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Also included on the site is an array of articles on topics ranging from the medical causes of schizophrenia to the effects of toxic metals on mental health.

Special AlternativeMentalHealth.com T-shirts and bumper stickers are available at our online store.

A bookstore page lists top books that cover many areas of alternative treatments with titles like Natural Healing for Schizophrenia and Other Common Mental Disorders and No More Ritalin.

AlternativeMentalHealth.com has been created to educate the public, practitioners, and government officials on the medical conditions that create "mental illness" and the many safe resources available for addressing and often curing severe mental symptoms.

Just as the AMH News was going to press we received the terrific news of a new Safe Harbor chapter opening in the city of Pune, India - our first in that nation.

Perhaps more meaningful is the fact that the founder of this new chapter initially discovered our work by attending our first medical conference in 2002 - "Non-Pharmaceutical Approaches to Mental Disorders."

This year's conference, NON-PHARMA III promises to be equally instructive and inspiring and we hope to find you there to take part in this unique gathering of diverse speakers that you will not find together in any other place. Who knows how it will broaden YOUR horizons?

Safe Harbor's goal for our annual conference is to sharpen the practitioner's (and public's) conceptual grasp of the various underlying physical causes of mental disorders as well as the variety of treatment options available. Each speaker lays out a piece of the therapeutic puzzle until, by conference end, there is a distinctly sharper understanding of how to successfully treat mental disorders.

We are very pleased to highlight this year's event with an afternoon with the warm, seasoned presentation of Michael Lesser, M.D., a veteran with over 30 years in practice, one of the founders of orthomolecular psychiatry in the United States.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The problems in my life, due to what they called schizophrenia, started when I was a young teenager. The path I took before I finally found out what my problem was forty-five years long.

My life from thirteen to thirty-one was mostly a lonely, painful experience. I was an intelligent, motivated human being. I wanted to be successful in life, but I had three careers and many jobs ruined. I endured many struggles from junior high school through December 1974, when I had a major psychotic crash which eventually led to criminal charges in May of 1976.

My drive to enter medical school and eventually enter the field of biochemistry research was my dream from early teens. After the struggle of graduating from high school, where I could not gain my third major because of interruptions from mental problems relating to paranoia, unreal fears and panic attacks, I joined the Canadian Navy in frustration. I became a sonar operator in submarine detection in 1963 by training at the Fleet Sonar School in Key West, Florida and then situated on a joint U.S./Canadian Oceanographic Research Station in Nova Scotia. After leaving Key West and starting on-the-job training at my permanent base, I had my first short, but severe, psychotic breakdown. Still only 19 years old, I fought to stay in the Navy, and, thankfully, did not have my life tarnished by a mental health discharge.

Later, while doing my job at this base, I finally got my third major, the high school law course, for my university entrance high school diploma. While still in the Navy, I applied to the School of Nursing at the Vancouver General Hospital, and got an honourable discharge in January 1965 to enter nursing. After 1 1/2 years of nursing, I finally got the courage to do what I really wanted to do, and applied to the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where I was accepted into PreMed. I started at U.B.C. in Sept. 1967, but soon the pressure on my life was drawing me back into more severe paranoia, fears and panic attacks and I could not continue.

In 1968 I went to work as a bookkeeper in the lumber industry in Vancouver, B.C. and in 1970, while still working on the job in the daytime, I started night school at U.B.C. to get my degree as a Certified General Accountant. By the end of 1972 I was again unable to continue due to the problems I was having, and I had to leave my job and the university. I then took a job in the Fraser Valley of B.C. as a junior accountant for a medium sized cedar mill. After two years of this job, which was challenging and worthwhile to me, I again collapsed.

I had not a violent or criminal bone in my body. But from December 1974 to May of 1976, I was dosed with valium and then had shock treatment, which eventually led me to a two-week stay in a local prison, and then to a mental hospital. I was treated while going through a six-month trial for arson, and was given an Order-in-Council by the Attorney General of British Columbia for innocence due to insanity.

