Mental Health

Did you know that over 40 million North American adults live with anxiety disorders each year? 54 million live with some kind of Mental Health illness

Mental health is one of the most talked about concerns in both Western Medicine and in many aspects of the Wellness industry. As a result, many Spas are now wanting to introduce wellness programs and are exploring new possibilities and treatments to include on their service menu. Mental Health different from Physical health is a state of wellbeing. We all want to be healthy and happy. No one can be truly healthy without positive mental health. It involves how we feel, think, act and interact with the world around us. Mental health is about coping with the normal stresses of life and making a contribution to our community.  Positive mental health isn’t about avoiding problems or trying to achieve a “perfect” life. It’s about living well and having the tools to cope with difficult situations even during life’s challenges and each person’s path to mental well-being is unique. 

Emotions are meant to be experienced. They help us create change within ourselves, they help us understand ourselves on many levels and grow from the experiences and challenges that life provides. However, when over powering emotions start to interfere with our daily living and begin create distress, they can lead us down a slippery slope from poor emotional health, to poor physical health and the need for multiple drugs, often remaining with us for a lifetime. From veterans experiencing PTSD to concerns around terrorism and political uncertainty, women’s concerns around pre- menstrual syndrome, menopause, raising children and looking after aging parents and simple every day living, life is stressful. Anxiety is the number one concern with numbers rising rapidly, left untreated leads to depression. Mental health affects us all at some point in our life but we, the practitioners must remember above all, treat ourselves first.

The Greatest gift that you can give to others is to be happy and hopeful yourself; then you draw them up out of their despondency.

Edward Bach

It is well known that a lengthy period of time experiencing fear, worry or anxiety or other profound emotions, eventually lead to feeling tired, feeling depleted, not sleeping well, emotional eating and an overall general feeling of not feeling well. Under these conditions the body loses its natural resistance to disease and we become prey to any infection or form of illness. Often illness that follows is in your genetics. Grief and traumas of all nature left unresolved also add to this problem. So many of my former patients had never been well since loss of a family member or a particular trauma such as a car accident or going through such things as divorce and more.

The Cause and Progress of Disease

Disturbing moods and state of mind, if allowed to continue, lead to a disturbance in the functions of body organs and tissues.

Edward Bach

In order to help combat the recent growth of this disease we must all join the conversation. Talk about mental health with your family, friends and clients as so many suffer in silence. With this in mind and as a Homeopath and an esthetician I have chosen to write this article on Bach Flower Remedies, for all people, as well as professional therapists and alternative therapists that work with others to help them through difficult times.

The Bach Flower System

Bach Flower Remedies are considered by some as a natural stress management system. Many of you are familiar with Rescue Remedy but may not realise that there are actually 38 remedies for 38 different negatives states of mind. Easy to learn, to use and recommend, therapists of all kinds are eligible to train in this modality and eventually offer this as a service to their clients.

Why do I love them, use them and trust them:

The Bach Flower Remedies are made from wild flowers and are safe for the whole family including pets, there are no known side effects or allergic reactions.

The remedies are preserved in grape based brandy and are gluten free

• They are prepared from non- toxic flowers as homeopathic remedies.
• Do not interfere with other medication or treatment.
• Non addictive. When you don’t need them you simply won’t want them
• Safe for all age groups from new born to seniors
• You cannot overdose.
• There are no side effects.
• They are available at good health Food stores everywhere.

This method of treatment and the thirty- eight remedies which makes up this particular pharmacopoeia were discovered by Edward Bach. He was a renowned physician, who practised for over 28 years in London as a Harley street consultant and as a bacteriologist and later as a certified Doctor of Homeopathy. The late doctor gave up his lucrative practice and research in 1930 to devote his time to finding these remedies and perfecting his method of Flower Healing. He sought remedies from the plant world that would restore vitality to the sick and allow them to recover from key emotional concerns such as fear, anxiety, depression but also to facilitate his own healing at that time.

His clinical experience had shown that in a ward full of patients suffering from the same disease, each had differing attitudes emotionally towards themselves and their condition. He discovered that the emotional state of the patient influenced the prognosis. So, the fact that homeopathy gave a place to the mental state of the patient which the medicine of the time did not recognise, to him, Homeopathy therefore offered a more complete picture of human health and disease.

He believed that illness is the effect of disharmony between body and mind. Symptoms of an illness are the external expression of negative emotional states.

Having discovered the 38 remedies, he then divided them into seven different groups to make it easier to understand. The charts provided in this article are a guideline to assist you in remedy choices. Each remedy contains more detail which is not printed here. Also, in trying to choose a remedy or remedies for yourself remember that sometimes it is a simple fix but emotions can also run very deep, can be complex in nature and it is not always easy to see ourselves and therefore to be objective in our choices. At that point, do not be afraid to seek out a qualified practitioner.

Dr Bach passed away peacefully on the evening of November 27th, 1936. He was only 50 years old, but he had left behind him several lifetime’s experience and effort, and a system of medicine that is now used all over the world.

Further Training

The Bach Flower Program is offered by The Bach International Education Program for North America. Complete training is available to you across most of the USA and provides CE’s through the NCBTMB and various Esthetic providers. If you are either a member of the public or a registered professional, you can take a two- day class, covering the 38 remedies that give you the information for treating family and friends.  Levels two and three are required in order to become a certified Bach Flower Practitioner.

For further information:

Nancy Buono:www.bachflowereducation.com

Trish Green 1 800 461 3745 North American provider for Professional Therapists

Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz recommend Rescue Remedy.

Selma Hayek mentioned in In Style magazine that she uses Rescue Pastilles to help with crazy busy days, to keep her calm.

Emma Watson says about Rescue Remedy, “A few drops under my tongue before I go out calms me down. It’s in my makeup bag all the time.”

Jay McCarrol, the winner of the reality TV show Project Runway, used Rescue Remedy on the show’s grand finale.

“….and to calm nerves I take a few drops of Bach Flower Rescue Remedy, made with relaxing flower essences.” –Andrea Gentl

Jennifer Anniston says it keeps her cool under pressure.

Cate Blanchett swears by it,

Salma Hayek has been a fan for years.

Martha Stewart uses Rescue Remedy and Rescue Sleep.

Jennifer Meyer Maguire recommends Rescue Remedy by Bach: “a homeopathic spray that instantly calms you down when you’re stressed out.”

The Bach Flower Remedies are made from wild flowers and are safe for the whole family including pets, there are no known side effects or allergic reactions.

The remedies are preserved in grape based brandy and are gluten free

Trish Green

Written By Trish Green DiHom(Pract) B.Ed Cidesco Diplomat. Bach Flower Therapist.

Trish is a graduate of the Victoria University of Manchester, Trish is a teacher with 35 years of experience in the education field. For twenty of those years she has been an educator in the esthetics industry.  She is an advocate for raising standards in education for Complementary Health Care Practitioners with special interest in Aromatherapy.  Her career in the field of natural health and esthetics is wide and varied. From Doctor of Homeopathy to Cidesco diplomat, Trish is a dedicated professional, committed to ongoing education and the education of others.