Break the stigma through therapy – Deccan Herald

With 7.5 per cent of Indias population afflicted by some kind of mental health disorder,the country faces a huge burden of mental illnesses. Can leveraging the benefits of alternativetraditional therapies along with modern medicine-based treatments help achievebetter mental health for the masses? Health experts today are discussingand debating this question.

When used individually, or as adjuvant therapies alongside mainstream treatments, a numberof alternative practices can help people achieve better mental health and wellness. Astudy published in the BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine journal concludedthat yoga, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy wereeffective in promoting overall mental health. Similarly, a study published intheJournal of Evidence-BasedIntegrative Medicinefound that anhour-long soundmeditation session helped people reduce tension,anger, fatigue,anxiety,anddepressionwhile increasing a sense of spiritual well-being.Here are some therapies that can help:

Sound healing

Sound healing or music therapy is an ancient knowledge that has been used forcenturies as a healing tool. The use of music, singing, and instruments that releasevibrations to improve the mental, emotional and physical state of a person is a practicethat can effectively be termed as vibrational medicine.

Sound healing creates a shift inthe brainwave state allowing the mind to go from the normal beta state (normal wakingconsciousness) to the alpha state (relaxed consciousness), quite similar to meditation.Sound healing particularly helps in conditions like anxiety, stress, depression and sleepdisorders.

Mindfulness meditation

Sages and saints spent years meditating onthe truth of the self and achieved a higher mental and spiritual elevation through theprocess. Mindfulness meditation is a process that trains the mind to focus on thepresent, moment by moment, breath by breath. Rooted in Buddhism, it involves using breathing techniques and generating completeawareness of the mind and body by becoming highly aware of the present. People who learn the art are said to be calmer, clearer and less stressed in their daily lives.

Yoga

Yoga helps achieve a peacefulalignment between the body and mind. It modulates the stress response systems bytraining the mind to perceive stress and anxiety differently. It not only relieves symptoms of stress and anxiety, but also helps curtail thenegative impact of stress on the body and reduces risk factors for chronic diseases, suchas heart disease and high blood pressure.

A study published in the journalFrontiers inPsychiatry found that yoga had positive effects on people with mild depression and sleep problems. It also improved symptoms of psychiatric disorders like schizophreniaand ADHD among patients using medication.

(The author is director Poddar Wellness Ltd)

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Break the stigma through therapy - Deccan Herald