I have had doubts about the current medication oriented approach to psychiatry for some time. After studying for a high school psychology class with some peers, I became convinced that I wanted to become a psychiatrist. My early exposure to alternative and holistic medicine clearly had an influence on my thinking, but in no way altered my core passion for the power of the human mind.
Andrew Weil became a friend and mentor after he served as an advisor on my honorās thesis about theories of consciousness in the early 1970s at the University of Arizona. So, I was the rare bird that entered medical school with some of my own ideas about what healing was and about the value of safe tools to unleash the innate healing power that lies within all of us. Needless to say I felt beaten down, discouraged and depressed after I really experienced what occurred in hospitals and medical school.
When I finally got to my psychiatric training at a Columbia program in New York I had worked for four years as a primary care doc in rural Arizona and was ready to learn my chosen craft.Ā I can remember well one of my first patients that I treated with the support of faculty supervision. He was a forty-year old insurance salesman from rural upstate New York. He had been experiencing some depression and alienation from his wife. Bill (pseudonym) had two lovely young daughters and he was very involved in their lives.Ā He lived about an hour away and on-going psychotherapy was not practical. Prozac had just been released and was all the rage in psychiatry. After discussion with my supervisor we decided to treat him with the new silver bullet. I wrote the prescription for 20 mg, one per day by mouth in latin script with a high level of ritual (for me at least). After wrapping up the visit I asked him to return in 3 weeks for a recheck.
His wife phoned me at about the two-week mark to inform me that Bill had jumped from a local bridge into an icy stream killing himself instantly. She said that he had been complaining of an escalating intensity inside his head that would not stop. He had keep grabbing at his head and crying, āMake it stop, make it stop.ā Bill did not follow her advice to call me and ask me if that was supposed to happen and ask about other options. She was a lovely woman and told me that she did not blame me and thought that the medication itself was to blame. She retained an attorney and sought relief from Eli Lily, joining a group of similar patients seeking a class action against the manufacturer.
As you might imagine, this overwhelmed me as a young resident. I was devastated by the loss of my patient, sad for his family and confused by what this meant about my training, practice and professional tools. I was desperate to learn, but ambivalent about a central facet of my professional toolbox. I have remained ambivalent to this day almost thirty years later. I clearly see that medications can help some folks ease their burden and support a process of recovery. Sadly, far too often medications create problems and even limit recovery. Perhaps the greatest drawback of psychiatric medications is that we lose sight that we have to do more: more assessment, more treatment, more education, more encouragement. Medication currently forms the central and pivotal focus of psychiatric hospitalization in this country. This needs to change.
After working as medical director of a psychiatric hospital, addiction program and four different residential treatment centers I have a clear vision of what folks need to truly address their mental health issues and step onto the path to healing.Ā Medication does not form the core of my vision. People, like all that lives, function as a complex system. We must understand the imbalances in each ecosystem, each individual, if we are to foster the true recovery of well-being. We must support balance on every level. We must sort out the roots of imbalance and correct them, but most of all we must offer the suffering individual the awareness and tools critical for self-care and direction. It was with these goals in mind that I founded Wholeness Center as a multi-disciplinary clinic to apply this philosophy.
The team at Wholeness Center has been pioneering integrative mental health for the last four years. We treat individuals from all over the country who come to Fort Collins to experience a very different approach to mental health treatment. In response to growing demand, we have decided to roll out an innovative new program that will offer people with serious or chronic mental health issues a true alternative to conventional psychiatric care.
Our new Integrative Psychiatric Intensive Program delivers a 5-day immersion in the best of integrative, holistic and natural medicine. We make a thorough evaluation of metabolic, genetic, neurological, dietary and lifestyle factors. This thorough assessment combines with an empowering skill based education that helps someone move beyond crisis and towards true stable well-being.Ā We craft a comprehensive treatment plan for each individual to take home and recover.
