Autism in children......still unknown in society

Autism in children and myths

What is Autism? Autism is a neurodevelopment condition which mainly affects areas of social interaction and communication. These children also may have some motor movements like hand flapping, rocking which are repeated over and over again. The manner in these children behave is quite different and represent a spectrum of symptoms from mild ones which are considered as shy to the real aggressive ones.
The younger children with autism are referred to me with complains of speech delay or hyperactivity while older children lag behind in studies at an early stage because of inability to follow classroom instructions.
Autism facts
The parents notice the soft subtle signs of autism like poor eye contact of the child while talking, most of the children were late to start talking and have inadequate speech. Usually stay in a world of their own, these children are happy alone and find it difficult to play and interact with other children. Inability to focus and hyperactivity with unpredictable aggression also is noted in the children.
Doctors, school teachers and parents have become increasing aware of this condition in the last decade. The awareness has been greatly increased by media with main stream movies like 'My name is Khan 'and 'Barfi' depicting main characters with autism spectrum disorder. Many Hollywood movies like Dear John, Mercury Rising and Rain Man showed autistic characters and popular serials like the Big Bang theory have depicted the main character as suffering from Asperger's syndrome.

It's not good for future of Psychiatry......

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/202/3/228.full

Junior doctors’ views about psychiatry as a possible career range from high levels of enthusiasm to antipathy, and are more polarised than views about other specialties. Shortening of working hours and improvements to working practices in other hospital-based specialties in the UK may have reduced the relative attractiveness of psychiatry to women doctors. The extent to which views of newly qualified doctors about psychiatry can be modified by medical school education, and by greater exposure to psychiatry during student and early postgraduate years, needs investigation.

Preparing yourself for Alzheimer's

http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_preparing-yourself-for-alzheimer-s_1808084

An important article for dementia caregivers to read

'When he lost everything he had ever learnt, every behaviour the world had taught him, my father's good heart still shone through. Of course, he sometimes got angry and scared and confused, but he continued to love us, and he was always kind. That's what he was his whole life, and that's what he was at the end. And that's what I need to learn. I need a heart true enough to survive being stripped of all else by dementia.

I don't want to get Alzheimer's. Nobody does. And I'm doing all I can to prevent it. But, like many misfortunes, dementia cannot be prevented. All one can do is reduce the odds, and mine are still worse than most. If it comes for me, though, I'll be ready.'



 

Sorry, depression is still undiagnosed and undertreated in India...

http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-blogs/seekers/faith-and-rituals/wealthy-and-depressed-or-poor-and-happy

Misleading article appeared in speaking tree- Times of India

Wealthy and depressed...........???????????.

I grew up in India and when I was growing up I never once met a person suffering from depression. In fact in India depression was and still is probably unheard of. I met a lot of poor people who were sad;met a lot of homeless people who were unhappy but none depressed.
 

Is there urgent need for adopting preventive measures of alcohol use in tribals.....

Reasons for Substance Use: A Comparative Study of Alcohol Use in Tribals and Non-tribals

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573575/

A significantly high number of tribals cited reasons associated with social enhancement and coping with distressing emotions rather than individual enhancement, as a reason for consuming alcohol. Addiction was severe in those consuming alcohol to cope with distressing emotions. Belief in the free-will model was noted to be stronger across the cultures, without any correlation with the reason for intake. This cross-sectional study design, which was based on patients, cannot be easily generalized to the community.

Societal acceptance and pressure as well as high emotional problems appears to be the major etiology leading to higher prevalce of substance depedence in tribals. Primary prevention should be planned to fit the needs of the ethnics.

Are we ready to handle the cases of brain disability? Any answers

Headed for a neuro nightmare
India has very limited numbers of neurological and mental health facilities (1 bed per 40,000) and a dearth of mental health professionals (fewer than 3 psychiatrists /neurologists per million). So provision of neurologic and mental health care is very limited. Care-givers and attendants are also not trained to deal with such patients.

