It is our negative thinking/negative thought patterns that cause a huge amount of stress and drain one's vital life force (energy) -- Negative thoughts creative negative emotions and feelings. One of the best ways to get rid of such negative, draining thoughts and consequent feelings is by replacing them with positive ones. Here is a really good list of 20 positive thoughts (also called affirmations) to replace negative thought patterns. Quite often negative thought patterns are rooted in low feelings about oneself, negative self-worth, hopelessness, lack of focus or direction.
We may not even be aware of how much we are doing this self sabotage to ourselves. For those who are spiritually inclined, combining affirmations with scriptural and inspirational references may be even more potent. Another one of my favorite positive affirmations is, "Every day in every way, I get better and better." This was given by the famous French psychologist Emile Coue sometimes considered the father of auto suggestion. He was highly successful healing all kinds of physical and emotional maladies through only the use of the mind.
I am beautiful (or handsome) inside and out
I am worth it
I am worthy of _____
I am proud of my accomplishments
I am intelligent, caring, and dependable
I am loved
I am successful
I am talented
I am my best self
I am strong
I am the master of my own destiny
I am capable of overcoming my fears
I am thankful for _____
I have the right to speak my mind
I love who I am
I love my _____
I can achieve any goal I set my mind to
I accept myself for who I am
I choose to live my life to the fullest
I deserve to be happy
Source - Be Positive: Twenty Positive Mantras for Positivity
http://www.themindfulword.org/2015/positive-personal-mantras-for-positivity/
Showing posts with label Holistic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holistic. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Thursday, June 23, 2011
New Perspectives On Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a hot topic; and, my personal experience is that many are intrigued -- those who do not know much about it are attracted, and need to know more. They are captivated by the fascinating subject that has made a trans-continental journey to the Western world from the Far East. Yet, I have also found there is quite a bit of confusion about what mindfulness is. And, there seems to be a lack of agreement about its meaning, with unclear, and perhaps even many erroneous views (at least in this author's humble viewpoint).
Sufficient reasons exist for both the interest and confusion; and, the spawning of a healthy debate on mindfulness is ultimately a positive thing. Mindfulness is a monumentally vast subject, it concerns the mind and consciousness, which are not study topics for the timid or faint of heart. Mindfulness practice (including meditation) is thousands of years old, with a massive amount of history, study, and practice accruing during that time. The English word mindfulness tends to be associated with the Buddhist Vipassana meditation which, again, is thousands of years old and quite extensive and detailed in scope. One brief article such as this one cannot do justice to the magnitude of Buddhist meditative practices and Buddhist spirituality.
The fact remains, nevertheless, that the term mindfulness is also used in a universal way in English. Although Easterners such as Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, and Sufis have made meditation a fundamental part of their lifestyle, people have practiced mindfulness in cultures across the globe throughout history; it is not solely Eastern or Buddhist. There is no monopoly on mindfulness or on being mindful! One does one need to be part of any particular faith, group, or social club to increase mindfulness. Being mindful is an action, a way of being, a state of consciousness, which is fundamentally part of the human condition. Improving attention and happiness, becoming more self-aware and balanced, actualizing greater virtue, attuning to one's inner states, and developing greater awareness of one's own mind, e.g., greater "mindsight," a term coined by neurobiologist Dr. Dan Siegel, are qualities and characteristics that are available to anyone who desires to put mind and spirit to use through applied effort.
A good definition of mindfulness has been provided by premier teacher, Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is highly influential in bringing mindfulness to popularity in the West. Kabat Zinn says that "mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness. It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment's notice to. It is a systematic approach to developing new kinds of control and wisdom in our lives, based on our inner capacities for relaxation, paying attention, awareness, and insight." This has become a commonly accepted definition in the West.
