Here's my disclaimer. I have a master's degree in counseling and applied psychotherapy. I am not a doctor and naturopath. The purpose of this course and presentation is to convey information. It should not be interpreted as medical advice and it's not intended to diagnose, treat or cure your condition, or to be used as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professionals. The methods discussed in this program are intended to support health and healing, not to replace your medical treatment.

Whether you choose conventional treatments, alternative treatments, or both It's imperative that you work closely with your doctor or healthcare professional to properly diagnose and treat your condition and to monitor your results and progress. Even though I mentioned evidence based supplements, and medications that are proven to help with migraines, anxiety and depression, you must first discuss these options with your doctor. Please treat any supplement as cautiously as any medication. Thank you. Welcome to practical ways to help manage depression and anxiety for migraine sufferers using strategic journaling. In this video, we're going to use a strategic journaling process.

Sigmund Freud used to refer to depression is anger turned inward. Well, many people may regard this as an overly simplistic approach to the most common mental health disorder in the world. There is no doubt that anger plays a significant role in depression. One way to deal with migraines and depression is to keep a journal. It is beneficial to express your emotions, but you might not want to share some of the strong emotions from the intense physical pain with other people. You might be feeling a little too ashamed of things you're thinking and feeling.

It is best to process some of this with yourself, so you can process your emotions through writing. This letter is inspired by the work of Barbara to Angeles PhD. Her technique deals with all six levels involved in healing anger. Each level has two feelings associated with it. Get a piece of paper to write on or you can download the PDF that comes with this video. I also recommend shredding in your journal when you're done with it, so no one else sees it, this process is really just for you and no one else.

Also, I believe it's not good to keep negative energy in your house. So now have everything ready to right in front of you. And we're just going to do a short little meditation. So now if it's comfortable, just close your eyes, and wiggle your toes and breathe into yourself. Let go of the day. Let go over the week.

And just bring all of your energy back to you. Bring all of your energy back and allow the next 20 minutes or so just for you to process a few things. scan your body from your feet up through your ankle calves, shins and knees. Bring your awareness into your thighs. Feel the weight of your sitting bones on the chair. Feel the strength of Mother Earth supporting you.

Feel grounded with your feet and your sitting bones. really feel that support. Now bring your awareness up through your torso up to your shoulders. Go over your head, your ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Become aware of your breath. And on your next inhale, follow your breath inside your body.

Come to rest somewhere inside between your throat and your lower abdomen. feeling safe and warm, secure, inside safe. Now tune in and ask what comes to mind when you think of your migraines Think of all the devastation they've caused in your life. Think back to a time where you got angry or felt hurt by the repeated attacks. If those words don't bring up any emotions for you just allow the emotions to show themselves to you. What wants your awareness now It can be hard to access those memories in between attacks.

So be patient with yourself and allow what needs to come come forward when it feels right. Open your eyes and write down the answers will you listen to my instructions we will start with the anger layer. The anger layer deals with blame and resentment. Write as many sentences as you can that start out with this statement. migraine. I blame you for I'll share mine with you.

And then you can pause the video to continue writing your own migraine. I blame you for the loss of my career and the struggles I have each day trying to make ends meet financially. migraine. I resent you for taking all of this away from me. Without even one option to choose something else in my life. You are a destroyer So that's migraine, I blame you for and migraine I resent you for.

Layer two is third layer. The Hurt layer deals for sadness and disappointment. Write as many sentences as you can that start out with this statement. migraine. You make me sad when migraine. You make me sad when you keep coming back to inflict your pain on me.

It's too much it's too often and then right? migraine, you disappoint me when migraine you disappoint me when you don't listen to my please to go away and leave me alone. Remember to pause the video so you can read a little longer if you need it. Number three's fear layer. The fear layer deals with insecurity and wounds. Write as many sentences as you can that start out with this statement.

Migraine. I feel insecure when you migraine. I feel insecure when you constantly destroy my earning capacity. And next is migraine. He wound me when migraine, you wound me when you take away my happiness, my friendships and my inner joy You take everything from me migraine, and I hate you for it. Number four is working towards a solution.

Now it's time to work towards a solution. This is a very important step to start to deal with the feelings of regret. Understanding and responsibility I'm not talking about a solution to the actual medical condition of migraine. We both know there's no cure, only relief. So what I'm referring to here are more about your feelings around the disruption that migraines bring into your life. So having said that, write as many sentences as you can that start out with the statement, migraine.

I understand the situation as migraine, I understand the situation as a neurological condition. did not cause this. There is nothing I did to create this condition and the second part is migraine. I feel responsible when some migraine, I feel responsible when you take me out of commission and I miss work or I miss things. I'm looking forward to I feel responsible for myself, my mental well being, my financial well being, my social well being, and you take all of that away from me, but I am still responsible for me. Layer five is the intention layer.

The intention layer deals with solutions and wishes. So knowing that there's no cure, but possibly a solution to how you might treat yourself from now on. Write as many sentences as you can that start out with this statement. migraine, I feel a solution might be The second part of that is migraine, I wish I could migraine. I wish I could find my answer and healing you so that I could get back to my happy, healthy active life instead of this isolated pain filled existence layer six is the love layer. This may possibly be the hardest layer to work with.

The love layer deals with forgiveness and appreciation. Write as many sentences as you can that start out with this statement migraine. I forgive you for migraine, I forgive you for destroying my life. The dream life I now hold only in my mind. I forgive you for migraines and depression, as if migraines aren't hard enough and migraine, I appreciate I appreciate the fact that you make me stop sometimes and slow down enough to appreciate life and the little things I do have. I watch others speed through their lives.

And I actually appreciate the fact that I can stop and think and learn to love myself regardless of whether I have Have a migraine or not? You don't make me a horrible person. You just present me with a horrible experience. having you in my life has forced me to become more aware. And we're conscious of what I do, of what I eat, and what I say. You can reprogram your brain to react differently.

Every time you write to yourself instead of getting angry or getting depressed. You reprogram your brain to react differently. The goal is for your brain to eventually process all these emotions by itself. And you'll no longer have to write letters to yourself. Unless you start to enjoy it that is that's it for this video. Hope you liked it.

I'll see you in the next video.