Currently, it is estimated that about 37 lakh people suffer from dementia in India, and about 3-5 lakh are being added every year. Women, because of their higher life expectancy, feature in this statistic more than men. There are about 7.6 crore Indians over the age of 60 at present, that is, 7 per cent of the country's population. This number is going to shoot up to 30 crore (17 per cent of the population ) by 2051 as modern medicine increases life expectancy. .......the number of patients will triple with 16 lakh dementia patients added every year.

The annual incidence of stroke in India is about 145 per 100,000 people with about 15 lakh new cases reported in 2010. The rate has increased 10-fold since 1969-70 . Das estimates that in 30-40 per cent cases, long -term disability occurs. So, about 4.5 to 6 lakh people will be added to those with neurological disabilities every year due to stroke.

Brain injuries caused by road traffic accidents are increasing at break neck speed. In 2011, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 136,834 deaths due to road traffic accidents, up by a staggering 70 per cent since just a decade ago. 15-17 lakh people with long-term brain disability from traffic accidents are added every year in India.

Putting all this together, we get a chilling statistic of 35 lakh people with brain disability added to the population every year — about 11,000 per day.

Indian parenting---somewhat different

A news story appeared in Hindustan daily on Indian parenting

http://m.newshunt.com/Live+Hindustan/LifeStyle/19268543/994

इहबास (इंस्टीटय़ूट ऑफ ह्यूमन बिहेवियर एंड एलाइड साइसंसेज), नई दिल्ली में मनोविज्ञान के एसो. प्रोफेसर ओम प्रकाश के मुताबिक, भारतीय परवरिश दुनिया के किसी दूसरे देशों से बिल्कुल अलग है। उनकी कुछ खास बातें हैं, जो कहीं और नहीं दिखतीं। लेकिन कुछ खामियां भी हैं, जो यहां की परवरिश पर सवालिया निशान लगा देती हैं। उम्र के साथ-साथ बच्चों के लिए अपने व्यवहार में बदलाव करें। हमारी परवरिश में इसका चलन नहीं है। अपने बच्चों के साथ जैसा हम पांच साल की उम्र में व्यवहार करते हैं, वैसा ही दस वर्ष की उम्र में और उसके उम्रदराज होने पर भी काफी हद तक हमारा रवैया वैसा ही होता है।

भारतीय परिवेश में 11 वर्ष के बाद लड़की में और 13 वर्ष के बाद लड़के में परिपक्वता आ जाती है, इसलिए इस उम्र के बाद उन्हें आत्मनिर्भर बनना सीखना चाहिए। भारतीय परवरिश में बच्चों की हमेशा माता-पिता पर निर्भरता बनी रहती है। बात चाहे छोटे-बड़े फैसले की हो या किसी कोर्स की, भारतीय बच्चे अपने माता-पिता पर पूरी तरह से निर्भर रहते हैं। निर्भरता माता-पिता और बच्चों के बीच की बॉन्डिंग को मजबूत तो करती है, मगर एक सीमा के बाद यह बच्चे को दबाने लगती है। माता-पिता या बड़ों द्वारा फैसले थोपने की प्रथा भी गलत है। सवाल करियर का हो या शादी का, हमेशा घर के बड़े अपनी मर्जी से ही फैसला करना चाहते हैं। कुछ सीमा तक यह बच्चों को सुरक्षा का एहसास दिलाती है, पर एक सीमा के बाद उनमें मनोविकार पैदा होने लगते हैं। वे बहुत ज्यादा दबाव महसूस करने लगते हैं, उनमें चिड़चिड़ापन, तनाव आने लगता है। वे प्राकृतिक रूप से अपनी पूरी काबिलियत नहीं दे पाते। इसलिए बच्चों को थोड़ा स्पेस देना जरूरी है ताकि बच्चे खुद को समझ सकें और अपनी कमजोरियों व ताकतों को पहचान सकें। बच्चों में तीन साल की उम्र से ही नैतिक मूल्य विकसित करना जरूरी है। किसी किताब या ग्रंथ की सहायता से ऐसा करना संभव नहीं है। इसके लिए माता-पिता को खुद एक रोल मॉडल की तरह काम करना होगा।