In this article (and video version available below), we discuss holistic mental health treatment for anxiety, stress, and other conditions. Why in the proper context holistic doesn’t mean something far out there or strange but how it can benefit you over time in a number of ways.
According to Gordon (1990) holistic medicine offers insights and techniques which can significantly enlarge and enrich mental health practice. This approach, which recognizes the uniqueness of each patient, the centrality of the therapeutic partnership, and the primacy of self-care, regards the spiritual dimension as a vital enlargement of the biopsychosocial model.
Your recovery from anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia is something in which you should consider within the context of holistic anxiety treatment. I want to break down the components using the above excerpt I began with.
Uniqueness of the whole patient
I came across a quote featured on the website of the Institute of health at the Texas Medical Center. It’s from Thomas Moore:
You see a patient lying on a hospital bed and think all the illness is on the bed. But, if you could crawl into his head you would find concerns about the family, the house, the neighborhood, work, the car, and perhaps even international politics. They are not only a big part of the patient’s experience; they may be at least partly the cause of his sickness.
Why is the above relevant?
Because often those suffering from anxiety have not considered many of the factors in their life. If you did, you would probably discover some factors that can be dealt with to alleviate your anxiety. At times there are factors in your life that are not apparent. A great way to tackle this portion is with the Hidden Emotion Model.
Primacy of self-care
It’s important to be proactive in your approach to panic attacks. This is because being an active director of your own life is not only very empowering but a requirement.
The spiritual dimension as a vital enlargement of the biopsychosocial model…
According to Smith (2002), it is important to consider “the psychosocial dimensions (personal, emotional, family, community) in addition to the biological aspects (diseases) of all patients. By integrating these multiple, interacting components of the subject of our science—the patient—we also become more humanistic”
Whatever spirituality means to you, it is important to integrate it into your holistic anxiety approach.
So how can you accomplish such an holistic anxiety treatment?
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Reference (Holistic Anxiety Treatment)
Moore, T. Care of the Soul in Medicine: Healing Guidance for Patients, Families, and the People Who Care for Them. New York: Hay House, Inc., 2010, p. xix.
Accessible via: http://www.ishtmc.com/content/treating-whole-patient-not-just-illness
Roberts, C. ‘Only connect’: the centrality of doctor–patient relationships in primary care
Family Practice (2004) 21 (3): 232-233.
doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmh302
Accessible via: http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/3/232.full
Smith, R. The Biopsychosocial Revolution
Interviewing and Provider-patient Relationships Becoming Key Issues for Primary Care
J Gen Intern Med. 2002 April; 17(4): 309–310.
doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2002.20210.x.
Accessible via: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495036/