This program provides a very real alternative to hospitalization for adults (over 18 years old) with no current safety issues. Psychiatric hospitalization is clearly the treatment of choice when a person presents with safety issues such as active suicidal ideation or a very disorganized psychosis. Most often psychiatric hospitalization amounts to an aggressive trial of multiple psychiatric medications without any assessment of underlying factors. Very little is done to empower the individual with new skills/interventions to manage stress, diet, sleep, metabolic, genetic or related concerns.
Psychiatric medications can offer some very short-term benefits, mostly in terms of sedation. It is clear that these medications cure no psychiatric illness; they only superficially manage symptoms. As Whitaker has pointed out, the research demonstrates that the benefits do not sustain. Additionally, in our experience they can often hold people back from true recovery of health and well-being. At times medications can function at as catalysts of change, but do not offer a consistent foundation for recovery. As such we hold a cautious and conservative approach.
The modern practice of psychiatry is not very satisfying for the practitioner or the patient. Our psychiatrists have decades of experience in hospitals and treatment centers. This experience taught us that outside of immediate safety issues hospital care delivers little lasting benefit. The patient is often left with less autonomy and empowerment. Psychiatry is the only medical specialty that ignores their target organ (the brain) and underlying physiology. This has to change.
Ā * * * * *
We hope that our new model begins to shift the options and the care that people in crisis are offered. Psychiatric care must move forward and Wholeness Center wants to lead the way. This new program represents a leading edge of mental health care in the US. It provides individuals with a thoughtful and empowering alternative to hospitalization and the excessive reliance on medication.
For More information:
www.wholeness.com
Leo Salazar at 970.221.1106
This looks incredible! thank you for sharing. Some of us are piece mealing this stuff together for ourselves with great results and sharing the info. Certainly a lot of folks when challenged and vulnerable aren’t up to figuring it out on their…you’re doing it in one place…I hope it gets replicated and tweaked/improved everywhere so that many more people can benefit from what is totally necessary. A deeply holistic approach.
This is the program he’s talking about…copied and pasted from his site…good stuff!!
We will accept adults 18 and up. The focus of the program is on identifying underlying core issues such
as inflammation, methylation problems, nutritional imbalances, food allergies, sleep and lifestyle/
behavior patterns. We emphasize skill building and empowerment. The list below provides an overview
of what we provide:
ā¢ 3 hours of integrative psychiatry assessment and treatment
ā¢ 3 hours of naturopathic assessment and treatment
ā¢ 2 sessions of IV nutrient therapy customized to individual need
ā¢ Quantitative EEG/Brain map and introduction to Neurofeedback
ā¢ Comprehensive laboratory assessment of blood and urine
ā¢ Assessment of genetic profile as it relates to mental health
ā¢ Introduction to biofeedback/heart rate variability
ā¢ 3 hours of family systems assessment and counseling
ā¢ 2 hours of hand on instruction in cooking and food selection
ā¢ 2 hours of Reiki and energy medicine intuitive assessment
ā¢ 5 sessions of instruction in mindful eating
ā¢ 10 gourmet meals
ā¢ 2 sessions of acupuncture
ā¢ Q EEG/Brain map interpretation
ā¢ Collaborative team meeting to assess and plan care
ā¢ Aftercare with support from psychiatrist, naturopath and therapist
ā¢ Support and instruction to enhance implementation
ā¢ Comprehensive treatment plan with detailed instructions
ā¢ Support, encouragement, acceptance and affection
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Yeah! GREAT stuff!!!! I agree it needs to be replicated!
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Makes sense. As long as the reasons for “mental illness” are medical or psychological in nature this is the best one can do.
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WOW!! This is the best news I’ve read in months. Dr. Shannon, how can we get one of your Wholeness Centers in Ohio? Any possibility of a franchise of some sort?
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Yes, alternatives to the mainstream mental health industry are desperately needed in Ohio . I heard an employee from Akron children’s hospital on the radio claiming belief in the chemical imbalance theory, just yesterday. Apparently the doctors in Ohio have not been informed that the chemical imbalance theories of mental illness were discredited decades ago.
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I think this article is fine, and this doctor does sound like someone who cares about his patients. However, I notice that every time I go to this website, there is yet another article by a psychiatrist. I think MIA is making it clear that to the extent they want to see some changes in the “mental health” system, they think that system is somehow going to be changed from within.
