The Power of Psychoeducation
Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing offers psychoeducational programs that highlight the following areas.
Here’s a quick summary of research data that supports these life-enhancing programs:
Consider these facts:
Meditation is so effective in reducing stress and tension that, in 1984, the National Institutes of Health recommended meditation over prescription drugs as the first treatment for mild hypertension. Meditation has also been shown to have a positive effect on immune functions and strengthens the body’s defenses against illnesses and infectious disease.
Diet and nutrition… or rather nutrient deficiencies rob our body of its natural ability to fight disease, while also weakening our overall physiological and psychological performance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has found that a significant percentage of the U.S. population receives well under 70 percent of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for vitamins A, C, and B-complex, as well as the essential minerals of calcium, magnesium, and iron.
Mind/body programs at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts, Stanford University, the University of Miami, and the University of California at San Francisco are doing studies showing the importance of a whole person approach to healing. Here people with life-threatening diseases like, cancer, AIDS, coronary heart disease, and chronic pain are learning to change their habits and attitudes…what they eat, when they exercise, and how they think. The studies are showing these men and women are functioning far more effectively, feeling better, and often living longer.
Mood, attitude, and belief can affect virtually every chronic illness: studies show fear, cynicism, anxiety, as well as a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, can have a detrimental effect on health; whereas courage, good humor, a sense of control and hopefulness can all be beneficial…helping people live longer, better, and suffering less.
Connection… a long-term study found that people with the lowest amount of social ties were two to three times more likely to die of all causes than those with the most social connectedness. Similarly, a Stanford University study demonstrated that women with breast cancer who participated in a weekly support group lived twice as long as those who did not.
