3 Steps To Becoming A Life Coach

by Marcus Maybourne on July 13th, 2010 § 0

If you’re thinking about whether you should pursue a career in life coaching, then you probably already are someone who feels passionate about helping the people around you succeed. But there are also some changes and adaptations that you’ll need to make within yourself. Life coaching is a demanding profession and many people particularly struggle to market their services effectively.

I’ve been life coaching for about 15 years now and have seen some dramatic changes in the field as it has developed. So I want to spend some time talking with you about the steps you should take if you want to prepare yourself to succeed as a professional life coach. I want to go over this step by step, because it is easy to miss the trees for the forest when you’re starting out your career and there often aren’t any clear roadmaps for new coaches to follow through the early phases of launching a practice.

I’ll tell you straightaway that you will need to feel comfortable spending a certain amount of money to get your practice off the ground. Remember, you’re starting a business. The bad news is that most small businesses don’t turn a profit for the first two years. The good news, however, is that a life coaching business has less overhead than a lot of other types of enterprise. But you do need to be ready to invest in yourself and your business if you want to succeed. There are also some things that you can do to get the ball rolling while you’re still learning how to become a life coach. You can effectively pre-market your coaching practice while also making some direct capital to put back into your business. I’ll go into the details on how to do that in a little while. For now, let me begin with the first (and most often overlooked) step to becoming a life coach: » Read the rest of this entry «

Why Am I Depressed?

by Marcus Maybourne on June 25th, 2010 § 0

One of the most common questions that depressed people ask is the most basic, straightforward question that can be asked about this topic. And yet, people often receive inadequate answers to this question from there psychotherapists either because the therapist does not know or because the therapist is afraid to contaminate the therapy with their own theories too early on.

Before I get into my own ideas on the subject, I will let you know that there is really no way to know for sure exactly the causes of your depression. However, within appropriate psychological evaluation by a skilled practitioner, is extremely possible to develop a good enough idea of the causes of your depression that an effective treatment plan can be designed and implemented. » Read the rest of this entry «

Physical Symptoms of Depression

by Marcus Maybourne on June 25th, 2010 § 0

One of the common misconceptions about major depression is that it is strictly a psychological condition characterized by emotional symptoms. And while it is true that negative thoughts and feelings are usually primary components of major depressive disorder, there are also a number of physical symptoms which accompany this mental illness. The opposite is also true. There are a large number of physical conditions and illnesses which can cause symptoms identical to major depressive disorder. That is why even if your symptoms are solely psychological, you should absolutely see your medical doctor and describe your symptoms as much detail as you can so that they may determine whether the symptoms have a physiological cause. » Read the rest of this entry «

How to Cure Depression

by Marcus Maybourne on June 25th, 2010 § 0

Depression and anxiety are the most common mental disorders, and millions of individuals suffer from depression or the symptoms of clinical depression. Many psychologists and psychotherapists will tell you that there is no way to cure depression. There are some treatments that can be effective against depression, and even some natural remedies such as St. John’s wort that have shown some efficacy in the treatment of major depressive disorder. On the other hand if you are a person who is suffering from depression, or anxiety and depression together, then you are probably not looking for something that can possibly offer a small chance of relief. You are much more likely to be looking for a way to beat depression for good, and hopefully very quickly. » Read the rest of this entry «

The Psychology of Migraine Headache Relief

by Marcus Maybourne on June 25th, 2010 § 0

Most people don’t realize that migraine headaches frequently have psychological causes. Although there have been some advances in the development of medications to provide migraine headache relief, as well as surgical interventions, there is no migraine treatment that is able to cure 100% of cases.

This is because the causes of chronic migraines are not 100% physiological. Some of the psychological factors that can contribute to the development of migraine headaches our inadequate management of anger and hostility, and relational dynamics which contribute to the necessity for the patient to remain ill. The extent to which psychological factors are contributing to migraine attacks tends to correspond to the chronicity of the migraines. » Read the rest of this entry «

Best Digital Breathalyzer Alcohol Detectors

by Marcus Maybourne on June 22nd, 2010 § 0

If you don’t want to lose your driver’s license, then you better keep in mind the simple rule, “don’t drink and drive”. It is easy to get drunk especially when you are having too much fun with friends you lost track of the number of glasses or cans you have consume. Know that it is not just your drivers license that you might lose but heaven forbid you might lose your own life and worst of all the lives of other innocent people on the road.

