This page can serve as a reference for alternative medicinal approaches to treating common mental health problems. It is important to note that in 1994 Congress changed the way that alternative medicine (particularly supplements, herbs, and extracts) was regulated, creating an explosion in marketing of new products, many with big claims and little to no evidence of their effectiveness. The following are the more mainstream products for each listed problem that the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (US regulating body) has some positive information on. Finally, any use of these should be in consultation with your physician or health care provider and as directed on the product label, and also be sure to check for any warnings about side-effects or other possible resulting conditions.
Mild Depression
St John's Wort (link)
S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine (SAMe; link)
Sleep Problems
Melatonin (link)
Valerian (link)
Anxiety
Valerian (link)
Kava (link)
Acupuncture (link)
Click here (link) for some suggestions on how to understand and navigate the world of complimentary and alternative medicine, and how to find credible information on something you may have heard about.
Mild Depression
St John's Wort (link)
S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine (SAMe; link)
Sleep Problems
Melatonin (link)
Valerian (link)
Anxiety
Valerian (link)
Kava (link)
Acupuncture (link)
Click here (link) for some suggestions on how to understand and navigate the world of complimentary and alternative medicine, and how to find credible information on something you may have heard about.
I made a presentation yesterday on life balance that included an exercise where I had people compare the actual time they spend in various parts of their lives to their life priorities and their satisfaction with them. Most of the people that ever really look at something like this find that they spend a lot of time doing things at the bottom part of their list (e.g. work) and less for the most important things (usually family and friends). Sometimes this happens because we have no other choice, but for a lot of folks there is a choice to be made, but it takes courage.
Learning to set limits with work and other obligations as a way to spend more time with most important people and things is hard. Having the courage to live your priorities means making a decision to do it, learning to say "no", and coping with the possible consequences of this. The payoff should be feeling more satisfied with the people and things on top of your list, but it can come with a price.
Learning to set limits with work and other obligations as a way to spend more time with most important people and things is hard. Having the courage to live your priorities means making a decision to do it, learning to say "no", and coping with the possible consequences of this. The payoff should be feeling more satisfied with the people and things on top of your list, but it can come with a price.
It is a human instinct to hold onto anger, grow resentful, and plot revenge when we have been wronged in some way. It can be an outgrowth or pain, betrayal, or injustice. It is easy to forgive when there is a true recognition by the offender, a heartfelt apology, and some form of retribution equal to the act. Unfortunately this rarely happens for the largest offenses done against us. When we don't have this we can easily get entangled in a swamp of dark feelings and impulses, only moving out when enough time has elapsed to eclipse the events, unless they are big enough that even this does not work. Working on real forgiveness, not just lip-service, is long and treacherous work, especially when some part of us feels like the offender just doesn't deserve it.
It can seem like a paradox, like we are letting someone get away with their horrific acts, but it really only binds us to the pain (and to them) indefinitely, and gives them power they do not deserve to have over us. "Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill the other person." Forgiveness does not mean you will forget what happened, that you are letting someone off the hook, that you accept the nature of the events, that the other person is justified, or that you have to put yourself in a position to be hurt by the person again. It is the opposite of all that.
Gandhi encouraged people to "be the change you want to see in the world." Accepting the weakness and fear, meanness and defensiveness, unconscious actions or inaction, inadvertent mistakes and oversight, or deliberate malice and destruction that people have caused; recognizing that person's humanity and tragic flaws, empathizing with them by connecting to your own, understanding their situation, and forgiving them for how all of these things combined to caused you pain, represents some of the best of what all human beings are capable of.
And if none of this works, isn't possible, or you aren't there yet, just remember that living well is the best revenge.
It can seem like a paradox, like we are letting someone get away with their horrific acts, but it really only binds us to the pain (and to them) indefinitely, and gives them power they do not deserve to have over us. "Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill the other person." Forgiveness does not mean you will forget what happened, that you are letting someone off the hook, that you accept the nature of the events, that the other person is justified, or that you have to put yourself in a position to be hurt by the person again. It is the opposite of all that.
