Are You a Type D?

Are You a Type D?

The Dangers of Chronic Distress

Are you worried, irritable and socially inhibited?

A simple test may help predict the health effects.

BY MICHAEL CRAIG MILLER, M.D. YEARS AGO, WHEN THE psychologistJohan Denollet was first working with cardiac patients at a university hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, he noticed a paradox. Some heart-attack survivors remained cheerful and optimistic, even though they had suffered extensive cardiac damage. They joined eagerly in rehabilitation programs and adhered to them. Others, though, grew discouraged. They tended to resist rehab, even after milder heart arracks, and spent most of their energy complaining. Denollet, began to suspect that there was something fundamentally different about these two groups of patients. So he set out to find a way of measuring it. The tool he developed–a simple, 14-question personality test known as the DS14 –is now opening a new frontier in cardiology.

The test, defines overall distress in terms of two emotional states:“negative affectivity”(worry, irritability, gloom) and“social inhibition” (reticence and a lack of self -assurance). High distress scores are strongly associated with both hypertension and coronary heart disease. And among people who already have heart conditions, those with the highest distress scores – the so-calledType D personalities– are less responsive to treatment and have a poorer quality of life. They are also more likely to die prematurely.

Denollet’s DS14 isn’t the first attempt to link personality to medical risk. During the 1960s and ‘70s, psychologists devised a short alphabet to describe the different tendencies.Type A’s – the perfectionists and strives who worked weekends– were deemed to be the most likely candidates for heart disease. Relaxed, non-competitiveType B’s were supposed to be the models of health. AndType C’s– outwardly pleasant people who avoid conflict by suppressing their feelings– were said to be cancer-prone.

How strongly could your distress score affect your health? The study found that Type D patients were more than four times as likely as others to experience heart attack or death within six to nine mouths of the procedure.

The DS14 is looking more and more like a parlor game worth playing. But don’t panic if you score at the high end of the scale.Type D personality itself is not a mental illness. It is a collection of normal human traits. And as Denollet is quick to point out, “there are many Type D individuals who are living healthy lives and functioning quite well.” A good marriage can be an antidote to social inhibition, especially if your partner’s ease with people compensates for your own discomfort. And even the most distress – prone person can learn through psychotherapy to cope with stress and beat back anxious thoughts. Many Type D people have trouble seeking help – by definition; they’re ill at ease and afraid to open up to others – but physicians. Family members and friends can help them over those hurdles. And the test itself can help Type D people own up to their fears and frustrations, since it doesn’t require any embarrassing social interaction.

EVEN IF YOU NEVER FULLYconquer your distress; you can take practical steps to make it less toxic to your health. Daily exercise and a wholesome diet will reduce almost anyone’s risk of a heart arrack. And lifestyle changes that protect your heart can improve your emotional state as well. In a 2001 study, Denollet found that comprehensive cardiac-rehab programs had the effect of boosting people’s moods as well as their survival rates, making their lives both richer and longer.

Test

The social and emotional problems associated with Type D personality can increase your chances of developing heart disease. Read each statement and circle the appropriate number to indicate your answer. There are no rights or wrong answers: your own impression is the only thing that matters.

Circle your answers:

	False	Less False	Neutral	Less True	True
1. I make contact easily when I meet people	4	3	2	1	0
2. I often make a fuss about unimportant things	0	1	2	3	4
3. I often talk to strangers	4	3	2	1	0
4. I often feel unhappy	0	1	2	3	4
5. I am often irritated	0	1	2	3	4
6. I often feel inhibited in social interactions	0	1	2	3	4
7. I take a gloomy view of things	0	1	2	3	4
8. I find it hard to start a conversation	0	1	2	3	4
9. I am often in a bad mood	0	1	2	3	4
10. I am a closed kind of person	0	1	2	3	4
11- I would rather keep people at a distance	0	1	2	3	4
12. I often find myself worrying about something	0	1	2	3	4
13. I am often down in the dumps	0	1	2	3	4
14. When socializing, I don’t find the right things to talk about	0	1	2	3	4

ADD YOUR ANSWERS

Negative Affectivity:Add scores for questions 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12 and 13

Social Inhibition:

Add scores for questions 1, 3, 6, 8, 19, 11 and 14

SCORE THE RESULTS

You qualify as a Type D personality if your Negative Affectivity is 10 or higher and your Social Inhibition is 10 or higher.

