The number of Americans diagnosed with a mental disorder has grown exponentially, and to make matters worse, many are increasingly over-diagnosed. Curiously the numbers are unique to the United States among industrial nations, a fact in itself that should ring alarm bells.
Why take a pill, though, when a plethora of research supports lifestyle changes are promising alternatives, providing one makes a commitment to holistic change? Findings show that an anti-inflammatory diet, exercise, meditation, among other health essentials for the brain and body, are equally if not more viable and effective treatments for anxiety and depression – notably, with no side effects.
Making a case for  Ending the Era of Mass Psychiatry, Dr Marilyn Wedge discusses three recent books that seek answers to the question of why Americans are suffering a ‘unique’ to the U.S. ‘mental health epidemic’?

The titles of the books themselves speak volumes:
1. The Emperor’s New  Drugs: Exploding the  Antidepressant  Mythby Dr. Irving Kirsch, a lecturer in medicine at the Harvard Medical School, researcher and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Hull, United Kingdom. With exhaustive research, this book is an expose of the antidepressants industry and its practices of withholding conclusive findings that conclusively show antidepressants can have lasting, serious effects on the brain, and their effectiveness overall is little more than that of placebos.
2. Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets,  Psychiatric  Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker, an award winning author and investigative journalist in the field of science and history. In this startling book, Whitaker investigates the exponential rise of mental illness in the United states, which has tripled over the past two decades, and exposes a vast deceit in marketing practices of psychiatric drugs, purportedly to ‘fix chemical imbalances’ that do not exist, until that is antidepressants are introduced to the brain.
3. Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry-A Doctor’s Revelations about a Profession in Crisis by Dr. Daniel Carlat, psychiatrist, author and watchdog critic of psychiatric practices. This book is a wake-up call to psychiatrists, psychotherapists and patients alike, as a stinging critique of psychiatric practices that have been over-focused on diagnoses and prescription, and have simultaneously abandoned the art of therapeutic counseling. In effect, the system distracts psychiatrists from seeking to understand and assist patients as human beings that are dealing with real-life issues.
The consensus, based on decades of research of this epidemic, is that pharmaceutical companies, in the name of profits, have too much control of the treatment options focus. In other words, money is the objective, and there’s no money in prevention. The end appears to justify the means. Sadly, the health of millions of Americans does not seem to factor in treatment debates.
This trend continues despite numerous studies warning of the dangers of psyctrophic drugs to the normal functioning processes of the brain.  In  Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker probes the question of, “Is it possible that psychotropic medications themselves are fueling the increases in depression, anxiety and other mental disorders?”
The answers are as startling as the question. According to Whitaker’s findings:
– Not only do antidepressants have about as much effect on depression as placebos, they cause serious symptoms, and actually interfere, and upset, the neural transmission processes of the brain in ways that can provoke manic episodes, violence, suicide, chronic depression, sexual dysfunction, and more.
– In response to artificially induced serotonin levels in synapses, presynaptic neurons secrete less serotonin, and postsynaptic neurons become desensitized to it.  In other words, the brain attempts to nullify the effects of artificial serotonin levels – andthe result is a chemical imbalance caused by the drugs.  Once a rare disorder, bipolar disorder is now an epidemic.
– Mental illness is not a result of a chemical imbalance – and antidepressants are not ‘normalizing’ agents. Once only a hypothesis, this theory has been proven incorrect, and yet the misconception continues to thrive, driven by profit-oriented marketing campaigns.
– Studies have confirmed that antidepressant drugs are no more effective than sugar pills known as placebos (except that placebos do not have side effects).
– Both the earlier tricyclic antidepressants and the newer SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) sensitize the brain enough to put it at risk of deeper and longer-term depression.
– Prior to the era of antidepressants, even persons with depression so severe that they were hospitalized typically recovered within 6 to 8 months and more often never relapsed; and if they did, it was years or decades later.
– In contrast, longitudinal studies show that only 15% of persons treated with antidepressants stay well for a long period of time, whereas an astounding 85% begin to have repeated relapses, followed by chronic depression.
There is mounting evidence linking antidepressants to chronic depression. It should alarm us, as a society, that the  number of Americans diagnosed with a serious mental illness is unique among developed nations, has grown exponentially, and is exceeded only by level of psychotropic drugs being dispensed. In another article,  What’s Wrong With This Picture, Dr. Paula Caplan notes a disturbing trend in the field of psychiatry, where psychotherapy was once a vital component, it now operates more like a pill-dispensing outlet. Psychiatrists report an average of 15-minute sessions with their clients, and less than 11% engage in talk therapy as part of their services.
