Mind Body

When you think of psychotherapy, the first image that comes to mind might be one of a distressed patient lying on a couch, talking, while a desk-bound therapist takes notes. But while traditional talk therapy can help people struggling with depression, anxiety and the stresses of daily life, the latest research on the brain and the mind-body connection has sparked a proliferation of approaches that may reach deeper levels of emotional healing than talking alone. "Talk therapy is actually a little removed," says Dr. Martin Rossman, clinical professor at UC San Francisco Medical School.

The bendy brilliance attained by practicing yoga has become a treasure sought after by many Americans. Hindu monks brought the 5,000-year-old practice to the West in the late 19th century, and by the mid-1980s, yoga was heralded as a way to cultivate strength, mindfulness and calm. And as yoga has gained popularity, newfangled ways of practicing have emerged. Love the ocean? Had a few too many Appletinis last night? Want to be surrounded by "bro" energy? There's a class for you. It seems only natural that people who practice yoga will combine it with other interests.

Depression increasingly looks to researchers and clinicians like, say, a psychiatric version of bronchitis or a heart attack. Some people come down with a case of it, have it treated (or not), and it goes away. But for a great number of patients, it's a chronic condition that must be treated when it flares. And after depression's acute symptoms subside, many patients need to manage the disease -- to continue with some kind of treatment -- to reduce the likelihood of experiencing repeated bouts of mental suffering.

On July 17, 2010, after a P90X workout, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his police bodyguard began riding mountain bikes west in the bike lane on Venice Boulevard. About 6:30 p.m., heading toward La Cienega Boulevard, they were cut off by a taxi cab. Villaraigosa flipped over the handlebars. His elbow shattered on the asphalt. Two days later, with his arm in a cast, he told his staff, "Let's use this as a teachable moment" -- and for good reason. He and the city had a lot to learn about how to make bikes safer to ride and how to integrate them into the transportation system.

Holding his breath, the 6-foot-6, 300-plus pounder waddles and glides across the dance floor in a clunky wooden hula skirt/torture device and squeaky plastic booties. Uh-oh. It must be hazing season at USC again, right? Not quite. The surreal Fred Astaire-cum-Babar is none other than Martin Where-Was-He-When-Your-New-Year's-Party-Needed-Him? Kersels, paragon of hope for those who've had it up to here with runty anorexics in tights and tutus.

In stressing the importance of mental attitudes in the cause and cure of diseases, Barrie R. Cassilethi and Norman Cousins (Editorial Pages, Oct. 3) have brought the concept of a reciprocal mind-body relationship another step away from the old Cartesian paradigm of dividing mind and body. It was this mechanical view of the total human organism that reduced both medical and psychiatric practice to the notion that the body is a machine with separate parts. Mind and body being the prime example.

As the peaceful sound of a bell rings in a dimly lit room, a group of men and women lie motionless on the floor. Eyes closed, they breathe slowly and deeply, preparing for a yoga class that will help clear their busy minds and relax their stressed bodies. But they won't be relaxed much longer. After just a few minutes, the music speeds up and the students are reminded that this is not just yoga but YogaFit, a hip new approach to the 6,000-year-old practice of focusing the mind and body.

Wendy Greenberg hugged the rock face high in the Colorado Rockies and began to relive the lowest point of her life. Five months earlier, her neck had been broken in a savage rape and beating. After weeks in a hospital, she was physically well, but the emotional wounds remained raw. As she clung to the mountainside, she realized that the Colorado Outward Bound leader on the other end of her rope resembled the man who had raped her in his pickup truck. "I had to trust this guy with my life.

Is your schedule so crammed that you're stuck in overdrive, living life at a frantic pace with a short fuse? Do you lose track of what you're saying or forget the next thing you were about to do? If so, chronic stress may be taking a toll on your health. It may be time to rethink how you structure your day, so you can slow down and "de-stress," schedule time for yourself and fit in more physical activity.

