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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.

Perhaps more meaningful is the fact that the founder of this new chapter initially discovered our work by attending our first medical conference in 2002 - "Non-Pharmaceutical Approaches to Mental Disorders."

This year's conference, NON-PHARMA III promises to be equally instructive and inspiring and we hope to find you there to take part in this unique gathering of diverse speakers that you will not find together in any other place. Who knows how it will broaden YOUR horizons?

Safe Harbor's goal for our annual conference is to sharpen the practitioner's (and public's) conceptual grasp of the various underlying physical causes of mental disorders as well as the variety of treatment options available. Each speaker lays out a piece of the therapeutic puzzle until, by conference end, there is a distinctly sharper understanding of how to successfully treat mental disorders.

We are very pleased to highlight this year's event with an afternoon with the warm, seasoned presentation of Michael Lesser, M.D., a veteran with over 30 years in practice, one of the founders of orthomolecular psychiatry in the United States.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In a statement issued Feb. 20, 2004, the Indianapolis-based company said it sent a letter to U.S. doctors a month earlier warning that Zyprexa, which had global sales of $4.3 billion in 2003 and accounts for half of Lilly's profit, increased the risks in five clinical trials among elderly patients with dementia. 3.5 percent of elderly patients with dementia taking Zyprexa in the trials died of all causes, more than twice the death rate of 1.5 percent seen among those taking placebos.

"I don't think we have a sense of why," said Lilly spokesman Dan Collins. Higher stroke and death risks have not been seen in other populations, he said, adding that Lilly could not advise doctors whether to prescribe Zyprexa for dementia because it is not officially approved for that use by U.S. regulators.

Doctors may legally prescribe drugs for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, although drugmakers are allowed to market their products only for specifically approved uses.

Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group, has criticized doctors for routinely prescribing schizophrenia drugs to treat symptoms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, even though the medicines are not approved for that use.

Zyprexa and Risperdal, Johnson & Johnson's second-biggest drug with 2003 sales of $2.5 billion, are widely used to manage delusional and aggressive behaviors in dementia patients.

J & J warned U.S. doctors last April that Risperdal increases the risk of stroke among elderly patients with dementia.

About 2 percent of Zyprexa sales are for elderly patients with dementia, according to Collins. 

Writers in the popular press have done a great deal to blur - if not obliterate - the distinction between medical conditions and merely emotional or social ones. This legitimizes "diagnostic bracket creep" - the much-discussed tendency of doctors to aim a particular drug at an ever-widening circle of symptoms.

In a six-month study of 261 articles published between 1985 and 2000, reported in the February 2004 issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine, psychiatrist Jonathan M. Metzl and colleague Joni Angel found that SSRI's (antidepressants: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were increasingly portrayed as helping women function as mothers or wives, while in men they promised treatment for athletic shortcomings and aggression.

"Our findings undermine claims that SSRIs simply rectify 'chemical imbalance,'" Metzl said. "Instead, our results suggest that a host of culturally based - indeed, gender-based - expectations shape our information about SSRIs."

Popular depictions of these drugs have expanded categories of women's "mental illness" to include symptoms once thought part of normal behavior, he said. Conditions that were once viewed as just part of being human are transformed into symptoms of illness that require treatment.

Metzl said he worries that people who are troubled by traditional gender roles may be seen as having symptoms that need medicating.  

Dozens of families told gut-wrenching stories about their encounters with SSRIs. One family read a letter from their 14-year old son, who murdered his grandparents when he was 12 after being given Zoloft and then having his dosage doubled. Another family spoke of their 13-year old son, who hanged himself after being on Zoloft for seven days. Still another family spoke of their recent college graduate who, after two weeks on Paxil, stabbed herself twice in the chest and died on their kitchen floor. There was also the recounting of a teen with a high-powered rifle holding a teacher and 23 students hostage after an increased dosage of Effexor.

Others were full of praise for the drugs.

The FDA has announced an investigation into the whole class of SSRIs. Their approach is to examine the results of trials previously done on these drugs, submitted by the makers of the SSRIs, to see if there is a link to suicide. However, critics consider that information showing a connection between SSRIs and violence cannot be adequately obtained from these studies, since they were not designed to capture this data, and because they were commissioned by the drug companies in the first place.

For full story, go to http://www.heraldonline.com/local/story/3299472p-2945158c.html.  

Patrick's organization recently hosted an excellent conference in the United Kingdom on Optimum Nutrition for the Mind and we received the following report.

Over 220 practitioners, including doctors, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, special needs teachers and nutritionists, attended the 'Optimum Nutrition for the Mind Conference' in London. The first day focused on problems with children. Pediatrician Dr Mary Megson from Virginia presented her extraordinary research proving that many autistic children have visual perception problems, correctable by fish oil high in vitamin A in the form of retinol. She explained how their behaviour made complete sense if you could understand what they saw. She is getting children out of the autistic spectrum within six months.

Dr Alex Richardson from Oxford University presented her research on EPA rich fish oils in dyslexia, dyspraxia (motor-perceptual problems) and so called ADHD, soon to be published. Dr Peter Willats from the University of Dundee has been researching omega 3 fats in pregnancy and infant and testing their subsequent mental performance. The fatty acid DHA, not EPA (which is also found in fish oils), has proven to cause highly significant improvements in infant learning and intelligence. DHA is now understood to be a 'structural' fat, essential for building young brains, while EPA influences 'function', hence is proving more important in dyslexia, depression and schizophrenia.