To make matters worse,  Americans are being aggressively over-diagnosed  notes Dr. Christopher Lee. Recent data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show  that  1 in 10 Americans is on an antidepressant, along with 1 in 27 children aged 12 to 17.  And, if the recent guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics are any indication, the spike will continue. Sadly,  the age of children diagnosed with ADHD was recently lowered to age 4. One cannot help wonder whose interests this serves, pharmaceutical industry or our children and society at large?
Meanwhile, a similar trend runs parallel in primary care. A recent report shows U.S. doctors  believe patients receive too much medical care. Primary care physicians attribute their own aggressive practices to inadequate time spent with patients (40%) as well as concerns about getting sued for failing to order indicated tests (83%).  Again, it appears there are financial incentives for treating patients, even when it is not necessary, and a system of rewards and punishments is in place to promote conformity.
This is a controversial issue, no doubt, and there is no single answer.
If you are currently on medication, however, consider this post information only. The purpose here is to bring needed attention to outstanding research and publications in this area that remain relatively hidden beneath mainstream views. Make sure your doctor is consulted, and supervises any changes or options you wish to consider.
The point here is that we must necessarily remain informed and aware to protect ourselves, as practitioners and clients alike, against any deceptive marketing practices and misinformation.
Too many remain woefully uninformed or misinformed. As a result of deregulation, only a handful of industries control our media, and watchdogs are no longer in place. As human beings, we also tend to read what upholds our views, and to over-trust experts and authorities. Too many of us cringe at disapproval, as we’ve seen how those who protest the status quo are often dealt with, often casually dismissed or systematically admonished for taking an ‘irresponsible’ stance, and the like.
Nevertheless, studies show that lifestyle changes – in particular ones that address the needs of the entire body and mind – can and do make a dramatic difference.  Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders are  not  the result of an absence of drugs, as mainstream views imply. The same applies to physical conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The human body has amazing powers to heal itself,  providing it receives what it is designed to need. What does it need?
Here,  we first consider five factors that can elevate stress in the mind and body to toxic levels, and that must be addressed in treatment to successfully eliminate or lower the toxic levels of stress that can feed anxiety or depression.
The position of this therapist is that depression and anxiety are serious  problems with affect regulation  that are  learned  neural associations or chemical-reaction patterns, rather than genetic diseases. You may disagree, and question the ‘scientific’ value of this view. If so, you are on the side of the majority.
This approach has several strengths, however.  
– It is good news. If neural patterns are programmed learning, that means they can be unlearned!  One of the most exciting recent findings in neuroscience is that the human brain is designed for a lifetime of growth, wiring and re-wiring, known as  plasticity, or the ability of the brain to change. It can heal, wire and re-wiire itself, given certain conditions.
– It puts the responsibility for your health and wellbeing squarely in your hands. From here, you experience the power of your choices. You are no longer waiting, for example, for the discovery of a ‘pill’ that will absolve you from making wise-selfchoices.
– It makes you realize instead that taking care of your health is inseparable from your happiness, and thus, perhaps your most important responsibility. Everything else you do, your dreams, the people and relationships you most care about, and so on, all depend on your health in some way or another.
– It reminds you how vital it is to get to know your self, your physical brain and body, your needs, and your emotions as a communication system, as a key way to enrich your relationships and better understand others and life.
In therapy, taking this approach also imbues both client (and therapist alike) with a sense of hope and optimism, emotional states that are critical to not only healthy brain functioning, but also optimal results in therapy, as studies show in the field of positive psychology, led  by Dr. Martin Seligman and others.
Factors that elevate stress in the body and mind.
Five main factors often work together to set the stage for debilitating states of anxiety and depression.  These agents can be caustic on their own, however, in cases where they produce toxic levels of certain fatty acids or stress hormones that, in turn, promote chronic inflammation in the brain and body. This can occur either directly via toxic foods or substances the body ingests – or indirectly via emotional-command brain circuitry that unnecessarily activates the body’s stress response or parasympathetic nervous system (automatically, with increased frequency and intensity).
Naturally their effects are more deleterious when all or most are present, as is frequently the case in elevated states of depression or anxiety. They are:
1. The American Diet
Numerous studies link mental and physical illness to diet, to include one of the most comprehensive research projects,  The China Study. The conclusion? The ‘American Diet’ is poison to the body.
