How can Complementary Therapies help with Anxiety and Depression?

There are a number of different approaches to working with someone with Anxiety and /Depression. You can work through the body, the mind, the body and mind, energetically, or through the internal physiology. All approaches are interdependent; working with the body will affect the mind, working with the mind will affect the body. Working with the body and mind will affect the spirit. Working energetically or physiologically will affect the body, mind and spirit. These are some pointers to help you choose where to begin:

Starting with the body: Bowen Technique, Acupuncture, Massage, Tuina, Shiatsu, and Reflexology and Qi Kung all help to relax the body, and thus relax the mind. This has the effect of restoring, calming and rebalancing energy.

Starting with mind and body: Kinesiology works using an exploration of the unconscious mind with feedback from muscle testing on the body to understand the ‘story’ behind the anxiety and depression.

Craniosacral Therapy works directly with the autonomic nervous system to bring about a balance in emotions and thought processes and to the physiological systems which control how our bodies cope with stressful and upsetting situations.

Starting with the mind: Core Process Psychotherapy enables an exploration of the root causes of the anxiety and depression. Breath and bodywork are also sometimes used to enable deeper healing.

NLP Using carefully constructed questions the root cause of the anxiety or depression can be identified. Once this has been addressed various techniques (eg using visualisation) can be used in order to relieve the negative symptoms of anxiety or depression, and the unwanted state or behaviour can then be replaced with a positive one.

Hypnotherapy can be very useful for dealing with anxiety and depression as it is particularly effective for bringing about a deep sense of relaxation. At which time positive suggestions are given to instil a sense of purpose and wellbeing.

Starting energetically: Reiki, and all form of Energy Healing work to unblock energy which is preventing health and happiness. Acupuncture, Tuina and Shiatsu also work with energy pathways to unblock energy.

Starting with the Internal Physiology: Herbal Medicine, Chinese Herbs and Homeopathy all work to rebalance internal physiological disharmonies which may be contributing to anxiety and depression. Working internally with the body in this way can have a powerful effect on the mind.

All practitioners will emphasize a healthy lifestyle and diet and provide support and advice in these areas according to the needs of the person.