Solutions for Better Mental Health Treatment

PSYCHIATRY'S "DIAGNOSTIC" SYSTEM

No one denies that people can have difficult problems in their lives, that at times they can be mentally unstable. Mental health care is therefore both valid and necessary. However, the emphasis must be on workable mental healing methods that improve and strengthen individuals and thereby society by restoring people to personal strength, ability, competence, confidence, stability, responsibility and spiritual well-being.

Drug Free Methods of Treating patients diagnosed "Scizophrenic"

The author reviews the clinical and special social environmental data from the Soteria Project and its direct successors. Two random assignment studies of the Soteria model and its modification for long-term system clients reveal that roughly 85% to 90% of acute. and long-term clients deemed in need of acute hospitalization can be returned to the community without use of conventional hospital treatment.

Drug_Free_Methods_of_Treating_patients_diagnosed_Scizophrenic (53.12 KB)

The Thyroid and the Mind and Emotions / Thyroid Dysfunction and Mental "Disorders"

The psychiatric disturbances which accompany hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, the two commonest thyroid disorders, mimic mental illness. People with an overactive thyroid may exhibit marked anxiety and tension, emotional lability, impatience and irritability, distractible overactivity, exaggerated sensitivity to noise, and fluctuating depression with sadness and problems with sleep and the appetite.

The_Thyroid_and_the_Mind_and_Emotions_by_Awad_Professor_of_psychiatry (26.20 KB)

Treatment of Acute Psychosis Without Neuroleptics: Two-Year Outcomes From the Soteria Project

The Soteria project (1971–1983) compared residential treatment in the community and minimal use of antipsychotic medication with "usual" hospital treatment for patients with early episode schizophrenia spectrum psychosis... It is notable that 30 years after its initial design and implementation and 17 years since completion of data collection, the Soteria project is still producing information relevant to today’s management of psychosis.

Treatment_Acute_Psychosis_wo_Neuroleptics_study_Mosher (371.62 KB)

29 Medical Causes of the Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

Excerpted from Nutrition and Mental Illness by the late Carl C. Pfeiffer, Ph.D., M.D. Internationally renowned pioneer in the treatment of mental disturbances through nutrition.

(Our grateful acknowledgement to the Princeton Bio Brain Center for permission to reprint. Following Dr. Pfeiffer’s text are sections added by the editor to define and explain each disorder.)

The term "schizophrenia" is an inadequate and misleading diagnosis. "Disperceptions of unknown cause" is a better term. If we include fevers, environmental pains, and drug reactions, there must be a hundred ways to go crazy and be diagnosed as schizophrenic.

Twenty-Nine_Medical_Causes_of_Diagnosis_of_Schizophrenia (95.29 KB)

When Thyroid Imbalance "Masquerades" As A Mood Disorder

Case Study Highlights Clinical Similarity Between Hyperthyroidism And Mania by Great Western Laboratories

Older patients who suddenly develop symptoms of bipolar disorder may actually be suffering from an undiagnosed thyroid disorder, suggests a recent case study reported in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Two physicians report the case of a 65-year-old man with no personal or family history of mental illness, who began experiencing classic symptoms of mania, including intense irritability, hyperactivity, and insomnia. After one month, the patient's manic symptoms were replaced by depressive episodes fraught with sadness, anxiety, guilt, and disturbed sleep...

When_Thyroid_Imbalance_Masquerades_As_A_Mood_Disorder (59.33 KB)

Medical Causes of Psychiatric "Illness"

Editor's note: The following is the finest article we have found on the subject of medical causes of severe mental symptoms. We are grateful to Dr. Diamond for his permission to reprint.

The reader should note that this article only covers standard medical causes of mental symptoms and does not include many other physical causes, such as nutritional imbalances and metabolic abnormalities, listed in other articles on AlternativeMentalHealth.com. It should also be noted that some studies have shown that, when extensive testing is done, medical causes may account for substantially more than 10% of patients with mental symptoms (particularly Hall [reporting a 46% causal connection], American Journal of Psychiatry, 1980 and Koranyi, Archives of General Psychiatry, 1979). Lastly, many clinicians believe that patients may suffer from medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism, that can be missed by standard medical lab tests and, therefore, be overlooked on studies applying standard medical screening.

Medical_Causes_of_Psychiatric_Illness (100.43 KB)

Synthetic food coloring and behavior Abstract

Synthetic food coloring and behavior: A dose response effect in a double-blind, placebocontrolled, repeated-measures study

Abstract

Objective: To establish whether there is an association between the ingestion of synthetic food colorings and behavioral change in children referred for assessment of "hyperactivity."

Conclusion: Behavioral changes in irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbance are associated with the ingestion of tartrazine in some children. A dose response effect was observed. (J P 1994;125:691-8)

Synthetic_food_coloring_and_behavior_Abstract (67.89 KB)

Synthetic food coloring and behavior Study

Since Feingold's claims that a diet free of synthetic colorings, preservatives, and naturally occuring salicylates would improve behavior in "hyperactive" children,^1-4 the issue of whether there is a functional relationship between the ingestion of certain food additives and behavior remains unresolved and highly contentious. Initially, two types of studies were conducted to evaluate such claims...

Synthetic_food_coloring_and_behavior_Study (533.91 KB)

A Medical Algorithm for Detecting Physical Disease in Psychiatric Patients

An algorithm for screening psychiatric patients for physical disease was empirically derived from a comprehensive assessment of 509 patients in California's mental health system.  The first 343 patients were used to develop the algorithm, and the remaining 166 were used as a test group. Calculations were made for several versions of the algorithm, and the data were compared with the diagnoses listed in the patients' admission mental health record. The algorithmic procedure was more accurate and more cost-effective than the medical evaluation procedures used by the state mental health system. When applied to the test group, the algorithm detected up to 90 percent of patients who had an active, important physical disease at a cost of $156 per patient. The mental health system had detected 58 percent of test-group patients with a disease at a cost of $230 per patient.

A_Medical_Algorithm_for_Detecting_Physical_Disease_in_Psychiatric_Patients (3.79 MB)

Ecotherapy

With this report Mind calls for a new green agenda for mental health, following growing evidence in support of an accessible, cost-effective and natural addition to existing treatment options – ecotherapy.

As the cost and prescription of drugs continues to rise and 93 per cent of GPs say they have prescribed antidepressants against NICE guidelines owing to a lack of alternatives, ecotherapy needs to be seen as a clinically valid option that can play a vital part in patients’ recovery.

Ecotherapy (942.39 KB)

Executive Summary

With this report Mind calls for a new green agenda for mental health, following growing evidence in support of an accessible, cost-effective and natural addition to existing treatment options – ecotherapy.

Ecotherapy is a natural, free and accessible treatment that boosts our mental wellbeing. Whether it’s a horticultural development programme supervised by a therapist or a simple walk in the park, being outdoors and being active is proven to benefit our mental health.

Executive_Summary (216.90 KB)