– It not only lacks the nutrients the body needs from foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, it contains toxic substances that disturb glandular functioning.
– It consists of a high concentration of foods that cause inflammation in the brain and body, such as processed sugarand other simple carbohydrates, trans-fats, and artificial sweeteners, which are some of the main culprits.
To operate optimally, the  body needs nutrients  of calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, among other vital nutrients and vitamins. How essential are they? Low levels of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EFAs) have been linked to depression and anxiety, and other emotional conditions.  Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are necessary fats that humans cannot synthesize, and must be obtained through diet. Not surprisingly, most foods in the American Diet deficient in omega-3, as a direct result of what we now know is lethal: sugar, processed foods, toxic drinks and saturated fats.
The bottom line is that your happiness is very much dependent on your physical health. It’s a hard choice between the quick-fix-cheap-thrills of eating comfort foods or lasting health and happiness. Any effort to  avoid inflammatory foods  (like the plague), and replace them with foods rich in nutrients, is well worth your happiness and health.
2. Lack of regular exercise
Exercise is also a critical component that factors into your level of mental and physical health, as well as happiness. It is not a mere option or lifestyle alternative.
Until recent findings in neuroscience, scientists hadn’t fully understood how  exercise allows neurons in the brain and body to fuel  themselves. In contrast, lack of exercise puts you  at risk for major health problems. Without exercise, it’s a missed opportunity to:
– Relieve extra tension and stress levels that naturally build in day-to-day activities.
– Regularly replenish energy and oxygen supplies to all parts of your body to help all systems run more efficiently.
– Lower anxiety and depression symptoms, risk of heart disease, diabetes and keep dementia at bay.
– Strengthen bones and muscles, and  prolong life and mobility in later years.
It does wonders for your brain’s thinking, memory and learning functions. (With so much research in the last decade that links mental performance and exercise, it’s mind boggling that no action has been taken to make daily exercise mandatory in K-12 schools. It was required prior to the 1980s.)
Truth be told, the body is designed to move and stretch and go. A healthy body does not merely look better, it feels better, and for good reason. Aerobic exercise releases feel-good hormones throughout the body, that also nourish the cells, and pump oxygen-rich blood to all parts of the body. In addition to feeling great, when your body looks great, this also boosts your feel-good sensations. And, yes, it’s quite healthy to want a trim, healthy, fit body.
(With so much attention on the social pressures to be thin as negative or dangerous ( i.e., anorexia, bulimia), it’s helpful to keep things in perspective to avoid either extreme. As serious as anorexia is, it is still rare. In comparison, nearly half the population is literally dying from overeating and lack of exercise, which go hand in hand. It’s also a misconception, perpetuated by media, to think of anorexia as a result of ‘pressure on women to be thin.’ Human beings do not give up their fight for life, emotional safety and survival so easy! It is more helpfully viewed, in my opinion, as a fight for emotional survival, more often by an intelligent, talented, goal-oriented young woman, who otherwise feels invisible, powerless, and anxious about whether her voice will be heard, valued in relation to those she loves.)
3. Sugar Addiction
Sugar has been found to be  an addictive substance  in numerous studies.  What was once theory when Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons  began her work on ‘sugar sensitivity,’ published in a book Potatoes Not Prozac,  has now been demonstrated by scientific research  since.  The reason many find it impossible to stay on a heathy nutrition plan, notes Dr. DesMaisons, is that they are “sensitive” to sugar, meaning they are ‘addicted’ in today’s vernacular. As with an alcoholic, it only takes a small amount of sugar to trigger relapse and binges when sugar addiction is a factor.
 
According to Dr. Mark Hyman, a physician dedicated to addressing root causes of chronic illness through a whole-systems approach to medicine, sugar addiction is akin  to any other addiction, such as alcohol, heroin or cocaine.
– Persons addicted to sugar have the same symptoms of withdrawal, for example, and a sugar addict faces the same inability, as an alcoholic, to handle a small quantity of the substance without being triggered to binge.
– Interestingly, Dr. Human notes that, “recovering alcoholics often switch to another easily available drug: sugar.”
Largely connected to the American Diet, the consumption of processed sugar has been linked to an array of harmful effects in the brain and body.
– Clinical studies have linked sugar to emotional disturbances of depression, anxiety, suicide, irritability, anger outbursts.
