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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.

Well, we are off and running again with our next major event: The Mood Cure Workshop, presented by Julia Ross and her team at Recovery Systems, Inc.

As some of you may have heard us mention, Julia's book The Mood Cure is the most recommended book by Safe Harbor because it contains so many tools for dealing with depression and anxiety.

We were so pleased with Julia's work that we have joined forces with her to bring practitioners some of the most powerful nutritional solutions for mental health that are available today. But Julia's work does not just stop with nutrition. She also will be educating on common treatable dietary and medical factors that can also cause "false moods" that can cause a person to end up on antidepressants or tranquilizers.

When it comes to understanding brain biochemistry, we have found that Julia Ross has a remarkable grasp of the physiology of "false moods" and has developed a full toolbox for dealing with them. Although the public is invited, this workshop will be about practical solutions for practitioners, including practice trials on how to use these powerful tools with clients.

We hope to see you there!

Safe Harbor has been in recent contact with Dr. Jeff Sager, a naturopathic physician with a master's in counseling, who is currently practicing at the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester in New Hampshire. They have a 15 bed inpatient facility called the Cypress Center.

Dr. Sager has practicing privileges at the center and, if a patient wishes, Dr. Sager can be named as the primary practitioner on the patient's case, directing the patient's treatment. Although this is a standard mental health facility, this means the patient has the choice of having someone in charge of his/her care who fully understands holistic approaches, including the need to check for allergies, nutritional imbalances, etc.

Even more remarkably, the facility takes Medicare.

From our research, we have found very few inpatient facilities in the U.S., or anywhere else, where such an approach is possible.

A team of University of Hawaii scientists may have solved the mystery of why some Europeans who used products containing kava extract suffered severe liver damage, prompting a number of nations to ban sales of the herbal supplement. The traditional kava drink consumed by Pacific Islanders for the last 2,000 years has not been associated with such problems. It has been a popular herbal remedy for anxiety.

The difference, according to UH-Manoa molecular biosciences professor C.S. Tang, is that only the root of the kava plant is used in the traditional beverage, whereas manufacturers of the capsules sold in Europe purchased (and undoubtedly used) stem peelings and leaves regarded as waste products by traditional kava drinkers.

Supplements containing kava are promoted as remedies for sleeplessness and menopausal symptoms. In Europe, where most of the health problems occurred, kava extract is used in capsule form, and the cases of liver damage apparently involved people who took the capsules, the scientists reported.

Bans in Singapore, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere wiped out pharmaceutical sales of kava and virtually destroyed it as an export crop in Hawaii. While kava supplements are not banned in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory in March 2002 warning of the potential risk of severe liver injury from dietary supplements containing kava. The health alarms left farmers in Hamakua and elsewhere with crops that were hardly worth harvesting.

Kava stem bark peelings may be to blame for the reported cases of liver failure, hepatitis and cirrhosis. Tang and his team learned from a trader in Fijian kava that European pharmaceutical companies eagerly bought up the peelings when demand for kava extract soared in Europe in 2000 and 2001.

In a research paper accepted for publication in the scientific journal Phytochemistry, researchers Klaus Dragull, W.Y. Yoshida and Tang report they found an alkaloid called pipermethystine in tests of stem peelings and kava leaves. Pipermethystine also was present in lower concentrations in the bark of the stump but was not found in the root itself. Preliminary tests by researcher Pratibha Nerurkar show pipermethystine has a "strong negative effect" on liver cell cultures. If peelings containing the alkaloid were used to make kava capsules, as the scientists suspect, that could explain the liver damage in some of the people who took the capsules.

Light is important for all living things. During autumn we experience equal hours of darkness and daylight. Light continues to shorten dramatically until winter solstice, when daylight in the town of Moscow, Idaho, (where I am from) is just over eight hours each day.

