The Benefits of Holistic Treatment for Mental Health Conditions
Hi!
Perhaps the most common mental health malady across the entire globe is depression. Just about everybody has experienced depression - some less, some more - across their lifespan. Did you also know that, while we have different languages and cultures, people across all the nations show feelings - especially on their faces - in the same manner?Many people have experienced much more than depression, as there are at least 200 classifications of defined mental health conditions in our diagnostic manuals. Just how does it feel when you’re in the throes of a clinical depression? Does it affect your physical body, your spirit, or just your mood? If you’re paying attention, you’ll find yourself answering “all of the above.” You’re only human! That is why it’s important to have a holistic mental health approach.
This means that you will get support that considers more than just your emotional state. A competent practitioner will also look at your thoughts, physiology, spirituality, corresponding behavior, as well as your emotions. In other words, we look at the entire person. So, the term holistic health doesn’t just apply to conditions of the physical body, it means mental holistic health, too.
What is Holistic Mental Health?
The word holistic can mean many things to many people. In terms of holistic mental health care, we focus on aspects of the entire person, not just feelings, thoughts, and behavior as is done in more conventional approaches. We look at a person’s physical, spiritual, and social health. Did you know that what you eat can also make a huge difference in how you feel, think, and otherwise function in daily life? It’s true! Also, we put the person seeking treatment at the center of their time in treatment, not just their symptoms and diagnoses. While we may use medications, we also use supplements as holistic medicine for mental health, which will support a person’s overall health, and that includes, of course, their mental health. Other types of approaches which will enhance a person’s mental health holistically may include mindfulness practices, like meditation (that’s just one example of many), artistic expression, music expression, hypnotherapy, energetic approaches to building healthy mental health holistically, and even equine therapy, working with horses for the purpose of building self-esteem, for example.
So holistic mental health is when all aspects of a person’s very existence are in good working order!
What is a Holistic Approach to Mental Health?
While I touched upon this topic a little bit in the above section, basically a holistic approach means looking at the whole, not just some of its parts. A human being is so beautifully complex, and certain aspects of our mental health, like our mood, may just be a reflection of many things working together, like a nutritionally poor diet, stress, our genetic makeup, etc. So, you can see it is a very good idea to explore all possible avenues of different elements that can affect our mental health.
If I tell you that what you eat may help alter your moods – make you depressed, angry, sad, or even happy and energetic (depending on what and how you’re eating) – why would you believe me?! But it’s true. There is plenty of science out there including case studies that prove it can be a major factor in making or breaking your sanity. Sometimes people become lazy or maybe they just don’t know how to take care of their mental health holistically. After all, we’re used to going to the conventional doctor and getting a prescription of pills to take even for mental health.
Some people might even think that they don’t need to seek holistic mental health counseling, but that would probably not be in their best interests. Creating a healthy body and a healthy mind sets up the foundation for great mental health but also engaging in counseling speeds up the mental health growth process exponentially. So holistic mental health treatment needs to include many things.
What is a Holistic Approach to Treating Mental Health Issues?
In addition to seeking and partaking in holistic mental health therapy, it is a good idea to have a qualified nutritional professional evaluate your dietary patterns, a qualified person who works in tandem with a holistic mental health therapist. This nutritional professional will also evaluate what supplements may be beneficial to your overall health and wellbeing and will specifically also support your mental health. For example, amino acid therapy, administered by qualified professionals, are a great alternative to mental health medications, as the side effects are minimal, if at all, and they actually repair the neurotransmitters and other elements found in your brain chemistry. They can be invaluable in improving your moods, which disorders are among the most common. Medications cannot do this, although they can provide support. In fact, amino acid therapy is also very valuable overall in holistic approaches to mental health and drug addiction, since when a person is in withdrawal, amino acid therapy can help minimize those symptoms.
Other approaches may include getting acupuncture treatments, massage therapy, engaging in fitness activities, and mindfulness practices, such as yoga or transcendental meditation. In fact, there are many benefits of using a holistic approach to mental health. You will learn new social and overall coping skills that are much healthier, you will be able to relax more, and holistic means are usually less costly than conventional approaches. Consider one of the growing numbers of holistic mental health treatment facilities which have been gaining in popularity over the last years. In fact, for more serious cases of people needing more intensive yet holistic treatment, consider checking into a holistic residential mental health center. Or, if you don’t need residential treatment, any qualified holistic mental health center will do nicely!
Most people may not think about their mental care as holistic, since we usually only think about how we feel. But as explained above, mental holistic health is so much more! A good example of this is when a person comes into a dual diagnosis treatment facility for drug addiction. While the staff must first see that this person gets off the drugs safely, medical attention is often called for during the detoxification phase. Just about everyone who has been using drugs for some time has suffered damage to their physical bodies due to the deleterious effects of the drugs. So, while they are detoxing, they may need amino acid therapy to minimize the withdrawal symptoms while it repairs their biochemical processes in the brain and improves moods, thus making it easier to work on mental health issues. These individuals also need to get counseling, usually both individual and group, and since their health has been so compromised, a good nutritional program should be put in place to help speed up recovery and form the foundation for healthy, holistic mental health.
Holistic mental health coaching is also becoming increasingly available. Sometimes they are called health and wellness coaches. It is similar to holistic therapy for mental health, but sometimes they differ in that coaches really focus on getting their clients to take initiative in their own healing and future. Of course, counselors and other therapists also do this, but coaches tend to ask more powerful questions than suggesting that a client do certain things. Also, counseling may focus more on a person’s past and dealing with emotional pain, while coaches focus more on the present, identifying and setting goals, and strategies to do this. (A counselor may also do this as part of the approach.)