– The research of addictions counselor, Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons, author of  Potatoes Not Prozac, found a link between sugar addiction and depression, anger and irritability.
– A recent  cross-cultural study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry  linked refined sugar consumption to mental illness  reports that  sugar appears to suppress a key growth hormone, BDNF, which is essential for healthy memory and learning.
Other studies have linked sugar consumption to obesity, all-consuming cravings, food compulsions, binge eating, and food addiction  in general.  Author and physician, Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum has identified  four types of sugar addiction,  which are discussed in his popular how-to book,  Beat Sugar Addiction Now!
The high consumption of sugar is a problem of great magnitude that warrants special attention.  Conceivably, the prevalence of sugar addiction may largely explain the exponential increases in mental (and physical) illness in recent decades. Despite medical advances, chronic illness has been on the rise, for example, one report shows  chronic illness in children has quadrupled  in a generation.
As it is not likely that the human gene pool has suddenly gone wild, we must seriously consider environmental factors. The exponentialgrowth of sugar consumption runs parallel to that of mental and physical illness, and all are unique to the U.S (among developed nations).
The bottom line is that if you’re addicted to sugar, it is likely that you often feel one or more of the following: depressed, anxious, tired, angry, irritable, reenergized, lethargic, and more.
– It is also likely that, while these feelings are real, they  are at levels that can be considered separate from what is going on in your life or any issues you may face at present.
– In fact, you may have even wondered: Why am I so unhappy or anxious when my life is wonderful in so many ways?
Removing sugar from the equation may not change the issues you may be facing, however, this step alone can make a world of difference in reducing the levels  of intensity of the feelings you feel, so that their management is at least a possibility. Sugar is a mood-altering drug. Expecting to manage the intensity of your emotional states while on a sugar-high is both unrealistic and unfair. It’s also a setup to fail.  And, you deserve to treat your self better.
4. Toxic thinking patterns and limiting beliefs
Toxic thinking patterns are ones that unnecessarily  activate your body’s stress response, or ‘fight or flee’ system.  They are not only toxic, but also addictive in nature.
Why? Toxic thinking patterns are characteristically compulsive in nature, associated with defensive strategies that your body activates in response to a stressor. These operate subconsciously, that is, they are automatic.
– Similar to addictive substances, they stimulate pleasure and learning centers of the brain.
– They are protective strategies that get activated in response to what triggers you, and thus driven by fear.
– They are addictive in nature because your body subconsciously associates them with pseudo “feel good” feelings – in other words, ‘tried and true’ ways that it uses to lower your overall stress in the moment, albeit with ineffective, quick-fix ways.
– They are also habitual, ‘comfortable’ ways of responding, which also produces ‘feel good’ hormones.
Thus, as with addictive substances, it can feel like we ‘need’ them. They feel comfortable. And, because your body activates them at subconscious levels, it can feel as if you cannot stop or control them. In a sense, you cannot – at least not until you take some action to bring the systems of your body back under the charge of your sympathetic nervous system (therefore out of the control of the parasympathetic nervous system). In short, if your body thinks your survival is at stake, your autonomic nervous system is hardwired to take control (a coup d’état of sorts), and block you and your higher cortex self from taking the reins.
When chronic, these reactive thinking patterns can zap your body’s energy supply. How?
– They cause intense feelings of fear, despair, rage, shame or guilt, and so on.
– They habitually  forecast disaster, perpetuate worry, instill doubt, obsess on perfection, or blame, etc.
– They paint images of self and others, events and life, with colors of fear, lack, doubt, and, among others, gloom or failure.
Toxic thinking is spawned by underlying limiting beliefs. Beliefs are  limiting when they unnecessarily intensify one or more of your core  survival-fears, such as rejection, abandonment or inadequacy, and so on.  These emotion-laded beliefs exacerbate fears and spawn anxious ways of relating.
Albeit well-meaning, toxic thinking is a life limiting defense strategy. These patterns limit your higher thinking capacity by replacing real thinking with automatic black-and-white or either-or thinking patterns, which by the way are useful to you, but only in real crises situations, such as a physical attack.  They lower your tolerance or resiliency to frustration, boredom, discomfort – all of which you need to be able to manage your energies to consciously think, to image, and to to make choices that are aligned with your aspirations.