When I left the mental hospital for the last time in October 1978, with an ironclad determination to find out what had ruined my life, I began another long and painful trip to discovery. After another twenty-one long years of difficulties, pains, and two more psychotic breakdowns, I finally found two Naturopaths in Vancouver, British Columbia, who, since January of 1999, have been treating me for mercury poisoning. I finally discovered the real problem. My recovery has been phenomenal, and at sixty, although I probably still have another year of chelating, the depression I didn't know I even had all my life, plus the paranoia, unreal fears, and panic attacks are gone. And I have as much stress in my life now as I have always had, being the motivated perfectionist type of person I am.

My life before December 1974 was very different from my life after I left the mental hospital in October 1978. The nightmares of those four years, plus the fact that I lived through two serious suicide attempts, gave me more courage to deal with life after I left the hospital. But, still, my personal and work life was severely complicated. I not only had the mental problems affecting me, but also had immune system problems which caused me to have flus, lung infections, and fatigue.

I am presently living on a Canada Pension Disability of $800.32 per month. My spouse has also been disabled most of her life with a heart problem, and she and I also look after her 73-year-old brother who has Parkinsons quite severely. Between all our pensions, we have managed to survive and to keep up chelation for myself and for her brother, with his Parkinsons. After eleven years of the disease, he is doing amazingly well due to the heavy metal chelation and the fact that we live nearly a totally natural life stye. I cook naturally, we use natural cleaning products, and purchase all-natural beef, pork, beans, grains, and condiments.

If we can take the kind of initiative it's taken to get through this, and also undergo the financial struggle necessary to afford this natural lifestyle that is good for us all, and for the planet, then others can do it too.

With much past pain, and present concern, and still a love and zest for life,

CB

Eli Lilly and Co. has warned doctors that its schizophrenia treatment Zyprexa, its best-selling drug, significantly raises the risk of death and stroke in elderly patients suffering from dementia.

In a statement issued Feb. 20, 2004, the Indianapolis-based company said it sent a letter to U.S. doctors a month earlier warning that Zyprexa, which had global sales of $4.3 billion in 2003 and accounts for half of Lilly's profit, increased the risks in five clinical trials among elderly patients with dementia. 3.5 percent of elderly patients with dementia taking Zyprexa in the trials died of all causes, more than twice the death rate of 1.5 percent seen among those taking placebos.

"I don't think we have a sense of why," said Lilly spokesman Dan Collins. Higher stroke and death risks have not been seen in other populations, he said, adding that Lilly could not advise doctors whether to prescribe Zyprexa for dementia because it is not officially approved for that use by U.S. regulators.

Doctors may legally prescribe drugs for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, although drugmakers are allowed to market their products only for specifically approved uses.

Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group, has criticized doctors for routinely prescribing schizophrenia drugs to treat symptoms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, even though the medicines are not approved for that use.

Zyprexa and Risperdal, Johnson & Johnson's second-biggest drug with 2003 sales of $2.5 billion, are widely used to manage delusional and aggressive behaviors in dementia patients.

J & J warned U.S. doctors last April that Risperdal increases the risk of stroke among elderly patients with dementia.

About 2 percent of Zyprexa sales are for elderly patients with dementia, according to Collins. 

Is psychiatric diagnosis driven by biology, or popular culture?

Writers in the popular press have done a great deal to blur - if not obliterate - the distinction between medical conditions and merely emotional or social ones. This legitimizes "diagnostic bracket creep" - the much-discussed tendency of doctors to aim a particular drug at an ever-widening circle of symptoms.

In a six-month study of 261 articles published between 1985 and 2000, reported in the February 2004 issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine, psychiatrist Jonathan M. Metzl and colleague Joni Angel found that SSRI's (antidepressants: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were increasingly portrayed as helping women function as mothers or wives, while in men they promised treatment for athletic shortcomings and aggression.