Mindfulness practice typically concerns learning to become attentive to external experience, and becoming aware of one's internal experience through the practice of meditation, and other meditative and contemplative arts such as breathing, sitting, lying, walking, chanting, and so on. It is frequently described by practitioners as becoming the "observer" or witness to one's experiences including thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and sensations, in a non-judgmental way. There is an art to dealing with life's difficulties, similar to navigating a sailboat. In a sense, it is about wisdom and balance -- learning to control the things one is able to control, and conversely letting go of those one cannot. The foundation though is mindfulness, for without awareness and quieting of the mind, one cannot distinguish between what is controllable in life, and what is not.
One fundamental paradox, however, is that the practices serve to bring one to a deeper and richer experience of moment by moment reality, e.g., truth "as it is." Therefore, in a sense, the practices are like training wheels - although the path of practicing mindfulness may never end, eventually one must be able to let go of techniques and learn to dive into the experience of being alive, vital, open and receptive in each moment, which is perhaps the true aim of all mindfulness practice.
It's very possible that the explosion in mindfulness in the West is due, in part, because we are actually coming to an expanded viewpoint of mindfulness. The Buddhists may have had an extensive system of practice historically, but with mindfulness's migration to the West has come some interesting twists in perspective. One main influence is the work of Kabat-Zinn. One of Kabat-Zinn's aims is to distill the powerful benefits of mindfulness practices by removing the associated religious connotations.
I do not believe that Kabat-Zinn is against the practice of Buddhism or Eastern religion, yet his desire is to make available the advantages of mindfulness and meditation - physically, emotionally, and perhaps spiritually as well - to those who are not necessarily Buddhist and may not be open to meditation because of its Buddhist or Eastern roots. Kabat-Zinn recognized that the Buddhist and Yogic texts often referred to meditation as a science, and so he likely considered, why not also treat it as a science, a form of wellness or healthcare treatment in the West? Of course some purists may have trouble with such an approach, but the ultimate results have been difficult to argue with. Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center which has proven excellent to help people manage many types of previously resistant physical, mental, and stress-related conditions. His program is currently used in over 250 hospitals across the country, and countless other wellness and treatment centers.
Many other conventional and holistic health practitioners, researchers and writers are following Kabat-Zinn's lead, taking the ball and running with it, so to speak. They are integrating and creating new approaches to mindfulness. For example, Dr. Ellen Langer at Harvard University has performed research on mindfulness and creativity. Others have also integrated mindfulness in unique ways: mindfulness and psychotherapy, mindfulness and healing, mindful career exploration, mindful parenting, mindful education, mindful communication and relationships, mindful business practices -- we truly are, as the authors of the magazine Shambala Sun have put forth, experiencing a "mindfulness revolution."
Sufficient reasons exist for both the interest and confusion; and, the spawning of a healthy debate on mindfulness is ultimately a positive thing. Mindfulness is a monumentally vast subject, it concerns the mind and consciousness, which are not study topics for the timid or faint of heart. Mindfulness practice (including meditation) is thousands of years old, with a massive amount of history, study, and practice accruing during that time. The English word mindfulness tends to be associated with the Buddhist Vipassana meditation which, again, is thousands of years old and quite extensive and detailed in scope. One brief article such as this one cannot do justice to the magnitude of Buddhist meditative practices and Buddhist spirituality.
The fact remains, nevertheless, that the term mindfulness is also used in a universal way in English. Although Easterners such as Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, and Sufis have made meditation a fundamental part of their lifestyle, people have practiced mindfulness in cultures across the globe throughout history; it is not solely Eastern or Buddhist. There is no monopoly on mindfulness or on being mindful! One does one need to be part of any particular faith, group, or social club to increase mindfulness. Being mindful is an action, a way of being, a state of consciousness, which is fundamentally part of the human condition. Improving attention and happiness, becoming more self-aware and balanced, actualizing greater virtue, attuning to one's inner states, and developing greater awareness of one's own mind, e.g., greater "mindsight," a term coined by neurobiologist Dr. Dan Siegel, are qualities and characteristics that are available to anyone who desires to put mind and spirit to use through applied effort.