5. Pandemic of affect regulation problems
Though uncomfortable or painful, feelings of anxiety or sadness, are  not  unhealthy emotions in and of themselves. In fact, like other painful emotions, they are vital messages from your body that, in some way or another, let you know where you are in terms of your inner emotional needs or drives to live a fulfilling life, i.e., to meaningfully connect, to contribute, to matter in relation to life and others, and so on.
These are universal drives.  If you think you know people without these drives, think again. They are hardwired, and shape most every human behavior.
The ability to regulate painful emotions is one that allows you to deal with a stressor, and feel upsetting emotions, without getting triggered or activating your defenses.  Emotion dysregulation, in contrast, is a problem related to a learned inability to understand, utilize or benefit from the information your body is sending.  Emotions are the language of the body.
Starting in infancy, learning how to regulate affect in response to stress  is critical to health and development. Without this ability, ego-strength lacks the resiliency needed to face day to day challenges or difficult events.
Like other needs in early childhood, however, children are dependent on caregivers.  Recent findings on the brain and attachment research show a young child’s brain depends on caregivers’ brains to regulate stress, and eventually to learn to self-regulate. Human brains are designed to change, learn, wire and re-wire one another’s brains in relationship contexts.  And, emotions are the meaning-laden language that connects and forms a child’s relationships with key others.
Without question, a parent’s ability to regulate their own emotions, in other words, to remain calm, confident and present, particularly in emotionally challenging situations, is not only the best way parents can teach children to soothe themselves (and  to be soothed by others) during upsets, but also the most effective way parents can help children learn how to modify their behaviors.
Clinical studies show, for example, that secure attachments are a primary defense against emotional problems in response to life stressors, big and small, whereas  attachment disorders can be antecedents to antisocial patterns  even violence.
Children who experience a secure base with an emotionally available parent  are more likely:
– To learn to self-regulate their emotions in stressful situations.
– To develop healthy emotionally reciprocal relationships as adults.
– To have the resiliency and ego-strength needed to cope with stress resulting from adversity or trauma.
– To develop pro-social mores, values and ethics.
– To establish a positive sense of self.
– To have empathy, compassion, and greater awareness of state of others.
So why a pandemic of affect regulation? Perhaps because of widespread cultural mores that view painful emotions overall as weaknesses, pathology or defects that need to be fixed, and so on. From this position, it makes sense to learn to avoid, deny or strongly react with anger or overwhelm to the discomfort of these feelings.
These beliefs are also associated with a value system that supports physical force and spanking in the rearing of children, and associated  practices of intimidation, shame and, guilt, etc. Wittingly or unwittingly, these values are passed down from one generation to the next. Studies show a  majority of parents in the U.S. value these methods as ‘necessary’ in socializing children to obey authorities.
The overwhelming evidence shows spanking is ineffective and dangerous, however,  because it can:
– Teach children that their parents are not in control of their own emotional states.
– Send an underlying message that violence and bullying are legitimate ways to solve differences between people.
– Put parents at risk of losing control of their anger and harming children physically, mentally, emotionally.
Naturally, a parent who believes force, angry outbursts or humiliation are ‘necessary’ to socialize children is not only more likely to use punitive tactics, but also more likely to lose control.  Studies link  parents’ own reactivity to stress to children’s emotional dysregulation  as well as problem behaviors.
When these do not work, and they often do not, a parent is more likely to intensify force and frequency, and interpret a child’s disobedience personally, which puts children at risk. Alvin Pousaint, M.D., states that:
In The Case Against Spanking, by Irwin A. Hyman, director of the National Center for the Study of Corporal Punishment and Alternatives, also makes clear the connection between spanking and rates of child abuse. Citing Sweden, a country that made spanking illegal in 1979, he notes, “In 1981, only 26 percent of parents supported spanking. The support rate is currently less than 11 percent… [and] Sweden went from a family violence-related child death rate of 18 percent in 1970 to 0 percent in recent years.”
Sadly, despite overwhelming evidence that punitive practices in raising children are harmful, and the proven successes of more than a dozen countries that have legally banned spanking in the last few decades, a majority of parents in the U.S. continue to believe in practices that, essentially,  not only block them from learning how to regulate their own upsetting emotions, but also prevent their children from learning how to self-regulate.
Most of us have experienced the effects of having one or more parents who have difficulty regulating their own affect during upsets, much less our own.  Thus, you may say the widespread inability to handle emotional distress is in some ways a national pandemic.
It’s no easy road,  with tough choices.