"Our findings undermine claims that SSRIs simply rectify 'chemical imbalance,'" Metzl said. "Instead, our results suggest that a host of culturally based - indeed, gender-based - expectations shape our information about SSRIs."

Popular depictions of these drugs have expanded categories of women's "mental illness" to include symptoms once thought part of normal behavior, he said. Conditions that were once viewed as just part of being human are transformed into symptoms of illness that require treatment.

An advisory council for the Food and Drug Administration met February 3, 2004 in Bethesda, MD to hear testimony on intense and adverse effects brought on by anti-depressants. Many testified to horrific tragedies, including suicides and even murder, which they attributed to the anti-depressants classified as SSRIs.

Dozens of families told gut-wrenching stories about their encounters with SSRIs. One family read a letter from their 14-year old son, who murdered his grandparents when he was 12 after being given Zoloft and then having his dosage doubled. Another family spoke of their 13-year old son, who hanged himself after being on Zoloft for seven days. Still another family spoke of their recent college graduate who, after two weeks on Paxil, stabbed herself twice in the chest and died on their kitchen floor. There was also the recounting of a teen with a high-powered rifle holding a teacher and 23 students hostage after an increased dosage of Effexor.

Others were full of praise for the drugs.

The FDA has announced an investigation into the whole class of SSRIs. Their approach is to examine the results of trials previously done on these drugs, submitted by the makers of the SSRIs, to see if there is a link to suicide. However, critics consider that information showing a connection between SSRIs and violence cannot be adequately obtained from these studies, since they were not designed to capture this data, and because they were commissioned by the drug companies in the first place.

For full story, go to http://www.heraldonline.com/local/story/3299472p-2945158c.html.  

Safe Harbor has been very pleased to be working for the past six months in partnership with Patrick Holford, England's leading nutritionist to expand the use of nutritional remedies for mental health worldwide.

Patrick's organization recently hosted an excellent conference in the United Kingdom on Optimum Nutrition for the Mind and we received the following report.

Over 220 practitioners, including doctors, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, special needs teachers and nutritionists, attended the 'Optimum Nutrition for the Mind Conference' in London. The first day focused on problems with children. Pediatrician Dr Mary Megson from Virginia presented her extraordinary research proving that many autistic children have visual perception problems, correctable by fish oil high in vitamin A in the form of retinol. She explained how their behaviour made complete sense if you could understand what they saw. She is getting children out of the autistic spectrum within six months.

Dr Alex Richardson from Oxford University presented her research on EPA rich fish oils in dyslexia, dyspraxia (motor-perceptual problems) and so called ADHD, soon to be published. Dr Peter Willats from the University of Dundee has been researching omega 3 fats in pregnancy and infant and testing their subsequent mental performance. The fatty acid DHA, not EPA (which is also found in fish oils), has proven to cause highly significant improvements in infant learning and intelligence. DHA is now understood to be a 'structural' fat, essential for building young brains, while EPA influences 'function', hence is proving more important in dyslexia, depression and schizophrenia.

Patrick Holford from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition presented the case for the nutritional management of depression. He was followed by Professor Andr‚ Tylee from the Institute of Psychiatry, who is responsible for training all doctors in mental health issues in the UK, said that the orthomolecular approach " is the breakthrough we've been waiting for." He has a PhD vacancy to do a systematic review on nutrition and depression, to form part of the UK's manifesto of treatment strategies for all doctors. They launched a campaign to raise £25,000 to fund this research.

On day two Professor Tapan Audhya, from New York University Medical Center, presented his solid evidence that platelet levels of serotonin, dopamine, adrenalin and noradrenalin and acetylcholine correlate well with CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) levels, while plasma and urine levels do not. Dr Teodoro Bottiglieri, Associate Professor of Neuropharmacology at Baylor University Medical Center, Institute of Metabolic Disease in Dallas, Texas, presented cutting edge research into folate, B12, homocysteine and methylation across a range of mental health problems, confirming that homocysteine is an established indicator of methylation abnormalities and a risk factor for depression, cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. He was followed by Dr Andrew McCaddon, who has identified specific genetic mutations present in those with Alzheimer's disease and is showing reversal in those in the early stage of the disease with the use of glutathione-cobalamine.

