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Lifestyle and Mental Health is the title of a 2011 review article published in the journal American Psychologist by Roger Walsh (MD, PhD, DHL).[1][2] The article provides 8 categories of potential lifestyle changes to improve one's mental health along with supporting research.[3] It is used as a basis for preparing patient education materials.[4]

Background

Other notable publications by Walsh prior to the article "Lifestyle and Mental Health" include the books Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision (1993, with Frances Vaughan), Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind (2000), A Sociable God: Toward a New Understanding of Religion (2005, with Ken Wilber), and The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition (2007). Additionally, Walsh's 2006 publication in the American Psychologist with Shapiro, entitled "The Meeting of Meditative Disciplines and Western Psychology: A Mutually Enriching Dialogue"[5] had garnered more than 1300 citations by May, 2024 according to Google scholar.

Thesis

The stated thesis of the article is that:

"Health professionals have significantly underestimated the importance of lifestyle for mental health. More specifically, mental health professionals have underestimated the importance of unhealthy lifestyle factors in contributing to multiple psychopathologies, as well as the importance of healthy lifestyles for treating multiple psychopathologies, for fostering psychological and social well-being, and for preserving and optimizing cognitive capacities and neural functions."[6]

— Walsh, in Lifestyle and Mental Health (2011) p. 579

Summary

Therapeutic lifestyle changes

Walsh writes that therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLCs) can be effective, affordable, and stigma-free. They can boost self-esteem and also improve physical health. They can be enjoyable and thus potentially self-reinforcing. Walsh notes even clinicians can benefit from meditation given it can help cultivate "calmness, empathy, and self-actualization."[7] Walsh cites evidence suggesting that the positive effects of TLCs might even generate significant multiplier effects in society by positively impacting "families, friends, and co-workers."[7]

1. Exercise

Exercise is presented as "a healthful, inexpensive, and insufficiently used treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders."[8] Exercise reduces the risk of depression, age-related cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease according to cross-sectional and prospective studies. "In terms of therapeutic benefits, responsive disorders include depression, anxiety, eating, addictive, and body dysmorphic disorders. Exercise also reduces chronic pain ... and some symptoms of schizophrenia."[9]

2. Nutrition and diet

Walsh emphasizes a "rainbow diet" mainly consisting of fruits and vegetables, a multicolored plant-based diet.

3. Nature

4. Relationships

5. Recreation and enjoyable activities

6. Relaxation and stress management

7. Religious and spiritual involvement

8. Contribution and service

Discussion

Editorials

In response to the article, the editors of the Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, Grayson & Meilman, wrote an article entitled "Eat Your Veggies." They stated that Walsh's "indictment of mental health professionals does seem bit unfair, at least as applied to those of us working on campus."[10] They found the recommendations "doctor-like" and "simplistic" and summarized the entire article as follows:

"Exercise is both preventive and therapeutic for mild to moderate depression and increases brain volume in the bargain. (Yet only 10% of mental health professionals recommend it.) Diets emphasizing multicolored fruits and vegetables and some fish may prevent or ameliorate psychopathologies, and fish oils may ward off first episode psychosis. Spending time in nature is good for you. Not so good are artificial environments (bad news for those of us in windowless offices) and media immersion—too much television, e-mail, texting, Internet surfing and the like (bad news for just about all of us)."[10]

Yet, Grayson & Meilman were impressed with Walsh's amassment of 153 diverse references. They concluded with an anecdote about a client who had felt "stuck" but whose condition improved markedly after an offhand recommendation for exercise.[10]

The editor of Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Sandra Thomas, also wrote an editorial in response to Walsh's article. Agreeing with Walsh, Thomas said "the trend toward 15-minute 'medication management appointments' is a formidable barrier to inclusion of patient education about lifestyle change."[11] Thomas found the mention of nature deficit disorder intriguing. And in response to Walsh's call for altruistic service, Thomas said all psychiatric clients could be called upon to serve in a capacity similar to roles played in the organization Alcoholics Anonymous, which "works because members are helping themselves as they help others."[11] Thomas cited Post and Niemark,[12] who "pointed out that we could herald the discovery of a great new drug called 'Give Back—instead of Prozac.' "[11] Thomas closed her editorial with an endorsement of Walsh's article, repeating the call for therapeutic lifestyle changes to be included in clinical practice.

Further reception and impact

Greg Bogart, a lecturer in psychology at Sonoma State University,[13] devoted over 2 pages to discussing the article in their 2017[14] book Dreamwork in Holistic Psychotherapy of Depression.[15] Bogart, a psychotherapist, concluded his treatment of the subject by stating "I often share these principles with clients and encourage them to practice them in their own lives."[16] Hidaka considers the article as similar to others in the medical literature that have "posited that capitalist values have directly contributed to a decline in social well-being and an increase in psychopathology throughout the western world."[17] Authors Benas & Bryan, in their 2022 book The Resilient Warrior, describe the article as "seminal."[3] According to Google Scholar, the article has been cited over 1000 times as of May, 2024.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ Walsh, Roger (2011). "Lifestyle and Mental Health". The American Psychologist. 66 (7): 579–592. doi:10.1037/a0021769. PMID 21244124. S2CID 481301.
  2. ^ Roger Walsh at UCI.
  3. ^ a b Benas, N.; Bryan, R. (2022). The Resilient Warrior: Battle-Tested Life Hacks for Military Men & Women. Hatherleigh Press. ISBN 978-1-57826-932-7.
  4. ^ "Counseling Resources: Therapeutic Lifestyle Choices". Cabrini University. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  5. ^ Walsh, Roger; Shapiro, Shauna L. (2006). "The meeting of meditative disciplines and western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue". American Psychologist. 61 (3): 227–239. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.61.3.227. ISSN 1935-990X.
  6. ^ Evans, J.R.; Dellinger, M.B.; Russell, H.L. (2019). Neurofeedback: The First Fifty Years. Elsevier Science. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-12-817660-3. citing Walsh (2011) p. 579
  7. ^ a b Walsh, in Lifestyle and Mental Health (2011) p. 580.
  8. ^ Walsh, p. 580, citing Therapeutic effects of exercise. (2000, September). Harvard Mental Health Letter, 17(3), 5–6.
  9. ^ Walsh, in Lifestyle and Mental Health (2011) p. 581.
  10. ^ a b c Grayson, P; Meilman, P (2012). "Eat Your Veggies". Journal of College Student Psychotherapy. 26 (3): 163–164. doi:10.1080/87568225.2012.686419.
  11. ^ a b c Thomas, Sandra P. (April 6, 2012). "Editorial: Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLCs) and Mental Health". Issues in Mental Health Nursing. 33 (4): 199–199. doi:10.3109/01612840.2012.676465.
  12. ^ Post, S.; Neimark, J. (2007). Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving. Crown. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7679-2728-4.
  13. ^ About Greg Bogart Accessed February 16, 2024.
  14. ^ Dreamwork in Holistic Psychotherapy of Depression Taylor & Francis. Accessed February 16, 2024.
  15. ^ Bogart, G. (2018). Dreamwork in Holistic Psychotherapy of Depression: An Underground Stream that Guides and Heals. Taylor & Francis. pp. 45–48. ISBN 978-0-429-91300-6.
  16. ^ Bogart, G. (2018) p. 48.
  17. ^ Hidaka BH (2012). "Depression as a disease of modernity: explanations for increasing prevalence". Journal of Affective Disorders. 140 (3): 205–14. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.12.036. PMC 3330161. PMID 22244375.
  18. ^ "Google Scholar".

Category:Health education Category:Medical literature

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