What is Holistic Health?
Anxiety Symptoms
Excessive worrying, Feeling Agitated, Restlessness, Fatigue, Difficulty Concentrating, Racing Heart, Dizziness, Nausea, Lump in the throat, Heart palpitations, Sudden weight loss, Feel like passing out, Sweating, Shaking, Knot in stomach, Body jolts, Restless legs, Night sweats, Head pressure, Bloating, Depersonalization, Memory loss, Weak limbs, Hot flashes, Body pain, Difficulty breathing, Giddiness, Eye strain, Eye tics, Tightness, Numbness, Facial tics, Stuck thoughts, Cold chills, Headaches, Brain zaps, Falling sensation, Sweating, Shaking, Knot in stomach, Weak legs, Blurred vision, Lightheaded, Ringing in ears, Crazy thoughts, Yawning, Chest pressure, Tight band around the head, Hearing loss
Anxiety Sample Causes
Trauma, Financial Stress, Stress from quarantine or fear of the pandemic, Side effect of medication, Stress due to illness, work, issues with friends, school, family issues. Things not going as planned or expected, Worried about what others think about you, Side effect of drug use, Lack of sleep, Caffeine, Alcohol, Skipping meals – blood sugar drop, Negative thinking, Social events, Conflict, Public events or performances, Soda, Chemicals found in foods, Preservatives
Depression Symptoms
Trouble concentrating or memory loss, Fatigue, Feelings of guilt or worthlessness, Hopelessness or helplessness, Pessimism, Insomnia or sleeping too much, Irritability, Overeating or appetite loss, Restlessness, Persistent sad, anxious or feelings of emptiness, Not caring or loss of interest in things you once cared for, Suicidal thoughts or attempts
Depression Sample Causes
Feeling stuck in a bad/unfulfilling job, Trauma – Physical, mental or verbal abuse, Conflict, Certain medications – side effects, Grieving a death or a loss, Major events, Serious illness, Alcohol, Caffeine, Drug use
What is Holistic Health?
Everything in your body is connected; which means your mental health and wellness is directly correlated to your gut health and wellness. There are foods that cause inflammation throughout the body. For example, foods with soy, white and wheat flour (refined carbs), corn flour, dairy, sugar, Gluten or casein, artificial sweeteners, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, vegetable oils (sunflower, safflower, and corn oil), trans -fats or hydrogenated-fats (fried foods), processed meats, and alcohol. Some inflammation is considered to be normal and an essential defense mechanism that the body uses to heal from injuries and illnesses (including infections), but too much inflammation and for an extended period of time can cause a number of diseases and illnesses. Too much inflammation for an extended period of time can also cause pain, swelling, cancers, heat and redness, and can increase your chances of heart disease, obesity, arthritis, diabetes, neurological issues, and digestive disorders, just to name a few.
Some of the best anti-inflammatory fruits are: berries, citrus fruits, kiwi, grapes, pineapple, mangos, apples, and pears. These fruits are also a great source of fiber, vitamins C and A, helpful enzymes, and other antioxidants that fight oxidative stress and encourage a healthy immune response. Some of the best anti-inflammatory vegetables include: broccoli, zucchini, leafy greens like kale and spinach, squash, onions, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and garlic. Vegetables are full of nutrients including phytochemical and fiber, which is important to gut health and is needed for a healthy immune system. One way of ensuring that you are getting enough of these nutrients is by supplementing your diet with organic superfoods from supplements derived from non-synthetic sources; supplements should be plant derived. Adding spices like turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, saffron, rosemary and ginger add color and flavor to our food, while each possesses brain-healthy and even mood-boosting properties. A tip: using black pepper with turmeric significantly increases its availability in the body and brain.
Whole eggs (yolk included) are an excellent source of proteins, healthy fats, vitamins A, D, E, K & B12 and choline. Choline is specifically important for young children as it has been shown to improve brain development and long-term memory. Throw a handful of folate and fiber rich leafy greens into the blender, along with hemp seeds, chia seeds or walnuts which are full of plant based omega-3’s, antioxidant rich berries and creamy avocado which is high in both vitamins and minerals for a power food smoothie full of nutrients to support your physical and mental growth.
Different colored plant foods contain different brain boosting nutrients so in order to optimize the nutrient quality of your diet, be sure to eat a variety of vegetables. With every meal strive to fill 75% of your plate with whole, fiber rich, low glycemic vegetables such as leafy greens, cucumbers, radishes, eggplant, mushrooms and tomatoes. The rest of your meal should include healthy fats like olive oil, walnuts or hemp seeds, low glycemic carbohydrates such as cauliflower or quinoa, and quality sources of protein such as salmon, grass fed beef, sardines, chickpeas and lentils. These foods are important for maintaining tissue, keeping inflammation down and your good mood up!
Leafy greens include spinach, swiss chard, arugula, collard greens, romaine and dandelion greens and try to eat 6-7 cups a day. Greens contain folate, an important vitamin that maintains the function of our neurotransmitters. Its consumption has been associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms and improved cognition.
If something doesn’t make you feel good after eating it, it is probably not good for you. Pay attention to your mental health symptoms in response to various foods and use this body intelligence to guide you. If you feel irritable or exhausted and need a nap hours after a sugary breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, keep that in mind next time you’re choosing your morning meal.
Good foods for a good mood
Broccoli, Olive Oil (breakfast), Blueberries, Fish (Omega 3), Nuts, Tart Cherries, Kelp, Fermented food (Probiotics), Papaya, Green Tea
Supplements that promote a good mood/ mental health
Bromelain, Turmeric, Papain, Devil’s Claw, Boswellia, Ginger Extract, Rutin, Citrus bioflavonoids, Mojave Root
What to avoid
Gluten (refined carbs), Processed foods, blackened or barbequed foods (broiled, charred, cooked at high temps because they release harmful chemicals)
Why Holistic Health?
A good healthcare practitioner won’t treat the symptoms (meds.) but they will treat the underlying cause.
The western diet, which is high in processed, sugary carbohydrates and trans fats, is linked to detrimental effects on our memory, cognition, and even our emotions. It is believed and has been researched by many, that this diet promotes inflammation, alters the gut microbiota, and contributes to chronic stress, both physical and mental.
