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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.

Of course, to accomplish all of this, we need continued financial support from the public. Many volunteers and I continue to work at no pay to ensure the work carries on, but we have staff, utilities, and other costs that must be met. These costs increase further as our growth continues.

Once a year Safe Harbor launches a fundraising drive to help cover our costs for the year and that time has arrived once again! It culminates on October 9th of this year in Los Angeles with our spectacular awards benefit (details below).

This year we honor one of the truly great pioneers in the world of autism, Dr. Bernard Rimland. For decades, Dr. Rimland's name has been synonymous with safe, natural treatments for autism.

Additionally, we are pleased to honor a tremendous friend of Safe Harbor and one of the earliest collegiate teachers of nutritional psychiatry, Professor James Croxton.

We hope you can be there. If not, buy a ticket (or part of one!) anyway or help us underwrite the event or just help us period, and your financial support will help forward our work in changing lives every day.

For those on the East Coast, we are super proud to present Safe Harbor's first "Free Your Mind" concert (details also below). It's hip. It's fun! And it doesn't cost much. Please come see us and help us kick off the opening of our NY chapter with a bang.

We hope to see you!

"During my last depressive phase, antidepressants stopped working and I was told by the mainstream doctors that there wasn't much left that they could do. It was suggested that I go on a disability pension and give up my university studies and I was devastated.

"In desperation I came across your site and it has been a godsend. Through your site I found Dr. Tabrizian, a nutritional doctor in Western Australia who has been able to stabilise me by balancing my vitamin and mineral levels. It is still early days yet as I only started seeing Dr Tabrizian in March but I am starting back at university next week and life is beginning to get a little bit brighter. I have also been able to cut back on the medications I have been taking."

The meeting will be at the Safe Harbor office at 1718 Colorado Blvd. in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles.

Admission is free and all are invited. We ask that you call the Safe Harbor office or email to let us know you are coming: (323) 257-7338 or SafeHarborProj@aol.com.  

7-9:00pm every Monday.

First Unitarian Society
1326 Washington Street
West Newton, Massachusetts 

These members will call upon the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) to produce actual reliable, valid, and replicable scientific evidence for claims about "chemical imbalances," "biological brain diseases," and drugs that allegedly prevent more suicides and violence than they provoke - or "admit that what they've claimed cannot meet the standards of orthodox science."

To back up their challenge, these MindFreedom members will announce that they intend to decline solid food for an indefinite period of time until the challenge is met.

They are demanding that government agencies, at every level, no longer give virtually exclusive financial, legal, and rhetorical aid to what they refer to as "biopsychiatry" and its contentions. They are asking the media to look behind biopsychiatry's public relations campaigns and press releases, and investigate whether the evidence available justifies "wholesale drugging of children, increased shocking of seniors, forced incarceration and restraint of the criminally innocent, and more."

Those who have agreed to fast include David Oaks, Vince Boehm, and Dawn Rider.

A panel of 14 academics and authors has been selected to analyze and publicly review any material presented by the supporters of "biopsychiatry." Panelists include Loren Mosher, Peter Breggin, Ty Colbert, and David Cohen.

The Coalition is asking for donations and volunteer help. To donate, click on "JOIN/DONATE" at www.MindFreedom.org and request in the "comments" section that the funds be directed to the hunger strike.

To volunteer your help, contact the SCI office in Eugene, Oregon, and contact Mickey Weinberg in Pasadena at (626) 449-0104. Email: Mickey37@earthlink.net.

For background on the "Fast for Freedom in Mental Health," including the initial announcement and fast statement, see:
www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/hungerstrike.shtml

MindFreedom is a project of Support Coalition International, a Non-Governmental Organization with Consultative Roster Status in the United Nations. SCI is a non-profit that unites 100 sponsor groups to win human rights & alternatives in mental health.  

The results revealed that I had copper levels of 39.4. (The optimum is 2.4). I also had a high level of aluminum. Although I still didn't quite understand what all of this meant, I began taking the vitamins that my doctor suggested. I was on the internet every night for weeks gathering as much information as I could.

