Archives for October 2022

How to Deal With Mental Sufferings

October 30, 2022 by Dr. Cesar Vasconcellos de Souza - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

We suffer mentally because of alterations in brain functioning, but a difficult question to answer is: Do mental sufferings arise as a result of brain chemistry imbalances, or does the chemical imbalance occur because of conflicts in the person’s life?

Seems like it’s all together. We can think, because electrical chemical circuits are at work in the brain, and they are active due to the blood circulation that carries nutrients to the brain to function. Therefore, mental health also depends on what we eat and drink. Mental suffering can therefore be connected with physical aspects, such as poor diet, insufficient hydration, sedentary lifestyle, overeating, even on healthy foods, air pollution, among other factors.

In addition, there are psychological factors: interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts that produce sadness, excessive anxiety, exaggerated fears, shame and guilt. As for the social environment, violence and crime, especially in large cities, in addition to stressful traffic, noise and visual pollution contribute to mental stress. Therefore, to deal with mental suffering we need to take care of our physical health with exercise, preferably outdoors, ingesting pure water between meals, breathing pure air, getting plenty of sunlight, preferring a balanced vegetarian diet, getting a good sleep at night, and eliminating what is harmful to health.

It is also necessary to solve or manage emotional problems in relationships, first with oneself, then with family members, at work, at church, with other relatives, avoiding to leave situations pending that need to be resolved. At times it may be necessary to receive professional counseling and undergo psychological treatment. Do what you can to improve your social life. Having friends is important. Helping people unselfishly promotes mental healing. Asking forgiveness, setting limits, being patient, sharing experiences and materially helping the poorest contributes to mental health and relief from suffering.

Helping an elderly man to get out of the car.

Psychiatric and psychological treatment varies not only in terms of the severity of the illness, but also in terms of personality type. There are individuals who are more likely to understand and accept the relationship between their current sufferings and past conflicts, which facilitates treatment. Others, who do not have this ability to think from cause to effect, deny having suffered in the past or diminish the personal impact of what they have suffered in earlier years of life.

When, in a psychological consultation, the professional explains the relationship between the current suffering and the conflicts in the patient’s life, he comes to understand and accept, that a good part of his mental struggles of today are related to the traumas of the past. We call this understanding insight. But is that insight enough to promote emotional healing? Not always. Many, by making the connection between their suffering today with painful phases of the past, can have a good perception of their struggle, but this perception alone may not be enough for healing.

In fact, beyond the insight, beyond the perception of possible causes of current mental suffering, the person needs to decide to act in a different and better way. Perception or insight helps, but what he will do with what he has perceived is the key to healing, and the starting point in learning to manage mental pain.

However, in the same person undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment, there may be a moment of greater perception and a moment of greater difficulty with this. Each one has his time to get a grip about the cause of personal suffering. This is because memories of emotional pain are not pleasant for anyone, and we can escape the thinking about what hurts for a long time, even for years.

So the person who suffers mentally and who still doesn’t understand the causes of his mental problems, needs to be patient with himself and ask God for enlightenment on what He thinks he needs to understand in order to improve. He must ask not only for enlightenment or insight, but also for the strength to take a look at what is the source of his emotional pain, and that is not easy for anyone. On this point of having or not the perception of the causes of emotional pain, Jesus once commented something along these lines:

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
John 16:12

He knew that His followers were not ready to accept certain things about themselves. There are conflicts in our unconscious mind that we are not able to perceive. The Unconscious is the virtual space of our mind where we guard information, images, thoughts and feelings of everything that has happened to us, since we were born, until this moment in life. We do not have access to this information when we want it, but when we are ready to see and understand it. The Bible talks about the unconscious in the book of Psalms:

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
Psalms 19:12

You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
Psalms 90:8

So, recognize that the unconscious exists, and that it has many answers about a person’s mental sufferings.

The treatment of mental illnesses or disorders varies according to the type of illness, and there are different types of treatments for the same illness. For example, depression can be mild, moderate, or severe. When a person suffers from mild depression, psycho-therapeutic treatment alone is enough. No medication is needed. But when the level is moderate to severe, maybe even with suicidal thoughts, the medication is indicated for temporary use, under the supervision of a psychiatrist.

