iii: Flower Remedies
Peace of Mind Anne Dalziel Calm: the state or quality of being free from agitation or strong emotion; a state of freedom; without rough motion; stillness; tranquil. Oxford English Dictionary The greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater our peace of mind, the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful life. Dalai Lama The pandemic has triggered a mental health crisis. According to the UN, depression and anxiety before the COVID-19 pandemic cost the global economy more than $1 trillion per year (UN, 2020). Depression affects 264 million people in the world, while the onset of around half of all mental health conditions occurs by the age of 14, and suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst 15- to 29-year-olds (ibid.). Nearly one in four people experiences a form of anxiety disorder during their lives, and without appropriate treatment these conditions can become chronic and debilitating (Guterres, 2020). The UN paper (UN, 2020) also cites a warning from the Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development, that: many people who previously coped well, are now less able to cope because of the multiple stressors generated by the pandemic. Fear can lead to significant distress and limit a person’s ability for success and joy of life. Anxiety is a type of fear, usually associated with a perceived threat or of something going wrong in the future. But it can also arise from something happening right now. In 2013, there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK (Fineberg et al, 2013). The one-week prevalence of generalised anxiety in England is 6.6% (McManus et al, 2016), with women almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders as men (Martin-Merino et al, 2009).
There are both physical and mental components to experiencing emotion, and caring for emotional health is essential if people are to live life to the fullest. What causes emotions and whether they are experienced in the same way by different people and cultures is still subject to debate, but what is known is which parts of the brain are activated. When the brain receives signals about what’s going on around us, it uses the limbic system to guide our emotional reaction, drawing on past experiences to create an appropriate emotional response. So, rather than being in control of thoughts and behaviour, more often than not we are at the mercy of emotions. Yet, because thought processes play into the creation of emotions, it is possible to reframe the way we think, to train the mind to respond differently to everyday stressors, and thus boost emotional health. When the soul and personality are in harmony, all is joy and peace, happiness and health. (Bach,1930) The Bach Flower Remedies can be part of a toolkit of interventions to support the process of bringing balance and harmony. Aesculus Hippocastanum (White Chestnut) is the remedy for those struggling with constant thoughts and mental argumentation. Bach called this ‘the gramophone record state of mind’, i.e., thoughts that constantly revolve, like a record. Worrying about Covid is only natural, but sometimes the worry of contamination, and other aspects of this virus, can dominate our thought processes. We may mentally torture ourselves with how things might have been
