Understanding the importance of mastery

Withdrawal symptoms typically express themselves as a syndrome ranging from being physically very uncomfortable (itchy skin, sweating, vomiting, insomnia) to emotionally uncomfortable (heightened depression, paranoia, anxiety, and anhedonia, a very-difficult-to-endure state of no feelings at all). If a person is unlikely to tolerate the physical and/or emotional distress of withdrawal, a short stay at a Level IV facility (described below) is advised. Level II--Intensive Outpatient Care Setting--Clients attend a structured program week to week and commute to treatment. Structure includes attendance requirements and often drug testing. Intensity--Services are provided more than ten hours per week and typically take place in a clinic setting rather than through an individual provider. Treatment length is variable (three to nine months), but typically somewhat more time-limited than Level I. Your big test is to be more understanding. Virgos are afraid of being used and abused and believe that anyone who doesn't set personal boundaries is a sap. However, life doesn't always respect boundaries and sometimes even overflows our banks. You may not like it when a loved one stands by someone who doesn't deserve it or a friend takes back an ex, but they do it because they know that there for but the grace of God goes any of us. Uranus is the planet of what I don't expect. And it certainly took everyone by surprise when it was discovered by the British astronomer Sir William Herschel in March 1781. The first planet to be found since ancient times, Uranus upset the status quo of our solar system, which is why it was deemed the planet of revolution and change by astrologers. To be clear, the changes that Uranus brings aren't slight adjustments or cosmetic alterations. It doesn't busy itself arranging and then rearranging things like flowers in a vase. Uranus is famous for kicking over the game board and sending all the pieces flying. There are seven stages of cognitive decline in the progression to Alzheimer's. Stage 1 is normal cognitive function (no impairment or memory loss). Stage 2 is very mild cognitive decline, also called normal aged forgetfulness.

There are senior moments but no impairments in daily life. Stage 3 is mild decline or early confusion, the first stage of MCI. Stage 4 is moderate decline or late confusion. Early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease begin to show. Routine things like banking or shopping become overwhelming. Stage 5 is moderately severe decline or mid-stage Alzheimer's. The person needs help with everyday tasks such as dressing properly for the season or occasion. Examples of Level II care: IOPs can also help clients manage their use of medications and provide support in the areas of job or school functioning. Level III--Residential/Inpatient care Setting--Clients live at the facility while in treatment. Treatment is highly structured, with set programming for participants, often in groups. Intensity--Treatment activities are intensive, typically occurring throughout the day, five to seven days a week. Treatment length varies widely at this level of care, from two weeks to two years. Examples of Level III care: Therapy is usually intensive, occurring throughout each day, and can include self-help, professional counseling, and a psychiatric component. Rehab offers safety from substance use, as well as an opportunity to focus on psychiatric and emotional difficulties along with substance problems. Wherever it resides in your horoscope is an area of volatility and disruption. Overthrowing the old in order to make way for the new is the perfect mission statement for a planet that was discovered at the midpoint between the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. Both conflicts were fueled by the Enlightenment, a philosophical movement that began in the salons of the intelligentsia and wound up bloodied in the streets.

The Enlightenment held that freedom, democracy, and science--and not the absolute authority of kings, the church, or the rich--should determine the way a society is governed. And if a government doesn't recognize the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then, as Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, put it, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it. These were inflammatory words then and they're just as inflammatory now, as mass protests worldwide demonstrate. But Uranus in your horoscope doesn't mean that you're going to don a Guy Fawkes mask at some point and start tossing Molotov cocktails. Uranus is the planet of revolution and change, and revolutions aren't choosy about political sides. You can be just as revolutionary in your pursuit of progressive reforms as you can be in your efforts to restore things to what they once were. Uranus is a peculiar planet. Stage 6 is severe cognitive decline or mid-stage Alzheimer's. Here people tend to wander and get lost, forget much of their own personal histories and may have a hard time remembering the names of their spouses or children. Stage 7 is very severe cognitive decline or late-stage Alzheimer's. At this final stage of deterioration patients lose awareness of their environment and are unable to have a conversation. The development of MCI and Alzheimer's is tragic. Conventional views are that once this begins, nothing can be done to stop or slow it. Like a person falling off a cliff, once cognitive decline progresses to MCI, the downward momentum is inevitable if the person lives long enough. However, recent research shows this conventional view is incorrect. Many people can recover fully or much of their cognitive capacity if they make the right lifestyle choices. The sooner you take responsibility for your brain's health and change your diet and lifestyle to support rather than damage it, the better. This level of care and type of facility has stood, in many people's minds, for what treatment is. Begun in the early 1950s as a hospital-based treatment, rehab has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry with high end rehabs advertising cures and costing anywhere from $10,000 to $80,000 dollars a month. It is an odd fact (true mostly in the United States) that the treatment approach in rehabs is almost invariably 12-step, though this is starting to change.

