This chapter explores Marcus’ concept of the soul and its main cognitive parts (hēgemonikon, nous, dianoia, daimon) and their relevance for the construction of a concept of the self that is closely interwoven with Stoic self-care. It also investigates Platonic influence on Marcus’ concept of the mind and its relation with the body. Selfhood, understood as an entity referring to itself, unfolds around the hēgemonikon and, to a lesser extent, the dianoia. Self-reference by cognitive acts is limited to the logical soul. These three rational elements are subordinated to the ‘I’ (or psychagogic subject) and serve as objects of its psychagogic self-(trans)formation, thereby construing its selfhood. The perfect starting point for mental self-transformation in Marcus is hypolēpsis ‘assumption’, a single mental act, similar to Epictetus’ prohairesis ‘choice’, to which Marcus’ concept of mental selfhood is heavily indebted. Platonising rhetoric supports the delineation and detachment of the soul’s rational part (esp. nous) from external entities and subordinate mental phenomena but offers no evidence for a dualist psychology or metaphysical concept of the mind. Instead, Marcus’ concepts of mind and body abide by Stoic orthodoxy and its materialist monism.

Training as an anaesthetist can be very demanding and self-care and the wellbeing of the anaesthetist are of essence. Demanding work schedules include night shifts which can be particularly difficult to adjust to for some. Practical advice is stated on how to overcome and adapt to these. Green anaesthesia has gained large importance in ensuring sustainability in healthcare. In the UK anaesthetic cases and Nitrous Oxide contribute around 2% of all NHS greenhouse gas emissions. Steps to reduce the individual anaesthetists’ carbon footprint are discussed.

An overview of the anaesthetic training program is stated in addition to practical advice on enhancing portfolio work. Departments are required to run morbidity and mortality meetings which can be a good opportunity for the anaesthetic trainee. These meetings focus on a specific patient case and may lead to an action plan within the department. This chapter focuses on ways to make the most out of anaesthetic training and offers guidance to the training structure and requirements.

Group consultations are a form of community-integrated care that involve patients with similar health issues meeting with a clinician in a group setting. This approach enhances self-care and co-production, as patients learn from each other and participate in shared decision making. Group consultations have been shown to improve patient activation and evidence-based outcomes for long-term conditions such as diabetes and COPD, often at lower costs than individual consultations. Group consultations can be delivered in different ways, depending on the needs and preferences of the patients and the clinicians, including virtual sessions that allow for holistic care in the home environment. Case studies from various settings illustrate the effectiveness of group consultations in managing conditions like hypertension and diabetes. Group consultations are therefore a valuable method that combines the best of traditional care with the advantages of peer support and education, leading to better health outcomes in an efficient way.

Person-centred care (PCC) is a healthcare approach that emphasises the importance of individual patient preferences, needs, and values. It involves a shift in the power dynamic of medical consultations, allowing for shared control between the professional and the patient. The UK’s National Health Service has prioritised six processes to enable PCC, which include shared decision making and personalised care planning. Person-centred care aims to enhance patients’ skills and confidence for self-management by focusing on what matters to them rather than solely on their health conditions. The Health Foundation’s model of PCC highlights the need for care to be personalised, coordinated, and respectful of the patient’s dignity. Lifestyle Medicine, which largely focuses on supporting people to change behaviour, greatly depends on PCC as it empowers individuals to manage their health. Care planning and shared decision making are collaborative processes that balance the expertise of both the clinician and the patient. Understanding a patient’s ‘activation level’ can be useful for tailoring support to their ability to make lifestyle changes. Ultimately, PCC enhances the outcomes of Lifestyle Medicine by fostering patient self-management and improving the quality of treatment decisions.

Healthy clinicians are more likely to provide better care for their patients.

However, they often face serious health challenges themselves, which often stem from both personal lifestyle behaviours and work-related factors. Some of the common problems include burnout, stress, fatigue, musculoskeletal disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. To address these issues, interventions need to adopt a comprehensive approach that incorporates Lifestyle Medicine principles, such as nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and social support. These principles can help healthcare workers improve their health behaviours and cope with the demands of their work. However, personal interventions are not enough. There is also a need for organisational support and policy changes that create a healthier work environment for healthcare workers. This includes supportive leadership, flexible work schedules, adequate staffing, and access to wellness programmes. By improving the health of healthcare workers, interventions can also have positive impacts on patient care and healthcare costs.