No other movement for social change has succeeded in this way. I am sad to conclude that MIA is not interested or willing to encourage organizing by the people who have been hurt by this system, unless they are trying to become part of it.
I don’t feel good at all coming to this conclusion. On the other hand, it has become very clear that people like me, who you perhaps view as a dangerous radical or whatever, are not welcome on this website.
I think it would be good for your readers to have this discussion, but I don’t see a forum for it here.
Anyway, I am deeply disappointed by what has happened to MIA, and the political choices it has made.
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how about both/and not either/or Ted? I won’t be joining the system for sure…but I’m happy those who are still partaking might find some good care…
I’m okay with letting the lines blur when it means people are less frequently harmed.
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I agree Monica, MIA should be involved in both. For those of us with loved ones who are still suffering it is so good to hear of alternatives which do not involve forced drugging. I will be contacting the Wholeness Center to see if they can help my son. Sadly, that may not be possible since he has such a distrust for the system he probably would not be willing to try this alternative. But for other families this sounds like a great alternative.
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“adly, that may not be possible since he has such a distrust for the system he probably would not be willing to try this alternative.”
I totally understand him. As much as I think it’s overall positive to create such centers n general, better than what’s being offered now, I won’t go anywhere close anything and anyone who has “psychiatry” written all over. Better safe than sorry.
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There is a popular song out there called “Blurred Lines”. It is about how how rape occurs when boundaries are not firmly delineated.
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Ted,
IMO, there are two things that need to be addressed:
A) And end to the use of force by conventional psychiatry.
B) Making alternatives available for those who voluntarily seek them.
I don’t see a conflict, as long as these services are provided with fully-informed consent. There are a lot of people out there who would benefit from treatment for sleep disorders, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid issues, hormonal imbalances, etc. Some people, by their *own* admission are not functioning at an optimal level, and would like to receive more holistic care. Many parents have no idea where to go.
Duane
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I agree. A lot of people end up harmed or dying in psych institution while all they need is a blood check for diagnosis and some real medical treatment. A recent story from Poland is a good example: a teenage girl died in restraints in a locked psych ward with her parents kept outside after she was shipped there because the other doctors didn’t bother to diagnose her with ammonia poisoning. She was apparently “agitated” and they decided it must be a mental issue.
So if someone is offering a wellness center, on voluntary basis, with basic medical checkups and stress-reduction sessions I’m all for it. Which does not negate the fact that psychiatry as a supposed branch of medicine must go.
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For this they go to medical school to make themselves more thoroughly adept at ignoring life, social hardship, the mind, and the body. Might as well call the patients “ka-ching”.
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Ted,
We need all of us…inside and out…I am trying to work on the inside, but find it challenging…hope you stay connected to MIA! In my opinion the most important change comes from the outside…
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Could this program be added to the list of MIA Resources? –
http://www.madinamerica.com/resources/
Duane
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Scott, I don’t get it, I don’t get it at all:
In what way do you or does your wholeness approach to all things ‘mental’ offer an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization, especially since you limit your services to adults “with no current safety issues”? The conceptualization of so-called safety issues draws at least heavily from or is even entirely based on the current paradigm of being ‘a danger to oneself and/or others caused by a supposed underlying disease or malfunctioning of some kind of the brain’ a.k.a. ‘mental disorder’ or ‘mental illness’.
“This program provides a very real alternative to hospitalization for adults (over 18 years old) with no current safety issues. Psychiatric hospitalization is clearly the treatment of choice when a person presents with safety issues such as active suicidal ideation or a very disorganized psychosis. Most often psychiatric hospitalization amounts to an aggressive trial of multiple psychiatric medications without any assessment of underlying factors. Very little is done to empower the individual with new skills/interventions to manage stress, diet, sleep, metabolic, genetic or related concerns.”
Apparent quote from your website, provided by Monica Cassani:
“Assessment of genetic profile as it relates to mental health”
Say what?
(Btw, your web server currently throws a 500 error when trying to open the page *Integrative Psychiatric Intensive Program* from the link above in your blog.
