Self-Esteem

Kids who are continually entertained in this way may also lack the impetus to find their own talents. As a result, they may miss out on the feelings of competence, pride, and sense of purpose that come with these discoveries, and the boost in self-esteem they provide.

Perceived Threats to Safety

Traumatic news stories that are over-covered on television may contribute to an overall sense of anxiety and helplessness, which may contribute to depressed feelings. Kids who view a lot of these news stories may develop a feeling of perceived threat that is out of proportion to reality.

Social Comparison

The teens on television are all good looking, have lots of money, lead exciting lives, and find easy solutions to their problems. Real teens that use these unrealistic TV kids as a basis for comparing their own lives are bound to come up short. In addition, the proliferation of ads shown during shows popular with teens, often for expensive, brand name status items, sends the message that teens must have these items in order to be cool and accepted. Spending hours a day peering into perfect lives and hearing these messages can significantly impact how teens feel about themselves.

Unfortunately, depression and television watching may be entangled in a cyclical relationship: certain components of TV watching may increase the risk for depression, and depressed kids, who lack energy and enthusiasm, are likely to watch more television, exacerbating the problem. Youth workers and parents should be aware of the risks of excessive television watching, as well as the symptoms of depression, and get kids help when they need it.

Uninstall MSN Messenger – How to uninstall MSN Messenger easily?

Are you in need to uninstall MSN Messenger from your computer but do not know what you should do? If this is the case for you, you are in the right place here because you will find detailed uninstall tutorials to force uninstall MSN Messenger thoroughly from your computer.

You can uninstall MSN Messenger in two ways: uninstall it by yourself (manually) or uninstall it with a professional uninstaller(automatically).

1. Uninstall MSN Messenger by yourself.

No matter which program, once installed on the computer, it normally can be located on Add/Remove Programs. That is where you can uninstall the unwanted programs from the computer. To uninstall MSN Messenger from your computer, you can go to Start ->Control Pane and then uninstall it from the Add/remove Programs list. However, this can be very time-consuming and may be a little difficult to proceed. That is because even though MSN Messenger has disappeared from the list, you also need to scan your drivers and Windows registry so as to make sure that the program has been fully removed.

And modifying Windows registry can be very risky for once you have mis-deleted some needed files, then it is likely that you may result in total computer corruption. This will cause you a large amount to pay for a computer technician to get back your system.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that if you want to uninstall MSN Messenger thoroughly, it is necessary that you should us an uninstaller programs.

2. Force uninstall MSN Messenger with an uninstaller.

Uninstaller are designed for all PC users to easily uninstall unneeded programs from the computer without difficulties. With an uninstaller in hand, normally you can uninstall programs thoroughly and quickly for it do all steps for you,

Of all the uninstallers I have used, I found that one called Perfect Uninstaller is very powerful in uninstalling all unneeded programs easily and safely. The Perfect Uninstaller will:

1.Uninstall MSN Messenger completely from Program files

2. Fully scan your drivers and registry to find out related entries,

3. Thoroughly uninstall MSN Messenger from the computer without nothing leaving down.

So, to force uninstall MSN Messenger thoroughly from your computer, it is advised that you can try this perfect uninstaller. Hence, there is no need for you to waste lots of precious time and money in removing this unneeded program.

OK, this one is depressing to me. It’s one thing to pull a list of words out of blogs using an algorithm. It’s another thing to become an agent of a government and censor an entire blogger’s work. Yes, I know the consequences. Yes, there are thousands of jobs at stake. Billions of dollars. But, the behavior of my company in this instance is not right.

Rebecca MacKinnon has the details in a post titled Microsoft takes down a Chinese blogger.

Why is this so important to me? Well, you ignore the voices of individual people at your peril. And, I’ve been raised by people who taught me the value of standing up for the little guy. My mom grew up in Germany. Her mom stood up to the Nazis (and got a lot of scorn from family and friends for doing so).

I do believe in a slippery slope. If they come after you today, maybe they’ll come after me tomorrow. Gotta stop this kind of stuff while we’re still talking about you.

Oh, and to: Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti I’d like to offer you a guest blog here on my blog. I won’t censor you and you can write whatever you’d like.

Guys over at MSN: sorry, I don’t agree with your being used as a state-run thug.

This whole post has a couple of disclaimers. 1) I am assuming all the facts are as Rebecca has presented them. She’s a former CNN reporter and I trust her a lot, but there might be more to the story than is being told — I’m going to try to find out. 2) These are my own opinions, obviously.

I’m copying this post to Christopher Payne, corporate Vice President over on MSN and will try to get his point of view on this.

Update: someone over on MSN Spaces just wrote me and said he hadn’t heard of this and that he’s raising this up the management chain too. I’ll report more as I hear more. he told me that Steve Liffick is the VP in charge of MSN Spaces and that he reports to Blake Irving. I’ve sent email to both of those guys on this issue.

What is Bipolar Disorder?

What exactly is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness (manic-depression), is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function.

Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide.

But there is good news: bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives. Continue reading about bipolar disorder or manic depression illness (taken from public domain National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). )

This is a video on Understanding bipolar disorder.

• What causes bipolar disorder?
• Signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder - mania and depression.
• Causes and treatment for bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness)

A Japanese study conducted in 2009 also found no evidence linking higher blood vitamin D levels with decreased depressive symptoms.

Vitamin D, Mood & The Brain

In a report entitled, "Vitamin D and the occurrence of depression: causal association or circumstantial evidence?" researchers concluded that based on the body of research to date, high doses of supplemental vitamin D may improve mild depressive symptoms. Yet questions persist regarding the following critical study areas of mood regulation:

• how vitamin D affects monoamine function and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to stress
• whether vitamin D supplementation can improve mood in individuals with moderate-to-severe depression
• whether vitamin D sufficiency is protective against incident depression and recurrence.

Investigators in the report suggest it is "premature to conclude that vitamin D status is related to the occurrence of depression. Additional prospective studies of this relationship are essential."

While the exact relationship between mood disorders, chronic muscle pain and vitamin D deficiency has not be clearly established, evidence suggests that patients with chronic muscle pain, anxiety or depression should at least consider testing their vitamin D levels and supplementing if they are deficient.

Related Reading:

Research Shows Link Between Depression and Serotonin Weak

Anxiety and Depression Linked To Key Brain Cell Growth Factor

Sources:

Armstrong DJ, Meenagh GK, Bickle I, Lee AS, Curran ES, Finch MB, "Vitamin D deficiency is associated with anxiety and depression in fibromyalgia," Clinical Rheumatology,2007 Apr.

An Pan, Ling Lu, Oscar H. Franco, Zhijie Yu, Huaixing Li, Xu Lin. "Association between depressive symptoms and 25-hydroxyvitamin D in middle-aged and elderly Chinese., " Journal of Affective Disorders, 2009.

University of Warwick (2009, March 18). Vitamin D May Not Be The Answer To Feeling SAD. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 3, 2010.

Bertone-Johnson ER, "Vitamin D and the occurrence of depression: causal association or circumstantial evidence?" Nutritional Review, 2009 Aug.