and others around them. It affects their past, present, and future. However, people with mental disorders should be treated equally as anyone else.

          There are many types of mental disorders, such as:

• Anxiety disorders: This could affect both adults and children. They can last a long time and are quite common. They put the person in a depressive mood, creating feelings like angers, stress, and fear. This includes phobias, panic disorders, social anxiety, stress, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), and general anxiety.
• Child disorders: These affect a person during their childhood. It can be social or learning abilities. These include pica, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, bed wetting, and much more.
• Sleep disorders: These are in effect during sleep. They include insomnia, sleepwalking, sleep bruxism, nightmare disorder, narcolepsy, hypersomnia, and sleep terror disorder.
• Mood disorders: Mood disorders affect a person’s behavior and mood, and some may even cause potential, violent outbursts. These include bipolar, depression, Cyclothymic Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and Dysthymic Disorder.
• Organic Brain disorders: Organic brain disorders are caused because of the individual’s surrounding environment. Trauma from past events or other failures of the body could cause this. These include dementia, (sometimes) amnesia, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, delirium, Parkinson’s disease and Huntington Disease.
• Personality Disorders: Personality disorders affect a person’s behavior or mental thoughts. A type of personality disorders is called an odd personality disorder, oddly dissociative and detached. These are Schizotypal, Paranoid Personality Disorder, and Schizoid. Another type is Dramatic, being over reactive or sensitive. These include Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic, and Histrionic Personality Disorder. The last group is Anxious, when a person is scared to be independent and sometimes detaches him or herself from others. These are Avoidant, Dependant, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
• Impulse Control Disorders: Impulse control disorders are conditions in which a person has an addiction or urge that might harm him or herself or others around. These are Kleptomania (stealing), Intermittent Explosive Disorder (anger issues), Pyromania (setting fire), Pathological Gambling, Trichotillomania (hair plucking), Internet Addiction, Dermatillomania (skin plucking), onchycophagia (nail biting), and compulsive shopping.  

There are many other types of other mental disorders, such as conversion disorders, factitious disorders (pretending to be injured or sick), and substance abuse (abusing intoxicants). 

Help people with mental disorders!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Divorce

Divorce

            Hello, this is IGL and this post is about divorce. Divorce is when two parents decide to legally separate, and to be called exes. Divorce happens every day everywhere for many reasons. It could be financial issues, abuse, or alcoholism (see previous post for more about alcoholic parents). In other words, the parents don’t agree on certain things such as disputed actions, behavior, and seldom times looks.

Children involved in the parents’ relationship may feel torn apart between them. Heartache and depression may result upon an unwanted divorce between two parents. When two parents fight, they develop feelings of hate towards each other. After that, they file for divorce and sign the papers. But who will get custody of the offspring? That matter depends in court, and a parent may keep the child, and the other may receive visitation rights. Sometimes parents can’t see the child at all.

Divorce is becoming more common every day. Even back then, during the times of kings, they would divorce their wife just to marry new wives in hopes of creating a male child instead of female ones. It is understood today that the gender of a child is determined by the mother and father’s traits, not by the ability of the mother.

Children encounter when their parents are through a divorce. Often times, the child blames him or herself for the separation. It is usually unexpected for a divorce to happen, but they inflict the emotional pain on themselves. It is NEVER a child’s fault for a divorce. It was the parents’ decision and the child has nothing to do with it. If you are a child in a divorce, it may be hard to believe, but you are never the cause of a divorce.

Divorce is a heavy weight on a person’s shoulders. Divorce Care is one example of an organization that helps people through divorce. Divorce Care is a foundation aimed towards the adult through a divorce, showing what joys and happiness can be in life. Don’t let a divorce bring you down. Besides Divorce Care, the Children 1^st Foundation is aimed towards the children through a divorce, discussing the needed care for a child, such as child support, visitation arrangements, and custody.

There are many ways to help. You could:

1.     Tell someone if you are going through a divorce

2.    Tell a child that it is never their fault for their parents’ divorce

3.    If you have depression, seek therapeutic help

4.    Talk to your parents about their relationship issues.

Help the people going through divorce!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Obesity & Nutrition

Obesity & Nutrition

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about obesity and nutrition. Eating excess calories causes you to become obese. In this century, obesity is one of the most morbid disorders of the world. Obesity also causes many other diseases you could get including diabetes and heart attacks. It also hurts their confidence and trust on their appearance.

