WELLNESS & HEALTHCARE SERVICES

in Fort Collins, Colorado

Mood Disorders




Mood disorders, also known as affective disorders, are mental health problems such as depression, dysthymic disorder (a milder depressive condition), anxiety, and insomnia. Mood disorders can occur in anyone. The causes of mood disorders are not yet fully understood, but it is believed an imbalance in neurotransmitters (chemicals in your brain) likely play a key role. We believe that merely treating the symptoms of these conditions alone does not constitute a cure. At Balanced Well-Being Healthcare, we apply an integrative methodology combining natural and scientific methods to heal your body, your spirit, and your mind to achieve a cure.


Finding Your Cure for Insomnia

Insomnia involves problems with falling or staying asleep, and affects over 70 million Americans today. Sleep disturbances are common in today’s fast paced world, but insomnia can be successfully treated. Insomnia can be caused by psychological, physical, or environmental factors. A detailed assessment of your activities, lifestyle, and nutritional factors can help us identify which factors are disrupting your sleep so we can implement proven integrative solutions to help you sleep soundly, feel rested, and increase your energy levels. Other factors causing insomnia may include:

Psychological Factors

  • Anxiety and stress
  • Depression
  • Grief

Lifestyle & Behavioral Factors

  • Daytime napping
  • Eating or drinking late at night
  • Exercising at night
  • Late night TV, web surfing, or reading
  • Alcohol, caffeine, and/or nicotine

Physical Factors

  • Lingering or chronic pain
  • Side effects of medication
  • Malnutrition

Environmental Factors

  • Lights and noise
  • An uncomfortable bed
  • A snoring sleeping partner

A common approach to treating insomnia includes prescription sleeping medications that can cause side effects or even dependence. Once again, this is only a treatment of the symptom (not sleeping) rather than the cause (the reason why you are not sleeping). In most cases, drugs are not providing patients with an actual cure. Through the use of modern integrative medicine, Balanced Well-Being Healthcare can identify the root cause of your sleep issues by taking into account all of the factors that may be contributing to your sleep disturbance, and provide you with an actual, long lasting cure. Call us today to set up your initial consultation!


When Does Anxiety Become a Disorder?

At some point, we all experience anxiety. It is a very common emotional response, and can take a multitude of forms. Sources of anxiety include death, grief, the loss of a job, poor sleep habits, stressful social situations, crowded areas, workplace pressures, divorce, and special occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays. When your anxiety becomes severe in nature, when it begins to interfere with your daily life and persists for long periods of time, it may become a disorder. Symptoms of an anxiety disorder may range from panic attacks, a sense of terror when confronted with the source of anxiety, and even fear of everyday events and places. If you are experiencing prolonged or debilitating anxiety, know that you are not alone. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 40 million American adults have some form of anxiety disorder. Specific conditions falling under the category of anxiety disorders include:

  • Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Panic disorder
  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Social phobias

Physical signs of an anxiety disorder may include:

  • Muscle tension
  • Irritability
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Trembling
  • Fast heartbeat/palpitations
  • Breathing difficulty
  • Dizziness
  • Impaired concentration
  • Excessive sweating
  • Fatigue

Symptoms of anxiety can create negative effects on social and personal relationships, cause problems at work, and damage your personal well-being. Balanced Well-Being Healthcare can help you to overcome a broad range of anxiety problems through treating your body, mind, and spirit together to achieve a cure. The unstated assumption made in conventional medicine is that the body and mind are separate and are treated often times as a type of soup, adding chemical ingredients in the hope that this might achieve alleviation of the symptoms. While there is often some symptom relief to be found in these methods, chemicals alone are not enough to cure the causes of mood disorders. Current scientific evidence instead points to our bodies as a complex web of hormonal , biochemical, psychological, and metabolic relationships. An integrative approach to healing acknowledges this. The path to a cure is may not be the same for every person, because each of us has our unique variables in our overall bodily equation which discourages a standardized solution. Essentially, you are unique, and in like kind your condition is unique to you. In order to find a cure and not simply treat the symptoms, we must understand what it is about your condition that is unique so that a cure can be custom tailored to you. This is what a holistic approach utilizing integrative medicine seeks to do.


Recognizing the Signs of Depression

It is normal for your moods to change, and the majority of people go through times of feeling sad. However, when these feelings last for a very long time and interfere with your daily life, you may have a mood disorder. An individual is advised to seek medical advice when they realize that what they are feeling is not normal or tenable. However, it is essential to note that a mood disorder is very different from a benign mood swing which is normal and harmless. A person experiencing depression typically experiences a negative mood which permeates all aspects of their life. Depressed people are often preoccupied with feelings of worthlessness, guilt, helplessness, regret, and desperation. They typically have trouble experiencing pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed. Other symptoms of depression include poor concentration and memory, social withdrawal, reduced sex drive, and in extreme cases, thoughts of death or suicide. Generic and hereditary factors, side effects of some drugs and types of medication, poor dietary patterns or other deficiencies in nutrition, and hormonal imbalances are but a few of the many causes of depression. So what can be done about depression? At Balanced Well-Being Healthcare, we use a multidisciplinary, integrated approach to treatment in order to restore health and internal balance. In keeping with our philosophical approach, we begin our search for a cure by understanding our patient’s physical, mental, environmental, and nutritional conditions. We focus on health maintenance, prevention, treating the whole person, natural therapies, and taking a more integrative approach to understanding the underlying causes of depression. There cannot be a cure-all solution for depression because the underlying causes of depression are unique to each individual.

Some possible remedies include:

  • Exercise/increasing daily activity
  • Herbal supplements
  • Dietary balance
  • Counseling
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Mindfulness therapy
  • A support network
  • Relaxation techniques/meditation
  • Alternative therapies such as acupuncture

Call Balanced Well-Being Healthcare today and together we can find a cure that is designed specifically for you.