Source: Newsweek Magazine

How to make your wife happy!!

How to make your wife happy!!

1. Beautiful Reception * After returning from work, school, travel, or whatever has separated you: begin with a good greeting…Hello or

* Start with Assalamau ‘Aliaykum and a smile. salam is a Sunnah and a du’aa for her as well.

* Shake her hand and leave bad news for later!

2. Sweet Speech and Enchanting Invitations

* Choose words that are positive and avoid negative ones.

* Give her your attention when you speak of she speaks.

* Speak with clarity and repeat words if necessary until she understands.

* Call her with the nice names that she likes, e.g. my sweet-heart,

honey, saaliha, etc.

3. Friendliness and Recreation

* Spend time talking together.

* Spread to her goods news.

* Remember your good memories together.

4. Games and Distractions

* Joking around & having a sense of humor.

* Playing and competing with each other in sports or whatever.

* Taking her to watch permissible (halal) types of entertainment.

* Avoiding prohibited (haram) things in your choices of entertainment.

5. Assistance in the Household

* Doing what you as an individual can/like to do that helps out,

especially if she is sick or tired.

* The most important thing is making it obvious that he appreciates her

hard work.

 

6. Consultation (Shurah)* Specifically in family matters.

* Giving her the feeling that her opinion is important to you.

* Studying her opinion carefully.

* Be willing to change an opinion for hers if it is better.

* Thanking her for helping him with her opinions.

 

7. Visiting Others* Choosing well raised people to build relations with. There is a great

reward in visiting relatives and pious people. (Not in wasting time

while visiting!)

* Pay attention to ensure Islamic manners during visits.

* Not forcing her to visit whom she does not feel comfortable with.

8. Conduct during travel

* Offer a warm farewell and good advice.

* Ask her to pray for him.

* Ask pious relatives and friends to take care of the family in your

absence.

* Give her enough money for what she might need.

* Try to stay in touch with her whether by phone, e-mail, letters, etc..

* Return as soon as possible.

* Bring her a gift!

* Avoid returning at an unexpected time or at night.

* Take her with you if possible.

9. Financial Support

* The husband needs to be generous within his financial capabilities. He

should not be a miser with his money (nor wasteful).

* He gets rewards for all what he spends on her sustenance even for a

small piece of bread that he feeds her by his hand (hadeith).

* He is strongly encouraged to give to her before she asks him.

10. Aiding in the Obedience to Allah

* Teach her what you know of the Qur’an and its tafseer.

* Teach her “Dhikr” (ways to remember Allah by the example of the

Prophet) in the morning and evening.

* Encourage her to spend money for the sake of Allah such as in a charity

sale.

* Take her to Hajj and Umrah when you can afford to do so.

11. Showing Respect for her Family and Friends

* Take her to visit her family and relatives, especially her parents.

* Invite them to visit her and welcome them.

* Give them presents on special occasions.

* Help them when needed with money, effort, etc..

* Keep good relations with her family after her death if she dies first.

Also in this case the husband is encouraged to follow the Sunnah

and keep giving what she used to give in her life to her friends and

family.

12. (Islamic) Training & Admonition

This includes

* The basics of Islam

* Her duties and rights

* Reading and writing

* Encouraging her to attend lessons and halaqahs

* Islamic rules (ahkam) related to women

* Buying Islamic books and tapes for the home library

13. Pardoning and Appropriate Censure

* Accounting her only for larger mistakes.

* Forgive mistakes done to him but account her for mistakes done in

Allah’s rights, e.g. delaying prayers, etc..

* Remember all the good she does whenever she makes a mistake.

* Remember that all humans err so try to find excuses for her such as

maybe she is tired, sad, having her monthly cycle or that her

commitment to Islam is growing.

* Avoid attacking her for the bad cooking of the food as the Prophet PBUH

never blamed any of his wives for this. If he likes the food, he eats

and if he doesn’t then he does not eat and does not comment.

* Before declaring her to be in error, try other indirect approaches that

are more subtle than direct accusations

* Escape from using insults and words that may hurt her feelings.

* When it becomes necessary to discuss a problem wait until you have

privacy from others.

* Waiting until the anger has subsided a bit can help to keep a control

on your words.

it is part ONE of a summary of the book “How to make your wife

Happy” by Sheikh Mohammed Abdelhaleem Hamed.

