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Holistic Psychiatry

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Alternative to Meds Editorial Team
Medically Reviewed by Dr Samuel Lee MD

Holistic Psychiatry

Are you looking for a program that implements holistic psychiatry methods to improve mental health? Derived from cutting-edge, evidence-based specialties, our alternative approaches to holistic mental health treatment are delivered within a positive, caring, and clean environmental context for the body, mind, and spirit.2
Strangely, the drug industry quickly deems anything other than medication for the treatment of mental health issues as an alternative. Actually, we believe that relying on medications as a primary solution avoids doing the necessary actions needed to find the way back to personal balance.

Redefining Holistic … Naturally

No other licensed facility in the country has the history that we do with holistic and alternative therapies.

Unfortunately, other centers seem to fall far short on many key levels. For example, failing to focus on diet and nutrition. In addition, imperfect or rushed practices concerning safely tapering medications, and overlooking the impact of lifestyle factors on mental health, add to the problem. We provide top-shelf, non-toxic ways to address these issues.8,9

But, the term holistic is more than a mere buzzword. At Alternative to Meds Center, holistic psychiatry includes intravenous nutrients, exercise, acupuncture, counseling, neurotoxin cleansing, and much more. True holistic practices are best delivered by those who understand their value in application to mental health, and deeper teachings. In these ways, we can all continue to witness its benefits daily.

Holistic Detoxification

holistic detoxificationIt can be said that our industrialized society is executing a full-blown assault on human physiology and its accompanying impacts on mental health.

As a consequence, constant exposure to environmental poisons that our bodies and minds were not designed to handle, impacts our mental health. For example, consider the poly-aromatic hydrocarbons in exhaust fumes, chemical additives to food, mercury accumulating in our fish, flame retardants in our clothes and beds, benzene accumulation from plastics in our cars, neurotoxic pesticides, electromagnetic influences, medications, hormone mimickers, and parabens in our hygiene products, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) leaking into our groundwater. In contrast, our holistic detox treatment program utilizes advanced methods to help alleviate the harm to the body and the brain to restore balance and optimize overall health.10

More about Holistic Detox …

Environmental Medicine & Mental Health Treatment

Environmental medicine studies the impact of chemicals in our environment and an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional responses to them. Addressing these negative impacts in a treatment setting provides many tools effective in holistic mental health treatment.

Sometimes overlooked, each person has a unique genetic profile, including genetic polymorphisms, that allows the processing of toxins. Where there are handicaps to this natural process, accumulations of poisons can occur, including heavy metals, pesticides, and medication waste developing in the body. These toxins are harmful and can lead to DNA damage, hormonal impairments, compromised neurotransmitter expression, and immune deficiencies. We use extraction techniques to relieve the body of these stressors, clinically shown to vastly improve mental health.11

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Neurotoxin Removal in Holistic Psychiatry

neurotoxin removalNeurotoxins poison and directly impair the nervous system.

In this way, some toxins over-excite nerve cells to death, while others debilitate the expression of neurotransmitters that directly affect mood. Heavy metals, pesticides, and additives to food and hygiene products are common culprits. We use chelation, a process to remove toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, and aluminum.12 Other organic poisons must be transformed based upon unique, genetically determined mechanisms. Clinical research has shown that toxins can impact gut microbiota, resulting in neurodegeneration, and many other negative consequences that affect our mental health.5  As a result, we designed a neurotoxin removal program to fit the individual, allowing the nervous system to re-regulate itself in the way that it was designed.

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Neurotransmitter Rehabilitation in Holistic Mental Health Treatment

holistic neurotransmitter rehabilitationThe body operates the way it was naturally designed to manufacture neurotransmitters, important in mood balance. Without a doubt, the growing field of holistic mental health treatment looks at a vast amount of sound, proven, treatment options that are not limited to finding the right label, or the right drug, as in traditional psychiatry. Dietary considerations provide a fundamental pillar for successful neurotransmitter rehabilitation.13,14  And so, we are witnessing an evolution to better, safer, more effective holistic treatment models than those of the past.3

Drugs do not manufacture neurotransmitters. Serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin, and others have amino acid precursors that are designed to naturally configure these highly important chemical messengers of emotion. By administering these nontoxic amino acid precursors, we help direct the body to replace potential deficiencies and balance what could be over-expressed.4,7

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Orthomolecular Medicine & Holistic Psychiatry

The term orthomolecular was coined by the late Dr. Linus Pauling, a double-Nobel prize laureate.