One thing that is very frustrating with drunken people is claiming that they are not drunk when they are having double vision already – certainly this person should not be loose in the road. So when will you know that you are drunk and have too much to drink? A personal breath alcohol detector is the answer. It can accurately tell you whether you are still safe to drive or not. So if you don’t want to lose your drivers license or even your life for that matter then you had better take heed of what the breathalyzer tells you. So if you don’t have a breathalyzer yet then consider buying one for your own use. Check below to see some of the best breathalyzer models available to consumers.

AlcoHawk Pro Digital Alcohol Detector

Are you trying to find a reliable breathalyzer? Find no more for AlcoHawk Pro is here. It is indeed quite expensive than the other breathalyzers in the market but it sure is worth the extra cash since it really delivers an accurate result and is reliable too or else law enforcers and other big organizations wont use it at all. It is popularly known around the world in fact this device has become the model of all breathalyzers in the market today.

BACtrack Select S80 Pro Edition

This device is widely use by authorities around the world. Like Alcohawk Pro it is one of the most trusted devices in the market today. It shares and have close similarities in feature with AlcoHawk Pro. The only disparity is the price where BACtrack S80 is more expensive than AlcoHawk Pro, that is probably why this product is just second compared to AlcoHawk Pro, because of the great price difference between these two models of breath alcohol detector.

AlcoHawk Slim Digital Breathalyzer

AlcoHawk Slim digital breathalyzer is another model in the AlcoHawk line of breathalyzer. It is small and slim and fits in to everyone’s pocket. It is very handy and convenient to carry with you whenever you go to party. The device shows accurate result, the difference is that it does not calibrate instantly thus you have to wait about three minutes before you can blow into the tube. Other than that the device works perfectly well.

BreathKey Breathalyzer Keychain

This key ring model seems to be the latest choice of most people because it is too tiny and handy. It is very convenient to bring with you wherever you go. It is American made and is FDA approved thus it is one device that can be trusted, Accuracy s not a question although the result might differ a little bit yet it is not that big that it can affect the borderline of safe driving limit. It is one device worth to have.

Spinal Decompression Therapy

by Marcus Maybourne on May 9th, 2010 § 0

Millions of people experience back pain resulting from a disc disorder called spinal compression. When the protective discs along the spinal column become compressed, it can result in a range of medical diagnoses including degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, protruding discs, posterior facet syndrome, and sciatica. In the past there have been three main medical treatments for these injuries, each with a number of serious drawbacks.

The first and most popular type of treatment is to simply take medications to alleviate the pain. The problem with these, obviously, is that the relief they provide is only short term. Over time, you develop a tolerance to these drugs and consequently have to take increasing doses of more and more powerful medications. These medicines do not treat the underlying problem, only the symptoms. Therefore, the problem can only get worse over time.

The second option is back surgery. This type of surgery is extremely invasive and carries with it the risk of long-term damage. It is not guaranteed that the surgery will succeed in alleviating the inflamed spinal discs, and in some cases can make things worse.

A third option that is taken by a surprising number of people is to simply ignore the problem and hope that it goes away. This, obviously, is no solution at all. But most people who decide to simply wait it out and hope for the best do so because they fear that no medical interventions will be able to adequately help them.

Recent years have seen the development of a new medical technology capable of healing many cases of spinal compression. It is known as non-surgical spinal decompression. This is accomplished through the use of special spinal decompression machines, such as the DRX9000 developed by Axiom Worldwide. Treatment with a spinal decompression machine can often bring rapid relief of chronic back and neck pain without the side effects and risks associated with traditional treatments.

A typical course of non-surgical spinal decompression therapy can last up to six month, although many patients experience a rapid improvement of their condition. This is an extremely promising new technology for the millions of people suffering from chronic intractable back pain that has previously been untreatable or poorly treated. Non-surgical treatment of spinal compression represents a major advance in chiropractic and osteopathic treatment. It can also be seen as a part of a new movement in the medical community toward using new technologies to provide less invasive treatments, and to rely less heavily on pharmacological interventions.