Flowers are raining outside the Eidgah ,Sikh community welcomes the Muslims

The flowers are raining outside the Eidgah. The beauty of this picture lies in the fact that Sikh boys are welcoming the Muslims coming out of Eidgah after offering the Namaz, with flowers.
The Sikh community welcomes the Muslims after Namaz in Bhopal, as a goodwill gesture. For decades the office-bearers of local Sikh organisations have been greeting Muslims ‘Eid Mubarak’ in this manner.Naturally, such a gesture overwhelms the other community. Reaching out to the other community is the need of the hour. We must celebrate the festivals of the other community and spread the message of harmony.

Such photographs are rare as people are getting narrow-minded and don’t prefer interacting with other communities and groups. Working relationships are okay but family ties are not as strong as they used to be in the past.
Here there is no political platform but the ordinary Sikhs meeting ordinary Muslims. And this is the spirit of Hindustaniat. Kudos to the Sikh organisations who take this extra step towards reaching to the other community. This photo has a lesson for everybody among us to learn. Will we?

Taken From

All About Navratri, Dusshera Durga Puja & Ramlila

Every year during the lunar month of Ashwin or Kartik (September-October), Hindus observe ten days of ceremonies, rituals, fasts and feasts in honour of the supreme mother goddess. It begins with the fast of “Navaratri”, and ends with the festivities of “Dusshera” and “Vijayadashami.”

A Universal Festival

All Hindus celebrate this festival at the same time in different ways in different parts of India as well as abroad.

In the northern part of the country, the first nine days of this festival, called Navaratri, is commonly observed as a time for rigorous fast, followed by celebrations on the tenth day. In western India, throughout the nine days, both men and women participate in a special kind of dance around an object of worship. In the south, Dusshera or the tenth day is celebrated with a lot of fanfare. In the east, people go crazy over Durga Puja, from the seventh till the tenth day of this annual festival.

Although, the universal nature of the festival is often found to transcend regional influences and local culture, the Garba Dance of Gujarat, Ramlila of Varanasi, Dusshera of Mysore, and Durga Puja of Bengal need special mention.

The Garba & Dandia Dance
People in western India, especially in Gujarat, spend the nine nights of Navratri (nav = nine; ratri = night) in song, dance and merriment. Garba is a graceful form of dance, wherein women dressed in exquisitely embroidered choli, ghagra and bandhani dupattas, dance gracefully in circles around a pot containing a lamp. The word “Garba” or “Garbha” means “womb”, and in this context the lamp in the pot, symbolically represent life within a womb. Besides the Garba is the “Dandia” dance, in which men and women participate in pairs with small, decorated bamboo sticks called dandias in their hands. At the end of these dandias are tied tiny bells called ghungroos that make a jingling sound when the sticks hit one another. The dance has a complex rhythm. The dancers begin with a slow tempo, and go into frenzied movements, in such a manner that each person in a circle not only performs a solo dance with his own sticks, but also strikes his partner’s dandias in style!

Dusshera & Ramlila
Dusshera, as the name suggests occurs on the “tenth” day following the Navratri. It is a festival to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, and marks the defeat and death of the demon king Ravana in the epic Ramayana. Huge effigies of Ravana are burnt amidst the bangs and booms of firecrackers.

In northern India, especially in Varanasi, Dusshera overlaps with “Ramlila” or “Rama Drama” – traditional plays in which scenes from the epic saga of the mythical Rama-Ravana strife are enacted by professional troupes.

The Dusshera celebration of Mysore in southern India is a veritable extravaganza! Chamundi, a form of Durga, is the family deity of the Maharaja of Mysore. It’s a wonderful scene to watch the grand procession of elephants, horses and courtiers wending a circuitous way to the hilltop temple of Goddess Chamundi!

Durga Puja
In eastern India, especially in Bengal, the Durga Puja is the principal festival during Navratri. It is celebrated with gaiety and devotion through public ceremonies of “Sarbojanin Puja” or community worship. Huge decorative temporary structures called “pandals” are constructed to house these grand prayer services, followed by mass feeding, and cultural functions. The earthen icons of Goddess Durga, accompanied by those of Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikya, are taken out on the tenth day in a triumphal procession to the nearby river, where they are ceremonially immersed. Bengali ladies give an emotion-charged send-off to Durga amidst ululations and drumbeats. This marks the end of the goddess’ brief visit to the earth. As Durga leaves for Mount Kailash, the abode of her husband Shiva, it’s time for “Bijoya” or Vijayadashami, when people visit each other’s homes, hug each other and exchange sweets.

