At the moment, many addicts and alcoholics come up in the courts on a variety of charges. Many of them commit acts which rightly earn them prison sentences. Yet the law has no way of helping them do anything about their drug-using or drinking.
Some states in the USA have arrangements whereby drunken drivers have to [...]
The addict or the alcoholic must be forcefully told that abstinence from all mood-altering chemicals is the only answer. To suggest that there are easier ways of getting well is to delay the final recovery.
Many professional people try to offer easier solutions – not least because addicts and alcoholics often refuse point blank to do [...]
Although the first separations occur when the baby is first put down to sleep, it is not until the age of 7-9 months that the baby begins to become truly upset when separated from the primary care-giver. This then continues and may intensify during the early toddler period, depending on the particular context and circumstances. [...]
The question sometimes arises about how much we need to practise a CBT program in order to reduce our avoidance behaviour. Having to confront various situations and places we have avoided does initially place us under more stress. We need to learn to walk a fine line. There are going to be times when we [...]
Sleep patterns are continually changing because any of the things that affect a child during the daytime can also affect his sleep. This means that there times in your child’s life when you might expect his sleep to be affected Examples could be: teething, illness, the arrival of a new baby, seasonal changes, or dreaming.
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The possibility of having fits is a frightening one I know, but they are not as bad as they look. They are not painful, they usually last only a few minutes, and you are not likely to die while having one.
A fit happens when part or all of the brain becomes abnormally irritable. If it [...]
All of this may be reassuring to the person who undergoes the testing and then gets a clean bill of health. But recently this mass screening of healthy people has come under criticism. The problem may be that not enough positive findings turn up, except where expected, to justify the whole procedure in terms of [...]
A miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is almost as common as a normal birth. Most miscarriages occur in the first three months of the pregnancy.
Those that occur in the second trimester or between three to six months, usually are due to dilatation or opening of the cervix or neck of the womb.
This may happen as the [...]
In people with diabetes who are treated with insulin or tablets the blood sugar may sometimes fall below 4 millimoles per litre which is the lower end of the normal range. When this happens you might feel hungry, shaky, sweaty and be unable to think clearly. This is called a hypo (short for ‘hypoglycaemia’).
A hypo [...]
Adolescence. It is now thought that excess hyperplasia of fat cells is possible during periods of rapid growth when all body cells proliferate. One particular stage for this is the early adolescent period, around 12-14 years of age. Adolescents who are inactive at this stage and/or eating high energy foods, may develop more fat cells [...]
