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Anxiety and depression are two common mental health disorders affecting millions worldwide. While traditional therapies, such as medication and talk therapy, are widely used and effective, many individuals seek alternative therapies to manage and alleviate the symptoms of these mental health conditions. Alternative therapies provide individuals with additional tools and techniques to complement their treatment to promote their mental health and well-being. This article explores alternative therapies that have shown promise in handling anxiety and depression. Managing our Anxiety and Depression through Mindfulness-Based Meditation:  Meditation: Mindfulness meditation has recently gained significant popularity in reducing stress, improving focus, and cultivating emotional well-being. This practice involves directing attention to the present moment and observing thoughts and feelings without judgment. Being present at the moment is the key to mindfulness. By training our minds to focus on the present rather than allowing our minds to wander in different directions, we can reduce anxiety and alleviate symptoms of depression. Mindfulness meditation can be practised individually or in group settings, and it often incorporates techniques such as deep breathing and body scan or awareness. Research studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can effectively reduce anxiety symptoms andimprove overall mental well-being. It helps individuals become more aware of their thoughts and emotions,allowing them to respond to stressors in a more calm and composed manner. By practising mindfulnessregularly, we can develop the ability to observe our thoughts without being overwhelmed by them. By doing so,we gradually develop a greater sense of control over our mental state. Managing our Mental Health Conditions with Yoga: Yoga combines physical postures, breath control (pranayama), and meditation to promote physical and mental well-being. Yoga has been found to reduce anxiety, improve mood, and increase overall feelings of calmness and deep relaxation. The combination of gentle movements, focused breathing, and mindfulness helps individuals connect with their bodies, release tension, and cultivate inner peace. Regular yoga practice has been shown to be beneficial in managing symptoms of anxiety and depression, providing individuals with a holistic approach to their mental health. Yoga incorporates physical exercise, deep breathing, and mindfulness techniques, making it a comprehensive practice for managing anxiety and depression. The physical postures, known as asanas, help release tension and increase flexibility, while controlled breathing calms the nervous system. The meditative aspect of yoga allows individuals to quiet their minds and find a sense of tranquillity. Through regular practice, we can experience reduced anxiety levels, improved mood, and greater well-being. Use of Herbal Supplements for anxiety and depression:  Herbal supplements have been used for centuries to support mental and emotional well-being. Certain herbs, such as St. John’s Wort, lavender, and chamomile, have shown potential in reducing anxiety and improving mood. However, it is essential to consult with a healthcare professional before incorporating herbal supplements into one’s treatment plan, as they may interact with other medications or have contraindications. However, it may be kept in mind that herbal supplements should not replace traditional treatment methods and should only be used under the guidance of a healthcare professional. Art Therapy:  Art therapy utilizes the creative art-making process to promote self-expression, reduce stress, and enhance emotional well-being. Engaging in art activities, such as painting, drawing, or sculpting, gives us an outlet to express our thoughts and emotions. Art therapy encourages self-reflection, relaxation, and the development of coping skills. It can be particularly beneficial for individuals who struggle to verbalize their feelings or experiences. Art therapy taps into our creative potential to explore our emotions and express ourselves in a non-verbal and symbolic way. Creating art can be therapeutic and cathartic, providing us with a means to release emotions, gain insight, and find relief from anxiety and depression. Art therapy sessions are facilitated by trained professionals who guide us in our creative journey and help us explore our thoughts and feelings. Music Therapy:  Music has a powerful impact on our emotions and can be utilized as a therapeutic tool in managing anxiety and depression. Music-therapy involves listening to or creating music under the guidance of a trained therapist. Music can evoke different emotions, provide comfort, and promote relaxation. Music-therapy sessions may include guided imagery, songwriting, or playing musical instruments. This therapeuticapproach can help us process emotions, reduce stress, and improve mood. Music therapy can help us connect with our emotions, find solace in the melodies, and experience a sense of catharsis. Whether listening to calming music, engaging in active music-making, or participating in