Less light brings the natural desire to want more sleep. During fall and winter the lack of light causes about 10 percent of the people in the U.S. to experience "seasonal affective disorder" (SAD). In northern latitudes, incidence can be up to 25 percent. Closer to the equator, where daylight and darkness are always nearly equal, it drops to 1 percent to 2 percent.

First reports of SAD appeared in the 19th century, but it was not until 1984 the phrase surfaced in psychiatry. Seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression reoccurring mainly during autumn and winter, is still frequently misdiagnosed. Most commonly, the onset of depression begins in September through November, and lessens in March through May. SAD affects men, women, children and even pets.

Medical treatment relies on anti-depressant drugs. The newer drugs, called serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), come with many side effects, and studies show they do little to help. Recent studies at Harvard Medical School clearly show that essential fatty acids from flax, fish and some plants are more effective than SSRI drugs.

Another accepted treatment is the light box. A study at the University of British Columbia showed that supplementing with tryptophan (found in nutritional yeast or the supplement known as 5 HTP) and vitamin D3, along with morning light therapy, achieved a 64 percent reduction in symptoms.

Light-hungry sufferers seeking relief from symptoms that affect mind, body and their internal body clocks instinctively seek more light. Bright light therapy is a fluorescent light box that produces a light intensity of 2,500 to 10,000 units at a comfortable distance (1-2 feet). Eighty-five percent of sufferers usually respond to this treatment within three to five days. Dawn simulators are another type of light therapy that is helpful, as is changing all lighting at home and office to full-spectrum bulbs and tubes.

Accompanying difficulties with sleep are related to suppression of the hormone melatonin. You can get this naturally in nutritional yeast or by mixing one-quarter cup ricotta cheese with dark cherries. I do not encourage synthetic hormone supplementation.

St. John's wort is useful in treating SAD. Dr. Hyla Cass, a psychiatrist and author who works with natural treatments for mood disorders, recommends St. John's wort to promote restful sleep and enhance dreaming.

A study in 1993 shows that St. John's wort improved the condition of those who regularly experience winter depression. The extract has been thoroughly researched as a natural anti-depressant. A total of 1,592 patients have been studied in 25 double-blind controlled studies. The studies show St. John's wort reduces in anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances, without side effects. Use organic, whole herb extracts for the best results.

Other helpful natural remedies for SAD include bright colors, soothing sounds, homeopathy, flower essences and essential oils. In Ayurvedic medicine you might find that carrying a quartz crystal is recommended.

Warm colors of yellow, orange, and red stimulate mood in color baths, lighting, room decor and clothing. People with hypertension should avoid too much red. These same colors in food provide anti-oxidants that reduce the effects of mood swings brought on by allergies. Other research has found that using a negative air ionizer to lessen indoor allergies helps reduce mood swings.

Gustav Holst's compositions Mars and Jupiter, from The Planets, are examples of music that helps alleviate depression.

In classical homeopathy, using remedies called cell salts offers relief from depression, depending on symptoms. The flower essence of mustard lifts the shadow of gloom from the light and joy of life.

Jasmine essential oil is anti-depressant and euphoric. It stimulates beta brain wave activity as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). You might also enjoy using citrus oils, such as lemon, that stimulates the autonomic nervous system.

I have been having success treating schizophrenia with intravenous use of a "Myers' Cocktail." Also found some success in bipolar disorder with this cocktail.

The basic composition of the Myers Cocktail is:

• B complex: 1 cc
• Vitamin C: 1-10 cc or more, usually 222 mg/cc or 500 mg/cc
• Magnesium: 1-4 cc either 20% chloride or 50% sulfate
• Dexpanthenol (B5): 1-2cc
• Calcium: 1-4cc (sometimes not given in cardiac problems or in older patients)

I use additional B6 and B12 (in the m-B12 or methylcobolamine form) and trace elements in TR-5 and occasionally reduced Glutathione 500 to 1000mg (buffered), depending on the patient.