Britta
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I think my comment was somewhat misunderstood. I am not opposed to alternatives at all, and I agree with what Duane said about how we need to get rid of forced psychiatry AND develop alternative ways of doing things that will help people in mental/emotional distress. What is bothering me is that it seems that MIA is not encouraging other kinds of organizing. I don’t agree that psychiatry is going to be changed from within, or by developing alternatives. The psychiatric profession is not going to stand by while their power is being taken away.
Look at what happened to Loren Mosher when he developed the original Soteria House because he felt drugs were not being helpful to people. The programs were defunded, and he was driven out of his high-ranking job in the NIMH. (And I would add, he was a fine decent man, whom I was privileged to know personally.)
No amount of alternatives, by themselves, will take away the power of psychiatry, the power that enables all the abuses people constantly write about, for good reason. That can only be done by a human rights movement, like all the other movements in this country, that directly confronts the psychiatric profession I mean, do we try to end racism by forming an “alternatives to racism” movement, to end rape by forming groups that advocate “alternatives to rape?”
But I think this endless stream of mental health professionals on the pages of MIA, no matter how decent they are (and I think most of them are) sends the message that all we have to do to end psychiatric abuses is just leave it up to the professionals. I think this system is only going to change when its victims fight back. That is true of all other movements for social justice, and it is true of ours too.
So I am not complaining about the articles these progressive professionals write, but that there seems to be no encouragement from MIA for the involvement of psychiatric survivors in our own liberation. And this greatly disappoints me.
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Ted,
I apologize for any misunderstanding, and share your concerns.
Duane
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Ted, I’m not sure what you mean by “no encouragement” from MIA for the involvement of psychiatric survivors in our own liberation. We recently added an Organizing for Social Change forum at the request of psychiatric survivors: http://www.madinamerica.com/forums/forum/organizing-social-change/. This comment section itself is also a form of involvement, which psychiatric survivors regularly avail themselves of, as you know. Since resources are devoted to the very thing you say we aren’t encouraging, I don’t really understand your assessment (maybe you’re just talking about the number of survivors among the mix of bloggers?). At any rate, if you have ideas for more ways that involvement of survivors could be encouraged, please feel free to share them with us. I think we’re all open to hearing them — I know I am.
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I’m going to take a stab at this, because I think I agree with Ted, if I’m interpreting that line correctly, about MIA not being encouraging to survivors in liberation, although I feel he may be being more diplomatic than I feel about this.
For me, psychiatry has proven 100% of the time, over a period of a couple of decades in a variety of professional relationships and attempts to dialogue, futile in trying to find common ground. In their offices, it’s been brutal and blatantly oppressive to be a psychiatric client. In the end, I see it was dangerous, and so does my partner and family. They see the enormous difference in my spirit and well-being, since I separated from that world, and I certainly feel it.
On this website, I have found trying to discuss issues openly with psychiatrists to lead only to feeling shut down, subtly demeaned, dismissed, resisted, and somewhat manipulated.
My relationship life is excellent, married almost 30 years, I have no problems communicating with my friend, family, neighbors, and just about anyone. But I can say with absolute certainty and accuracy that I have never, ever, ever been able to have a satisfying dialogue with a psychiatrist, and in fact, I always walk away feeling as though I am in a haze of confusion, and can easily tip to feeling badly about myself, as though something were ‘wrong with me.’ Like, “What was that??”
I have never seen nor felt clarity or truth from a psychiatrist, only confusion and uncertainty–and quite often, smoke and mirrors. I’ve felt manipulated and gas-lighted by many psychiatrists, way many.
Whereas on this website and elsewhere, I’ve seen a lot of clarity and truth from survivors. We also hold a lot of anger, because our clarity and truth is so often turned into some kind of weird and bizarre reality and called ‘psychosis,’ That’s over the top stigma, and it’s let to disaster for all concerned, due to negative, projective, assumptive communication, on the part of the psychiatrist, often leading others to feel as though they’re in a pile of muck.
