World Mental Health Day: Dr Mickey Mehta on psychotherapy and it’s benefits

If psychotherapy sounds serious, should we simply address it as natural mind medicine. The word therapy also creates a distance between the subject and the therapy provider. This whole world is lost and confused with definitions and labels, and to add to the complexities are graphs and tables. Psychotherapy is a general term for treating mind-relates issues by talking with a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health solution provider. Natural mind medicine eliminates or modifies troubling symptoms or thoughts, which could create resistance, persistence or non existential issues. We all need natural mind medicine. But have we actually never sat down to endeavour towards this beautiful art of living?

Types of therapies

There are many types of therapies, each with its own approach. The type of therapy that's right for you depends on individual comfort zone. A person who can truly take responsibility will heal by himself, with nature and by other sensory stimulations.

The benefits

• Natural mind medicine can be helpful in treating most mental health imbalance, including:

• Anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, panic disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

• Mood disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder

• Addictions, such as alcoholism, drug dependence, or compulsive gambling

• Eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia

• Personality disorders such as borderline personality disorder or dependent personality disorder

• Schizophrenia or other disorders that cause detachment from reality (psychotic disorders)

The therapies that work the most are dance-sing-workout-sleep. You wake up to solutions, confidence, self-esteem and self convictions. In many cases, natural mind medicine helps you wean off psychiatric medicines. However, it has to be done under the supervision of therapists with the confidence of psychiatrist by your side.

Everyone is in a chase, running constantly pulling and pushing life, where each day we are trying to juggle to balance life which results in stress. The idea is to slow down, stop, pause, and reorient!

One doesn’t need anything, just start with shutting your eyes. This saves energy immediately as 70-80% of physical expenditure of energy goes through eyes holding the ocular muscles wide open.There is a sudden shift of awareness with breathing falling into rhythm. From staggered it becomes regulated, from scattered it gets into a flow. Rhythm flow once established your mind calms down into a state of equanimity. When the brain functions begin to align, the racing mind becomes slow; this is the time when the stress is released. Complexities give way to clarity. Confusions give way to vision. Anxieties give way for confidence.

Effortless and quick ways to relax

• Splash or keep your face in running water for a while till everything cools down and your eyes are relaxed, just pat dry, and then breathe

• Just sit quietly, sip warm water/herbal tea, herbal teas may work to

• Step out of the four walls, take a walk, a slow walk, walk up/down the stairs. Good walk can do wonders for your mental well-being

• Go to the closest tree; suck in oxygen from it, touch it/hug it. They help reduce the physiological effects of stress on the body. Simply sitting and looking at trees reduces blood pressure levels as well as the stress-related hormones cortisol and adrenaline

• Go somewhere out in the sun and be in the light, sit or stand and feel the wind that is touching you(wind bath), be aware

• The aromatherapy treatment is a natural way of healing one’s mind, body and soul. Olfactory stimulation has various psycho- physiological effects. It helps lower stress levels and improves overall mental outlook

• Pick up the phone and speak with your friends, family, and loved ones. Laugh it out. Feel good conversations trigger higher levels of dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, and other biochemicals that give us a sense of well-being

• Simply sit down under the shower, shut your eyes, allow your breath to calm down, get regularised or take a bucket with warm water, put some sea salt. A bath can activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation

• Humming is one of the simplest and yet most profound sounds we can make, within ourselves and it is a self-soothing sound: it affects us on a physical level, reducing stress, inducing calmness

• Take life from dis-order to order, dis-ease to ease, and dis-comfort to comfort. With natural mind medicine stress gets neutralised, creativity gets optimised and life gets Mickeymized!!!

(Mickey Mehta is a global leading holistic health guru and life coach)