Health News and Information

Your relationship with and trust in the practitioner can be a major factor in recovery, particularly with a problem like insomnia which so often has an emotional basis. Most alternative practitioners recognize the part played in health by the mind and the emotions; however, this does not mean that every practitioner is necessarily equipped to deal with psychological problems. So you will find some osteopaths, for example, who work purely on physical symptoms; others who encourage patients to discuss their anxieties; and yet others who recognize the emotional factor, but prefer to refer patients to professional counsellors.

For the insomniac the ideal is to find someone who can combine effective physical treatment with a listening ear and emotional understanding. When difficult emotions are not appropriately expressed, the stress around them can become locked into the body; according to one theory when a traumatic event, such as an accident or child abuse, is accompanied by fear, the memory of the event can be ‘fixed’ in the body by adrenalin. Natural therapies can release these traumatic memories, and sometimes patients find themselves experiencing long-suppressed feelings such as grief, fear, or anger. On such occasions a practitioner who is also a good counsellor can help you to come to terms with and finally free yourself of these past stresses.

Not everyone experiences this kind of dramatic relief, nor is formal counselling always necessary. The touch and caring attention of a massage therapist, osteopath, or healer may gently release the stress built up in the body-mind without the need for deep emotional probing or catharsis. All this will depend on both the therapist’s gifts and the patient’s own needs and personality.

I have occasionally heard of newly-qualified practitioners who decide to try their hands at ‘counselling’ and tell patients for instance that they should leave their spouses or their jobs. This is not counselling, which is a means of helping patients to clarify issues so that they can make their own decisions. If you want counselling, discuss this with the practitioner first, and find out what experience and training he or she has.

An advantage of good practitioner-counsellors is that they encourage patients to work with them in the healing process, rather than being passive recipients of treatment. As aromatherapist Tricia Dona-Hooker says, ‘The most important thing for me is to help the patient exit from being a victim and come into being in control.’

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Anti-Depressants/Sleeping Aid