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In This Issue
about
safe harbor
about
alternative
mentalhealth.com
Editor's note
Articles
MEN OVER
FORTY MORE LIKELY TO FATHER AUTISTIC CHILDREN
BIG PHARMA
FACES HAILSTORM OF LAWSUITS
SOME HIGH
COPPER LEVELS ASSOCIATED WITH MENTAL DECLINE
"FRIENDLY"
BACTERIA MAY DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE AUTISM
FDA Orders
Strong Warnings on Stimulants
SMOKING
AND LEAD EXPOSURE LINKED TO ADHD SYMPTOMS
Announcements
integrative
psychiatrist seeks research partners
STATE OF
ALASKA FUNDS ALTERNATIVE MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY CONCEPT
The Editors
Dan Stradford, Editor
Alan Graham and Gloria McTaggart, Contributing
Editors
SafeHarborProj@aol.com
AlternativeMentalHealth.com
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About Safe Harbor
Safe Harbor was founded in 1998 in the
wake of growing public dissatisfaction with the unwanted
effects of orthodox psychiatric treatments such as medication
and shock therapy.
Seeking to satisfy the desire for safer, more
effective treatments, Safe Harbor is dedicated to educating
the public, the medical profession, and government officials
on research and treatments that, minimally, do no harm and,
optimally, cure the causes of severe mental symptoms. Our
primary thrust is education on the medical causes of severe
mental symptoms and the use of nutritional and other natural
treatments.
About AlternativeMental
Health.com
ALTERNATIVEMENTALHEALTH.COM
is the world's largest website devoted exclusively to
alternative mental health treatments. It includes a directory
of over 300 physicians, nutritionists, experts, organizations,
and facilities around the U.S. that offer or promote safe,
alternative treatments for severe mental symptoms. Many of the
physicians listed do in-depth examinations to find the
physical causes behind mental problems.
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.
Contact Us
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Altadena, CA 91001
Phone: 626-791-7868
Fax: 626-791-7869 SafeHarborProj@aol.com
AlternativeMentalHealth.com
Safe Harbor Oklahoma
Sandra Lykins, President
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Tulsa, Oklahoma 74137
Email: Okalternativementalhealth@
yahoo.com
phone: 918-271-2327
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Editor's note
It has been little over a year since our last issue of the
Alternative Mental Health News and, from the many emails we
received, we know our one-of-a-kind ezine has been missed.
As the founder of Safe Harbor, I stepped down so that I
could better juggle a number of matters that were consuming my
time (including the birth of my gorgeous granddaughter).
Unfortunately, our ezine was a casualty of that change.
I have been grateful to Safe Harbor's new executive
director Danielle Anderson and our intrepid volunteers Wendy
Bolt and Chris Daino who have so generously filled my shoes
and kept Safe Harbor's mission active in the world of mental
health. Our popular website, http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.su4co9n6.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.AlternativeMentalHealth.com,
continues to receive over 1500 visitors a day and we continue
to hear moving stories from many, many people whose lives have
been dramatically improved through alternative mental health
treatments.
It pleases me greatly to announce that I am able to work
again with Safe Harbor in a limited capacity and, as a result,
our ezine is alive once again. We hope to continue it monthly
and will make all efforts to do so.
Amazingly, we have the entire original editorial staff of
Alan Graham, Gloria McTaggart, and myself back on the job so
the quality and content should look pretty familiar!
It's great to be back, folks.
MEN OVER FORTY MORE LIKELY TO
FATHER AUTISTIC CHILDREN
A study published in the September 2006 issue of the Archives
of General Psychiatry found a dramatic increase in the
likelihood of autism as the age of the father increases at
conception.
The research looked at Jewish persons born in Israel over a
six-year period, using draft board assessments done on
individuals at the age of seventeen. Records included the age
of their fathers in most instances and the age of the mother
is some instances.
The researchers reported that advancing maternal age showed
no association with the likelihood of offspring developing
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
However, paternal age was an entirely different matter.
"There was a significant monotonic [constant] association
between advancing paternal age and risk of ASD," they
wrote. Offspring of men 40 years or older were 5.75 times more
likely to have ASD compared with offspring of men younger than
30 years, after controlling for year of birth, socioeconomic
status, and maternal age.
Researchers concluded that contributing
biological mechanisms may be mutations associated with
advancing age or alterations in genetic imprinting.
BIG PHARMA FACES HAILSTORM OF
LAWSUITS
Research findings of the firm
Thomson West, reported on August 23, 2006 at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.yl9syybab.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com,
found that the pharmaceutical industry was hit with far more
product liability lawsuits in 2005 than any other industry:
- Pharmaceutical: 17,027
- Manufacturing: 3,236
- Chemicals: 2,875
- Construction: 2,717
- Financial Services: 2,636
- Insurance: 1,926
Since the year 2000, 65,000 plaintiffs have filed suit
against drug-makers, again higher than in any other industry.
