Beyond the Body: A Holistic Approach to True Well-being

In our pursuit of health, it's easy to get fixated on the physical aspect while neglecting the intricate interplay of social, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. True well-being, however, is a tapestry woven from the threads of each of these facets. Let's delve into the concrete ways in which a holistic approach to health can transform your life.

Physical Health: More Than Just Exercise and Diet

Physical health is often reduced to gym sessions and kale salads, but it's more expansive than that. Regular physical activity, nourishing foods, and sufficient sleep are essential, but it also involves managing stress. Techniques like mindfulness and yoga not only enhance physical well-being but contribute to mental and emotional balance.

Mental Health: Tools for a Resilient Mind

The stresses of modern life can take a toll on mental health. Counseling and therapy offer concrete tools to navigate the complexities of the mind. Cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness practices, and stress management strategies empower individuals to build resilience and overcome mental health challenges.

Emotional Health: Expressing and Understanding Feelings

Emotional health isn't about suppressing emotions but understanding and expressing them constructively. Counseling provides a safe space to explore and process emotions. Concrete techniques, such as journaling or guided imagery, can help individuals acknowledge and navigate the rich tapestry of their feelings.

Social Health: Building Meaningful Connections

Social health involves more than just having friends; it's about building quality connections. Effective communication skills, conflict resolution, and boundary-setting are concrete tools that can be honed through counseling. Building a supportive social network contributes significantly to overall well-being.

Spiritual Health: Beyond Religion to Personal Meaning

Spiritual health isn't confined to religious practices; it's about finding personal meaning and purpose. Whether through meditation, connecting with nature, or engaging in acts of kindness, counseling can guide individuals on a journey of self-discovery, helping them align with their deepest values.

Integration: The Power of Holistic Well-being

The magic happens when these dimensions are woven together. For instance, regular physical activity not only improves physical health but has proven benefits for mental health, releasing endorphins that act as natural mood lifters. Similarly, building meaningful connections (social health) can be a source of emotional support during challenging times, contributing to both mental and emotional well-being.

As you embark on your journey towards holistic health, consider counseling not as a last resort but as a proactive step. Concrete strategies provided by counseling can be the bridge that connects these dimensions, allowing you to achieve a balanced, fulfilling, and truly holistic sense of well-being. Embrace the full spectrum of health, and witness the transformative power of a life lived in harmony.

Addiction: Adolescents and Beyond

Shakespeare, one of the first to discuss the idea of addiction defined it as 'a calling' or 'a passion.' Later it was understood to be analogous to a debtor who couldn't repay a lender and therefore became their slave. (Mate, 2008)

Mark Willenberg, M.D. and Director of Treatment, Recovery Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, defines drug abuse as, “wanting the wrong thing very, very badly,” Relapse is part and parcel of the disorder. (The Science of Relapse, HBO). Recovery from addiction is not a linear path to success.

There are essentially three basic models that theorize the why of addiction. The first, mostly outdated model is the moral one where drug abuse is seen as a weakness in character or will power. My guess is that many users themselves adhere most strongly to this particular model. Second, the disease model holds that hereditary and genetic factors are at play and therefore the user is powerless in the face of addiction: This premise is a jumping off point for A.A and their 12-step protocol. Third, the addictive behaviour model views addiction as a bad habit that can ultimately be unlearned. (“Addiction as a…” 2005). A complex interaction of social, biological and psychological aspects all play a role in this disorder and generally treatment has moved away from using single source models to more multi-faceted approaches.

I have been struck by the number of clients with addictions that refer to the passive emotional state of “boredom” as a contributing factor to their initial dependence on and subsequent relapse with drugs. Could it be that daily life doesn’t produce enough adrenalin or incentive for the brain to be fully stimulated or engaged? Fear, sadness, anxiety, guilt and anger also play a role in recurrent addiction as does life stress, temptation through social pressure, lack of problem solving skills, ADHD and a lack of cognitive flexibility (Ramo, Anderson, Tate & Brown, 2005). Conversely, strong coping strategies play an integral part in delaying relapse and preventing substance abuse at its onset. That’s where the role of counselling east vancouver comes in.

Dr. Mate (2008) believes that the neuro-circuitry for any addiction be it to shopping or crack-cocaine is the same. He further explains that all drugs are pain killers for emotional and physical pain and that physiologically the brain interprets both types in the same way.

He states that drugs don't cause drug addiction just as cards don't cause gambling.
He defined addiction as a compulsive engagement with the behavior and a preoccupation with it, despite negative consequences and evidence of harm on family, job, physical health, and mental well-being.

He further suggests much addiction is based on attachment voids in children due to our movement from a village context to nuclear family unit where attunement (sharing a child's emotional space) may be lacking. Dr. Mate marries the physiological side of addiction with the social and relational side of it. His line of reasoning is that relational exchanges in childhood - as well as adulthood that are characterized by attunement will result in the release of dopamine in the brain. Thus, childhood experiences that lack attunement may result in low dopamine levels.

