New Website Examines Alternative Mental Health Treatments

Subject: New Website Examines Alternative Mental Health Treatments

Treating Mental Illness Without Drugs: New Blood Enters Mental Health Debate

LOS ANGELES, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- "I lost my father when I was four years
old. It was pretty ugly," says Dan Stradford, founder of the Safe Harbor
Project, an L.A.-based nonprofit group. "I didn't lose him to death or
divorce. I lost him to mental illness, shock treatments and psychiatric
drugs. Only a shell of a man returned home.

"Gone was the vibrant smile, the bedtime stories, the hearty laugh. Instead,
a man I'd never seen before moved into our house, haunted with turmoil and
lost in the stupor of drugs. He was wrecked for life.

"I knew then there had to be a better way than this to treat the mentally
disturbed."

Thus the seed was planted for the launch of AlternativeMentalHealth.com --
the first major internet site dedicated to non-psychiatric treatment of the
mentally unwell. The site is funded by the Safe Harbor Project.

As one of its key features, AlternativeMentalHealth.com carries a national
directory of medical doctors, nutritionists, and other practitioners who
offer successful, noninvasive treatments for a wide range of mental troubles

According to Stradford, a dramatic number of cases admitted to psychiatric
wards actually have undiagnosed physical illnesses that create or contribute
to their severe emotional states. He sites one study from as far back as the
1970's that noted, "We were able to define a specific medical cause in 97 of
100 patients with pronounced visual hallucinations." (Hall and Popkin, The
Female Patient, Oct. 1977)

AlternativeMentalHealth.com also features a growing list of articles such as
"The Physical Causes of Depression" which, among other things, describes a
natural product that tested as effective as antidepressants like Prozac but
is cheaper and has obviously fewer side effects. Other articles include
"Twenty-Nine Medical Causes of 'Schizophrenia,'" "The Effects of Toxic
Metals
on Mental Health," and "Candida and Mental Health," written by the
million-copy best-selling author Dr. William Crook. Upcoming features will
cover nutrition, allergies, and herbal remedies and how they relate to
mental
health.

"Nutrition is a huge factor in mental troubles," says Stradford. "One study
showed that nearly a third of people over 70 have Vitamin B-12 deficiencies
that can and do create depression and senility. From another angle, our site
gives a vitamin regimen that has been reported to be 90% successful in
treating early-stage schizophrenia."

As part of its nutritional coverage, AlternativeMentalHealth.com features
the
"Dramatic Recovery" of a woman recently diagnosed with a seven-month bout of
"catatonic schizophrenia" who then began a sudden turnabout and full
recovery
within 36 hours of starting nutritional therapy.

Stradford cites a recent Time magazine poll that shows 40% of Americans are
taking nutritional supplements and a recent New England Journal of Medicine
article that emphasizes the importance of a good diet. "It's astonishing,"
he
says, "that while the medical field has embraced nutritional discoveries as
smart science, the mental health disciplines remain stagnated in the Dark
Ages.

"While drugs may be a necessary evil in some extreme situations, tons of
research has shown the critical relationship between nutrients, nutritional
metabolism, and mental disturbances."

Examples cited include a successful study at Harvard on the treatment of
manic depression with fish oil supplements. In a similar vein, Duke
University recently found that a brisk 30-minute walk three times a week is
as effective as antidepressants.

"The whole field of alternative mental health is an explosion of information
waiting to happen," Stradford continued. "We have found a dramatic interest
in this from the public."

The Safe Harbor Project and AlternativeMentalHealth.com were established to
educate the public and governments on alternative mental treatments that are
safe and effective. Their stated mission is: "A world where severe mental
symptoms are healed rapidly, safely and sanely."

Criteria for practitioners who wish to be listed on
AlternativeMentalHealth.com include: no psychosurgery, no shock treatment,
no
"talk therapy," and minimal or no use of psychiatric drugs (on a temporary
or
emergency basis only). A listing questionnaire is available on the site.

Further information can be obtained from the Safe Harbor Project at P.O. Box
37, Sunland, CA 91041-0037. The phone is (818) 890-1862. E-mail is
SafeHarborProj@aol.com.

