“The first wealth is health”
                      -- Virgil 

A buzz word that’s used regularly these days is ‘holistic’ which in essence means that things are interconnected and form wholes. So when we look at one part of something the other parts have to be taken into consideration also. Using this idea when looking at a human being, in relation to health, its important to consider physical health, mental health and social connection as primary markers to overall well being, not in isolation but as a whole. Obviously there are other factors that contribute towards health such as how we find meaning in our lives, such as religion and spirituality or the career we choose.

When one of the primary aspects mentioned above is out of quilter then there can be ramifications for the other dimensions of our being. For example, there is ever increasing evidence showing that when someone is depressed there can be physical ailments such as the negative impact on the heart due to the increase of adrenalin production that occurs when someone is depressed. In addition, depression also has social impacts on family and friends due to withdrawal and the wider implications on society through its impact on work performance etc. Basically, disharmony in one area has consequences and rippling effects in the other realms of our being. The flip side of the coin with holism is that positive actions and behaviours in one part of our lives has the potential for positive outcomes for the rest of our being and arguably the rest of society.

Because this is a huge topic this blog will just focus on the positive impact of exercise on our general well being. It has been shown that doing regular exercise not only improves physical health indicators but also improves mood, boosts self esteem, wards of anxiety and depression, improves sleep and reduces stress. The ‘drug’ that significantly contributes to these benefits is endorphin. Endorphin is an opioid that is naturally produced by the brain and is part of the neurotransmitter family associated with neural communication. 

Endorphins function, once they are released, helps to reduce stress, increases euphoria and a general sense of wellbeing as well as reduce pain. It’s able to do this by blocking neurotransmitters that cause pain and allow neurotransmitters to release dopamine which creates pleasure. 

There are a number of ways and activities that facilitate the release of endorphins. As mentioned above physical exercise, but also laughter (inner jogging!), sex, eating a small amount of dark chocolate and listening to music. It’s claimed that the aroma of vanilla extract or lavender produce endorphins. An interesting correlate between physical exercise and social connection is where studies have shown that doing exercise in groups such as team sports or a pilates class for example produces more endorphins than if you did the same exercise on your own.

At Counselling and Psychotherapy we work from a holistic perspective by seeing the individual as a whole that is part of a broader field, which means that all aspects of somebody’s life has to be taken into consideration to facilitate health and growth.

May this day find you well 

Counselling and Psychotherapy Team

“If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia” - Thomas S. Szasz

From a mental health perspective the diagnosis of  schizophrenia is probably the most feared, misunderstood and maligned. The stigma that has arisen is further promulgated by the media and entertainment industry that perpetuates urban myths that keep this mental health challenge firmly in the dark ages. For example, the stereotype that schizophrenics are dangerous and out of control is actually contrary to reality as they are more likely to be victims of violence. For those who have been given the label of schizophrenia it’s more distressing and damaging than the condition underlying the condition. 

Hearing voices is a relative common experience, for example, 4% of the population can hear voices during any 18 month period. When someone hears voices it doesn’t mean that person is having a psychotic episode. Many famous people have the experience of hearing voices such as Plato, Beethoven, Shelly, St Francis, Winston Churchill and Isaac Newton to name a few. 

Voices can be of either gender, any age, have an identity or could just be sounds such a birds chirping. Voices can be positive and therefore have a transformative capacity. But there is no doubt that some people who hear voices can go through a torrid time in learning to integrate the voices into their lives. Unfortunately, it’s the negative voices that are most misunderstood and generally feared. Within clinical mental health services the general response to hearing voices is medication and these do serve a purpose. However, there are some within this field and the hearing voices community that are working with the voices directly to facilitate healing and integration that allows people who hear voices to lead lives they wish instead of being bombed out on medication and possibly have repeated admissions into psychiatric services.

What’s becoming apparent is that negative voices are still serving a purpose, so by exploring the needs of these voices a reconciliation can occur between the individual and the voice. In essence, voices are disowned aspects of self and these disowned parts are given an outlet that can form very negative patterns. For example, anger becomes murderous rage; or a voice that tells someone to kill themselves could be due to that person feeling alone, disconnected or feeling hopeless. The voice that probably generates most fear in the broader communities is the one that has the message to kill another. This could be due to the person being betrayed in the past and this voice is trying to stop the hearer from trusting others or its trying to protect them from perceived danger. 

Many people who have been given the label of schizophrenia or hear voices have had trauma in their past. It could be argued that voices are created as the mind/body’s way of managing the intensity of the trauma. In Gestalt this is called a creative adjustment which allows the individual to adapt according to the circumstances at that time and place. We have all creatively adjusted in our past relative to the context of that time, for example, learning to be quiet when the family home isn’t safe or being noisy in order to get heard.

