Dr. Marks Debuts Self-Help Tools for Better Mental Health

You take responsibility for your physical health. You see your doctor when you don’t feel well or something isn’t right, but there are a lot of things you do for yourself every day to stay healthy. You watch your diet, stock up on fruits and veggies, cut back on salt and fats, and take it easy on dessert. You force yourselves to exercise, stop by the gym regularly, walk the dog, take the stairs, and ride bikes with the kids.

It should be the same with your mental health. Just as people sometimes need the help of a medical specialist to deal with heart problems or diabetes or disease, there are times in most people’s lives when they need the help of a skilled psychiatrist to recover from loss or adjust to a major change in their lives or manage a behavior problem. And in the same way that we engage in self-help activities to keep our bodies healthy, we can engage in self-help activities to keep ourselves mentally strong and healthy.

Recognizing the need and interest people have in protecting their mental and emotional health, Atlanta psychiatrist Tracy Marks this week introduced several self-help features and products on her website. Every Wednesday, you can now join Dr. Marks for a weekly educational podcast about mental health issues of general interest. Podcasts can be viewed and downloaded from Dr. Marks’ website; just click Podcast on the toolbar. This week on Dr. Marks Personal Development Tool Chest, the doctor talks about depression and anxiety and offers seven valuable coping strategies. A printable self-help depression and anxiety checklist and worksheet is included for viewers’ personal use. We invite you to tune in every Wednesday as Dr. Marks shares interesting and useful information on how to maintain good mental health and warning signs to watch for if you or someone you love is having problems.

In response to readers’ enthusiasm for the self-help articles published on our website, Dr. Marks now offers three educational self-help CDs:

• Discover How to Relax teaches muscle relaxation and deep-breathing exercises to relieve stress and renew energy.
• Peaceful Sleep combines soothing sleep suggestions with therapeutic music selected to erase tension and anxiety and prepare you for peaceful sleep.
• Peaceful Mind is a soothing aid to stress-relieving, soul-renewing meditation.