Problems that arise from day to day stress, as well as more serious issues, are often related to difficulties in managing painful or uncomfortable emotions in response to stressors. Emotions are the language of your body.  The ability to self-regulate upsetting emotions in challenging situations is vital to living a happy and healthy life.
What you put into your body, however, can either support your efforts or hinder them.
Simply put, you are a combination of what you eat, what you drink, what you think, what you do, what you feel (express, emote, etc.). You are also what you’ve learned to believe, how you interpret events, etc., as your beliefs shape how you relate to your self, life around you, and upsetting emotions, your own or others.
All of these factors are agents, or energies with particular effects that cause chemical reactions, which can structurally affect the brain and body at molecular levels.
Addressing or eliminating what elevates anxiety and depression to toxic levels must be part of a broader program to restore mental health and wellbeing. It will involve tough choices between quick-fix-sensory thrills and what guarantees lasting health and happiness. Make the latter your bottom line.
The last couple of decades have seen a growing consensus and numerous findings and publications recognizing the benefits of taking a natural approach to emotional (and physical) wellness.
Seven strategies that boost natural healing processes?
The five strategies listed below are designed to  work together  to promote emotional, mental, physical healing – by boosting the brain and body’s natural healing intelligence.
1. Eat and drink nutritionally smart to prevent chronic inflammation.  
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The first, and perhaps most critical step to regain emotional (and physical) wellbeing is simply to stop ingesting foods and drinks that promote  chronic inflammation, and take in what is nutrient rich instead. Chronic inflammation is at root of many or most health issues.  By helping to normalize insulin and leptin levels, clean and healthy nutrition is a potent antidote against inflammation. Nutrient rich foods are also recognized as powerful protection against depression and anxiety.  The link between nutrition and emotional health is now proven. Whereas anxiety and depression have long been regarded, primarily, as psychological disorders,  recent findings show insufficient nutrition  causes biochemical conditions in the brain and body that may be at the root of debilitating emotional (and physical) conditions.
2.  Make a balanced exercise routine an integral part of your (healthy, happy) life.
Enjoy a  balanced exercise program.  Exercise is a must, and your body is designed to move. Research has shown the positive effects of exercise on health, in the  treatment of depression and anxiety, and enhancing emotional wellbeing in general. Robust exercise increases hormones known as opiods and endorphins which lower pain and produce feel-good feelings. Findings show exercise fuels the brain  in several ways. Neurons appear to fuel themselves during exercise, activating rapid-fire messages that coordinate muscle contractions, vision, balance, and other complex interactions among all systems of your body that allow you to move accordingly.
3.  Shift from an outer-focused worldview to inner-focused approach to emotional healing.  
Believe it or not, your emotional health and happiness do not depend on external factors, unless of course you’re a small child or you hold a (limiting) belief that they do! They depend instead on the quality of the connection you have with your inner world of thought, sensation and feelings. Anxiety and depression are serious conditions, to be sure. More often than not, however, they are  not  genetic diseases or abnormalities in themselves (author’s position) though they may be related to a medical or drug-induced condition (keeping in mind that anything ingested, to include food, is potentially mood-altering).
4. Address ‘how’ you deal with stress as key to your emotional healing.
Truth be told, stress itself is  not  the problem. The problem lies in  how  you deal with stress, more specifically, how you have wittingly and unwittingly taught your subconscious mind to automatically manage what stresses you. Like a computer, your subconscious simply uses strategies you have programmed it to use. It doesn’t know you didn’t mean to do so. From day one of your life, it has kept a meticulous ongoing record of what most stresses you, what automatic defensive strategies ‘work’ to give you quick-fix relief, and so on. As your body’s operating system, this is a job your subconscious is hardwired to perform akin to breathing you.
You can learn to harness amazing inner resources, among them, your brain’s capacity for neuroplasticity, on behalf of your own personal and relational well-being and growth.  For example, it’s in your power to learn how to regulate your emotions, identify your triggers, become aware of emotions and sensations as action signals, make effective repairs, release fear-based coping patterns, and consciously rewire your brain to be more consistently receptive to create, integrate, shift to the most optimal states possible.
5. Energize an optimistic outlook on life to enhance resiliency, happiness and performance.
In addition to promoting personal growth and life-satisfaction,  positive emotions nourish the brain and body,  and have been linked to creativity, resiliency, performance, and the formation of healthy relationships.  In contrast, pessimism is linked to depression, learned helplessness, repeated mistakes, and serious health conditions, such as heart, cancer and higher risk for PTSD.
