Alternative to Meds Center provides clients with world-class holistic treatment for anxiety, depression, stress, and other life challenges.
For people who struggle with symptoms of anxiety and have not found relief with traditional medicine, holistic treatment for anxiety may change your life. We can help you understand the choices for natural treatment for anxiety. We can also help you with many other life challenges, including depression, stress, and substance abuse.
Do Your Symptoms Require Drugs?
Alternative to Meds has been providing holistic anxiety treatment for nearly 20 years. We invite you to review the published evidence regarding our success. Underlying issues may have been overlooked, and these can in many cases be addressed in much less toxic ways than simply drugging the patient. We have frequently discovered there were medical conditions, or that the original factors that contributed to the crisis have since changed. Possibly an original imperfect diagnosis was made. There can be many factors that, if addressed, can lead to successful holistic treatment for anxiety and other symptoms, when drugs alone could not.
15 Years Experience by Professionals Who Understand Your Journey.
For people who struggle with symptoms of anxiety and have not found satisfactory relief with prescription medicine, holistic treatment for anxiety may present safer, less toxic ways to change life for the better without relying on anti-anxiety medication.
If you are currently on medication and wish to have a more effective, holistic way to treat anxiety; we can help. It is possible to treat the underlying causes of panic attacks and anxiety, rather than just attempt to mask or numb the symptoms. Would you like to say goodbye to drug-based treatments for anxiety, and be free of the adverse effects of prescription drugs? We can help.
Why are natural, holistic anxiety remedies likely to be more effective than traditional therapies alone?
A holistic approach to treating anxiety starts with careful observation of the problem. Sometimes a problem becomes easier to solve by defining it more clearly. For instance, a person may believe something like, “I can’t possibly get a good job, I’m just not good enough.” On closer inspection, however, one might discover that it’s too general a statement to even start to solve. But if one deconstructed the various factors involved in the statement, the problem might actually just fall apart quite easily. For instance, if asked to take inventory of skills and abilities, and especially, interests, that one does have, the list could be short or long, but likely longer than expected. Then, one could further consider ways to improve on those specific skills, or areas of keen interest, with education or practice, for example, to make those skills more marketable. Then, a good job becomes very possible.
Similarly, simply stating, “I have overwhelming anxiety” without looking more specifically at the factors contributing to the condition, this problem may well remain unsolved. If the anxiety is a hormone surge or deficit, for example, or is stemming from a past trauma being triggered, simply telling a doctor “I have overwhelming anxiety” is going to result in a quickly written prescription for anti-anxiety medication. It will NOT solve the recurring anxiety problem, because the factors of the problem have been completely overlooked. At Alternative to Meds, we specialize in finding out the root causes and contributors to a problem, and then actually addressing them. That process takes more than 5 minutes, but it can unlock the solutions much more easily.
Our approach combines the necessary elements of traditional treatment with the commonly overlooked aspects of natural healing. Holistic treatments and strategies that are informed by strategic lab testing and other assessments are the foundations of the programs at Alternative to Meds Center.
Alternative to Meds Center is an inpatient program designed to provide holistic support for the natural healing systems of the body. These natural body systems are designed to help overcome and resist both mental and physical health problems, including anxiety, stress, and depression.
Are you or your loved one struggling with anxiety and unable to receive the help you need from traditional treatment methods? The unspoken assumption of most traditional approaches is that body and mind function separately as if each of the body’s organs is operating all on its own. However, recent science demonstrates that the opposite is true. Multiple systems of the body and mind interact and communicate with one another in a multifaceted network of hormonal, metabolic, and biochemical relationships. Even distant organs such as the thyroid gland, immune system, brain, adrenal gland, liver, and gut interact. In many vital ways, they function successfully as one coordinated unit. We can help you bring your body back to balance in safe, comfortable ways. Anxiety medication is not the only choice. You have other options.
Cognitive behavioral therapy ( CBT ) is one of the therapies we use in tandem with holistic treatment for anxiety. Research shows this kind of counseling to be successful in the treatment of social anxiety, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias, as well as several other conditions. CBT is individualized therapy, but can also be delivered in a group format. Counseling can help address the negative patterns and distorted ways we look at ourselves and the world. As the name implies, this involves two primary factors: Cognitive therapy investigates how negative cognitions and thoughts contribute to anxiousness. Behavior therapy can use the safe space of the counseling environment to investigate how one behaves and reacts in anxiety-triggering situations. Studies have documented the significant success of treating mental health symptoms such as anxiety and depression successfully with CBT. And, these results last and even improve over time, according to medical research.