groupsinging, music therapy offers us a unique and enjoyable way to manage anxiety and depression. Managing Anxiety and Depression by way of Regular Exercise and Physical Activity:  Regular physical activity is beneficial for physical health and plays a significant role in managing anxiety and depression and engaging in exercise releases endorphins, which are natural mood-enhancing chemicals in the brain. Exercise can reduce feelings of stress, improve sleep patterns, boost self-esteem, and increase overall well-being. Activities such as walking, jogging, swimming, or dancing can be incorporated into daily routines to promote a healthy body and mind. Exercise is known to have numerous benefits for mental health. It helps to reduce stress by releasing tension and promoting deep relaxation. Physical activity also improves the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which are associated with mood regulation. Engaging in regular exercise can boost self-confidence, improve self-image, and provide a healthy outlet for emotional release. Additionally, exercising in nature or participating in outdoor activities can enhance the positive effects by combining physical activity with the therapeutic benefits of being in natural surroundings. Conclusion: alternative therapies offer us additional ways to manage and alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Mindfulness meditation, yoga, acupuncture, herbal supplements, art therapy, music therapy,and exercise are all viable alternatives to consider along with traditional treatment approaches. It is important to remember that what works for one person may not work for another, and individual preferences and needs should be kept in mind. Consulting with healthcare professionals and trained therapists can help determine the most suitable alternative therapies and ensure a comprehensive approach to mental

The world is undergoing many upheavals on different fronts. As a result, we are witnessing transformative changes in our social, economic, scientific, and technological areas. How we think, interact, behave, and work is transforming. The Covid pandemic further accelerated changes. As a whole, we still have to figure out what’s happening around us and what kind of world will emerge in time to come. Likewise, we are blind to the underlying wave of mental health issues arising as a new endemic. The young generation is the worst affected on mental wellbeing. A crisis like situation: Jonathan Haidt, a renowned social psychologist, says, “What you find is that they (Generation Z) have extraordinarily high rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicides and fragility.” There has “never been a generation this depressed, anxious and fragile.” He called it the “national crisis of Gen Z.” Mental health problems are worsening if we look into the statistics published about the younger generation, especially in India. One student commits suicide in India every hour, with an average of 28 such suicides being reported daily, per data gathered by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Vulnerability and social media: According to the American Psychiatric Association, more than 50% of all cases of mental health conditions start by 14 and about 75% by 24. That is why this generation is called ‘highly vulnerable’. Social media is being used excessively by alarming numbers of users, particularly the student community. It has a direct biological impact on their brains when they increasingly use it. Some even claim that social media is comparable to a giant slot machine in the world. What a temptation and variety of options to seek entertainment, glamour, excitement, and pleasure are all available to us on social media platforms? Social media and digital addiction: We now spend most of our free time on social media, watching and disseminating information in various forms. There are endless alternatives for enjoyable entertainment on social media and the Internet, including games, videos, movies, pornographic films, and other media. The desire to use the mobiles and other gazettes more frequently is greater among young people. The cases of digital addictions are rising sharply. Distracted mind and the mental wellbeing: As a result, the young generation is becoming more distracted due to the greater use of social media. WhatsApp and other instant messaging platforms are consuming a huge amount of time and therefore making students more stressed and anxious about their studies. Research studies are also establishing a close link between anxiety and depression with increased usage of the Internet. Widening generation gap: Another reason for increased mental health related issues is the widening generation gap. The gap between Gen Z and the millennials is increasing. Youngsters are not communicating and sharing their details as there used to be earlier. Students are becoming more disconnected from their parents as well as from themselves.  