Psychology Articles

Many people doubt that it is really possible to exactly translate a dream, asking me if the interpretation of their dreams could be different, without wanting to believe that there is only one specific way to exactly translate the dream messages, because most people are used to subjective interpretations, where the dream interpreter simply gives them his or her opinion about what their dreams could mean.

The psychiatrist Carl Jung was the only one who discovered the right code for a perfect dream translation, by discovering the dream logic, according to which the dream symbols have a different meaning for the unconscious mind that produces our dreams, than for our conscious mind.

In order to discover the hidden meaning of the dream language he had to compare too many dreams of many patients who suffered from grave mental illnesses with dreams of normal people, and with art and religious symbols of the entire humanity in all historical times, besides analyzing the symbolism used by the alchemists in the Middle Ages.

He was afraid to continue his research into the unknown region of the human psyche through dream interpretation, since he had discovered without a doubt that there was craziness in the human mind, which was already inherited, and this is why he had to accept ignorance from a certain point and on.

I had to continue his research in order to find solutions for problems that he could not solve, and this is why I could understand much better the meaning of the dream language, discovering the meaning of many more symbols.

This is the meaning given to them by the wise unconscious mind that produces our dreams; it is therefore a real translation of the meaning that the dream author gives to the images and scenes that appear in your dreams, into words and sentences that your conscience can understand; it is not a supposition.

The dream interpreters that give you their opinion about the meaning of your dreams may seem to understand what the confused dream images could mean, because they use their imagination, and historical knowledge about the meaning of symbols for a few civilizations (which is not however the meaning given to the dream symbols by the unconscious mind), besides their intuition.

Many times their words are very beautiful and you’ll prefer to believe that they have really deciphered the meaning of your dreams, however you must know that usually their real meaning is not pleasant like the impostors present to you, in order to make you desire to believe that they are right.

The basic function of the dream messages is to help you fight against the attacks of the wild and primitive side of your conscience that didn’t evolve like your human side.

They have a protective character: they try opening your eyes, showing you your mistakes, and all the dangers you are not considering when judging reality.

This is why you usually see many dreams with dangerous scenes and unpleasant images. The exact translation of their meaning will not be pleasant either, because the unconscious mind is sending you warnings in order to prevent you from doing what will be bad for you.

You may not want to understand that you are making a silly mistake in a certain point of your life, but you’ll certainly like very much to correct it, and avoid all the sad consequences you would have if you didn’t have a dream warning showing it to you!

Christina Sponias continued Carl Jung’s research into the human psyche, discovering the cure for all mental illnesses, and simplifying the scientific method of dream interpretation that teaches you how to exactly translate the meaning of your dreams, so that you can find health, wisdom and happiness.

Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com

Click Here to download a Free Sample of the eBook Dream Interpretation as a Science (86 pages!).

For many years, modern medicine has placed an emphasis on the use of medications to treat almost every ailment, including those involving the brain and nervous system. In more recent years, however, many of the medications we were taught to believe were safe have been found to have serious, sometimes long-term side effects. This has led many people to seek out alternatives to prescription medication for many medical conditions.

New Ideas and Therapies

One of the most exciting developments in modern medicine has been the use of neurofeedback, or brain biofeedback, techniques to help address a large variety of conditions. This type of therapy has been found to be very effective in the treatment of migraine headaches, anxiety and chronic pain, as well as ADD/ADHD and several more serious conditions such as epilepsy, autism, and traumatic brain injuries.

The medications commonly used to treat these disorders sometimes mask the true cause of the condition by relieving the symptoms. Many patients will remain on medication, and have to cope with the side effects of it, for life because the underlying cause of their ailment has not been addressed. With neurofeedback therapy, however, many patients have remained symptom free for many years after completing the cycle of treatments, and suffer no ill effects.

The Basics of Neurofeedback Therapy

Neurofeedback therapy involves using an EEG or electroencephalograph machine to read your brainwaves and display them on a computer screen for you to see. The machine reads your brain activity via a series of electrodes that are comfortably placed on your scalp with the use of a dab of special gel. There are no painful insertions of any kind, the electrodes simply rest against your scalp and read your brainwaves. This procedure provides valuable insight about how your brain is functioning.

A specially trained therapist will show you how to control what you see on the monitor using just your brainwaves, using certain relaxation techniques. It can be described as learning to play simple computer games with your mind. Your brain perceives this activity as a reward, and will seek to stay within the desired frequencies. Eventually, these changes in the way your brain works may become long lasting.

Depending on the condition, these results can be achieved within anywhere from twenty treatments to sixty or more, and may require weekly visits until the disorder is under control. Most patients who have been through neurofeedback therapy, and experience the profound changes it creates in their lives, say that they would never go back to the way they felt before the treatment.

Some other benefits of neurofeedback are reduced stress, relief from insomnia, an improved ability to cope, and an overall sense of control and well being. Neurofeedback has also been discovered by many athletes, musicians, and others, as an aid to achieving peak performance.

For more information about Neurofeedback, go to http://www.NeurofeedbackBook.com.

Dr. Clare Albright is a psychologist (CA License PSY11660) and a Neurofeedback practitioner and can be reached at (949)454-0996.

When you think of shame, what comes to your mind? How about guilt? Many people associate shame and guilt as one emotion, but in reality they are very different. By definition, guilt is the “I have done something bad” emotion. By contrast, shame is the “I am bad” emotion. As you continue reading, consider how your actions can impact guilt or shame in a child. Ask yourself if there may be ways to change these emotions into success for your students.

Shame is felt when others are aware of our incorrect intentions or actions and can often lead to feelings of worthlessness. Guilt, on the other hand, is the emotion that is felt when no one else knows about our intentions or actions. I clarify this because it makes a noticeable difference to the person making the choice. The difference between success and failure in dealing with our classroom management can depend on our perception of these two emotions.

A high percentage of poor behavior in the classroom will elicit neither shame nor guilt. This is because the individual taking the action may be unaware of the impact his/her actions have on others, or they may simply lack the related values associated with their actions. Dealing with poor behavior then boils down to the impact we have as educators when revealing the poor behavior to the student.

