Alcoholism – Healthy.net

The Wrong Damn Question

Laura McKowen — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 17:49:29 +0000

I used to take the Quiz. You know, the “Am I an Alcoholic?” one — with twenty questions promising to reveal whether or not you should stop what you’re doing and head to a 12-step meeting.

I took it in my twenties and, to my relief, answered “no” to enough questions. I took it again in my thirties and stopped answering around question 5 — “Have you given up hobbies or activities you used to enjoy?” — because I thought that was stupid. Of course I’ve given up hobbies and activities I used to enjoy — I have a toddler.

Maybe you’ve never taken the quiz, or maybe you have. I know my in-box is full of emails from people who are asking themselves the same questions that quiz asked me. And their answers pulse with the same level of unnecessary detail and caveats I used to mutter at my computer screen.

I’m going to offer a completely different alternative. This suggestion is likely to make some very smart and well-meaning heads explode, but it’s a question worth asking if we’re ever going to really change how we view this stuff.

Who cares if you’re an alcoholic?

Honestly. Who cares? What would it mean if I told you that you were? What would it mean if I told you you were not?

Let’s play out each scenario:

Scenario 1: Yes, You Are an Alcoholic

Congratulations, you’ve acquired an unwanted label! Instead of feeling empowered to explore your relationship with alcohol with openness and curiosity, it becomes a thing. It means you possibly have to…what? Seek support? Go to a 12-step meeting? Confess your condition to your friends and family?

And now suddenly changing your relationship with alcohol — which could have been a positive choice you make for yourself — now becomes an impossible chore, a “broken piece” in you that you have to “fix,” a standard for judging yourself and others. Your perspective shifts from How can I take the best care of myself possible, so I can feel connected and alive in my life? to feeling jealous and comparing yourself with others who are “not alcoholics” and “get” to drink “normally.”

Now maybe, you don’t mind taking on the label alcoholic because it gives you a real reason to abstain from drinking. It’s cold, hard proof you can show your friends and family and coworkers when they ask why you’re not having wine with dinner. “Oh, I can’t do that anymore,” you say, as you pull your alcoholic ID card from your wallet and lay it on the table with a satisfied smile, “I am an alcoholic.” Kind of like turning down dessert because you’re diabetic. Because what other reason is passable? You couldn’t possibly just…choose not to drink. Shudder.

I’m making this scenario sound absurd because it is. Most people would rather be diagnosed with a personality disorder than alcoholism. What it really comes down to is this: Do you give yourself permission to make your own choices — choices that are good for you?

Scenario 2: No, You’re Not an Alcoholic

You sigh with relief. Thank God, you think. Now I can go back to drinking my wine without worrying that I’ll soon find myself drinking vodka out of the bottle in my bathtub — just to keep from beating the kids.

Maybe you skip the wine here and there because you remember how great you felt for that month and a half when you gave it up for Lent. Maybe you do a Dry July or a Sober October, and each time, you feel that same surprising sense of optimism and openness to life.

But you go back to alcohol because, well, you’re not an alcoholic. Your spark dims a bit. That pesky anxiety gnaws at you. You’re generally hazy and less motivated. But that’s just life, right? You’re not an alcoholic, so these feelings can’t be related to the margarita you had last night. Alcohol’s only real side effect is a hangover, right?

Besides, you can quit easily — whenever you want. What’s two glasses of wine with dinner, anyway? Life is meant to be lived! C’est la vie and carpe diem! You’ve never suffered any negative consequences from drinking, really. You’re not like the girl whose book you read, who crashed her car and got a DUI and left her daughter unattended during a blackout. Or the person who drank in the mornings, or the one who lost custody of his kids, or the one who lost his job because he called in sick too many days because he was hungover.

It’s not like that.

It’s fine.

You’re fine.

It’s not like you’re an alcoholic.

* * *

See what I mean? The label means too much. Addiction is so stigmatized in our society that we think there are only two types of people when it comes to drinking: alcoholics and everyone else. And if you’re not in the first bucket, drinking is fun! In fact, who would quit unless they had to?

One woman wrote me a letter describing how her mood and outlook improved after a month without wine, and — because feeling so much better surprised her — she was concerned she might be an alcoholic. As if only alcoholics feel better when they don’t drink.