There were other presentations on thyroid problems, eating disorders, brain allergies and minerals, the latter made by Deborah Colson and Lorraine Perretta, clinical nutritionists from London's recently opened Brain Bio Centre, an outpatient clinic for the treatment of mental health conditions using an orthomolecular approach.

The conference ended with a filmed lecture by Dr Abram Hoffer on his experience of treating over 5,000 schizophrenic patients with orthomolecular medicine, followed by a live question and answer session.

A set of CDs, with an accompanying manual, will be available shortly. If you are interested in receiving details please email info@mentalhealthproject.com. Also see www.mentalhealthproject.com and read the book Optimum Nutrition for the Mind by Patrick Holford, published by Piatkus, £12.99.

IF YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT PATRICK HOLFORD IN ENGLAND AT 070440 33318.  

A study reported in the February issue of Pediatrics says that otherwise healthy infants whose mothers took SSRIs during pregnancy have a variety of disruptions in neurobehaviors as compared to a control group. These behaviors included increased tremors, more active and longer lasting REM sleep periods, more spontaneous startles or arousals, less change in behavioral states, and fewer behavior states.

Although the study was small (17 infants whose mothers took SSRIs, 17 infants whose mothers did not take SSRIs during pregnancy), investigators said that this study proves that the developing fetus is impacted by SSRIs.

They added that it was unclear at this point whether this wide range of neurobehavior disruptions was temporary, or a basis for future neurobehavioral problems that might be measured at a later age.

As most people know by now, the caffeine in three cups of coffee a day doubles the output of the adrenal gland. Over the years I have seen more than a few patients who have come in for anxiety, depression and/or sleep problems who consume three or more cups of regular coffee a day. The first course includes discontinuing the coffee including any other caffeinated substances such as chocolate. In many instances the symptoms abate dramatically although some report some headaches initially. As a test and to allow them to experience the effects of caffeine I suggest that after they have been off it for three months and the body has readjusted they consume one cup of regular coffee and when they do they all report an awareness of an internal jitteriness which they had previously unaware.

Adult schizophrenics may have been exposed to lead while still in the womb, according to Dr. Ezra Susser of Columbia University.

Dr. Susser's recent study of blood samples collected from pregnant American women in the 1960s, when most automobile gasolines contained lead, finds that their offspring were more than twice as likely to develop schizophrenia in adulthood if the mothers were exposed to high levels of lead in exhaust fumes.

The dataset used in the research came from the Childhood Health and Development Study which ran between 1959 and 1966 in Oakland and enrolled almost 20,000 mothers.

He presented the work to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington State. "It's the first time that any environmental toxin has been related to the later risk of schizophrenia," he told the BBC. "It's a preliminary finding, but an intriguing one. We think that people will now look at a variety of environmental toxins which can disrupt brain development, and see whether they are also related to the risk of schizophrenia."

Dr Susser suspects that, as in fetal alcohol syndrome, the developing brain is damaged when poisoned nerve cells are unable to grow and establish connections with their neighbors. The cells in effect "commit suicide."

The search is now on for other samples collected during the era of leaded gasoline which could confirm the finding. If it is confirmed, it would have huge implications for the study of schizophrenia.

Pharmaceutical companies deceive doctors and patients when they bury clinical trial data - research they themselves paid for - if it reflects unfavorably on their products, the Canadian Medical Association Journal said in an editorial last month.

The editorial introduced a group of articles examining this "file drawer phenomenon" - drug companies' withholding of clinical trial results that might prove a "commercial liability."

GlaxoSmithKline's suppression of findings that Paxil (paroxetine) is no more effective on children than sugar pills shared the spotlight with other antidepressant trials involving children and teenagers.