Your Food affects Your Mood
Vitamins C, D, K, Zinc, Fish Oil, Magnesium Aspartate, L-Theanine, Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Turmeric, Broccoli and Broccoli Sprouts, Cauliflower and Spinach, Dandelion Greens, Matcha and Herbs…cruciferous veggies
Potassium – 4700 mg per day Supports the muscles and the nerves
Most people are deficient in potassium because they only eat 1 ½ cups of vegetables per day. Potassium supports healthy muscle health and repair as well as supports the nervous system and they ability to keep anxiety at bay. If you eat a diet with moderate to high intake of sugar, alcohol, and caffeine, your body will actually need more potassium per day because these are potassium blockers, meaning your body won’t absorb potassium like someone who doesn’t consume as much sugar, alcohol, or caffeine. If you are more stressed or anxious, you will need to eat more potassium in your diet as your body will lose potassium when your body is in this state.
Cognitive benefits
Potassium helps with the healthy functioning of the nervous system. The brain is filled with nerves, therefore, if you have the right amount of potassium in your body your cognitive functioning will be increased. If you have the right amount of potassium in your body, your memory, focus and concentration will be improved. However, if you don’t have the right amount of potassium you will feel foggy and disoriented. Potassium can help take you out of a fight or flight mode. It’s great for people who are stressed and need to be calmed down. Potassium also helps to lift people up and make a person less worried, irritable, or less fearful.
Oxidated Stress
This is the bad stress which affects your body at the cellular level causing your cells to be negatively impacted in the regeneration process. Oxidated stress cases poor cell division and produces the wrong genome expressions which can make you sick and causes cancer. Stress is like an attack on our healthy mechanisms at the genetic level.
Cold Therapy
Over time, many individuals have gotten used to pushing themselves to do more and take on more and achieve more… This desire to push themselves to the limit has caused them to have a constant, underlying level of anxiety or stress. Because the anxiety or stress has been present for so long, most people just get used to it and just push through because they want to achieve what they want. Therefore, our neurological system gets used to this level of underlying stress on the body.
However, when the individual is under more stress then usual it is easy for the anxiety to spike quickly. Often times, people call these attacks panic or anxiety attacks. Cold therapy can be extremely helpful in these situations and the extreme cold can help to reset one’s neurological system and bring stress/anxiety levels back down to normal. Cold therapy techniques include: rubbing ice cubes on your wrists, running cold water on your wrists, taking a cold shower, opening the freezer and breathing in the cold air for a few seconds, even going outside when it is cold out and breathing in the cold air.
Cold showers slow down the heart rate and wake up your vascular system. When this happens your heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood through your body. If you take a cold shower every day, your blood pressure will naturally come down thus impacting your ability to manage stressors and anxiety. Individuals feel more energized after a cold shower because your body is getting more oxygen. When starting this process, start with a warm shower and then for the last few seconds to one minute decrease the water temperature. Breathing in cold air throughout the day is also very good for resetting the neurological system, thus keeping anxiety at bay. Throughout the day, go to freezer and breath in the cold air for a few seconds and say some calming/confident affirmations. This is a great way to check in with yourself throughout the day and make sure that anxiety isn’t getting high. This will help to control the amount of cortisol that is released thus impacting the level of anxiety you feel. If you are able to do this throughout the day, anxiety won’t spike and cortisol won’t be released in large quantities which will positively impact your adrenal glands, thyroid, heart, etc. Putting ice cubes or running cold water on your wrists is another great way to utilize cold therapy and lowering the release of cortisol.
Energy
For long-lasting energy, one should look at food and water as energy sources rather than energy drinks which have long-term negative effects, such as burning out your body and making you more tired in the long run. Many energy drinks contain high quantities of sugar, and sugar spikes energy but then leads to a drastic crash in energy and people often feel more tired than and foggy than they were before they had sugar. MSG is a sneaky way that companies have added sugar to items without admitting to it. MSG will drastically decrease your energy level while also decreasing your mood. Carbohydrates and sugar go hand in hand and zap your energy but leave individuals craving more and more. Chemicals in the food we eat, such as, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, hydrogenated oils, dairy, and soy can also zap our energy levels and are known as fatigue poisons. Gluten is an elastic, rubbery substance found in bread, pasta, crackers, etc. can trap air like a balloon and can cause pain in the digestive system while also making you feel tired.
Food and Vitamins
Vitamins, minerals and amino acids play a huge role in our physical and mental health. Most of my patients at my brick-n-mortar practice had to be pushed a little to take vitamins and were very skeptical when I brought up the negative effects that some food has on our bodies, mentally and physically. This has always surprised me as I grew up taking vitamins every day, without hesitation. Immune health was highlighted until a few years ago. If you take care of your body, your body will take care of you. I would highly suggest going to a holistic practitioner (not someone who is into pharmaceutical medications) who can look at what foods and ingredients you are either allergic or sensitive to. Then if you limit how often you consume these things that cause inflammation in your body, your immune system (your gut) and your brain will function at its highest capacity; thus keeping your mood up, anxiety down and physical health in peak condition which will allow your immune system to appropriately fight off colds, viruses and allergens.
B Vitamins
B1 used up when in a stressed state
- More anxious more internal restless (example: restless leg syndrome)
- Nutritional yeast – 1 teaspoon (yogurt, kaleshake, etc.)
- Helps you sleep
- Prevent nightmares
- Non-synthetic vitamins – get food based vitamins (not One-A-Day)
- Try Supernutrients (helps with cognitive function as well)
Calcium
- Necessity to help keep you in a calm state
- To calm down and reduce stress
- When you are in a state of heightened stress calcium goes right through you and doesn’t get absorbed as well
- No calcium carbonate (that’s limestone!)
- Calcium citrate or aspartate (cheese or yogurt)
Omega 3
- Very important in cognitive function
- Especially for children
- Fish oil is a necessity (high quality not overly fishy smell)
Iodine
- Sea Kelp Source
- Supports the thyroid
- Supports the cognitive function of the brain
- Not enough can cause mental retardation
Blood Sugar
- Too high – brain fog or loss of memory
- Too low – irritability, edgy, ADD
- Protein breakfast (eggs will stabilize blood sugars all day)
- Carb breakfast (cereal) will cause blood sugars to drop throughout the day (unstabilize)
- Avoid sugar
- 7 cups of salad per day to stabilize potassium and help stabilize blood sugars
- Protein breakfast
- Kale shakes
Hormones
- Serotonin – pleasure hormone
- Psych drugs artificially increase serotonin which makes you feel better in the moment but the drugs need to be continually taken because as you continue to take these your body stops making serotonin on its own because it thinks it doesn’t need to because you’re getting it from an outside source
- Then individuals need to move from one drug to the next because the drug stops working because the body is too used to it and it stops being effective
- Good diet will build serotonin
Hyper or Hypo-Thyroid
- Depression
- Apathetic
- Can be improved through the right nutrition
“Life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.”
