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Read Our Free E-Book for Health Professionals!!!
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About Safe Harbor
Safe Harbor, a nonprofit corporation, was founded in 1998 in the wake of growing public dissatisfaction with the unwanted effects of orthodox psychiatric treatments such as medication and shock therapy.
Seeking to satisfy the desire for safer, more effective treatments, Safe Harbor is dedicated to educating the public, the medical profession, and government officials on research and treatments that, minimally, do no harm and, optimally, cure the causes of severe mental symptoms. Our primary thrust is education on the medical causes of severe mental symptoms and the use of nutritional and other natural treatments.
About AlternativeMental
Health.com
ALTERNATIVEMENTALHEALTH.COM is the world's largest website devoted exclusively to alternative mental health treatments. It includes a directory of over 350 physicians, nutritionists, experts, organizations, and facilities around the U.S. that offer or promote safe, alternative treatments for severe mental symptoms. Many of the physicians listed do in-depth examinations to find the physical causes behind mental problems.
AlternativeMentalHealth.com has been created to educate the public, practitioners, and government officials on the medical conditions that create "mental illness" and the many safe resources available for addressing and often curing severe mental symptoms.
Contact Us
Safe Harbor
787 W. Woodbury Rd., #2
Altadena, CA 91001
Phone: 626-204-0161
Email: mail@alternativementalhealth.com
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Alternative
Mental Health News
issue 77
A monthly newsletter brought to you by AlternativeMentalHealth.com and Safe Harbor, a nonprofit corporation.
Editor: Erinkate Stair, M.D.
www.bloomingwellness.com
Senior Editor: Dan Stradford
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Editor's Note
Hope everyone is having a happy and healthy summer so far! In between my work at Blooming Wellness, writing, lots of traveling and devising creative ways for people to utilize the tremendous healing art of humor, I've been conducting interviews with great minds in the field of alternative mental health! I'm excited to post them in future newsletters, so be on the lookout! Also, if anyone would like to feature anything in the newsletter, including an article, book review, news, a personal story or information about an event related to alternative mental health, feel free to contact me. If you'd like to be featured in an interview, also let me know at erinkatemd@gmail.com.
Be well and wear sunscreen!
Dr. ErinKate Stair
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Schizophrenics Increasingly Respond to Placebos in Clinical Studies
A study conducted by researchers from the FDA and published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that schizophrenic patients are responding to placebos more often in current clinical trial than in the past. Researchers analyzed 32 clinical trials submitted for review between the years 1991 and 2008. Those studies showed less statistically significant response rates than older studies. In older studies, placebo patients' symptom score lowered by only 2 points, but in between the years of 1998-2008, they lowered by 7 points. These results could potentially cause drug companies to stop funding studies on schizophrenia, especially if the drug response rate doesn't improve.
Researchers are not sure why more schizophrenic patients are responding to placebos and plan to research the phenomena further. Some speculate that the schizophrenics responding to placebos are not that ill, others think it could be something innate to the way the studies are designed or participants are recruited, and others think it shows that the drugs may not be as effective as they are marketed to be. |
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How a Depressed Person Might Surf the Internet
A study conducted by researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology examined 216 undergraduate students' internet surfing patterns for 1 month. Thirty percent of the participants were diagnosed with depression. Results showed that depressed patients exhibited unique surfing habits. They tended to jump back and forth from one internet site to an other. The scientists referred to this finding as a higher flow duration entropy. For example, depressed subjects were more likely to jump back and forth from checking email to Facebook to Twitter, back to email and so on.
There was higher peer to peer usage amongst depressed participants, which includes the sharing of music, videos and photos, as well as excessive emailing and chatting online in various online chat rooms. It was noted that depressed participants checked their email more frequently, which could be a sign of anxiety, often correlated with depression, or a symptom of an impulsive-compulsive disorder, as some of these participants were checking their messages constantly, even in the middle of the night. Depressed participants were also shown to excessively play online videos and games.
This study suggests a few things for the future treatment of depression and other mental illnesses. For one, it may imply that depressed people spend more time online or rely on the internet as a form of emotional and social support. It's also possible that software could be developed that track's a person's internet usage and sends out a warning signal if one's internet surfing pattern suggests depression. It's also possible that future tests will study other mental illnesses and associated internet habits and patterns.
To see the full study click here. |
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Nurses have Double the Rate of Depression
A study conducted by researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and published in the journal, Clinical Nurse Specialist, showed that nurses are twice as likely to get depressed compared to the general population. Researchers collected data on 1,171 nurses employed at hospitals in North Carolina. Results showed an 18% risk of depression amongst nurses, compared to 9% in the general population. The study's important since depressive symptoms in hospital nurses could affect the care patients receive, and also because it revealed that nurses, like any healthcare worker, may not recognize depressive symptoms in themselves. |
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3 Cups of Coffee a Day
Keeps Dementia Away!
More great news for the "black gold." Research published in the June edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease further supports the theory that coffee consumption slows the rate of dementia. In the study, researchers followed 124 patient participants between the ages of 65-88 for a duration of 2-4 years. Mild Cognitive Impairment which measures decline in memory and cognitive abilities was used as a standard of comparison amongst subjects. Those patients who progressed to dementia were shown to have 51% lower levels of caffeine than those that did not develop dementia. Interestingly, scientists declared a critical level of caffeine as 1200 nanograms per milimeter, which is equivalent to drinking large amounts of coffee before a blood draw. Researchers discovered that those patients who did not progress to dementia had caffeine levels that were higher than this critical level. In fact, scientists went so far to suggest that drinking 3 cups of coffee a day may help prevent dementia. |
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The Anti-Anxiety Food Solution
Book Review
"Food is mood" is one of my favorite catch slogans, though the more accurate statement would be that food plays a vital role in predicting our moods. From my own personal battle with depression, I know firsthand the importance of adjusting diet and the timing of when we eat to help us achieve an optimal state of mind. PsychCentral.com recently posted a wonderful and thorough review of The Anti-Anxiety Food Solution, written by Trudy Scott, CN. The link to the review is here: Calm Your Anxiety with Good Food
Erinkate Stair, MD |
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Transcendental Meditation via the David Lynch Foundation
The David Lynch Foundation is dedicated to teaching and sharing the many mental and physical benefits of transcendental meditation. They work with many populations and most recently they have been introducing transcendental meditation to soldiers and veterans. They are currently conducting a study funded by the VA that will determine the effects of transcendental meditation on returning soldiers with PTSD.
Operation Warrior Wellness, a David Lynch national initiative led by Jerry Yellin and Ed Schloeman, is hosting a fundraiser with celebrities at Fort Hamilton Army Garison in NY on August 4, 2012, to help raise money for teaching transcendental meditation to soldiers and veterans. If interested in attending or interested in learning more about transcendental meditation and PTSD, please click here: Operation Warrior Wellness |
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