Written by: Shehnaaz Elahi, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It might sound odd to use alternative therapy in psychiatry since we’re so used to thinking that any psychological disorder is nowadays treated with medication. This is however a mindset that is based on western traditional medicine, and not so much on holistic medicine and the actual belief that your mind is capable of healing itself
These last two components are necessary and essential to believe before you can start understanding your own healing process from a psychiatric disorder or mental health illness. Second of all, the whole terminology of “disorder” and “illness” should actually change, since it is not really an illness, more sensitivity or disbalance. This vision is based on Ayurvedic and Alternative Medicine where people are seen as a whole and shaped perfectly as they are in their own ways.
“The mind is able to cure itself with the right approach”
The logic is as follows: with psychiatric medicine, we totally mislead ourselves thinking of curing anything like a psychiatric illness, while in fact we’re just masking it and making unaware people (sometimes even lifetime) dependent on pharmaceuticals. The idea behind it is that because of, for example, depression, your brain doesn’t produce enough of a certain hormone that usually makes you feel happier. By adding the hormone in a pill form you start to feel happier. This is the raw and shortcut answer to happiness. The real reality however is way and way more complicated than that. Your depression usually has a reason, and even a certain amount of depressive mood is actually healthy sometimes as it gives you a serious outlook on life, and prevents you from taking unnecessary and miscalculated risks. So to understand your own depression means to delve deeper into your own psychology, your own deeper needs and your lack of fulfillment. These are actual existential questions that do matter! It is not solved by taking a pill, even if you are the type that doesn’t like to think deeply about life, at some point, it becomes inevitable, especially as you grow older. With delving deeper into the root cause of your depressive mood, you become wiser, you grow as a person, you learn how to properly and also positively self reflect, you actually become more resilient towards future depressive moods and you can also understand and help other people with the same trials as you in the future.
“Replace disorder and disease with disbalance and sensitivity, and you create a whole new mindset of looking at healing”
If however the cause of your depression is physical only, which is in most cases not totally true, but if this is the case, then there are still a lot of herbs and supplements to actually try and give a chance BEFORE actually stepping to a lifelong pharmaceutical. I’m especially talking about disbalances in the body since a bad lifestyle and food habits actually can contribute to depression and depressive moods. This is however only an additive next to your psychological life satisfaction and feelings of value for your life.
“It is crucial in life to understand and appreciate your value of life instead of wavering it as dull and unimportant and just taking a pill to numb your dissatisfaction”
Here I just give one example of a disorder called depression. There are many classified disorders that are actually disbalances of the body, mind, spirit and emotions. These so-called disorders can be looked at differently once a holistic mindset is established. I feel there is a real urge for learned and educated holistic psychiatrists and psychologists that understand the true meaning of a healthy mind, the value of it, and how NOT to use medication, and instead use supplements, herbs, aromatherapy and other alternative medicinal techniques. This however takes a different mindset and a different approach to what is considered curing the mind. Yet I do feel this is a better approach in the long run for the individual, for the society and for the human population as a whole.
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Shehnaaz Elahi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Shehnaaz Elahi is a leading professional in Holistic Counselling. After her Master Studies in Psychology, she delved deeper into Alternative Medicine, Spirituality and Wellness to understand the deeper connection between Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit. Her perspective on mental health care can be seen as revolutionary different than the mainstream popular western psychiatry. During her life, she developed her own vision and treatment plans to help people with different mental health disorders to recover and/or reduce psychiatric medication. The mind is capable of healing itself with the right holistic and natural treatments. She is an author of several autobiographical informational books and wrote many informational blog articles. Her mission is to help people alleviate their mental and emotional burdens with holistic and natural treatments.