Evoking a guilt response in the student is an inevitable result of negative feedback. Avoiding this certainty will only allow the problem to fester. If we can first elicit a guilt response indirectly, we create the best chance for success. Allowing the student the autonomy to choose the correct path will be the most effective way to make first contact with poor behavior. Evoking guilt in a student indirectly can be very powerful and may allow the student to avoid shame. Guilt can lead to empathy if skillfully managed for the success of the student.

When it becomes necessary for us to take a student aside or openly correct a repeated poor behavior, the emotion can then become shame. When our corrections reveal shame in a student, the reaction can differ depending on the personality of the student. In some cases, we will have success and in other cases the student will choose to react poorly. The defining factor in this will be determined by the approach we take.

Delivering negative feedback can be a dicey proposition. Our approach can make all the difference and will determine our overall ability to build or kill rapport with our students. Here are a few tips to take these emotions of the heart and turn them into success every time:

Tips for Delivering Negative Feedback

1. Be the Bigger Person

The first step to success is to answer the main question: Why am I correcting this student? If the answer to this question is anything other than allowing the student to become a better person, then our motives are not true. If we are merely in a bad mood, wanting to take revenge or looking for someone to use as an example, then correction will only backfire. Revealing your contempt builds ground for the student to stand against you. Remaining calm and assertive will allow you to build ground for the student to walk with you.

2. Eliminate Bias

In his book, Verbal Judo, George Thompson says that it is important to eliminate bias in communication at all costs. A calm and assertive attitude will be the key to overcoming the natural gut reaction of the student. Keep your anger, harsh emotion and condescension out of your approach to discipline. Within the tone of your voice and the words you use, you can either turn off a student forever or create ground for him/her to walk with you. The inner voice is normally grumpy, so ignore it. Learn to control it and make it obey with positive intentions.

3. Sprinkle on the Praise!

Praise builds rapport and gives you ground to stand with the student when negative feedback is necessary. Praise often and be specific. Don’t just say, “Good job, Tom.” Be specific and create a mental picture. Praise can be effective, but praise for what is expected should be avoided. Instead, praise what is unexpected.

“Tom, I loved the way you played that solo. You showed so much emotion. It was hard to believe you kept yourself so focused. I’m impressed. I can’t wait to hear you again tomorrow.”

4. Praise Last with Correction First

If you are going to add correction and praise together, do not praise first.

“I loved the way you played that solo Tom, but you need to stay away from B natural in this key.”

This is an ineffective way to praise and correct because your students will learn to anticipate “but” as a negative at the end of all your praise. On the other hand, if you criticize first and then praise, the praise is the focus of the argument and will assist you in building ground with the student.

“Tom, I noticed that you used a B natural in the key of B flat. We can work on that, but I was very impressed with your tone quality and mature sound. Great job!”

This “but” comes across much better. Your “but” should have as much impact as possible. While you are laughing at that last sentence, remember this tip: Use humor often.

5. Create Context

Creating context with your students can be an amazing force multiplier. Simply asking or telling a student to change a behavior is not nearly as powerful as asking with a picture.

“Tom, can you please refrain from blurting out (ask)? The class will run much more efficiently if only one person speaks at a time (why). In addition, you avoid taking the chance of getting in trouble (why not). You will have a much better chance of avoiding a detention if you show me that you can be respectful (positive ending).”

Creating context will also involve answering the why for everything you say. Answer the question, “Why is this important to me?”

6. Paint a mental pictures.

Using a metaphor to further build context for proper behavior is one of the most entertaining and pleasant exercises a teacher can endeavor to accomplish. A metaphor paints a mental picture that contains all the elements of a well thought-out lesson. Evoking a previously learned metaphor can bring the lesson back to a student’s mind in a matter of seconds. The following is an example of a great metaphor that I use in my band classes:

I use a metaphor that I call the consistency principle. The consistency principle states that all people want to be seen as consistent. I ask the students to mentally place themselves in my position in the front of the room. I ask them to imagine what expectations they would have if they were the teacher needing to teach the class. I then ask them to remain consistent with these expectations. It is like a magic trick and gets them to empathize with me. All I have to do is have them imagine what it would be like to be me. The fact that I made them believe in being consistent sets up the expectation that they should. I can then continue reminding them each day to be consistent.

Final Thoughts

All of these suggestions create a basic foundation for pushing students to create their own high expectations and walk with us instead of against us. It is one thing for us to have high expectations for our students, but when the students create their own high expectations, we are likely to minimize the need for consequences all together. When we take this step, we create the best possible environment for students to turn guilt and shame into success.

Stephen McClard has been the Director of Bands at Bolivar High School since 2002. Mr. McClard graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1990. He started his teaching career in Southeast Missouri before moving to Illinois where he taught band for 8 years.

Mr. McClard’s bands have consistently received superior ratings at contest as well as many other awards and accolades. Since 2002, the band has traveled twice to Chicago, where they won 1st place class 4A and 1st place overall at the Midwest Music In the Parks Festival. The band also traveled to Cincinnati in 2006, receiving the same honors.

In 2006, Mr. McClard was named by SBO Magazine as one of the 50 Directors Who Make a Difference. In 2006, 2008 and 2009, Bolivar RI School district was named one of the “Best 100 Communities for Music Education” in America by the American Music Conference. Mr. McClard was previously featured on the cover of the 2003 issue of SBO Magazine for his work with music technology.

In addition to his career in education, Mr. McClard maintains an online woodworking business and is a 3rd generation piano technician. His woodworking creations include custom bass guitars, which have sold all over the world and one-of-a-kind computer desks made from old pianos. His piano desks have been featured in magazines such as Business 2.0 and Piano Technicians Journal and in many other newspapers and television news features.

His first book, The Superior Educator, A Calm and Assertive Approach to Classroom Management and Large Group Motivation, is available on Amazon as well as other book outlets.

Much news coverage has been given lately to an amazing scientific breakthrough called neurofeedback that can treat many disorders related to brain function, including ADHD, depression, eating disorders, and several others. If you have been wondering if neurofeedback therapy can help you, there are a few factors you will want to weigh when considering this treatment.

First, it is a very safe procedure. Neurofeedback is completely non-invasive, and most people who have been through the therapy say that it is comfortable and even enjoyable. The therapist will attach electrodes to your scalp, which are held in place by a water-soluble gel. These electrodes conduct the current coming from your brain into an EEG device, which will transmit this information onto a computer screen. No input goes into the brain; the machine simply reads the electrical energy coming from your brain.

