Would you agree that your brain is in your body?
Where is your mind?
Would agree your mind is your brain? Or, at the very least, your mind is in your brain?
Then why do we persist in using concepts to separate the two (e.g. the “mind/body connection”)?
The idea that the mind is something disconnected from our body perpetuates misunderstanding about the causes of mental illness and more importantly misperceptions about treating mental illness. Misunderstanding and misperceptions underpin stigma. Stigma keeps people from getting treatment that can help them feel better.
What if people understood that mental illness is about what goes on in your brain? What if people understood that the process of therapy is about learning new ways to cope with life’s challenges? Learning new things helps your brain make new cells and cellular connections. So, therapy is about helping your brain make new cells and cellular connections to change for the better.
Most people would readily want to get treatment flu symptoms that won’t go away. Or, if their physician diagnosed them with diabetes, they would do the suggested treatment. Problems related to depression, anxiety, trauma, sexual functioning and a myriad of other conditions can be treated with therapy because they are all brain-related conditions.
Whether it’s therapy, medication, or both, your brain is at the center of you getting better.
