You may feel depressed, anxious, and stressed, which could affect how you treat, manage, or cope with your illness. But your mind can also have a positive effect on your health. Having a positive outlook on life could help you better manage pain or stress and stay healthier than someone who has less hope. A healthy mind makes your body work better and a healthy body improves your mental well-being.
Together, these two areas create a unit called the mind-body connection. The mind-body connection is a subcategory measured in the MHQ (Mental Health Quotient). Caring for this important relationship can significantly improve overall well-being. The body maintains its physical health and its ability to function.
For example, even small actions such as walking and fine finger movements depend on a healthy body. Meditation and yoga are mindfulness practices that help with your overall health and well-being. Mindfulness practices teach you to be “in the moment. Anxiety and stress are often caused by worry about past mistakes or threats in the future.
Mental health and physical health are closely related. It's no joke, what's good for the body is usually good for the mind. Knowing what you can physically do that has this effect for you will change your day and your life. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of treatment that shows the mind-body connection in action to heal the subconscious mind.
Your mind tries to justify why you feel that way, rationalizing that perhaps the source of your stress is really threatening. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states: “Wellness integrates mental health (mind) and physical health (body), resulting in more holistic approaches to disease prevention and health promotion. James Doty, professor of neurosurgery at Stanford, told Healthline that everyone has the ability to change not only their mind but also their body. In this view, the body was like a machine, with replaceable and independent parts, with no connection whatsoever with the mind.
Some researchers argue that mind-body integration is crucial in the field of medicine, since patients do not feel an obvious division between their body and mind. Effective treatment of addiction and mental illness involves all aspects of health and well-being, especially the mind and body. A Harvard Health report explored the benefits of these three mind-body integration techniques, exploring how they help with anxiety and depression. Following her doctor's advice, Julie tries mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) classes along with her regular diabetes care program.
It's not just that I enjoy these activities, but they literally make me feel better and clear my mind. The mind and emotions are considered to influence the body, since the body, in turn, influences the mind and emotions. PTSD itself can also be considered as a mind-body disorder, since symptoms can manifest in both the physical and mental bodies. A medical approach to mind-body integration focuses primarily on treating patients superficially and avoiding treating symptoms without considering holistic solutions.
There are several different theories of mind-body integration when it comes to medical and psychological issues, and with further research, it may only be a matter of time before most psychologists incorporate these techniques. During mental health and addiction treatment, you can introduce concepts of mind and body into your treatment plan.