For about 15 years I have suffered with migraines, back, neck and shoulder joint problems, eczema, anxiety and panic attacks. I was very withdrawn and avoided social occasions. When I was pregnant with my only wonderful boy I had Gestational Diabetes and was told to expect getting diabetes in the future.

Since taking the vitamins I have not had a migraine since January 6, 2003, my eczema has gone, I have had no back, neck or shoulder pain and I know longer have panic attacks and anxiety problems.

Due to my problems and recovery progress I am passionate about getting information out to as many people as I can. I wrote a testimonial and sent it to many friends, family and workmates. So far my influence has saved 7 people from serious health problems. I have 6 other close friends that I am still trying to help. It is very frustrating when I can tell what deficiencies they have, but they are reluctant to take my advice. We only have a handful of medical practices that deal with nutritional health, so there is not a lot of support.

My son has been on the same diet and vitamins as me, as he got the copper levels from me when I was pregnant. He was always sick and had ear infections on a monthly basis as a toddler. He suffered badly with discoid eczema, insomnia, paranoia, and also began showing signs of ADHD. He is nearly 6 and is a new child. He is very bright and extremely creative.

I now only take 11/2 dexamphetamine a day and expect to be drug free by the end of the year.

I now believe that it is my purpose in life to spread the word and make the government and the medical professions take responsibility for not letting the public be aware of the problems with the soil in our state and the problems associated with heavy metals in today's society.

My email is trankers@bigpond.com if there are any questions.

Perth, Western Australia  

Behavioral expert Warwick Dyer, says the article, has developed a program that focuses on the way parents behave toward their children - and claims a 100 per cent success rate over the past five years.

"Remarkably, he never sees the child involved, and has just one face-to-face consultation with the parents. The rest of his work is limited to a daily telephone briefing with the parents on how to treat their child."

Dyer's approach uses a strict system of rewards and penalties for good and bad behavior, but requires that parents control their tempers as well.

Mr. Dyer said: "I am open-minded about whether ADD exists or not, but what is certainly clear is that a lot of symptoms ascribed to such disorders are in fact easily confused with basic behavioural problems that don't need to be treated with a drug.

"Parenting is not a democracy. You need to give your child what they want - love and attention - but on your terms, not theirs."

Mr. Dyer was a primary school teacher in the East End of London until he retired and set up the Behaviour Change Consultancy. He now sees about 30 families a year, and claims his techniques work with everyone, from the youngest children to teenagers.

He said: "The problem is that a lot of parents simply aren't being parents. In the last 20 years, parents have started talking to their children a lot more, but they have stopped being in control of them.

"Children are instinctively artful and will try to put themselves in control of their parents. I put parents back in control."

His "back to basics" approach worked to stunning effect with Fred and Diane from Essex, and their seven-year-old daughter, Georgina, who are featured in a new "Cutting Edge" TV documentary. Georgina had been prescribed Ritalin and been diagnosed with special needs because of her appalling temper tantrums and violent behavior. Within weeks of adopting Mr Dyer's techniques, Georgina's behaviour had improved.

Fred, who runs a wedding video business, and Diane, a civil servant, had to spend seven months in daily phone calls to Mr Dyer, where they had to describe her behaviour in detail, and accept castigations from the expert when they deviated from the sanction system.

At one point he told the couple: "It's not her fault that you can't control her. She has wrapped you around her little finger. You aren't accepting that there isn't anything wrong with your daughter."

By the end of the seven months, Georgina was having less than two tantrums a month and while her special needs diagnosis was being reviewed.

Diane said: "The change has been incredible. This has all been done without Ritalin. Before, I hated her. Now, she is a normal child. I feel guilty when I look back to how I treated her before."

Janice Hill, of the Overload Network, a parent support organization, said: "Warwick Dyer has shown that the idea of ADHD is a myth. Children are being given a drug that has the same pharmacology as cocaine when in fact all they and their parents need are help with their behaviour."

