What is Natural Mental Health?
Back in 2004, the W.H.O. declared a shift was emerging in the field of mental health, one that would require an expansion of a skilled workforce to be able to successfully implement. This new conceptualization of how mental health services should be accomplished included a shift from treating mental illness to promoting mental well-being.19
Since that time, pharmaceutical companies have continued to reap $billions on drugs to “treat mental illness.” In contrast, Alternative to Meds Center has seen great success with its approach of promoting natural mental health and reducing the reliance on toxic drugs that carry no claim to cure anything.
Natural mental health requires an earnest and thorough discovery of root causes that if treated, may lead to diminished or eliminated symptoms that have plagued a person’s mental and often physical well-being. Evidence-based tools are required, with a professional team to correctly implement testing, correct the diet and address nutritional deficits, improve lifestyle factors, remove neurotoxic accumulations in the body, and other aspects that promote natural mental health in very real ways. Alternative to Meds Centers provides a personalized blueprint for success. Below is a sampling of tools that can be implemented, followed by an expanded description of these methods.
A blueprint for Natural Mental Health can include:
- Cleanse the body of toxic accumulations
- Neurotransmitter rehabilitation through a clean diet and supplementation
- Avoid alcohol and drug consumption
- Support for a healthy, well-functioning microbiome
- Exercise, especially outdoors where possible
- Psychological support
- Create healthy social connections
- Improve the quality of sleep
- Helpful physical therapies such as acupuncture, bright-light therapy
- Spiritual personal growth
Toxicity and Natural Mental Health
In the modern world, we are constantly being bombarded with toxic chemicals in our food, water, and the environments where we work and live. Psychiatric symptoms can emerge after toxic exposure to preservatives, drugs, artificial sweeteners, industrial and home use of cleaners and surfactants, and the chemicals used for taste and color enhancement in processed food. Additional toxic exposure can occur from airborne and water-borne particulate matter, according to the EPA.3,4,11,20
According to published research, mood, behavioral, cognitive, and other disorders are all associated with toxic exposures.19 Psychiatric disorders associated with toxic exposures include these:
- Suicidality
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Neurosis
- Mood swings
- Rage
- Weeping
- Giddiness
- Amnesia
- Declining academic skills
- Learning disabilities
- Compulsive behaviors and impulsivity
- Confusion
- Personality changes
- Eating disorders
- Phobias
- Social withdrawal, excessive embarrassment, timidity
- Violent behavior
- Sleepwalking
- Insomnia
- Fatigue, weakness, somnolence
- Tourette’s syndrome
- Hysteria
- Nightmares
- Explosive speech
- Bizarre behaviors
- Sexual dysfunction, hypersexuality
… and many, many others. In fact, psychiatric and physical symptoms associated with toxic exposures encompass such a long list it becomes impractical to list them all here in this short article.
However, a well-informed physician in any genre of medicine should know ALL of these, and is obliged to test for toxic exposures before assuming a diagnosis of Bipolar, schizophrenia, depressive disorder, or other “mental disorder.” Anything else is supposition, assumption, and guesswork. Toxic exposures should be tested before any such diagnosis can be factually made. This is one of the most fundamental approaches to supporting natural mental health, but unfortunately, is one of the most frequently omitted protocols when diagnosing a patient.
The Blueprint for Natural Mental Health Includes Neurotoxin Removal
At Alternative to Meds Center, testing for neurotoxin accumulations is done very near the beginning of a client’s stay with us. This is because we have found that in the vast majority of cases, neurotoxicity is the main culprit in what has been commonly diagnosed as anxiety disorders, panic attacks, depressive disorders, and other diagnoses, especially those that did not remit adequately with prescription medication for treatment.
Deep cleansing toxic residues out of the body is done safely, gradually, and under medical supervision, in tandem with other treatments that may include cessation of prescription drugs, as well as other basic treatments. Toxins in the body can produce damage and dysfunction in a person’s biological neurochemistry. A blend of cleansing protocols is used in achieving a “clean machine”. These can include the use of sauna and other spa services, chelation, nebulized glutathione treatments, colon hydrotherapy, mineral baths, and others to release accumulated toxins. Once the toxins are purged, neurochemical rehabilitation is possible.
