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Healthful hints: Emotional healing

I've always been interested in helping people deal with emotional issues.

The articles listed here include health information brochures I've written for patients I've seen in my office. I may give someone one of these handouts after we've discussed a problem, to help them remember what we said and as a handy reference. Topics like depression are complicated, so you may need time to digest what we've discussed. Sometimes it's helpful to have something you can show your sister or your uncle.

I don't intend the information presented here to cover every possible aspect of the problem, but as an overview of what's going on and what to expect. Other handouts discuss how to use the medications I recommend for this problem. Rather than provide a complete list of every possible side effect, I've tried to present a balanced view of the benefits and potential problems people encounter most often. (Similarly, you won't find prescribing information like which medication to use when, when not to use it, or drug-drug interactions.)

In addition to regular HTML (like this page), some handouts are also available in Adobe Acrobat ("PDF") format so you can print them out in a convenient form. These require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (get it here). Here's the list:

Do you have the illness of depression? What are the symptoms of depression? What sorts of treatments are there? How hard is it to treat?
Antidepressant medications. Three handouts discuss the major types of medications for depression. The first covers SRIs (serotonin reuptake inhibitors) like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. The second covers an older group of medications, the tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline, doxepin, and desipramine, which are surprisingly useful in treating pain. Finally there's Effexor and Wellbutrin, two of the newer medications in this group.
How to use 12-step programs. If you have a problem with alcohol or drugs—or are putting up with someone who does—you should know how to find good Alcoholics Anonymous, AlAnon, and similar groups that meet in your community. Here's how.

I'm intensely interested in how one heals emotionally. But as a specialist in internal medicine, I don't consider myself a psychotherapist, but rather a coach or guide. Here I present a guidebook of sorts. How does one heal painful emotion? How do you know when you're still progressing down the right path to your own recovery?

The first part of the discussion of emotional healing describes how to release painful emotions.
The second section addresses aggressive acceptance of feelings and experience as a form of healing.
An example of using these techniques describes dealing with anger.
Here's a particularly useful journaling technique.
Given all the above, how do you find a good psychotherapist?

Finally, check out the reader comment and discussion area.

Last updated Fri, Nov 25, 2005

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