Gandhi encouraged people to "be the change you want to see in the world." Accepting the weakness and fear, meanness and defensiveness, unconscious actions or inaction, inadvertent mistakes and oversight, or deliberate malice and destruction that people have caused; recognizing that person's humanity and tragic flaws, empathizing with them by connecting to your own, understanding their situation, and forgiving them for how all of these things combined to caused you pain, represents some of the best of what all human beings are capable of.
And if none of this works, isn't possible, or you aren't there yet, just remember that living well is the best revenge.
NPR is running an excellent series on the neuroscience of spirituality that is the most comprehensive and understandable thing I've ever seen on the subject. A must listen/read for anyone interested in this at all.
I was in Seattle for the Society for Exploration in Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) conference on Saturday, the highlight being Drew Westen talking about his political consulting with various democratic candidates. If you're ever going to run for office, here are his three principles of effective messaging during campaigns:
1. Tell a coherent story: make sure that whatever the candidate is saying corresponds with how he/she is being branded, that it makes sense, and is experienced by the audience as exactly what you are aiming for.
2. If you don't feel it, don't use it: all messages need to appeal to some kind of emotion, and that feelings associated with a candidate or issue are better predictors of voting behavior than agreement with policies.
3. Know what networks your activating: campaign managers need to create positive associations in the minds of voters for the candidate or issue, and much of this is unconscious. This is basic schema development theory. For example, with Obama, conservatives were trying to attach "Muslim", "not like you", and other implicit negative racial stereotypes to him, whereas Obama's campaign was trying to get people to associate "hope" and "change" with Obama, while attaching McCain to the "failed administration".
1. Tell a coherent story: make sure that whatever the candidate is saying corresponds with how he/she is being branded, that it makes sense, and is experienced by the audience as exactly what you are aiming for.
2. If you don't feel it, don't use it: all messages need to appeal to some kind of emotion, and that feelings associated with a candidate or issue are better predictors of voting behavior than agreement with policies.
3. Know what networks your activating: campaign managers need to create positive associations in the minds of voters for the candidate or issue, and much of this is unconscious. This is basic schema development theory. For example, with Obama, conservatives were trying to attach "Muslim", "not like you", and other implicit negative racial stereotypes to him, whereas Obama's campaign was trying to get people to associate "hope" and "change" with Obama, while attaching McCain to the "failed administration".
A lot of news is being made about the solider that killed 5 people at a counseling center in Iraq, and his son said the shooter "...is not a violent person. He's just a loving, caring guy. He doesn't like to see anyone get hurt." Like a lot of these types of incidents, the people that knew the shooters say similar things.
The reasons for this are that (a) people that are truly anti-social and violent are excellent at deceiving others, and (b) that there are very few people who aren't friendly most of the time, even potential murderers. Research shows that most of us are capable of doing something similar to these things if the circumstances are right, and the cognitive dissonance and denial that results in the family members of the offenders when something uncharacteristically horrifying takes place is what we see in those types of quotes.
It's important for all of us to remember that doing something horrible isn't always done by a "bad person" or a "crazy person", but likely someone generally seen as a "good person" or "sane person" under horrifying psychological circumstances, an opposing political ideology, or an insane situation. Additionally, moving away from seeing any human as "good" or "bad" would be a step closer to reality.
The reasons for this are that (a) people that are truly anti-social and violent are excellent at deceiving others, and (b) that there are very few people who aren't friendly most of the time, even potential murderers. Research shows that most of us are capable of doing something similar to these things if the circumstances are right, and the cognitive dissonance and denial that results in the family members of the offenders when something uncharacteristically horrifying takes place is what we see in those types of quotes.
It's important for all of us to remember that doing something horrible isn't always done by a "bad person" or a "crazy person", but likely someone generally seen as a "good person" or "sane person" under horrifying psychological circumstances, an opposing political ideology, or an insane situation. Additionally, moving away from seeing any human as "good" or "bad" would be a step closer to reality.
