This information is excerpted from the book, Recapture Your Health, by Walt Stoll, M.D. and Jan DeCourtney, C.M.T. Feel free to use up to 10 tips in an article or story as long as you quote the source and ordering information for the book (at bottom).

Health Tip No. 17: Mental and Emotional Issues are also Physical Issues

The general area of mental or emotional problems is not so different from any other type of chronic health problem. Especially in terms of health, the body and mind cannot be separated. Because of the connection between mind and body, when a person has what seems to be a physical malady, this does not mean it is unrelated to the mind. When one suffers with mental or emotional distress, this does not mean that it has nothing to do with the body. Like all chronic conditions, mental-emotional difficulties are caused by the same three basic factors, the combination of: genetics, stress, and lifestyle choices.

Current conventional treatment for mental-emotional issues usually consists of drugs to deal with chemical imbalances and counseling for psychosocial difficulties. Sometimes conventional approaches are the best option for certain individuals. However, for many people, other solutions are more effective. Most types of chronic illness bundled into the category of mental-emotional conditions are best treated using a holistic approach that addresses different aspects of a person. This approach works because multiple causes and mechanisms usually create such conditions. A wide variety of methods, techniques, and treatments can work synchronistically to enhance the specific health needs that resolve mental or emotional symptoms.

Here are three approaches for improving mental-emotional issues.

1. Improve your chemistry by following the pattern of the 3LS Wellness Program: Skilled Relaxation, Whole Foods Diet, and Right Exercise.
2. Implement psychological and personal growth approaches to improve your relationship with yourself and others.
3. Use other healing approaches including bodywork, certain modalities that promote the growth of spirit, vibrational or energy medicine, and combination techniques.

There is overlap in what each of these approaches accomplishes. Each can help the other, although it may take a combination of all three approaches to fully resolve mental-emotional symptoms.

Walt Stoll, MD, and Jan DeCourtney, CMT, are co-authors of the book, Recapture Your Health: A Complete Step-by-Step Program to Reverse Your Chronic Symptoms and Create Lasting Wellness, (ISBN 0965317129), available at local and online bookstores, and from Sunrise Health Coach Publications, 1-877-357-9355 or www.sunrisehealthcoach.com.