After you have reviewed this site, or downloaded and read one or more of the booklets, please contact us and let us know what you think about it.

Alternatives to psychiatric Drugs

The First Alternative is Do No Harm

Causes of Mental Symptoms

Click here to download the report “Medical Causes of Psychiatric Illness”.

No one denies that people can have difficult problems in their lives, that at times they can be mentally unstable.

Unfortunately, not only do psychiatrists not understand the etiology (cause) of any mental disorder, they cannot cure them. In effect, psychiatrists are still saying that mental problems are incurable and that the afflicted are condemned to lifelong suffering—on psychotropic drugs. Psychotropic drugs, however, are unworkable and dangerous, and while they may temporarily mask some symptoms they do not treat, correct or cure any physical disease or condition.

Though psychiatry may have given up on mental healing, this is fortunately false. Mental problems can be resolved, and thankfully so. Imagine how it would be to believe man was destined never to overcome his personal obstacles, never to arrive at an understanding of himself and life.

A person who is mentally disturbed may be in a state of deficiency or have physical problems that prevent their recovery. Broken bones, pinched nerves, pain — all can affect the body and, thereby, affect the person’s mental outlook. The person is medically ill or injured, not “insane.” He may not even be aware that he is experiencing the pain or unwanted sensation and thinks this is a “normal” way of life. He may not be able to eat and sleep properly and his condition could worsen by exhaustion.

However, once the medical problem is addressed, he can experience resurgence and whatever else may be troubling him can then be more easily addressed.

This is not to say that mental troubles are physical. They are not. Psychiatrists argue that mental disorders are biologically based to justify using treatments that cause more physical stress and further overwhelm the mind.

Therefore, the correct action on a seriously mentally disturbed person is a full searching clinical examination by a competent medical doctor.

The Second Alternative is Find and Fix The Cause

Things That May Cause Mental Symptoms

All of these various things may seriously affect an individual’s mental state and behavior. For example, Dr. Paul Fink, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, has acknowledged that every psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) can be caused by Lyme Disease. Psychiatry ignores the weight of scientific evidence and limits practice to pharmaceutical and other treatments that have done nothing but damage the brain and the individual. This is not an exhaustive list:

Adrenal Over– or Under–activity
Alcohol or Alcohol Withdrawal
Altzheimer’s Disease
Amphetamines
Antidepressant Drugs
Antipsychotic Drugs
Brain Tumors
Broken Bones
Caffeine or Caffeine Withdrawal
Calcium Imbalance
Cancer
Candida
Chlamydia
Cocaine
Copper Poisoning
Diabetes
Diphtheria
Drug Withdrawal
Ecstasy
Encephalitis
Epilepsy
Heart Disease
Heroin
Herpes
HIV
Hypoglycemia
Insecticide Poisoning
Kidney Disease
Lead Poisoning
Legionnaires Disease
Liver Disease
LSD
Lupus
Lyme Disease
Malaria
Marijuana
Meningitis
Menopausal Symptoms
Mercury Poisoning
Metabolic Abnormalities
Methamphetamines
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Multiple Sclerosis
Nicotine or Nicotine Withdrawal
Nutritional Imbalances
Overdose of Over–the–counter drugs
Parasites
Pellagra (Vitamin B3–Niacin Deficiency)
Pinched Nerves
Pneumonia
Porphyria
Rheumatic Fever
Sepsis
Sleep Apnea
Sodium Imbalance
Steroids
Streptococcal Infections
Strokes
Synthetic Food Coloring
Syphilis
Thyroid Over– or Under–activity
Tranquilizers
Typhoid Fever
Urinary Tract Infections
Vitamin B1 Deficiency
Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Vitamin B9–Folic Acid Deficiency
Vitamin D Deficiency
Wheat–gluten Sensitivity
Zinc Deficiency

While certain kinds of infections are known to cause mental symptoms, they are rarely considered during psychiatric examinations and diagnosis. The problem is not the lack of a well-defined medical body of knowledge, but the lack of mental health practitioners qualified to make such a diagnosis or even suspect it.

Remember, the brain is your body’s most energy–intensive organ. It represents only three percent of your body weight but uses twenty–five percent of your body’s oxygen, nutrients and circulating glucose. Therefore any significant metabolic disruptions can impact brain function first. “Mental” symptoms may improve dramatically when hidden neuroimmune infections are treated successfully and normal brain metabolism resumes.

Click here to download the report “The Role of Infections in Mental Illness”.

Why some people say that drugs “work”

Many patients are surprised at the unexpected effects of psychiatric drugs. They take them to alleviate their anxiety or something similar, only to experience an array of odd physical and mental reactions. The result may be minor, such as dryness of mouth or loss of appetite or it may be a full–blown psychotic fit, and sometimes, even death.

Psychotropic drugs may relieve the pressure that an underlying physical problem could be causing but they do not treat, correct or cure any physical disease or condition. This relief may have the person thinking he is better but the relief is not evidence that a psychiatric disorder exists. Ask an illicit drug user whether he feels better when snorting cocaine or smoking dope and he’ll believe that he is, even while the drugs are actually damaging him. Some drugs that are prescribed to treat depression can have a “damping down” effect. They suppress the physical feelings associated with “depression” but they are not alleviating the condition or targeting what is causing it.

The drugs break into, in most cases, the routine rhythmic flows and activities of the nervous system. Given a tranquilizer, the nerves and other body systems are forced to do things they normally would not do.

The human body, however, is unmatched in its ability to withstand and respond to such disruptions. The various systems fight back, trying to process the chemical, and work diligently to counterbalance its effect on the body.

But the body can only take so much. Quickly or slowly, the systems break down. Human physiology was not designed for the continuous manufacture of euphoric, tranquilizing, or antidepressant sensations. Yet it is forced into this enterprise by psychiatric drugs.

Tissue damage may occur. Nerves stop functioning normally. Organs and hormonal systems go awry. This can be temporary, but it can also be long lasting, even permanent.

Like a car run on rocket fuel, you may be able to get it to run a thousand miles an hour, but the tires, the engine, the internal parts, were never meant for this. The machine flies apart.

Bizarre things happen: Addiction, exhaustion, diminished sexual desire, trembling, nightmares, hallucinations, and psychosis. Side effects are, in fact, the body’s natural response to having a chemical disrupt its normal functioning.

Once the drug has worn off, the original problem remains. As a solution or cure to life’s problems, psychotropic drugs do not work.

What you can do

Although CCHR does not condone or promote any specific practitioner, medical organization, practice or group, we have found the resources here to be helpful for individuals looking for more information about alternatives to psychiatry.

CCHR recommends a full, searching medical examination by a non-psychiatric health care professional, with appropriate clinical tests, to determine if there are undetected and untreated medical conditions that could be causing or contributing to mental distress. Download this document to read about how this can occur: California Medical Evaluation Field Manual.

Download, print and distribute to your family, friends and colleagues this CCHR report: