I have been working on my dissertation since June, which is why I haven't been posting as often as usual. Probably because my research deals with anxiety and depression, I feel the need to write about mental health today. I'm going to keep this short because I do need to get back to my research.
What I want to put out there is that I think us people in the CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) professions need to step up our game when it comes to helping our patients/clients who have mental health issues. Here is some of what I think we need to do as a community:
1. Refer out. Learn to recognize when someone needs help from a mental health professional. Have contact information on hand. Don't let your ego get in the way by telling yourself you can handle something you are not trained for. People trust us and we need to honor that by admitting when they need to see someone who can help them in ways that we can't.
2. Stop shaming people who take prescription drugs to treat their mental health issues. There is NO shame in taking the medicine you need in order to function in daily life. People feel enough of that without our help.
3. Stop pretending like anxiety and depression are within the conscious control of the people who suffer. People do not "choose" to have anxious or depressive episodes. Telling them to just practice choosing happiness or change their perspective so they won't be stressed is not compassionate. If people could just choose not to have these conditions, no one would have them. I haven't met one person yet who wants to be anxious or depressed.
4. Acknowledge that we don't have all the answers. Yes, we have some tools that can help with anxiety and depression. And yes, for some people, CAM therapies will be all they need. But for others, our therapies need to be provided alongside pharmaceutical interventions. We need to reach beyond our ego and ideology that "natural is best" and support our clients/patients to do what is best for them.
The reality is that some people have mental health disorders that can only be adequately controlled with medication. We need to be supportive of that. I have seen too many people in my office who need their medication to function, but feel a huge amount of self-loathing because of it. They have been to other practitioners that tell them they shouldn't need pharmaceuticals if they are doing all the "right" things for self-care. They want to be able to switch to only natural therapies, but they can't because when they try, their anxiety or depression becomes so bad that they can't function, or worse, they begin to contemplate suicide. FYI, I don't ever tell people to stop their medication. I work with the mental health professionals and they decide when dose adjustments can be made.
We as practitioners should not contribute to self- loathing by making people feel like they made a wrong choice by taking their medication. We should be providing a judgement-free zone where people feel safe to really be who they are. Yes, I am a CAM practitioner. But I am also a scientist. I realize that modern medicine was begun because traditional medicine has limits. Modern medicine has limits too, and can learn much from CAM traditions. If we want to create the best healthcare system possible, we are going to need both. Our goal as health professionals should be to create a system that facilitates healing in the best way possible - not to prove that our way is the only right one, or to worry about other people "stealing" our business. Healthcare shouldn't be a primarily a business. It should be compassionate before anything else. When it comes to helping those with mental health problems, I think we all can do better. And I'm calling on everyone to participate.
What I want to put out there is that I think us people in the CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) professions need to step up our game when it comes to helping our patients/clients who have mental health issues. Here is some of what I think we need to do as a community:
1. Refer out. Learn to recognize when someone needs help from a mental health professional. Have contact information on hand. Don't let your ego get in the way by telling yourself you can handle something you are not trained for. People trust us and we need to honor that by admitting when they need to see someone who can help them in ways that we can't.
2. Stop shaming people who take prescription drugs to treat their mental health issues. There is NO shame in taking the medicine you need in order to function in daily life. People feel enough of that without our help.
3. Stop pretending like anxiety and depression are within the conscious control of the people who suffer. People do not "choose" to have anxious or depressive episodes. Telling them to just practice choosing happiness or change their perspective so they won't be stressed is not compassionate. If people could just choose not to have these conditions, no one would have them. I haven't met one person yet who wants to be anxious or depressed.
4. Acknowledge that we don't have all the answers. Yes, we have some tools that can help with anxiety and depression. And yes, for some people, CAM therapies will be all they need. But for others, our therapies need to be provided alongside pharmaceutical interventions. We need to reach beyond our ego and ideology that "natural is best" and support our clients/patients to do what is best for them.
The reality is that some people have mental health disorders that can only be adequately controlled with medication. We need to be supportive of that. I have seen too many people in my office who need their medication to function, but feel a huge amount of self-loathing because of it. They have been to other practitioners that tell them they shouldn't need pharmaceuticals if they are doing all the "right" things for self-care. They want to be able to switch to only natural therapies, but they can't because when they try, their anxiety or depression becomes so bad that they can't function, or worse, they begin to contemplate suicide. FYI, I don't ever tell people to stop their medication. I work with the mental health professionals and they decide when dose adjustments can be made.
We as practitioners should not contribute to self- loathing by making people feel like they made a wrong choice by taking their medication. We should be providing a judgement-free zone where people feel safe to really be who they are. Yes, I am a CAM practitioner. But I am also a scientist. I realize that modern medicine was begun because traditional medicine has limits. Modern medicine has limits too, and can learn much from CAM traditions. If we want to create the best healthcare system possible, we are going to need both. Our goal as health professionals should be to create a system that facilitates healing in the best way possible - not to prove that our way is the only right one, or to worry about other people "stealing" our business. Healthcare shouldn't be a primarily a business. It should be compassionate before anything else. When it comes to helping those with mental health problems, I think we all can do better. And I'm calling on everyone to participate.