Being an alcoholic or not had no bearing on the anxiety and cravings she felt around dinnertime the first week she didn’t drink. No, those cravings surfaced because alcohol is an addictive substance and a social buffer and she wasn’t using it anymore. She’d become used to life with alcohol and had maybe even become addicted to it. Because it’s addictive.

Here’s the dirty little truth no one likes to admit — everyone feels better in the long run when they don’t drink. Not just alcoholics — everyone. Because putting alcohol into your body isn’t life giving; it’s life sucking. Nobody’s life actually improves because of alcohol, even though most people I know would scoff at that — That’s what you think [*wink, wink* *clink, clink*] — and society tells us otherwise ten ways to Sunday.

Most people have no idea what their bodies feel like without it for an extended period of time. Alcohol is so normalized, so everywhere, so much a part of the fabric of mainstream society that most people will never experience life without it unless they’re forced to.

Weird, right?

Isn’t it completely f@#king bizarre that we don’t question (and, in fact, highly encourage) regular consumption of a drug that’s more harmful and causes more deaths than cocaine, heroin, and meth combined? If someone stopped doing coke for a month and felt better, we wouldn’t sit there and wonder whether they were an addict or could go back to recreational line snorting. Or let’s look at smoking, which we were duped for decades into thinking was actually fine, and even healthy! Now that we know better, nobody questions the decision to stop smoking. Smoking is just so obviously stupid and dangerous.

And yet, alcohol is still cool. Unless you’re an alcoholic. In which case you’d better deal with it…

…quietly…

…over there…

…without ruining the party for everyone else.

# # #

Laura McKowen is the bestselling author of We Are the Luckiest, host of the Tell Me Something True podcast, and founder and CEO of The Luckiest Club, a global web-based sobriety support community. Beloved for her soulful and irreverent writing, Laura has been published in The New York Times, and her work has been featured by The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, the Today show, and more. Visit her online at http:/www.lauramckowen.com.

A Bigger Yes

Laura McKowen — Sun, 09 Feb 2020 17:36:33 +0000

Before Laura McKowen got sober, she had a long, successful career in public relations in the Mad Men-esque drinking culture of the advertising industry, where “liquid lunches were frequent and drinking at your desk in the late afternoon was perfectly normal.” In the five years since she stopped drinking, she has become one of the foremost voices in the modern recovery movement.

In her new memoir We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life (New World Library, January 7, 2020), McKowen flips the script on how we talk about addiction and encourages readers not to ask, “Is this bad enough that I have to change?” but rather, “Is this good enough for me to stay the same?”

We hope you’ll enjoy this excerpt from the book.

For so long, all I could see was what I would be losing by giving up drinking — love being only one representation of many. Despite all the aphorisms and positive thinking and stories I’d heard from other sober people promising me otherwise, all I could feel was the loss. Augusten Burroughs, in his book This Is How, said that what worked for him in getting sober was to find something he loved more than drinking. I understood that intellectually, and it sounded awfully catchy and inspiring, but it just didn’t feel true for me.

Being in that room with Seane, feeling whatever had been sparking up in me — even in the midst of all the emotional angst and discomfort — I started to get it. For the first time, I could imagine chasing something bigger.

Here’s what is true, for you and for me: the grief and the sadness are real. When you give up something you’ve relied on as heavily as I relied on alcohol, even when that something is actively destroying your life, it is a true loss. You can’t deny that, and more importantly, you don’t have to.

I thought there was something wrong with me for feeling so heartbroken. How could I actively miss a thing that had nearly cost me everything, including Alma?

There was nothing wrong with me, though. Alcohol had been my friend. It had carried me through a lot of pain I might have otherwise not been able to withstand. It had softened experiences that needed to be softened. It had been there for me always, without question. My drinking — and whatever it is you do to feel better — was born of a natural impulse to soothe, to connect, to feel love. And although alcohol hadn’t actually delivered those things, it was absolutely yoked to them in my mind. In my heart and body, too. It was just what I knew.

So of course I was terrified without it. Of course I missed it. The absence of it was terrible. And necessary. Maybe it’s helpful to linger there for a minute, in the terrible and the necessary. To start to see them as the same. Maybe in this way, pain is not such a problem.

When I saw Seane up there, doing what she did, I realized it wasn’t in spite of her pain that she was doing these things but because of it. She knew exactly what it took to walk through the fire. That is what I recognized in her. That was why I believed her.

