Bullying in the Workplace

We work hard in our jobs and expect to be treated with courtesy for our participation in company teamwork. It is fair to assume that because we spend time in a professional venue that relationships will be fair and that policies support us. But read this:

In 2006, Schat, Frone & Kelloway did a survey and found that 41.4% of respondents to their survey reported experiencing psychological aggression at work. That represents 47 million US workers.

And in August 2010 two studies were conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute to collect data of all American adults about bullying in the workplace. Maybe you were part of this study, if not, the statistics are higher.

 Here is what the study revealed:

• ·         35% of workers have experienced bullying firsthand
• ·         62% of bullies are men
• ·         58% of targets are women
• ·         women bullies target women in 80% of cases
• ·         bullying at work is four times more prevalent than illegal harassment
• ·         same-gender harassment accounts for more than 2/3 (68%) of bullying

In addition 15% stated they witnessed someone being bullied.

Although bullying in the workplace does not fit the standard HUD Discrimination policy, and is not illegal because of the lack of law, bullying is prolific in the workplace and causes an individual great physical distress and the company loss of productivity and  revenue. Bullying is any repeated pattern expressed through words or actions, intended to intimate, offend, degrade, or humiliate a particular person or group.

It is appalling that adults treat each other with such disrespect while we expect that bullying cease in school and other community settings.  Let's show our children by our example that bullying has no place in American society.

Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.” – Laurence Sterne

Until next time,

Jan 

Winter Health

Everywhere I go these days I see people wiping their hands with antiseptic wipes or pumping jars of liquid supposed to keep them bacteria free. Using antibacterial soaps and hand gels are not healthy. I want to share an article I found on this. Please read this below link.

http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2010/10/harmful-handwashing-the-dangers-of-antibacterial-soaps.html

In addition cleaning supplies are made up of chemicals and these chemicals suppress your immune system. Winter is a time when we become more health conscious and want our immune systems to work at their optimal function. Off hand, it might not seem like a problem to use your usual cleaning supplies. After all, you've been using them for years with no seeming health effects. But know that chemicals build up in the fat in your body and accumulate. Over time they seriously contribute to many different health issues. The net is replete with information about this. Take ten minutes and read up on it yourself. Those who have gotten ill from an overexposure to these chemicals are trying to spread the word about the harm they are doing to our bodies, yet consumers buy these products by the millions. Somehow we got a message we need chemical solutions to keep our homes clean and germ-free. We have believed with no basis what companies tell us we need. 

Try white vinegar for your cleaning needs. It is an antimicrobial and antibacterial and studies proved that it is slightly more effective than bleach. It is non-toxic and edible. Isn't that a much for effective way to good health?

Let's be proactive with our health. Use environmentally safe products. Let your immune system strongly support your body's functioning.
Until next time,
Jan

Clean Air? Really?

I read a study this morning that stated Fabreze air fresheners contain 87 toxic chemicals. Do you read the labels when you buy such products? Fabreze states that its contents might be harmful or fatal if inhaled. How ridiculous is that for a product supposed to freshen air? As consumers we have become too gullible in thinking we 'need' all these products. It is not true that these smelly air fresheners really freshen our air. Instead these chemicals can interrupt hormone dysfunction, cause lung problems contributing to asthma, incite headaches, stomachaches, and neurological dysfunctions.

And be informed that the word perfume in any product can have up to 400 toxic chemicals. Think twice about the holiday candles you buy this year too. They also contain the word fragrance. Most of these toxic chemicals are carcinogenic. It is no longer the case that we can buy products, whether it is a food, cleaning, or any other item, and assume that the product is healthy just because it sits on a shelf in a grocery store.

Did you know that toxic ingredients in these fresheners can also cause poor semen quality, hormonal dysfunctions and alter testosterone levels? In fact, these toxic ingredients can harm blood, heart, kidney, brain, nervous system, liver and other parts of the body. This is no light matter. Why else would we need all the pills advertised on TV? There is a good reason why our bodies are not functioning well. Our unwillingness to get educated is making big corporations rich as we get sicker.

Want a good air freshener -- open a window, spray a mixture of half water/half white vinegar, or buy an air filter (one without ozone).

Let's all breathe better for a healthier holiday.
Until next time,
Jan

Shopping Power

Perfumes, candles, air freshners that fill your air with the smell of holidays, skin lotions promising the latest in chemical advances, foods meant to cut your cooking time all harbor toxic chemicals. Check out the ingredients in the products you give as gifts. Make this holiday season one that will promote health for the days to come. The internet is a good place to search out the products you usually give as gifts. Perfumes have up to 800 carcinogenic chemicals in them. Why enjoy the scent now if it has the potential to cause you to suffer from chemotherapy later?

Our bodies are exposed to as many as 80,000 a day. What we put in our air, on our skin, in our stomachs live in us and chemicals do not get eliminated with our food on a daily basis. Chemicals reside in the fat in your muscles and breed all kinds of diseases. Until the Toxic Substance Act of 1976 gets changed, consumers will continue to pay the health care price.

Please, give your loved ones the gift of promising good health. Buy organic. Don't just check online for sales; check online for organic products too.

As consumers the power is in our money. What we don't buy companies will stop selling. Make them aware that you know the chemicals in their products negatively affect our health. Tell them what you want. Until they listen switch to a company that sells healthy products. Healthcare costs are at an all time high and insurance companies are not picking up the bill for everything despite your high premiums. Act now to avoid grief and suffering later.