Prompted by reports that SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) have been a factor in child suicides, several countries have recently urged caution or outright banned prescribing most of the drugs to children and teens. Health Canada is assembling an expert panel to study worldwide safety data on the issue.

Dr. Jane Garland, head of the mood and anxiety disorders clinic at the British Columbia Children's Hospital, revealed that in her role as a researcher she saw negative results from trials on paroxetine but was barred from discussing them for 10 years by non-disclosure contracts. She told the journal she would never again do a industry-funded trial under those conditions.

Merck Research Laboratories' vice-president of medical communications, Dr. Laurence Hirsch, defended the practice:

"Premature disclosure of proprietary information by Merck (or other companies) can result in significant competitive disadvantage and loss of incentive or reward for new product development."

Hirsch acknowledged that Merck has adopted guidelines committing the company to publishing the results of "hypothesis-testing clinical trials, regardless of outcome."

Dismissing the competitive edge as inadequate justification for endangering lives, the journal's editorial board urged Health Canada to become more demanding of drug companies: "In the regulation of clinical testing of drugs and devices, safety and efficacy must trump proprietary rights every time."

No SSRI has been approved by Health Canada for patients under 18, although the so-called "off-label" use of medications is common in many areas of treatment. A few weeks ago, Health Canada issued an advisory to anyone under 18 taking one of seven antidepressants to consult with their doctors "to confirm that the benefits still outweigh the potential risk."

"The disappointing reality is that antidepressant medications have minimal to no effectiveness in childhood depression beyond a placebo effect," Dr. Garland said in one of the commentaries. She said the lack of evidence showing significant benefits from adolescent use of the drugs is stunning, given the huge increase in such prescriptions in recent years.

"Some of [the data] is more than five years old. So it's been sitting there not informing the scientists who are making the recommendations to the general physicians out there."

Almost two years ago, before the release of my first book, Short of a Picnic, I began writing nonfiction Internet essays that, like the book itself, deal with mental health. I say "deal" with mental health instead of "dealt" with mental health because these essays, five or six of them altogether, continue to be read. I know that people still read them because some folks e-mail me about them, sharing their personal stories and requesting elaboration on my part. In addition, the pieces have appeared in various places without my prompting, which means not only are they alive, they are multiplying.

Short of a Picnic depicts mentally ill characters without suggesting remedies; the back of the book even warns readers about this. My nonfiction essays, however, are all about remedies. Such are the two sides of my experience of mental disorder. I've wandered many dark corridors, but I've also known the sweet taste of relief. When writing about the latter, I never expected to engage this many readers. That shows just how thick I am: I assumed that people would be more interested in the dramatic dark side of my experiences (my fiction) than they would be in the inspirational light side (my nonfiction). Leave it to a youth like me to forget how much the masses relish happy endings.

With no shortage of irony, the essays I crafted to draw attention to my book have drawn attention to themselves, making me into an accidental activist. Before I started hearing from appreciative readers, I had underestimated the power of relating my positive tale. But now I comprehend the power. And I intend to wield it (here and again) for anyone in need. This essay is more ambitious than my previous ones. I intend to make a general case in favor of alternative mental health. In the past, I've plugged acupuncture, discussed the appeal of spirituality, and questioned the value of diagnoses. Allow me to step back for a wider view. Allow me to explain why alternative treatments work. For those of you who don't need convincing, I thank you for your time; you should probably take your business elsewhere. But for those of you in pain, for those of you who dread waking up in the morning, for those of you who fear you won't be able to stand it much longer, I humbly offer the following.

The person writing this essay has had prolonged exposure to acupuncture, shiatsu, homeopathy, massage therapy, reflexology, and a macrobiotic diet. All of these modes of healing work, and I will do my best to explain how. My explanations will be low on formal jargon, for I am not an expert and would never claim to be. I am merely a stunned, joyous witness.