Every night after the kids are in bed, John Dirking sits back in his living room recliner, transfixed for half an hour by the soothing sounds of running water, New Age tones and a quiet voice that speaks to him of relaxation. A recent heart attack victim, the 41-year-old psychiatric nurse once looked skeptically at the idea of mind-body medicine--holistics, to some--as "fringy."

Pursuing her dream had so completely consumed Allyson Felix that after she won the gold medal in the 200 at the London Olympics, the woman who so perfectly combines grace and power was, for once, unsure of her next steps. Motivated by runner-up finishes in Athens and Beijing in the race she calls "my baby," the Los Angeles Baptist High and USC graduate devoted all her energy to succeeding in London. She tried running the 400, but it depleted her in the 200; she found the 100 was better preparation.

When you think of psychotherapy, the first image that comes to mind might be one of a distressed patient lying on a couch, talking, while a desk-bound therapist takes notes. But while traditional talk therapy can help people struggling with depression, anxiety and the stresses of daily life, the latest research on the brain and the mind-body connection has sparked a proliferation of approaches that may reach deeper levels of emotional healing than talking alone. "Talk therapy is actually a little removed," says Dr. Martin Rossman, clinical professor at UC San Francisco Medical School.

A simple sugar pill may help treat a disease — even if patients know they're getting fake medicine. The finding, reported online Wednesday in the journal PloS One, may point the way to wider — and more ethical — applications of the well-known "placebo effect. " "The conventional wisdom is you need to make a patient think they're taking a drug; you have to use deception and lies," said lead author Ted Kaptchuk, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Depression increasingly looks to researchers and clinicians like, say, a psychiatric version of bronchitis or a heart attack. Some people come down with a case of it, have it treated (or not), and it goes away. But for a great number of patients, it's a chronic condition that must be treated when it flares. And after depression's acute symptoms subside, many patients need to manage the disease -- to continue with some kind of treatment -- to reduce the likelihood of experiencing repeated bouts of mental suffering.

Dr. O. Carl Simonton, a radiation oncologist who popularized the mind-body connection in fighting cancer and helped push the once-controversial notion into mainstream medicine, has died. He was 66. Simonton, who founded a cancer-care clinic in Pacific Palisades in the early 1980s, choked to death June 18 during a meal at his Agoura Hills home, said his wife, Karen.

For decades, research physicians have furrowed their brows at the mysterious powers of a treatment known in many medical circles as Obecalp. In clinical studies, Obecalp has been shown to have occasionally remarkable effects -- and on a remarkable range of maladies. In one 2002 study at UCLA, one-third of patients reported relief from symptoms of depression (and had changes in brain function that reflected that improvement) when treated with Obecalp.

Regular running and intensive mental exercise may revitalize the mind by spurring the growth of new brain cells responsible for learning and memory, new animal experiments suggest. The research, made public Monday, sheds light on how the effects of daily experience can foster new brain cells in adult mammals from mice to human beings. In essence, the research suggests that an active life--whether the activity be physical or mental--can have a positive impact on the brain.

You know the old joke about California, that the country was tilted and all the loose nuts rolled to the West. Some of them must have gotten stuck in a pothole in Minnesota.

DO not judge this book by its cover. Or its title. "Do Me: Tales of Sex & Love From Tin House" is a misnomer. The cover photo -- a head-on view of the wet pages of a book, swollen open like female genitalia -- is salacious but misleading. These are masterful stories and essays, examples of Tin House literary magazine's excellent reputation, and each is deeper than the title or the cover implies. These are not "dirty stories," even when the sex scenes are twisted or violent. "It was Jack.

I'VE discovered rehab lite. And like the motley crew of fallen politicians, overdosing rock stars and careening actors, I'm a better person for having checked in -- to a hotel. With the promise of helping its guests conquer bad habits and illness in sumptuous luxury, the new Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village offers a kind of halfway house for those of us who don't need (or want) full-time therapy, inpatient rehabilitation or personal trainers.