I generally don’t make such sweeping critical generalizations toward one particular group of people, as, indeed, that can be stigma, in and of itself. But in this case, to me, it feels like a very accurate assessment, from my vast and varied experiences with psychiatry. I see evidence of this daily on here, and I know it well from my own life.
There is an inherent communication barrier, and, even in the name of radical self-responsibility, I feel the resistance comes so heavily from the psychiatrist, because they want clients to continue carrying their demons, on some level. Don’t know how else to put it, but it comes down to a horrendous lack of self-responsibility, that has harmed so many people. To me, that’s very clear.
So to have this website be an agent for radical change (or is it not? perhaps I’ve misunderstood the goal, here?) seems undermined when it seems to not be balancing this power differential that is causing all the problems of imbalance in the system, which have lead to torture for so many, and in fact, perhaps it might be perpetuating this imbalance with some of these judgment calls.
Yes, there are articles from all sorts of people who’ve had a variety of roles, experiences, and perspectives, but on some level, I feel that there is more of an alliance between psychiatry and MIA than between survivors and MIA, and I would imagine it has something to do with money, connections, and social position. These are the parameters of ‘the norm’ which we want to challenge. At least, I do. I feel this is central to the issues, here.
We live in a toxic culture with grave power imbalance, and we want to rectify this imbalance, because it is what causes the MOST mental, physical, and spiritual distress in society. It’s killing us, literally. Boundaries do have to be clear for balance to occur. Blurred, we perpetuate imbalance–aka, corruption.
Power belongs to the survivors now, not to the abusers. We want a new era, where survivors are the teachers, and psychiatrists learn from us. I don’t see any compromise with this. Anger and all, we are the voice of reason and clarity, here, not defensiveness and denial.
This is my perspective, in any event.
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Thank you, Scott for describing a comprehensive alternative approach. Much needed.
My misgivings are based on the whiz-bang hi technology of it all – i.e. Q EEG/Brain Map; lab assessments; assessment of genetic profile as it relates to MH?? Americans deeply love hi tech solutions and the magic bullets – so dazzling seductive vs. low tech accepting suffering, empathy and listening. “You’ll have to work hard to grow and overcome this” – has never been a popular message.
The kitchen sink approach of it all would seem to be so costly.
I’m in the public sector – so perhaps I’m too accustomed to low budgets and scarce resources, but this seems gold-plated.
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First off I just want to say thanks Scott for looking at alternatives for helping people that do not immediately involve psychiatry. That is a much needed and welcome step and your program sounds innovative.
However, I echo the concerns for creating alternatives that are cheap, accessible, “low-tech” and that also allow for people that have “safety issues.” I recently was talking to a woman who was describing the place she would have loved to find when she was deep in crisis and suicidal.
The place would be in nature, quiet and low stim with people cooking nourishing meals. There would be activities available such as yoga, meditation, therapy, but for some people it would simply be a place to rest, talk to peers and eat healthy food without having to think of their problems medically. But it would differ from a retreat center in that the staff would understand that people were coming because they are in crisis and are looking for support/love. Ultimately, it would be paid by state or private insurance and available as much as hospitalization is available.
I support any and all endeavors to create alternatives and I heartily support your approach Scott- we need more people not just thinking and talking- but doing and creating…Thanks for being part of that effort!
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YES!!! I agree one hundred per cent.
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I was so happy reading your article until I came to this paragraph;
‘Psychiatric hospitalization is clearly the treatment of choice when a person presents with safety issues such as active suicidal ideation or a very disorganized psychosis. Most often psychiatric hospitalization amounts to an aggressive trial of multiple psychiatric medications without any assessment of underlying factors. Very little is done to empower the individual with new skills/interventions to manage stress, diet, sleep, metabolic, genetic or related concerns’
I know that some severely (and less severely) ill people are helped by medication but others are surely not. Those with ‘active suicidal ideation’ or ‘a very disorganized psychosis’ are among the most vulnerable of people with mental illness, and thus have less potential g to cope and recover from bad treatment of ‘aggressive trial of multiple psychiatric medications without any assessment of underlying factors’ The less ill are at least able to eventually fight back …….
