Page 19 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

Promoting Wellness in Mental Health: The CAM Approach in Psychiatry | 19

Religion plays a major role in the lives of a great many, and it
can have profound effects on the mental health of its adherents.
Individuals can suffer great anxiety and depression over a
religious issue, be it guilt from transgressions, abortion,
infidelity, pornography addiction, dishonesty, child abuse,
divorce or other weighty matters. Fear of going to hell or being
excommunicated can become an obsession. They may not think
to mention such things to a psychiatrist since he is a doctor and
not a priest/pastor/rabbi.
People of Eastern faiths have additional issues and traditions
that could trouble them and that are worth exploring.
The simple question “Do you go to church?” or “Do you have a
spiritual practice?” could open the floodgates to information and
insight into the case as well as an avenue of recovery for the
individual. Such a person could benefit from religious counseling
perhaps more so than any other form of treatment.

Addressing the Mind
Traditional treatment of mental and emotional issues involves
psychotherapy, some form of practitioner-patient interchange
that allows the client to discuss trauma and life issues with the
hope of unburdening the individual to some degree or leading
him/her towards solutions for the issues he/she faces.
But other approaches have emerged—many from Asia—that
provide a different look at the mind and living which offers
therapeutic benefits.
The concept of mindfulness or being in the present has been
imported from India, China, and neighboring regions and
encourages quieting the mind rather than engaging it or delving
into it continuously for solutions.
This practice of quieting thought can have many forms,
including physical actions such as breathing exercises or taking
walks and has become a popular method for calming anxiety,
reducing obsessive thought, and relieving depression.