Deep listening is a practice that is used for anything from spiritual growth to building better communication pathways within a business or other organisation. Essentially, it is about developing the skills required to pay attention to what is being said without bringing too many of your own thoughts and prejudices into the equation. This means the ability to listen and to go beyond simply hearing the words that are being uttered. Instead, it requires the listener to empathise and relate to what is being said without jumping in with counter-arguments or other proposals. According to advocates of deep listening, the average person will be able to listen but not well enough to do so in a way that does not discriminate their needs from that of the person they are listening to. Deeper listening is often thought to be beneficial because, quite simply, it allows for a deeper understanding of the world.
An umbrella term, dementia is actually made up of a number of conditions, all of which affect the brain. Most of the conditions which are included under dementia – such as vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, for example – impact negatively on the ability to think. Cognitive function, the ability to remember and the ability to control emotions can all worsen over time. It is something that is often associated with old age - although it can affect younger people, too – and is sometimes known as senility when it is diagnosed in geriatrics. In the western world, only around three percent of the population suffers from the condition in the 65 to 74 age group. However, almost half of the people who are over 85 years old can expect to have it in some form or another.
Most of us feel sad or under the weather from time to time, but depression is much more than that. If you're persistently down for weeks or months on end, it could be that you're clinically depressed. Depression is a real illness with both mental and physical symptoms.
There are many different causes of depression. The important thing is to see your GP if you think you may be living with depression. The great news is that once diagnosed, and with the correct treatment and support, you can escape depression and live a happier life.
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