I feel that many of even the critical psychiatrists are seeming to abandon the severely ill and are assuming that the percentage of people who need medication include all of the severely ill. But shy do they think that? There is not yet any clear or valid way to assess which are the people who benefit from these medications. Many people become more ill after taking medication (and eventually become severely ill) and/or remain severely ill for years and decades ON medication (as opposed to the stories you sometimes hear about unmedicatied people who after many years do recover. )
I realize that the severely ill require more intensive support to preserve safety, and their needs are more difficult to meet in a center such as you describe but please, please think carefully before making sweeping comments that ‘psychiatric hospitalization is clearly the treatment of choice’ for these people. If psychiatric medication can hinder the recovery of the moderately ill, doesnt it make sense that it has the potential of even greater harm for some of the severely ill? Please, we desperately need critical psychiatrists who will get on board to protect the right of the severely ill. People (and/or the loved ones of those people if they are too ill to understand the information) should have to give informed consent about these contraversial and often dangerous medications and treatments. People need to have the choice of recovering in some sort of sanctuary without medication, or a hospital if medication if taking medicaition is their informed choice.
I love the sound of your center and deeply hope that one day it will include all people especially the most needy.
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I do think the psychiatric practitioners need to learn that their drugs can cause the very symptoms of the supposed DSM “mental illnesses” these drugs are purported to cure, also. As Whitaker’s book (and the black box warnings now on these drugs) point out the ADHD drugs and antidepressants can induce mania, suicides and violence which has resulted in massive misdiagnoses of “bipolar,” especially in the US. And the DSM5 changes will only increase the number of such misdiagnoses.
And the neuroleptics can cause anticholinergic intoxication, ā(ā¦ neuroleptics ā¦) may have additive effects when used in combination ā¦ Central symptoms may include memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, hallucinations, psychosis, delirium, hyperactivity, twitching or jerking movements, stereotypy, and seizures,” which emulates the very symptoms of schizophrenia. I personally became ‘psychotic’ for the first time ever when put on just .5 mg of Risperdal alone. Some people are allergic to the neuroleptics (including my grandmother and I). None of the psychiatric practitioners or mainstream doctors I met were capable of comprehending this basic reality.
So I absolutely disagree, āPsychiatric hospitalization is clearly the treatment of choice when a person presents with safety issues such as active suicidal ideation or a very disorganized psychosis,’ since the psychiatrists don’t seem capable of understanding that all people are different and not everyone reacts well to the psychiatric drugs. The psychiatrists need to learn that their drugs cause these exact problems in at least a percentage of the population. And until they do, non-medical alternatives are definitely needed.
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I’m with Ted a little on this subject. When I started reading this it seemed more like an advertisement and it seems lately there are a lot of those on this site. It seems everyone has a book to sell.
With that said it seems Scott is walking the talk by investing in this wide offering of services. Very interesting to say the least. It should be interesting to come back here and read about the success these programs are having.
Much Success!
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This is interesting, definitely a step in the right direction. Is this medicare billable? I’m wondering how accessible this is to people on disability income, and how safe it is for low income people. It does seem as though it would be pricey.
One big problem in the system is the disregard for people on the margins of society, due to social ills. To me, remedying this particular aspect of the psychiatric world would be a big leap forward, and what I would call the radical change that is sorely needed.
“Psychiatric hospitalization is clearly the treatment of choice when a person presents with safety issues such as active suicidal ideation or a very disorganized psychosis.”
This statement does concern me, as there are strong shades of stigma and potential discrimination. We continue to define the human experience from extremely limited and dualistic perspectives. ‘Active suicidal ideation’ and ‘very disorganized psychosis’ are loaded terms that do not necessarily accurately describe a person’s experience, and both can be easily misunderstood and misinterpreted based on biased subjective interpretation, and that is always terribly costly to the client. To my mind, it would be unacceptable.
This is what is consistently the problem in psychiatry, all these assumptions that are extremely disadvantageous to vulnerable and unsuspecting people, from those who have not experienced intense oppression and chronic powerlessness due to aggressive stigma. That’s a horrific and debilitating anxiety to carry around, and causes all sorts of emotional and psychological distortions.
