From Mind to Heart Awakening to True Healing

Thursday, February 13, 2025
Issue #245

Hello there!

Recently, my approach to healing has profoundly changed. I realized that I have focused for too long and too exclusively on healing the mind, using reason, information, tools, and approaches.

Because of my medical training, I assumed that mental illness can be manipulated (like using prescription medications) into health through specific interventions.

I now believe that this is just a comforting fantasy for clinicians. No one truly heals from decades of suffering from such a superficial, sterile approach.

People are not like recipes that just need the right ingredients and temperature to successfully bake in the oven of perfect outcomes.

What else is there? Read on to find out about my epiphany.

Have a great week!

Announcement: Get ready for my favorite conference! registration for the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 2025 conference has started. It's my favorite conference, and I look forward to connecting with like-minded members there. I hope you'll check it out and join me at this amazing conference. This year is my first year on their board of directors, which motivates me to get out of my introverted, hermit habits and be more social. I will be presenting a talk called "Harnessing Energy Techniques for Mental Health Treatment." The conference will be in Phoenix, AZ, from May 29-June 1.

From Mind to Heart
Awakening to True Healing

My epiphany is that I've been approaching healing from the wrong direction, upside down and backward, like trying to control traffic from an ant hill by placing tiny signposts along a desired route. It's much easier to direct those busy ants with sugar. 

The secret to healing, I've come to realize, requires healing the wounds of the heart. Not just correcting the activities in the mind. 

The "heart" doesn't verbalize, intellectualize, analyze, or syllogize. The heart is like a vault filled with our secret loves, hates, joys, sorrows, and insights that determine who we are, how we behave, and what we choose. To heal the heart isn't free or easy; it comes with a price tag of its own:

1.  First, the courage to enter the vault and honestly discern what is inside.
2.  Second, the strength and perseverance to repair or remove whatever keeps us ill.
3.  Third, the openness and faith to replace its hidden, cherished contents with other loves, hates, joys, and insights that enlighten and transform us to a better state of being. 

As the heart heals, the mind correspondingly follows.

One night, I was reading Emmanuel Swedenborg, and something he wrote struck me as relevant to the healing process:

". . . everything true is converted to something good and rooted in love as soon as it enters the intention. But as long as something true is in the memory and consequent thought, it does not become good; it does not live, nor is it adopted by the individual." (Heaven and Hell, p 42, First published in Latin 1758).

His insight shifted my awareness of intention—the core of energy healing—to a different place: the source of energy healing's power is rooted in love and the understanding that arises from it and not from intellectual/mental understanding alone.

This insight helped me to understand why some people healed while others didn't, why applying the same energy healing techniques worked well with some but not with others, and why some parents have children who thrived while others have children who attempted suicide. 

I remember my work with Dilcia, whom I later interviewed in one of my podcasts (see the link to the podcast below). She came to my practice after her first hospitalization. Her diagnosis was bipolar disorder with psychotic symptoms. However, she wasn't ready to accept her diagnosis or that she needed treatment.

My holistic approach helped her whenever she adhered to it. But her heart wasn't willing to accept the catastrophic news of her condition, and in time, she abandoned treatment prematurely despite everyone's efforts to help her. She discarded the holistic approach as if it was a dirty, old rag she didn't want around her house. 

About two years later, Dilcia called me during a crisis, begging for help. Her decision to ignore her condition didn't lead to a life free from its effects. On the contrary, she had failed in every area of her life: school, work, and relationships. She reported experiencing severe mood swings several times per day. 

She felt so overwhelmed that she wanted to see me immediately, asking to receive the energy work she had rejected in the past. I remember focusing on her enzyme functioning for three minutes, using intention to direct Life Energy to her. I also recommended that she double her multivitamin/mineral supplement and arranged for a follow-up appointment the next week.

During her next session, Dilcia reported that her mood swings had dramatically reduced to once or twice over the entire week, a significant decrease from the week before, even without a full nutritional regimen. Her dramatic improvement surprised me. I attributed its effectiveness to Dilcia's openness and willingness to accept the treatment. Life had humbled, softened, and opened Dilcia's heart. Her second time at treatment led to a successful outcome, and she never had to return for psychiatric treatment again.

During the early years of my exploration into energy medicine or, as some would call it, "mind-body medicine," I noticed that some patients responded well while some didn't and a pattern associated with those who did and didn't respond. It seemed to me that those who responded to the energy work personally valued and wanted the energy work, while those who didn't had been told to come for treatment by someone else. I tested my hypothesis by asking patients to alternate between two attitudes:

One, I called the "skeptical scientist" attitude, and the other, I called the "open attitude." The difference between the two was simply whether the person chose to be open or not. The skeptical scientist's attitude was described as being closed to the possibility of Life Energy being supportive since energy could neither be seen nor felt and wasn't accepted as a scientific fact. The open attitude was described as being open and receptive to positive shifts in energy despite a lack of physical proof.

