... Filipino actors and actresses with addiction problems / drug detox/ drug rehab ... (life coach, counsellor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, Philippines, manila, quezon city)

When actors and actresses approach me because of their addiction problems, it is either a drug detox program or drug rehab program that they want.  Being the “special” people that they are, they have special needs that have to be met, and most of these needs cannot be met by conventional drug rehabs.

celebrity who beat addiction: catherine zeta-jones

Most detox/rehab programs in the Philippines are 6 months to 2 years in duration and moreover, they require the addicted individual to be “locked up” for that long.  Unfortunately, a lengthy disappearance from the entertainment industry spells doom and disaster for an actor’s showbiz career. 

celebrity who beat addiction:  angelina jolie

Actors and actresses simply cannot afford to be out of circulation for a long time because they lose projects and other opportunities.  Being out of sight from public eye risks the loss of fans and the fading away of their popularity.  Also, if they are away too long, people start speculating about the actor’s or actress’s disappearance.  Rumor mills start generating gossip that the actress may be pregnant, or rightfully guess that the actor is caught up in an addiction problem. 

celebrity who beat addiction: johnny depp

Taking all these into consideration, what actors and actresses essentially request from me is an individualized, confidential, short-term and out-patient drug detox/rehab program that will meet their special needs. 

celebrity who beat addiction: oprah winfrey

... Teenage Love, Sex, and Relationships Seminar ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, Philippines, manila, quezon city)

Sure, teenage sex can be lots of fun.. 

but it also is the greatest source of insecurities, jealousy, fear, arguments, heartaches, life-long trauma, single parenthood, and venereal disease. 

  

With the young audience

With the hosts of the seminar

With Professor Rolando Gerald de Dios, resident psychologist of Dansalan Home Care and Professor Christian Espanol, Practicum coordinator of The National Teachers College

... tv5 news department: bakit mahilig ang pinoy sa mga uso? ... (life coach, counsellor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, Philippines, manila, quezon city)

What accounts for the bandwagon effect among Pinoys?

Let’s see:  there’s the 

(1) “gaya-gaya” mentality, 

(2) “dapat ‘in/cool’ ako” mentality, 

(3) ‘group think’ mentality, and the 

(4) “inggitera/o” mentality.  

Put them all together and you have a Pinoy who jumps on the bandwagon of the latest fads.    

... gma alisto: mga yaya na nambubugbog ng kanilang alaga ... (life coach, counsellor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, Philippines, manila, quezon city)

Why do yayas beat up their alaga?

- Ignorance:  They might not have the skills for disciplining children or might not know that child abuse is a crime.

- Stress and burnout:  When yayas get tired, stressed, or burned-out, their emotions might get the better of them, causing them to lash out their anger on the kid.    

- Parental modelling:  If the yayas were physically abused as children, they might have become abusers themselves now that they have become nannies.

- Kids with special needs:  Taking care of children with ADHD, oppositional defiant behaviour, mental retardation, etc. is certainly a challenging task.  Yayas may resort to desperate measures just to get the child to behave. 

- Abused yayas:  Sometimes, yayas are abusively treated like slaves and can retaliate by harming their boss’s children.

- Yayas with personality disorders or mental illness:  Yayas with psychological and emotional disturbances can become abusive towards children.

- Immature yayas:  Yayas who are teenagers or young adults, because of their emotional immaturity, may have low frustration tolerance and thus be mean to their wards. 

Perhaps, the simple lesson for parents here is never to fully entrust your children to the care of their yayas.  

... gma ijuander: temptations (life coach, counsellor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, Philippines, manila, quezon city)

We all have this propensity to break the law, especially when we can get away with it. 

You know you’ve met a really honest person when he or she continues to be good and do good, even when no one’s looking!  

... tv5 reaksyon: major depression treatment and therapy ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, philippines, manila, quezon city)

contrary to what many people believe, not all people with depression look or act depressed.  “masked depression” refers to depression which is not apparent.  It comes in the forms of the following “depressive equivalents:”

- alcoholism:  some alcoholics “drown” their sorrows away.  alcohol is actually a brain depressant.  hence, chronic alcohol use can either cause major depression or exacerbate an already-existing depression.

- drug dependence:  some drug dependents are actually trying to self-medicate their depression with uppers.  unfortunately, uppers such as shabu or cocaine are addictive and can cause psychosis. 

- irritability, anger, aggression, and violent tendencies:  sometimes, instead of turning inward with sadness, depressed people explode outward with bursts of anger.

- recklessness or impulsivity: the “death wish” is manifested through carelessness (as in driving) or wild abandon (as in death-defying sports or high-risk sex) which may result in fatal mishaps.

- unhealthy lifestyles: some habits or ways of living (e.g., unhealthy diets, cigarette smoking, sedentary lifestyle, etc.) increase the risk of a shortened life span.  In fact, some extreme forms of unhealthy lifestyles are ways of committing “slow suicide.”

- “emo” culture:  “emo” people have made a fad of their depression.  besides their trademark looks, their other distinctive feature is self-cutting!

major depression is easily treated with medication, psychotherapy, stress management techniques, and wellness therapies.  with proper treatment, major depression usually resolves as early as 2-3 weeks.  With this said, there really is much hope for depressed people to live happy lives!

for more blog articles on depression, click on this link:
http://randydellosa.blogspot.com/2013/07/abs-cbn-salamat-doc-teenage-depression.html

... abs-cbn pinoy true stories: is mentalism real or fake? ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, philippines, manila, quezon city)

mentalism refers to the demonstration of psychic, paranormal, or highly-developed intuitive mental abilities. 

mentalist Professor X of the X-Men, pinoy version 

mentalists who appear on tv or on stage are master illusionists and mind tricksters.  when i describe them as such, i do not mean to demean them because i believe that it takes much dedication and discipline to be good at the art of “faux” mentalism. 

another mentalist, the Martian Manhunter, pinoy version

on the other hand, i have met people who have authentic psychic powers, most of whom are sincerely spiritual people.  some of them have had their mentalist abilities since they were young children.  others developed their abilities through spiritual practices.  they never use their psychic powers for egoistic, self-serving, or entertainment purposes.  quietly, they use their psychic or mentalist abilities only to help people in need.