– Bob Proctor
“I am” Affirmations
Affirmations are a great way to reprogram our pattern of thinking. Whatever follows “I am” will literally determine what we think about ourselves, our successes, our failures, our belief system and eventually our actions. Think of “I am” affirmations as the horse leading the carriage; wherever the horse goes the carriage follows. Therefore, wherever our affirmations go, our thoughts, beliefs and actions will follow. If we can get into the habit of saying positive “I am” affirmations, we can literally change our belief system surrounding our self-image, self-esteem, self-worth, life goals and achievements, relationships with others and the achievability of future goals.
- I am smart
- I am successful
- I am beautiful
- I am strong
- I am worthy of…
- I am powerful
If you are stuck and can’t think of many affirmations, try looking on YouTube for affirmation videos. There are even some YouTube channels that offer videos that are 8-10 hours long which are nice to have on during the day while we are working, while driving in the car, or while sleeping. The more these affirmations are listening to the more they are able to reprogram our subconscious thoughts and beliefs.
The Power of Intention: I need to, I want to, I am going to
Think back to your day and the different activities that you did. Did you find yourself saying, “I need to do this…I have to do that…I should do this.” Or do you think that you said, “I want to do this… I am going to do that.” The more “need to” “have to” “shoulds” that you say, the more tasks are controlling you. If you can try to say, “I want to… I am going to…I’m excited to…” it tells your brain and body that you are in control and are excited to do the things that you are doing; even if you don’t really want to do them in the first place. Try saying, “I want to do the dishes,” or “I am going to do laundry,” over and over again and see if you are more motivated to do the task. Saying that you want to do something puts you in control of that task versus the task controlling you.
Self-sabotage
Are you doing things that self-sabotage? Are you making choices that hurt you rather than help you? So often when people are hurting they don’t care enough to make choices that benefit them but rather make choices that end up hurting them in the end. Self-sabotage is when you actively or passively make choices that prevent you from reaching your goals. Self-sabotage includes: procrastination, blaming others when things go wrong, walking away when things aren’t easy or when they don’t go your way the first time, picking fights with family or friends, dating people who aren’t right for you, having trouble stating your needs, and putting yourself down.
Self-Regulation
I have many patients who blame others or tasks for the reason behind what they are able to not get done or for the reason they feel the way that they do. However, you are the only person who can control you and the things going on in your life. How bad do you want things to change? How bad do you want to reach your goals? You have to dig deep and find that little nugget of motivation that will enable you to take one baby step after another that will lead to the transformation or yourself and your life.
Reflecting on how you feel daily will enable you to make the appropriate schedule, routine, habit changes that need to happen for you to reach goals. From here, you have to learn how to use self-talk to navigate where your thoughts go, thus navigating where your body/focus goes. In regulating your goals, thoughts, and actions, you can completely transform your life within a matter of weeks. But you have to be the one to regulate yourself. You are the only one that can make the changes necessary to feel better. You can ask for support and guidance. You can lean on others…but other people cannot make the changes necessary for long lasting change in your life.
Archetypes
- Carl Jung’s Philosophy
- The Psyche – one’s total personality – consciousness, unconscious, collective unconscious
- The conscious realm – one’s field of awareness, consisting of those psychic contents that one has knowledge of. The individual’s daily interactions with the world around them.
- The unconscious – psychic contents which one is unaware of.
- Collective unconscious – The collective unconscious consists of psychic structures or cognitive categories which are not unique to the individual. But rather are shared by all, influencing their thoughts, behaviors, and the way they look at the world.
Conscious Thoughts vs Subconscious Thoughts
Do you notice your thoughts throughout the day? Or at least some of your thoughts throughout the day and in varying situations or while doing different tasks? The thoughts that you notice and are aware of are your conscious thoughts and these can be manipulated for improving your mood, and finding motivation and determination to do things.
Subconscious thoughts are thoughts that we have throughout the day that we don’t notice. We are constantly taking in what is happening around us, what we are watching on the news, what others are saying, what we might be saying to ourselves during the day at work, doing school work, playing sports, etc. and this information usually is stored in our subconscious and can either negatively or positively impact us.
If we are surrounded by negative influencers, our subconscious might be very negative, skeptical and fear based. However, if we consciously try to surround ourselves with positive influencers, positive affirmations and positive people, our subconscious will likely be more positive, calm and grounded. We have 80,000+ subconscious thoughts per day that highly impact our mental and physical health so it is important to be mindful of what you are surrounding yourself with and what you are letting influence your mood.
Listen to Your Heart
Are your goals and life choices made from what is within your heart or what is within your mind? The choices made from your heart require you to sit and reflect on your deepest desires, dreams and wishes. When you day dream, where does your mind go? What makes your heart jump for joy? Your heart’s desires will never lead you astray. Your gut instinct is always right. Remember that your mind can talk you into or out of anything, and your mind can be influenced by a variety of things like fear or doubt. When trying to discover what your heart’s desires are, doing a meditation might help to clear your mind so you can clearly tune into your body’s response to things.
Reflect and Scale Anxiety, Depression Symptoms, and Happiness: (Mood Tracking)
Daily reflection is a must for self-improvement. You can learn so much about yourself through reflection and scaling different variables. For example, if you have noticed that you have heightened anxiety for a while, at the end of the day take ten minutes to think back over your day, in various situations and around different people and scale the anxiety/stress on a scale from 1-10. From here, make small schedule, routine changes to see if the anxiety/stress comes down.
You can scale anxiety/stress, depression symptoms, happiness, etc. This daily self-care reflecting routine will greatly help you to become self-aware and in control of your life, your happiness, anxiety and depression symptoms. Mood tracking is the one thing that has been impactful and effective for all of my patients, no matter what the reason was for seeking therapy. The daily act of reflecting alone is extremely beneficial but tracking your progress allows for the empowerment to make the changes needed for happiness.
Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is having kindness and warmth for oneself. This is when you can have an understanding and accepting view of yourself, your choices and where you are on your life path. Think of how you would help a friend in your situation. Would you judge and belittle them? Probably not. If a friend is hurting you would be kind, accepting, loving, warm and offer words of encouragement. Self-compassion is when you treat yourself in this manner. If we do not love ourselves, we do not have love to give others. You must look within and accept all of the parts of yourself and where you are at before you can move forward, otherwise you won’t know how to move forward or where you want to go. Accept where you are, the choices you’ve made, the set-backs (which happen to everyone) and have loving self-talk that is motivating and not hurtful. That is self-compassion.
Social Media
This is such a hot topic because so many people argue the benefits of social media. However, social media quickly becomes a way for most people to compare themselves to others and feel worse than they did when they first logged on. What we need to realize is that most of what is put out on social media platforms is fake. People only post what they want others to see. No one’s life is perfect, however with the snap of a selfie and a post to Instagram or Facebook, one can either depict their life to be wonderful and flawless…or sad and hopeless…or upsetting and egotistical.
Therefore, when working on yourself, turn off or greatly limit social media to transform this unhealthy pattern of thinking. When you think negatively about yourself, compare yourself to others or think negatively of others, you are reinforcing this very negative and toxic way of thinking, which if thought of enough will become embedded into your subconscious. We have approximately 80,000 subconscious thoughts per day so it’s time that you re-aim your focus and retrain your brain from focusing on negative things to more positive, self-empowering thoughts.
There are NO Mistakes
The fear of making mistakes holds so many people back. Those who have great success have failed so many times. You don’t attain great things by trying once and not failing. Every attempt is a success because you are one step closer to what you want. The only mistake is not trying at all. So often my patients have told me that things didn’t work out the way they thought or wanted them to but things actually worked out better.
The Power of Intuition
I’m sure you’ve heard of your “gut instinct.” Your intuition is when your gut instinct and your mind work together. Too often people push down their gut instinct and believe that overthinking and analyzing the situation will help them to make the right choices. It’s very important to look at how you’ve been conditioned to think and act. Are you thinking and making choices from your conscious or your subconscious, where a lot of irrational fears live. Intuition is almost nonexistent in a mind that is highly conditioned. In this state of being, the noise of conditioning drowns out the soft hints of intuition. Your intuition will be the choice of happiness, excitement and will be on the path of your dreams and goals. Trust your first thought, that choice you know deep down is right…before fear set in.
Passions/Dreams, Goals, Action Plan
It is necessary to sit and reflect on what your desires and dreams are in life. What kind of life do you want to live now? In 5 years? In 10 years? Let your mind wander so you can visualize and feel different things. From here make a list dreams and set some goals; monthly goals, 1 year goals, 2 year goals, etc. Then focus on the positive feelings that you have surrounding your dreams, maybe make a vision board to keep you focused on what you want to achieve and what makes you happy. The path it takes to reach your goals might be difficult or negative at times but having a vision board and focusing on the positives will reinforce and remind you why you set these goals to begin with. And remember that you will always have setbacks and struggles. These are designed to help you find the motivation and determination to push through and find your strength to stay on your path even when things get tough. Everyone has good and bad days. The bad days make us stronger and the good days keep us going.
What if…
Oh those two little words… What if this happens? What if I fail? What if I never find another job? What if my parents get mad? What if people don’t like me? What if I upset someone? These two little words start off some powerful phrases that will do nothing but hold you back. These two little words will keep you exactly where you are. These two little words are how anxiety wins, fear wins, and depression wins. 99% of things we worry about or have fear about NEVER happen. Feel the worry and let it pass. Better yet talk to the “what ifs” as if you were externalizing anxiety, “That might happen but it probably won’t and I’m going to try it anyway.” “I know I’m a good person and that (what if) will not happen.” “If that (what if) happens, I’m fully capable of figuring things out at that time and I’m not going to let fear hold me back.”
The Power of Prayer
Believing that God and Jesus are listening and just waiting for us to ask for help, support or guidance can be a profoundly useful tool in your mental health toolbox. Knowing that you’re not alone and that you can vent and have a super natural being listening and offering support is comforting and has given countless people the strength and motivation to not only overcome anxiety and depression symptoms when they come, but to also be proactive with their mental and physical health. Prayer to God in Jesus name is an open heart trusting in something much bigger than themself and knowing that God is listening and wants to help through support and guidance.
1 John 5:14-15 – “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.”
Many people ask for the strength, courage and motivation to overcome difficult situations and then days/weeks later realize that things have gotten easier, manageable, or have even gone away. If we pray for God to end a stressful situation or take away anxiety or depression, he will give ideas or support, but we must remember that accountability and responsibility falls on our shoulders. We must take the action that we get from ideas and make the changes necessary to improve our situation. A dream is just a thought, but a goal requires motivation and change.
Anxiety and PTSD Response
It is impossible to have an anxiety attack or panic attack when your body is relaxed. A panic attack is a combination of outward symptoms of having your nervous system stuck in high alert. This happens when your amygdala sends a message that you’re in danger, therefore your body goes into the fight, flight or freeze response. When stressed, our muscles get tense…when nervous our breathing gets shallow. Breathe deep and slowly…
Learn how to regulate your nervous system to be calm, centered, grounded. Train your mind to separate what you’re doing and how you feel about it. CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) – use self-talk and deep slow breathing to reprogram the thought process in the given activity. Try washing your face with cold water. Remember that mono-tasking is good…mentally multi-tasking is bad. Practice mindfulness – be present doing what we’re doing. Notice where you’re at. Do one slow thing a day…stop to pet animal, cuddle, stretch, willingness to be motivated to do activities to be calm, mindful, deep/slow breathing. Remember to self-regulate and check in with your body and mind every few minutes every day.
Sleep
Sleep is detrimental for the entire body because it allows the cells to regenerate appropriately and it helps your body to heal and clears the brain of the little things that happen that aren’t important, for example, this helps people to let go of things that happened that day that might have negatively affected them. Therefore, sleep is a natural built in repair system for your body against daily stressors. If you don’t get enough sleep each night you might notice that you are irritable and that your mood is unstable. It is also more difficult for the body to regulate glucose levels, therefore, it might be more difficult to regulate your blood sugar level throughout the day, adding to how tired you feel. Many people mistake being depressed when they are actually over-tired as the symptoms are very similar. The more stress you have the more sleep that you need. This is due to the stress that is placed on one’s organs, especially the adrenal glands (being depleted) when you experience high levels of stress.
