THOUGHT REVERSAL!!!

Image Credit: Linkedin

 Situations, Places and persons can make you think differently. Here is in one such situation

The pandemic has really taught all of us a lesson to value what we have in life. We tend to understand the value of what we have only when they are snatched away from us. This situation of global chaos has exactly done the same thing to all of us. All the activities of daily life which we had taken for granted and about which we used to crib a lot, all of a s sudden has changed. In just a span of five months, the entire world has lost its normalcy and is struggling to keep up with the new normal

Let us look at some of the thought reversals in our day to day life situations during this pandemic

Thoughts about going to college

Before: “I don’t feel like going to college because it is very hectic and tiresome. I feel like bunking the classes because the classes are very boring. Going to college and staying there for the entire day is really burdensome.”

After: “When will the colleges re-open?? So that I get back to classes. It is ok to have classes, lectures, assignment and exams. I just want the college to reopen so that I can study like before because if this situation continues I am going to miss out so much of learning which will impact my future and carrier.”

Perception about exams

Before: “How good it would be if we didn’t have exams at all. The syllabus is too heavy and it is not at all possible to study so much. It is very mean on the part of the Education System to judge us by our performance in exams. Not conducting exams would mean that there will be no competition and all will be judged equally.”

After: “I want the exams to be conducted only then I will have the motivation to study and I will read and keep my notes ready. Besides if there are no exams all my efforts to make reference work, memorize and study will go unnoticed. .”

Importance of neighbours and relatives

Before: “This annoying neighbour of mine has come again to gossip with my mom.” “These relatives of mine are so irritating. They come every weekend to chit chat with my parents. Why can’t they stay at their homes?” 

After: “Oh I wish someone came to visit us. I wish some neighbor will drop in today! I have not met anyone for months together. I feel like chit chatting with neighbours and relatives.”

Perception of parents about school

Before: “The school teachers are too strict and are giving too much of homework and assignments.  Children do not have any time to play.”

After: “We are ok with any number of assignments and homework. Our children will be well occupied when they send enough home work. Besides they will get in to the habit of reading when they have to do the home work..”

Opinion about family functions and marriages

Before: “It is so boring to attend family functions. My mother forces me to get dressed up in traditional attire which I don’t like. I don’t like attending religious functions either.”

After: “How I wish there a few functions like weddings, Pujas Birthday Parties and Family Get together! I really want to get all dressed up and attend these functions. They are so much fun. I miss that crowd and chaos at the function. I miss the good food too.”

Crowded streets and roads

Before: “This road is so crowded. I feel bad to walk on this road with so many people around who are literally stamping on me.”

After: “I can barely see anyone on the road. It is too lonely to walk with no one around. It is scary too. Those days were so nice when people were rushing and at times pushing to find their way. Now the roads look so empty and lifeless.”

Hotels and chat centre

Before: “I don’t like that hotel because the food is not tasty. I don’t like this hotel too because the ambiance and furniture in that place is not good. .”

After: “I have not been to a hotel since five months. Now, I am not particular about anything. Any hotel would do as long as I have food out in a hotel in the company of my friends.”

 Dear friends, did you have such Thought reversals?? Yes or No?

If YES then you are with me. If No then I wonder Why ????

 Y.D. Swathi

M.Sc. Clinical Psychology

Kateel Ashok Pai Memorial Institute, Shivamogga

Breaking the myth of alcohol and covid-19

With the outbreak of the Corona Virus pandemic, we can say that there was another endemic simultaneously outbroke in India that is the endemic of “myths”. There was a plethora of myths that outbroke with the pandemic, prominent one that captured our attention was “drinking alcohol, protects people from the corona virus”. 

Really ?? Can alcohol consumption reduce the chances of corona virus infection??   

Come lets check out the facts :

This myth of alcohol curing corona virus started as a result of insisting on use of sanitizers with 60 to 95% of alcohol content in it. It is possible for high concentrations of alcohol, such as 60- 95%, to kill some forms of bacteria and viruses. However alcohol kills viruses on the skin. Drinking alcohol including beverages with high percentages of alcohol - offers no protection from the virus.

“The concentration of alcohol in the blood after one standard drink is in the range of 0.01- 0.03% (a blood alcohol level of 0.01-0.03 gm%), which is a tiny fraction of the concentration needed to produce an antiseptic action. Indeed, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.40% can be fatal.” 