MYERS' COCKTAIL INFUSION

There is a treatment of rapid intravenous infusion containing high dose vitamins and minerals for the treatment of a variety of ailments. It is becoming wildly popular and that sparked my attention some years ago. There are hundreds of physicians in this country that use it as a stand-alone therapy or also as replacement therapy for those receiving chelation therapy. This infusion is something referred to as the "Myers' Cocktail" or the "Gaby-Wright Cocktail."

As fate would have it, I attended a symposium in February 2001 in New York City entitled "Nutritional Therapy in Medical Practice" given by non other than Dr. Alan R. Gaby. This symposium was sponsored by the Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Its focus was on nutritional therapies and nutritional medicine. Of the five hundred or so in attendance from around the country I was hoping to bring back some real pearls of wisdom to Savannah, GA. This most fascinating course included many lectures on the importance of nutrition in daily life and in treating and preventing disease. Every lecture was supported and referenced by evidence found in the medical literature both in this country and abroad. Alan R. Gaby, MD as well as Jonathan V. Wright, MD are both luminaries in the field of nutritional / integrative medicine and the conference was illustrative.

Dr. Gaby would speak often of the Myers' Cocktail uses in his clinical practice. First introduced by Dr. John Myers of Maryland in the mid 20th century and then forgotten until it was re-introduced by Drs. Gaby and Wright a decade ago, it is a mixture of relatively high doses of five vitamins and two minerals. Very often it is customized with varying doses of each agent and can also include Adrenal cortical extract (ACE), Glyceron (an extract from the licorice plant named glycerrhizin, which by the way has been shown by recent studies in the Orient as one of the best ways to treat SARS) and Glutathione (a potent antioxidant).

It is quickly (within 30 minutes) infused through an IV and in some patients the effects may last weeks. The theory behind high dose and quick infusions is that these vitamins and minerals are forced into the cells by sheer overload and are hence "trapped" intracellularly, where their effects last long beyond the expected short time following the slow infusion. Recently Dr. Gaby and Dr. Harry Adelson have conducting a pilot study into the effects of the Myers' Cocktail at the Naturopathic Medical Center at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, CT. Independently, my center is also collecting data on hundreds of infusions in my patients. The prospects are exciting. Will the data back up the case studies and anecdotal claims that have been made over the decades? Double blinded placebo controlled studies have yet to be performed, however, case studies speak loudly in favor of this therapy.

University of Georgia researchers have discovered developmental problems in frogs and fish exposed to minute quantities of common antidepressants that can pass from humans through sewage treatment systems into rivers and streams.

Low concentrations of fluoxetine (Prozac), Zoloft, Paxil and Celexa have been found in surface water, particularly wastewater. The scientists have been studying the impact of these and other drugs on wildlife populations.

"While these compounds are not acutely toxic at concentrations detected in the environment, our longer-term studies indicate delayed development (in fish) and delayed metamorphosis (in frogs)," said University of Georgia aquatic toxicologist Marsha Black, who led the study.

Low concentrations of fluoxetine slowed sexual development in male mosquitofish by two to four weeks. When the fish were around 80-85 days old, the sexual maturity of those exposed to low levels of fluoxetine was significantly delayed. By their 145th day, when the study was concluded, the same fish had caught up developmentally with the unexposed fish, Henry said.

"We're scratching our heads right now as to exactly what this means," Black said. "But we know that in water, timing is everything. Reproduction for some species is timed to coincide with algae blooms for example. And possibly if sexual development is delayed, timing of reproduction could be affected and you could see some population impact."

In considering an infectious etiology to any chronic mental illness there are at least four categories to consider. First are those infections already recognized to induce psychiatric symptoms. These include pneumonia, urinary tract infection, sepsis, malaria, Legionnaire's disease, syphilis, typhoid, diphtheria, HIV, rheumatic fever and herpes. (Ref: Chuang)

While the psychiatric effects of these infections are known to the medical field, they are rarely screened for if the initial presentation is made to a mental health professional. Moreover, the significance of some of these infections may date back to prenatal development. Research done at the John Hopkins Children's Center and published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2001 found that mothers with evidence of Herpes Simplex Type 2 infection at the time of pregnancy had children almost six times more likely to later develop schizophrenia. And in the US, Europe and Japan, birth clusters of individuals who develop schizophrenia later in life closely mirror the seasonal distribution of Ixodes ticks at the time of conception (Lyme disease).

