Natural Therapies

While natural therapies are unlikely to cure mental health disorders, they are an important supplement in multi-modal psychological treatment. Among the most popular and proven natural remedies the following three are our favorites.

Animal Assisted Therapy (aka Pet Therapy)

puppy Dr. Joe Accardi and his wife Maria (who is a trained vet) have been using pet therapy for the past 10 years. In many cases this therapy helped alleviate problematic symptoms and in a few cases of clinical depression it resulted in complete recovery. Pet therapy was used in combination with psychotherapy treatment, other natural therapies, and medication where necessary.

For information on animal assisted therapy and its benefits we recommend reading these two articles written by Joe and Maria Accardi:

Cats and Dogs Give you Much More Than you Expect

Animal Assisted Therapy: Pets Help Alleviate Suffering and Promote Healing

Brain Diet

brain nuts Your brain requires specific types of foods and supplements to function properly. When we ignore our brain’s needs, the brain processes producing critical neurotransmitters get out of balance and this results in a chemical disbalance leading to a mental disorder. Diet is extremely important for patients with anxiety disorders and depression, sometime simple changes to your daily diet can produce amazing results. For more information on”Brain Diets” we recommend reading the article “The Critical Role of Nutrients in Mental Health“

Yoga and Meditation

yoga We are huge believers in therapeutic effects of yoga and meditation and have been practicing yoga for the past 8 years. There are many neuropsychology research studies showing how yoga and meditation change your brain patterns and “heal your brain”, this healing effect is actually visible on a functional MRI (fMRI). For more information on benefits of yoga and meditation please read excellent article by Dr. Deborah Khoshaba at Psychology Today. We also suggest reading Joe’s article on Mindful Meditation.

Images:

flickr.com/photos/elbosco/204168249

flickr.com/photos/antares/309882859

flickr.com/photos/83905817@N08/7676576180

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Mental Health Consulting

by Dr. Giuseppe (Joe) Accardi