There are virtually no significant side effects to the procedure. Some patients have reported feeling a bit tired after a neurofeedback session. Body language expert and author of The Productivity Epiphany, Vincent Harris, reported that he was extremely tired after his first session, but that he was back to normal after taking a nap and a good night’s sleep. If you find that you are tired after a session, let your therapist know, and they can easily adjust the settings to avoid much of the temporary fatigue.

Although sensitivity to the gel used to attach the leads is very uncommon, some people have experienced this mild side effect. If you have sensitive skin, let your therapist know, and he or she can do a small patch test before proceeding.

Studies continue to be conducted to determine the efficacy of neurofeedback. While solid evidence is pending regarding the use of neurofeedback in the treatment of some conditions, several studies support the benefits of the intervention of neurofeedback. Positive results from neurofeedback therapy have been demonstrated in numerous case studies. These results are often long lasting because neurofeedback actually changes the way the brain works.

In the case of ADHD, or ‘attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’, for example, several studies have found that 8 out of 10 (80%) of those with ADD/ADHD who are treated with neurofeedback therapy are able to leave the aggravating symptoms behind for many years with just 30-40 sessions in most cases.

The results you experience from a neurofeedback procedure could depend somewhat on the environment in which you receive the treatment. It can be more effective if it is performed where the problem you’re trying to solve usually occurs. For instance, teenagers with ADHD may have better results when their neurofeedback sessions take place in the classrooms where they have difficulty concentrating.

Neurofeedback can be costly, however. This type of therapy is not always covered by insurance plans, and the cost for treatment can range from $90 – $150 for each session. Most practitioners offer payment plans for their clients. Some offer an interest free loan through www.CareCredit.com. In some instances, health insurance will reimburse a portion of the cost of the therapy.

Here is what one therapist asks patients to consider when he is talking to them about neurofeedback therapy. After he has explained how neurofeedback works, he tells them, “Before you decide to go ahead and begin the training, let me ask you to consider something. Pretend for a moment that we are six months into the future; you have completed six months of neurofeedback therapy and have experienced significant and deeply profound results. In fact, you feel so much different than you did six months ago, that you sometimes feel as if a miracle occurred.”

He continues, “Now, if after you have experienced all of these wonderful changes, the ones you are enjoying so fully and completely now, thinking back to how much you had struggled six months ago, and I offered you $4,000 cash–I want to buy back all of the results you have achieved with neurofeedback. I will give you back the money you spent and we’ll just take away all of the positive changes you experienced. Will you sell the results to me for $4,000?”

He said he has never had someone tell him yes, and that to most patients, having looked at it from this perspective, $4,000 seems like a trivial amount of money to invest in the happiness and increased quality of life that neurofeedback therapy can bring them.

For more information about Neurofeedback, go to http://www.NeurofeedbackBook.com Dr. Clare Albright is a psychologist (CA License PSY11660) and a Neurofeedback practitioner and can be reached at (949)454-0996

If you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, or if you suffer from chronic fatigue or chronic pain, which often come together, you probably know how frustrating it is when doctors, friends, and family members don’t believe that your pain is real, or that there is anything wrong with you. Perhaps you wake up in so much pain each morning that it’s all you can do to move, or maybe you simply cannot stir up the energy to get through the day, no matter how much sleep you get or how healthy your lifestyle is in general. It may not seem like it to you, but these symptoms actually do originate in your brain.

Before you stomp off annoyed at this assessment, read on. Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue may actually not have physical causes. Sometimes there is a problem with the way that your brain is functioning that manifests itself as pain – or some other distressing symptom – in your body. Conversely, when your brain receives signals that your body is in pain, it should release hormones to help you get over the pain – but it might not.

Your brain may have become stuck in particular brain wave patterns, and since each brain wave pattern initiates a different emotion or function, being stuck in one brain wave pattern is obviously unhealthy. If your brain is fixed in a mode that makes the body think you are stressed or afraid, what do you think will happen? You may not sleep well, resulting in extreme tiredness, and your muscles will be constantly tense. Over time, this can have some serious consequences.

Chronic pain usually begins with a physical cause, but over time, it can end up being nothing more than a pain in the brain. For instance, if you have a major surgery on your back, you will likely be in legitimate pain for a while. This very real pain tells you that your body is still healing. But sometimes the pain lasts so long that it becomes “etched” into your brain, so when the physical cause for the pain is gone, your brain will still be telling you that your back hurts.

A therapy called neurofeedback, however, may relieve fibromyalgia and chronic pain by targeting them at the source, training your brain to function differently. This type of therapy may actually take your brain and changes it so that it is no longer stuck in the same destructive pattern that causes you to be tired or in pain.

Neurofeedback rewards your brain for moving into different, healthy patterns, and eventually these patterns may become habit just as the old destructive patterns were. And unlike treatment with a pharmaceutical intervention, where the medication will have to be taken for long periods of time – perhaps for a lifetime – to be free from the symptoms or challenges of a particular condition, neurofeedback can often be stopped after 30-40 sessions.

For more information about Neurofeedback, go to http://www.NeurofeedbackBook.com. Dr. Clare Albright is a psychologist (CA License PSY11660) and a Neurofeedback practitioner and can be reached at (949)454-0996.

Reactive Attachment Disorder arises from a failure to form normal attachments to primary caregivers in early childhood. For some children it occurs when they do not receive the love and affection that every infant needs. Studies have shown that in order for the part of a child’s brain that is responsible for regulating affection to develop normally, ‘entrainment’ between the mother and infant’s brain must occur during the child’s first 18 months of life.

Brain waves in mother and child very often come into harmony with the brain waves of the other; they are in sync, if you will. This is what happens when mothers respond to the needs of their children, and it lays the foundation for children to become happy and well-adjusted adults. When this brain wave entrainment does not have the opportunity to occur, or only happens for very brief or infrequent periods, proper brain development may be stunted in the child. These children often end up with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), which can leave them with serious anger and behavioral issues that can last into adulthood. Children with RAD are unlikely to seek out social interaction or to form strong relationships.

