Student mental health, stress and medically unexplained symptoms: The BodyMind Approach® for cultivating mental health and wellbeing in higher education institutes

Students in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK are increasingly suffering excessive stress and/or mental health difficulties. Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are chronic bodily symptoms for which tests and scans return without a diagnosis. Conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, IBS etc. mostly affect young people, non-native speakers and women. All these populations are found in high numbers in HEIs. It is acknowledged chronic stress can lead to, or exacerbate, mental health difficulties and/or MUS. Sometimes MUS appear before any mental health issue although frequently MUS is associated with anxiety and depression.

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The BodyMind Approach® (TBMA), an innovative evidence-based, research-informed intervention tested in the National Health Service derived from the arts therapies can support such students to learn to self-manage. This psychoeducation intervention can cultivate improved student mental health and wellbeing to transform lives. Attention needs to be given to students suffering with MUS to learn to self-manage such bodily symptoms (healthy body, healthy mind) both as a preventive strategy and to be supportive of emotional and physical wellbeing. TBMA is an enactive, embodied intervention framed as a learning tool, designed specifically for people with MUS. It is based on the arts therapies, adult experiential and transformational learning for the integration of mental and physical health.

​What do you think? All feedback appreciated.
You can learn more about TBMA by emailing H.L.Payne@herts.ac.uk

Resources
Payne, H., & Brooks, S. (2018) The BodyMind Approach® for patients with medically unexplained symptoms to learn to self-manage. Frontiers in Psychology, section Clinical and Health Psychology.
Open Access - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02222/full

Essentials of Dance Movement Psychotherapy: International Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Practice by Helen Payne
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Essentials-Dance-Movement-Psychotherapy-International/dp/113820045X;

TED Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BagKj5Zsc9k

BBC film ‘When mental health gets physical’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43058019
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The Routledge International Handbook of Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy
https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-International-Handbook-of-Embodied-Perspectives-in-Psychotherapy/Payne-Koch-Tantia-Fuchs/p/book/9781138065758

Professor Helen Payne, University of Hertfordshire, UK