He makes a point of acknowledging that lack of attunement does not only mean abusive or neglecting parenting - he extends this to caregiving that is characterised by high levels of stress in our society where parents are often multi-tasking and distracted by too many demands to really just be with their child and mirror their emotions, engage with their child in playful and light-hearted ways or to understand how their child is feeling and engage those feelings.

Addiction, in many cases, can be a temporary state. Although people may become addicted after a single trial of a chemical substance, those that do, generally have lives marked with hardship long before hand. Situational and social factors contributing to chemical addiction can be addressed and transformed. 

References

Addiction as a chronic biopsychological phenomenon. (2005). Retrieved from: http://www.sunshinecoasthealthcentre.ca/biopsychosocial.html

Anderson, G., Ramo, D., Brown, S. (2006). Life Stress, Coping and Comorbid Youth: An Examination of the Stress-Vulnerability Model for Substance Relapse. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 38(3), 255-262.

Jarecki, E., Froemke, S.(Directors). (n.d.). The science of relapse. [Documentary]. Place, HBO.comRetrieved from: http://www.hbo.com/addiction/thefilm/centerpiece/614_segment_3.html

Mate, G. (2008). In the realm of the hungry ghosts: close encounters with addiction. Toronto: Random House.

Ramo, D., Anderson, K., Tate, S., Brown, S., (2005). Characteristics of relapse to substance use in comorbid adolescents. Trends in the Treatment of Adolescent Substance Abuse. 30 (9) 1811-1823.

How to Help a Young Child Grieve

Grief in Children

To this day, I still dislike being inside of a hospital. I was just short of five years old when my mother died of cancer. Common wisdom at the time held the notion that the less was said, the less negative impact the death of the loved one would have on the child: don’t talk about death, don’t discuss feelings and don’t ask too many questions. I got the message loud and clear. Bereavement, particularly for children, can be an exceptionally alienating time where feelings of abandonment and bewilderment run rampant in a child’s spirit and mind.

 Perhaps my family subscribed to the myth that children don’t grieve. This painful, first-hand experience prompted me to eventually research more effective means of dealing with this far-reaching, childhood trauma. I also wanted to look more closely at how children mourn. In The Bright Futures Resource Guide, it notes, “While all children and adolescents yearn for lost loved ones, the way they mourn reflects their developmental level and continues to evolve as they re-experience the loss at different developmental points throughout life.” (Jellinek, Patel and Froehle eds. 2002 p. 283).  

Mourning is a process of reconciliation. Children, similarly to adults, relive their symptoms of sadness, anger, guilt, sleep disturbances and anxiety for months or years afterwards. However, in contrast,  Kubler- Ross (1983) describes the guilt and anxiety stemming from the child’s feeling that somehow they were responsible for the loved one’s death perhaps by having ‘bad’ thoughts about them (Willis, 2002).

 There are four main differences described by Willis (2002) between how children and adults differ in their perception of death. A young child lacks the concepts of:

a)      the irreversible nature of death

b)      the finality

c)       the inevitability, and,  

d)      the causality of death (p. 221).

Willis (2002) suggests that children never be told that ‘God or the angels’ needed the deceased, particularly between the ages of 5 and 6. “Children this age understand ‘need’ only as it relates to them self and their own comfort. Therefore a child might mistakenly blame God for taking away someone the child needed (p.223). Ironically, that was one line of comfort I was handed at the time! Children require concrete terminology in discussions of death as euphemisms such as “passed on” hold little meaning for them.

Another consideration for helping a grieving child could be in the framework of a grief support group with Depression Counsellors Vancouver. A group process can facilitate a firmer grasp on the above concepts, where perhaps, a grieving parent, over-taken with their own feelings of loss, may fall short. Being part of a group would be an essential component in promoting a sense of inter-connectedness, validation and peer support.

Quite possibly, talking about death in a group setting may ease a child’s sense of isolation and provide comfort for their loss by creating a means for empathetic feelings for others.  Creative options such as painting, writing, dancing and music are just as effective and quite possibly a more familiar way of contending with the mix of emotions that come with experiencing death firsthand (Fritz, 2008), particularly if words fail them.

Further reading: A link to 10 books to further help children reconcile to loss of a loved one:

https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/feb/05/top-10-childrens-books-on-death-bereavement-holly-webb

References

Jellinek, M., Patel, B.P., & Froehle M.C. Editors (2002). Mood Disorders: Depressive   and Bipolar Disorders: Special Topic Grief and Bereavement in Children. Bright Futures Resources -Tools for Professional and Families . Retrieved from http://www.beacon.org

Fritz, K, Ed. (2008). Helping a child or adolescent deal with death (cover story). Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior, 24, 1-2.

Willis, C.A., (2002). The grieving process in children: strategies for understanding, educating and reconciling children's perceptions of death. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(4), 221-227.