May this day find you well 

Rob

In Australia one in four women and one in six men will experience depression in their lifetime. This statistic quite clearly indicates that if we are fortunate enough to not experience this mental health challenge there’s a very good chance we may know somebody who has or is suffering from depression. Like physical illness, depression knows no boundaries and it can impact on any individual regardless of their age, gender, social status or culture. Recently Ian Thorpe has been in the news and he is a prime example of an individual who seemingly has everything going for him; youth, wealth, iconic status and much liked and admired in the wider community, yet he is unfortunately experiencing this difficult mental health challenge. I don’t why Ian Thorpe has depression as there are many contributing factors. He might have endogenous depression that’s caused by genetic factors such as chemical imbalances in the brain. Or it could be exogenous depression which relates more to situational causes, such as divorce, death of a loved one, loss of employment, loneliness, no purpose in life, stresses such as financial difficulties, self image issues – the list can go on. 

Sometimes depression may relate to unfinished business from the past where unwanted feelings and emotions are kept at bay because they were too difficult at

that time to be dealt with – we literally depress our emotions and keep them at bay. We can then use different strategies to keep these unwanted feelings from resurfacing such as alcohol or drugs, keeping busy, moving from one relationship to another, working long hours to name a few.

As individuals our experiences are unique and so it is with depression. However, there are commonalities that define this challenging experience. The common experiences are: sadness and possibly suicidal thoughts, loss of self confidence and esteem, difficulty concentrating, inability to enjoy things, reduced energy, hopelessness, tiredness and its impact on sleep and diet.

I would like to bring this blog to a more personal element as a way of participating in knocking down the walls of stigma that are unfortunately part of our culture with regards to mental health. I’ve had my own experience of situational depression that occurred in my late 20’s due to the end of a relationship. There were many things that stood out for me in that period of my life (I had depression for about 9 months), but one I distinctly remember was the shock that I couldn’t walk it off. Prior to the time of my depression and I found myself going through a difficult time I would go for a walk and this would invariably sort my head out and at the very least improve my mood, but that just wasn’t going to happen when I was depressed. I was lucky because I had some motivation to try, but I know for many who suffer from depression even going for a walk is too much.

It was also scary because I realised that I didn’t know when or if it would end. As I stated above there are generalised themes that characterise depression but it’s still a personal experience. So for myself, I managed to function and drag myself to work, but I remember absolutely feeling no joy nearly all the time and all colour was washed out with a pervading greyness that replaced lives vibrancy. It was like beauty never existed and reality was the epitome of dullness and bleakness.

What helped me at the time? Seeking support even though I didn’t want to. Funnily enough I didn’t see a counsellor as I didn’t have the awareness for that kind of support back then. Instead I muddled through talking to friends, reading books about depression and maintaining basic day to day activities as well as allowing my feelings to have their day!

Below are a few websites that might be helpful. The internet has plenty of information.

www.beyondblue.org.au

www.depressioNet.org.au

www.blackdoginstitute.org.au

www.sane.org.au

www.headspace.org.au

May this day find you well

Rob 

The above quote encapsulates some thoughts I’ve been having about neurophysiology and the increasing body of evidence detailing the brains capacity to adapt. Historically, the prevailing paradigm stated that the brain was fixed into specific tasks, but now neuroscience informs us that the brain is adaptable coining the phrase ‘plastic’ to describe this ability.   

What neurophysiology is telling us is that when we change to a new set of thoughts and behaviours the brain will re-jig itself by creating new neural pathways and undoing the old ones. Carla Shatz described this succinctly with the phrase “neurons that fire together wire together” or alternatively “use it or lose it”. What this means from a counselling and therapy perspective is that old behaviours are not fixed within our brains and by focusing on a new action or an alternate perspective this will become the norm and the old behaviour becomes less dominant. For example, you may have a behaviour that has a compulsive quality that’s hard to stop. From a neurological perspective this repeated behaviour would fire particular neural pathways in the brain and the more you do that behaviour more neural connections are created and strengthened. However, by doing an alternative, and continuing to do an alternative action or thought, then that neural pathway is reinforced so to speak and the old behaviour or thought loses its potency therefore becoming less compulsive, that is, use it or lose it!  The key is repetition, so you could say that practice makes perfect.

I think its important to add that change is a relatively complex process and there are more facets to its genesis. In Gestalt practice we advocate the theory that describes change as a paradox because change occurs when there is an acceptance of oneself as you are right now in this moment, whatever that is, the good, the bad and the ugly. With acceptance, according to the 'paradoxical theory of change', change spontaneously occurs of itself.

On the surface these two perspectives appear to be at odds with each other where one advocates intention by doing something and the other recommends no action. For myself the reconciliation occurs through choice because acceptance of oneself can still sit beside a healthy decision to chose one behaviour over another. The acceptance part advocates acceptance of all parts of our self so there is no rejection or judgement about who we are even those parts of ourselves we don't like. 

Hope this day finds you well.


Counselling and Psychotherapy team.