In several carefully controlled large-scale longitudinal studies of optimism, Dr. Martin Seligman found that  optimism is a learned approach to life  that contributes significantly to mental and physical health, resiliency, personal and professional happiness and even monetary success. The pioneering work of psychologist Dr. Bob Murray and therapist Alicia Fortinberry on the effects of optimism on resiliency and depression, also tested and developed a drug-free approach to treating depression in children.  The results are  published in a must-read book for parents titled,  Raising an Optimistic Child: A Proven Plan for Depression-Proofing Young Children-For Life.
6. Practice mindfulness, meditation and conscious living.  
A plethora of research shows that, in addition to optimizing processes that influence the brain to be open to change and to grow in positive directions, there is clear evidence of the benefits of mindfulness. Practices such as  yoga, meditation, and similar tools that build inner awareness, such as spending time in nature, have been shown effective in lowering depression and anxiety. A mindful orientation deepens awareness of inner processes and thus potentially promotes better care for the body and mind. A key component of mindful practices is deep breathing, arguably one of nature’s most potent forces for healing.
7. See your relationships as essential lifelines to strengthen and revitalize your life.
Relationships are invaluable to human beings. All growth and learning, healing and transformation take place in the context of our relationships.  Emotions, and in particular strivings for meaningful connection, value and compassion, give meaning and purpose to life. The brain is “a relationship organ” notes author of The Developing Mind Dr. Daniel Siegel, and it is wired with circuitry for caring and empathic connection.  It can be said that all experience in life is relational. Compassion fosters empathic connection, an essential prerequisite for emotional intimacy, and empathy strengthens the connection between your mind (logic) and body (heart).
The learned capacity to love with a heart willing to remain open to see, to know and to understand self and other through the eyes of compassion is what deepens and grows wisdom, and at the same time an awakened understanding of self. Your deepest strivings are for love and meaningful connection to life within and around you. This explains why responses that convey love enhance your sense of security, whereas responses that signal danger of rejection or abandonment can, when repeated and prolonged, can lead to chronic states of anxiety and depression. These emotional threats to your wellbeing are rooted in your hardwired drive to matter in relation to life and others.
A pro-active and holistic approach?
Research shows that natural ways of reducing anxiety and depression are effective in the care of your emotional health and wellbeing. A study by Dr. Roger Walsh, looking at the impact of  lifestyle changes,  found  simple modifications such as exercise, improved nutrition, relationships, recreation, relaxation, stress management, time in nature, and so on,  enhance memory and brain functioning.  Foods and drinks that cause  inflammation  in the body must simply be eliminated and replaced with nutrient rich foods.  Practices involving mindfulness, exercise and nutrition have also been shown effective in the treatment of depression and anxiety.
There’s one caveat, however. Your dedicated commitment to making  holistic  lifestyle changes.  These strategies are designed to work together, so that all factors are addressed in some way. Simply put, failing to address one of these factors, lowers the effectiveness of your attempts to address the others.
Any approach worthy of your best efforts must necessarily be holistic in nature. For optimal results, these strategies  work together  to boost emotional, mental, physical healing – naturally.  And yes, after more than a century of being conditioned to think of our body and brain as distinct parts, we all need to keep reminding ourselves that the  body, mind and emotional (spiritual) self are part of one system.
It’s all about taking a proactive approach to:
– Learn what your body and mind need to be healthy.
– Recognize what is toxic to your mental and physical health, and avoid or replace them with healthy options.
– Accept that the care of your mental, emotional and physical self are intrinsically connected.
– Become aware of your options and the power of your moment-by-moment choices.
– Fully embrace the responsibility for self-directing your own healing with a holistic approach.
When you treat your mind, emotions and body as  one system,  the positive benefits not only strengthen your confidence and ability to regulate your emotions, but also transform your attitude toward emotional pain and health.  A system operates like a baby mobile, thus, what affects one aspect affects the whole system.
Taken together, the above strategies give you a choice to make a determined commitment to take the reins as captain of your emotional and physical state of being, and to employ the available strategies to consciously steer your life in the direction of personal health and healing.
Learn to harness your amazing inner resources, among them, your brain’s capacity for neuroplasticity, to make changes on behalf of your own personal and relational healing and growth.  A healing approach involves identifying what toxic habits  to turn away from  and what healthful options  to turn toward  at the same time.