A good part of mental suffering can be improved or resolved without the use of medication. Others need them, such as during the euphoric crisis of bipolar disorder, agitation with delusions and hallucinations in people with schizophrenia, among others. Some people undergoing psychiatric treatment may need medication for a moment, but once they get better they will no longer be needed. Or they can use them as SOS, which means the medication will only be used at the most difficult times, when the symptoms are wanting to come back.

Finally, it is important to consider that spirituality is a very positive factor to help people in their struggles with mental suffering. Several scientific studies have confirmed that faith, attendance at a religious community, the exchange of experiences of spiritual growth in the group, prayer, and for Christians, the study and meditation of the Bible, favor mental health and powerfully assist in emotional recovery.

As human beings, we have struggles not only because of physical problems, such as an organic disease, or family, social, economic and psychological problems, but also of spiritual origin. According to the biblical account, we are spiritually corrupted since birth, which means that we are already born with selfishness, pride, vanity, envy; these problems that we need to resolve using spiritual instruments such as prayer, study and meditation on the Bible, socializing with people in the religious community for spiritual learning, the practice of voluntary charity, among other factors.

Therefore, if you identify with any of the points discussed here, correctly follow the psychological and psychiatric treatment, including family support. But put the search for God, the kind creator of the universe, as number one in your life, praying, meditating on the scriptures – the Bible, helping others who suffer, and participating in a religious community that sincerely seeks the truth. With this, your mental health and well-being can improve much faster.

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Autophagy – A Key to Better Health

October 23, 2022 by Esther Neumann - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

It is happening in every cell of our body, but hardly anyone knows about autophagy. It is an important process to maintain cellular health. In 2016, the Japanese researcher Yoshinori Ohsumi received the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering important links between fasting and autophagy. But already in 1963 the Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve described the processes of autophagy.

The word autophagy comes from the Greek. “Auto” means itself and “phagein” means to eat. It is a process that takes place in the lysosomes within our cells and eliminates and recycles cell components such as broken proteins or other damaged cell organelles – e.g. mitochondria, our power plants in the cells.

Some of the degradation products are recycled or converted into energy. Therefore, autophagy is strongly boosted by fasting. Furthermore, microorganisms, bacteria and viruses that have penetrated the body are also combated by autophagy. It therefore also plays a major role in the immune system, in infections, in the aging process and in the development of tumors. Well-functioning autophagy can help to prevent cancer.

Autophagy no longer works as well as we age. This causes many diseases. Dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and diabetes can be traced back to it. All of this fits well with the observation that people age healthier when they consume less calories. It’s no wonder that autophagy has become a major research topic. Many centenarians on the island of Okinawa state, “We only eat so much that we’re not quite full.”

A well-functioning autophagy is therefore advantageous for the prevention of various diseases. In Parkinson’s specifically, we know that brain cell death is the cause of the disease, and deficient autophagy seems to be a major reason. We’ve talked about cancer prevention before, and there are possibilities that osteoarthritis is also strongly related to autophagy.

Intermittent Fasting

Some researchers in Austria are also significantly involved in autophagy research, especially when it comes to implementation strategies. University Professor Dr. Frank Madeo is supervising a large-scale study at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz. Fasting triggers autophagy, which is rejuvenating, life-prolonging, and regenerative. Even a short-term fast of 16-20 hours triggers this effect.

Cells need time to get rid of their waste or to recycle it. When you eat constantly, you need insulin all the time, and your body is always busy digesting. Insulin inhibits autophagy. Looks like the recommendation to eat five to seven smaller meals throughout the day will soon be a thing of the past. Prof. Madeo says: “Welcome your hunger like a friend and your body will get cleaned up.”

There is no need to fast for a few days in a row to enjoy autophagy. Intermittent or short-term fasting is also sufficient. An interval of 16:8 is sufficient, i.e. eating only twice during an 8 hour block, and then fasting for 16 hours, abstaining from all food, including fruit juices. Water is allowed to drink. Preferrably the dinner is skipped. There is also the method of eating normally for a day and then fasting for a day. A side effect of short-term fasting is that fewer calories are usually ingested, which means that we can shed a few extra pounds.

In fact, long periods of fasting can become a problem in some circumstances. If you fast for several days, your body will begin to break down muscle as soon as all other reserves have been used up. This not only reduces muscle strength, but also slows down metabolism, which has a negative effect on weight control. Intermittent fasting avoids these problems while reaping the full benefits of autophagy.

