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Also included on the site is an array of articles on topics ranging from the medical causes of schizophrenia to the effects of toxic metals on mental health.

Special AlternativeMentalHealth.com T-shirts and bumper stickers are available at our online store.

A bookstore page lists top books that cover many areas of alternative treatments with titles like Natural Healing for Schizophrenia and Other Common Mental Disorders and No More Ritalin.

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.

Each week brings news of greater understanding in the society of the need for safe, non-drug approaches and interest in Safe Harbor's work from other organizations.

This past month we have formalized a partnership with Patrick Holford, England's most well-known nutritionist, author of 20 books, and founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London, to help forward his outstanding nutritional mental health information in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In late January 2004 we will collaborate with Julia Ross, founder of Recovery Systems, Inc., author of bestsellers The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure, to present the 3-day "Mood Cure Workshop" in Los Angeles. This will be extremely thorough education for practitioners who want to learn Ross's successful nutritional techniques for the treatment of anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and addiction.

We have been approached by a well-known laboratory to partner on a similar conference in the future.

A Hawaiian mental health organization has proposed a future conference as well.

We have been asked by a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital for a presentation in early October on how to implement holistic approaches into their system. As part of this, we are creating a guidebook for the process: "Promoting Wellness in a Psychiatric Setting."

Attendees are requested to call Safe Harbor so we know attendance numbers. The office number is (232) 257-7338.   

The study analyzed past data from 195 juveniles aged 2.4 to 18.8 years (mean age, 10.9 years) from two locations. Of the 195 patients, 134 (68.7%) were exposed to at least one trial of an antidepressant. The adverse effects were quantified in terms of rates, severity, and time of onset of "bipolar" episodes with respect to start of antidepressants. The results were similar at the two practice sites.

Within the first four months of antidepressant treatment, 75.4% experienced some adverse effects. Increased cycling starting within a day of initiation of antidepressants was experienced by 79%, 70.9% experienced increased aggression, and 23.1% experienced psychotic symptoms.

Increased aggressiveness, violence, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors usually accompanied antidepressant exposure in the sample groups. 

27.5% reported that their hypersensitivity was initiated by an exposure to pesticides, while an equal percentage attributed it to solvents. Only 1.4% had a history of prior emotional problems, but 37.7% developed these problems after the physical symptoms emerged.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, or MCS, is generally acknowledged to be a condition where individuals have an acute hypersensitivity to low levels of chemicals found in everyday substances such as household cleaning agents, pesticides, fresh paint, new carpeting, synthetic building materials, newsprint, perfume, and other petrochemical-based products. Individuals with hypersensitivity can encounter great difficulty functioning in normal working and living environments.

Current research suggests that MCS goes through a two-step process of initiation (causation) and triggering (subsequent reactions). Hypersensitivity emerges after initiation, which can result from a massive exposure to a specific toxic agent or a chronic exposure to one or more toxic substances, even at low levels. After initiation, triggering occurs, which involves reactions to a wider range of substances.

The second phase questionnaire had 71 questions and was administered only to individuals who had previously reported a hypersensitivity to common chemicals in the first phase. The sample used in this second phase was a derivative of the random survey, thus ensuring that it was representative of the target population. The initial phase located 199 individuals who reported a hypersensitivity to chemicals; 69 of these responded to the follow-up survey.

The main symptoms reported were headaches (88.4%), burning eyes (76.8%), breathing difficulties (59.4%), stomach distress/nausea (55.1%), dizziness (46.4%), loss of mental concentration (31.9%), and muscle pain (30.4%).

The products that made the largest percentage of respondents sick were cleaning agents (88.4%), pesticides (81.2%), perfume (81.2%), car exhaust (72.5%), barber shops/beauty salons (60.9%), new carpets (53.6%), new furniture (39.1%), chlorine in household water (39.1%), and fresh ink (26.1%).

13% moved from their homes because of their hypersensitivity. 34.8% reported that they removed carpeting or furniture from their home, and 47.8% stated that they had installed air and/or water filtration systems. 76.8% said they had changed their cleaning and personal hygiene supplies, and 15.9% said they had switched from gas appliances to electric appliances.

Only 1.4% of the respondents reported experiencing depression, anxiety, or other emotional problems before the onset of their symptoms. An additional 5.8% replied that they did not know if they had these emotional symptoms or not before they developed their hypersensitivity. Only 4.3% had ever taken any medication for emotional problems before the onset of their chemical hypersensitivity symptoms. In contrast, 37.7% of the respondents said that they experienced depression, anxiety, or other emotional problems after they developed their hypersensitivity, and 27.5% had taken some medication for these emotional problems after the emergence of their condition.

The findings indicate that the physical problems emerge first and emotional problems develop afterward. 

Efexor is reportedly being taken by at least 3,000 children in the UK, even though guidance to doctors states that it should not be given to anyone under 18. It is the second antidepressant to be specifically banned from use in children in four months.

There are around 50,000 children, some as young as six, on antidepressants in the UK. Last year, doctors wrote 170,000 prescriptions of the drugs for children under 18.

Just as with Seroxat, the GlaxoSmithKline drug banned in June, studies have shown that Efexor can cause children to have suicidal thoughts or to become hostile, a word which in the context of clinical trials can mean homicidal. Experts at the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which licenses drugs in the UK, are urging that children should not stop taking either drug suddenly, but should consult their doctor.  

In a two-trial experiment, researchers Tildesley, Kennedy, et al. (Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne) set out to determine the efficacy of sage in improving the memory of young adults.

Two experiments utilized a placebo-controlled, double-blind, balanced, crossover methodology. In Trial 1, 20 participants received 50, 100 and 150 microl of a standardized essential oil extract of Salvia lavandulaefolia and placebo. In Trial 2, 24 participants received 25 and 50 microl of a standardized essential oil extract of S. lavandulaefolia and placebo.

Assessment was undertaken using the Cognitive Drug Research computerized test battery prior to treatment and 1, 2.5, 4 and 6 hours thereafter. The primary outcome measures were immediate and delayed word recall.

A 50-microl dose of salvia essential oil significantly improved immediate word recall in both studies.