Lifestyle medicine that eschews drugs and focuses on exercise, mindfulness and natural remedies, is gaining favor to treat a wide variety of physical and mental disorders, including trauma.

Among a wide variety of treatments to choose from, these natural healing methods are demonstrating particular success with trauma:

Nutritional Counselling

The gut brain connection, also known as the gut brain axis, has a powerful effect on every body system. Research continues to confirm that the complex set of physiological interactions between the digestive system and brain function affects a range of emotions, from happiness to anxiety.

Nutritional counselling for trauma focuses on repairing the brain’s relationship with food and restoring the microbiota in the gut that regulate mood and healthy digestions.

Yoga

The beauty of yoga is that it helps unify the body and mind with the universe. Yoga is an ancient practice that combines meditation, breathing and movement. There are many different forms of yoga practice, ranging from gentle “flow” type movement to vigorous and challenging practices that require stamina and gradual training.

Countless people have experienced healing from trauma and grief through practicing yoga.

EMDR

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing. It is an evidence-based, non-talk psychotherapy that has been used since the early 1990s to help the brain process painful memories and information. It is used to treat a wide range of issues including PTSD, depression, addictions, anxiety, performance issues, and self-sabotaging behaviors like procrastination and low self-esteem.

During EMDR, the original upsetting, traumatic event is pulled up in the conscious brain while the eyes are stimulated to move from left to right. The therapist may do this by asking a patient to follow his/her finger from left to right, or by holding pulsating tappers in both hands and listening to sounds moving from one ear to the other. This bilateral movement pulls up the unconscious memories of the event.

Sleep Disorder Therapy

Even for people who have not experienced trauma, sleep disorders can cause a host of problems, incuding depression, fatigue and nightmares. Trauma is a common trigger for many sleep disorders, and can put people into a pernicious cycle of traumatic responses made worse by the adverse effects of sleep problems.

For natural healing, behavioral interventions like EMDR and CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) can be beneficial for healing both the underlying trauma and symptoms of sleep disorder like fatigue and depression. Holistic Mental Health offers a wide variety of natural mental health treatments including lifestyle medicine. Please contact us for more information or to schedule a consultation.

Back in 2003, when Sixty Minutes Producer Trevor Nelson passed away, there was still a strong stigma surrounding mental health. In his obituary, his death was noted as being from complications from Meningitis. In a recent New Yorker article on suicide that traced the tragic death of his nephew, Nelson’s death was noted as suicide. Although there is far less of a stigma surrounding mental illness and suicidal ideation than two decades ago, it takes the passing of a celebrity like Naomi Judd to force people to realize that no one is immune from depression and suicide.

Celebrities are Raising Awareness for Mental Illness

People of any age and from any background can suffer from mental illness. Heightened awareness and direct communication are two of the first-line elements of addressing mental health problems, but they are not enough. In the most severe and life-threatening form of mental illness-suicidal ideation—people not only think about killing themselves but also conceptualize a way to do it.

One very positive trend has been that celebrities who struggle with mental health issues have gone public about it in recent years. In the entertainment world, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Chrissy Teigen have spoken publicly about their troubles. High profile athletes like Kevin Love, Ben Simmons and Naomi Osaka have not only described their mental health challenges, but have also stepped away from competition to take care of themselves.

The Right Help Can Make the Difference for Mental Health Problems

Holistic Mental Health is dedicated to providing tailored treatment protocols for a wide array of mental health problems, including all forms of depression and anxiety disorders. We offer both tradition Psychiatric approaches, along with highly effective Ketamine treatments that can be customized for individual patient needs.

If you or a loved one is experience severe depression or suicidal ideation, we urge you to call us to find out how we can help.