Heal the Soul: A Guide
In the works for 14 years, the long awaited DSM-V, the 5th addition of Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was released in May of this year. It is a comprehensive list of the diagnostic criteria for every psychiatric disorder recognized by the US healthcare system. It is used by professionals to recognize and diagnose mental illness and also used by health insurance companies to make decisions on reimbursements. This is a very important document.
Defining and understanding every known mental illness is no small undertaking. There are trainings, workshops and conferences happening all over the US to help professionals understand who is mentally ill. One thing that stands out in the DSM-V is that it opens more of the population to a mental health diagnosis.
In researching the DSM, I came upon a statement from Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine who stated that almost 50% of the US population will have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetime. How did it happen that half of the US population is mentally ill? Were we always this way and were too sick to realize it? Or are people worse off mentally now than just a generation ago?
Here are some facts to consider:
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Since the mid-1990s, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder has increased by 4,000%;
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The rate of antidepressant use among teens and adults rose by 400%;
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Spending on prescription drugs in the US has increased 100%.
As technology gets better, we are able to see deeper into the human body and the mind. Professionals have gotten better at detecting mental illness and earlier in the course of the illness. While technology has advanced medicine by leaps and bounds, it seems the more we take a microscopic view of mental health, the more individual health issues we discover.
There are countless studies that indicate mental health has declined over the past several decades. Society is sicker than it used to be as evidenced by the proportionally higher amount of people on social security disability for mental illness. The question arises as to why? We are at the zenith of technology. We spent 2 trillion dollars or $8,860.00/per person in 2011 for healthcare. Shouldn’t we be getting better? To find the answer we probably have to look outside of just the mind and instead heal the soul and spirit.
The Lost Soul Connection & How to Heal the Soul
We live in a time of rapid change. As the world changes, many of our external reference points are decaying. We can no longer depend on the government, our economy, our safety, or our schools to provide for our wellbeing. The fabric of our society is decaying and this is creating unprecedented stress. At the same time, human consciousness is drastically shifting into a state of awareness and the doorway to each of our souls is being opened wide. This global energetic shift is causing many of us to feel unsafe and unbalanced. When our physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual state becomes unbalanced, physical and mental illness can occur. Imbalance can manifest as depression, anxiety, insecurity, addiction, codependency, and other behavioral and mental disorders.
As we search to feel safe, secure, and nurtured, we seek to fill the hollow void we feel from within. We seek therapy, counseling, and medication to heal our lives and recover our health. These traditional levels of therapy help us see opportunities for change, provide awareness to the issue, provide a diagnosis, and may even temporarily bring relief. These levels of therapy, however, often do not address the root cause of the imbalance often making lasting results difficult.
Traditional therapy methods work at the level of the mind. These methods are a beautiful start towards transformation and become even more effective when combined with progressive energetic therapies that work at the level of the soul. You must heal the soul to fully heal, improve your mental health (and even move beyond a diagnosis), it is essential to address the root cause of the imbalance by providing nourishment to your body, mind, and reconnecting with your lost soul.
We are all very familiar with our bodies and our minds. They are tangible and therefore we place more relevance to the body. But what is the soul?
The soul is your authentic self. It is that part of you that existed before you were born and will exist after you die. It is that part of you that is higher and purer than any addictions or wounding that happened in your life. Your soul is the place where you connect with your heart’s desire and know your life’s purpose and meaning. The well-being of your soul is based on internal reference points, or your deepest truths. Your soul depends on your connection to your heart, yourself and something greater outside yourself. It is at the level of the soul that your creativity, your zest for life, and your essential self are in their purest form. Your greatest gifts are accessed at the level of the soul.
Unfortunately, stress, abuse, trauma can cause your soul to fragment. Said another way, a part of you becomes disassociated. When your soul fragments, you instinctually lock pieces of yourself away to avoid pain and suffering. Soul loss is a survival mechanism. However, when you lose a connection to parts of yourself; you lose the ability to feel whole and complete. You lose a piece of your soul. This is called soul loss. Now fragmented and broken, we feel like something is always missing. You may reach for external resources to fill the hole in the soul. Because the soul nurtures itself internally, there is no drug, no behavior, and no amount of shopping that will fill this hole for any length of time.
When you heal the soul, you move from a life of imbalance, self-medication, medication, crisis, and symptom management to the life filled with meaning and purpose. By identifying your soul’s song and retrieving the missing parts yourself, you will find that gifts that may have been long forgotten. You will discover what it means to become whole and what it means to have a deep heart knowing that you are safe and you are loved. As you rejoin with the missing parts of your soul, you will embark on a journey to heal the wounds of the past and let go of the limiting beliefs that have bound you. You will discover how to transform your wounds and traumatic live experiences into great sources of strength and wisdom. You will learn to create what you really want in this lifetime.
Now more than ever, during this time of monumental change, our soul’s desires are being brought to the surface and we are all being asked to honor ourselves. We are being asked to be honest about our needs, our emotions, and to make changes in our life that are aligned with our core values. We are being asked to strip ourselves of our ego, let go of the wounds of our past, find our lost soul parts, and connect with all the grace, beauty, and love our true self has to offer. The Sanctuary at Sedona Radical Transformation Program was founded by people who know first-hand what it means to feel a void, feel lost; feel imbalanced and fragmented. We discovered how traditional therapy combined with modern science and a variety of alternative and energetic therapies can transform your life and help heal your soul. Professionals may have gotten better at diagnosing mental illness and assigning each of us with a label, but it is up to us to break-free from the patterns that damage our mental health, rediscover ourselves and answer to a higher calling – our soul’s calling. Are you ready to answer?
Heal the Soul. Call 928 639-1300
The Radical Transformation™ Program at The Sanctuary Helps Heal the Soul