          Symptoms for obesity include difficulty of exercising, a large body, being lazy, and difficulty of breathing, muscle pain, early puberty, and knock-knees. It is difficult to exercise because of easily becoming tiresome. This leads to lethargy, or laziness. When obese, the muscles are weakened, making it hard to move. The fat pressures the muscle so it is hard to function properly or strongly. Fat produces estrogen and testosterone (hormones). With excess hormones, you receive puberty earlier. Knock-knees are when the legs are straightened, the knees ouch at an awkward angle.

          Effects include cancer, heart disease, muscle difficulties, back pain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, breathing problems, strokes, organ diseases, and many more. Psychological problems include depression, stress, and low self-esteem. New studies show that pregnant and obese women have a higher chance of giving birth to a child with autism. ADHD is also more common in obese or overweight children.

          To have a better weight, exercise and eat healthier. Exercising is an important step to maintaining a better weight. Exercise daily like jogging or maybe jumping jacks. Exercising always helps. The next step is to eat healthier. The food pyramid consists of food groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats & beans, milk products, and extras. Grains include bread, pasta, rice, cereal, and oats. Eat 6-11 servings a day. The vegetable group includes leafy greens, carrots, corn, and broccoli. Eat about 3-5 servings a day. The fruits include nectars, citruses, berries, melons, apples, and bananas. Eat 2-4 servings a day. The oils include castor oil, sesame oil, and nuts. Eat about a handful of nuts a day. The oils are usually included in vegetable servings. The meats & beans group include seafood, chicken, beans, and eggs. Eat about 2-3 servings a day. The milk products include yogurt, cheese, and milk. Eat about 2-3 servings a day. Extras are the unhealthy foods including ice cream, lollipops, butter, chips, and cake. Use the extras sparingly.

          Many countries in the world have a high number of people that are obese. According to studies in 2012, the country with the highest number of people obese is the United States. The US’s percentage of obese people is 33.8% of the population. Mexico is next (30%) and New Zealand after (26.5%). Since 2010, the percentage of child obesity in the US has increased a great amount. Since 1980, people from ages 6-11 have increased from 7% to 18%. Teenagers have increased from 5% to 18%.

          September is the National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. The yellow ribbon stands for obesity. Make sure you wear the yellow ribbon in September.

          There are many ways to help. You could:

1.     Spread the word

2.    Wear the yellow ribbon in September

3.    Bond with children or adults that are obese

4.    Make your own body healthier.

Help stop world obesity!

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Stop Eating disorders!

Stop Eating Disorders

          Hello, this is IGL and our new project is eating disorders. Eating disorders are when someone abstains from food to make their body thinner. Sometimes people purge and skip meals. Most of the time people with eating disorders are young adults or teenagers.

          Eating disorders could affect a lot of people. Sometimes when someone is bullied, they are called fat and overweight. Because of that, the person purges themselves to look better. Or it could be because someone is just a “queen bee” and keeps their eating disorder as something to look better in their revealing clothing. Or maybe it’s because their friends are all skinny and inspire that person to contain an eating disorder. Either way, it’s not a good thing.

          Another BIG reason why most people have eating disorders is because of the media. Yes, the media. The media nowadays include super skinny models, movie stars, ettica. In other words size 1 ½ dresses and outfits. Still, there are some healthy and normal-weighted people in TV shows and celebrities that go against bulimia, but most people are still super thin. Our member, Kristine, one day was watching TV shows on her computer. Then, when she came across a clip from the Disney Channel TV show “So Random” (the individual show, not the one in Sonny with a Chance) she was super shocked of what she saw. It was the episode when the male model came to his girlfriend’s house. They were talking about how the male model ate only one full meal a week, which is bad. And the model said that his agent told him that if he wanted to get the jobs (being famous) he couldn't eat ANY carbs. This is so outraging! Now they were supporting eating disorders on children’s shows!

          Even if you skip breakfast so you could look like Ali Lohan, that’s still considered an eating disorder. If you have a minor eating disorder, consider visiting a therapist to get over it. But if it is a hardcore, serious eating disorder (like going without food for weeks or purging) go to a treatment facility if you can't overcome it when you try.


          NEDA is an organization that helps young girls going through eating disorders. NEDA is a non profit organization that reaches out to people with their self-esteem issues. To help, you can plan a NEDA walk to raise money and spread awareness to eating disorders. If you don't want to plan a walk, then just donate! NEDA has a program in which you can donate a car so they can auction it off. Besides, they will take care of all expenses for sending the car over.

          No matter what happened in the past, accept who you are. How you look like on the outside doesn't really matter to how you are in the inside. There are ways to discourage eating disorders .You could:

1.     If you have an eating disorder yourself, stop it. Don't let how your image looks like affect you. If it’s a minor case, try seeing a therapist or a doctor. If it’s serious, consider going to a treatment facility

2.    If you know someone who has an eating disorder, tell them to get some help.

3.    Spread the word. Write a letter to the newspaper, tell someone about it, or just encourage people to stop eating disorders.