Since their performance during college and university days determines their future, students are always under emotional stress. The workload of studies, parents’ expectations, and a hyper-competitive setting all lead to the experience of high levels of stress and anxiety. This very stress and anxiety can make them susceptible to mental health problems. What next: Now one of the biggest challenges is how to make our students more interested, productive, andengaged with studies and their careers because of huge distractions of other non-productive activities. Wemust try hard to enhance their ability to concentrate and focus more on the activities that facilitate their career endeavour. We need to make them mentally fit and resilient to face modern-day challenges. Their lifestyle should make them mentally healthy / mental wellbeing. Why do we need mindfulness? The first and foremost requirement for the young generation is to handle their stress and anxiety. When not addressed timely and effectively, stress becomes chronic, which is the beginning of many mental health-related conditions. We need to practice mindfulness to handle stress, anxiety, and typical restlessness among students. Mindfulness plays a significant role in improving our overall mental wellbeing. According to research, the practice helps people manage stress, depression, addiction, and anxiety. It has been shown to be effective in people with health conditions like hypertension, chronic pain, and heart failure. When we practice mindfulness, it gets easy to identify stress, anxiety, or depression signals early on. We become more positive in how we respond to signs of mental health problems. Mindfulness can teach us how to manage our emotions in a way that positively changes our behaviour. How to develop mindfulness? The only way to develop mindfulness is to practice and experience more and more present moments. Try to maximize our experiences of being fully aware and awake. We need to make a conscious effort to bring back our wandering minds to the present. We should keep doing this simple exercise of returning our attention to the present. This should be in the back of our minds all the time. Though it sounds simple and easy, it’s challenging to practice. We generally need to observe our minds more carefully. Hence, the best way to cultivate mindfulness is to practice meditation. Stress management: when the workload of studies and the pressure of parents and their expectations increase beyond their capacity to handle them leads to mental stress. Stress is, in fact, valuable and needed as it prompts us to do our best. Still, it increases from a certain optimum level, and then the problematic stress triggers. To manage our stress levels, we need to manage our time well and keep our priorities right. By creating a list or plan of when we can handle each issue, we can manage our obligations and concerns. Most of the time, stress arises when our priorities are misplaced, and we waste time on unproductive and trivial matters. Self-care and mental wellbeing: To keep ourselves physically and mentally healthy (mental wellbeing) and fit, we must set our lifestyle right. Otherwise, most physical illnesses begin due to unhealthy lifestyles and bad habits. To begin

Presently, mindfulness is acknowledged as a powerful method for enhancing mental wellness. It can improve various aspects of mental well-being, including reduced stress levels, regulating emotions and moods, increased self-awareness and better control over our minds and thoughts. This technique has become widely recognized as a powerful tool for enhancing our mental health. The practice of mindfulness is now a well-known global trend. Among the most popular alternative techniques for strengthening and boosting mental health are ancient yoga and meditation practices. Numerous Fortune 500 companies directly provide mindfulness-based meditation in their work-spaces to support mental health at work. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities also use this technique to reduce chronic pain and stress. Mindfulness and the ‘Thinking disease’: Jon Kabat-Zinn, a former medical professor and the head of the Centre for Mindfulness at the Massachusetts Medical School in the USA, is one of the most well-known figures in the mindfulness movement. He famously wrote in a book published in 2019 that “We have the potential to ignite a global renaissance catalysed by the cultivation of mindfulness and heartfulness at this critical juncture in the arc of human evolution and development.” He asserts that the cause of our misery and sorrow is a “thinking disease” that affects everyone and begins in the mind. His research and several other worldwide studies have shown a positive link between mindfulness and mental health. What is mental health? For us to think and perform well, our total psychological and emotional health is referred to as our mental health or wellness. We are better equipped to control the stress we feel every day and deal with any unforeseen adversity that may happen to us. Practically, we all face bad and ‘struggling’ times during our life’s journey. We often break down at those moments because we lack the mental fitness to handle the situation. We are mostly unprepared. We could get deeply entangled in a destructive thought cycle that compromises our mental health. In fact, during such trying moments, our mental and psychological health is tested. If