Mental health articles

Relaxation, Meditation, and Exercise
While bad feelings and low moods are part of life, there are ways to take the
edge off of negative eff ects, as therapists can usefully demonstrate in three
short steps. First ask students to rate their level of anxiety or distress on a
100-point scale. Next, have them close their eyes, take slow and deep breaths,
and silently recite the word “relax” with each exhalation. Th en ask for a new
anxiety or distress rating—which, one trusts, has gone down. If the student
says, “But I’m still feeling 50,” the recommended reply is, “Yes, but you were
60 before.” Assuming that the demonstration proves successful, students can
be encouraged to do this simple exercise in class, in stressful social situations,
or whenever their distress peaks.
Chapter 8 discusses many relaxation and meditation options and physical
exercise, all of which benefi t body and mind. Relaxation is physiologically
incompatible with anxiety (Benson & Klipper, 1976), and exercise has proven
physiological benefi ts. In addition, relaxation methods give demoralized and
frightened students the satisfaction of exercising at least partial control over
bad feelings, while exercise workouts and getting in shape build self-esteem
and inspire constructive action in other areas.
As with every other intervention, results do vary. Students may be too
wrought up or despairing to try these methods, or give up when they don’t
show immediate improvement. When they object, “I did the breathing but I
started to feel bad a half hour later,” we need to remind them, “It’s not a panacea,
but it can still provide some relief if you try it.” Other objections are that
exercise or relaxation methods take too much time, or the student doesn’t like
these methods or isn’t cut out for them. As always, it pays to explore students’
reluctance, and sometimes to keep on nudging. One depressed, soft -looking
gay student had an image of himself as “a head, not a body.” His therapist’s
suggestion to go to the gym brought back shameful childhood memories of
feeling athletically and physically inferior to other boys. Nevertheless, the student
courageously agreed to sign up for an aerobics class and before long was
rewarded with an unprecedented pride in his body and a newfound sense of
optimism.