Exercise
Exercise is a necessity for mental health as it promotes positive change and growth in the brain, including neural growth, inflammation reduction, and can create new activity patterns within the brain that promotes feelings of calm and well-being. Sleep and exercise together are a powerful way to regenerate and retrain your thought process, if you get enough sleep and exercise your mind will be clearer, it will be easier to concentrate, and it will be easier to remember and recall things. Exercising causes the brain to release endorphins, powerful chemicals in your brain that energize your mood and make you feel good. You will notice that irritability, stress, and worry will be far less, and your overall mood will improve simply by adding in exercise and getting the appropriate amount of sleep per night.
A research study done by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that running for 15 minutes or walking for one hour per day reduces the risk of depression by 26%. Exercise promotes positive change and growth in the brain, including neural growth, inflammation reduction, and can create new activity patterns within the brain that promotes feelings of calm and well-being. Exercising causes the brain to release endorphins, powerful chemicals in your brain that energize your mood and make you feel good. Exercise is also a healthy distraction that can be great for breaking unhealthy patterns. Exercise requires mindfulness for the present moment and a focus on your body which is a great way to eliminate anxiety symptoms. The body and mind are directly connected, therefore, when your body feels good, your brain will feel good as well.
Reflection vs. Analysis
There’s a fine line between reflecting and analyzing one’s thoughts, feelings, and situations that have happened. Reflecting on what happened, why something triggered a reaction or how you might want to respond differently in the future is a great way to learn and grow. Reflecting is a light, non-judgmental way to review a situation. Analyzing a situation takes reflecting to a much deeper, self-sabotaging mental space. Not much, if anything at all, is learned from analyzing because this leaves the person feeling awful about the situation and about oneself.
I have noticed with my patients, that light reflection at the end of the day can be very useful. Reflecting on the good things that happened that day can leave the individual feeling accomplished and have a positive impact on their confidence and self-worth. Reflecting on the negative things that happened that day or the issues that triggered anxiety or depression symptoms can help the individual make changes to their daily schedule to avoid triggers or treat them like exposure therapy and use proactive tools to cope with triggers in a healthier way.
Look at the last few days and notice times when you analyzed a situation, event, conversation, or something that might be coming up. Now look back and notice times when you reflected on situations, events, conversations or something coming up. Can you notice a difference in how you physically and mentally felt between the times you reflected versus the times you analyzed something?
Analysis Paralysis
When one overthinks to the point where they can’t make a decision because they are so focused on making the “perfect” decision, it’s as though they are mentally paralyzed. There might not be a perfect option or choice and analyzing our situation to the point that it is almost impossible to make a choice is very common for individuals who have anxiety or depression. Again, reflecting on the situation and the options is a good thing but ruminating or analyzing takes reflecting to an unhealthy level.
This will often lead to an increase in self-doubt, skepticism, anxiety and depression symptoms. Being unable to make choices in our lives, or feeling as though we aren’t going to make the right choice, can be extremely frustrating. In these situations, high levels of stress hormones can be released and over time these times of analysis paralysis can negatively impact the individual physically as well as mentally.
What Teens Have Said Their Parent’s Do That Help
- Talk openly with them – giving examples from their life
- Ask open ended questions
- Model behavior – working through anxiety, setting up good/healthy schedule, self-care
- Take them to therapy and are involved in their therapy – for one to grow and change, everyone in the family unit needs to grow and change
- Consciously Connected
What have your parents said that has been helpful and has positively impacted you regarding mental health and what you’ve gone through?
What Parents Do That Doesn’t Help
- Leave them alone
- Tell them what to do
- Make excuses
- Just bring them to a therapist and aren’t involved with therapy
Task
When you have a task to do if you think about the negatives, get an icky feeling in your stomach, or find it very difficult to get started it’s going to be nearly impossible to get started or complete it. When we have something to do that is less than desirable, it’s extremely important to think of the positives; what you enjoy about the task or how you will benefit when the task is complete. If you are able to stay focused on these things, the task will be easier to initiate and complete well.
Think of a task coming up that you are worried about, try to think about all of the positives regarding the task. Think about the outcome and how it will benefit you. Think about and maybe even write about how good you are going to feel when the task is completed. Notice how different you feel after doing this exercise versus before.
Neutral Fact
Thought/Belief/Actions
When something happens that we either like or dislike it initiates a response in us. To find out what has created a response we must reflect on what happened that triggered the response in the first place. This trigger is considered the neutral fact as it doesn’t carry an emotion, it’s simply what happened. One’s response to this neutral fact could be sadness, frustration, disappointment, et cetera.
However, when we are centered and grounded in our neutral or positive energy, we can take a breath and see possibilities, solutions and will recognize our strengths in the situation. From here we can reflect on our beliefs about the situation and what our fears and hopes are. When assessing possible solutions, we can reflect on what solution would be the best option given the situation and the time it occurred.
Action vs. Reaction
When a neutral fact happens, we can either act or react based on light reflection. When an individual takes a neutral fact that triggers an emotional response, worry or anger, for example, they can either step away, take a few deep breaths or modify their self-talk (for example), staying calm and centered, or they can get entrenched in the emotion thus being controlled by external forces instigating a response. When we react, we are letting the neutral fact control us. When we pause and then act based on reflection of the situation, we are putting ourselves in control and thus able to make a decision that is good for us in the present and in the future.
The Benefits of Meditation
Meditation changes both the function and structure of the brain to support self-control; control of your thoughts, your emotions and your actions. Those who meditate on a regular basis have more gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. Meditations positively influence three areas of the brain: the dorsal lateral, prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Daily meditations can help you to change your attitude and outlook towards your life. You will likely gain a better understanding of yourself as well as others. People have been meditating for thousands of years to still the mind which stops the mind from multitasking in an aimless stream of thoughts.