Neurotransmitter Rehabilitation
The body’s system of operation includes billions of parts and pieces that somehow masterfully coordinate and function in a healthy body. When any of these become dysfunctional, the consequences can include symptoms, acting as signposts that can help us understand their path of origin. There can be a domino effect involving the many interactions within the body, making quite a puzzle to solve.
The neurotransmitter systems and pathways throughout the body are one such piece that drug companies have emphasized over all others. Prescription drugs for mental health aim to target one microscopic part of the puzzle while neglecting the uncountable other factors involved.
For example, SSRI drugs target serotonin and create a down-regulation effect, where the serotonin receptors eventually become disabled over the course of treatment. While SSRIs became mega-profitable, their therapeutic effectiveness has never been without controversy or challenges.21,22
Another example is treating a headache caused by dehydration with aspirin, but neglecting a drink of water, and not restoring lost sodium or other factors that may also have contributed to the symptom.
However, a dietary approach to restoring holistic balance across many systems in the body works exceptionally well and does not introduce further damage. Lab tests are a practical tool in designing a diet and in determining supplementation needed to support health and healing across all the interacting systems in a healthy body, including neurotransmitter rehabilitation.
Gut Health and Mental Wellness
The importance of a healthy gut cannot be overstated. The bacteria in the gut are what make vitamins, hormones, and other necessities of life possible. The gut is like a 24/7 factory that, given the correct raw materials, creates the essential materials needed for physical and mental health in uncountable ways. Though it is often neglected, the gut is a major driver of a vast number of areas of human wellness including the immune system, the endocrine system, modulation of genes, energy production, combating disease pathogens, optimizing healthy neural pathways and brain function, and many others. The number of bacteria in the gut makes up a vast army that outnumbers the number of cells in the entire body. Sometimes the gut is referred to as “the second brain” for its role in optimal brain function. Through a corrected diet and supplementation, the microbiome can be restored to a more optimal functional condition. A blueprint for mental wellness includes dietary supports such as probiotics, and prebiotics, either in supplement form or from food sources such as fish, yogurt, sauerkraut, and adequate fresh fruits and vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli.23,24
Other Drug-Free Therapies are Part of a Blueprint for Natural Mental Health
Mental wellness can be supported and enhanced in many natural ways. The following is a list of non-drug-based opportunities that may be relatively easy to implement. These and many similar methods are used at Alternative to Meds Center, because they are scientifically and clinically effective in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and other symptoms, without prescription drugs.
Additional drug-free therapies for mental health can include:
Exercise: forest bathing, yoga, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, walking, and swimming can help get the body moving, breathing, relaxing, and enjoying more energy.1,2,5-8
Psychological therapy: CBT, Equine assisted therapy, art therapy, and peer group support all have clinically proven therapeutic benefits for natural mental health without prescription drugs.
Get Connected: join a group with similar interests, find peer support, or engage in community outreach, hobbies, and volunteer projects that appeal to you for pleasing and satisfying social interactions.
Improve sleep hygiene: non-toxic bed linens and proper pillows, improve ventilation, remove electronics from the bedroom, don’t eat heavy foods close to bedtime, black-out curtains, comfortable eye mask, ear plugs, avoid caffeine or other stimulants, eliminate alcohol and other drug use, supplements such as melatonin or L-theanine may promote relaxation and improve the quality of sleep.25
Bright Light Therapy: used successfully in seasonal and non-seasonal-related depression.27
Acupuncture: shown in clinical trials to significantly reduce symptoms of depression.26
Spiritual and Religious Practices: positive religious and spiritual practices have shown benefits in mental health by providing stress relief, comfort, hope, and meaning. While Alternative to Meds is not a faith-based program, we recognize and support the value of religious and non-religious spiritual personal growth.28
Find out more about Alternative to Meds Drug-Free Treatments
Please contact the center to find out more about our philosophy and the methods we use to help our clients achieve their goals of improving natural mental health and achieving successful recovery after prescription drug use.