Pregnant women should avoid long-term fasts, and breastfeeding mothers often experience problems with milk production after just one day of fasting. Children and seniors should also be careful with long-term fasting. Sick or frail persons such as advanced cancer patients not only may lose strength, a lack of protein in the diet for several days can also negatively impact the immune system. Therefore, prolonged fasting should be used with caution, while intermittent fasting is well tolerated in most cases.

Plant Based Diet

There have been found some substances in food that boost autophagy. This includes polyphenols. They are mainly found in the outer layers of vegetables, fruits and grains. They protect the interior of the plants from oxidation, and take on this function in the human body as well.

Spermidine, a substance that the body also produces itself, is found in many types of fruit and vegetables. The connection to the seminal fluid is correct. It is found there in high concentrations. Researchers have found that spermidine boosts autophagy as well.

It proves once again that a plant-based diet has many advantages. Animal protein actually inhibits autophagy.

By the way, exercise will help as well. The cells are put into a nutrient deficiency that increases autophagy. It is smart not to eat anything for a few hours after exercising. Then the effect will be even greater.

Getting Practical

We have already seen that intermittent fasting has a beneficial effect on autophagy. It is best to eat a hearty breakfast and a moderate lunch, then skip dinner and eat nothing until the next morning. During the night, calorie consumption is very low, and eating in the evening quickly adds some extra pounds.

Skipping dinner also has a positive effect on sleep. The stomach is not occupied with digestion and can rest. The lying position with a full stomach can sometimes lead to reflux. And since digestion is slower at night, it can lead to unwanted fermentation processes. The quality of sleep is often affected as well.

How do you make this transition in practical terms? Initially, many have problems going to sleep on an empty stomach. If that’s the case, you can try to do a gradual transition. Either you do this by increasing your nightly fasting time by moving dinner gradually to an earlier time. After a few days, when you’ve managed to get dinner down to 5pm, you can try skipping it altogether.

Another option would be to gradually reduce the amount of food you eat until you can suffice with one piece of fruit in the evening. If necessary, you can switch to fruit juice for a few days until you can manage to skip dinner altogether. Drinking a glass of water or a cup of herbal tea can help to control hunger. Once you get used to the new rhythm, it’s usually not a problem to maintain it.

A man and a woman drinking a cup of tea.

Another variation of intermittent fasting is to fast one full day a week. Ideally, you should only drink water. If you can’t keep it up, you can help yourself out with some fruit. These do not burden the digestion and are not too high in calories. Most of the time they are sufficient to control the feeling of hunger. In addition to the health benefits of autophagy, a weekly fasting day also helps with weight loss, and if needed, you spread out 2 fasting days during the week.

The third variant, which also has positive effects on autophagy, is limiting the calorie intake at every meal. Following the example of Okinawa’s centenarians, you stop eating before you’re full. After eating your first portion, you stop for a moment and examine if it was enough to satisfy your first hunger. If so, put the silverware aside and stop eating. Studies have shown that calorie restriction significantly extends the lifespan of mice. It pays off to take care of your body.

We have seen the benefits autophagy brings to our health. You may need to experiment a bit with the implementation to see what option you manage to adapt the best. Let’s help our body to clean up and recycle its cellular waste, and he will reward us with good health. All the best with the implementation!

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5 Simple Lifestyle Changes for Stress Relief

October 16, 2022 by Martin Neumann - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

Did you know that around 74% of people said in a recent study, that they’ve felt so stressed that they’ve been unable to cope?((Results of the Mental Health Foundation’s 2018 study. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/mental-health-statistics/stress-statistics)) You may not be at that point quite yet, but it’s worth making some simple lifestyle changes to reduce your stress levels before you get there.

5 Simple Lifestyle Changes for Stress Relief

The good news is that there are ways you can cut back on feelings of stress each day, from the comfort of your own home. Here are some of the top tips.

Exercise

Exercise is the number one way to handle stress.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, you might not fancy rushing out to the gym for a sweat session. However, exercise is an amazing way to get endorphins – and positive feelings – rushing through your body. People who exercise regularly are less likely to suffer from anxiety than their counterparts.((M.H.M. De Moor, et.al. Regular exercise, anxiety, depression and personality: A population-based study. Preventive Medicine, Volume 42, Issue 4, 2006,Pages 273-279
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2005.12.002))

When you exercise – even only a little – you reduce the amount of stress hormones in your body and replace them with handy endorphins, which help to boost your mood.