"The lawyers have created almost an assembly-line
approach to use," said Professor Lars Noah of the
University of Florida College of Law, "...against an
industry that's in tobacco-land in terms of how much people
hate it."
In recent years more than 6,000 lawsuits have been filed
against four drugs taken by millions of patients: Prempro, a
hormone-replacement drug; Ortho Evra, a birth-control patch;
Seroquel, an anti-psychotic; and Neurontin, an anti-seizure
drug. Plaintiffs claim that drugmakers failed to disclose the
drugs' risks or failed to properly test them, or both.
Merck's painkiller Vioxx, no longer on the market, faces
14,000 lawsuits.
A major question being raised is whether the drug firms or
the FDA are paying close enough attention to patient safety.
This question has been posed for decades by the natural
healing community, pointing out that drugs – not being a
natural part of bodily function – always have a risky
trade-off. Potential side effects – sometimes serious or
deadly – are part and parcel of taking medications. However,
what drug companies and the FDA consider "acceptable
risk" becomes quite a personal matter when it happens to
you or a family member, as evidenced by the recent blitz of
lawsuits.
In 2005, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly spent a billion
dollars settling over 10,000 lawsuits claiming its
antipsychotic Zyprexa caused diabetes or high blood glucose.
Seroquel – which has become the market's top antipsychotic
with more than 16 million users in less than ten years - has
been hit with similar claims. Suits filed say that the drug's
manufacturer, AstraZeneca, downplayed risks and hid important
safety information from the FDA.
The skyrocketing number of lawsuits has taken a
toll on consumer confidence. Lisa Rickard, president of the
U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, cites a 2003 Harris
Poll, commissioned by her group, that found that almost 40% of
physicians told their patients to stop taking necessary
medications after they heard a drug was involved in a
liability lawsuit.
SOME HIGH COPPER LEVELS
ASSOCIATED WITH MENTAL DECLINE
For years a number of nutritionally-oriented practitioners,
including William Walsh, Ph.D., of the Pfeiffer Treatment
Center near Chicago, the world's largest nutritional mental
health center, have been reporting that high blood copper
levels are a common risk factor for a broad spectrum of severe
mental symptoms. As an extreme example, victims of Wilson's
Disease, a liver ailment that affects the body's ability to
process copper, are often erroneously diagnosed with bipolar
disorder or schizophrenia because of their copper-induced
behavior.
A study reported in the August 2006 issue of the Archives
of Neurology looked into the effects of high dietary
copper intake when combined with the high intake of saturated
and trans fats. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature
and are found in animal meats and skin, dairy products, and
some vegetable oils. Trans fats (short for trans fatty acid)
are artificially created oils made by adding hydrogen. Trans
fats are widely known to be unhealthy.
The study, carried out in Chicago, Illinois, studied 3718
people, aged 65 and older, for six years. Dietary habits were
established through food frequency questionnaires. Cognitive
ability was determined through four tests administered during
in-home interviews at three year intervals.
Researchers found that among those with a high ingestion of
saturated fats and trans fats, higher copper intake (including
from vitamin-mineral supplements) was associated with a faster
decline in mental function. For some it added almost twenty
years to their age in terms of mental decline.
Copper intake was not associated with cognitive
change among persons whose diets were not high in these fats.
"FRIENDLY" BACTERIA
MAY DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE AUTISM
"Probiotics" is a term used to describe bacteria
that is necessary to and supportive of a healthy digestive
system.
A study involving probiotic bacteria being given to
autistic children improved their concentration and behavior so
much that medical trials collapsed because parents refused to
accept placebos, according to the September 5, 2006, issue of The
Scotsman.
The probiotics had such a marked effect on study
participants that, even though it was a blind trial, some of
the parents soon realized their children were not part of the
placebo group. When called upon to switch to the
"other" side of the trial, i.e. the placebo (a
standard step in blind trials), the parents refused to subject
their children to a loss of substantially regained function.
One parent called such a thought "heartbreaking."
The trial could no longer continue.
Professor Glen Gibson, a microbiologist from Reading
University who ran the study, reported that parents told him
the probiotics gave their children "better concentration
and better behavior."
Prof. Gibson said that previous research had found that
autistic children had high levels of "unfriendly"
bacteria called clostridia in the gut. He pointed out that
certain kinds of clostridia produced neurotoxins, which
potentially could be a cause or contributing factor of autism.
The probiotic treatment was designed to reduce clostridia
levels and promote "friendly" bacteria instead to
see what effect this would have.
After the treatment, which was given in a powder once a
day, the children appeared to show fewer signs of autism.
