Level 3: Mental - Emotional
This level of health acknowledges the influence of one’s mental and emotional state on health and disease. Factors such as mood, expectancy, coping skills, stress management and behavior have been shown to be significant predictors of outcomes in many clinical situations. Numerous methods fall under this category including; relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group therapy, autogenic training and spirituality. I encourage all my patients to consider incorporating any one or a few of these methods into part of their daily health maintenance routine or for specific health issues. A unique method I use in my practice to help treat a wide variety of emotionally based symptoms is the Emotional Freedom Technique, or “EFT” for short. This technique actually could be classified as an energetic technique since it involves tapping on meridian points on the body while affirming a given emotion, feeling or thought. EFT is very simple to learn but quite powerful in effect. I frankly believe everyone should learn and use EFT. The resources page of this website has a link to the World Center for EFT. I strongly encourage you to visit it and download their free introductory booklet. While EFT is a very accessible self help method, I will often guide patients through the process in my office depending on their situation, as an external observer can often bring clarity and focus to the root of a problem. A brief listing of some of the conditions I have successfully treated with EFT include: Anxiety, fears, phobias, anger, sadness, general stress, migraine headaches and bed wetting.