Patrick Holford from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition presented the case for the nutritional management of depression. He was followed by Professor Andr' Tylee from the Institute of Psychiatry, who is responsible for training all doctors in mental health issues in the UK, said that the orthomolecular approach " is the breakthrough we've been waiting for." He has a PhD vacancy to do a systematic review on nutrition and depression, to form part of the UK's manifesto of treatment strategies for all doctors. They launched a campaign to raise £25,000 to fund this research.

On day two Professor Tapan Audhya, from New York University Medical Center, presented his solid evidence that platelet levels of serotonin, dopamine, adrenalin and noradrenalin and acetylcholine correlate well with CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) levels, while plasma and urine levels do not. Dr Teodoro Bottiglieri, Associate Professor of Neuropharmacology at Baylor University Medical Center, Institute of Metabolic Disease in Dallas, Texas, presented cutting edge research into folate, B12, homocysteine and methylation across a range of mental health problems, confirming that homocysteine is an established indicator of methylation abnormalities and a risk factor for depression, cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. He was followed by Dr Andrew McCaddon, who has identified specific genetic mutations present in those with Alzheimer's disease and is showing reversal in those in the early stage of the disease with the use of glutathione-cobalamine.

There were other presentations on thyroid problems, eating disorders, brain allergies and minerals, the latter made by Deborah Colson and Lorraine Perretta, clinical nutritionists from London's recently opened Brain Bio Centre, an outpatient clinic for the treatment of mental health conditions using an orthomolecular approach.

The conference ended with a filmed lecture by Dr Abram Hoffer on his experience of treating over 5,000 schizophrenic patients with orthomolecular medicine, followed by a live question and answer session.

A set of CDs, with an accompanying manual, will be available shortly. If you are interested in receiving details please email info@mentalhealthproject.com. Also see www.mentalhealthproject.com and read the book Optimum Nutrition for the Mind by Patrick Holford, published by Piatkus, £12.99.

IF YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT PATRICK HOLFORD IN ENGLAND AT 070440 33318.  

Dr. Susser's recent study of blood samples collected from pregnant American women in the 1960s, when most automobile gasolines contained lead, finds that their offspring were more than twice as likely to develop schizophrenia in adulthood if the mothers were exposed to high levels of lead in exhaust fumes.

The dataset used in the research came from the Childhood Health and Development Study which ran between 1959 and 1966 in Oakland and enrolled almost 20,000 mothers.

He presented the work to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington State. "It's the first time that any environmental toxin has been related to the later risk of schizophrenia," he told the BBC. "It's a preliminary finding, but an intriguing one. We think that people will now look at a variety of environmental toxins which can disrupt brain development, and see whether they are also related to the risk of schizophrenia."

Dr Susser suspects that, as in fetal alcohol syndrome, the developing brain is damaged when poisoned nerve cells are unable to grow and establish connections with their neighbors. The cells in effect "commit suicide."

The search is now on for other samples collected during the era of leaded gasoline which could confirm the finding. If it is confirmed, it would have huge implications for the study of schizophrenia.

Dr Susser and colleagues' research is scheduled for publication in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.  

The editorial introduced a group of articles examining this "file drawer phenomenon" - drug companies' withholding of clinical trial results that might prove a "commercial liability."

GlaxoSmithKline's suppression of findings that Paxil (paroxetine) is no more effective on children than sugar pills shared the spotlight with other antidepressant trials involving children and teenagers.

Prompted by reports that SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) have been a factor in child suicides, several countries have recently urged caution or outright banned prescribing most of the drugs to children and teens. Health Canada is assembling an expert panel to study worldwide safety data on the issue.

Dr. Jane Garland, head of the mood and anxiety disorders clinic at the British Columbia Children's Hospital, revealed that in her role as a researcher she saw negative results from trials on paroxetine but was barred from discussing them for 10 years by non-disclosure contracts. She told the journal she would never again do a industry-funded trial under those conditions.

Merck Research Laboratories' vice-president of medical communications, Dr. Laurence Hirsch, defended the practice:

"Premature disclosure of proprietary information by Merck (or other companies) can result in significant competitive disadvantage and loss of incentive or reward for new product development."

Hirsch acknowledged that Merck has adopted guidelines committing the company to publishing the results of "hypothesis-testing clinical trials, regardless of outcome."

Dismissing the competitive edge as inadequate justification for endangering lives, the journal's editorial board urged Health Canada to become more demanding of drug companies: "In the regulation of clinical testing of drugs and devices, safety and efficacy must trump proprietary rights every time."

No SSRI has been approved by Health Canada for patients under 18, although the so-called "off-label" use of medications is common in many areas of treatment. A few weeks ago, Health Canada issued an advisory to anyone under 18 taking one of seven antidepressants to consult with their doctors "to confirm that the benefits still outweigh the potential risk."

"The disappointing reality is that antidepressant medications have minimal to no effectiveness in childhood depression beyond a placebo effect," Dr. Garland said in one of the commentaries. She said the lack of evidence showing significant benefits from adolescent use of the drugs is stunning, given the huge increase in such prescriptions in recent years.

"Some of [the data] is more than five years old. So it's been sitting there not informing the scientists who are making the recommendations to the general physicians out there."

She said physicians should inform young patients and their parents that medication will not cure depression, although it might improve some symptoms. And they should also be told that psychiatric or behavioral adverse effects are at least as likely as antidepressant effects, Dr. Garland said.