"We asked the parents to fill in diaries about the
mood of the children," he said. "We got very
positive feedback generally."
He said that neurotoxins may not be the only
possible troublemaker. The apparent improvement could also
simply be because the children felt better. "If your gut
is not behaving yourself, you feel rough," Prof Gibson
said.
FDA ORDERS STRONG WARNINGS ON STIMULANTS
In August 2006, Federal drug regulators ordered that strong
warnings be put on the labels of stimulants like Ritalin,
Concerta, and Adderall, to caution against their use in adults
or children with heart problems and to alert physicians that
the drugs cause one child in a thousand to experience
hallucinations.
This falls short of the black box warning urged by the
FDA's scientific advisors, led by Dr. Steve Nissen, in
February 2006. (A black box warning means that medical studies
indicate that the drug carries a significant risk of serious
or even life-threatening adverse effects.)
"Sudden deaths, strokes and myocardial infarction have
been reported in adults taking stimulant drugs at usual
doses," the new warning states in part. This echoes the
statements already published by Novartis in its Ritalin
prescribing information (June 2006):
Sudden death has been reported in association
with CNS [Central Nervous System] stimulant treatment at usual
doses in children and adolescents with structural cardiac
abnormalities or other serious heart problems... stimulant
products generally should not be used in children or
adolescents with known serious structural cardiac
abnormalities, cardiomyopathy, serious heart rhythm
abnormalities, or other serious cardiac problems that may
place them at increased vulnerability to the sympathomimetic
[stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, the source of
"fight or flight" reactions—Ed.] effects of a
stimulant drug.
... adults have a greater likelihood than
children of having serious structural cardiac abnormalities,
cardiomyopathy, serious heart rhythm abnormalities, coronary
artery disease, or other serious cardiac problems. Adults with
[serious cardiac] abnormalities should also generally not be
treated with stimulant drugs.
see http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.zl9syybab.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pharma.us.novartis.com%2Fproduct%2Fpi%2Fpdf%2Fritalin_la.pdf
The February report to the FDA covered 25 deaths suspected
to be linked to ADHD drugs between 1999 and 2003, as well as
54 cases of severe cardiovascular problems, including heart
attack, stroke, hypertension, palpitations and arrhythmia, in
adults and children being treated with the drugs.
A prominent case was that of 14-year-old Matthew Smith, who
dropped dead of a heart attack while skateboarding in 2000.
The death certificate was unequivocal: "Death caused from
Long Term Use of Methylphenidate." Matthew had been
taking Ritalin since age 7.
Upon autopsy, Matthew's heart showed clear signs of small
vessel damage caused from the use of Methylphenidate,
according to Dr. Ljuba Dragovic, Chief Pathologist of Oakland
County, Michigan.
The FDA is aware that heart conditions are likely to go
undetected in children, even those being prescribed a powerful
stimulant like methylphenidate. "The difficulty for
parents is that doctors won't do a thousand-dollar heart
work-up for every kid," said Dr. Robert J. Temple,
director of the FDA's Office of Medical Policy, in reference
to the new warnings. "The message here, though, is that
you have to do your best to find these problems out. Listen
for murmurs."
But listening for murmurs would not have saved Matthew
Smith. According to his father, Lawrence T. Smith,
I was told by one of the medical examiners
that a full-grown man's heart weighs about 350 grams and that
Matthew's heart's weight was about 402 grams. Dr. Dragovic
said this type of heart damage is smoldering and not easily
detected with the standard test done for prescription refills.
The standard test usually consists of blood work, listening to
the heart [emphasis added], and questions about school
behaviors, sleeping and eating habits.
see http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.9l9syybab.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ritalindeath.com%2F
Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld wrote in 2003:
Lawrence Smith, father of the youngster, has
testified that he and his wife were forced by Michigan Social
Services to put their child on Ritalin or else be charged for
neglecting their son's educational and emotional needs.
It has also been known since 1986 that
methylphenidate, the generic term for Ritalin, causes
shrinkage of the brain. A study that appeared in Psychiatry
Research (Vol. 17, 1986) states: "The data in this
study are suggestive of mild cerebral atrophy in young male
adults who had a diagnosis of HK/MBD [Hyperkinesis/Minimal
Brain Dysfunction] during childhood and had received stimulant
drug treatment for a period of time."
Another study published in Archives of
General Psychiatry (July 1996) found that "Subjects
with ADHD had a 4.7% smaller total cerebral volume."
