There are many times when we need professional psychiatric help coping with a life crisis or moving through a major life change or finding our way during a particularly challenging time. People often need a psychiatrist’s professional support, skills and guidance to successfully meet life’s challenges and overcome major problems. But there are other times when we just need some practical guidance on how to help ourselves. Marks Psychiatry is pleased to introduce a new Self-Help feature on our website.
Click the “Self-Help” tab on our homepage to find useful articles prepared to help you improve your day-to-day living. Our first series of articles focus on self-help techniques designed to reduce stress, something we’re all feeling in these difficult economic times. We invite you to read the articles and listen as the specially prepared audio tracks help you achieve a rejuvenating state of deep relaxation.
Meditation. A process of blocking out external distractions and quieting the mind, meditation can help people achieve the mental downtime crucial to well-being, Dr. Marks explains. Meditation, which can take many forms, has numerous psychological and physiological benefits, including decreasing tension, anxiety and depression and improving concentration and memory retention. Regular meditation can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure, decrease migraine frequency, enhance the immune system and increase energy, among other benefits.
Guided Imagery. A meditation technique that helps people focus their attention so they can achieve a state of restfulness, guided imagery is a way of visualizing a relaxing scene. By prompting you to imagine each sensory detail of a pleasant scene — a sun-drenched Caribbean beach, for example — a narrator helps you immerse yourself in the scene and live in that moment, completely relaxed and at peace. To experience this relaxation technique, click here to listen to a 10-minute guided imagery audio tape.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation. A meditation technique used to reduce muscle tension, progressive muscle relaxation is the sequential tensing and relaxing of individual muscle groups. Used to treat anxiety and depression, progressive muscle relaxation is a proven tension reliever. To listen to a 13-minute recording that coaches you through the progressive muscle relaxation process, click here.
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