Exercise can also improve sleep quality, which is often negatively affected by anxiety and stress. When you get enough sleep, you’re more capable of dealing with stressful feelings.

To get the most out of your exercise routine, find an activity you enjoy and mix it in with your schedule – even if it’s just a stretching session each night.

Get Social

Do you ever get the urge to isolate yourself when you’re stressed or nervous? You’re not alone. However, withdrawing from your social group could make your stress worse. Being part of a group of people who love and care for you will help to get you through tough times.

One study found that spending time with friends helps to release the natural stress reliever – oxytocin. Some professionals even call the socializing response the “tend and befriend” approach, rather than the “fight or flight” that we’re used to with stress.((Taylor SE, et.al. Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychol Rev. 2000 Jul;107(3):411-29. doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.107.3.411))

If you can’t meet with someone face to face, find another way to connect. You can call a friend or loved one to vent some of the things you’re stressed about. Get into a video meeting, or just send someone a text if it helps.

Make Yourself Laugh

Have you ever noticed that it’s difficult to keep focusing on the things that make you feel anxious or stressed when you’re laughing? Laughter is genuinely good for your health, both from a physical and a mental perspective. It helps to relieve tension in your muscles and decreases your stress response.

Over time, regular periods of laughter can improve your mood and help your immune system to work better. According to a study of people suffering with cancer, people who laughed most experienced more stress relief than those who just distracted themselves.((Bennett MP, Zeller JM, Rosenberg L, McCann J. The effect of mirthful laughter on stress and natural killer cell activity. Altern Ther Health Med. 2003 Mar-Apr;9(2):38-45. PMID: 12652882.))

Read a funny book or talk to a friend who frequently makes you laugh. Being able to laugh about your own mistakes can be very much relieving stress. Even if you’re just giggling at something on TV, let it out.

Practice Self-Care Activities

We could all benefit from investing more time and effort into ourselves. We live in a society where it’s increasingly common for people to prioritize working too much or barely getting any sleep. However, these are the kinds of things that increase your stress.

Sometimes, it’s important to look at your life and ask yourself what you need to feel better. That could mean taking the time that you need for yourself and saying “no” when others ask you for help. It’s not selfish if you have reached your limits – it’s about giving yourself the help you need first.

Good self-care could also mean changing your routine. Go to bed earlier or change your menus so that you’re eating healthier food. Invest time and energy into things that make you feel good – even if it’s just having a long bubble bath.

Try Something New

Finally, sometimes all you need to get rid of stress is a new passion.

With that in mind, why not try something new? Take an art class with a pal and see whether being creative each day could help you to eliminate anxiety.There are plenty of studies that indicate that creative activities can reduce your anxiety levels.

If art isn’t your thing, try learning how to cook. Taking a class that teaches you how to create delicious and nutritious meals is an excellent way to get a new hobby going. When you’re cooking, you’ll be focused on what you’re doing in the kitchen, rather than spending all of your energy worrying about the things that bother you. Plus, learning how to cook could help you to eat healthier too!

Maybe you want to volunteer in a local organization in order to see the satisfaction in the faces of those you have helped. It can be very much rewarding and take away your focus from the worries of everyday life. Plus when you are in touch with people who are much worse off than you, then your struggles do not seem so big after all.

Try one of these effective strategies the next time you’re feeling stressed. Get in the habit of using them regularly and you’ll find greater enjoyment in your daily life. And get the 10 Minute Guide to Stress Management in order to get a clear plan on how you can control your Stress.

Do you need a guide to help you understand how to cope with Stress in an all inclusive approach? Learn how to combat stress, mentally, physically, emotionally and strategically in your life.

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How Much Physical Activity Is Enough?

October 9, 2022 by Franklin V. Cobos II - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

I tend to cringe inside when people ask me how much exercise they should do. I do this because typically they are seeking answers that I cannot give them. At times they want some form of affirmation that they are already active enough and that for them, no change is necessary. And, often they are disappointed to hear that they aren’t meeting the recommendations.

I admit that it can be discouraging to think about how difficult it may be to add the recommended amount of activity on top of their already hectic, overbooked daily routine. So, before we look at ways of managing the psychological aspects of a good exercise program (which I believe is just about as important as the exercise program itself), let’s at least give some short answers to the questions concerning how much exercise do experts recommend. Once we get that out of the way, we can move on to focus on the practical aspects of an exercise prescription.