While RAD did not receive much attention in the past, it is now coming to the forefront of psychological study. This is, in part, because many more families are choosing to adopt children. Even children who are adopted as early as age two or three could have already developed RAD, since it is important for children to entrain within the first eighteen months of life. There are a few treatment options for RAD. One focuses on therapy and family support, which can be helpful. Over time, a relationship with a good therapist and a strong family background can help a child learn to form attachments and to become more socially adept. However, this treatment can be hit-and-miss, and it can take many years of therapy.

Another type of therapy that is showing promising results with children with RAD is neurofeedback. This type of therapy actually changes the way that the brain works; this is important for RAD patients because when a child is not cared for as an infant, the way that their brain works actually changes. Neurofeedback, which is a type of biofeedback for the brain, may actually re-map the child’s brain, allowing him or her function on a more normal level. Neurofeedback therapy may enable a child with RAD to gain control over their behavior and to form positive relationships with parents, caregivers, and peers.

In fact, many children who are treated with neurofeedback become calmer and less easily alarmed. They also typically become less aggressive and impulsive after just a few sessions, although it’s impossible to tell exactly how long it will take for an individual child’s condition to improve. If combined with other treatments, however, neurofeedback as a therapy for RAD may contribute to a positive therapeutic outcome in the child’s life. If you have adopted a child who is struggling with RAD, or if you are an adult whose childhood has caused social or attachment issues, you may want to consider neurofeedback as a possible add-on to psychotherapy.

For more information about Neurofeedback, go to http://www.NeurofeedbackBook.com Dr. Clare Albright is a psychologist (CA License PSY11660) and a Neurofeedback practitioner and can be reached at (949)454-0996

Many people will say “well I never dream” and of course this statement is totally wrong, we all do every night end up in Neptune’s world. One of the best ways to *remember your dreams is to stimulate your subconscious to recall them as you awake.

Depending on your UCI *Unique Celestial Identity, you will have only a few seconds to recall your latest dream, while if you inherited a Mercury *the Mind, in Pisces *dreams, chance are you will dream in color and enjoy every minutes of your second busy dreamy life.

Dreams have a lot to offer, again that is if you can differentiate the different meanings and state. We are all at our deepest state when REM *Rapid Eye Movement takes place. Again depending on your natal UCI and Neptune Lord of dreams aspects and placement by house and sign chances are your dream life will be either non-existent or very active. Of course the use or abuses of legal or illegal drugs/chemicals *Neptune tools, will indeed stimulate more of your imagination or dream state and could create awful nightmares. But as a rule once you have learned to differentiate what type of dream you had there are great benefits, even warnings in your dreams. Now if you have had any of these dreams, either wonderful or terrible, they may also reflect inner fears than could easily turn into a blockage and any and all ailments are coming from a *blockage. The flux of life travels through you and any short circuit can be very detrimental to your physical or spiritual health. While using Feng shui location and orientation of your bed can also help dreaming and accelerate the process of healing.

Of course such old Chinese methodology or Nostradamus rare Divine astrology may be taboo practices for the logical scientist but there are tremendous values in these old practices. Let me tell you one of my many dreams that gave me a better understanding on how to use of dream state constructively and your subconscious’ message properly. In any dream always notice the general environment as it depicts the positive or negative energy displayed. In this dream I was by my window and I saw three huge black crows hawking loudly directly at me. I noticed a few tenacious black clouds above and heard the far away sound of thunder as I walked out to the garden. Then the birds became very aggressive towards me and in fear I picked up a rock and throw it at them. To my surprise the three of them were hit *this can only happen in a dream of course, and they fell dead in front of my feet. Then I woke up wondering what was this all about. During these days I was working on the US base in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a heavy equipment operator.

The *Chief in charge of the job and two others inspectors were watching me trying to cut and climb a steep slope with a heavy Caterpillar loader. After a few trials, wondering for my safety and the expansive machine, I came down the loader and asked if I could use a bulldozer instead. I thought the heavy steady tracks would be much more safe than the huge tires and explained this to them. Their ego got over them and told me they had no dozer available just now and to keep trying. I refused and got fired on the spot. I was terribly upset but there were nothing I could do to convince them to keep my job and went back home. They called on another worker and he began to work as I drove off the base. About one hour later or so I received a call from the top job Superintendent asking me to return to the job site. He also told me the mechanic who witnessed everything earlier had only good words to say about me and only a few minutes after the argument the driver miraculously escaped with his life as the loader flipped upside down on the slope.

I was laughing my head off driving back to the base and up a sudden realized what my dream was all about. The three black birds were nothing else than these three workers who had no experience with the operation of heavy equipment screaming at me and me *shooting them (the birds) to death after I proved my claim. Thus this is how I learned to *read or interpret a prophetic dream.

I wonder how a traditionally educated psychologist’s would react to my explanation. Listening to some of these people on national radio can be very rewarding where the character of the soul himself and his expertise *natal UCI or *Unique Celestial Identity, will act in full force verbally. Some of them are quite interesting reflecting a totally robotic expression on how they perceive their own reality. It amazes me how many of these schooled psychologist professionals are so much into themselves and totally blind to whom they really are.

Traditionally educated famous radio host psychologists are all over the air wave and some on television but rest assured, they do not possess any Cosmic Consciousness and are the perfect examples of typical blind souls. In reality, they are adept on working other people’s problems using extreme logic and general psychology. But what about the depth of rare information coming from Astropsychology, involving the subject’s direct relationship to the Superconscious and the Cosmic Code” This is what creates the robotic response to life and designed the complex psyche of all human beings. But all they can do is to give you logical, plausible answers to something so mysterious, so complex and so mystical that without the proper training they will never ever realize.

One can only reflect his own UCI and in the case of some religious famous syndicated radio hosts, 99% of the *counseling will strongly reflects and involves a deep encrusted dutiful beliefs. Trying to explain the Cosmic Code jurisdictions to any of these talking heads *or any religious person, is like trying to teach a fish to speak Chinese because of the firm unmovable attitude of the accepted belief system. Of course as mentioned many times in my work souls born in January and October are prone to fall for the codification of thoughts. The soul fed on books showing absolutely no commons sense but a rigid know it all, puritanical, dutiful reasoning where anything out of the ordinary of the accepted scriptures should not be endorsed, trusted or taught. They are also born professional students where traditional schooling is a priority over any form of formidable opportunity. But what a schooled person must realize it that; “there is a BIG difference between education and intelligence”.