From here, the individual learns to control their thoughts and have a purposeful stream of mental clarity. In 2005, Sara Lazar, a Harvard neuroscientist, started publishing her findings on regular meditations and what it can do for your brain. Her findings include that meditation can change the structure of your brain, thickening key areas of the cortex that help you control your attention and emotions. There are many free sites online that offer guided meditations for whatever you might be interested in; for example, relaxation, self-awareness, anxiety reduction, releasing the past, connecting with God’s word, raising your vibration, etc.
Meditations Have Been Known To Help With
Focus on the present
Reduce pain
Reduce depression and anxiety
Increase your attention span
Increase self-awareness
Gain new perspectives on stressful situations
Stress management
Reduce negative emotions
Increase imagination and creativity
Increase patience and tolerance
Balance, ground and center yourself
Popular Types of Meditations
Mindfulness meditations
Progressive relaxation
Loving kindness meditation
Spiritual meditation
Focused meditation
Movement meditation
Mantra meditation
Transcendental meditation
Guided visualization meditation
Meditation before Sleep
Meditations are a must throughout the day for mental and physical health. Meditations before bed can help with clearing the mind and distracting the individual from the stressors of the day or days to come. This is a great way to calm your mind while also relaxing off to sleep with a good mindset. There are several free bedtime or sleep guided meditations on sites like YouTube. There are also “I am” affirmations that are 8+ hours long and can be used while sleeping to reprogram your mind while you sleep. There are Christian channels that recite passages from the Bible as well that are either short, to help you fall asleep, or long, to help you stay asleep while you are in a positive, safe mental space.
Vaccines and Mental Health Disorders
Researchers in a study from Yale found overwhelming evidence that correlates the influenza vaccine with higher rates of OCD, anorexia, anxiety disorder and tic disorder (Yale Daily News, 2017). Due to the wide variety of ingredients in vaccines or shots are thought to do more harm than good. We are told not to consume any of the ingredients in shots on their own, which proves just how harmful these mix of chemicals can be. We need to focus on boosting our immune system and reducing inflammation for our overall health, not injecting ourselves with chemicals that are so harmful that if we ingest them on their own we’re told to call poison control. Our bodies can keep us healthy and food can be our medicine if used the right way (Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, MD; & Dr. Uma Naidoo, MD).
Externalization
Most of my patients in the 10+ years that I’ve been a psychotherapist have claimed anxiety and call it, “my anxiety.” This is so terrible because when you say “my anxiety” or “my depression” repeatedly, you are literally claiming it and saying to yourself that it will never go away…you are saying that it will always be a part of you. Externalization is an extremely useful technique as it allows the individual to create distance from anxiety or depression. Externalization requires the individual to talk to anxiety as if it’s an external force trying to control the individual.
One way of communicating with anxiety would be to say, “Anxiety, you are not controlling me today. That was an irrational thought and I know it’s not true.” Or talk to depression by saying, “Depression, I’m not going to lay in bed today. I’m going for a walk and I’m meeting up with a friend and you’re not going to stop me.” This is a great way for the individual to take back their control from anxiety and depression while achieving their goals and living the life that they want.
Tapping
Inspired by acupuncture, tapping utilizes the body’s meridian to release certain fears, worries, an unresolved problem or even a bad memory. Tapping requires the individual to start the tapping process either while having high anxiety, fears, and sadness or while recalling a bad memory, traumatic event, etc. From here, the individual starts the tapping techniques that are on specific points on their head, face and down the body for various feelings and emotions. The basic tapping process is on the face and hands and only takes a few minutes to be effective.
This is a highly effective holistic natural healing technique that can be effective for a variety of issues. It combines ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology. When thinking about a negative event or emotion (that might be stuck in one’s mind and body) while tapping, a release takes place, and the more you do this technique the more cellular memory of the event or issue is released from one’s mind and body. Therefore, tapping throughout the day for proactive mental and physical health is optimal. However, if one can only think to use it when they are in a heightened state of anxiety or sadness, it will be a helpful therapeutic tool. There is a tapping app and a YouTube channel that teaches this method and even has exercises that you can watch and do as well to learn the methods.
Constructive vs. Destructive Dialog
Do you notice your self-talk throughout the day and doing various tasks? Being mindful and reflecting on your thoughts throughout the day gives you the opportunity to change the pattern of thinking if needed. It’s extremely difficult, maybe even impossible, to have a good time if you have negative self-talk. Negative self-talk is extremely destructive and will lead to low self-esteem, self-doubt, and possibly a lack of achievement or success. Our thoughts (and self-talk) impact our beliefs which in turn impact our actions.
Therefore, if we have positive self-talk, even if we aren’t doing the greatest at the moment, we will achieve more than if we are hard on ourselves. If we have positive self-talk or say positive affirmations throughout the day, even if we make a mistake we will feel better and come away with higher self-esteem, self-worth and a higher sense of self. If we stay calm and positive, we learn more about ourselves and more about the situation, thus enabling us to do better in the future.
“Tough times never last, but tough people do!”
Robert Schuller
Scheduled Conversation about Mental Health and Self-Care
If possible, schedule in a conversation a few times per week to discuss mental health, physical health, and self-care; especially if you are parents who want to have open, constructive conversations with your kids. If you are an adult, find a friend or two or a family member that you can have these constructive conversations with. This is a very proactive and positive way to ensure that you continue to reflect, learn and make progress with your goals, self-care and overall health. Scheduling in these conversations will promote reflection as you will have to take time each day to note your thoughts and progress so you can share with your support system. Verbalizing your thoughts, progress and goals will help you to stay focused on the positives while also discussing some challenges that you overcame and what you learned about yourself.
Personal Accountability
Many individuals like to play the “blame game,” which allows them to avoid taking responsibility for the things in their life that are going wrong, or not the way they want them to go. This allows the person to be in the victim mentality, thus expecting others to help them and change things for them. However, if the individual doesn’t take responsibility they will not be in control of their life and they will not have the motivation to make the necessary changes to improve things.
Accountability gives the individual the power to accept what went wrong, reflect on what might make things better and then gain the resources to make things better. If the person doesn’t take responsibility, they are in a very negative pattern, allowing others and situations to control their life, their success, and their happiness. Furthermore, there are many situations where it is the fault of the individual and once they accept this and find the motivation to make changes to feel better, they will feel empowered to continue taking responsibility, as it is very liberating.
