Please be patient and watch the youtubes on dyslexia as I think I've learned a lot from them and you can as well. hmmmmm

What it's like to have dyslexia animations and illustrations youtube

Dyslexia the unwrapped gift 1 of 2 youtube

Dyslexia the unwrapped gift 2 of 2 youtube

The Power Of Dyslexia about Famous Dyslexics youtube

Dyslexia and PTSD
EXCERPT:
The interview evidence suggests that many dyslexics go into child mode whenever they are around teachers, as one noted that it was as if the last twenty years had never happened, they transformed back to a child even though they were an adult with a degree. Even Lara who teaches in schools, feels a little girl again, withdrawn and in detention whenever she needs to sit outside the headmasters office before meetings and she has been teaching for years in various schools. As Rachel notes she has these same belittling feelings with doctors and another medical staff, a feeling of not being worthy and that others are more intelligent than she is.

‘Post-traumatic stress disorder’ (PTSD) in dyslexics can come from various factors, these include: the sudden exclusion from their peer group; intense anger from a teacher or parent, physical bullying at school; realisation that something unrecognisable is wrong (maybe realising that they are not normal or do not learn normally, being called stupid, lazy etc). There are two forms of PTSD, which Scott (2004) suggest dyslexics suffer. The first is Type 1 (an acute, single-impact traumatic event) and Type 2 or complex PTSD (a series of traumatic events or prolonged exposure to a stress or stressor), both are listed in the DSM-IV (APA, 1994). PTSD is a widely researched aspect of psychology (see Rose, 2002; Stallard, Karwit and Wasik, 1999 for reviews). PTSD is categorised by being the sudden and irrevocable perceptive change of the world from one that is safe and predictable to one that is dangerous and random. Individuals are as traumatised as if they had been in a major car crash. The behavioural effects of PTSD come from repetitive and intrusive thoughts and can be triggered by vision, sound and smell (as noted by Miles and Varma, 1995; Riddick et al, 1999). Yule, Bolton, Udwin, Boyle, O’Ryan and Nurrish (2000) found only 25% of PTSD sufferers had recovered after five years, 33% after eight years and 59% warranted a lifetime diagnosis.

English is hard on dyslexics
EXCERPT:
In English, many words share the same letter combinations, but involve different sounds when spoken. For example: mint and pint; cough and bough, and clove and love. In French, the complexity stems from different letter combinations that "spell" the same or similar sound, such as "au temps" (at the time) and "autant" (as much, or so much).

Frith said that Spanish, Finnish and Czech are "dyslexia friendly" languages because they lack the sound-spelling complexity of English and French. Japanese, he said, is also easier for children learning to read because of its consistency of sounds and symbols.

"One study found an Australian boy in Japan who was dyslexic in English, but not in Japanese," said Frith. "That is the sort of thing that you would expect" if language was a significant factor in the severity of the reading disorder.

Dyslexia and Depression
EXCERPT:
▪ Finally, most depressed youngsters have great trouble imagining
anything positive about the future. The depressed dyslexic not only
experiences great pain in his present experiences, but also foresees a
life of continuing failure."
http://www.interdys.org/FactSheets.htm
Social and Emotional Problems Related to Dyslexia

"Children with both dyslexia and ADD are at dramatically increased
risk for substance abuse and felony convictions if they do not receive
appropriate interventions."
http://www.dys-add.com/nowknow.html

THIS puts a smile on my face when I'm not up to par photo album with lotsa beautiful photos

Study brains hippocampus shrinks due to depression
EXCERPT:
Study: Brain's Hippocampus Shrinks Due to Stress in Children
From VOA [listen to the report]:

Psychiatrists know post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, develops in people exposed to chronic stress. Researchers have studied the brains of adults with the psychological disorder and found a region of their brains called the hippocampus to be smaller than in people without PTSD. The hippocampus is a part of the brain associated with the storage and retrieval of memories.

Dr. Victor Carrion, a psychiatrist at California's Stanford University wondered if the same phenomenon occurred in children, and if exposure to severe stress caused their hippocampi to shrink.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for much more...

Continuing:
Carrion and his colleagues evaluated 15 pre-adolescent children with symptoms of PTSD, including nightmares and uncontrollable flashbacks, extreme agitation and emotional numbness. They assessed the children's behavior at the beginning of the study and again after 12 to 18 months. They also measured blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol and took images of their brains.

They found that kids with more severe PTSD symptoms had more cortisol in their blood and their hippocampi decreased in volume. "What that means is that the higher your symptoms of PTSD, or the higher your level of cortisol, the higher your chances of having a decrease in the size of this structure," Carrion notes, adding that this was the first time researchers have really seen that connection, indicating how cortisol might be related to the hippocampus.

