Jane Baxter

The story of PsychFit, Inc. and "How to Manage Your Depression with Exercise."

Being athletic my entire life, I knew how important exercise was to me (and my mental health) personally. I went to graduate school (master's in social work) in the early 1990's and at that time prescribing exercise was not linked to improved mental health outcomes the way it is now. The weekend after I graduated from my MSW program, I entered a training program to become a personal trainer -- not that I wanted to be a personal trainer as such, but I wanted to know how to work with people in terms of strengthening their bodies with the thought that I would eventually integrate talk therapy and physical strengthening techniques. The idea was promptly shelved as I went through a doctoral program and had three children. It came back to life on the playground at my children's school, and it came back like a vibrant calling.

Two friends of mine who were personal trainers asked me what to do when their clients started to become upset and cry during the workouts. They said it happened frequently and they felt like they were becoming the individuals' therapists. I told them about my idea of integrating talk therapy and physical strengthening techniques during the therapy session, and they strongly encouraged me to move forward with it. When I use the word "calling," I mean that I would wake up at 4 a.m. thinking about it. I had brainstorming sessions where I would cut yellow pieces of paper in half and scribble out ideas until my dining room table was covered with all the possibilities for how this hybrid therapy model could work.

I went to bookstores and libraries and scanned indexes of books on neuroscience to see if they had anything on exercise. I bought a treadmill, balance balls, workout matts, dumbbells and strength training equipment. I then got up the nerve to ask friends to come in with a "safe" problem they would feel comfortable talking to me about, to get a sense of how a session could flow. I named the program PsychFit, Inc. for Psychotherapy + Fitness, and published my website in 2003 (www.PsychFitInc.com). I then started talking to physicians and my friends in the medical field, and I made up a brochure that I posted around my neighborhood.

Referrals began to come in. While the majority of my practice has been traditional therapy, at times I have 50% of my patients doing PsychFit. In 2005, a reporter from The Washington Post contacted me to do a story on the program, which I thought would be a small piece in their Health Section. Much to his and my surprise, the editor made it a front page story. It was later re-run by the Associated Press and appeared in newspapers all over the United States, Mexico and Asia. I was also featured on NBC and other radio shows and podcasts.

When WebMD did a story on PsychFit, I was contacted a few weeks later by a publisher who felt there was a need for a self-help book about combining exercise with cognitive-behavioral therapy. She asked me if I would be interested in writing it. After a great deal of planning, research and writing, the book is now in print. I am so excited about how it has turned out, and I am especially excited about the help it could provide for people of all ages and walks of life who are going through some tough times right now, or who are simply in a rut and need some motivation to exercise. If you read my book and would like to write a review, I would sincerely appreciate the feedback. And, if you find it to be helpful, I hope you will recommend it to others. Thank you so much. ~Jane Baxter, PhD