Because that strength was in me, too.

I had always quashed my pain and cut it off before it could burn all the way through. I drank it away or ate it away or disappeared into another person or work. Being there over those four days, without contact with Jon or Alma or the comforts of home, had given me a taste of what it was like to just let it burn. I felt it. I felt it all over my body. And although it was excruciating most of the time, there were a few moments when I surrendered the fight and simply allowed everything to wash over me. In those moments, I found that right alongside the sharp intensity and unease, there was some small part of me willing to stay, another voice softly saying, I am willing to be here.

Behind all those nos and never-agains is a much bigger yes. It might not seem clear now, but it will be clear soon. Listen to the voice. Listen to your body. This is in you already.

There is a life that is calling you forward, begging you to meet its eye, to glimpse its vision for you. You can get only so far by running away from what you do not want. Eventually you will have to turn toward what you do. You will have to run toward a bigger yes.

Auricular Acupuncture for Addictive Behavior

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:56:35 +0000

Traditional Chinese Medicine, other alternative practitioners, and even traditional Western practices have had proven success using auricular acupuncture in the healing of addictions and addictive behaviors.
Auricular acupuncture is a specialized treatment based on a protocol of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association, using points in the ears that relate to organs involved in detoxification or addiction treatment–specifically the liver, kidneys, lungs, and nervous system. Some of the benefits reported by patients and clinicians include improved program retention, a more optimistic and cooperative attitude toward the process of recovery as well as reductions in cravings, anxiety, sleep disturbance and need for pharmaceuticals.

TCM practitioners agree that auricular acupuncture helps clients develop a balance in mind and body, and helps them to substitute healthy self-nurturing behavior for addictions or habits that are destructive–a process of healing that can be a source of strength with a renewal of the flow of vital forces, or qi.

Auricular acupuncture has been headline celebrity news for some years. Celebrities such as Kate Moss have publicly commended the use of auricular acupuncture. Today, addiction is not just a matter of substance abuse. Shopping, gambling, sex, the internet, food and even the use of Blackberries and other mobile internet devices – can be addictive. The common thread is that all of these are compulsive, emotional disorders, which even Western medical practitioners admit – can be curbed by the use of Auricular Acupuncture.

TCM looks at addiction as a two-part problem. The first part is mental and emotional obsession for something or to do something. Afterwards, there is a physical and emotional craving. TCM practitioners find ear acupuncture treatment helps to deal with that mental obsession. Auricular acupuncture then works to restore this balance.

For more information on herbs and health please contact Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at (800) 729-0941, or visit http://www.PacificCollege.edu

Detection of Alcohol (Volatiles) in Urine

Toxicology Laboratories — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:56:21 +0000

Volatile substances include the most frequently abused drug – ethanol. Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, drinking alcohol) is the most widely used intoxicant, legal unless it impairs one’s performance to operate a motor vehicle or other machinery. Some labratories includes this common drug on all Industrial Drug Screens along with other common volatiles detected simultaneously. These include acetone, occasionally found in diabetics, methanol (grain alcohol), and isopropanol (rubbing alcohol). Ethanol is occasionally found in preplacement screens and frequently found in the large Coma Screens, especially in trauma patients (automobile accidents).

Pharmacological Effects

Ethanol in low doses, generally less than 0.04% blood equivalent, is a slight stimulant to humans. It has been demonstrated that a small quantity of alcohol increases the acetylcholine neuroreceptor activity. In larger doses, it has generalized effects graduating from euphoria through stupor. Death generally occurs from unconsciousness and cessation of breathing. This may be complicated by aspiration of vomitus into the lung due to absent gag response. Patients with very high levels may be placed on a respirator or assisted breathing.

Ethanol and Other Drugs

In overdose, ethanol is often found in combination with other drugs – polydrug abuse. Evidence is gathering in scientific literature that the use of marijuana and alcohol together may be more than additive in its effects, i.e. synergistic. This has important consequences for driving under the influence or operation of other machinery. Barbiturates and alcohol are the classic synergistic combination (the interaction of the two drugs so that the sum of the impairment is greater than the individual contributions).