It amazes me that this type of logical down to earth religious righteous type of thinking runs the US radio waves where these pe4rceived as intellectual elites are very sarcastic and as blind as can be. Incidentally these are the ones trying to guide others. The spiritual pride, religious rectitude and coldness blasted daily from their radio broadcasts are not only wasteful but also detrimental to the listeners.

Anyone raised in such a bully, strict religious environment forced to eat the bible before any meal since birth can only display serious sign of mental instability. And you expect these Doctors on the air to help you or your kids with your problems? One can only see his own reality through his education, intelligence, experiences but most of all through his inherited UCI. Thus asking for someone who shares a very different down to earth *UCI may bring logic to where its needed while the real spiritual manifesto where all the real reasons and answers truly are is non existing.

So this is what it comes down to – Some human beings simply think they know better and believe their particular *wisdom is better than true geniuses who have made history. i.e. Einstein – Simply call their show and ask any of these famous psychologists what they think of Nostradamus, UFO, Edgar Cayce, astrology or even Astropsychology on the air? To them it’s all pseudo science because they never honored the word science to master the subject. Chances are the protective delay in place in all radio stations will take care of that question before it could ever be asked! You probably will get lectured and asked to pray for your sin because you dealt with the occult.

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” Einstein

Blessings to All

D. Turi

http://cosmiccode7.ning.com/
http://www.facebook.com/drturi

Recurring dreams indicate danger because they are trying to remind you of a certain obligation, which you are postponing. It is always related to your behavior, because you live in order to be transformed, so that you may be able to live peacefully and happily.

So, you are not doing something very important that you must do; something concerning the way you behave in life, which is indispensable for your own safety, besides being indispensable for your human evolution.

You could be too immature, and see repetitive dreams about your lack of seriousness and maturity, which is quite common.

If you don’t pay attention to this problem, and if you don’t solve it as you should, it may become a mental illness in the future, because if you are immature you constantly make mistakes with your relationships, and you are too naive, which means that you are nearer absurdity than sensibility.

People that see recurring dreams without trying to understand their meaning, and solve their problems, have very tragic biographies, exactly because they keep doing something very wrong, or not doing something very important that they should do indispensably.

Recurring dreams are very important warnings that try to wake you up. You see them repeatedly until you’ll finally do what you have to, or stop making the same mistakes without understanding what you are doing.

The wise unconscious mind will show you in details everything that you have to do in order to transform your personality so that you may behave properly, instead of avoiding your obligations, or repeating old mistakes.

You only have to learn how to translate your dreams according to the scientific method of dream interpretation that exactly translates their meaning.

You’ll verify the superiority of the scientific translation, because you’ll see that the messages of the unconscious mind contain precious knowledge about you and your life that only you know.

You’ll never again see a repetitive dream if you follow the free and safe psychotherapy of the unconscious mind in your dreams regularly, since you’ll be always aware of what you should do on each occasion, without ignoring your obligations, and all the dangers that threaten your peace of mind.

The unconscious mind will show you gradually everything that exists inside you, what determines your behavior, what should be corrected, improved or eliminated in your personality, how you can develop all your capacities, how you can improve your memory and remember all the details of your dreams besides everything else, and how you can become more intelligent and sensitive.

Once you pay attention to the meaning of your dreams, you’ll stop being threatened by invisible dangers like now, because you’ll be always protected by the unconscious wisdom.

Christina Sponias continued Carl Jung’s research into the human psyche, discovering the cure for all mental illnesses, and simplifying the scientific method of dream interpretation that teaches you how to exactly translate the meaning of your dreams, so that you can find health, wisdom and happiness.
Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com.

Click Here to download a Free Sample of the eBook Dream Interpretation as a Science (86 pages!).

The Source of All Good Healing

Psychology and fundamentalism at best have been polite opponents. In recent history, say the last 50 years, this opposition has become vigorous and often less than polite. Many churches, such as Calvary, completely eschew all mental health practitioners (whether social workers, psychiatrists or counselors) and staunchly maintain that all healing comes directly from God or prayer and that all you need in order to develop and maintain a robust mental health may be found in Scripture or a prayer session.

This rejection of psychotherapy may have been a reaction to the “I’m okay, you’re okay” generation of therapists who did very little for most people except to allay the anxieties of narcissists and sociopaths by telling them “if it feels good, it is good.” In the eyes of both Orthodox Jews and Christians, the field of humanistic psychology took the whole program of self-improvement one giant step too far, putting man in the center of the universe, particularly his own.

Their objections were not wrong. And I say this as a holistic psychotherapist with almost 25 years of experience in the field.

I have seen far too many well-meaning therapists do little more for their patients than make them feel better about being sick. They are loath to challenge or confront negative behavior or unhealthy thinking because they fear being seen as judgmental. As a result of their tentative relationships with the truth, they fail in their relationships with their patients. They do not see what needs to be healed so the patient is left unhealed. This is truly a disservice to the patient because what it ultimately does is feed the pathology and starve the essence of the person.

I think all good and true healing flows from the same Source which means that there can be an alliance-and an important one-between the Biblical and Mental Health communities. But only if we have an understanding of our terms and are actually seeking the same results.

What is Healthy? What is Unhealthy?

According to Samuel Hahnemann, M.D., after whom dozens of medical colleges around the world have been named, physical health presents with a very clear picture which is eternally derived from a healthy spiritual state.

“In the healthy human state, the spirit-like life force (autocracy) that enlivens the material organism as dynamis, governs without restriction and keeps all parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both feelings and functions, so that our indwelling, rational spirit can freely avail itself of this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence.”

He goes on:

“The material organism, thought of without life force, is capable of no sensibility, no activity, no self-preservation. It derives all sensibility and produces its life functions solely by means of the immaterial wesen (the life principle, the life force) that enlivens the material organism in health and in disease.”

Therefore…health depends on a healthy wesen or life force or spirit. It is a process that proceeds from above down, from the inside out. This is also the philosophical underpinning of a proper holistic psychotherapy and the pivot point of all Scripture on the subject of good health.