Do you wish to live your life differently, and discover safe, holistic ways to treat anxiety? One of the basic ideas of cognitive-behavioral treatment is that our thoughts, rather than just external events, can affect how we feel. Put another way, it isn’t always the situation that governs how one feels — sometimes it is one’s perception of the situation. As an example, visualize yourself being invited to a party. Think of three separate ways of perceiving the invitation, and how your thoughts would influence your emotions. Cognitive behavioral counseling effectively helps people be in control of their thoughts and emotions. Our goal is to teach you new skills as you learn how to be your own mental health care expert. These types of strategies used in CBT make drug-free remedies for anxiety within reach and relatively easy to implement without getting hooked on prescription medications.
What Are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Anxiety as a term can refer to many different feelings and these are not the same for everyone. One person may feel they are about to choke, or perhaps their breathing becomes constricted and they can’t get a deep breath. Excessive perspiration may occur. Memory lapses or inability to speak normally or think clearly are also possible features. These often occur in public speaking situations. For some, it may mean an urge to quickly leave an area, even though there is no imminent or observable threat. Some would characterize their anxiety as uneasiness, apprehension, fear or terror, panic, worry, and dread, in varying degrees, sometimes quite intolerably extreme. These feelings can creep up gradually, or erupt suddenly, as in a “panic attack.”
It is no wonder that so many people readily accept prescription medication as a solution. The condition can be ruinous. However, holistic treatments for anxiety are effective and available.
Characteristics of Anxiety
Some experience temporary anxiety that comes and goes, and some would describe their anxiety as unrelenting and never abating. Holistic treatment for anxiety looks at these characteristics as important markers in planning out the best ways to defeat symptoms. Different factors are generating these types of anxiety responses, and they can be investigated and addressed.
Physical symptoms which often accompany the feelings of anxiety can include insomnia, jitters, shaking, shortness of breath, sweating, flushing, fainting, heart palpitations, rapid heart rate, decreased sex drive, diarrhea, chest pain, feeling of restriction across the chest or abdomen, muscle stiffness or tension, temporary paralysis, urinary incontinence, and nausea. Some people who experience anxiety feel terrorized and fear they are having a heart attack. Unresolved chronic anxiety can turn into a larger health problem if the symptoms persist and become excessive. When symptoms interfere with regular activities of daily life or cause emotional stress, it can become a debilitating condition.
You don’t have to suffer from the symptoms of anxiety any longer. Real help, drug-free remedies for anxiety, without depending on a prescription drug, are available right now.
What Are the Causes of Anxiety?
The precise causes of panic and anxiety are often overlooked. But they can be pinpointed with an exhaustive search. Anxiety may be triggered by extreme stress or traumatic events, such as an accident, a divorce, or death, or things that consciously or unconsciously remind one of earlier trauma, as in a PTSD condition. Hereditary and physiologic factors can also contribute to anxiety. Certain drugs or substances, and withdrawal from such drugs, can lead to anxiety. Some of the most common triggers include high sugar and high-carb diets, generally poor eating habits, hypoglycemia, asthma drugs, over-the-counter decongestants, caffeine (and withdrawal from caffeine), tobacco, alcohol, medications, and other substances including addictive narcotics. Toxic exposures can also induce anxiety, and holistic treatments can reduce anxiety. We are bombarded with toxins in the workplace, the home, where we go to school, in the air we breathe, and in the water we drink.
We also believe that there are better answers available besides ignoring all of the above, and just taking prescription drugs for a lifetime and continuing to struggle. We work to discover the underlying causes of symptoms like anxiety and treat them holistically.
Holistic Treatments for Anxiety and Other Symptoms at ATMC
Under the wide umbrella of holistic treatment for anxiety, there can be many complementary and alternative drug-free treatments various natural and traditional methods may be highly effective. Some of the main methods applied at our treatment center include dietary adjustments, vitamin and supplement therapy, sauna, holistic cleansing and detoxification, massage, acupuncture, exercise, group therapy, individual therapy, lab testing to understand potential underlying causes, and natural substances to balance neurochemistry. Our professional team creates a tailored therapy plan for each client.
Each client is uniquely programmed, to ensure the factors relevant to them are addressed effectively.
You can learn more in the education segments of the programs about why eliminating alcohol and caffeine, and decreasing your intake of refined carbohydrates, sugary food products, and foods with chemicals and additives can help treat anxiety symptoms holistically. You will learn how Vitamin B, magnesium, and calcium all contribute to the proper functioning and health of the central nervous system. Instruction will be given on how to support the creation of neurotransmitters, the natural chemicals that help nerve cells communicate with each other. Because of this we provide complex nutrient therapies and teach people how to properly feed their brains. You can correct the neurochemistry of the body and brain with scientifically proven methods. Research has demonstrated that relapse is actually more likely when a person has continuously taken prescription drugs to treat anxiety, compared to relapse rates in persons who stopped their medication early.13
There are many drug-free anxiety remedies. Regular exercise and relaxing techniques and therapies such as yoga, meditation, and sauna are all drug-free anxiety remedies that can assist with relieving anxiousness. We encourage clients who are seeking holistic treatment for anxiety to include cardiovascular exercise in their regimen, which helps burn lactic acid, allows the body to utilize oxygen more effectively, and creates natural mood-improving chemicals such as endorphins. Along with these therapies, we use natural herbal remedies that are clinically proven effective as part of our orthomolecular approach to mental wellness to relieve anxiety and other symptoms.4 Diet is a powerhouse of healing, and a healthy brain is well-fed and free of chemicals.