Self-care is a broad concept that refers to the actions taken to preserve or improve health, which can vary depending on the academic literature. A useful framework to understand self-care is the Self-Care Matrix, which consists of four dimensions: activities, behaviours, context, and environment. Self-care activities are the specific practices that promote health, such as physical activity, healthy eating, hygiene, and rational use of health products. Self-care behaviours are the principles and actions that guide positive health behaviours and lifestyle choices. Self-care context is the degree of dependence or independence from external healthcare resources. Self-care environment is the external factor that influences self-care practices within the community. Self-care is closely related to Lifestyle Medicine, which supports individuals in adopting sustainable health practices and prioritises preventive strategies over reactive measures. Lifestyle Medicine and self-care play a crucial role in both primary and secondary prevention of diseases. The future of self-care envisions a healthcare landscape where technology and personalised approaches enhance self-care and Lifestyle Medicine. However, there are also challenges to address, such as potential inequalities and misconceptions that may arise as health systems pivot towards self-care.

Health coaching and motivational interviewing (MI) are evidence-based approaches to support behaviour change and self-care in people with long-term conditions. Health coaching is a patient-centred process that involves goal setting, self-discovery, health education, and accountability mechanisms. Motivational interviewing is a conversational style that strengthens a person’s own motivation and commitment to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. Health coaching and MI have been shown to improve health outcomes in various settings and populations, such as addiction, chronic disease, psychological health, oral health, and paediatric care. Health coaching and MI require training and practice to develop the necessary skills and competencies, as well as feedback and supervision to maintain and improve them. Health coaching and MI are important components of Lifestyle Medicine, helping clinicians to facilitate and enable healthy behaviour change.

• Practicing self-compassion – kindness towards ourselves, an understanding of our common humanity, and mindfulness – can be an important contributor to the development of a positive body image.

• There are many ways to practice self-care that extend beyond grooming practices and may include nurturing our social relationships.

• Examining what it is that adds meaning to our lives and working to enhance our eudaimonic well-being can also enhance our body image.

Here, the focus of treatment broadens to encompass the importance of self-care strategies to encourage healthy hair and skin. The goal is to help clients to replace body damaging BFRB practices with ones that help restore and maintain hair and skin health. This entails changes in behaviors that do not directly impact hair and skin but serve the broader goals of emotional and physical well-being. The physical structure and characteristics of skin and hair are described in detail, as are the anatomy, functions, and requirements for their health. Approaches for managing BFRB-caused damage are described and a range of positive self-care practices are explored. Recommendations are made for therapists to focus on broader health issues when client attitudes and practices challenge movement toward an overall healthier lifestyle. Techniques are described for therapists to encourage such changes in each client.

The most important thing you can do to support your professional and personal wellbeing is to cultivate personal awareness and to understand what support you need. This chapter introduces methods and approaches you can use to help maintain a happy balance between a busy and fulfilling professional life and personal health and wellbeing.

This chapter develops in detail a conception of temperance, based on a critical engagement with the dialogue’s resources, which I dub temperance as self-realisation. I explore how this conception is modelled in the dialogue, with particular reference to Socrates’ own procedure as depicted therein. The model enables us to address questions of Socrates’ own relation to temperance, and of how temperance can be regarded as of benefit on this conception. Emphasis is placed on the exercise of temperance as a continuous process and to that extent on self-realisation as something that is necessarily imperfectible. However, it is argued that this makes sense both of the status of temperance as a branch of practical knowledge and of its ability to characterise a whole life.

Black women suffer from higher mortality rates and experience heart disease, breast cancer, and other health issues at different levels than White women. Additionally, Black women commonly experience somatic symptoms related to mental health issues, and therapists can help women understand and address the connection between their physical and psychological health and wellness. In this chapter, we offer suggestions and tools to help therapists raise women’s health literacy, their awareness about mind–emotion–body connections, and provide strategies Black women can use for stress management to improve physical and mental wellness.

This chapter provides an overview of the methodological challenges in researching social inclusion amongst people with mental health conditions and gives examples of interventions that have been shown to be effective in addressing social exclusion including pre-school parenting programmes, early intervention, peer support, recovery colleges, self-care, self-management, and self-directed care. As with all clinical practice, the starting point is the establishment of a therapeutic relationship that encompasses empathy, understanding, hope, and a willingness to help, along with a recovery orientation encompassing collaborative and strengths-based approaches. Much of this does not require a major reorganisation of services, but rather a refocusing and reprioritisation of existing tools and clinical skills, alongside commitment by mental health organisations to ensure their structures facilitate service-user involvement in the planning and delivery of services

Chapter 7 outlines the importance of looking after yourself, particularly as a parent or caregiver of a child or young person. We discuss that without adequate self-care it’s not possible to care for others and go on to discuss some strategies to prioritise your own self-care.