A good definition of mindfulness has been provided by premier teacher, Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is highly influential in bringing mindfulness to popularity in the West. Kabat Zinn says that "mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness. It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment's notice to. It is a systematic approach to developing new kinds of control and wisdom in our lives, based on our inner capacities for relaxation, paying attention, awareness, and insight." This has become a commonly accepted definition in the West.
Mindfulness practice typically concerns learning to become attentive to external experience, and becoming aware of one's internal experience through the practice of meditation, and other meditative and contemplative arts such as breathing, sitting, lying, walking, chanting, and so on. It is frequently described by practitioners as becoming the "observer" or witness to one's experiences including thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and sensations, in a non-judgmental way. There is an art to dealing with life's difficulties, similar to navigating a sailboat. In a sense, it is about wisdom and balance -- learning to control the things one is able to control, and conversely letting go of those one cannot. The foundation though is mindfulness, for without awareness and quieting of the mind, one cannot distinguish between what is controllable in life, and what is not.
One fundamental paradox, however, is that the practices serve to bring one to a deeper and richer experience of moment by moment reality, e.g., truth "as it is." Therefore, in a sense, the practices are like training wheels - although the path of practicing mindfulness may never end, eventually one must be able to let go of techniques and learn to dive into the experience of being alive, vital, open and receptive in each moment, which is perhaps the true aim of all mindfulness practice.
It's very possible that the explosion in mindfulness in the West is due, in part, because we are actually coming to an expanded viewpoint of mindfulness. The Buddhists may have had an extensive system of practice historically, but with mindfulness's migration to the West has come some interesting twists in perspective. One main influence is the work of Kabat-Zinn. One of Kabat-Zinn's aims is to distill the powerful benefits of mindfulness practices by removing the associated religious connotations.
I do not believe that Kabat-Zinn is against the practice of Buddhism or Eastern religion, yet his desire is to make available the advantages of mindfulness and meditation - physically, emotionally, and perhaps spiritually as well - to those who are not necessarily Buddhist and may not be open to meditation because of its Buddhist or Eastern roots. Kabat-Zinn recognized that the Buddhist and Yogic texts often referred to meditation as a science, and so he likely considered, why not also treat it as a science, a form of wellness or healthcare treatment in the West? Of course some purists may have trouble with such an approach, but the ultimate results have been difficult to argue with. Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center which has proven excellent to help people manage many types of previously resistant physical, mental, and stress-related conditions. His program is currently used in over 250 hospitals across the country, and countless other wellness and treatment centers.
Many other conventional and holistic health practitioners, researchers and writers are following Kabat-Zinn's lead, taking the ball and running with it, so to speak. They are integrating and creating new approaches to mindfulness. For example, Dr. Ellen Langer at Harvard University has performed research on mindfulness and creativity. Others have also integrated mindfulness in unique ways: mindfulness and psychotherapy, mindfulness and healing, mindful career exploration, mindful parenting, mindful education, mindful communication and relationships, mindful business practices -- we truly are, as the authors of the magazine Shambala Sun have put forth, experiencing a "mindfulness revolution."
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Mind and Health
Do optimism and positivity truly influence physiological health and well-being? Assuming they do, could we therefore actually change our mental state - our levels of optimism, hope, and positivity to create better physiological health and well-being? If so, to what degree and how would we do it?
Research findings seem to show pretty clearly that when people feel helpless and as though they cannot change their circumstances, they tend to suppress their own immune systems (Locke, 1997). A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Cohen et al.(1991) confirmed that stress and helplessness inhibit the body’s ability to fight illness and disease. Approximately 400 participants were given questionnaires designed to measure negative outlook, emotions, and helplessness; the results show that an average of 2 to 1 people with negative psychological assessment, when exposed to the common cold virus, came down with the cold symptoms. These findings have been replicated with consistency.
One of the first scientific studies to show the connection between psychology and immune function occurred, in a sense, inadvertently by Dr. Robert Ader at the University of Rochester in the 1970’s. Dr. Ader and colleagues were researching classical conditioning with lab rats. They fed the rats a mixture of sugar water simultaneously with a drug which suppressed immune function (the drug was called Cytoxan); Cytoxan also caused nausea and taste aversion. Next, the researchers unexpectedly found that when they fed the rats only the sugar water, the rats’ immune systems also became depressed, and some rats even died! The experiments were reproduced over and over with essentially the same results. This was perhaps the first time that science was able to show the mind’s power over immune and endocrine function (Locke, 1997).