Biblical Healing

Let us start with basics. What has the Bible been saying about health (whether mental, emotional or physical) for the past several thousand years? The following is a small sample of references:

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear and respect the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” Proverbs, 3:7-8

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when hopes are realized at last, there is life and joy.” Proverbs, 13:12

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And are you not worth much more than they?” Matthew, 6:26

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Your wound is incurable, your injury is beyond healing. There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you. All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you…. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds…’” Jeremiah, 30:12-14, 17

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John, 14:27

Even in this cursory perusal, it’s easy to see that the biblical concepts of health are the same as those taught to graduate students in counseling: Hope, faith and an acceptance of reality, an understanding that we are not the center of the universe, peace of heart (a release of worry), generosity, service, humility, joy, and love. I am sure there is more, but I believe this is a good core to start with.

Clinical Healing

I have worked with individuals, families, couples and adolescents for almost 25 years. They have been both mandated to see me under duress and crawled in desperate for help. I have seen a wide enough range of people to ask a few pointed questions and hopefully seen enough recovery and healing to offer a couple of observations.

The first question: What are the things that lead to poor health, whether physical or mental/emotional?

In my experience, they are the same things the Bible warns us about over and over and over: Pride, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Lust and Wrath.

Almost every single patient I have ever had was doing battle with pride in some way. Some were engaged in battle with nearly all of them at once. And I admit openly that almost every pain I have ever suffered myself had something to do with at least one of those sins or as some people call them, “character defects.”

One woman whom we shall call Sonia came to my office about 15 years ago. She was addicted to pain killers. She had some physical symptoms, but they were not the reason for the prescription or the solution for the pain she needed to heal. She complained about her mother, even though she had not spoken to her in many years and was enormously indignant (a combination of pride and wrath) about how she had been wronged. As she spoke of all the things her mother had done to her, she clenched her jaw and her hands.

When later in treatment I offered up the possibility that her continued rage (wrath) at what had been done to her those many years ago was actually only hurting her and that perhaps it was time for her to accept the fact that her mother had failed her and begin to consider forgiveness, she became outraged (pride). In her mind, accepting the reality of her mother’s inadequacies (without making them her own) was unthinkable. Her mother had to be shown who was right and who was wrong. Sonia equated acceptance with excuse and could not, would not see it any other way. The end result? She stayed in pain and addicted to pain killers. Her pride would have it no other way. When the choice between being “right” or happy was presented to her, she chose to be right.

The second and perhaps more pertinent question: How do we treat these problems in the modern world? What is a psychotherapist to do if the purpose is to facilitate true healing and he or she is not a priest, pastor, or rabbi? We are not preachers. Our job is slightly different and the people who come to us are not always ready for (or necessarily interested in) an extreme spiritual make-over. People who may not be ready to go to a church or synagogue may need to someone objective who will just listen to them and hear their suffering. Many people need to talk before they can learn to pray. And the therapeutic relationship-if it is handled properly-can be the training ground for having other relationships, including one with God.

There is a difference between preaching and manifesting. It is good to inspire others with great thoughts about God. It is also good to manifest God’s love through presence and compassion. There are times that a patient may be too angry at God to hear someone say, “God loves you,” but not too angry to have God’s love quietly demonstrated through patience, understanding, and honest integrity. And this may be the first time he or she has ever experienced it.

In my experience, what we have to do to be healing in psychotherapy is not all that different than scripture prescribes even if it is presented and packaged a little differently.

After working with patients for these 20+ years, I have broken it into five segments or stages, all of which I believe are biblically supported although none of these are dependent on one particular faith or point of view. All the seven deadly sins (or character defects) may be individually or collectively addressed at any point along these five stages. These stages are only clinical observations, not rules and shouldn’t be approached legalistically.

I: Hope

All recovery-whether from drugs, depravity, or desperate fear-begins with a promise of hope, that there is “another way” to be, to live, to feel, to love and be loved. This hope is offered in different ways by different people, but I have found it best received by my patients in the form of personal and true stories of redemption (mine or others), of living examples of other people’s recoveries, of their emotional, mental and spiritual salvations.

When we see the pain of the other person’s struggles, feel the roller coaster of his unfolding temptations and challenges, identify with her frustrations and longings and then witness her release and deliverance…we can begin to hope. If it happened for them, perhaps it can happen for me…? All a good psychotherapist needs is one good perhaps and the work can at least get started.

Most of my initial work with patients is an infusion of hope. Some are so habituated to sadness, to pain, to loss, to deprivation, that they simply cannot imagine anything but the way they’ve always been. “But you are here in my office, so there must be some small ember still burning,” I tell them. But many need quite a bit of tender care-a very careful fanning-for that flame to begin to burn again. So I pace them. (Pacing (*1) is a clinical term meaning that I am walking with the patient rather than running in front of him or dragging behind him.)

II: Surrender

Surrender is a word that gives moderns the shudders. What we are told to want for ourselves is power and control. We are carefully and consistently taught in graduate school to nurture in our patients their “self-empowerment” and imbue in them a solid sense of control. This can be important and necessary in very measured doses, particularly when a person has been abused and even the most personal controls have been denied them. But it can go too far and be endowed too freely.

Even some evangelists have done that with “prosperity gospel.” In that philosophy you can tell where a person is spiritually by what he owns and how well his career is doing. Ask and ye shall receive, they remind us. But instead of its focus on the spiritual it has become a modern, media spin on the Doctrine of the Elect and Predestination: How do we know you have found God’s favor? Because you’re successful. How do you get to be successful? By God’s favor. So, the goal is to acquire wealth, prestige, and power. Somewhere along the line even the ministers have forgotten, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In the beginning of my own rebirth into sanity, the idea of surrender terrified me. I know from my own experience that surrender is at the very least an uncomfortable concept for most people. And some are not just tentative about it, they are panic-stricken, which is only reasonable since they have not yet come to trust that the universe is purposeful, creative, and meaningful. (For me that is God and, again, my surrender only came when I came to believe that God actually loved me.) For many of those just coming into therapy, the universe has been a hurtful, oft-meaningless, chaotic, unfair place. We cannot surrender to the abyss, to a vast darkness, to a deist blob that couldn’t care less whether we existed or not, to a universe without love or meaning. I certainly can’t imagine doing that. And I didn’t. I couldn’t. So, I present it in the way it was successfully presented to me-with great care and in small steps: Initial surrender means to accept reality. That’s it. Not to like it or excuse it. Just to accept it as real.