These are the general facts you should know about the consumption of alcohol and health:

l  Alcohol has effects, both short-term and long-term, on almost every single  organ of your body. Overall, the evidence suggests that there is no “safe limit” – in fact, the risk of damage to your health increases with each drink of alcohol consumed.

l  Alcohol use, especially heavy use, weakens the immune system and thus reduces the ability to cope with infectious diseases.

l  Alcohol, even in very small quantities, is known to cause certain types of cancer.

l  Alcohol alters your thoughts, judgement, decision-making and behaviour.

l  Alcohol, even in small amounts, is a risk to the unborn child at any time during pregnancy.

l  Alcohol increases the risk, frequency and severity of perpetration of interpersonal violence such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, youth violence, elder abuse, and violence against children.

l  Alcohol increases the risk of death and injury from road traffic injuries, drowning and falls.

l  Heavy use of alcohol increases the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), one of the most severe complications of COVID-19.

Alcohol Effects on Mental Health

l  During the COVID-19 pandemic, people may experience higher levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. This may cause some people to consume more alcohol than they usually would.

l  In order to function as usual, the brain needs to maintain the balance of neurotransmitters. Alcohol can disrupt this balance.

l  Excessive alcohol use can lead to or worsen existing mental health problems.For example, according to a 2015 review, alcohol can induce depression.

l  Alcohol use can also worsen anxiety symptoms over time. Around 20% of people with a social anxiety disorder experience alcohol use disorder.

Coping methods

Although some people turn to alcohol, there are many other ways of coping with feelings of depression and anxiety.

l  Some people may find psychotherapy beneficial. Psychotherapies use different methods to help a person understand and change their patterns of thinking and behavior.

l There are also a variety of medications available for depression and anxiety. For example, antidepressants can treat the symptoms of depression in some people. These usually take 2–4 weeks to begin working.

l  Doctors may prescribe other types of medications to treat anxiety. For example, beta-blockers can help control the physical responses to anxiety, such as increased heart rate.

l  Making other lifestyle changes might also help. For example, getting regular exercise and practicing stress reduction techniques can help reduce symptoms. It is also important to prevent feelings of isolation by reaching out to friends and family when possible.

So finally :

DRINKING ALCOHOL OR SUBSTANCES CONTAINING ALCOHOL DOES NOT CURE OR PROTECT YOU AGAINST COVID-19. INSTEAD IT DETERIORATES YOUR MENTALA ND PHYSICAL HEALTH.

Before believing in any news please do cross check it with reliable source of information.

Stay Home, Stay Safe. Take Care.  

Reference:

1. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/alcohol-and-covid-19#summary

https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/437608/Alcohol-and-COVID-19-what-you-need-to-know.pdf?ua=1

Ms. Ananya S M 

I Year M Sc Clinical Psychology

Kateel Ashok Pai Memorial Institute, Shivamogga

 

The Alternate Life to lead while facing CORONA

Image Credit:Google.com

    An year ago none of us did imagine being in a situation like that of what we are facing today. The worst that anyone could have thought of was something like a apocalypse, not the one like we see in "Now Apocalypse".

So now that we are facing this pandemic, people have started to think as to how one should live his/her life without losing the enthusiasm because to stay indoors for weeks, months is something still alien to us and we have never faced this situation before at least nothing that i remember of. everyone has been in search of something to keep themselves productive and to not die of depression and feeling worthless sitting at home. whilst many have resorted to keep themselves busy with watching many of the shows available on Netflix, Amazon Prime and the students had no other no way but to keep them busy with assignments, tests and had to get into the peer pressure of taking part in the race of number of E-Certificates earned in the lock-down period to prove their productivity.

There were very few who didn't get into this lock and have showed us to make even this kind of a situation bearable. One such activity would be to start gardening in our home. The only thing that we are facing problem is to make sure that our family is fed their 3 meals a day routine and that is why we are working in the first place. Home gardening may sound like it is some fancy hobby but it isn't. we could see it as the first step of being self-sustainable life that we want to lead and we grow what we want and do not go out buying what is available in the market, well it does make a huge difference in this situation at the least.

