When you’re looking for mental health treatment, you may assume you only need to consider therapy that will address what’s going on in your mind. After all, mental health is all in the mind, right?
While effective depression treatment has to take into consideration supporting the mind to heal, it’s not the whole story! Your body and mind are connected; you’re a whole person, and when one part of you suffers, all of you suffers. Research makes it clear that mental healthcare needs to support all of you, in body and mind, in a holistic way, to provide lasting, comprehensive healing.
What does “holistic” mean in mental healthcare?
Holistic, when it comes to mental healthcare, means considering what your mind needs and what your body needs to be well. Medicine, movement, food, friendship, emotional regulation, life skills, connection, meaning, purpose, individual therapy, group therapy- it’s all part of what you need to be mentally, physically, and holistically well.
For a long time, it was common to consider psychotherapy and mental health as totally separate from medical care of the physical body. It has become clearer in recent decades that the mind and body are in fact connected. Your physical health impacts your mental wellbeing, and your mental health has physical impacts.
Now that we have a better understanding of the interplay between mental and physical wellbeing, it’s changing how mental healthcare looks.
What does holistic mental health treatment look like?
Holistic treatment takes into account your body and your mind, giving you opportunities to heal and support all parts of you. You need community support, a therapy modality that considers your body and mind, opportunities to express yourself creatively, and mindful movement to explore healing through the mind-body connection.
So what does holistic mental health treatment look like in practice?
Healing in community makes a difference
When you’re suffering from mental health difficulties, it can feel very isolating and very lonely. Healing in a community setting like those offered by THIRA Health in Bellevue, such as our residential or PHP treatment programs, or through group therapy in an IOP, can connect you immediately to people who are just like you.
They’re going through exactly what you’re going through, helping you see that if they’re worthy of healing, acceptance, and compassion, you are too! By sharing experiences together as you learn new ways to manage life’s challenges in therapy, you can feel a sense of belonging that reminds you that you matter, no matter what you’re going through.
Holistic mental health treatment gives you new ways to express yourself
It’s not always easy to talk through what you’re feeling or thinking in a one-on-one therapy session. You may struggle to find the words, or it may feel too overwhelming to fully explore through talk alone.
Expressive arts as part of a holistic approach to mental health can give you another outlet for what you’re going through. Through dance, painting or drawing, poetry, or other expressive art exercises, you can get out onto the page or stage the feelings or thoughts that might be hard to fully express any other way.
You connect to yourself through expressive arts, using your body and mind together to release and process what you’ve been through, making it a valuable addition to the holistic therapy programs at THIRA Health.
Mindful movement gives you an opportunity to really feel the body/mind connection
Mindfulness has been shown to help people reduce the impacts of symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder (BPD). While many people assume mindfulness is all in the mind, it works best when it’s treated as an exercise in connecting the mind and the body to each other, in the present moment.
One of the most effective ways to cultivate mindfulness is through mindful movement like yoga or qi gong. When you focus your attention on careful movement and breathing, you can release worries about the past and fears of the future for the time being. You let go of self-judgment. You also remind yourself that your body is here, supporting you, and you remind your body that you are safe and don’t need to be vigilant right now.
DBT prioritizes your physical and mental wellbeing
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a therapy approach well suited to holistic mental health treatment. It gives you practical skills that help you in body and mind. Instead of being caught up in emotional storms that lead to self-neglect, interpersonal turmoil, and trying to change the unchangeable, the array of life skills you learn in a holistic DBT program connects you to yourself and others in a way that emphasizes presence, meaning, and acceptance.
Some DBT skills that emphasize a holistic approach to mental health treatment include:
Self-Soothe, ACCEPTS, and TIPP help you tolerate distress by connecting your mind and body
DBT recognizes that engaging with your body can be a helpful way to calm your mind, and vice versa
The Self-Soothe DBT skill reminds you to tap into your five senses to ground yourself in the moment, showing you how comforting textures, sounds, smells, flavors, and smells make it easier to withstand difficult experiences and emotions.
ACCEPTS demonstrates how full participation in life, body and mind, can help make even miserable moments worth living. Through activities, contributions, empowering comparisons, feeling your emotions, pushing away, thinking simple repetitive thoughts, and seeking out sensations, you can use meaning and purpose, mental engagement, and physical activity and sensation to make it through even the toughest moments of life.
TIPP leverages body chemistry, using cold temperatures, rapid exercise, paced breathing, and paired muscle relaxation to signal to your body it’s time to release how you feel and move into rest mode, helping you let go of anxious, distressing thoughts and feelings.
ABC PLEASE takes a holistic approach to emotional regulation
The DBT emotional regulation skill ABC PLEASE gives you a succinct guide to care of your mental and physical wellbeing.
The ABC component addresses your mental health through:
- Accumulating positive emotions: Intentional pursuit of positive experiences adds joy and meaning to life.
- Build mastery: Mindfully pursuing new skills and interests empowers you to create meaning and reminds you that you can change your life for the better.
- Cope ahead: Acknowledges that life has difficult experiences, but you’re equipped to handle them.
And PLEASE prioritizes physical care by reminding you to:
- Treat any physical illness, including keeping up with medication as prescribed
- Eat thoughtfully to ensure your body is nourished and your mood is more stable
- Avoid mind-altering substances that impact your mood, like drugs or alcohol
- Make sleep a top priority
- Exercise in a way that feels fulfilling for you
ABC PLEASE shows you in a simple acronym how body and mind are both a part of the healing equation. This holistic approach helps you create meaning, feel physically well, encourages joy, and leaves you less vulnerable to being overwhelmed by negative experiences.
Holistic mental health treatment at THIRA Health supports healing for your body and your mind
When you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, or disordered eating, you need mental health treatment that takes all of you into account. The aches and pains of depression, the pounding heart from anxiety, the insomnia, the inability to care for yourself, the struggle with food and exercise; all of these physical impacts are tied to your mental health.
Mindful movement, expressive arts therapy, community support, and DBT-based help for the body and the mind are all important parts of a holistic mental health treatment approach. If you’re in the Seattle area and searching “holistic DBT program near me,” consider THIRA Health. We welcome you to contact our intake team today to get started on a life worth living!