This puts the onus on you to investigate each and every facility you consider, especially if your loved one needs more sophisticated psychiatric care. For a well-researched and insightful examination of rehab care, see Anne Fletcher's 2013 article Inside Rehab. The TC approach is unique in the field in that treatment is provided largely by other recovering community members. This setting has often been used for more criminally delinquent populations, as well as (oddly) for adolescents. They provide less supervision and clients typically are allowed to interact with the outside world, going to off-site self-help meetings, getting jobs, returning to school, and so on. Many extended care programs provide extensive therapeutic support and specialize in underlying issues like trauma or personality disorders. Supervision in these programs varies and regulations are different from state to state. It's the only one to orbit the Sun on its side, which means that its north and south poles are where other planets' equators would be. This gives the appearance of Uranus rotating on its axis like a big wheel in the sky. It also has rings, like Saturn. The Wheel of Fortune is a good image to keep in mind when thinking of Uranus. What's up one day can be down the next, and what was down could come flying up. Uranus is a hurly-burly, topsy-turvy energy: an enemy to everything that is fixed and nailed to the floor. It traffics in surprise upsets, unexpected twists, and rude awakenings. It's the reason people suddenly walk out on everything they built, espouse beliefs they once derided, or change their sexual orientation later in life. Uranus will always turn your life upside down, but it also asks: How do you know that the side you're used to is any better than the one to come? Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are known as the modern planets because they were discovered after 1781. Remember, the brain changes in MCI and Alzheimer's begin decades before symptoms emerge. The adage an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is nowhere so true as here. What brings cognitive decline and dementia?

This is the million-dollar question. Closely related is: What is healthy aging, and what produces unhealthy aging? Increasingly, it's clear that lifestyle is the key. In healthy aging, the body and brain maintain a balance between damage and repair to keep most diseases at bay. There is a certain amount of atrophy, but it's not yet clear how much can be prevented. Inevitably there is decline as damage slowly outruns the body's ability to repair, but this decline is gradual. When people remain engaged, active, optimally nourished, and exercise their abilities, their muscles, organs, brain, and cognition stay at relatively high levels well into advanced age. Our experience is that some are helpful, thoughtfully run programs and residences that give clients a safe place to live while they go about building a life. Others are less safe, and/or poorly managed. Unfortunately, at times some manipulate families with fear. We recommend that you investigate carefully and visit in person before you consider signing up. Most important: while some extended care programs are licensed to provide treatment, sober living is not treatment; Level IV--Medically Managed Intensive Inpatient Care Setting--Clients stay at the facility, typically a hospital-based program with intensive, twenty-four-hour medical management. Services focus on stabilizing acute substance or psychiatric crises. Intensity--Monitoring is intensive and more medically oriented than psychotherapeutic in nature, including managing medications, stabilizing psychiatric symptoms, managing symptoms of substance withdrawal, ensuring bodily safety. A stay of three to five days is typical, depending on the substance (and insurance company). Planets known before then--the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn--are the ancient planets, while Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the modern ones. The modern planets were named after deities who epitomized realms removed from our human experience. Uranus was named after the heavens, Neptune the seas, and Pluto the underworld--the undiscovered country, as Shakespeare put it.