The new field of positive psychology is about “positive change.” Positive psychology, in a sense, was developed as a response to a system that had been flawed - the conventional mental health system during the mid part of the 20th century. This has been referred to as the disease model of care - which according to Seligman only provided half the true story of wellness (and maybe less) by focusing solely on treating mental illness and not on mental health. Seligman spent most of his fledgling days in academia studying learned helplessness and hopelessness. That system he was immersed in had been mired in a mindset of stagnation, or, the idea that our level of happiness, our state of mental health was fixed and unchangeable. The main conceptualization had become that when people were diagnosed with mental illness, they were labeled as “broken” and according to the disease model of care it could only be through drugs (and/or complicated and involved psychological analysis) that change was possible (Lampropoulos, 2001), but not very much through self-care practices. However, a humanistic psychologist, researcher and practitioner, Carl Rogers, did much to change this viewpoint by offering what he called a client-centered model.
One of the most simple but significant ways that positive thought affects our health is through the absence of depression and hopelessness. When people are depressed and hopeless, they are pessimistic and therefore often do not take actions to improve their own well-being (Kliff, 2007). For example, one may not utilize wellness and coping skills such as eating right, exercising, and managing or coping with stress effectively. We have lots of scientific information to show that the absence of self-care behaviors impacts physical well-being.
Dean Ornish, for example, was perhaps the first to prove that coronary heart disease (CHD) can not only be slowed or prevented but actually reversed through integrative holistic practices. Ornish’s program combines diet and nutrition, exercise, and learned skills to reduce psychological distress such as hostility, anxiety, and depression, which have been correlated with increased risks for heart disease. It is difficult to determine exactly what percentage each (diet, exercise, psychosocial skills) play in reducing CHD, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that a holistic approach is optimal in order to prevent problems before they occur.
Sometimes the best way to know something is by what it is not, or through its absence. For example, knowing how health is affected in the absence of optimism and positive emotion perhaps tells us about its opposite corollary. Significant research comes from Pennebaker (King et al, 1998), whose first interest in expression, writing, and disclosure came when he was giving polygraph tests for the FBI, and he noticed the dramatic reductions in blood pressure and heart rates and reductions in bodily perspiration. In his research, Pennebaker found that undisclosed trauma of various kinds actually doubles the risk of illness (King et al., 1998).
Some of the important findings Pennebaker has obtained through years and years of research about disclosure are that: 1. Writing about one’s deepest feelings and thoughts connected with personal experiences is most significant. It is not necessarily daily diary keeping that seems to be the most important aspect, but rather it is, “integrating” one’s experiences on a deep level that seems to help the most. (However, Pennebaker isn't saying not to write regularly, because it still probably a good habit to develop) 2. Pennebaker's research seems to show that it is not necessary to share one’s experiences with others, which may be shocking to counselors and therapists. Again, Pennebaker is not putting forth that counseling is not important or helpful, rather I think he is saying that many of the same benefits can also be obtained through self-disclosure.
References
Cohen, S & Tyrrell, D. & Smith, A.P. (1991). Psychological stress and susceptibility to the common cold. The New England Journal of Medicine, 325(9), 606-611.
King, D.J. & Holden, J.M. (Summer, 1998). Disclosure of trauma and psychosomatic health An interview with James W. Pennebaker. Journal of Counseling & Development, 76(3).
Kliff, S. (2007). This is your brain on optimism: New research reveals the biological roots of positive thinking. How a rosy outlook can affect your health. Newsweek. October 24. Retrieved December 23, 2010 from http://www.newsweek.com/2007/10/23/this-is-your-brain-on-optimism.html
Lampropoulos, G. (Jan, 2001). Integrating Psychopathology, positive psychology, and
psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 56(1).