Fifty-three of the fifty-seven subjects with ADHD had been
previously treated with psychostimulants. Apparently, these
drugs constrict the flow of blood.
see http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.8l9syybab.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newswithviews.com%2FBlumenfeld%2FSamuel.htm
For non-drug approaches in treating ADHD
symptoms, the article "50 conditions mimicking ADHD"
appears at
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.7l9syybab.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fadhdparentssupportgroup.homestead.com%2F50conditionsmimicingADHD.html
SMOKING AND LEAD EXPOSURE LINKED TO ADHD SYMPTOMS
The diagnosis of ADHD – Attention Deficit and
Hyperactivity Disorder – and its treatment through
stimulants and other medications – has been controversial
since its inception, infuriating many parents and grandparents
who see most of it as lazy parenting of active children. And
we at Safe Harbor have heard from many, many parents who have
been told to medicate their children for ADHD and chose not to
and report happy outcomes.
However, while the diagnosis has a strong reputation for
being overused, some children do manifest out-of-control
behavior that can bring about the bewilderment of the most
diligent parents and teachers. For them, the following
research may be of help.
In a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives,
researchers found that nearly a third of diagnosed ADHD cases
may be due to two preventable causes: early childhood exposure
to environmental lead and exposure to tobacco smoke in the
womb. [Note: lead is item #6 in the list of "50
conditions mimicking ADHD" referenced at the end of the
previous article, which states: "Lead is the leading
culprit in toxin-caused hyperactivity."]
Bruce Lanphear, MD, director of the Cincinnati Children's
Environmental Health Center at the Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center, and his colleagues studied studied
more than 4,700 children aged 4-15 and found that 4.2% – or
1 in 25 children – were reported to have ADHD treated with
medication. The researchers extrapolated that this would put
the number of ADHD-medicated children in the U.S. at 1.8
million.
The study found that children born to women who smoked
during pregnancy have a 250% higher risk of ADHD symptoms than
children born to nonsmoking women.
Additionally, it was discovered that children with blood
lead levels of 2 micrograms per deciliter to 5 micrograms per
deciliter were four times as likely to have ADHD symptoms. And
these levels are only one-fifth to one-half of the current
acceptable toxic level set by the U.S. government. The study
found that the higher the lead level, the higher the risk of
ADHD symptoms.
Lanphear and his team concluded that
tobacco-related ADHD symptoms could account for 270,000 of
current cases and lead-induced symptoms could contribute
290,000 cases for a total of more that 31% of the total
ADHD-treated cases in the nation.
INTEGRATIVE PSYCHIATRIST SEEKS RESEARCH PARTNERS
Clancy McKenzie, M.D., a highly-respected integrative
psychiatrist from Pennsylvania (www.drmckenzie.com), has
passed along the following information to Safe Harbor's
Integrative Psychiatry listserv, seeking practitioners
interested in taking part in a study. Any practitioners
interested may contact him at szresnp@yahoo.com.
"I have a proposal for a study: There is an herbal
remedy for depression that reportedly has extraordinary
results, and is made from 14 Chinese herbs, 5 drops every 4 to
8 hours. We probably can get samples, and perhaps everyone can
try it on a few patients.
"We do need an objective instrument to use, but that
would be too expensive. My first thought is: there is an older
version of the Hamilton Depression Scale that a friend has,
and for which there was no limit to the number of usages. This
is a possibility.
"Another possibility is to gather data on 100
individuals, before and after, and divide the composite number
by 100 and submit that if that is acceptable.
"My proposal is to begin with
non-psychotic Major Depression, make sure there is no change
in medication within two weeks either side of the trial, and
each person test a depressed patient or several – and by the
time there are 100 patients in the study, we can tabulate the
data. We might be able to get 1,000 people into the study –
and all at no cost."
STATE OF ALASKA FUNDS ALTERNATIVE MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY
CONCEPT
In the 1970s psychiatrist Loren Mosher, then chief of the
National Institute of Mental Health's Center for Studies of
Schizophrenia, made international headlines with Soteria
House, a non-drug mental health facility for people newly
diagnosed with schizophrenia. Mosher showed that, with his
simple instructions to the staff to "be with and do
with" the patients, he was able to achieve comparable
recovery rates to those treated with medication. The obvious
upside was that Mosher's patients did not have the drug
side-effects.
Although Dr. Mosher passed away not too long ago, his ideas
live on. Earlier this year the state of Alaska funded $78,000
to Soteria-Alaska, Inc., a nonprofit, to develop a full
business plan for the creation of a Soteria House in Alaska.
On September 6, 2006, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
approved another $280,000 in funds for the further development
of Soteria over the next two years.
Full information on the project may be seen at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=6qyeyybab.0.6l9syybab.sx8mssn6.11986&ts=S0204&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soteria-alaska.com.
The project's principles include: "No or low-dose
neuroleptic drug use to avoid their acute 'dumbing down'
effects and their suppression of affective expression; also
avoids risk of long-term toxicities. Benzodiazepines may be
used short-term to restore the sleep/wake cycles."
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