Vital Feelings Within the Body & Mind Relationship
Dr. Christine Foutch is a holistic physician practicing in Rock Island, IL. The practice of holistic medicine integrates conventional and alternative therapies to prevent disease, treat disease, and most importantly promote optimal health.
Due to the high prevalence of depression and its consequences, the understanding of the condition’s pathophysiology is best said to be basic. Pathophysiology is defined by the functional alterations that characterize the condition. This is related to the data that covers any additional multifactorial conditions.
Generally, one in every six individuals in the United States will suffer from clinical depression during their lifetime.
The Classic Symptoms of Depression Include:
The awareness that our emotions and psychological health also affect our physical health begins as far back as second-century physician, Claudius Galenus of Ancient Rome; a physician who is one of the most skillful researchers of ancient history.
The Vital Feelings
This points to the close relationship between the body and mind, taking into account, “the awareness of oneself.” This explains the way we see ourselves and are personally experiencing things within our own bodies.
The reactions we assume about how our physical appearance, as well as our presence, has on those around us, is known as “hyper-awareness” of oneself.
The experiences brought by our own natural senses can move more towards the depressive mood state. This alters our perceptions of our internal physiology as well as our environment.
In the past 30 years, the necessary inquiries have started to emerge, strengthening the connection between the body and mind, which they believed to exist all along.
Two-thirds of patients with depression have a clinical picture that is dominated by bodily symptoms.
Bodily Symptoms Include:
- Changes in appetite
- Gastrointestinal disturbances
- Lack of energy
- Sleep disturbances
- Back pain
- Joint pain
- General aches/pains in limbs
- Headaches, described as an intolerable pressure, “Band around the head”
- Pressure in the chest/abdomen
- Pressure can be described as a sensation of weight, heaviness, and tension, absorbing one’s focus and attention
Both painful and non-painful symptoms can characterize the clinical states of the depressive mood. An extended European study displayed that the depressive mood becomes prolonged in patients with bodily symptoms.
Lifestyle strategies have displayed a definite influence on the elevation of one’s mood. While increasing the sense of well-being in those with mild to moderate depression.
The Holistic Approach
Daily Practice of Meditation
The practice of mindfulness involves drawing your attention inward. This calms the mind, allowing for the observance of one’s thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, without stress or judgment. Encouraging the achievement of a clear, calm, and emotionally stable state of consciousness. While addressing the root cause of the depressive mood state, we will also be improving internal peace, positive perceptions, and well-being.
Exercise
Many studies have demonstrated that there is no better method than regular aerobic exercise. Participating in regular exercise will improve emotional health.
The association between exercise and improved physical and psychological health is established in both the healthier populations and those with long-term conditions. Depression is believed to be clearly linked with low levels of activity.
Dietary Interventions
Ninety years of research have shown the importance of dietary nutrients and vitamins for psychological health. The initial studies on nutrients related to mental illness went on to observe irritability and mood disorders in those with deficiencies in B vitamins. These studies record positive improvements when the patient is given nutrients, such as manganese and nicotinic-acid.
Unfortunately, the interest in nutrient studies weakened because of the introduction of psychiatric medications, which happened to appear within the 1950s. Despite the lack of interest, the growing evidence shows the effects of the trace elements on the brain and behavioral functions.