4.    If you or someone you know with an eating disorder is afraid of getting overweight or obese, skipping meals is not the answer. Food has healthy nutrition that helps you, not goes against you. However, if you don't want to get too overweight, avoid fatty food like hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, or fried chicken.

5. Support NEDA and maybe donate to the organization. 
    (  http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org  )

So you see, eating disorders affect so many people in the world every day. Help stop eating disorders and make the world a healthier place.

-Idea+Gift=Love

Stop bullying

Stop Bullying!

          Hello, this is IGL. Our project is a very important message to EVERYONE. This project is bullying, something nobody wants to become a victim of. Bullying includes put-downs, teasing, vandalism, gossip, rumors, cyberbullying, racism, sexual harassment, Physical abuse, threats, and exclusion. This is a negative thing that everyone can stop.

          Once upon a time, there was a middle school in the California Bay Area. That middle school was an ordinary middle school. They had the loners, the bullies (populars), the nerds, the Goths, the genetically disordered, and the jocks. We’re pretty sure there weren’t any plastics since it’s a middle school because that would just be weird.

          In that middle school, there was a girl we will just call “A”. A was bullied by many people but she had some friends. They were good friends, but she also had some bad friends. The bad friends (aka the bullies) were backstabbing bullies and she never had a clue about it. They did many horrible things to her. They used a form of bullying called cyberbulling, where they use technology to hurt someone’s feelings. They sent texts to everyone and convinced them that A was a bad person. They also posed as A and sent people rude texts. One person, named “B” was a bad friend. B was a bully, and had a lot of bully friends. One of B’s bully friends schemed a plan for B to make a recording of saying many horrible things about A. B’s friend sent that video to everyone by e-mail, and sadly, to A too. A was hurt, and she never got over it.

          Another time was when IGL witnessed this act. A was walking over to the trash can, and some girls were also having lunch there. The moment A walked over, the leader of the group of girls threw some food at A. The food was solid and hard, and A got hurt, both emotionally and physically. This is called Physical Abuse. The people also called A ugly, stupid, annoying, and disgusting. They excluded her away from their group whenever A walked over, trying to make some friends. This is Put-Downs, teasing, and exclusion. They spread rumors and gossiped of how she did badly on a test, and things like who she went to the dance with then how her date ditched her there. This is called rumors and gossip. They threatened A of telling people she liked bad things about her if she didn’t do something they wanted A to do for them. This is called threat and vandalism. That is how A lived.

          There is another time in a different school of the same area. There was a boy and a girl. The girl shall be called “C” and the boy shall be called “D”. C was always a happy go lucky girl, until D one day decided to upset her with his bullying. C wanted to play a game with D and his friends at recess. But D decided to play a cruel game. He said that girls couldn’t play sports because they were too weak and sports were only for boys and men. This hurt C very much. Whenever it was PE, C was excluded whenever she was in D’s team to play a sport. This carried on for years. This is called Sexual Harassment.  Sexual Harassment could also be related to sexual innuendos.

          It was a year later in fifth grade when D was in C’s class—again. In class, one day, an argument rose from a table. A girl was arguing with D about something, and then suddenly D shouted out about him being Australian, and said how Asians were stupid and always looked like “this” *puts his two fingers to the edges of his eyes, raised them up to form chinky eyes*. This shocked the teacher and half the class since half the students were Asian. This is called Racism.

          All these were schools that members of IGL went to. Sadly, this is the problem with the world. And one result of bullying could end up terribly wrong. It is called self harming.

          Self harming is when a person hurts themselves to relieve pain. Self harming is bad! B-A-D bad! And usually, this happens when someone is bullied too much. Self harming could be in different forms like an eating disorder. If you know someone who is self harming themselves, tell someone immediately!

          Once upon a time, in the California Bay Area, there was a high school. Once again, they have the bullies and the bullied. A teenage girl was bullied, so bullied that she decided to self harm herself. She was bullied so much, that she tried so many different ways to kill herself. One day, she was rushed to the hospital, and died in early morning. That is why bullying is BAD.

          Even though it seems that this could be difficult to accomplish, YOU could stop bullying. There are many ways to stop bullying. You could:

1. Stand up for someone. Standing up is when you confront a bully and tell them to stop bullying the victim.
2. Tell an adult. You could tell a trusted grown-up when bullying is present
3. Don’t bully anyone yourself. Bullying could cause a lot of pain.
4. Spread the idea to stop bullying yourself.

As you can see, if you do these steps, you could stop bullying!

-Idea+Gift=love IGL