Nutritional Hope For "Psychiatric" Disorders
More and more children and young adults are being labelled by psychiatrists as having ADHD, Autism and many other "behavioural" disorders. Adults are being increasingly diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer's, etc. Whilst these diagnoses might well have some foundation, are we treating these conditions the correct way by putting these people on mind-altering drugs for life, along with all the side effects that these chemicals can entail?
I have recently studied a book called "Nutrient Power" (ISBN:1-62087-258-1) by Dr William Walsh, a psychiatrist, who has a very different approach to behavioural problems, an approach that seems, from my own practical application, to have much validity. Dr Walsh has investigated, over many years, the nutritional requirements for an efficiently functioning brain. Dr Walsh is the third generation of psychiatrists who have been attempting to promote this approach. The first was Dr Abram Hoffer, a Canadian, then Dr Carl Pfeiffer and, most recently, Dr Walsh.
As a nutritional therapist, I have learnt a lot about nutrition for the body as a whole, and in particular the necessary ingredients for a balanced, properly cleansed brain, with efficiently functioning nerves. Dr Walsh's book is a revelation in terms of the nutritional connections that can be made between brain function and "mental" illness triggered by vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
His approach is summed up in his own words as follows: "I believe we are approaching a new, enlightened era in mental health in which therapies will be aimed at normalising brain function, rather than introducing foreign molecules into the brain". Dr Walsh even goes so far as to predict that, within ten to fifteen years, the majority of "mental patients" will be kept symptom free with the appropriate nutritional supplements rather than drugs.
This, to me, is sanity, and leads to the handling of the physical reasons that irregular behaviour can manifest itself, rather than drugging the person in an attempt to control the visible effects. How much more fulfilling would the life of these sufferers be if nutritional supplements were used to balance brain and nerve function, rather than mind altering drugs being prescribed for them?
One of my Kinesiolology (muscle testing) techniques can test for such malfunction and the appropriate nutrition can be found for the imbalance. I can even do this through a trusted adult, if the child is incapable of co-operating themselves.