... do you want to be a doctor of naturopathy? ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, philippines, manila, quezon city)

Naturopathy is the world’s oldest recognized healing system which combines the use of natural agents such as proper diet, exercise, herbs, and other natural therapies for a wide range of health problems.  Naturopathy was systematized in 1928 by a German doctor named Dr. Benedict Lust who is considered to be the Father of Naturopathy in the United States. 

In the Philippines, it is the Green Life Centre for Alternative Medicine (GLCAM) which provides training in naturopathic medicine.  GLCAM is run by Dr. Artonlee Dulce whose life story has been featured in 700 Club Philippines. He took up his studies in naturopathic medicine in the U.S. and England and is a pioneer of naturopathy in the Philippines.  Personally speaking, I know Dr. Art as a competent, dedicated, and inspiring figure. 

Dr. Art recently invited me to do a talk on the topics of “natural healing for psychiatric disorders” and “energy healing.”  Three hours were barely enough since the students showed their keen interest in the topics through the intelligent questions and personal stories shared during the open forum. 

The GLCAM naturopathic training program includes courses on 

- Diet and nutrition, 

- Enzyme therapy, 

- Orthomolecular nutrition, 

- Dried blood cell analysis, 

- Basic anatomy and physiology, 

- Cancer nutrition therapy, 

- Homeopathic medicine, 

- Acupressure, 

- Aromatherapy and more.  

For those interested in becoming a naturopathic doctor, you may contact GLCAM at 400-6176 and 0922-356-6468, or visit them at PITAHC Building, Matapang Street, East Avenue Medical Center,  Quezon City.

I wish Dr. Art Dulce more power as he trains his students to become competent and compassionate healers who use God’s natural resources for the betterment of mankind.

... sige nga, i-psychologize mo nga ako! ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, philippines, manila, quezon city)

when people discover that i'm a psychologist and psychiatrist, the frequent reaction I get from them is, "sige nga, i-psychologize mo ako (c'mon, psychologize me)."  my usual response is to divert the conversation to another topic because firstly, i don't actually know what the request to “psychologize” specifically means and secondly, i don't always enjoy talking about psychology-related matters during my off-clinic hours.    

 by requesting me to "psychologize" them, i assume these possible meanings:

- they want me to read their minds,

- they want me to give them an on-the spot profile of what their personality is like,

- they want me to assess them as to whether they have personality disorder or mental disorder, or

- they want to tell me about a problem they're facing and want some advise from me.  

in truth, psychologists cannot read people's minds or instantly know a person’s character.  for a psychologist to do a personality profile, they rely on data gathered from the following:

- observation of the person’s body language, mannerisms, speech patterns, breathing patterns, etc.

- clinical interviews with the person,

- clinical interviews with the person’s significant others,

- paper-and-pencil psychological tests

- a search for attitudinal/behavioural patterns as found in the person’s life’s history or biography (a.k.a. anamnesis). 

no, psychologist’s don’t have psychic powers and thus cannot read minds.  They rely on psychological methods, skills, and intuition built through years of dedicated clinical practice. 

 miriam college studes:  abby benipayo, berna hernandez, 

gia javier, camille mena, and belle mendiola 

... dream analysis workshop ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, quezon city, manila, philippines)

professor RG de dios recently invited me to do a dream analysis workshop at the dansalan homecare clinic.  there were around 50 students who graced the event, and most of them were psychology students.  in this workshop, i was able to demonstrate a number of methods for dream analysis.

as a dream analyst, i do not interpret dreams.  i merely act as a facilitator, helping the dreamer understand the meaning of his or her dream.  the best person to interpret a dream is the dreamer of that dream.  all elements,  characters, or events in the dream carry personal and specialized meaning which only the dreamer can decode.  

for me, the best dreams to analyze are nightmares, recurrent dreams, dreams with emotional content, childhood dreams, and bizarre dreams. i rarely work on sexual dreams because they seem literal in meaning, without any deeper interpretation (unless of course, the sexual dream has an odd storyline or has emotional content).

sweet dreams everyone!

... abs-cbn salamat doc: teenage depression and suicide ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, quezon city, manila, philippines)

i feel sad whenever i hear about teenagers who commit suicide.  suicides are preventable and as a psychiatrist who helps a lot of suicidal patients everyday, i feel an aching regret that they didn't get the help that they needed. 

most people with suicidal tendencies suffer from major depression.  and we're not talking about ordinary sadness here, because major depression is NOT "ordinary sadness."  major depression is package of symptoms that is caused by a serotonin imbalance in the brain.  the usual package of symptoms include sleep changes, appetite changes, loss of motivation, decrease in energy, loss of focus, lingering feelings of sadness or irritability, a mind full of worries and concerns, and most possibly, suicidal thoughts.

a person who is suicidal needs to be placed on active suicidal watch for 24/7.  the person needs to be placed on anti-depressant medication, needs counseling, and has to have strong family support. 

when a person threatens to kill himself or herself, please do not challenge him or her to actually do so.  and also, when a friend tells you about his or her suicidal thoughts, never NEVER keep it a secret, lest the burden of the suicide falls on you. 

for more information on depression and suicide, here's a link:

http://randydellosa.blogspot.com/2012/11/tv5-depression-and-suicide-treatment.html