Are we not HUMANS? Powerless Vasai

Local newspapers in Mumbai write so many articles on other places facing problems of load shedding. Why is the Naigoan-Virar belt in the far western suburbs of Mumbai always ignored? Are we not HUMANS? Daily, there are dozens of photographs splashed of people at their residences and business establishments at places like Mulund, Bhandup, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Dombivili, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, etc. showing them coping up with power cuts for 3-4 hrs? Has anyone from the media bothered to check how people in the Naigoan-Virar belt live here without power for more than 10 hours daily?

Why this BIAS towards people living in Mumbai?

Why the step-motherly treatment to all those people in the above regions who have to live with power cuts daily?

While Mumbai wastes power in all kinds of ways, people face the brunt of power shortage.

The timing of load shedding was increased from 4 hrs to 6 hrs since March, 2007. Now in April, it has gone up to 8-10 hrs with erratic schedules. Hardly does a mother put her child to sleep at night; and again there is a power cut between 11.00 pm to 12.00 am and again between 4.00 am to 6.00 am. Whereas in Mumbai, Page 3 people and the elite party till 5.00 – 6.00 am. Why does the government not curb this power wastage?

There are sick and aged people who are suffering too. If their health deteriorates, will the government take responsibility? What about problems being faced by pregnant women and small children? School and college kids cannot enjoy their summer vacations due to the sweltering heat and no power unlike their counterparts in Mumbai?

People have to schedule their time to make use of basic electric appliances at homes and commercial places and on the other hand, there are dozens of film award ceremonies taking place week after week for the same stuff. How much power is being utilized for these award ceremonies? Does anyone care?

Why are we being treated as outcasts? Do people living in Mumbai pay double or triple times the taxes that we pay? We too are part of the population who contribute towards the economic development and progress of Mumbai and the country. Everyday, there is a debate whether Mumbai should be spared from load shedding and getting a respite for another few days or weeks. When crores are being spent on our useless cricketers, why can’t the same amount be spent on generating power for the people? Multinationals pay ridiculous amounts to cricketers and film personalities for endorsements? Do consumers especially the common man care a damn who is endorsing the product and do they actually watch the ad after a second or third time unless it is an exceptional one? Why don’t these companies utilize their monies for the development of the state and city? They will get their returns. Consumers will be more than happy to buy their product or service with without even throwing a glance at these ads.

Why should we pay the same taxes as those people living in Mumbai when we do not get even 1/3rd of the basic facilities like power? After a hard day’s work, we look forward to returning home to some relaxation but we are met with total darkness and complaining faces all over.

We need our tax monies worth or else we need a refund of all the taxes paid so far.

Where is Govinda? Did he ever show interest in the grievances of the people in his constituency? His Bhaagam Bhaag is only for fame and money. Where are the other politicians? Same false promises. Local goons have a nexus with corrupt politicians. All are only interested in filling up their coffers. Politicians and the authorities are only concerned with their being in power, but what about POWER for the common man?

 

‘POWER’ful Politician

‘POWER’less Common Men

Mr. PM, Mr. FM, Mr. CM, MPs, MLA, MLCs – are you all listening? Everyone talks about India progressing, India poised, India going global. Is this progress? Is this globalization? We feel we are going back to the primitive days at the rate we are living here. First, take care of the common man’s needs and then see how you go global.

Our grievances are not published by newspapers because they are not sensational like any celebrity wedding, cold war, murder trial, etc. etc. The never-ending Indian cricket saga gets lots of Print and TV space, but what about the highlighting the grievances of us people?

When a celebrity’s dog is lost, it grabs attention. If an actor or actress falls or faints, it is there in the newspaper. Do we not faint? Do we not fall? Do we not suffer?
WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD.

Mumbai citizens fight for stray dogs and cats and their rights but during the topic of discussions for sharing the load-shedding, these very people do not show any concern for us fellow citizens and go out by saying “Mumbai cannot go without power.”

If the whole of Maharashtra is subjected to load shedding 2 hrs daily, 1 hr – early morning and 1 hr – late evening, we can distribute the load shedding equally and also solve the power shortage to a greater extent.

WE DEMAND EQUAL RIGHTS AND SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS IMMEDIATELY

From the people of Naigaon-Virar region
Thane District