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Dan was in a second marriage and a father of two children. He worked a good job, was physically active and enjoyed spending time with friends. Gail, mother of two children, was a busy professional in the middle of bitter divorce proceedings over the custody of her children. They both were fighting battles - some apparent and some not so much. There were minor cries for help, but not enough to cause anyone in their lives to imagine they would commit suicide. Their internal struggles overcame them and in seemingly an instant, they both chose to end their lives. They lost hope and their children, family and friends will endure the pain of their losses for years to come.
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
. Innovative Primary Care's Dr. Sandra Levitt believes it is just as important to focus on mental health as it is physical health because the brain is also part of the human ecosystem. And the numbers bear that out. The World Health Organization estimates that over 800,000 people die of suicide each year or one person every 40 seconds. Sadly, Arizona is one of the leading states, especially when it comes to veterans.
There is no single cause or reason people commit suicide, yet the majority of people (estimated at 90%) were suffering with an underlying mental illness and/or substance abuse problem at the time of their death. Dan had suffered many concussions as a high school and college football player. Gail was never formally diagnosed, but in hindsight her family believes she may have been bipolar. Both, however, were facing very difficult life challenges at the time of their deaths.
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Food for Life
Stock up on Fruits & Veggies
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What is convenient, low calorie, may reduce your risk for disease and is full of vitamins, minerals and fiber? Fruits and vegetables. You really can't go wrong by upping your intake of nature's bounty and with the change of seasons approaching, we encourage you to check out the offerings at a local farmers market.
Right now is a great time to find apricots, cherries, bell peppers, blueberries, butter lettuce, cantaloupe, honeydew, corn, eggplant, garlic, peaches, plums and radishes. When you visit the farmers markets, there are always many people willing to help you come up with great ideas for preparing these foods and creative ways to incorporate them into meals. Dr. Levitt loves snacking on organic apples with natural peanut butter and many on the IPC team follow her lead.
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During Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, it's also important to address the more broad or everyday challenges people may be facing.
If you're feeling a sense of burnout, helplessness, difficulty making decisions or even undiagnosed
mental illness
, you may
need to seek the support of a trained therapist. Psychotherapy
and
counseling
help people identify the issues that are contributing to their difficulties and identify more effective strategies to cope with their situations and achieve their goals.
There are many different approaches to therapy, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and hypnotherapy.
EMDR therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma.
This is considered by the American Psychiatric Association, the Department of Defense and the World Health Organization as the treatment of choice to deal with PTSD.
Complete treatment of the targets involves a three pronged protocol (1-past memories, 2-present disturbance, 3-future actions), and are needed to alleviate the symptoms and address the complete clinical picture. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process completely the experiences that are causing problems, and to include new ones that are needed for full health. "Processing" does not mean talking about it. "Processing" means setting up a learning state that will allow experiences that are causing problems to be "digested" and stored appropriately in your brain. More information can be found on the EMDR International Association website.
And what about Hypnotherapy?
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Sometimes feeling better isn't as easy as just wishing it would happen. We are complex beings that rely on nutrients to maintain health in all areas of our bodies. There are many nutrients that can be derived from food and supplements that have been proven to aid in supporting our brain. Here are some top picks by IPC Naturopathic Physicians
Xan Simonson and
Cindy Romero.
If you're wanting to support your mood, you might want to look more deeply into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). New research has confirmed its positive effects on mood even more so than docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA is a potent anti-inflammatory, which is what we want for our body and our brain, while DHA contributes to the fluidity of cell
membrane
s
.
IPC offers three supplements featuring both EPA and DHA. They are
Pro Omega 3,
Omega Pure EC and
Omega Pure Krill.
Probiotics play a crucial role in keeping your digestive system in good shape - your brain is only as healthy as your gut. The nerve cells in our gut manufacture 80 to 90 percent of our body's serotonin, the neurotransmitter we need to stay sane. IPC offers
Pro Biotic Plus with a formula that contains 17 different strains of probiotics,
ProbioMax DF and
ProbioMax Plus.
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