The expression “busy as a bee” may actually need rethinking. Sure, bees work hard, flying many miles, collecting pollen, building hives and taking care of other bees. But a recent study shows that they know when to call it quits. Even when constant daylight is available, bees still take an overnight break.

Mental illness as it has been portrayed in film has come a long way since The Three Faces of Eve, Lisa and David, Marnie, Misery, Ordinary People, and Spellbound.

HRV allows an individual to stimulate the cardiovascular system at its resonant frequency for a sustained period of time. Deep breathing, visualization, and meditation are all useful complimentary clinical tools, however they lack this critical property. Stimulation at the resonant frequency strengthens the baro-reflex, resulting in enhanced physical and psychological resilience by influencing heart rate, blood pressure, vascular resistance, pain threshold, central nervous system processing, mood, and attention. Analogous to physical conditioning, the baro-reflex can be thought of as the “muscle” of core Mind-Body strength.

Psychotherapy can be extremely powerful however the progress is often uneven. A common factor is clients not being in the “right mood” or “frame of mind” to be able to engage and benefit from treatment. For example a person may be so anxious and preoccupied that she can’t focus effectively.

Today we interview Julie Hanks a psychotherapist with perhaps an unfamiliar twist to many of our readers. She is a talented singer-songwriter (Gladys Knight recorded one of her songs), a television personality… and a practicing Mormon. Though many of her clients are Mormons and seek her out for that very reason, many are not. Julie has a unique ability to relate to people that is at once warm and loving, and non-judgmental.

For some, belief changes and morphs and moves up and down, forward and back. When people are in pain, especially from with mental illness or addiction, it is easy to vacillate in spirituality.

When patients feel powerless, it is often because their fear (valid or irrational), has them stuck in particular mindset or emotional state. They see the worst and imagine the worst. They lose sight of their own innate abilities to take charge of the areas of their life that they truly can control.

When we participate in creating the solutions suddenly we see them everywhere:

Rescue Teams. Volunteers. Helping Hands. Thriving Wilderness and Parks. Neighborhood Watches. Doctors and Nurses. Teachers. Physical Therapy. Mental Health and Addiction Therapy. Food Programs. Interest-free Loan Funds. Clothing Deliveries. Investing in Children. Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Fiftieth Anniversaries. Taking care of others and ourselves. Corporate and Individual Charitable Donations. Religious Meeting Places. Families. Friends. Communities. Neighborhoods.

I have definitely experienced an increase in the number of people contacting me for therapy. In general, I would say there was a 30 percent increase.

Some of SAMHSA’s offerings include parenting programs, excellent drug prevention programs , homelessness resource center, local mental health services locators, trauma information, information on evidence-based practices, recovery programs, programs for the elderly, and so much more. In general, the quality of their offerings is tremendous.