BEHAVIOURAL medicine

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• Headache
• Fatigue
• Sleep dysfunction
• Cognitive issues
• Neck pain
• Dizziness & Imbalance
• Sleep dysfunction
• Mood swings, irritability, anger, nervousness
• Social consequences

 

1. Physiological status

• • e.g., the state of the nervous system and genetic susceptibility

 

2. Environmental & lifestyle factors

• • e.g., stress, certain foods, alcohol, hormonal fluctuations, etc.

 

3. Psychological (cognitive & behavioural) factors

• • i.e., the ability to cope with these factors, both cognitively and behaviourally

 

4. Social factors

• • i.e., the consequences of having a post-concussion syndrome.
  • e.g., if a post-traumatic headache causes a day off from work, and the patient really wants that promotion because they need the extra money because they are having financial problems and it’s causing relationship problems, headache will seem a lot more painful.
  • Still unsure of the effect of social factors on our health?

• • a.k.a., The Holmes & Rahe Stress Scale
  • named after two Psychiatrists in 1967
  • studied the correlations between social situations changes and health over time
  • They found that on average, we can seem to handle a stress score of about 150.

What is your score?

• They are focused on improving and regaining function
• They retrain factors that influence performance (i.e., physical, environmental & lifestyle, psychological & behavioural, social)
• Match up with the patient’s goals and their unique life situation

1. Identifying one’s values and aspirations.

 

2. Identifying goals and strategizing on how to accomplish them.

• • S.M.A.R.T. goals, decision-making style, etc.

 

3. Identifying where you need help (e.g., a crutch) and strategies to make the job easier.

• • e.g., cognitive compensatory strategies

 

4. Retraining skills required to be the version of yourself you would like to be.

• • e.g., cognitive training, organizational and executive functioning

 

5. Retraining physiological rhythms/habits.

• • e.g., retraining your sleep, exercise habits, etc.

 

6. Coping with Trials & Tribulations

• • e.g., Journaling & Expressive writing, Vision boards, Strategies to check worrying

 

7. Learning and enjoying the skill of relaxation and mindfulness.

• • Relaxation is a skill!
  • It requires nurturing and growing; it is not our default setting.
  • It facilitates neurological recovery
  • It facilitates super-performance
  • There are many techniques: e.g., mindfulness,  therapeutic activities

 

8. Enhancing perspectives and control of what you pay attention to…

• • Which is your true experience of life!!
  • e.g., Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Psychotherapy including group psychotherapy, mindfulness, Flexible Optimism (Positive Psychology)
  • The brain gets molded and changed by the way we use it: “What fires together, wires together!”

 

9. Regaining balance in life and your “presence”

• • Learning to have fun again
  • Committing to doing things you enjoy
  • Learning skills of stress-free productivity

 

10. Learning to control your autonomic nervous system & physiology

• • Biofeedback

 

11. Retraining/Strengthening your body, balance/power and visual system

• • e.g., neuromuscular control, vestibular therapy, neuro-vision rehabilitation

 

12. Improving physical symptoms

• • Headache, Low energy, depression, visual strain, screen tolerance & computer vision syndrome, etc.

 

 

 

Our providers will have unique suggestions in the face of your unique situation.

Last update: February 2021