Everyone develops ways to defend against stress, anxiety, pain, and feeling overwhelmed, which sometimes prevents us from also experiencing strong positive emotions. When we know what are defensive architecture is made of (denial, repression, projection, rationalization, etc), we can effectively make choices to deactivate it when it would benefit us. If you are heading into an experience that could be really meaningful and filled with warmth, simply try allowing yourself to receive these feelings and the magnitude of the experience. If you start to feel overwhelmed, trust that you can just make a choice to put your defenses back into place and get back to your normal way of being.
My clinical experience (and reading current research) has led me to three controllable things that are the biggest contributors to mental health. No matter what your life is like, if you can master these three things you are on your way to optimal mental health, the rest can be fine tuned.
1. Take care of your physical health
There are now mountains of research showing a link between good mental and physical health. If we are eating properly, sleeping well, and exercising regularly, we are likely to also be at the top of our games mentally, as well as have lower levels of mood, anxiety, attention, health, and stress related problems.
2. Be compassionate (to yourself and others)
Sometimes I wish the golden rule was "treat yourself like you want others to be treated." So many people are routinely critical and abusive to themselves rather than compassionate and kind. Next time you are beating yourself up, try sending the exact same message using compassion and understanding, just like you'd talk to a 6 year old who is hurting, and see how much different it feels.
3. Control Your Impulses
We all have a constant flow of urges and impulses that need to be monitored and controlled. Sometimes these are for good things (pursuing an opportunity to have fun, to avoid pain, etc), other times they can lead to us things that compromise our health (having another beer) or morals (wanting to get revenge, spending more money than you have). Learning to understand these drives and remain in control can prevent all kinds of trouble.
1. Take care of your physical health
There are now mountains of research showing a link between good mental and physical health. If we are eating properly, sleeping well, and exercising regularly, we are likely to also be at the top of our games mentally, as well as have lower levels of mood, anxiety, attention, health, and stress related problems.
2. Be compassionate (to yourself and others)
Sometimes I wish the golden rule was "treat yourself like you want others to be treated." So many people are routinely critical and abusive to themselves rather than compassionate and kind. Next time you are beating yourself up, try sending the exact same message using compassion and understanding, just like you'd talk to a 6 year old who is hurting, and see how much different it feels.
3. Control Your Impulses
We all have a constant flow of urges and impulses that need to be monitored and controlled. Sometimes these are for good things (pursuing an opportunity to have fun, to avoid pain, etc), other times they can lead to us things that compromise our health (having another beer) or morals (wanting to get revenge, spending more money than you have). Learning to understand these drives and remain in control can prevent all kinds of trouble.
PBS Frontline has a great show on the chronically mentally ill and deinstitutionalization (watch below). They follow several people who are in an out of prison and are unable to stay on their medication without constant supervision. It raises great ethical issues on how American culture deals with these folks. I think the best solution is mental health court and more support for long-term treatment options. These would provide adequate care and also reduce crime in the community.
In my experience I have found that a critical determinant between people that successfully reach their goals and those that flounder is the ability to transform desire into action, which is another way to think about motivation. The micro level of this is achieved by consciously connecting our daily activities to a larger goal (I'm writing this paper because I want to be a social worker; I'm doing this boring job because I want to send my child to college). It also needs to go the other way (I want to be a social worker so I will write this paper, I want to send my child to college and in order to do that I need to work this boring job).
Desire/Goal <--- Conscious Connection ---> Action/Tasks
When we live in our fantasies instead of transforming them into action, we are avoiding any chance of failure, but also any chance of success. When we don't connect our activities to our desires and goals we increase our chance of failure and lose motivation.
Desire/Goal <--- Conscious Connection ---> Action/Tasks
When we live in our fantasies instead of transforming them into action, we are avoiding any chance of failure, but also any chance of success. When we don't connect our activities to our desires and goals we increase our chance of failure and lose motivation.