we have mental toughness and resilience, we can quickly come out of those situations. In addition, our mental health affects our relationships, productivity at work, and physical health. Impact of mindfulness on our mental health: Most medical professionals now concur that mindfulness has many benefits for good physical, mental, and emotional health. Additionally, it is used therapeutically to help people manage a variety of mental health conditions. Huge research has supported the premise that mindfulness has positive effects on our mental health, including stress reduction, emotional control, and reducing negative thought processes. It helps us even in mild to moderate cases of anxiety and depression. Research has also shown that mindfulness is helpful in quitting addictions, particularly smoking. What is meant by mindfulness? Mindfulness is our experience of “being present” and observing non-judgmentally what is happening inside and outside us. Our deep and undivided awareness comes when we are fully conscious, aware, and focused on the “present.” This state is referred to as “mindfulness.” When we engage in mindfulness practices, we are completely alert and aware. In those moments, we are conscious of our thoughts, sensations, and emotions. When it happens, we are fully present and aware of ourselves. This level of awareness elevates one’s perception of their mental and physical well-being.  In brief, there are three crucial aspects of mindfulness: The most important is we are in the ‘now’, which means present. Second, during those times, we are focused and aware. We are not drifting off in different ways with our thoughts and ideas. Finally, we observe things in a non-judgmental way. We accept things as they are rather than reacting, making judgements, or giving the experiences meaning. In other words, when we are in a state of mindfulness, we accept things as they are rather than taking them as we perceive them.  However, we should pay more attention to what is happening both inside and around us. The root cause of the problem is that we are mainly preoccupied with our inner stream of thoughts. We may behave aimlessly, impulsively, and restlessly when we are not fully present and conscious. We’re more prone to miss our worthwhile experiences. We experience the same thing of ‘mindlessness’ while we work, eat, walk, talk to people, and so forth; we are in a state that might be referred to as “unconscious” or “half-sleep.” How mental health problems arise: ‘Mindless’ or ‘absentminded’ behaviour carries a heavy price. We frequently keep thinking unsettling things, worry about them, and get stuck in a cycle of them. We develop a penchant for mental stress and worry to varying degrees. When we fail to control our thoughts because we are unaware of them constantly, we may eventually experience mental health problems. As a result, we are more prone to mental health problems like persistent worry, chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. Benefits of mindfulness for our mental health:  Unquestionably, a large body of research studies has concluded that cultivating mindfulness greatly impacts our mental health. We develop mental fortitude and fitness. Not only may mindfulness help us better manage our thoughts and feelings, but it can also let us experience more original and creative thoughts. Better emotional regulation leads to increased self-control in the face of stress and adversity. We gradually improve our capacity for attention and focus. This all enables us to manage our personal and professional life better. As we practice mindfulness, we experience more compassion, empathy, and love in our relationships. In a broader sense, we slowly and consistently improve and make a better version of ourselves. How to develop mindfulness:  The best and simple way to develop mindfulness is through more frequent practice and immersion in the ‘present’. We must take advantage, to the maximum, of the times when we are awake and aware. To actively bring our straying thoughts back to ‘here and now’, we must make a concerted effort to be present in the moments a hand. This easy practice can

The world is witnessing an unprecedented time when stress and mental health problems are taking a pandemic proportion. According to a WHO report published on July 22, nearly one billion people were living with mental health conditions worldwide in 2019. Among them, the maximum number of people have an anxiety disorder. Stress is also affecting our society far more significantly than ever before. The majority of people in India have the problem of stress at their workplace. Their working environment is stressed and toxic. Even otherwise, we have concerns regarding financial constraints, health issues either physical or mental, and relationship problems. They all contribute to stress. Mental health wellbeing is important for stability in life. What’s stress? Stress and anxiety are two of the most common mental health issues people experience today. They can be caused by many factors, right from work-related stress to personal problems. India is moving fast towards an endemic situation. Stress affects our life’s quality in many different