Orthomolecular medicine orthomolecular medicine paired with holistic psychiatryaims toward preventing and treating disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of naturally occurring substances that exist in the body. It has gained specific popularity in the treatment of mental health and has provided many tools in the field of holistic psychiatry. Nutrition itself is probably the most overlooked tool that is gaining its rightful place in designing a treatment that works. In the typical Western diet, many foods are devoid of the essential nutrients that are associated with mental wellness.16

Notably, in 1952, Abram Hoffer, M.D, Ph.D., led the first double-blind, placebo-controlled study in the history of psychiatry, demonstrating niacin as a curative for schizophrenia.1 Today, orthomolecular medicine is highly regarded as a respite for those seeking alternatives to medication-based treatments.

Clearly, with a more nuanced approach to mental health, holistic psychiatry can benefit many more people who have not recovered fully within the more shortsighted drug-based treatment approach to human health.15

More about Orthomolecular Medicine …


1. MEGAVITAMIN B-3 THERAPY FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA CANADIAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION JOURNAL Vol. 16, No.6 A. HOFFER, M.D. [1971 Dec] [cited 2022 June 8]

2. Loga S. Integrative treatment in psychiatry. Psychiatr Danub. 2008 Sep;20(3):349-51. PMID: 18827762. [cited 2022 June 8]

3. Lake J. Emerging paradigms in medicine: implications for the future of psychiatry. Explore (NY). 2007 Sep-Oct;3(5):467-77. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2007.06.003. PMID: 17905356. [cited 2022 June 8]

4. Owen L, Corfe B. The role of diet and nutrition on mental health and wellbeing. Proc Nutr Soc. 2017 Nov;76(4):425-426. doi: 10.1017/S0029665117001057. Epub 2017 Jul 14. PMID: 28707609. [cited 2022 June 8]

5. Tinkov AA, Martins AC, Avila DS, Gritsenko VA, Skalny AV, Santamaria A, Lee E, Bowman AB, Aschner M. Gut Microbiota as a Potential Player in Mn-Induced Neurotoxicity. Biomolecules. 2021 Aug 31;11(9):1292. doi: 10.3390/biom11091292. PMID: 34572505; PMCID: PMC8469589.[cited 2022 June 8]

6. Turner EH, Loftis JM, Blackwell AD. Serotonin a la carte: supplementation with the serotonin precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan. Pharmacol Ther. 2006 Mar;109(3):325-38. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2005.06.004. Epub 2005 Jul 14. PMID: 16023217. [cited 2022 June 8]

7. Meyers S. Use of neurotransmitter precursors for treatment of depression. Altern Med Rev. 2000 Feb;5(1):64-71. PMID: 10696120. [cited 2022 June 8]

8. Zaman R, Hankir A, Jemni M. Lifestyle Factors and Mental Health. Psychiatr Danub. 2019 Sep;31(Suppl 3):217-220. PMID: 31488729. [cited 2022 June 8]

9. Morriss R, Mohammed FA. Metabolism, lifestyle and bipolar affective disorder. J Psychopharmacol. 2005 Nov;19(6 Suppl):94-101. doi: 10.1177/0269881105058678. PMID: 16280342. [cited 2022 June 8]

10. Ventriglio A, Bellomo A, di Gioia I, Di Sabatino D, Favale D, De Berardis D, Cianconi P. Environmental pollution and mental health: a narrative review of literature. CNS Spectr. 2021 Feb;26(1):51-61. doi: 10.1017/S1092852920001303. Epub 2020 Apr 14. PMID: 32284087. [cited 2022 June 8]

11. Delamarre A, Meissner WG. Epidemiology, environmental risk factors and genetics of Parkinson’s disease. Presse Med. 2017 Mar;46(2 Pt 1):175-181. doi: 10.1016/j.lpm.2017.01.001. Epub 2017 Feb 8. PMID: 28189372.[cited 2022 June 8]

12. Langford N, Ferner R. Toxicity of mercury. J Hum Hypertens. 1999 Oct;13(10):651-6. doi: 10.1038/sj.jhh.1000896. PMID: 10516733.[cited 2022 June 8]

13. Briguglio M, Dell’Osso B, Panzica G, et al. Dietary Neurotransmitters: A Narrative Review on Current KnowledgeNutrients. 2018;10(5):591. Published 2018 May 10. doi:10.3390/nu10050591 [cited 2022 June 8]

14. Owen L, Corfe B. The role of diet and nutrition on mental health and wellbeing. Proc Nutr Soc. 2017 Nov;76(4):425-426. doi: 10.1017/S0029665117001057. Epub 2017 Jul 14. PMID: 28707609. [cited 2022 June 8]

15. Lake J. Integrative mental health care: from theory to practice, Part 2. Altern Ther Health Med. 2008 Jan-Feb;14(1):36-42. PMID: 18251320. [cited 2023 Jun 5]

16. Low Dog T. The role of nutrition in mental health. Altern Ther Health Med. 2010 Mar-Apr;16(2):42-6. PMID: 20232617. [cited 2023 Jun 5]


Originally Published Sep 13, 2018 by Diane Ridaeus


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.

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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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