Reuters Health reports that investigators in Norway found that depression occurred more commonly in people who had high levels of the amino acid homocysteine in their blood, and in those who carried a form of a gene that encodes a protein involved in processing folate.

Homocysteine is a normal byproduct of metabolism, and folic acid -- the form of folate found in supplements -- is known to aid in breaking down homocysteine.

"Lack of folate and/or a disturbed folate metabolism ... may partially be the cause of the depression in some people," study author Dr. Ingvar Bjelland of the University of Bergen said.

Bjelland and colleagues obtained their findings by scanning blood samples from 5,948 people between the ages of 46 and 49, and screening them for depression and anxiety.

The researchers found that people who had relatively high levels of homocysteine in their blood were almost twice as likely to be depressed than those with the lowest blood levels of homocysteine.

According to the report, depression was also linked to a form of the gene for a folate-processing enzyme associated with poorer efficiency in the breakdown of folate.

Another study, this one focusing on the relationship of depression and folate status in the US population, reports similar results.

The study by Morris, Fava, Jacques, Selhub, and Rosenberg examined associations between depression and folate status indicators in an ethnically diverse general US population sample aged 15-39 years.

After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, serum vitamin B(12) concentration, alcohol consumption over the past year and current status as to overweight and use of vitamin/mineral supplements, cigarettes and illegal drugs, subjects who met criteria for a lifetime diagnosis of major depression had folate concentrations in serum and RBC (red blood cells) that were lower than those of subjects who had never been depressed.

The researchers concluded: "Low folate status was detectable in depressed members of the general US population. Folate supplementation may be indicated during the year following a depressive episode."

The team surveyed the parents and teachers of 739 English and Welsh 13-year-olds who had contracted bacterial meningitis before their first birthday between 1985 and 1987. Parents and teachers of 606 children unaffected by meningitis as a child were also surveyed.

Forty-six per cent of parents whose children had contracted meningitis said their children's behaviour was problematic, compared with only 20% of the other parents.

The parents were asked whether their children had emotional problems, and about their behavior, hyperactivity, peer problems and social skills, using a recognized scale designed to assess behavior.

The teachers were not told which of the teens had had meningitis.

Linda Glennie, head of research and medical information for the Meningitis Research Trust, told BBC News Online this large study confirmed previous findings: "Many people who have had meningitis and septicaemia (infection spreading into the blood stream) experience problems with concentration and memory. These are the types of things that get them labeled as children with problems."

Using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, the researchers measured cognitive functioning and serologic evidence of infection with human herpes viruses in 229 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia. For each patient, antibodies with specificities for the following potentially neurotropic (nerve-changing) human herpes viruses were measured: herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, human herpes virus 6, and varicella-zoster virus.

They determined the association between serologic evidence of herpes viruses infection and cognitive functioning by univariate and multivariate analyses, including demographic and clinical factors associated with cognitive functioning.

"We found that serologic evidence of infection with herpes simplex virus 1 is an independent predictor of cognitive dysfunction in individuals with schizophrenia. Discriminant function analysis indicated that much of the difference in cognitive functioning could be attributed to immediate memory. We found no significant association between cognitive dysfunction and serologic evidence of infection with other human herpes viruses."

Kava-Kava was also found significantly more effective than placebo against anxiety in six controlled studies reviewed in the Cochrane Library, Issue 2, 2003.

"Constraints on resources and time often render treatments for anxiety such as psychological interventions impracticable, while synthetic anxiolytic drugs are effective, but are often burdened with adverse events," begins the Cochrane article. "Options which are effective and safe would be of considerable interest and a welcome addition to the therapeutic repertoire."

All publications (regardless of language) describing randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of kava extract for anxiety were sought through electronic searches of EMBASE, MEDLINE, AMED (British Library), and many others, in addition to printed journals and material requested of manufacturers of kava preparations and experts on the subject.

To be included, studies were required to be randomized, controlled trials, conducted placebo-controlled and double-blind, i.e. trials with blinding of patients and care providers. Trials using oral preparations containing kava extract as the only component (mono-preparation) were considered. Data were extracted systematically according to patient characteristics, interventions and results.