Individuals who constantly overstep and help to excess are only enabling the individual to stay in this negative pattern. It is human nature to want to help others, but it can be harmful if the individual isn’t held accountable and doesn’t take responsibility for their change. It is often the most beneficial if those around the individual give their support by listening and advising only when asked.
Effective/Healthy Boundaries
Boundaries are essential for growth, balance and self-care for mental and physical health. It is important to take into account all of the people and situations in our lives when setting healthy boundaries. When considering what boundaries to create, it is helpful for the individual to sit and reflect on their relationships holistically. Once the individual has reflected, they can think about what boundaries are needed for their self-care. Healthy boundaries are those that enable the individual to do the activities that they want, be around people that they want and eat the food that they want, etc. at a level that is healthy and not excessive.
Doing things in excess or overly committing to others (time and resources) can leave individuals feeling depleted and burnt out. Effective boundaries allow the individual to do what they want at a level that is benefiting them and not hurting them. Setting boundaries doesn’t mean that they have to completely cut things or people out of their lives (unless they are an unhealthy, negative force), it simply means that limits and saying “no” at times is healthy and necessary for one’s mental and physical health.
From Problem Focused to Solution Focused and Focused on Strengths
There are therapists that like to be problem focused during their therapy sessions. I think that it is important to reflect and discuss the problem, however, there needs to be a movement towards focusing on the positives and the solutions so the patient can move from where they are to where they will thrive. It is essential to recognize the negatives so that patterns can be broken and hopefully not repeated, however, if an individual is being asked to repeatedly focus on the problem and the negatives, they aren’t able to focus on their strengths, the potential solutions and what could help them move forward in life towards goals.
Remember, whatever we focus on will determine how we feel and how successful we are in reaching our goals. It’s important to reflect on the problem and negative patterns, but it is imperative that individuals move from problem focused to solution focused in a timely fashion. Solution-focused therapy is a forward moving therapy model that focuses on the individual’s strengths rather than weaknesses or deficits, and on skills, resources and coping abilities that will help in reaching future goals set by the individuals. Solution focused therapy has been proven to be as effective as problem focused therapy models for anxiety and depression symptoms.
Solution-Focused Therapy Model
More than Miracles ~ Deshazer, Dolan et al (2007)
- If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
- If it works, do more of it.
- If it’s not working, do something different.
- Small steps can lead to big changes.
- The solutions are not necessarily directly related to the problem.
- The language for solution development is different from that needed to describe the problem.
- No problem happens all the time; there are always exceptions that can be utilized. Reflect on your day and the past few days, recall times when the problem wasn’t around. Reflect on these times in a journal. What happened that was different. For example, if depression symptoms are present in the majority of your days, reflect back on the times when depression symptoms were not present and what you did or what you were able to accomplish. How do you think this was possible? Be mindful of your thoughts and actions and once you know what worked to make this exception possible, try to do more of it throughout the day.
- The future is both created and negotiable.
Handbook of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy – Thorana Nelson and Frank Thomas (2007)
- Change is constant and inevitable; just as one cannot communicate, one cannot not change.
- If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Once you know what works, do more of it! If it doesn’t work, then don’t do it again – do something different!
- Individuals have resources and strengths, both personal and contextual. Identify and focus on these often.
- There is not necessarily a logical relationship between the problem and the solution. Identify and amplify potential solutions.
- A focus on the possible and changeable is more helpful than a focus on the overwhelming and intractable.
- A small change can lead to bigger change.
Narrative Therapy ~ Externalization
Think of a problem you currently have, for example, anxiety. Externalization asks the individual to talk to the problem (anxiety) as though it were separate from the individual. For example, if you were externalizing anxiety you would talk to anxiety as if it were a crazy voice in your head or an external force that you can talk to and push away. When doing this you are externalizing anxiety and not accepting that it is a part of you. Internalizing anxiety would mean that you would think of anxiety as a problem that will be a part of you forever, where you have no control over it, but rather it controls you whenever it wants to. Try talking to your problem as if it were a separate entity like this, “Anxiety I hear the irrational thought that you just put in my head but I’m choosing not to listen to it. I’m going to do what I want and what I know will make me happy.”
Think of a problem (anxiety) and try creating a narrative with it. Throughout the day, talk to anxiety, depression symptoms, fear, stress, etc. as though it were a person on your shoulder trying to manipulate your mood, emotions and actions. Push it away and take control with your words. Try this as much as possible and reflect on how you feel.
The Miracle Question ~ Solution Focused Therapy Technique
The miracle question is used to help the patient see what would happen if the problem were magically solved. It helps individuals visualize how life would be different if the problem weren’t around anymore. It helps to provide positive feelings as to help the individual create new behaviors.
Suppose last night while you were asleep a miracle happened. You woke up this morning and by some miracle everything you ever wanted, everything good you could ever imagine for yourself, had actually happened – your life had turned out exactly the way you wanted it and the problem was no longer a problem. Think about it now. Visualize what things would look like and how you would feel.
What will you notice around you that let you know that the miracle had happened?
What will you see?
How will you feel?
How would you be different?
What difference would you (and others) notice?
Has any of this ever happened before?
What would need to happen to do this?
The “as if” exercise therapy for the miracle question in solution-focused therapy
- Tomorrow morning, as soon as you get up, as soon as you are reminded of your problem, repeat the miracle question and ask yourself the questions above.
- Then ask yourself, “What could I do that I don’t do now?”
- Then let something come to mind.
- Several things might come to mind but choose the smallest, least significant thing that you could do if your problem was no longer present in your life that you don’t already do.
- Choose something definite, some act or behavior, something that could be measured or noticed, not just an attitude.
- Then during the day, act “as if” your problem was gone.
- Put the “as if” change into practice, actually do it, that small insignificant thing.
- Keep doing it all day and the next choose something else, some other small insignificant thing to do as well.
- Keep doing these things as if you did not have the problem.
- Add a new behavior each day.
- And a miracle will happen: you likely will not have the problem anymore.
Acting “as-if” frees you to not have the problem anymore.
Anxiety Management Workspace
What are some coping skills that you have used in the past to overcome anxiety?
How well and how often did the coping skills work?
What are some new coping skills that you would like to have in your therapy toolbox for next time anxiety shows up?
Being proactive with self-care throughout the day, every day can greatly help to eliminate anxiety in your daily life. What self-care activities can you add in to your daily routine as proactive mental healthcare?
