October is mental health awareness month, so we thought we would dedicate this month’s blog posts to topics about mental health support. Earlier in the year we wrote a couple of posts how exercise can help support mental health – you can catch those articles here. This month we want to turn to our naturopathic doctors to discuss some topics that are on the rise in society as the COVID case numbers rise: namely, fear, panic, anxiety, and depression.
Fear
Believe it or not, fear is actually a biochemical response that all humans and animals have used to help us assess danger. However, in today’s society we don’t quite need the same heightened sense of security. And with the overload of information on the media 24/7, it’s enough to send our fear into overdrive making it difficult to know how to respond.
What is important to recognize first is that the fear response is not there to harm us – it’s a response from the body to try to protect us. So, how do we best support ourselves when we’re feeling fearful about a situation? Our naturopaths often work with people to make positive changes that promote joy and wellbeing. Similar to exercise when we’re feeling good, we are less reactive to the dangers of the world. There are so many ways that we can build joy and wellbeing into our lives that many of us don’t know where to begin. Our naturopaths learn about you as an individual and develop plans that are specific to you.
What’s important to know here is that this is not the same as counselling. We are not looking into your history, but rather we are looking forward and talking about immediate actions that we can take. Additionally, there are many natural herbs and supplements that can help to calm the central nervous system (the brain) and the peripheral nervous system (body). By being able to calm our body and mind the lifestyle changes and general tools we get established start becoming easier to use on a daily basis. The ultimate goal here is to not need any pills, natural or pharmaceutical, but to have a well developed lifestyle and personal support plan.