Starting Small Is Okay!

Let me begin with some great news for everyone: any amount of physical activity above what you are accustomed to has some benefit. So long as you are doing more than you used to do there is a degree of self-congratulations in order, however small, at first. If you park at the edge of the parking lot and walk further than you want to the storefront when you stop at the store… that qualifies! If you can stand more and sit less during your day, that’s great. Maybe you can take one flight of stairs instead of just one of the floors you would otherwise stop at when riding the elevator. Maybe that’s your “one small step,” or “one giant leap for mankind” (depending on your level of fitness). So, to repeat: any amount of physical activity above what you are accustomed to has some benefit. Got it? Good. Let’s get it!

Now to be clear, I don’t want you to think is that a little bit of improvement is enough. For my bi-lingual friends, I might say it like this: A little bit is better than nada, but it’s sure not the whole enchilada! Small starts, little changes in habits are indeed important. My friend Vicki Griffin likes to emphasize this truth and highly recommends people read one of her favorite books, Atomic Habits, by James Clear.((Clear J. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Random House))

The point or purpose of making small changes though is to be able to work your way towards achieving larger and lasting changes in your lifestyle. Let’s see what those larger goals are as outlined in the latest CDC guidelines for physical activity.((Physical Activity for Different Groups https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/age-chart.html))

There are separate guidelines for different populations/age groups. I will summarize the recommendations for the main groups below:

Ages 6-17: One hour of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity every day. On 3 days of the week, these periods of activity should include strength training for muscles and bones as well.
Adults 18 years and over: A range of 150-300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. A range is given because the resulting health benefits are measurably dose-dependent (just like most medications), as well as interchangeable (75 minutes of vigorous activity is equivalent to 150 minutes of moderate activity). Aerobic activity is best spread throughout the week. Additional benefits are seen if you include at least 2 days of the week during which strength training is done for all major muscle groups.
Pregnancy: A range of 150-300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week. If before becoming pregnant, a mother was habitually accustomed to more intense levels of physical activity, these may continue. Her pregnancy should be monitored throughout the prenatal period by qualified professionals.
Those with chronic medical conditions or disabilities: Recommendations are identical to adults 18 and older if their abilities allow for it. Otherwise, they should avoid inactivity and engage in regular physical activity to the extent allowed by their medical condition.

A man playing basketball in a wheelchair

How to Get Started

There you have it. Those are the shortest answers you can get, inclusive of a wide range of circumstances, that is based on the latest scientific evidence. Of course, all these things are more easily said than done. Everyone needs to start somewhere, even if it is from a place of no exercise at all. In fact, getting little to no exercise at all is not an uncommon situation. If this describes you, please do not be discouraged.

After watching people start and stop, succeed and fail, in their exercise plans (as well as other lifestyle changes), I have come to a settled opinion regarding the initial phase of starting to make changes. My belief is this: in order to maximize the likelihood that someone keeps a commitment to change the way they live, they must first change how they manage their time. I believe that if you do not succeed in setting aside a period of time during which you always do your exercise, something else will easily, without thought or effort, use up that time. You will inevitably find yourself at the end of the day, week, or month having had no time/opportunity to fulfill your exercise goals. Then you may feel like a failure or give up hope.

Don’t Give Up!

Instead, make it a point to establish a habit to spend 5-10 minutes, once or twice every day, focusing on physical activity. By doing it every day, you will within several weeks have established a new habit; a strong new habit of dedicated time for physical activity.

Two major advantages are built into this approach. One is that the new habit is formed as quickly as possible, with as little effort as possible, and without excessive disruption of your current way of life. The second advantage is that it also maximizes the benefit you realize because you’re doing something every day. And THAT is important for making you stick with the program.

This strategy creates a space in time (5-10 minutes 1-2 times a day) for physical activity that is easily obtainable and allows each person to pick whatever type of exercise they want. Being consistent with the time commitment is the key. Unless, and until, people have a consistent amount of time with which to exercise, not even an expert trainer and the perfect plan will amount to anything.

You may be thinking, “How will 10 or 20 minutes transform my life?!” Well, it may not initially. But it will if you then extend those 5-10 minute sessions to 30-60 minute sessions over time. I tell people to start with 5-10 minute commitments because it’s easier to achieve, and they can form a habit of daily exercise. After having success with the time commitment, they usually are set for an activity commitment.

