Revista de conductas, terapia y rehabilitación adictivas

PS Approach-Psycho-Spiritual Approach to Stress, Anxiety and Depression Management

Naveed Ahmed Khan

For most of the history of psychology and psychiatry, there has been a focus on the negative aspects of mental health, involving the diagnosing and treating of diseases and disorders. In recent years, there has been a move toward “Positive Psychology,” that (as the name implies) focuses on the positive aspects of mental health. Psychological changes and symptoms, throughout the life span are seen as having the potential for positive growth that can be incorporated into a treatment process rather than pathologic process that needs to be eliminated or suppressed. Additionally, over the past few decades, practitioners hae experienced people who may not have a clinical diagnosis yet they feel there is something which is “missing” in their lives. For too long, mind and body were considered separate entities, but great strides have been made in the past few decades to recognize the interconnections between mind and body in respect health and disease. However, many practitioners are still neglecting the third entity-the role of spirituality in health and healing. The recent research indicates that spirituality plays a significant role in health and longevity Part 1 proceeds to describe the elements of such perspectives and their implications for diagnosis, clinical work, and research. Part 2 takes the psychospiritual approach and applies it to Anxiety disorders. Although, much of the part focuses on generalized anxiety disorder, However, the approaches can be applied to other anxiety disorders. Part 3 describes how to use a psychospiritual approach in people who have experienced trauma/PTSD. It provides specific treatment approaches and case examples to clearly define the psychospiritual approach as it is related to trauma/PTSD. Part 4 focuses on the Sufi technique for healing depression. Sufism is described as “an ancient wisdom tradition that has existed for over 1400 years. Sufism contributes a theoretical foundation from which we can understand the etiology, symptoms, and treatment of depression”. The Sufism technique psychospiritual approach is one that requires additional training and experience, and this part provides primarily an overview for the theory and use of Sufism.