Image Credit: Pintres

Growing your own essential veggie's can prove a lot helpful and safe to be exact. you wouldn't have to go veggie shopping every now and then. people have always had a habit of growing flowering plants around them, why don't we change it for now and start doing a bit of gardening ourselves. we have reached a point in time where we actually don't require load of soil to grow plants because we have cocopeat now.

    People have already started terrace farming and growing some in the balcony too. vegetables like tomato, chillies, brinjal types of guards and some greens like coriander, mint, fenugreek which are used daily in our kitchen and without which an indian meal is incomplete, but all we need is some interest and time be spent on it. it doesn't even cost a fortune to grow these and cocopeat is also available at reasonable prices then why not give it a try and eat what we grow ourselves. if you have the patience then you can may be start growing like carrot, radish and many which require time for their growth. 

Ms. Prerana K C

I Year BA

Kateel Ashok Pai Memorial College, Shivamogga

LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN

                                Image Credit : kirwanspharmacy

    Who would have thought that the seemingly small CORONA VIRUS would be the cause of us losing our freedom? Up until today CORONA VIRUS has affected almost all the countries of the world, while continuing to take people’s lives and health, it is also letting the people of the world  to take  a break from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives and sit at home and enjoy the things that they “did not have time for”.

    Hats off to all the introverts out there as I have no clue how they do it because as an outgoing person, I’m having a very hard time staying in. Besides sleeping for 10 hours, watching T.V and using phone for atleast  5 hours, and reading some of the books  of my choice, and going through all the possible interesting lessons in e-learning applications that our college has facilitated.., and I still seem to have so much time left in the day. Phew!

  Now, as we are in the 8^th week of this quarantine, I am immensely enjoying my quarantine routine at home and learning a lot of things that I could never do due to lack of time or just plain laziness. In these days I have been engrossing myself with learning different life lessons like..,

• LEARNING THE IMPORTANCE  OF  FAMILY  TIME:

These days when we are cooped up in our houses with no friends to go to, no clubs, no parties, the only source of entertainment [apart from internet] is your family. In these days I have learnt more about my family than I ever thought I knew I think it made our bond stronger and I realized that family is with you through thick and thin.

• THE IMPORTANCE OF “ME TIME” :

    Being quarantined has given me more “me time” and has changed the relationship I have with my own self. It has taught me how to be comfortable in my own skin and how to love yourself more. As my social interactions are quite limited, I am the only person who I have to keep busy and maintain my sanity.

• VALUE OF WORKPLACE/COLLEGE:

    At first the idea of classes from home sounded very relaxing but it turns out that online classes is even harder than normal classes at college. It made me realize how going to college keeps me preoccupied for most of my day.

• THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIALIZING:

    Being quarantined at home cuts the chances of  meeting up with friends, having a vacation- [basically doing anything that requires you from going outside] This limits my daily activities to such an extent that I feel lazy and bored all the time.

• SELF-DESCIPLINE:

    During the weekend you could do whatever you wanted because it was only two days of freedom from seven working days, but being home quarantined means that you have all the time in your hands and have no clue what to do with it. Staying home the whole day makes you want to eat and sleep more than usual which will reduce your immunity power greatly. I learnt that we need to set a mental routine for our self and allot times for activities, eating, naps etc. to make staying home as enjoyable as possible.

• APPRECIATE YOUR HOUSE-HELP:

    With house hold help given an off till further notice, it becomes the responsibility of the whole family to divide the work amongst themselves. After a while I realized at this point of time that my house has transformed into those reality T.V show in itself. With duties and responsibilities assigned, I think that by the time lockdown is over I will be a pro at everything starting from cleaning, washing dishes and clothes, dusting to cooking. Although this lockdown is driving us all out of our mind, it is teaching us all one thing which is gratitude. Not just towards the government, doctors, nurses, house helps etc. and teach us to not take our freedom for granted.

    On the whole, to wrap things up, the most important lessons that I have learned in these past days is that in this trying times, we must obey our government and stay home with our families and let the mother nature re-boot herself because it may not actually be our government that is telling us to stay isolated, it may be the mother nature trying to tell the same but in a hard way. Let us all keep patience for this too shall pass!

So, that’s it STAY HOME, STAY SAFE.

ASHFIYA  AMREEN M S

1^st  B.A [PSYCHOLOGY]

KATEEL  ASHOK  PAI  MEMORIAL  INSTITUTE,  SHIVAMOGGA.