Urine Concentration and Blood Equivalents

Urine concentrations of ethanol, as reported by some labratories, are convertible to blood levels by the following formula: divide the urine concentration by 1.3. For instance, the urine concentration of 0.20% is equivalent to a blood concentration of 0.154%. There is, however, some individual variation in this ratio. Urine levels reflect the average blood concentration over the period of time the urine is produced. To better correlate with current blood levels, a second void may be taken to reflect the blood concentration during the time period between voids.

Laboratory Methods

Ethanol is screened in urine using an automated ethanol dehydrogenase enzymatic assay, and confirmed by quantitative gas chromatography via direct injection with an internal standard on a Carbowax column approved by the FDA for use in clinical laboratories. This gas chromatographic method allows the separation and quantitation by many volatile substances, especially ethanol, but is also useful in quantitation of other abused inhalants such as gasoline or glue (toluene). Positives are repeated with a new sample for confirmations and quantitation. Industrial drug screens are only occasionally positive, but volatiles are frequently found in “for cause” requests. Occasionally, fermentation of urine containing high concentrations of glucose (especially diabetics), is a source of exogenous alcohol. In the event of an alcohol positive in urine, some labratories check for the presence of glucose, and reports it if found.

Cutoff and Detection Post Dose

Using enzyme immunoassay for initial screening and gas chromatography confirmation, volatiles in urine are detected at a cutoff level of 0.04%. Since ethanol metabolizes at 0.02% blood level per hour, detection post dose varies directly with the amount ingested. When an individual no longer feels any effect, ethanol is generally non detectable (less than .02%).

Breast Health Tip #14: Avoid Alcohol

Christine Horner MD FACS — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 12:23:59 +0000

BREAST HEALTH TIP #14: Avoid Alcohol Avoid alcohol and drink “health-promoting drinks” like organic fruit juices, green tea, and purified water instead. Here’s why: researchers have found one drink a day can increase your risk of breast cancer by 11%; two drinks a day by 22 to 40%; and three drinks a day by 33 to 70%.

Scientists have uncovered several explanations for alcohol’s high risk. Alcohol increases the production of estrogen and prolactin. Both of these hormones speed up cell division in breast tissue. The faster breast cells divide — the higher your risk of breast cancer. Alcohol also interferes with the function of liver enzymes. Liver enzymes are necessary to break down toxins and carcinogens. They also break down estrogen and prepare it for elimination from our bodies. If your liver enzymes don’t function properly, the level of estrogen, toxins, and carcinogens in your body will go up and so will your risk of breast cancer.

Instead of alcohol, consider drinking organic grape juice. Grapes contain something called “resveratrol”. Resveratrol inhibits the initiation of breast cancer and decreases the growth of breast tumors. It is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Scientists have found both of these properties help protect against and fight breast cancer. In addition, if you have breast cancer and require radiation, resveratrol can help the radiation kill more tumor cells.

Our bodies have an amazing capacity to heal. The moment you drop unhealthy habits and adopt healthy ones, your body will begin repairing itself. Enjoy your holidays – and at the same time honor your health.

Treating the Chemically Dependent as a Resurrection Process

Sadhu Singh Khalsa LISW MSW — Sat, 15 Nov 2003 13:05:00 +0000

Introduction
It is time for a radical shift in our understanding and thinking about addiction. The proponents and practitioners of the psychospiritual paradigm believe that they have answers to the crises or anomalies found in the allopathic medical paradigm. The caliber of solutions that the psychospiritual practitioners offer cannot come from the traditional medical model because they have a fundamentally different understanding of what it is to be human and how the body, mind and spirit interact if at all. The proponents of psychospiritual paradigm have different goals and treatment interventions to keep one healthy, vibrant, lucid, relaxed and joyful. These last states of being cannot be treatment goals in the allopathic model since it is based upon symptom abatement and myopic thinking-physical problems have no psychological and spiritual components.

I am proposing we embrace a new model. Symptom abatement cannot be the only goal of treatment. Increasing awareness and consciousness are the goals. With symptom abatement one can only hope to be in recovery. With the psychospiritual model of treatment, one can be recovered. As practitioners, providers of addiction services and healers, we will focus on those that are labeled addicts and walk through that referral door.

But our goal will ultimately be to improve the total health and consciousness of that individual. That is our contract with the client. Since addiction affects the body, mind, emotions and soul, these are legitimate domains for us. The addict needs cellular reconstruction work, physical fitness work, emotional healing and reintegration and balancing of all of his systems and finally reintegration back into his family and the community. We need more comprehensive holistic training. We need to change the parameters of scope of practice and/or we need to make it okay to use these practitioners in the treatment and healing process of our clients.