As we all know, there is more to good health than that. So, we also look at mindfulness practices to determine what will work best for a client. That would be where yoga or meditation comes in. Perhaps for some it could be a nice, soothing bubble bath, or reading a good book, away from the stressors in daily life! Some holistic mental health facilities even offer a farm-to-table approach as holistic healing for mental health, as growing one’s own food, harvesting it, cooking it, and then enjoying eating it is very healing. It forms a strong bond with nature and helps create a type of mindfulness.
In fact, mindfulness is often defined as a state of being conscious or aware of something in the moment. You focus your attention on the present second in time, you can acknowledge what you are feeling, accept it – without recrimination or self-recrimination – and this helps you be able to move forward. So often daily life goes by so quickly that we are either reflecting on our past or thinking about the future. Have you ever been driving home from a day’s work, thinking about how tired you are, yet you have to go home, greet your kids, see that they do their homework, get them bathed, cook for them, etc.? Many of us have gone through this. Or perhaps you are ruminating on some theme or issue at your job. While these things are good and even necessary, if we do this to the exclusion of being able to be present in the moment, savoring life, this can and often does have a negative outcome.
How Can You Attain Holistic Health in Mental Health?
Actually, it can be pretty easy to do, if you’re ready to make some serious lifestyle changes, or it can be easier said than done! It’s getting to that right state of mind first that will propel you forward and make it easier. However, you don’t need to wait for that state of mind. You can do something I call “mind over matter” – which means that you know you need to make some significant changes and it might be a matter of life or death, but in your heart and soul, you’re not quite there yet. Mind over matter means that you use sheer self-discipline to incorporate healthy changes on a daily basis, and it might seem like it goes against your will. Think about whether you’re a smoker, and you know you need to quit because your health is seriously compromised. But the desire to continue smoking is so strong, that you make an attempt and fall right back into that bad habit. Mind over matter gives you discipline to keep your actions going in the right direction, even when everything else in you is screaming for the behavior that is making you sick.
Think about it this way – everything healthy you do for your physical body, your spirituality or mindfulness beliefs and practices, your social life, etc. – contributes meaningfully to your mental health. A holistic state of health means you have a holistic state of mental health as well.
Here are a few suggestions to get a start on your own.
• Make sure you spend time with other human beings (and pets too). Did you know that the human body has hundreds of thousands of receptors for physical touching? We were created to be with each other!
• Keep your physical body moving – it can help get you up out of a bad mood and enhances all your functions which are necessary even for good mental health.
• Start working on your diet in terms of minimizing all processed foods, especially sugars and white flour products, and start including more healthful foods like fresh produce, quality proteins, etc.
• Self-care is something that enhances mindfulness. So, take good care of yourself. Take a few minutes each day just for yourself and do something that is pleasing and relaxing to you.
• Spend some time in the sunshine. Second to that is to take some supplemental Vitamin D. Your mind and body really need this!
How to Find a Holistic Mental Health Counselor.
As I previously noted, health and wellness coaches may seem to support holistic mental health, and experiences with them can be very rewarding and healing. Holistic mental health counselors are out there, so doing an online search for those in your area may bring multiple choices. The organization called GoodTherapy can also help you find a good therapist. And remember that there is a great deal of tele-therapy going on today so you can basically work with anyone that is not in your local area using confidential virtual sessions.
You might also express your desire to a counselor who is included in your health care plan that you’d like to include other types of approaches into your healing experience besides doing talk therapy, and they may be able to recommend other types of practitioners in your area.
Most holistic health counselors hold licenses in the delivery of mental health services, so they have completed a great deal of education and have even done interning in the process of earning their licensures. Holistic practitioners may also have training in other types of approaches, like massage therapy, nutrition, acupuncture, etc. SO, ASK QUESTIONS!!! There are many schools that teach people to become holistic mental health counselors, so you might also contact them for referrals.
What is Holistic Mental Health Care?
As stated above, holistic mental health care puts the person at the center of treatment, not symptoms. It takes a whole body approach which encompasses thoughts, feelings, behavior, the physical body, soul, and spirituality (which is different for each person). So, a holistic practitioner will look not only at your diagnosis and symptoms, but everything else at the same time.
People are different. We have our own unique genetic makeup and our own unique interpretations of experiences we make during our lifetimes. That’s why holistic mental health care is so important. There is no one, prescribed method of treatment that will work for everyone. Instead, it’s very important to tailor treatment modalities so that a person will receive what they, as individuals, need at this point in their life. One good example is that of a young girl who was from a country and culture different from the one she was living in. She had lost her mother at a fairly young age and was inconsolable. Traditional mental health approaches simply weren’t working for her. She was referred to a music therapist, who researched how people from her home country and culture grieved. This rather talented music therapist learned the music used in grieving ceremonies in her homeland and was able to help the girl when conventional approaches failed.
Why We Should Use Holistic Health to Treat Mental Illness.
It’s simple. Holistic health works at least as well as conventional approaches and can also be interwoven into conventional treatment. Holistic health approaches flex with an individual’s whole life needs at a given time. Human beings are constantly growing and evolving over time, so any approach needs to accommodate this growth. What might work well at age 25 would likely not work quite as well at age 50! While all approaches can flex and bend, in my opinion – holistic health does it best!
Remember – knowledge is power so take charge of your health!
And, as always, please have a happy, holistically healthy day.
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