Testing can be used continually throughout therapy to monitor progress. A good long-term mental health plan should include some type of exercise that helps to stabilize mental and physical energy and aids in facing day to day stressors. Yoga activates a person's energy by working with the autonomic nervous system. It bridges the mind and the physical body, helping to regulate breathing, improving concentration and memory, and conditioning the mind to better handle stress. Many therapists also refer people who do not receive a lot of physical contact, or have trouble with chronic pain, to a massage therapist, often with dramatic results.
Every holistic practitioner has a different attitude toward medication.
Some individuals simply have biological, chemical predispositions to depression and need an extra push to overcome them. Most holistic practitioners do not believe medication needs to be permanent, in the large majority of cases. The treatment methods mentioned here are just a few of the many available. On a spiritual level, meditation, contemplation, and prayer can help bring a person back into spiritual alignment. Again, it is important to remember that each depressed individual has an individual set of circumstances and problems and an individual chemistry.