Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Mental Health Parity - The Equity Between Physical and Emotional Health Care Insurance Coverage

Considering the current legislative debate, it is vitally important for voters to understand the need for a fair balance between physical and emotional medical health care coverage. More than a decade ago Dr. Herbert Benson, of the Harvard Medical School, even emphasized the fact that "60 to 90 percent of [doctor-patient] visits are prompted by conditions related to stress."

We seem to live in a culture within which we are indoctrinated with the idea that medication is the answer to our health care problems. Although medications can certainly be quite beneficial, most people do not realize that many clinical studies indicate that specific meditations, for example, have the potential to lower blood pressure better than medication alone.

Counseling or psychotherapy are proven and effective treatments for a wide range of medical problems, including stress, depression, high blood pressure, insomnia, drug addiction and pain management. The unparalleled benefit of the combination of mental and physical health therapies is unquestionable. Although many insurances also offer coverage for psychotherapy, the inequality within and across coverage plans absolutely needs to be resolved.

As a licensed psychologist and certified hypnotherapist, I advocate the use of hypnosis for stress management. Additionally, "Light and Sound Machines" are relatively new, affordable devices that help users experience near effortless states of deep relaxation, within only a few minutes. In order to try this intriguing way to de-stress, I recommend the following FREE software download, from Tucows. It acquaints computer users to the relaxing effect, via one's monitor.

FREE "Virtual Light & Sound Machine" Software For Effortless Meditation:
http://www.tucows.com/preview/509052