Mark and Melanie Talk About Mental Health

Mark sits down with Melanie Sliwka, Certified Unbeatable Mind Coach. For the past 12 years, Melanie has trained and worked with Navy SEALs, thought leaders, and top-performing executives. Join Mark and Melanie for a candid conversation about mental health, suicide, the unique mental health challenges of veterans, and how we can take our well-being into our own hands. Today, Commander Divine sits down with Melanie Sliwka, Certified Unbeatable Mind Coach, to discuss one of the most pressing issues of our time: mental health. This important episode covers a lot of ground, from the state of veterans’ mental health to the best techniques to take our well-being into our own hands. Key Takeaways: Always remember to PBTA. Due to childhood trauma and other traumatic life events, most of us are operating in a constant hyper aroused state. (And for veterans, combat stress can exacerbate underlying trauma that already existed.) The acronym Pause, Breathe, Think and Act can be a literal life-saver to bring the body out of “fight or flight” and back into “rest and digest” mode. Who’s your swim buddy? If you’re having trouble managing your own internal dialogue and thinking processes, it’s important to reach out to a positive person you can trust. Think about it right now: who is your go-to swim buddy when shit gets really bad? And how can you be someone else’s swim buddy? Pharmaceutical drugs are a short-term solution. The rate of suicide among those who are taking SSRIs vs interventions through other nonpharmaceutical means is 2:1. While antidepressants can be great for short-term mental health interventions, it’s important to include nonpharmaceutical interventions for long-term well-being. Get re-balanced with the basics. The big four practices for physiological rebalancing are: breath training, proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep. For 20 minutes every morning, try box breathing: inhale for five counts, hold your breath for five counts, exhale for five counts, and hold your exhaled breath for five counts. This is a completely free anti-stress medicine that you can do anytime, anywhere. Balancing the physiological system then leads to psychological space, which enables you to make better decisions across all areas of your life. The 3 best healing modalities for vets. Mark recommends electrostimulation (especially for TBI), EMDR therapy, and psychedelics. Electrostimulation works at the brain level, EMDR therapy works in the heart, and psychedelic assisted therapy works at the heart and the psycho-spiritual level. There’s no one thing that works for every person. Everyone should try multiple things on their healing journey. The most important thing is for healing to be multi-dimensional.