ways. Stress and anxiety are among the biggest threats to mental health. These twin problems can lead to physical, emotional, and mental health problems if left unaddressed for a long time. Stress contributes directly and indirectly to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, lung diseases, anxiety, depression, etc. What’s anxiety? Stress is the body’s natural response to any demand placed upon it. Although we often work under stress, it can lead to anxiety if it becomes chronic and unchecked. Anxiety is characterized by feelings of unease, worry, or fear about future events or outcomes. While it can be a normal human response to a stressful situation, excessive and prolonged anxiety can cause significant harm to a person’s mental health. The effects on mental health wellbeing: The effects of stress and anxiety on mental health can be huge. Both these health conditions can lead to physical symptoms, such as headaches, muscle tension, and fatigue, as well as emotional and mental symptoms, such as irritability, low mood, and a lack of motivation. Over time, prolonged stress and anxiety can lead to more severe mental health problems, including depression, panic disorder, and other anxiety disorders. Both these issues of stress and anxiety are interlinked. One can potentially leads to another if not managed well. Their symptoms may even overlap. What are the strategies to handle stress and anxiety: It is hence necessary to handle both stress as well as anxiety effectively. Before the symptoms are aggravated, we need to take steps to contain their severity. Some websites like Mind Therapy uses free online tests for stress, anxiety, and depression. People can know their severity. Some of the effective strategies are briefly explained below:  Relaxation techniques: There are certain deep relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation that can reduce our stress level and anxiety by ensuring relaxation and reducing tension in the body. ‘Pranayam’ or breathing exercises are effective, especially for managing anxiety. One special kind of ‘pranayam’ is known as the 4,7 & 8 breathing technique. We inhale breath in for 4 seconds, then hold the breath for 7 seconds, and lastly exhale breath in 8 seconds. It’s very popular and can also be used for inducing sleep. Mindfulness based meditation is another tool to promote mental health in very effective manner Regular exercise has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, both by releasing endorphins. These hormones are released when we feel pain or stress or experience pleasurable activities. These are supposed to be natural mood boosters. It can also help improve overall physical health, which in turn can improve mental health. That’s the reason we feel good after rigorous exercise. So it’s highly recommended to reduce stress and anxiety. Identify the triggers: To manage our stress and anxiety, we first need to identify the triggers that cause them. This may involve introspection; some do it by keeping a journal or diary to track stressful events. It can be beneficial if you find the root cause of the problem. Once that’s done, then it becomes easier for us to find ways to tackle the causes. Social support system: A strong support system can help us to manage stress and anxiety by providing comfort and security. Nurturing true and meaningful friends can go a long way to managing stress and anxiety and bringing happiness and positivity. They are the ones who can stand along with us during stressful and challenging times.  Avail professional help: If stress and anxiety impact a person’s quality of life, seeking help from a counsellor, psychologist, or psychotherapist may be worthwhile. A mental health professional can help identify the root cause of the problem and provide us with solutions and strategies to manage it effectively. The right way of perceiving things and responding appropriately to stressors is a critical component of the therapy sessions What are the ways of self-care for mental health wellbeing? healthy and disciplined lifestyle is a critical ingredient of life, which we should not ignore. Practising self-care, such as taking time for oneself and engaging in activities and passions that promote relaxation, can help reduce stress and anxiety and promote overall mental health wellbeing. A healthy lifestyle includes: Taking a balanced diet. Getting enough sleep. Avoiding unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drugs, smoking and alcohol. Engaging in activities and passions that promote relaxation and well-being. Ultimately, managing stress and anxiety requires a holistic solution. Individuals can effectively manage stress and anxiety and promote better mental health and overall well-being by identifying the triggers, practising relaxation techniques, exercising regularly, building a strong support system, practising self-care, and seeking professional help when necessary. Take away: To conclude, stress and anxiety are two of the biggest threats to mental health wellbeing. They can have a profound impact on a person’s physical, emotional, and mental health and wellbeing. They can lead to a range of health problems if left unchecked.