Carrion says he was surprised at how quickly the changes occurred, even though the children were not experiencing trauma during the time of the study. "This is a trauma that they experienced in the past," he explains, "so we're seeing the consequences of the trauma having an effect on the individual, not only the trauma."

Carrion says knowing about the physiologic changes in the hippocampus might help researchers understand why PTSD becomes a chronic condition and develop better treatments to help children. His study appears in the journal Pediatrics.

While the study was done on children, it most likely has bearing on adults as well. It also may the first step to clearing up one debate in the field. Jake Young at Pure Pedantry explains:

There was a debate in the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for some time about whether the shrinkage observed in the hippocampus -- a structure involved in learning and memory -- was the result of the stress or was a vulnerability factor for the disease.

We know that high levels of cortisol -- a stress hormone -- can kill neurons. So you could argue that the stress and stress hormones that cause PTSD could also result in the reduction in hippocampal volume. This is the so-called neurotoxicity hypothesis.

On the other hand, individuals who get PTSD could have some underlying genetic or structural susceptibility, one characteristic of which could be an already smaller hippocampus. This is the so-called vulnerability hypothesis.

He goes on to say that the Stanford study "adds credibility to the neurotoxicity hypothesis."

Use it or lose it
EXCERPT:
Intro
Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.

The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills

Depression and the Brain
EXCERPT:
Chapter 6: What happens inside people's brains when they're depressed?
How brains reshape during mood disorders

Summary
There have been studies showing a change in brain activity when mood shifts, but there is now also research showing a change in brain shape that appears to be associated with severe mood disorders. The brain shrinks, or rather, certain parts of it do. One of those parts is called the hippocampus. This part is associated with making and being able to recall memories. If mood symptoms are severe or go on very long, the hippocampus shrinks. This chapter shows you the evidence that this shrinkage really occurs. The same process appears also to be occurring in frontal lobes as well, though not elsewhere in the brain. This brain shrinkage, called "atrophy", has long been associated with Alzheimer's dementia; but lately it has also been associated with obesity, and even with back pain -- perhaps through some common mechanism with depression?

A great Hugs video (teaching and learning)

Susan Boyle Cry Me A River youtube

Hopelessness
EXCERPT:
(such as growing up in an abusive household, living in an abusive marriage, or experiencing a succession of overwhelming losses), or any combination of the above.

Depression described
Anger turned inward Psychoanalysts have long believed that anger towards others gets turned against ourselves. Our anger converted into self-hatred causes depression. Karen Horney (see Monte, 1980, or any theories of personality book) wrote that the basic problem starts with neurotic parents who are inconsistent (both overindulgent and demanding), lacking in warmth, inconsiderate or openly hostile, or driven by their own needs. The child resents these things. But parents are powerful and a child's only means of survival. So, because of fear or love or guilt, the child represses the anger. The child, being small, alone, confused, and helpless in an unpredictable, hostile world, is, of course, scared. How does the child protect itself? The child, aware of his or her weakness, the criticism of others, and his or her own hostility and fears, develops a "despised" self-concept. Also, the resentment of others has been turned against the self: "I am unlovable, a bad person." At the same time, the child starts to develop a notion of an "ideal" self--what he/she should be--in order to survive and get the love and approval he/she wants. This ideal self, trying to compensate for weakness and guilt, sets up impossible demands, called neurotic needs. These needs are unconscious, intense, insatiable, anxiety-causing, and out of touch with reality. For instance, if one has a neurotic need for affection, it becomes urgent to be loved by everyone, all one's peers, all the family, teachers, the paper carrier, etc. Horney listed several neurotic needs, primarily needs for perfection, power, independence, and affection. All are attempts to handle the primitive hostility from childhood. So, how do we get depressed? In extreme cases, some people become so self-effacing, i.e. compliant, unselfish, and modest; they almost do away with their "self." Suffering, helplessness, and martyrdom are their ideals. They need to be loved, liked, approved, important, but taken care of. Their "solution" is: "If you love me, you will not hurt me." But beneath this saintly, goody-goody surface sometimes boils the old anger, rage, and strong urges to be aggressive and mean. Besides, love never runs smoothly--remember everyone must love them--so these kinds of dejected people may turn against themselves, becoming very self-critical and unhappy. Often they have also become bitter because the unwritten agreement was broken, namely, "I'll be nice and not hate you, if you will love, respect, and care for me always." People striving for sainthood often suffer because others will not always put them first.

Depression is anger turned inward
EXCERPT:
Equally surprising, the DSM fails to list anger as a symptom for either depression or mania, perhaps because the trait is endemic in the general population, as well, and so is regarded as normal (which is a very scary thought). Make no mistake - any state of mind that can disrupt your work and social relationships and potentially freeze you out of any life worth living should not be regarded as normal. And because our illness amplifies feelings and makes us lose rational control, we need to regard ourselves as skating on very thin ice.