“There is no health without mental health.”
According to NIH (National Institutes of Health), mental illnesses are very common in the US and nearly one in five adults are dealing with some kind of mental issues. So, it’s high time to promote awareness of mental health and the repercussions it can have on the emotional, physical, and mental well-being of kids and grown-ups.
It’s strange to know that only half of the people affected with mental health issues receive treatment, because a lot of people believe that mental health issues are not real health issues.
One of the biggest obstacles to overcome mental health issues is stigma and shame. Too often, those with mental health conditions are seen as abnormal, weak, or damaged.
However, an untreated mental breakdown can contribute to feelings of isolation, loneliness, poor performance at work, and shame.
What Exactly is Mental Illness?
Mental illness is a group of disorders that affect a person’s behavior, thinking ability, and emotions. Mental illnesses affect people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and economic levels. It affects people from all sorts of different backgrounds and walks of life, just like physical illness. Mental illness is treatable, but it is not something that someone will just grow out of.
The most common mental health conditions are:
- Mood Disorder: Mood disorders, like depression and bipolar depression, affect approximately 10% of adults each year. The disorder is characterized by complexities in regulating a person’s mood.
- Anxiety Disorder: Every year, more than 31% of adults struggle with anxiety disorders, like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), panic attacks, specific phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder.
What We Can Do to Help
Even though the general perception of mental disorders has improved in the past decades, the stigma against them is still powerful. This is largely due to a lack of education and media stereotypes. A few people tend to attach negative blemish and stigmas to mental health issues at a far higher rate than other disorders and disabilities, like diabetes, cancer, or heart disease.
The stigma acts as an overwhelming obstacle for people who are struggling with a mental health issue. A wholistic approach can help people to deal with mental illness. Blending wholistic methods into the treatment plan can help to improve the outcome because this method fosters a body-mind connection.
Wholistic Approach To Improve Mental Health
Mental health is a complex issue and can have a huge impact on quality of life. It is necessary to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving mental health. Just like the body, the minds and emotions have physical manifestations. That is why a wholistic approach to mental health integrates the needs of the body, mind, and soul.
A wholistic method is an effective approach for treating mental health issues because it considers a person not as a generic query that needs to be resolved, but as a unique individual who acts and reacts according to the situation, circumstances, environment, and life experiences.
Consider these tips and see how wholistic methods help to deal with mental wellness:
Meditation
Meditation is the best way to calm the body, mind, and soul. It is the process of training the mind to relax, focus, and redirect thoughts. Meditation has a lot of health benefits. The practice of meditation can lead to a relaxed and peaceful state of mind. It is a way to reduce stress and improve concentration. Meditation also promotes beneficial habits such as self-discipline, a positive attitude and viewpoint, healthy sleep patterns, self-awareness, and even enhanced pain tolerance.
So, meditation can be very helpful when you are struggling with your emotions, anger, and anxiety.
Yoga
Yoga is a practice to achieve balance and harmony between the mind, body, and soul to attain inner peace and wellness. The practice of yoga helps in restoring health and brings numerous mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. It is a one-size-fits-all solution for mental stress, anxiety, and tension. Yoga can help to improve the quality of life.
Pilates
It is a form of low-impact exercise. Pilates aims to strengthen the core of the body and improves postural alignment and flexibility which stabilizes the mood by releasing stress and tension and enhances activity levels.
Yoga with Pilates is the best combination for calming your stress. So, the best way to nourish your mind and body is by performing Pilates exercises and if you do yoga also that’s a cherry on the top.
Tai Chi
Tai Chi is a gentle way to fight anxiety and stress. It aims at physical strength conditioning along with flexibility, elasticity, and mental clarity. Tai Chi includes slow movements and deep breathing. It has a lot of emotional and physical benefits like reduced levels of anxiety and depression, improvements in cognition, promotes better sleep, etc.
Qigong
Qigong is an ancient healing technique that involves controlled breathing, meditation, and movement exercises. It is also referred to as qi gong, chi kung, chi gung, or movement meditation. The practice of Qigong is great for people who want a peaceful yet active exercise that connects them to their bodies.
Take Charge of Your Mental Health
A healthy body, mind, and spirit are the best defense against emotional and psychological difficulties. Take care of all three for optimum mental health by practicing wholistic approaches. So, be creative and find the best method that benefits you the most. Also, you can browse through Dr. Nancy’s Body Soul Essentials workshop to learn various wholistic lifestyle approaches.
There is great saying that your body can be nourished by food but your soul nourishes when you are at peace, happy, and joyful. So, in this Mental Health Awareness Month let’s adopt wholistic methods to deal with mental health issues and focus more on real happiness than materialistic.