My goal is to share some of the perspectives, techniques and approaches that I have used and experience over 26 years. Addictions can be managed and used as a ground for the transformation and awakening of the individual’s character and potential. Traditional approaches that focus only on symptoms may provide some relief but fail to nurture the spirit or feed the soul. There is a better way, a natural way based on clearing the stress and toxification from the physical body and strengthening the constructive emotions that give hope and courage to change. This process promotes the awakening of consciousness to relate to the inner soul for clarity.

There is a way to provide for self healing and ultimately for self mastery with application of tools that I have learned. It is possible to move away from the core thought in the addictions field-once an addict always an addict. One’s core identity can shift from addict-slave, to a self realized human being-master. That is the resurrection process.

If I hold a television in one hand and the cord in the other hand and start shouting at the T.V. for not working, how does that look to you? You would say, “Stupid”. What would you tell me to do? Plug it in. I say the same to you. Plug into your source and you will get the picture. All stations are playing at the same time. You have just dialed into a certain frequency and you are getting the picture broadcasting at that frequency. Tune into another frequency and you will get a different picture or reality. Herbert Benson, M.D. is the Director of the Mind/Body Institute at Harvard. One of his chapters in his recent book, Timeless Healing the Power and Biology of Belief, was titled, “Wired for God”. This is a radical statement coming from Harvard. I believe it is true and I believe that we can go direct to the manufacturer-The Source. It is not a question of His Presence. It is a question of access. You dial the right number and you will get an answer. Meditation and yoga have thousands of years of history in achieving and maintaining this connection.

The resurrection process is when you as a human being, a child of God can reconnect with your higher power-your Source and have the experience of that reconnection and hold it so that it is not a once in a lifetime event but a common occurrence. You have, in essence raised your frequency, energy, consciousness, whatever you want to call it, to the point where you are operating on all eight cylinders instead of 4 or 6. The purpose of treatment for the chemically dependent is to give each person the experiences and tools for their own transformation and resurrection.

Background of the Author
I graduated from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in 1969. Before I entered graduate school, I had to decide whether to major in the traditional clinical casework or community organization/administration track. I chose the later. This was the time of teach-ins and mass protest. I believed that I could do more if I got involved in changing systems than focusing on the individual or victims of the system. I knew that there were a lot of great clinicians but there were very few conscious administrators. I wanted to be a conscious administrator and hire great clinicians. I would be their support for both good clinical work as well as changing the systems that had negative impact on so many people.

It is my own personal story of self transformation that I believe is the foundation for doing the work I do. What I have to offer comes from my experiences working with the severely handicapped, mentally ill and chemically dependent for over 30 years. I have worked at the Battle Creek Institution for the Retarded, County Mental Health and Retardation Boards, 3HO SuperHealth-the only holistic residential treatment center to ever be accredited by the Joint Commission on Health Care Organizations and at a State Forensic hospital. Most recently I was the Mental Health Services Bureau Chief for the New Mexico Department of Corrections. In this position, I was in charge of the mental health delivery system in all of the prisons. Currently, I have designed a substance abuse program for inmates in a maximum security housing unit for the State Prison in Santa Fe.

I have had extensive experience as an administrator, clinician, program planner and developer, grant writer, educator and yoga teacher. I have worked in the medical model, prison custody model and in holistic treatment model. Effectiveness comes down to consciousness and awareness. Ultimately, the bottom line is not having one technique or even a collection of techniques to use that accelerates profound change. It is who I am as a person. How deeply my character can penetrate the defenses and hypnotic shells that defend the real emotions and power in each person. How well can I be present in each moment and each encounter to open possibility and hope, and to show the gap between consciousness and the actions of the addict?

Life Changing Story
In 1986, I was hired as a clinical social worker on a psychiatric unit at Patton State Hospital. The very first patient I was assigned to was Nancy. She killed her two children by drowning them in the bath tub because she was trying to save them from the Devil. She hardly spoke to anyone on the unit. I had never worked with anyone like that before. I did not have a clue how to approach her let alone work with her. I felt incompetent and impotent. What could I possibly say or do that would help her? So I went directly to the Source. I said okay God; there must be a place in me that has the same pain as she feels. Help me find it. I believe that we are all One and that the Universe is holographic. One point contains everything.