Locke, S. (1997). The healer within: The new medicine of mind and body. Plume Publishing.
Pischke, C.R. & Scherwitz, L. & Weidner, G. & Ornish, D. (September, 2008). Long-term effects of lifestyle changes on well-being and cardiac variables among coronary heart disease patients. Health Psychology, 27(5) 584-592.
Selgman, M.E.P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Research findings seem to show pretty clearly that when people feel helpless and as though they cannot change their circumstances, they tend to suppress their own immune systems (Locke, 1997). A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Cohen et al.(1991) confirmed that stress and helplessness inhibit the body’s ability to fight illness and disease. Approximately 400 participants were given questionnaires designed to measure negative outlook, emotions, and helplessness; the results show that an average of 2 to 1 people with negative psychological assessment, when exposed to the common cold virus, came down with the cold symptoms. These findings have been replicated with consistency.
One of the first scientific studies to show the connection between psychology and immune function occurred, in a sense, inadvertently by Dr. Robert Ader at the University of Rochester in the 1970’s. Dr. Ader and colleagues were researching classical conditioning with lab rats. They fed the rats a mixture of sugar water simultaneously with a drug which suppressed immune function (the drug was called Cytoxan); Cytoxan also caused nausea and taste aversion. Next, the researchers unexpectedly found that when they fed the rats only the sugar water, the rats’ immune systems also became depressed, and some rats even died! The experiments were reproduced over and over with essentially the same results. This was perhaps the first time that science was able to show the mind’s power over immune and endocrine function (Locke, 1997).
The new field of positive psychology is about “positive change.” Positive psychology, in a sense, was developed as a response to a system that had been flawed - the conventional mental health system during the mid part of the 20th century. This has been referred to as the disease model of care - which according to Seligman only provided half the true story of wellness (and maybe less) by focusing solely on treating mental illness and not on mental health. Seligman spent most of his fledgling days in academia studying learned helplessness and hopelessness. That system he was immersed in had been mired in a mindset of stagnation, or, the idea that our level of happiness, our state of mental health was fixed and unchangeable. The main conceptualization had become that when people were diagnosed with mental illness, they were labeled as “broken” and according to the disease model of care it could only be through drugs (and/or complicated and involved psychological analysis) that change was possible (Lampropoulos, 2001), but not very much through self-care practices. However, a humanistic psychologist, researcher and practitioner, Carl Rogers, did much to change this viewpoint by offering what he called a client-centered model.
One of the most simple but significant ways that positive thought affects our health is through the absence of depression and hopelessness. When people are depressed and hopeless, they are pessimistic and therefore often do not take actions to improve their own well-being (Kliff, 2007). For example, one may not utilize wellness and coping skills such as eating right, exercising, and managing or coping with stress effectively. We have lots of scientific information to show that the absence of self-care behaviors impacts physical well-being.
Dean Ornish, for example, was perhaps the first to prove that coronary heart disease (CHD) can not only be slowed or prevented but actually reversed through integrative holistic practices. Ornish’s program combines diet and nutrition, exercise, and learned skills to reduce psychological distress such as hostility, anxiety, and depression, which have been correlated with increased risks for heart disease. It is difficult to determine exactly what percentage each (diet, exercise, psychosocial skills) play in reducing CHD, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that a holistic approach is optimal in order to prevent problems before they occur.
Sometimes the best way to know something is by what it is not, or through its absence. For example, knowing how health is affected in the absence of optimism and positive emotion perhaps tells us about its opposite corollary. Significant research comes from Pennebaker (King et al, 1998), whose first interest in expression, writing, and disclosure came when he was giving polygraph tests for the FBI, and he noticed the dramatic reductions in blood pressure and heart rates and reductions in bodily perspiration. In his research, Pennebaker found that undisclosed trauma of various kinds actually doubles the risk of illness (King et al., 1998).