Everyone who adopted the "skeptical scientist" attitude failed to show any increase in strength from my efforts to send Life Energy to the individual. Then, after switching to the "open" attitude, everyone showed a dramatic increase in strength while being sent Life Energy. I proved to my patients and myself that inner attitude and desire mattered. 

When it comes to attitude, I will never forget one particular father's attitude toward his children. His daughter came to see me after an attempted suicide. She was a smart, sweet, soft-spoken Asian girl who said that she felt depressed because her father was too controlling of her life. So, I invited her father to one of her therapy sessions.

During our session, I remember the father half-leaning against the office window, as far away from his daughter as possible. He said in a matter-of-fact way that he'd rather his daughter die than disobey him. I don't remember what I said after his comment. But I assume that after he left, I tried to strengthen and affirm the patient's self-worth beyond her ability to be obedient.

More than a decade later, after 2012, I got a call one evening from the mother of this girl. She reported that her daughter had done well after working with me. But now she was calling about her son. Her son was in the hospital after a suicide attempt. Her husband was oblivious to their son's suicide attempt because no one wanted him to know. 

What did the father love? Did he love his children? No. He loved control, and he would rather that his children die than restrain his need for control. His children obliged.

One more story. Lately, as part of writing my book, I called a couple of aunts to clarify my childhood. In particular, I wanted to know more about my maternal grandmother, who raised me from birth to 1.5 years of age. She took care of me when my young professional parents lived and worked in another city, visiting during the weekends. Later, I lived in an extended family with my Grandmother and three aunts from age four to seven before immigrating to the U.S.

As a child, I loved my Grandmother as a mother. I always wanted to sit close to her, and if she was late returning home from work, she'd find me sitting on the front porch steps, tearfully waiting for her. On the eve before my flight to America, I shared with her that I was afraid she might die before I could grow old enough to return to her, and she said that she would buy some "long life" pills, live to 100, and wait for my return. 

My aunts described some events involving my Grandmother from my early childhood. My Grandmother experienced two severe, prolonged episodes with mental illness. The first occurred after her eighth child was born. The second after my Grandfather suddenly passed away from an explosion. After her second hospitalization, she continued to suffer from bouts of rage and was extremely physically and emotionally abusive to certain family members because of her delusions and mood swings. Fortunately, over time, those symptoms resolved, and she never experienced another recurrence.

I loved my Grandmother because she'd won my heart as an infant. I loved her unconditionally and accepted her as she was despite her bouts of rage that left others feeling heartbroken and wretched. For me, her struggle with mental illness must have contributed a deep, unconscious motivation and interest towards psychiatry. 

Two other "reasons" that weren't based on intellectual reasons but on heartfelt experiences moved me towards psychiatry. 

First, before I chose a different path than creative writing, I prayed for career guidance and had a powerful spiritual experience at that juncture in my life. I had a vision of myself helping a little old lady across the street (something I've never done before). Simultaneously, I felt an intense, ecstatic, blissful state of joy that I had never experienced before. 

Second, behind my adolescent facade of being a strong, academic overachiever, I grew up feeling heartsick, trapped, invalidated, and unhappy. Due to loss, neglect, abuse, betrayal, and a thousand other painful day-to-day experiences, I needed healing to reclaim and restore my life. Perhaps that little old lady symbolized both my grandmother and me.

I was unaware of my heart's powerful influence on and true intention behind my decision to be a psychiatrist and other choices in life. The heart doesn't need words to feel its wounds or empathize with the wounds in others. From its enigmatic depths emerge the reasons behind our actions and reactions. I believe that to be a good psychiatrist, I need to be a good detective of the heart. 

My journey as a psychiatrist has healed me more than anyone I ever hoped to help. I've obtained my heart's desire. I feel a little less altruistic and a little more self-centered and authentic from my realization. I wonder where my heart will lead me from here.

Wishing you a happy Valentine's Day and a wonderful week

Is it possible to remain well and create a fulfilling life after holistically healing from bipolar disorder in 2006? Absolutely! How? Dilcia shares her personal story from severe mental illness to her current life as a busy mother of three and working several jobs.

We met when I was just starting my holistic practice in 2003 and worked together for just a few months. Dilcia shares her struggles, growth, and wisdom from her first high school encounter with bipolar disorder to being a positive force at home and work.

We discuss important factors that support or undermine mental health. Her heroine’s journey demonstrates that holistic healing from bipolar illness is not a myth but a powerful, new path for freedom and empowerment.

If you like this podcast, please share it with others and give it a 5-star rating! Thank you!

For more about Dr. Alice W. Lee, please visit:

Website: www.holisticpsychiatrist.com

More stories and insights: Holistic Articles

YouTube: The Holistic Psychiatrist

To schedule consultations or appointments, call Dr. Lee's office at 240-437-7600

To email Dr. Lee, click HERE.

Dr. Lee is located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

The content provided by this podcast is for informational purposes only and has not been approved by the U.S. FDA. This podcast is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained from a medical professional.