Mentalhealthmatters

Still offering counseling sessions. M300 for an hour, I only do house calls for now but if you feel you cannot be free mo u lulang then you can choose a restaurant you are comfortable with relo bua teng. If you don’t like restaurants then a picnic also works.

Ha le ikopanya lele 5 emong le emong a ka ntsha 150 for a group counseling session. I have had the privilege of working with schools like Lesotho China fellowship collegiate, Adventvill, Mabote R.E.C.

My purpose is to illuminate the path of healing and wellness one heart at a time.

You know how every time people always tell us to “Love yourself”? But like low key we wonder what it really means to love ourselves or what loving our selves looks like?

Well Louise Hay made loving myself so much easier by actually outlining ways in which I can love myself. My personal favorite is DON’T SCARE YOURSELF !!! Stop making a big deal out of everythin. It really doesn’t do you any good creating the worst possible scenario in every situation you are in.

You know how when someone says “we need to talk.” You automatically start thinking of the worst possible reason why that person wants to talk so now your whole day is ruined? Yeah I still fall into that trap too sometimes. I have learnt to first acknowledge the scary thoughts instead of resisting them because whatever we resist persists. I ask myself “But what if….” then I find a mental picture that please me and focus on that more. It helps switch the scary thought to something pleasurable.

I hope this helps someone ❤️.

Hello friends and family🌚. Amidst the delicate tapestry of life, I offer a guiding hand through the intricate mazes of the mind. As a psychotherapist, I extend my services to support your mental well-being. Whether you seek the comfort of online counseling from the sanctuary of your home or the personalized touch of house calls, I'm here to walk this therapeutic journey with you. Reach out, and together, we'll paint a brighter canvas for your soul. My life’s purpose is to illuminate the path of healing and wellness one heart at a time.

Hello family, we have been experiencing technical difficulties hence the silence. I am sorry to say that there will be a delay in posting Miss Mahlape Moremoholo’s video on issues of mental health.

Have a blessed Wednesday❤️.

So excited for next week Wednesday because we will have Miss Mahlape Moremoholo as a guest speaker. She is a professional counselor, founder and CEO of khanya consultancy.

Her ultimate goal is to help people improve and maintain their mental health and well being.

Don’t miss out on next week’s episode of as Miss Mahlape debunks some of the myths around issues of mental health.

Of course Wednesdays are no longer ordinary, Wednesdays are mental health checkup days with thickshazzy. Hello family.

Like I said, today we will be looking into the parts of the brain that are affected by drugs of abuse to reinforce addiction. so let’s dive right into that.

ORBITAL FRONTAL CORTEX
This part of the brain sits right above the eye sockets and is responsible for decision making guided by reward. Self monitoring and social responding and integrates sensory and emotional information from the lower limbic structure.

Drugs of abuse affect this part of the brain, when it is affected then you will begin to realize that people living with addiction will use the drugs despite the severe negative impacts. For example, if an addict has to choose between getting to work on time and catching a few drinks before work, they will choose the latter. This is because the part of the brain that is important for gaging what is more important than what has been altered.

ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX
This is the part of the consulate cortex that resembles a collar. It picks up on social cues to correct behavior, helps us view ourselves through the eyes of others.

When affected, an addict finds it difficult to “read the room”. People could be mad at this particular person and they wouldn’t even realise or the person can insult people in the community then assume it’s not a big deal.

INSULAR CORTEX
This part of the brain functions as a cortical hub. It is important for attaching consciousness to the body, awareness, empathy and interception representations.

When this part of the brain goes wrong, you will begin to see a person change from clean to untidy. A person living with addiction can go days without bathing, even if they do bath but it’s difficult to show up clean. You find that a person that was well known for being very neat is now known for wearing racks and having an odor.

With this information I have shared, I believe it’s time we start taking addiction therapy as safety not a moral pandemic.

Good morning family❤️. So excited for another Wednesday where thickshazzy brings to you awakening, healing and thought provoking content on mental health matters.