Bipolar Test

by Marcus Maybourne on March 21st, 2010 § 0

Bipolar disorder is a well-known and little-understood psychological condition, so many people who experience mood swings wonder whether or not they have it. If you are looking for a bipolar test that will help you figure out whether you have this treatable psychological disorder, please continue reading.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Postpartum Depression Treatment

by Marcus Maybourne on December 18th, 2009 § 0

Postpartum depression is a very difficult and tragic problem that is all too common these days. Postpartum depression treatment must be very mindful that the most important issue at hand is the safety of the baby. As devestated as a new mother will often feel in the throws of depression after giving birth, it is nothing compared to the pain she will feel if she is not prevented from injuring or neglecting her child during this difficult time.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Bipolar Depression Treatment

by Marcus Maybourne on December 18th, 2009 § 0

Formerly called manic depression, treatment for bipolar disorder is complicated because it includes both very high highs and very low lows within the same individual. Most clinicians these days feel that bipolar disorder should be treated using medications regardless of whether there is psychotherapy. I have seen many individuals for whom bipolar medications induced dramatic improvement and helped them to get on with their life.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Natural Treatments For Depression

by Marcus Maybourne on December 15th, 2009 § 0

When we talk about natural treatments for depression, most people are probably thinking about herbal supplements to cure depression. There are herbal supplements that can be helpful for depression, but they are definitely not cures. However, there is an argument to be made that natural depression treatments may be better in a lot of ways that precription depression treatments.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Treatment Resistant Depression

by Marcus Maybourne on December 15th, 2009 § 2

We established in our article about depression treatment now that there are many different forms of depression and that there are many different ways to go about the treatment of depression. This brings us to a sticky situation for patients and clinicians alike: what if the treatments don’t work?

Treatment-resistant depression sometimes begins early on in life and continues from there. This used to be called depressive personality disorder, but this diagnosis was eliminated in the last update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Now there is dysthymia, which is long-term, low-grade depression, and major depressive disorder, chronic.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Types of Depression Treatment

by Marcus Maybourne on December 15th, 2009 § 0

Depression treatment is one of the single most sought-after mental health services. There are many different styles and approaches that clinicians can use, from pure medication management to brief therapy to family interventions to psychoanalysis. Often multiple approaches to treating depression are combined, and there is some empirical evidence that multiple concurrent treatment modalities, with both psychotherapy and new antidepressants, tend to be more effective than single ones.

This may be because “depression” is such a nebulous term. Like every psychological disorder, there are specific diagnostic criteria for depression. However, there has been some debate about the validity of these criteria, simply because th symptoms are so common, cover such a wide area, and are subsumed by so many other psychiatric conditions. So you could say that there are as many treatments for depression as there are types of depression.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Anxious?

by Marcus Maybourne on December 15th, 2009 § 0

Definitions

Anxious is usually pronounced “æng-shes,” “ænk-shes,” “æn-shes,” “æng-shus,” “ænk-shus,” or “æn-shus.”

It describes a state of feeling full of anxiety or worry, disquieted, or fearful. In this article we will explore the different forms of anxiety, their causes and treatments.

Anxious Thoughts

When people refer to anxious thoughts they generally mean thoughts that are full of worry or apprehension. There is an additional element to this type of cognitive anxiety, however, and that is the subjective feeling that one’s thoughts are out of one’s control. For the average person, this experience is itself rather disquieting, and anxiety disorders which are characterized by prolonged and frequent occurences of this type of anxious thinking can be extremely troubling.

» Read the rest of this entry «

A Sleep Video To Help You Sleep

by Marcus Maybourne on December 15th, 2009 § 0

A sleep video can sometimes be helpful to light sleepers or people who suffer from insomnia. There are a few different types of sleep videos that you may come across, each serving different types of psychological needs. The first thing to consider if you are having trouble sleeping on a regular basis is that it may be caused by a medical problem.