I’d fear duplication of ‘the system,’ in this regard, which would undermine the whole operation.
I do hope this is not true because otherwise, it looks like an interesting integration of healing modalities, with emphasis on natural healing, which I always think is a good thing. Best of luck with this.
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These are not real alternatives, but unscientific bullshit, that could be harmful too (because it is not working). A link to the website of Paula Curtis, a member of the Wholeness Center team (just one example):
http://www.innerbalance-healing.com/
“Energy work can be directed anywhere on the planet. How cool is that? Places and animals absorb energy just like we do. Paula can clear and balance the energy in your pets, home, office, or land. Itās especially helpful to cleanse the energy during times of transition.”
This not healing, this is delusional.
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Not at all. This is a widely held belief and practice. Been practiced for eons, effectively.
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Totally agree. This is one instance where mainstream medicine has yet to catch up, but it is happening, slowly.
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Thank you, I’m glad you know this, too. I think one challenge is that when this does catch on, it will radically shift the economics of the medical community. I think it’s inevitable, though, because it brings such ease and clarity into healing, so we better prepare for that shift, it’s inevitable.
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hello everybody,does anybody know something about the benefits of fasting for ong periods(25 30 DAYS) in the cure of mental hillness.it was once practised as hunger cure in the sixties and by alan cott,an orthomolecular psychiatr..i heard of great results.does anybody know something?if true could be a great alternative to add toholistic treatments
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symptoms of so called “mental illness” can be related to the gut flora, a leaky gut, inflammation, autoimmune reactions, food sensitivities, micronutrient deficiencies, etc.
fasting, for a short or long period, could have a small or big, positive or negative impact. so can changing your diet (for example getting rid of gluten containing grains, milk, eggs, …)
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Ok i know eating well is important and i agree but i am asking about fasting for long periods..in the sixties in moscow a doctor named nikolaev had great results working with skizofrenia and fasting..does anybody heard about it? I ve read it but i read lots of things ..
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Although I am not a doctor or researcher and don’t have the science to back this up, my thoughts would be that prolonged fasting would do more harm than good. As I have seen in people with anorexia, they seem to improve when they start eating again.
I would love to hear more on this topic since it seems quite evident to me that there are definitely strong links between nutrition and mental health.
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Alex and GetItRight are exactly right . How do I know , cause I’m an energy healer and I absolutely don’t advocate what doesn’t work . The method I use can be read about and demo’s watched at http://www.YuenMethod.com and what you see is not staged it’s for real . Kam Yuen’s method is the most advanced system of energy healing I know of . There is always room for it’s practitioners to innovate. Whenever anyone told Kam how they proceeded with a health issue he would always say ” That’s one approach .”” By the way, one of Kam’s side jobs is working on baseball players on the LA Dodgers. Major League baseball teams don’t waste time or money on what can’t be demonstrated to get positive results.
The world needs more energy healers . A child can learn it easier than an adult because a child has fewer blocking preconceptions to overcome than an adult . Bottom line ” The Proof Is In The Pudding” ” What you try either works or it doesn’t . In energy healing if an approach doesn’t work no harm is done. Then you can try again until you succeed. You get better as you practice. Learn it for yourself and work on yourself and/or others if they ask.
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“working as medical director of a psychiatric hospital, addiction programs”
I noticed from working in and going through an addiction program that most young addicts were psych med kids.
Is it any surprise that when you start getting a third grader high on Ritalin or Adderal or that “Vyvance” every day many continue with daily getting high on other stuff as adults ?
Opiates are great for the stimulant crash, especially with that Vyvance with that extended cant eat jittery hours long crash part they call “effective for 12 hours “.
They will tell you risk is linked to the disorder, not to the treatment.
Ya right, take those ADHD stimulants for a wile and tell me a drink or a pain pill doesn’t work great on the side effects and crash.
The side effects and crash cause a craving for alcohol or opiates after daily use of stimulants created the get high daily pattern.
Meanwhile they call marijuana a gateway drug all the time.
No one is tracking the percentage of substance abuse inpatients who were psych med kids. I have and the link is there.
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