A particular problem may start out by being biological, then may spread to involve other spheres such as the psychological realm. The reverse is also true. A person may start with a mental problem, but this problem may convert to a physical disturbance, although the underlying cause is still mental/psychological. Spiritual problems are often misunderstood or overlooked. An individual who 'gives up', has 'a very poor self-esteem', or 'shuts down' may have a spiritually based problem. These sorts of disturbances can result from a significant traumatic experience such as severe emotional or sexual abuse.
BIOLOGY AND THE BRAIN
Like any part of the body, the brain requires proper nutrition, proper rest, proper protection, proper support, or, in one word, proper care. Simple health laws have profound effects on brain health. These include: proper nutrition (maximizing intake of fresh, unprocessed foods including plenty of fruits and vegetables while minimizing processed foods), dietary supplementation (necessary for most of us these days due to overly processed foods we eat, environmental stress, and poor lifestyle choices), adequate hydration with water, avoidance of any food substances that can impair brain function (see below), proper sleep and rest. Many neurological disorders in children and in adults are directly related to the above such as headaches, ADHD, autism, sleep disturbance, and many other conditions.
Food substances that can impair brain function:
Food substances that can enhance or repair brain function
Vitamins (in particular B vitamins).
Minerals (e.g. magnesium and zinc).
Antioxidants (very important for brain protection).
Amino acids (they are the building blocks for proteins including several brain chemicals).
Essential fatty acids (e.g. omega 3, DHA...these can help with mood and other brain function)
Ginkgo (can help with brain circulation and memory)
While many neurological disorders are treated conventionally with pharmaceutical agents, medications do not always work and when they do, there is always a potential for side effects, sometimes serious ones. While there is a place for medication, drugs are often abused, overestimated, and prescribed without proper regard for the underlying problem being treated.
THE MIND AND THE BRAIN
The mind and the brain interact all the time, so called mind-body or psychosomatic interactions. Our feelings and emotions, as well as our thought patterns have a large impact on the way our body functions, especially our brain. If we are happy, upbeat, and optimistic, this may positively impact our health. There is a field of study called psychoneuroimmunology that shows that our emotions can affect the way our immune cells function. This in turn can control mental and brain function. Simply stated "a cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" Proverbs 17:22. As far as illness is concerned, biological ailments affect the mind and mental disturbances take their toll on the body or they can convert or masquerade as physical symptoms.
A good example is seizures. Seizures can be epileptic, that is, they can be caused by an electrical storm (called discharges) in the brain which then disturb motor, sensory, autonomic, or behavioral functions. Seizures, however, can also be psychogenic. That is, what looks like an epileptic event can really be a stress-based, psychological, non-epileptic event. Imagine that many individuals that are being treated for epileptic seizures may actually have stress-related phenomena that require a completely different set of interventions. Of course the reverse is also true. There are many individuals that are told "it's all in your head" when in fact there is an 'organic' or physical disturbance in their brain.
The bottom line is that good mental health is dependent on good brain health and vice versa, or as the Latin locution says: mens sana in corpore sano or 'a sound mind in a sound body'.
PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS AND BRAIN FUNCTION
Illness often has boundaries that exceed those of the particular individual affected. Family members and people around a sick individual are all part of the chronic illness. There are various familial interactions that affect the course of the illness. To be specific, if an individual is sick and this individual is in a home environment where stress levels are so high that you can almost touch it, this may adversely affect health recovery even if all the other treatment modalities are adequate. Conversely, a sick person living in a supportive, understanding and optimistic environment can more easily access the road to wellness. Children in particular, require the support of parents (parental discord should be avoided as much as possible).
BRAIN FUNCTION AND SPIRITUALITY
It has been shown that many patients start to get well even as their physician is writing out a prescription. Anticipation of healing, and trust in the doctor are so great that intrinsic healing mechanisms kick into gear even before the medication is swallowed, let alone absorbed into the system where it can carry out its therapeutic effects. The 'white coat phenomena' in which the doctor's symbolic power is visualized by his impressive trappings and possession of a potent cure-all writing device will confer 'miraculous' healing. This phenomenon is called the placebo response. It is similar to feeling better after taking a prescribed medication that you later find out was nothing more than an inert sugar pill. That pill, or placebo was somehow able to exert a healing influence because of belief and anticipation.
Faith in God, prayer, and trust in divine power are much more powerful than the placebo response. Some individuals with 'refractory' or 'intractable' illnesses may have a 'spiritual vitamin deficiency' or may be in need of 'spiritual detoxification'.
