1. Brain-work (mental therapy) - Working on positive beliefs and practicing for new neural pathways
2. Body-work (physical therapy) - Releasing trauma and tension through body-oriented methods.
3. Lifestyle & detox - Reducing systemic stress through healthy eating, exercise, social connection and unlearning unhealthy patterns.
4. New perspective - Developing a motivating picture of the future around work, finances, living and social relationships.

Block 1. Brain-work: Mental Therapy (choice of category A, and apply B & C).

Mental therapy focuses on understanding and changing/reprogramming (limiting) beliefs and thereby developing new preferred neural (thinking) pathways (neuroplasticity). Through coherence of mind and body, this also creates a healing effect on physical disturbances.

A. Some forms of cognitive therapies (choice options):

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - Challenging and replacing negative thoughts.
• Scheme Therapy - Breaking old patterns and resolving emotional blockages.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) - Learning to deal with thoughts without being controlled by them.
• Hypnotherapy or NLP - Transforming deep-seated (subconscious) beliefs through relaxation and reprogramming.

B. Affirmations and visualizations - (do! perform independently):

• Positive affirmations (e.g. Louise Hay) - Repeating positive, safe beliefs on a regular basis (e.g. daily 2* 15 min) reprograms neural pathways.
• Positive future image visualization - Through visualization exercises of positive future images (health, being energetic, cheerful, positive environment, confident or desirable other future images). Helps development of alternative neural pathways, to restructure negative thinking patterns and reduces stress. (e.g. daily 2* 15 min)
• Limiting belief turnaround - based on a list of limiting beliefs, a list of reversed beliefs is created that create focused positive affirmations that are neurally reprogrammed through affirmative repetition (reading, imagining/experiencing and possibly speaking aloud), possibly combined with EMDR.

C. Daily journaling - Helps become aware of thoughts and emotions and supports self-reflection and change.

Build in a conscious moment of self-reflection. Keeping a journal for an extended period of time also allows progress to be monitored as you compare your notes a month or several months back to this moment. Writing manually in a journal supports fine motor skills and appeals to specific neural pathways. Writing also slows thinking which stimulates awareness and reduces fretting.

Block 2. Body-work: Body-centered therapies (choose from list).

Body-centered therapies focus on the mind-body connection. They assume that physical tension, trauma or emotional blockages can become lodged in the body and that processing this tension can help with recovery (Fascia-ANS-Limic system-Axis). Here are forms of body-oriented therapies to choose from:

• Mindfulness & meditation - Reduce stress and calm the nervous system.
• EMDR - Processing trauma and breaking negative beliefs.
• TRE & Somatic Experiencing - Releasing physical tension and stored trauma.
• Breathing Exercises & Heart Coherence - Regulating the autonomic nervous system.
• Bioenergetics - breathing, movement and voice use to increase body awareness and release energy in the body.
• Rolfing (Structural Integration) - Rolfing is a form of deep connective tissue massage that focuses on restructuring, improving movement patterns by making fascia (connective tissue) looser and more flexible.
• Body-Based Psychotherapy (BGT) - In BGT, the body is consciously used to explore and resolve emotional blockages.
• Insight Osteopathy - combines osteopathic techniques (such as gentle manipulations) with psychological insights, helping to address both physical and emotional blockages.
• Feldenkrais exercises - focuses on improving movement and awareness of the body with the idea that improving range of motion can lead to improvement in both physical and mental health.
• Trauma massage - massage in which a masseur massages the body while asking or an additional therapist to dwell on spontaneous memories and allow emerging emotions (crying, noises, etc.) to run wild.
• Walking in nature - Improves mood, reduces stress and supports recovery.
• Yoga & Qi Gong - Promote body awareness and help release tension.
• Massage and Physical Therapy - Supports relaxation and stimulates blood circulation.

Physiological System Recovery Therapy

• Devices: use of neuro stimulating devices (such as Neurosyn which promotes ANS regulation, (infra)RED light therapy (improving mitochondrial function, or Sauna visit. Devices that track body functions on which you can adjust behavior also fall into this category (e.g. Apple watch, WHOOP).
• Cold workout and sauna: Promote blood flow and can strengthen the immune system. Caution! Ice baths are not always recommended. They can also actually enhance adrenaline imbalance!
• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT): aimed at restoring tissue and neural function. Costly and also has side effects.
• Medication: Targeted medication at suppressing reactions or release of substances in the body. Antidepressants can also be listed in this category. Note: temporary suppression can change equilibria. But long-term suppression rarely works healing. Always have medication prescribed by a medical professional!
• Supplement use: Q10, NMN, resveratrol, curcumin, ashwaganda, vitamins (especially D3 in combination with zinc and omega-3 DHA + EPA) or other agents are recommended with regularity (note: supplement use is customized and may have side effects on other medications, always coordinate with a medical / orthomolecular specialist). Possibly an optimum can be determined following physical/blood tests.

Block 3: Optimizing lifestyle & detox

Healthy habits strengthen the recovery process. You can work on recovery with the previous points, but if you do not address certain habits and toxic relationships, relapse, depression (or even new trauma) lurks. That's why it's so important to also take a close look at your lifestyle.

Summary:

• Social connection - Dealing with systemic illness can lead to social isolation. Consciously seek positive social connections and avoid toxic relationships.
• Detox & sleep optimization - Adequate rest and avoiding harmful substances improve the body's regeneration.
• Teaching new positive discipline - Doing things that make your (body) happy!
• Reduce digital stimuli - Excessive screen use can overload the nervous system. Schedule digital detox moments.

Social connection: As a chronically ill person with a systemic illness, you are usually, unfortunately, naturally confronted with a changing pattern in your contacts. Due to overstimulation or limitations, you can no longer participate in fun (social) things you might have done in the past.

In addition, you usually discover that unfortunately not all friends are as empathetic or even toxic (negativity about your situation, misunderstanding, ghosting, (judging) or overloaded with “what to do...”). A good time to say goodbye. But do make sure you have enough social connection and consciously seek positive social connections!

The importance of social connection is often vastly underestimated. As is the often experienced loneliness of someone with an intense chronic systemic disease (such as lung Covid, Q-Fever effects or Fibromyalgia). Alienation lurks with thoughts of shame, despair and desperation. Therapy moments can be one of the few times during the week that a single person has contact with others. Social contact is absolutely important for mental and physical health and recovery!