Today let’s talk about GENES

Genes are functional units of DNA that make up the human genome. They provide the information that directs a body's basic cellular activities. Research on the human genome has shown that, on average, the DNA sequences of any two people are 99.9 percent the same.

However, that 0.1 percent variation is profoundly important—it accounts for three million differences in the nearly three billion base pairs of DNA sequence! These differences contribute to visible variations, like height and hair color, and invisible traits, such as increased risk for or protection from certain diseases such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and addiction.

Genes determine whether one will be a low or high responder to drugs. There is a specific protein called PSD-95: this protein has a relationship with drug addiction. Low levels of this protein mean a high risk of addiction, natural variations in proteins which are encoded by a person’s genes leads to the difference in how vulnerable that person is to drugs.

With this information, I hope we continue to understand that just as a person does not choose to have cancer or diabetes one does not choose to live with addiction.

ASAM defines addiction as a stress induced, genetically, mediated, chronic and relapsing brain disease of reward, memory, motivation and related circuitries that alter motivational hierarchies. This causes addictive behaviors to supplant healthy, self care behaviors.

Next week we will look into parts of the brain that are affected by drugs, which leads to more dependence on the drug.

Good morning family. Yes it’s a Wednesday💃🏾💃🏾.
Today I want us to talk about a repulsive illness that is easily confused with willful badness, yes I want us to talk about addiction. If I said to you right now that addiction is a disease, you’d probably laugh at me yet it really is. Today I want us to take a closer look at addiction to help us debunk some of the myths about it and encourage people to be a little more understanding towards people living with addiction.

Addiction is a disease of volition, it is simply a disorder in the brain’s ability to perceive pleasure. It is a broken pleasure sense caused by early, continuous or even inherited stress. Just as a blind person cannot perceive light or a deaf person cannot perceive sound, an addict cannot perceive pleasure.

There are different reasons that can make an individual become more prone to being an addict. These are not causes of addiction rather factors that determine whether one will become an addict or not. These include genes, reward (dopamine), epigenetics, memory and stress. I will not be going deep into all these factors but I will explain a little about how our reward system is a factor that determines whether one will be an addict or not.

REWARD SYSTEM (dopamine)
Dopamine is the first chemical in a cascade of chemicals that generates rewarding experiences. It is a chemical of survival importance because it reinforces behavior, which means it increases the likelihood of something happening again. For example, if you eat chocolate and dopamine is released then you are more likely to want to eat a chocolate again.

It is important to understand that the reasons we want to eat our meals, have prospering careers, make our parents and friends proud is because each time we do these things our brains release dopamine. This then reinforces these behaviors.

ALL DRUGS OF ABUSE RELEASE DOPAMINE. On a normal day, a human being runs on 50 nano grams per deciliter of dopamine and on a bad day where you don’t feel like waking up or doing your bed or talking to people it’s on 40. On a very good day, say you win the lottery then you might go to 100 nano grams per deciliter. Drugs of abuse cause the brain to release up to a thousand nano grams, making the brain believe that the drug is of survival importance.

The problem is, the brain cannot handle that much dopamine, so it begins to kill some dopamine receptors in the brain. These means the same dose of a drug doesn’t give them the same high any more, they now need more doses of a drug for the same high. Eventually a person depends on the drug just to be on 50 nano grams per deciliter, making the drug a need not a want in the individual’s life.

When a person living with addiction does not take the drug, it means dopamine can decrease all the way to 10 nano grams. This makes the brain believe that the person is dying so the brain increases the intensity of craving so that the person does whatever it takes to get the drug. Without the drug, an addict can actually die.

Next Wednesday we will look into other factors that determine whether a person can be an addict or not. Remember addiction is a disease not moral failing.

Hello family. So excited to be back💃🏾💃🏾. with is back with a bang, bringing you amazing, healing and awakening content.

Wednesdays won’t be ordinary Wednesday again, Wednesdays will be days to take a moment and tend to your mental health.
Let’s do this❤️.