There are a number of medical disorders that can bring about insomnia, so you should always see your primary care doctor first to rule out any problems of this sort. If you were to find some medication, technique, or sleeping video that helped you without taking this critical step first, you could end up hurting yourself in the long run by ignoring the underlying medical disorder.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Drug Detox: Definitions & Tips

by Marcus Maybourne on December 15th, 2009 § 0

Drug detox primarily refers to the period of time during which a drug of abuse or dependency remains in a person’s system after cessation of use. Depending on the substance, this period can be characterized by dangerous physiological symptoms that should be monitored by a physician. Detox from alcohol or other depressants, for example, can cause death if unsupervised.

Drug detoxification also sometimes refers to the process of breaking an addiction, or to the type of treatment that is receive during the course of this process. We will examine a number of concepts related to drug detox in depth.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Treatment For Dog Depression

by Marcus Maybourne on October 13th, 2009 § 0

In my opinion, the idea of dog depression is a byproduct of the outdated biogenic amine theory of depression. It is the idea that depression is caused by a lack of certain neurotransmitters. It would follow that if this were true for humans, and animals use the same neurochemicals, then animals could also suffer from chemical depression. This is the theory that underlies the design of all the new antidepressants on the market, even though the theory doesn’t hold much water when considered from a comprehensive perspective.

However, when it appears to you that your dog is depressed and you are wondering, “What are the signs of dog depression?”, you should instead wash the idea of depression from your mind and think about nutrition.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Anxiety and Depression

by Marcus Maybourne on October 13th, 2009 § 0

Anxiety and depression are two of the most basic psychological diagnoses. They also represent components of many other psychiatric and medical illnesses. When dealing with either anxiety or depression, it is extremely important that a clinician rule out any medical causes of these sensations prior to beginning psychotherapeutic treatment.

Even if medical causes are found, this does not necessarily mean that the client will not be able to benefit from psychotherapy. In some cases medical conditions can coincide with mental ones, such that an adjustment of each is in order. After all, the mind is a part of the body and the body is a part of the mind. There simply is no separation; each is a part of the total organism and each is fully connected to the other.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Psychiatric Depression Treatments

by Marcus Maybourne on October 6th, 2009 § 0

There are many effective types of psychological depression treatment. However there is little understanding in the lay community about the causes and treatments for depression. Many individuals have fallen under the impression that the best treatment for depression is pharmacological. However, the medications that are available for depressed individuals are less than ideal. They have a number of side effects, and recent meta-analyses show that they may not be as effective as previously thought. In fact, in most cases they are no more effective than placebo.

The entire idea for modern antidepressant medications comes from the presumption that there are certain biological chemicals (neurotransmitters known as biogenic amines) that are missing in depressed people. This is what your psychiatrist means when he tells you that your depression is a brain disease caused by a lack of serotonin or norepinephrine. The problem with this idea is that it is incorrect, as has been disproven for quite some time. The medications based on this presumption seemed to work, though, and so they kept making them in spite of not knowing why they work. To this day many of the psychiatric medications that you will find are not based on any modern theory of neurochemistry.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Depression Treatment

by Marcus Maybourne on October 6th, 2009 § 0

My take on depression treatment is this: there are a number of different forms of depression that individuals can suffer from. And this is not merely to make the distinction between traditional depression and manic depression, which is the antiquated term for bipolar disorder.

Many people like to talk about their theories of depression, saying that depression is anger turned inward, or that depression is a biochemical disorder, a shortage of neurotransmitters, or a way of coping with hopeless situations. It seems like everyone has a pet theory of depression, but my opinion is that treatments for depression have to match the symptoms of depression. Because depression itself is too broad a category to simply assign one treatment for or to even say it’s just one disorder. Diagnostically you can break it down into specifiers and similar disorders such as dysthymia. There used to even be a depressive personality disorder but this disorder is no longer acknowledged in the current diagnostic manual.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Hello world!

by Marcus Maybourne on August 20th, 2009 § 0

Hello, my name is Marcus Maybourne. Thank you for visiting my blog. I would like to use this space to discuss my interest in health psychology and to connect with others who share this interest. I will discuss some of my own experiences and my opinions about what is helpful, what is not helpful, and what types of advocacy may benefit our field.