HAPPY WHOLE HUMAN® is designed to empower you with information, tools, and coaching, but it is not the same as therapy. Some of the things that you discover along this journey may call for more support than we provide. Before you go any further, please read through common reasons to seek out a licensed mental health professional and some related referral resources.

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Click here for a list of suggested mental health resources

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Common Reasons to Seek Out a Licensed Mental Health Professional

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Suicidal or homicidal thoughts

If you currently are having (or have had in the last three months) panic attacks, suicidal or homicidal thoughts, or if you may be a harm to yourself or others, you need help. Call 988 or 911 or the Lifeline Crisis Chat: 1-800-273 TALK (8255) and we recommend that you consider seeking the care of a licensed mental health professional immediately.

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Click here for a list of international crisis hotlines and resources.

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Depression

(from http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/detecting-depression)

When you have depression, it's more than feeling sad. Intense feelings of sadness and other symptoms, like losing

interest in things you enjoy, may last for a while. Depression is a medical illness, not a sign of weakness. And it's treatable. Most of us feel sad, lonely, or depressed at times. And feeling depressed is a normal reaction to loss, life's struggles, or an injured self-esteem. But when these feelings become overwhelming, involve physical symptoms, and last for long periods of time, they can keep you from leading a normal, active life. That's when it's time to seek medical help. If left untreated, symptoms of clinical or major depression may worsen and last for months or sometimes even years. They can cause untold suffering and possibly lead to suicide. Recognizing the symptoms of depression is often the biggest hurdle to the diagnosis and treatment of clinical or major depression.

Unfortunately, approximately half the people who experience symptoms never do get diagnosed or treated for their illness. Not getting treatment can be life threatening. More than one out of every 10 people battling depression commits suicide.

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Panic attacks

(from http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/)

Panic attacks are truly terrifying and can happen without warning or reason, causing sudden fear and extreme nervousness for 10 minutes or more. Physical symptoms intensify the attack: sweating, racing heart, rapid pulse, feeling faint, or as if one is choking, and, perhaps worst of all, the sense of "going crazy."

These attacks are a symptom of panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder that affects some 2.4 million U.S. adults.The disorder most often begins during the late teens and early adulthood and strikes twice as many American women as men. No one knows what causes panic disorder, though researchers suspect a combination of biological and environmental factors, including family history (panic disorder seems to run in families), stressful life events, drug and alcohol abuse, and thinking patterns that exaggerate normal physical reactions.

What happens, exactly? "We all physically respond to stress," says Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, psychiatry professor and director, Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program, at Atlanta's Emory University School of Medicine. "You might feel anxious about work-related problems, taking a big exam, or making an important decision. But someone who suffers from panic disorder may react to those same moderate pressures with an exaggerated physical reaction-as if he or she were about to be attacked by a wild tiger or fall from a great height. It's full-on, adrenaline-pumping, fight-or-flight response."

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Violence and abuse

Violence and abuse are commonly characterized by either using size, strength, or presence to hurt or control someone else or allowing others to use their size, strength, or presence to hurt or control.

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Trauma and PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be extremely upsetting and confusing as stuck and stored fight or flight adrenaline responses can be triggered unexpectedly in violent and surprising ways. To resolve trauma, it is necessary to reestablish stability physiologically and psychologically. Although we are still learning about trauma and it is often misunderstood, researchers such as Dr. Peter Levine have established that trauma can be healed if we harness the innate ability of the nervous system to heal itself with holistic mind-body therapies such as Levine's Somatic Experiencing approach, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Network Spinal Analysis (NSA), yoga, and hypnotherapy. Dr. Levine's video explains PTSD using a slinky metaphor: https://youtu.be/ByalBx85iC8

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