Upon entering the alternative medical world, one is encouraged to accept the following two principles (among others too numerous to discuss): (1) Our bodies are possessed of a natural ability to heal themselves, and that ability can be triggered via treatment. (2) We are all composed of highly sensitive energy, the imbalance of which leads to illness, and skilled healers can help us to balance our energy.

 

Get the full story at...
	http://www.pioneerthinking.com/es_mentalhealth.html © Eric Shapiro 2004

Do you have trouble getting a good night's sleep?

What you are about to read may make a huge difference to your future health! Being well rested is essential to our wellbeing and is a major key in living an energetic lifestyle.

Here are some of the benefits of a good night's sleep:

• You will look and feel your best.
• Relating to others will come easier with enough rest.
• You'll be a safer driver and be less likely to fall asleep at the wheel.
• More alertness and creativity on the job will be a major benefit.
• You'll feel less stressed.
• There'll be an increased ability to fight off illness.
• You'll enjoy life more.

Here are some keys to getting a better night's sleep:

1.  Set your body clock. Choose a bedtime schedule by deciding how many hours of shut-eye you need and try to stick with it. That's because we are all creatures of habit.

Try not to oversleep too often because this tends to throw your body clock off. If you are tired, try taking a short nap. However, it should not be longer than about one half an hour because more time than that and you will wind up not being able to fall asleep that night.

2.  Be wise about eating and drinking.

Drinking too much fluid in the late afternoon and evening can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night to trot off to the bathroom. Also consuming food and beverages that contain caffeine before bedtime can cause you to toss and turn for hours. So it would be wise to avoid coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate before going to bed. However, a hot non-caffeinated drink can relax you.

3.  Prepare your sleeping environment.

You have control over a number of factors in your sleeping environment that will make or break a good night's sleep. One of them is the temperature of your bedroom. Adjust the temperature of your bedroom so it's conducive to sleeping.

It's usually best to have your room a little on the cool side, but be sure you have enough blankets on your bed.

Another environmental issue is the darkness of our bedrooms. Many people prefer sleeping when it's totally dark, so turn off the lights except for night lights.

A key bedroom environment factor is your bed. Purchase the best mattress you can afford since you'll spend a large proportion of your life on it.

Quietness is very important to our rest. Try to keep the noise down. If that's impossible, consider using ear plugs.

Play calming music and avoid watching television just before bedtime. Violent scenes can lead to sleeplessness and violent dreams!

Design your bedroom to be a peaceful sanctuary in your home.

Separate your work from the bedroom area so your body knows the bedroom is a place to rest - not work.

4.  Prepare yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually for bedtime.

There are a number of steps you can take before going to bed to prepare yourself physically. Slowly stretching before hitting the sack can help you relax. Regular exercise during the day will enhance your ability to fall asleep. Taking a warm bath - not a shower - can be helpful too. If you are still tense, a back massage can help you relax. Wear comfortable nonbinding clothing.

Here's the most important thing you can do once you've hit the sack - let go of the day's worries. Bedtime is a bad time to dwell on problems since worry can keep you tossing and turning for hours! I've found that reading the Bible and praying before going to bed is a wonderful way to end the day. Then I can truly relax and lay down my problems. My sleep is much sweeter and so are my dreams!

5.  Seek specialized help if needed.

A medical condition could be preventing you from getting your full rest at night. See your doctor if you have continuing difficulty with falling asleep. Usually it's not wise to take sleeping pills since they can become addictive. They also interfere with the body's own inner sleeping rhythm.

Here are three organizations that offer specialized help:

• National Sleep Foundation, http://www.sleepfoundation.org/about.cfm
• The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, http://www.aasmnet.org/
• National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncsdr/index.htm

The suggestions in this article have been listed to help you get a better night's sleep. Now try putting them into practice and enjoy a more rested and energetic lifestyle.

Pleasant dreams!  

This article copyright ©2004 by Patricia Wagner.