Call to Action

So the important thing is: Start with something today! Next time, I’ll talk with you more about various activities. Until then…carve out some time each day and start forming your exercise habit.

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This article was originally published on the Time to Get Ready website.

Proper Thoughts for Mental Healing

October 2, 2022 by Dr. Cesar Vasconcellos de Souza - [rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes" postfix_singular="minute"]

There are many suffering from anxiety, depression, stress, panic attacks and other mental illness. We often think of a variety of factors that can cause these mental issues, but we rarely think about the power of our thoughts. What are the steps to mental healing?

How do we define a person as having good mental health? First of all, there is no one who has 100% mental health; in other words, there is no human being who does not have some kind of sadness, some moments of anguish, some anxiety. We all have some kind of struggle. Some have it more, some have it less, and some have it for a period of their life, then it passes and they are fine. It is important to think that mental health has to do with the ability to be able to work, study and be useful to society, and to love people in a mature way.

Many people are dependent on psychiatric medications, like tranquilizers, antidepressants, mood stabilizers or sleep-inducing drugs. There are people who are very dependent on psychiatric drugs, and of course drugs have their place, they have their moment in the treatment of mental illness. But we need to know that drugs don’t cure the cause of suffering.

Psychiatric drugs act on the symptoms. The tranquilizer can lower the anxiety of a person who has a major mental conflict that generates excessive anxiety, but it is necessary to understand that this anxiety is being produced by something, a behavior, a tension in some relationship, or some trauma from the past. People who are dependent on psychiatric medications can improve and acquire mental health if they practice some steps in their own consciousness and attitudes towards themselves and others.

A psychiatric drug on the patient's tongue

Someone said that depression is an excess of the past, anxiety is an excess of the future, and stress is an excess of the present. I think there’s some truth in that! Some depressed people focus their conscious and unconscious thoughts too much on past losses, becoming too attached to that past. On the other hand, very anxious people focus too much on fears about the future in general, with thoughts that very anxious people commonly have. They use the phrases a lot: “Oh, what if that and that happens? Oh, what if I’m there, lost? What if this bus driver falls asleep? What if my son doesn’t call me?” They are very worried about what might happen up front.

Stressed people, on the other hand, may have a load of activities and responsibilities in the present that need to be relieved. It is important for those who suffer mentally to fight thoughts of sadness, discontent, distrust, anxiety, and to cultivate thoughts of hope, sympathy, balanced love for oneself and for others.

The important thing is that the person who is suffering emotionally, whether it’s a panic attack, depression, a sadness or excessive shyness, does not allow himself to become dependent on another person for his mental healing. No human being can heal another human being. It’s important not to submit to any technique – even considered scientific – if that technique makes you submit to someone else’s domain, like a passive instrument in their hands. The source of deep healing is not a human being. I’m not saying that we’re not going to see a psychiatrist or psychologist; I’m saying that, even if I need to look for a mental health professional, I still need to work on my mind, knowing that that a professional doesn’t have the entire solution to my problem.

Many times when attending a patient, I usually told him something like this: “Look, you can see that door over there, (and I would show the door to my office). What’s most important to your mental health is what you’re going to do from that door out; it’s what you’re going to think, it’s how you’re going to deal with your emotions; it is not the drug; It’s not me. It is what you’re going to do with what we work here in the psychotherapy office”.

Opportunities for change behind the door

Sure, medication can give you a little boost, but for Christians, I usually say medication is number three in that treatment. The number one is you and God. Number two is psychotherapy, and number three is medication.

It is important to remember that God has given us a conscience, given us freedom of choice. We have intelligence, we can think, we can learn to deal with difficult emotions. It is possible to learn. There is work to be done by every person who suffers emotionally, and that work cannot be replaced by the doctor, psychologist or counselor, nor by medication, even if they are natural medicines.

This work is what everyone has to do: it is to evaluate their thoughts, analyze their feelings and see if they are based in reality, if they are coherent, and decide to fight those thoughts and feelings that are unreasonable, that don’t make sense and that drown you in excessive anxiety and depression. Don’t let those negative, bad thoughts take over your mind all the time. Beneficial freedom in mental health is not thinking, feeling and doing what you want; it is thinking, feeling and doing what produces well-being, what produces serenity, what leads to a victory over the depressive state, the confrontation of compulsions, a reduction of high or exaggerated anxiety.