Some of the important findings Pennebaker has obtained through years and years of research about disclosure are that: 1. Writing about one’s deepest feelings and thoughts connected with personal experiences is most significant. It is not necessarily daily diary keeping that seems to be the most important aspect, but rather it is, “integrating” one’s experiences on a deep level that seems to help the most. (However, Pennebaker isn't saying not to write regularly, because it still probably a good habit to develop) 2. Pennebaker's research seems to show that it is not necessary to share one’s experiences with others, which may be shocking to counselors and therapists. Again, Pennebaker is not putting forth that counseling is not important or helpful, rather I think he is saying that many of the same benefits can also be obtained through self-disclosure.
References
Cohen, S & Tyrrell, D. & Smith, A.P. (1991). Psychological stress and susceptibility to the common cold. The New England Journal of Medicine, 325(9), 606-611.
King, D.J. & Holden, J.M. (Summer, 1998). Disclosure of trauma and psychosomatic health An interview with James W. Pennebaker. Journal of Counseling & Development, 76(3).
Kliff, S. (2007). This is your brain on optimism: New research reveals the biological roots of positive thinking. How a rosy outlook can affect your health. Newsweek. October 24. Retrieved December 23, 2010 from http://www.newsweek.com/2007/10/23/this-is-your-brain-on-optimism.html
Lampropoulos, G. (Jan, 2001). Integrating Psychopathology, positive psychology, and
psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 56(1).
Locke, S. (1997). The healer within: The new medicine of mind and body. Plume Publishing.
Pischke, C.R. & Scherwitz, L. & Weidner, G. & Ornish, D. (September, 2008). Long-term effects of lifestyle changes on well-being and cardiac variables among coronary heart disease patients. Health Psychology, 27(5) 584-592.
Selgman, M.E.P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Friday, September 10, 2010
New Outlook For Mental Health Recovery
At one time a diagnosis of severe mental health (MH) condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or schizoaffective disorder meant that an individual was sentenced to a lifetime with a stigma and an etched-in-stone diagnosis. Negative beliefs persisted in healthcare, and socio-culturally, that recovery was virtually impossible.
However, today we know the possibility exists for full recovery from mental illness with the correct approach and guidance. Sufferers have authentic hope in the form of an integrative mind-body-spirit approach to MH recovery. Stories abound on the Internet and elsewhere of people who are winning battles over mental illness.
What is interesting is research from the World Health Organization (WHO)shows that in developing nations around the world, the rate of recovery from severe mental illness (primarily schizophrenia) is twice as high as in Western developed nations! The results of this research is not happenstance - developing cultures take a less technical and less dehumanizing (e.g., lower reliance upon psychotropic drugs and invasive techniques), yet more organic and socially interconnected approach. Perhaps in the West, we are finally beginning to learn lessons from them!
According to Dan Fisher, Founder of the National Empowerment Center (NEC), a national recovery advocacy organization, significant reasons for this success is that developing nations "[are more] socially oriented, and they instinctively recognize the importance of keeping people connected to the community. We have ceremonies of segregation and isolation, which is really what our labeling and hospitalization process is. They have ceremonies of reintegration and connection." (White, 2005)
So, what are the most significant steps for recovery from mental illness? Well, in 2005 the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) put forth the following elements of a healthy recovery: self-direction, individualized and person-centered approaches, empowerment, holistic views, non-linearity, strengths-based, peer support, respect, responsibility, and hope. (Kiume, n.d.) And a report from the Wellesley Institute, a health policy organization, titled Mental Health "Recovery": Users and Refusers, states the three main components of a solid recovery plan are symptom management, health and nutrition, and faith(Mental Health "Recovery:.., 2009), a mind-body-spirit oriented approach.
Fisher himself is an inspiring model of recovery from mental illness. He completed full recovery from schizophrenia, now runs the NEC, and is a practicing psychiatrist. In his psychiatry work he does not, however, excessively prescribe psychiatric drugs such as clozapine and haloperidal, yet maintains a central tenet that medications are temporary solutions and not the core component of an integrative recovery. Central tools for recovery Fisher relies upon are forms of cognitive therapy for self-help, recognized as quite powerful when utilized properly, among other integrative modalities.
