When it comes to tackling mental illness and other disorders, the marketplace seems to be saying that conventional is not always the best way to go.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, no fan of radical methods and procedures, on its website notes that “more than one-third of American adults reported using some form of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) and that visits to CAM providers each year exceed those to primary-care physicians,”
That may help explain why non-traditional forms of therapy such as meditation, lifestyle changes and nutritional supplements are gaining traction as ways to improve mental health. Increasingly, medication isn’t the only line of defense.
“Physicians are the number one prescribers of anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication in this country,” said Dr. Patti Kimbel, a psychologist and director of training for graduate students in clinical psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago.“Their approach is, ‘Here, take this pill.’ It’s not, ‘Why don’t you seek some counseling?’ ”
Even though professional treatment is often recommended, it is not always an option for everyone because of expense and work schedules. Those looking for outside help often turn to the internet, books and magazines according to a paper published at Harvard University titled “FDA and the Challenge of Alternative Medicine.”
Support for non-traditional options is not universal. So, although the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) may favor the unconventional, the FDA usually doesn’t.
Harvard notes the agency responsible for protecting public health by regulating products and the nation’s food supply “has displayed a simple lack of coherent policy toward alternative medicine.” It adds the FDA does not consider alternative medicine a realistic option because it’s not generally taught in U.S. medical schools.
Treatments and medicines from other cultures are assumed to be dangerous, and there are also concerns that natural products presumed to be safe can be “consumed in such concentrated doses that they can be toxic and even deadly.”
For its part, the FDA says that products used in a CAM therapy or practice will be “subject to regulation as a drug. This applies to any product that is not generally recognized by scientific experts to ensure the effects and safety of the drug.”
Other products and practices not considered conventional medicine include energy therapies, manipulative body-based methods and mind-body medicine.
Although NAMI says natural products such as Omega-3 found in fish can be taken in place of medication to help halt the advance of schizophrenia, other studies noted in the Journal of Clinical Medicine say supporting data actually are inconclusive. The same is true regarding the benefits of folic acids and vitamin supplements.
The therapeutic effects of such mind-and-body treatments as yoga, exercise and tai chi are less in dispute.
So, why does this matter? One reason is that encountering mental illness is more common than one might think. According to NAMI, “43.8 million [Americans] experience mental illness in a given year [or 1 in 5 adults],” with “half of mental health conditions [beginning] by age 14.”
A second is that some people with a mental illness may begin to internalize stereotypes or refuse to get treatment to avoid being labeled. According to NAMI, “Nearly 60 percent of adults with a mental illness didn’t receive mental health services in the previous year.”
Ashley Gilbert, 26, doesn’t necessarily fit in to any group, but has been experimenting with meditation for four months. The single mom and full-time supervisor has not been diagnosed with a mental illness but said she has struggled with stress management and anxiety after being harassed on the job by a former manager. Ordinary things frustrate Gilbert, but she found relief when she learned to focus her thoughts and reach a heightened level of awareness.
“You are at peace in meditation,” she said.
According a journal published by the American Medical Association, a 2012 study on the effects of meditation conducted on more than 3,000 people found “mindfulness meditation programs had moderate evidence of improved anxiety, depression and pain, and low evidence of improved stress/distress and mental health-related quality of life.”
Gilbert doesn’t think medication should be anyone’s only treatment option, touting the power of learning how to channel emotions through taking up art or writing, and making healthy lifestyle choices such as cutting back on coffee and drinking more water.
“Holistic practices are amazing,” Gilbert said. “I’d prefer them over medication, (which) doesn’t do anything but cause other health-related issues.”