Alternative to Meds Center provides the resources to help clients continue to live their life in happy, healthy ways after they have left our care. For those who are currently on anxiety medication and would like to get off drugs and address their mental health with holistic ways to treat anxiety, we can assist you in coming off your medication gradually, comfortably, and under medical supervision. You do not have to continue suffering from anxiety or medication adverse effects and we are ready to help you with holistic alternatives for achieving natural mental health. You can be drug-free and mentally healthy with holistic treatment for anxiety. We offer a safe, natural approach to balancing brain function. Trained counselors are here to answer your questions about the holistic treatments we offer for anxiety at Alternative to Meds Center.
1. Aucoin M, LaChance L, Naidoo U, Remy D, Shekdar T, Sayar N, Cardozo V, Rawana T, Chan I, Cooley K. Diet and Anxiety: A Scoping Review. Nutrients. 2021 Dec 10;13(12):4418. doi: 10.3390/nu13124418. PMID: 34959972; PMCID: PMC8706568. [cited 2023 Jan 3]
2. Alegre J, Rosés JM, Javierre C, Ruiz-Baqués A, Segundo MJ, de Sevilla TF. Nicotinamida adenina dinucleótido (NADH) en pacientes con síndrome de fatiga crónica [Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome]. Rev Clin Esp. 2010 [cited 2023 Jan 3] Jun;210(6):284-8. Spanish. doi: 10.1016/j.rce.2009.09.015. Epub 2010 May 5. PMID: 20447621.
3. Järbrink-Sehgal E, Andreasson A. The gut microbiota and mental health in adults. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2020 Jun;62:102-114. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2020.01.016. Epub 2020 Mar 9. PMID: 32163822. [cited 2023 Jan 3]
5. Genuis SJ. Toxic causes of mental illness are overlooked. Neurotoxicology. 2008 Nov;29(6):1147-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2008.06.005. Epub 2008 Jun 24. PMID: 18621076. [cited 2023 Jan 3]
6. Briguglio M, Dell’Osso B, Panzica G, Malgaroli A, Banfi G, Zanaboni Dina C, Galentino R, Porta M. Dietary Neurotransmitters: A Narrative Review on Current Knowledge. Nutrients. 2018 May 10;10(5):591. doi: 10.3390/nu10050591. PMID: 29748506; PMCID: PMC5986471. [cited 2023 Jan 3]
This content has been reviewed and approved by a licensed physician.
Dr. Samuel Lee
Dr. Samuel Lee is a board-certified psychiatrist, specializing in a spiritually-based mental health discipline and integrative approaches. He graduated with an MD at Loma Linda University School of Medicine and did a residency in psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. He has also been an inpatient adult psychiatrist at Kaweah Delta Mental Health Hospital and the primary attending geriatric psychiatrist at the Auerbach Inpatient Psychiatric Jewish Home Hospital. In addition, he served as the general adult outpatient psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente. He is board-certified in psychiatry and neurology and has a B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Religion from Pacific Union College. His specialty is in natural healing techniques that promote the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
Diane is an avid supporter and researcher of natural mental health strategies. Diane received her medical writing and science communication certification through Stanford University and has published over 3 million words on the topics of holistic health, addiction, recovery, and alternative medicine. She has proudly worked with the Alternative to Meds Center since its inception and is grateful for the opportunity to help the founding members develop this world-class center that has helped so many thousands regain natural mental health.
Medical Disclaimer: Nothing on this Website is intended to be taken as medical advice. The information provided on the website is intended to encourage, not replace, direct patient-health professional relationships. Always consult with your doctor before altering your medications. Adding nutritional supplements may alter the effect of medication. Any medication changes should be done only after proper evaluation and under medical supervision.
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Are you or your loved one struggling with anxiety and unable to receive the help you need from traditional treatment methods? The unspoken assumption of most traditional approaches is that body and mind function separately as if each of the body’s organs is operating all on its own. However, recent science demonstrates that the opposite is true. Multiple systems of the body and mind interact and communicate with one another in a multifaceted network of hormonal, metabolic, and biochemical relationships. Even distant organs such as the thyroid gland, immune system, brain, adrenal gland, liver, and gut interact. In many vital ways, they function successfully as one coordinated unit. We can help you bring your body back to balance in safe, comfortable ways. Anxiety medication is not the only choice. You have other options.
Under the wide umbrella of holistic treatment for anxiety, there can be many complementary and alternative drug-free treatments various natural and traditional methods may be highly effective. Some of the main methods applied at our treatment center include dietary adjustments, 
