“You’re a physiotherapy clinic. Why do you offer mental health services?”

By Anne-Marie Sylvester, M.Ed., RCC

*** Please note that this blog post contains content that may be emotionally triggering to some. ***

At the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic, we often see people react in surprise when hearing that we offer psychotherapy and clinical counselling. The title of this blog is a common question that we get. So, I think it is worth directly addressing the relevancy of mental health to physical health.

One of our top priorities at SNPC is to maximize and help to facilitate our clients’ recovery as much as possible. One way that we approach this is through offering the most comprehensive programs that we can. This goal of ours, in combination with the knowledge that there is a bidirectional relationship between our physical health and mental health, means that we emphasize offering services that also support the mental health needs of our clients.

Let us review some of the ways in which one’s mental health can play a role within the context of physical recovery. Here are a few examples that weave together common experiences of clients that come to our clinic.

1. Challenges to one’s physical health can catalyze changes in one’s life that ultimately impact their mental health.

Consider this scenario. Someone has a concussion after a motor vehicle accident. While experiencing the concussion symptoms, this person is no longer able to engage in the activities they love, and now their sense of joy in life has reduced. Perhaps their symptoms make socializing difficult or even intolerable, and now they are feeling more isolated and lonely. Their friends and family members don’t understand what it’s like for them, which further triggers a sense of isolation and loneliness. Perhaps they are unable to work or engage in activities of daily living that they usually do, and this negatively influences their sense of purpose, meaning, or even adds some financial distress. Maybe it triggers a mixed bag of challenging emotions, including sadness and grief over the sense of loss that came after the injury, anger towards the injustice of the situation, fear of what the future will look like, and confusion over how to handle it. 

2. Mental health challenges can make effective engagement in physical recovery more difficult.

Consider this scenario. Someone who is struggling with anxiety and depression may find it very challenging to engage in activities, including ones that are important to their recovery. Perhaps this person is afraid of triggering a symptom they hate most, and so they avoid engaging in exercises or activities that hold a slight chance of triggering this symptom. Avoidance is sneaky. It dresses itself as something that is helpful and offers security, but quite often it can prevent someone from taking part in the exact activities that will ultimately facilitate their healing and recovery process.

Perhaps this person is experiencing low motivation and low energy levels, a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, or intrusive thinking patterns. They may experience thoughts along the lines of:

• “What if these symptoms never go away?”
• “My recovery is progressing slower than I thought, so this must mean something is wrong.”
• “What if I do something and I accidentally make everything worse?”

This common line of thinking can make it very challenging to engage in the exercises or approaches that are important for successful recovery.