Second are those parasitic infections such as neurocysticercosis where the brain is directly invaded by the infective agent through a well-established, imageable (visible on brain scan) mechanism (cysts, lesions, cerebral swelling etc.) Signs of psychiatric disease (depression and psychosis) were found in over 65% of neurocysticercosis cases (caused by a tapeworm whose incidence in the US is rising due to demographic increases in foreign immigrant populations.) [Ref: Forlenza] While the mechanisms for psychiatric manifestations are easy to demonstrate when brain tissue is directly affected, there are also multiple documented reports in the literature of psychiatric symptoms associated with other parasites like giardiasis, ascaris (roundworm), trichinae (cause of trichinosis), and Lyme borrelia and viruses like borna virus. Documentation also exists of these psychiatric symptoms resolving when the underlying hidden infection is treated.

Dr. J. Packman of Yale University wrote over ten years ago that "Patients with parasitic loads are more likely to exhibit mental status changes and there is an improvement in mental status of a subset of psychiatric patients following treatment for parasites." In fact, a review of 1300 human cases of trichinosis in Germany found CNS (central nervous system) involvement in up to 24% of the cases (menningeal inflamation or encephalitis). [Ref: Froscher]

Clinically, in cases like neurocysticercosis, the problem is not the lack of a well-defined mechanism but the lack of mental health practitioners qualified to make such a diagnosis or even suspect it. Even infectious disease specialists tend to underestimate the scope of the problem, in part due to underreporting (neurocysticercosis is not a reportable condition in most states and the incidence of trichinosis is, we believe, vastly underestimated according to newly developed antibody assays only made available in 2003).

In October 2002, I spent a month in Asia, visiting temples and climbing in the foothills of the Himalayas. During the trip I became afflicted with red swollen hands, and such intense pain that I could not unlock the door of my hotel room. Upon my arrival at home the pain and swelling spread to the feet and knees.

I found an excellent rheumatoid specialist who confirmed the diagnosis: osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis. I was put on Vioux and Salagen for dry mouth and told to come back in a month after more blood tests and that it might be necessary to change my medication to a more powerful drugs. I also had severe depression, exhaustion and lethargy compared to my usually energetic self. My doctor and I discussed the possibility of parasites as a cause for my rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, but he could offer no help in testing and treatment.

In my own research, I found that traditional medicine treats the symptoms and attempts to stop damage to the joints. So I sought help within the alternate health community. I was fortunate to be referred to an individual who has done extensive research on intestinal problems/infections and the complex interventions needed to treat them successfully. He has directed my treatment with the aid of one of his physician associates. My tests revealed the presence of parasites: Blastocystis, Toxoplasmosis and Ameobiosis.

I recently completed a 20-day regimen of specially compounded antibiotics to kill the invaders and their respective eggs and cysts. The results were amazing. My depression is gone and my energy and zest for life has returned. I was able for the first time to go off all of the drugs. I feel great and all of my symptoms have cleared up except for some residual joint stiffness, which may be the result of permanent damage, although we will now attempt to address this directly through nutritional supplementation.

I can only say how fortunate I feel to find Frank Strick; he not only has the expertise to select the right remedies, but made sure that I have additional herbs and supplements to protect my intestines and liver from any side affects of the antibiotic treatment. Frank Strick's suggestions were more successful in half a month than nearly a hundred doctor's visits and treatments by three MD's, an acupuncturist (bi-weekly), a chiropractor and a rehabilitation specialist, all of which cost a fortune.