There are other misconceptions which people have about meditation. Some people see meditation as an escape from reality or a selfish preoccupation. It is neither. A normal meditation time is twenty minutes, twice a day. This hardly constitutes an escape from reality, nor can it be regarded as selfish. Everyone needs to have time to [...]

Psychotherapy has sometimes been the only treatment people have tried. It can be difficult to see the relevance of psychotherapy to anxiety disorders, but if we have a history of childhood abuse, or undergone some other trauma, psychotherapy is very important. Despite the sense of shame many of us feel over these issues, they do [...]

The disintegration of ourselves and our lives through the disorder and its secondary conditions brings a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Suddenly, and in major contradiction to the fear of dying, we may find ourselves contemplating or attempting suicide. It begins to appear as the only way out. It is not. Part of the danger [...]

Almost everyone I have been in contact with brings up this point: ‘If only I had known what was wrong from the beginning. If only I knew from the beginning how to deal with it. The rest— the secondary conditions—would never have happened’. To minimise the disorders and prevent the secondary conditions an accurate diagnosis [...]

Occasionally people develop psychogenic reactions to food when there is no physical response. This can happen if someone becomes convinced that they are food-allergic or food-intolerant without undergoing proper diagnosis. They may decide that they react to particular foods, on the basis of a bogus diagnostic test or an elimination diet that is not properly [...]

If you’re like most men, you know that a blow to your testicles can be excruciatingly painful, even if the same strike to another part of your body wouldn’t even warrant a bruise. The pain usually lasts for no more than an hour, and no permanent damage is caused. If, however, you feel a sudden, [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems With many medical problems, we never notice that anything’s wrong until it’s too late. It can flare up—either a new condition or a familiar one we thought we were all through with—and then it’s all we think about. A problem with the intestine called diverticulitis is like that. If you [...]

Description and Possible Medical Problems If you exercise regularly and are in relatively good shape, and you feel a sharp pain in your sternum, or breastbone, which runs from just below your chin to a few inches above your navel, you may jump to the conclusion that you’re having a heart attack. Don’t worry. Tenderness [...]

More than one observer has wryly noted that the moment we as a species stood up and began to walk on two legs instead of all fours, the need for back surgeons was born. Truthfully, from the moment we learn to walk, we ask a lot of our backs. As children, we learn that it’s [...]

If you think you have mononucleosis or chronic fatigue syndrome, see your doctor, who will do a physical exam that includes a throat culture. If you have mononucleosis, she will advise you to rest and drink plenty of fluids; antibiotics are not effective with mononucleosis since it is a viral infection. I also tell my [...]