Relationships
Establishing strong interpersonal relationships is one of the essential elements of Delta Gamma membership. Click on the links above to read more about the vital signifance of friends, family and effective relationships in our daily lives.

• Emotional Intelligence, By Director of Expansion Beth Bell Searcy, Epsilon Gamma-Virginia
• Surprise! You're Getting Divorced…Things You Should Know & Do Even When You Are Married,
  By Melodie H. Reguero, C.P.A., Alpha Sigma-California, Los Angeles

Stress Management
First, the bad news: stress is a normal part of life. Now the good news: we can manage stress in our lives. Stress is your body’s response to change. Stressors are objects or actions that cause stress such as noise, fear, pain, strained personal relationships or unrealistic deadlines. Distress is negative stress associated with losing, failing or being overworked. Eustress is positive stress associated with winning and achieving. Stress can break down our immune systems, cause headaches and/or backaches and induce insomnia. Prolonged stress can lead to cardiovascular problems.

To manage the stress in your life, experts offer several strategies:

Stress is a fact of life. The best way to confront this fact is through management.

Depression
Depression affects millions of people each year, two thirds of whom are women. In fact, one in four women will experience depression during her lifetime. Depression is a debilitating but treatable problem that is often associated with low levels of certain brain chemicals. Almost all women are vulnerable to depression regardless of their class, race, religion or education.

Depressive illnesses encompass several conditions: bipolar or manic-depression, dysthymia or major depression. Bipolar disorder is characterized by unstable mood swings from extreme feelings of elation to profound feelings of sadness. Dysthymia, or chronic, low-grade depression, is identified by feelings of sorrow that may last for weeks and recur every few months, but one can still function. Lastly, major depression involves the inability to function in at least one daily activity and feelings of helplessness, loneliness and despair.

You may be clinically depressed if you are suffering from one or more of the following symptoms:

• a persistent sad or empty mood,
• feelings of guilt, worthlessness or helplessness,
• sleep disturbances or eating problems such as loss of appetite,
• difficulty making decisions, remembering or concentrating,
• loss of interest or pleasure in formerly enjoyable activities,
• thoughts of death or suicide,
• excessive crying,
• chronic aches and pains that do not respond to treatment.

If you have been experiencing any of the above symptoms for more than three days, or if they are interfering with your normal life, you need to seek professional help. Depression is most commonly treated with two approaches: psychotherapy and/or antidepressant medications. Both treatments can relieve mild depression; however, a combination of the two is often most effective. It is important to remember; therefore, that depressive illnesses do not go away on their own. If you think you are suffering from a depressive illness, please seek help.

Links:
National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm

MedlinePlus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/depression.html

Article: stalking.doc (a Word document)

This page was last updated on: May 24, 2007

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