Accepting reality is something people can consider even when reality is harsh, even when they are scared, hurt, or confused. Accepting reality is the underpinning of sanity. Denial is the basis for all insanity. When surrender is presented initially in this way, it becomes manageable.

So, what can they surrender to? I keep it simple. They can surrender to the fact that their lives are not working, or the unhappiness they live with at home, or the way they feel and make other people feel when they’re drinking. They surrender to the facts first.

Why? We surrender first to reality because as we’ve been told: “The truth shall set you free.

Surrender in this way, taken in these gentle, baby steps, is what gets us strong enough to make the fuller, sweeter surrender, to take the leap into the love-both human and Divine-that is, as C.S. Lewis and Peter Kreeft call it, our heart’s deepest longing.

III: Honesty

If truth is what we need, then honesty is what we must give. Why isn’t my life working? Why is my spouse always angry? Why am I so easily offended? Why do I have trouble stepping out of the house? What do I feel? What do I need? What do I stumble over myself again and again and again?

This is a coming-clean, a venting, an admission of wrong-doing, a confession of mistakes and a map of wrong turns. It is what Alcoholics Anonymous has called a Fourth Step, what the Church calls a moral reckoning or examination of conscience, and the Jews a “tikun” or correcting. And it is absolutely necessary, whether one is an alcoholic or not, whether one is in a 12-step program or not, whether one belongs to a religion or not.

It is a brave step, this one. It takes courage to say “I really loused up that relationship,” or “I was a coward when it came to my career,” or “I was as abusive as she said I was.”

Interestingly, it is at this point that the need for hope returns. It is very painful to look at all we’ve done wrong and terribly hard to imagine that it can ever be any different. In my work, this is a good time to remind someone of what is possible, returning again to the stories-the true stories-of redemption and the view from the top of the mountain.

Some ways back I knew a young woman (details disguised to protect identity) who had been seen by numerous therapists. She’d been diagnosed with PTSD, Bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. She’d been medicated, treated with a dozen techniques, restrained for cutting, and finally written off as hopeless.

We spoke about her life, current and past. After about a month of piecing together her history, we landed on the issue of an abortion she’d had when she was 15. She had been so afraid: the boy who had father the child had abandoned her, her parents were busy with work and a very high-level social life, and she had no older or wiser siblings to guide her. Her life with the family’s church had been cut off earlier because everyone had been simply too busy to bother with it. (She had been raised and baptized Catholic.) Ultimately her support and direction came from the media and from the information available at school.

I asked her about the abortion and how she felt about it. She answered with honest curiosity, “Why are you asking?”

“Because it’s a big event, especially for a little girl,” I said.

“No one else seemed to think so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone else seemed to think it was no big deal. You just go and do it.”

“Did you see it as no big deal?” I asked.

She started to cry.

It took some time and many tears, but she was neither borderline, bipolar, nor hopeless. She was guilt-ridden, not by my accounting but her own. In an effort to be what her surrounding culture believed she was supposed to be, she had to lie about how she felt, what she wanted, and what she really needed. Telling the truth was her first step out of the pain and the pathology.

This accountability is a way of owning our mistakes so we can move forward to owning our achievements. If everything is everyone else’s fault, then we are the victims of happenstance and there truly is no hope. People are awfully skittish about being accountable because they have been shamed and blamed to excess, but this is not about shame. This is the yellow brick road to freedom.

IV: Service

What does it take to make it better once we know what we’ve been doing wrong?

This is actually a more controversial question than one may imagine because according to many people in the field one must always focus on the positive. And by in large, they make a convincing point. Noticing what works often works. For some patients, I am the first one in their entire lives to say, “I see you. I see what is good in you. Let us look further to see what else you have that is good and can get better.”

However, I think going fully in either direction-focusing only on the positive or focusing only on all the wrongdoing-is a mistake. There must be a balance, an acknowledgment of both aspects or inclinations of our natures. As the first story of Adam and Eve illustrates, we are not wholly good or wholly evil. We have capacities in either direction and to become good or to continue to be good, it takes a conscious effort and awareness of both those inclinations. We must nurture the one and starve the other.

How is that best done?

First and foremost, through service and good works, even when we don’t feel like it. There’s nothing better for someone full of self-pity and hypochondria than to get out and volunteer. I had one young woman volunteer at an old age home. I had another at a soup kitchen. It doesn’t matter how we give, but in order to grow, we must start somewhere.
Through humility even when we feel boastful or proud or angry or indignant. We must do for others, like say we are sorry, even when we want to dig in our heels.
Through patience and generosity even when we feel deprived and impatient.

Service to others is seen by many as a healing of a higher order, which is why it comes later in the 12-Steps of A.A.-we can only offer what we have learned or gained. “If you want to keep it [recovery], give it away,” recovering addicts and alcoholics are told. The meaning there is clear-you must first have it to give it.

There is another side to this, though. Some of us call it “Act as if” and contend we only learn what we teach and only get what we give away. I think it works both ways and it is up to a good clinical team (meaning the patient and the therapist) to determine when and how to go about this. I am no Solomon. What I know, though, is that service-at any time it seems possible and right-is beneficial to the mind, the heart, the body, and the soul.

V: Forgiveness

Without forgiveness, we are stuck in the wrongdoing and don’t get to move forward into our new lives. My feeling is that pride is usually the blockage on this. We won’t forgive because we’re right, damn it! And we want to be vindicated even more than we want to be free or happy.

Forgiveness never denies the wrongdoing (Romans 3:10,23). But it forgives the doer, who clearly knows no better or is too sick to ever see the difference.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean we need to open our door to thieves. It doesn’t ask us to be fools. The irony is that the less one forgives, the more hardhearted, vengeful and angry one becomes and therefore the less one is able to see the truth of any kind. Hatred does not only reject joy, it rejects truth and can’t recognize a real threat when it’s there.