Have a healthy holiday and all the days to come,
until next time,
Jan

The Truth About Depression

In the early 90's the description of depression changed. No longer was it something that we had control over. Now depression had become clinical depression and the only cure was medication. People started believing they had to accept this horrible and helpless fate. This occurred at the same time that managed care companies started taking over the way clinicians helped individuals get well. There are always too sides of the story and managed care does a lot of good work. Drug companies have made strides in scientific achievements. This statement is not meant to obliterate or do harm where good is being accomplished. When I first started my practice in 1986 not one client was taking, nor was it recommended that they take, medication. In the mid-90's after managed care took over how treatment was handled and the drug companies jumped into action, almost everyone of my clients were either on medication or came into a session asking for it. Many sessions were spent on fear and anxiety over the emerging medication issue.

Symptoms of depression were the same whether it was referred to as depression or clinical depression. The only difference was that my clients had a great deal more anxiety about clinical depression. It made them feel helpless and as if they had an incurable disease for which the only treatment was medication and suffering side effects. There was not one iota of distinction between the two labels. I called several psychiatrists in town, the ones I trusted and sent my clients to when they needed medication, and everyone one of them was blown away by the new philosophy emerging that encouraged medication for depression. Many of the anti-depressants made clients even more depressed, even suicidal, and many took their own lives. I was horrified. I wrote to the AMA but I got no responses. I wrote to the drug companies but, again, got no responses.

Studies have since come out making it clear that walking 20 minutes a day can lift depression as significantly as any drug-- and without side effects. For those taking anti-depressants and swearing by them, this is not a statement that you should stop what works for you. But as a psychotherapist of over 30 years I am clearly remarking on what I have seen in my practice.

Here are some items to consider:

• Grief is often confused with depression. We all need to grieve. It is part of the biological healing process. Allow yourself to feel your feelings, don't get scared, get support. You are meant to feel grief.
• Depression is tightly connected and woven into our beliefs. What are you thinking?
• Actions effect our moods. List your actions taken to feel better. Are you proactive or reactive?

Do one different action and think one different thought each morning. Try to remember this each day: creativity and healthy thinking help us transform out of moods we don't want to feel into a new sense of hope. Our feelings follow our actions and thoughts. This sounds simple but the effort needed is often great. But you can do this! I have seen my clients overcome situations that made them depressed and their depression ceased. Just consider it - then try doing something other than thinking you have to feel depressed, because you don't.

Jan Marquart LCSW

We Are Kidding Ourselves!

Do you really think it is safe to drive, text or talk while holding a cell phone? Here are a few things to consider:

1. Your reaction time is slower when you are trying to read and drive.
2. Your reaction time is slower when you are typing and driving.
3. Your driving ability in traffic is sporadic while having a conversation that is stealing your attention- i.e., your speed is not consistent with the flow of traffic.
4. Your cell phone discharges waves that hit the car frame and shoot back to you -- quite unhealthy.
5. Preoccupation with a conversation on the telephone lessons your ability to recognize that your car is a weapon if it hits someone. Plowing your car into someone can kill them.

Please, please, I've witnessed many near-misses and faulty and dangerous driving this week from those texting and talking while trying to drive in traffic where other lives are at stake and in your hands. Let's just leave the steering wheel in our hands. Drop the phones until you are parked.

Blessings,
Jan

Just When You Think You Know What To Do

Over the last many decades I've been working on my diet, lifestyle, and various choices in order to make my life healthier and organic. Diseases are on the rise and I wanted to make sure I sidestepped any problem with further health issues. I've had a paralyzing stroke-like-event from herbs intended to strengthen my thigh-length hair, serious mold poisoning due to a roof leak in my meticulously clean and remodeled home, chemical poisoning from a new home intended to keep my life mold-free, and this list is not exhaustive.

I have deliberately pursued raising my consciousness. I do not purchased anything with stated toxins or unknown chemicals on labels at the grocery store; I study labels like a student studies for an exam. I stopped eating pork and conventionally grown veggies. I take homeopathy when I can instead of chemically made drugs by pharmaceutical companies that have warning labels longer than the constitution. All in all, I figured I was making good choices. But there are so many hidden chemicals and additives to everything and if I had the means I'd be growing veggies again like I once did in Santa Cruz and eat only what grew of my own plantings. Companies now coat lettuce with plastic so it doesn't rot as quick, even organic lettuce. Give me a break!

I've chosen grass fed beef, the few times I eat beef, or when I eat out because I read grass fed meat was the safest. Well, that's not true. Having been an adamant avoider of GMO products you might be able to imagine my horror at what I'm going to tell you now. (And, by the way, I've come to find out, chickens (that means their eggs too) are fed with GMO corn.)

The other night I heard that a rancher in Texas let his cows out of the barn to eat the grass in his field. Shortly thereafter he heard his cows screaming and watched them as they fell to the ground where most died. Why? GMO bermuda grass. GMO grass! Please don't think any food that is GMO is a great scientific breakthrough. Why did the cows die from GMO grass -- because it turned into cyanide. I'm all for science, some of my best friends are scientists as the disclaimer is usually stated, but messing with food and thinking science is above nature is nothing short of insanity.

Now here's the rub for you busy Facebook, Twitter, and whatever app you are addicted to, users, only YOU have the power to change this. How? Stop spending your hard worked for money on products that slowly over time poison our cells, creates cancer, and other diseases. Big companies are running rampant with our complacency. I have never considered myself a political woman. I have run as fast as I could from anyone approaching me with a cause and as you might know, the 70's was full of causes.

So the next time you bite into your hamburger, watch out for GMO hidden dangers, pink slime, antibiotics your own body wasn't sick enough to be prescribed, hormones, and what all else, I don't know. Oprah got sued because she stated on TV she didn't want to eat beef anymore. But you don't get sued if you spend money on only those products designed to increase good health, not take if from you. After all, I didn't see any big company step up to the plate to pay my hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical bills. Will you? This isn't paranoia; it's good sense.

Until next time,
increase your awareness and be well,
Jan