First off, thank you for your Successful Surgery series. I downloaded the files and immediately started listening a week before surgery. My prostate surgery was very successful (my progressive surgeon allowed my iPod in the operating room where I was able to listen and relax!) and my recovery is moving along very nicely. As far as I'm concerned, the guided imagery made all the difference!
I’m writing because after 6 months, my 87 yr old mother-in-law is just coming to terms with the loss of her husband and best friend after almost 65 yrs of marriage. She suffers with anxiety, nausea, and loss of appetite.
Do you have a recommendation for which CD would be appropriate, to help her through this time of transition and realization of the profoundness of her loss?
Our daughter was raped last year, and she has not been herself ever since. She quit school and stayed in the house for months, going out very rarely and only with one of us. She wouldn’t return calls to her closest friends. We tried therapy but she hated it.
Last month my parents got her the sleeping CD and WOW! what an amazing transformation! She’s coming back to her full self. She’s smiling again and interested in life around her again. We are so happy. I wanted you to know. No doubt she still needs help, but at least she’s interested in living again and what a joy to see her smile!
This study from the Foundation for Epigenetic Medicine in Santa Rosa CA, examined the effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), a brief exposure therapy combining cognitive and somatic elements, on posttraumatic stress (PTSD) and psychological distress symptoms in veterans receiving mental health services.
Veterans meeting the clinical criteria for PTSD were randomized to either an EFT protocol (n = 30) or standard care/wait list (SOC/WL; n = 29). T he EFT intervention consisted of 6 one hour-long EFT coaching sessions, concurrent with standard care. The two groups were compared before and after the intervention (at 1 month for the SOC/WL group and after six sessions for the EFT group).
The EFT subjects had significantly reduced psychological distress (p < 0.0012) and PTSD symptom levels (p < 0.0001) after. In addition, 90% of the EFT group no longer met PTSD clinical criteria, compared with 4% in the SOC/WL group.
In looking through some old files, we found this letter from a man, already incarcerated for 19 years in a high security mental institution, for having committed several murders.
It speaks to the unexpected and moving ways guided imagery can reach people, even those off the grid of what we consider to be ‘regular’ living.
Dear Belleruth,
“Thank you” does not describe the deep gratitude I feel for your beautiful Anger & Forgiveness CD. Every time I listen to it I feel like I’m listening to a great friend. I’ve been listening to it for about 2 months, 2-3 times a day.
I’m a 60 year old Afro American male. I have been incarcerated in ____ Mental Institution for almost 19 years for committing 4 homicides. My actions affected the lives of 4 different families for the rest of their lives, their friends, their communities. I cannot go back and change it.
Researchers from the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol in the UK evaluated the effectiveness of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy for patients with treatment-resistant depression, as compared to usual care.
This two parallel-group, multicenter, randomized, controlled trial recruited 469 patients with treatment resistant depression, between the ages of 18-75 years, from 73 primary care practices. (The criteria being that they were on antidepressants for at least ≥6 weeks, scored ≥14 on the Beck Depression Inventory [BDI] and scored -10 on depression on the ICD – International Classification of Diseases.)
Participants were randomized, with a computer generated code to one of two groups: usual care or CBT in addition to usual care. They were followed for 12 months. Analyses were by intention to treat. The primary outcome was response, defined as at least 50% reduction in depressive symptoms (BDI score) at 6 months compared with baseline.
Do you have any tapes to help diabetics stay on their diet? A tape of affirmations for diabetics would be very helpful. For many, diet is a matter of life and death, not just an aesthetic problem. I would love to have such a tape!
Dave
Answer:
Dave, I agree entirely! You’re preachin’ to the choir,
Dude! Only it might be more motivating and effective for you to think
of this as a quest for good nutrition as opposed to staying on a diet.
And yes, we do have an audio program that targets diabetes (designed
to encompass both Type 1 and Type 2) and it contains within it, among
other things, some motivational imagery, some solid, accurate cellular
imagery for diabetes (seeing the cells connecting with your insulin so
they can absorb sugar from the bloodstream) along with corresponding
metaphoric imagery (giving yourself permission to take in love, beauty
and sweetness from the environment).
This is a heartening testimonial to the power of guided imagery in making a difference even with chronic clinical depression – something that likes to stick around. Many people needs a whole combination of tools in order to do the trick – light therapy, exercise, health coaching, support groups, journaling…. But for this person, the imagery was enough – or at least that’s been her impression.
I had chronic, debilitating depression all my life, due to physical and sexual abuse, and I had desperately tried everything to alleviate it, from medication to hypnosis. I read everything I could get my hands on. Nothing worked--at best there would be brief lessening of pain, but nothing significant. I really felt doomed, as if my situation was hopeless.
Researchers at the Ann Arbor V.A. Healthcare System in Flint, Michigan evaluated the impact of telephone-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) targeting diabetic patients' management of depressive symptoms, physical activity levels, and diabetes-related outcomes. Concern about the need for between-visit support in this population was what generated this study.
Two hundred ninety-one patients with type 2 diabetes and significant depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory scores ≥ 14) were recruited from community-based, university-based, and Veterans Affairs health care systems.
A manualized telephone CBT program was delivered weekly by nurses for 12 weeks, followed by 9 monthly booster sessions. Sessions initially focused exclusively on patients' depression management and then added a pedometer-based walking program.
This year I am a basket case over the holidays. I do not feel like doing anything. I am nervous and out of sorts most of the time. I bite my husband’s head off, even though he is a good man who helps me out and does not deserve this. I burst into tears at nothing.
As usual, I am having my sisters and their families over for Christmas dinner. It has been fun in the past, but not this year. My mother died last year and that is probably why. This will be our first Christmas without her.
What would you suggest I listen to, to get me through this? I am dreading the holidays. I wish I could just run away and come back when it is all over.