Source: Safe Harbor Project
Contact: Dan Stradford of Safe Harbor Project, 818-890-1862, fax,
818-897-9913, SafeHarborProj@aol.com

Your Guide to the World of Alternative Mental Health
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/

Sponsored by the Safe Harbor Project, a Nonprofit Corporation

What is Alternative Mental Health?

For the past two centuries, the treatment of severe mental symptoms has been
the province of psychiatry. The most common treatments psychiatry has
offered in the past fifty years have included psychosurgery, electroshock
and
other forms of shock treatment, and drugs. Today drugs prevail as the
accepted and widespread antidote for mental troubles. The psychiatric
approach views "mental illness" primarily as an incurable, genetic ailment
that somehow has to be "controlled".

However, many people do not want these treatments for themselves or their
loved ones. And many do not believe that "mental illness" is a life
sentence
from one's genes. Indeed, quite a few do not believe "mental illness" even
exists as such.

Over the years many observant physicians have discovered that psychiatric
treatments aren't the only answer. There are, in fact, alternatives to
standard psychiatric care.

The best alternatives find the root causes of the severe mental symptoms and
cure them. The sources may be nutritional problems, allergies, glandular
ailments, heavy metal poisoning, infections or combination of these and
other
problems.

Thousands of documented cases exist of people who have successfully
recovered
from a diagnosis of "mental illness" when they were, in fact, physically ill
They only improved when their physical disorder was discovered and treated.

As a simple example, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, one of the early researchers into
nutritional treatment of the mentally disturbed, found that 90% of patients
classified as "schizophrenics" could be "socially rehabilitated" through
nutritional means. These same patients are generally considered "incurable"
by psychiatrists and are normally relegated to a lifetime on drugs.

For those who are suffering from mental ailments, many alternative remedies
exist that soothe symptoms without the toxic effects of drugs. Reflexology
massage, special nutrients and herbs are but a few of the treatments that
can
safely soften the pain of extreme mental suffering.

Alternative mental health is a growing force in today's world - a beacon of
hope for the many who seek a choice of psychiatric treatment.
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DISCLAIMER:
The information of this Website is for educational purposes only and is not
intended to replace the advice of physicians or health care practitioners.
It is also not intended to diagnose or prescribe treatment for any illness
or
disorder. Anyone already undergoing physician-prescribed therapy should
seek
the advice of his or her doctor before reducing the dosage or stopping such
treatment.

WHAT IS THE SAFE HARBOR PROJECT?

The Safe Harbor Project is a nonprofit corporation, founded in 1998 and
based
in Los Angeles, California.

Its Executive Director is Dan Stradford, a corporate executive, certified
board and care administrator, writer, and editor. Also serving on the Safe
Harbor board is Megan Shields, M.D., Cheryl Kapuler, R.N., Edouard Haddad,
M.S. (social services worker and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor), and
David King, a business executive. Its Advisory Board consists of five M.D.s
(including a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry from UCLA), an osteopath, and
an attorney).

The Project was created to serve an ever-growing public seeking alternatives
to established mental health treatments.

We live in a changing world. Surveys show 40% of the U.S. population now
uses
vitamins or other natural remedies. Increasing numbers seek safer and more
effective health care through medical doctors inclined toward natural
healing
or similar professionals such as chiropractors, Oriental medicine
practitioners, naturopaths, homeopaths, and nutritionists.

Bookstore shelves are filled in greater numbers with titles promoting
natural
or alternative healing of all manner of mental ills, such as anxiety,
depression, senility, psychosis, "hyperactive" children, etc.

Another flood of books has been written by professionals speaking out
against
the unnecessary or hazardous use of prescription mind-altering drugs,
mistaken psychiatric diagnosis of adults and children, harmful therapies and
a host of other issues in the treatment of the mentally troubled.

Headlines now announce "new discoveries" of remarkably effective herbal
remedies (such as St. John’s Wort) or nutritional treatments for mental
disturbances.

Clearly an expanding sector of the population is seeking a "safe harbor"
from
mental troubles and from traditional mental health practices.

Thus the mission of the Safe Harbor Project is to assist and promote
non-harmful, alternative (non-psychiatric) methods and practitioners for
helping the mentally disturbed. Our purpose is to provide education and
choice to the public in the matter of alternative mental health practices.

This "Mental Health E-News" posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services,
a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental
health services
dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with
psychiatric disabilities.