Depression Coping Skills Worksheet
90% of what it takes to overcome depression symptoms is simply showing up, pushing through, and breaking the pattern or habit of thought and behavior. How have you worked through depression symptoms in the past? Have you given in to them or have you pushed through?
What are some new coping skills that you would like to try next time depression symptoms try to ruin your day, week, or month?
Any schedule changes that you would like to make?
Future Goal Exercise
Think of a date in the future when you would like to have a big important goal achieved. Then work backwards by date to see what little goals you want to make along the way to achieve the big goal. For example, if you’d like to buy a car by the end of the year, set up small goals (and dates you’d like to achieve these goals by) that you need to achieve to make buying a car possible by the date you listed.
Big Important Goal:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Small goal and date you’d like it achieved by:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Small goal #2 and date you’d like it achieved by:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Small goal #3 and date you’d like it achieved by:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A transformed list of tasks: From being controlled to being in control.
Our self-talk can often determine how we view and feel about a task. Take some time to list some tasks and reflect on how you speak to yourself regarding those tasks. For tasks that you say, “I should do…” or, “I have to…” try to start saying, “I want to…” or, “I am going to…” Do this as much as possible during the day to see if you feel differently about the tasks and track if you feel more in control of your life.
When you start changing the words you use, your thoughts surrounding that task or situation will likely change. When you feel like you’re in control, anxiety and depression symptoms are not in control anymore. Your words become your thoughts, your thoughts become your beliefs, and your beliefs come through in your actions. Use words that empower you. Then use these “I want to…” and, “I am going to…” statements like affirmations. The more you say them, the more you will want to do the task because you will feel in control and empowered.
Try to notice how often you are able to flip the script from a negative (I need to/I should/I have to) to a positive (I want to/I am going to).
Holistic Health
What would you like to change about your physical health (exercise/self-care) that you think would positively affect your mental health?
What would you like to change about your diet (healthy eating/anti-inflammatory diet) that you think would positively affect your mood?
What would you like to change about your spirituality (praying, meditating) that you think would positively affect your mood?
Exposure Therapy Exercise
Think of a phobia you may have, or something like social anxiety, talking on the phone, walking down the sidewalk when it’s busy outside, etc. Think of something that you would like to overcome. Make a list of these things and describe what you feel like when you do these things.
Now try exposure therapy. Make a schedule where you do the activity daily. Make a list of affirmations that empower you when thinking of the things you’ve listed above. For example, “I am in control,” “I am strong,” “I want to do this (talk on the phone),” “I am want to go for a walk around others.” Start saying these affirmations before you do the activity that causes you anxiety/stress. Remember to take long slow deep breaths throughout the activity. Be mindful of what’s around you, what do you see, what do you hear, what can you smell, etc. Reflect on how you feel when you get home after having done the activity.
Success and Fulfillment
Think of the successes you’ve had this past month or so. Make a list (good grade, started school/course, bought house or car, started exercise routine, started eating healthy diet, etc.).
Now look at that list and reflect on each success and think about the fulfillment you received from that success. Do you think that you felt fulfilled and in what way? Happiness? Contentment? Gratitude? Gratefulness?
Food as Medicine
Common foods that cause inflammation throughout the body, thus causing mental health issues: Gluten, Dairy, Sugar, Soy, Caffeine, Alcohol, Drugs, GMO’s, Preservatives, to name a few. Do you know what foods you are sensitive to or allergic to? Talking with a Naturopathic MD to have natural food sensitivity testing done will help you out a great deal as you can avoid foods that work against your chemistry and will cause mental and physical health.
Reflecting on what you eat and drink, do you consume a lot of these foods and drinks?
What foods do you want to try eliminating so you can have a cleaner diet?
What foods and drinks would you like to add into your diet daily? (Fish, Green Tea, etc.)
What supplements would you like to add into your diet daily? (For example, vitamin d, zinc, vitamin k, magnesium aspartate, turmeric, fish oil, etc.)
Mental Multitasking Workspace
Think back at times during your day that you were thinking about several things and anxiety/stress were high. This is called mental multitasking; when you try to keep everything in your head and keep a running log of things you have to do.
What were you thinking about when you were mentally multitasking?
Make a list of things that you would like to remember to do later. Getting it out of your head and writing it down somewhere will take away a lot of stress and mental anguish.
Journal Writing Prompts
~ What is something you did today that brought you joy?
~ What is something you heard today that brought you to a mindful moment?
~ What meditation did you try today and how did you feel? What did you
learn about yourself?
~ Describe a constructive or feel good conversation that you had today. Who
was it with? What did you talk about?
~ What is one of your earliest happy memories?
~ I got to where I am today because I am ___________.
~ Describe 5 nice things that happened to you in the past week.
~ Think about your absolute perfect job. Now describe it and describe how you
feel doing that job.
~ What have you done over the past week to bring yourself closer to your
career goals?
~ Write a letter to someone who has wronged you and bring it full circle,
starting with the negative things and finishing up the letter with what you
learned and how the experience made you a better person.
~ Talk about the ways that you are different from your parents. How does it
impact your relationship with them?
~ Imagine a world where you could do everything you like without being
judged by the people around you. Would anything change in your life?
~ Imagine a world where money didn’t matter. What would you do for a
career? Where would you live? What kind of house would you have?
~ If you use social media, describe the ways each platform impacts your day.
What are the upsides and downsides of spending time online?
~ Describe your alone, quiet time. What does that time do for you?
~ I spend too much time doing _________.
~ Describe your morning routine. What would you like to change to have a
better start to your day?
~ What would the top ten things on your bucket list be?
~ Describe an event that changed you for the better.
~ What is going great in your life right now?
~ What would a perfect day look like for you?
Resources
Productivity Planner: By Intelligent Change Inc.
The ABCs of Success: By Bob Proctor
The Five Minute Journal For Kids: By Intelligent Change Inc.
The Five Minute Journal: By Intelligent Change Inc.
The Motivation Manifesto: By Brendon Burchard
This Is Your Brain On Food: By Uma Naidoo, MD
Vaccines linked to mental disorders by Yale study. Yale Daily News: By Kevin Wang February 21, 2017. yaledailynews.com
Other products offered by Sara Goetz include online 8 – week holistic, strategic therapy programs for teens, adults and families. To find out more email the author at innovativetherapy.saragoetz@gmail.com