For local information on mental health recovery in the Greater Boston Area, please visit the Metro Suburban Recovery Learning Center website at www.metrosubrlc.org or the Transformation Center at www.transformation-center.org. Additionally, please visit the National Empowerment Center website at www.power2u.org.
References
Kiume, S. (n.d.) What's Involved With Mental Health Recovery? Retrieved 10 September 2010 from PsychCentral's World of Psychology website:
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/05/12/whats-involved-in-mental-health-
recovery/
Mental Health "Recovery" Study Working Group (2009). Mental Health "Recovery"; Users and Refusers, Toronto: Wellesley Institute. Retrieved September 10 2010 from
http://wellesleyinstitute.com/files/Mental_Health%20_Recovery.pdf
White, R. (2005). Empowerment Model of Recovery From Mental Ilness: An Expert
Interview with Daniel B. Fisher, MD, PhD. Medscape Psychiatry and Mental
Health, 10, 1.
However, today we know the possibility exists for full recovery from mental illness with the correct approach and guidance. Sufferers have authentic hope in the form of an integrative mind-body-spirit approach to MH recovery. Stories abound on the Internet and elsewhere of people who are winning battles over mental illness.
What is interesting is research from the World Health Organization (WHO)shows that in developing nations around the world, the rate of recovery from severe mental illness (primarily schizophrenia) is twice as high as in Western developed nations! The results of this research is not happenstance - developing cultures take a less technical and less dehumanizing (e.g., lower reliance upon psychotropic drugs and invasive techniques), yet more organic and socially interconnected approach. Perhaps in the West, we are finally beginning to learn lessons from them!
According to Dan Fisher, Founder of the National Empowerment Center (NEC), a national recovery advocacy organization, significant reasons for this success is that developing nations "[are more] socially oriented, and they instinctively recognize the importance of keeping people connected to the community. We have ceremonies of segregation and isolation, which is really what our labeling and hospitalization process is. They have ceremonies of reintegration and connection." (White, 2005)
So, what are the most significant steps for recovery from mental illness? Well, in 2005 the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) put forth the following elements of a healthy recovery: self-direction, individualized and person-centered approaches, empowerment, holistic views, non-linearity, strengths-based, peer support, respect, responsibility, and hope. (Kiume, n.d.) And a report from the Wellesley Institute, a health policy organization, titled Mental Health "Recovery": Users and Refusers, states the three main components of a solid recovery plan are symptom management, health and nutrition, and faith(Mental Health "Recovery:.., 2009), a mind-body-spirit oriented approach.
Fisher himself is an inspiring model of recovery from mental illness. He completed full recovery from schizophrenia, now runs the NEC, and is a practicing psychiatrist. In his psychiatry work he does not, however, excessively prescribe psychiatric drugs such as clozapine and haloperidal, yet maintains a central tenet that medications are temporary solutions and not the core component of an integrative recovery. Central tools for recovery Fisher relies upon are forms of cognitive therapy for self-help, recognized as quite powerful when utilized properly, among other integrative modalities.
For local information on mental health recovery in the Greater Boston Area, please visit the Metro Suburban Recovery Learning Center website at www.metrosubrlc.org or the Transformation Center at www.transformation-center.org. Additionally, please visit the National Empowerment Center website at www.power2u.org.
References
Kiume, S. (n.d.) What's Involved With Mental Health Recovery? Retrieved 10 September 2010 from PsychCentral's World of Psychology website:
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/05/12/whats-involved-in-mental-health-
recovery/
Mental Health "Recovery" Study Working Group (2009). Mental Health "Recovery"; Users and Refusers, Toronto: Wellesley Institute. Retrieved September 10 2010 from
http://wellesleyinstitute.com/files/Mental_Health%20_Recovery.pdf
White, R. (2005). Empowerment Model of Recovery From Mental Ilness: An Expert
Interview with Daniel B. Fisher, MD, PhD. Medscape Psychiatry and Mental
Health, 10, 1.
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