This depends a lot on where the person focuses. Mental health largely depends on what a person thinks most. It depends on the choices that he makes. There are people who have a lot of tragic thoughts, who suffer from panic attacks. Usually their thoughts are: Oh my heart is going to stop; Ah, I’m going to have a heart attack; Oh, I can’t breathe. At any little symptom in their body, at any normal sign, they already despair. If your heart accelerated a little because you took a run, or there was a little pain in your belly, you already think: Oh my, is it cancer? Am I going to have a heart attack?

This is a tendency to think tragically; and this has to be worked on, it has to be eliminated, it has to be corrected, because the drug will not change that. Often, people who feel mentally invalid, thinking they can’t do anything, can’t work, can’t get better, can resist the disease by refusing to surrender to this unhealthy state, and also avoiding doing nothing, believing that the medication will fix everything.

Everyone needs to face their pain and have an occupation suited to their strengths: Practicing physical activity outdoors, breathing deeply, exposing themselves to sunlight, drinking pure water throughout the day, avoiding alcoholic beverages, using a diet as close to vegetarianism as possible, all this helps the body and brain to function better. If the person is suffering emotionally, and if it’s not something serious like schizophrenia or a manic bout of bipolar disorder, it’s important that they take the step of doing something in their life that helps alleviate someone else’s suffering rather than staying idle, working selfishly like some, for the accumulation of material goods.

Helping an elderly person, delivering groceries at home

Not wasting precious time on frivolous entertainment also helps with mental health. You can have a fun time, but let it be something more productive and positive. When a very difficult ordeal happens in your life, instead of whining and cursing and feeling bitter, ask yourself: what can I learn from this? What is this painful situation trying to teach me? Open your mind to think about these things.

It takes a great deal of effort to change the current of thoughts of sadness, anxiety and excessive worry. But change is possible. Evaluate your thoughts. Are they negative? What are the thoughts that occupy your mind the most? You need to do this exercise. It can be tiring, it can be annoying, sometimes unpleasant, but it is necessary.

Of course, it’s much easier to go to the doctor, start taking the prescribed medication and then think: How good, I’m in Zen, I took a Rivotril, now I’m great, everything is fine. But wait a minute: your thoughts remain negative, so that medicine is not going to change those thoughts. No medicine can do for a person what he has to do for himself to be able to assess the type of thoughts he has the most, and the emotions he most allows to happen in his life, to see what is positive , what is not, what should be changed and what should not be changed.

Much of a person’s happiness, emotional recovery, treatment, healing, and mental well-being depends on fixing the mind on encouraging things, resisting the tragic and pessimistic thoughts that lead to sadness and anxiety.

You can think about the good things that have happened in your life. Be grateful for it. Talk about gratitude. Of course, during a psychotherapeutic treatment, there are moments for the person to vent, to cry, to express their anger – anger at life, anger at God, anger at those who are hurting them. Of course, this person needs acceptance and we will let them talk and vent, but at some point they will have to interrupt this, as they have had enough time to vent everything, and from there they need to change the way they deal with this pain.

It may take a few months of training the mind to stop anxious, pessimistic or depressive thoughts, and cultivate hope, gratitude, kindness, which help in the recovery of mental health, when developed. It can be a lengthy process, but for more determined people it can happen faster.

Sometimes you will treat two patients with depression. The first depressive patient says: “Oh, I can’t do anything, I won’t be able to improve, God has abandoned me, life doesn’t make sense”. He’s not yet ready to get out of that frame of mind. Another, also experiencing the same condition, says: “Look, I am suffering, I am sad, everything is very bad, I suffered a loss, but I know that God will help me, and I am willing to do whatever I can to receive help and get out of this suffering. The same disease, but with two different mindsets.

We don’t erase in a few weeks, in a few months, the consequences of years of negative tendency to think and feel. Often the person who comes to the office has been living for 15 years with a very tragic or anxious tendency to think and to live, and they want to solve this in one month, in three consultations, or with two drugs; but things do not work that way. Also, depression is a type of mental suffering that can have relapse, but a person can pick themselves up and start over with what they’ve already learned, that they know helps.

It is important to believe in the change that can take place in a person’s mind when he is willing to work properly to overcome his mental suffering. If a person really wants to get better, he will get better by practicing these changes in their thought patterns.

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