Forgiveness is often the last step in this small ladder to emotional and spiritual freedom.

As Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, said, “Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you.”

One of the best examples of forgiveness is the story of Joseph and his brothers, who had collectively betrayed him and left him to die because of their own envy and greed. He crawled to survive, then was enslaved and thrown in prison. Many years passed. Still, when his brothers came to Egypt many years later, he not only forgave them after he saw that they had changed (and showed true repentance), he rejoiced in them.

Suffering: Is it Necessary?

There is one last issue I’d like to briefly address and that is the notion of suffering. I haven’t allotted it its own stage of recovery because it involves all of them.

The worst part of modern psychotherapy is that it does not allow for the existence of suffering. It insists on happiness as a human “right” and promotes its open-throttled pursuit along with everyone else in mass media and entertainment. This is the parting of ways between what is ordinary psychotherapy (and even those preaching the Prosperity Gospel I mentioned earlier who believe they can petition God for whatever worldly goods or emotional rewards they desire, quoting “ask and ye shall receive” as if it offered proof of God as the Great Pez Dispenser) and a holistic psychotherapy that is based in traditional Biblical values.

Part of the problem is that the modern age of psychotherapists see happiness-which is defined as the attainment of some desired goal-as the end goal of healing.

Orthodox Jews and Christians have a different take on this subject. While it is seen as normal to want to be happy, to be healthy, even to have material comfort it is not seen as the purpose of our existence. It is not even seen as terribly important. It is considered far more critical to be good than to get what you [think you] want. Happy is fine. Goodness and purposefulness and joy-they are far better and reach in far deeper.

What is even more troubling to me is that I see people wanting the rewards of happiness without even the minimum of self-sacrifice. Americans particularly believe it is their “right.” We have been told so repeatedly by the media and psychologists, and even a whole generation of “hip” preachers. Do what makes you happy. It’s all that counts.

The philosophical pinnacle of this thinking is in New Age theology, where sickness, injury and tragedies are defined as self-inflicted manifestations of poor core programming. In that epistemology, Mystery is abolished and we are responsible for everything that happens to us and around us. If abundant health and wealth and beauty are our birthrights, then suffering means we have either done something wrong to deserve it or written bad scripts for our lives.

Given this mental and emotional mulch we are planted in, it is no wonder that we are so worried about our bodies, our bank accounts, and our images. We fret about face lifts more than we do about whether we have a neighbor that needs our help because she has been bed-ridden for a week.

Denying suffering has a price that is incomprehensibly enormous. Because when we deny suffering (which as Buddha said is inevitable in this life), we must also deny death. And to deny death, we must deny life.

Why should it be included in psychotherapy, though? Shouldn’t we want to banish it forever? Why shouldn’t we want to avoid it altogether? What’s in it for us, anyway?

This is the answer I came up with: By being present for suffering, we become present for the whole of life, for the wholeness of another person. And the reward is nothing less than the ability to love-and be loved-fully. We suffer because we love and want to continue loving. It is a poignant irony, I think. In our attempt to avoid suffering, we cut ourselves off from the one thing that can mitigate it: each other.

Judith Acosta, LISW, is a licensed psychotherapist, crisis counselor and classical homeopath in private practice in New Mexico. She is the co-author of The Worst Is Over: What To Say When Every Moment Counts, hailed as the “bible of crisis communications” and Verbal First Aid (Penguin, 2010), the new book on therapeutic communication with children. She lectures around the country on Verbal First Aid, trauma, stress, and animal-assisted therapy. She may be reached at her website: http://www.wordsaremedicine.com, where she has an interactive blog.

If someone you love struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADD/ADHD, you will likely be interested in any new breakthroughs in the treatment of these disorders. For years, parents, schools, and doctors have been struggling to find a solution for attention deficit disorder, especially as more children each year are being diagnosed with one of these disorders. In any given classroom of thirty or so students these days, there will typically be at least two or three children with ADD/ADHD. Parents may feel they have very few options for treating their children who have received this diagnosis.

The traditional treatment for the disorder has been medication, Ritalin being one of the first. Since then, drug companies have produced a variety of treatments for ADD/ADHD. These medications may not treat the disorder itself, however, but merely work to curb the symptoms. They also may have many drawbacks, including short-term side effects such as fatigue, appetite loss, and personality alterations, as well as the possibility of long-term effects, some of which may have yet to be discovered.

While there are a few natural treatments available, including dietary and behavioral therapy, many of these treatments have produced limited results, because even these treatments do not truly address the problem at its core. Children and adults with ADD/ADHD have been left with little hope of any permanent resolution, and have had to face the prospect of living with the disorder for the rest of their lives. But that may not be the case for long.

A new therapy called neurofeedback, also known as ‘biofeedback for the brain’, has already dramatically changed the lives of many ADD/ADHD sufferers. In one recent study neurofeedback therapy was able to successfully eliminate all attention deficit symptoms in 80% of the participants. In addition, most of the children involved in the study experienced an increase in IQ.

Some neurofeedback therapists may recommend that ADD/ADHD patients continue with their medications for a time after they begin neurofeedback therapy but when the therapy is complete “usually after about 40 to 60 sessions”some patients should be able to live symptom-free without medication.

Neurofeedback works by helping the brain to learn the correct brain wave patterns to use for different situations. With attention deficit disorder, scientists have not pinpointed the exact cause of the disorder, but they do know that it involves a malfunction within the brain that causes the patient’s actions and thoughts to be erratic, disorganized, and hyperactive. Neurofeedback helps the brain regain normal functioning by retraining it to work within optimal wavelengths.

During the neurofeedback therapy sessions, which most patients experience as very comfortable, and even enjoyable, electrical signals from the brain will be transmitted through an EEG machine that reads brain waves. The patient will then use their brain waves to perform simple activities such as making a spaceship on a computer screen “fly.” The brain enjoys this activity, and will continue using these particular patterns until they become more permanently ingrained.

More and more therapists are seeing the benefits of neurofeedback for their patients, many of whom have been in dire need of such an alternative.

For more information about Neurofeedback, go to http://www.NeurofeedbackBook.com Dr. Clare Albright is a psychologist (CA License PSY11660) and a Neurofeedback practitioner and can be reached at (949)454-0996.