I was seeing a body worker at that time and I asked God to find the point in my body that stores that kind of pain. She was working on my right shoulder blade and she hit the point. I asked God what was that and how old was I when I felt that. The answer came back that I was five and my posture was I had my arms raised up to protect myself from getting hit from my father and my plea was daddy, daddy don’t hit me I am okay. As soon as I raised my arms to that position, the tears came rolling down my face and I had a taste of what she must feel all of the time.

I went back to the Mental Hospital the next day and to see Nancy. I shared with her that I did not know what to say to her and that I asked God for help. I told her what happened the day before and I shared my pain with her. She was startled and said that is actually how she felt. I said to her that she gave me a great gift. She roared back and said I do not give gifts, I killed my children. I said that I was a better person after meeting her than I was before and that was the gift to me. This was the beginning of the therapeutic alliance.

This was a turning point for me both professionally and personally. There was nothing objective about what I did. What is in me is in others and what is in others is in me by the very fact that we are human beings. And in being human beings, we can access each other through the heart and soul-No Man is an Island unto himself. If I would have only objectified her and made judgments even good clinical judgments, I knew that I could not be of service to her. I would have all of the information that would constitute a professional psychosocial history but I would not have been able to reach her so deeply so quickly.

When one combines intuitive/subjective assessments with objective fact based assessment, one can create a depth of treatment alliance that is unreachable by objectivity alone. Opening up and allowing for a spiritual connection made it possible for me to be a conduit of connectivity to a higher source for both me and the patient. (This, by the way, produces a secondary benefit of minimizing burn out). When I would create a sacred space by intention, burn out was a foreign concept. Preparing for and allowing for guidance from a higher source is the hallmark of a psychospiritual approach. Sooner or later one comes to understand that you are not the one doing but that you are being guided.

At the time I was in graduate school, no one talked about how to reach the patient or client this way. It was all about the mind and how it functioned or didn’t function. Carl Jung was one of the few psychoanalyst that dealt with metaphysics, spirituality etc. But the Social Work School did not teach students in his theories or practices. We have objective science that deals with what can be seen, felt, tasted, and heard but nothing about love, joy, compassion, kindness, truth-the things that provide meaning in ones life.

Do We Have a Problem?
It is estimated that 20% of Americans use about 50% of all illegal drugs in the world. This accounts for somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of all crimes committed in the U.S. (1) Almost 80% of inmates in State prisons are there because of substance abuse and dependence. Approximately 65 to 70 percent of inmates that go on parole are sent back to prison within three years. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report: Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994., June 2202, NCJ. CDC. The major reason they are sent back is that they return to their use of drugs and alcohol.

The Corrections budget in New Mexico where I work is $224 Million a year. The average yearly cost to house an inmate is $30,000 a year. The average length of time an inmate spends in prison once they are returned is 3 years. Each inmate returning then costs the tax payers approximately $90,000 excluding court costs. The Corrections budget for California is close to 4 billion dollars which equals the total New Mexico State Budget! California now has close to 200,000 in their state prisons. Six hundred thousand inmates are released from state and federal prisons and juvenile facilities to their communities every year. (CDC, IDU, KIV Prevention, August, 2001, Page 1). By 2010 it is estimated that close to 2 million men and women will be released nation wide.

There are 13 million active addicts and alcoholics in the U.S. and they affect 130 million Americans. That is roughly half of the U.S. Population!

Addicts have a 600 percent higher suicide rate over the general population.

One third of all deaths are related to alcohol.

Ninety percent of family violence is related to alcohol.

Seventy three percent of motorists stopped by police in 1988 tested positive for drugs.

One of eight alcoholics will die within 5 years of treatment.

Fifty percent of people in recovery have a relapse within the first year.

In thirty eight percent of child abuse cases, the perpetrator drank prior to the offense.

In 1987, 600,000 were in Treatment for alcohol and drugs.

In sixty one percent of assaults the offenders were drinking before the offense.

Heavy drinkers have a mortality rate of more than twice the general population.

Half of all admissions to hospitals are related to drug and alcohol use because of system breakdowns. These facts and figures were recorded watching the 12 Step Videos from Ambrose Publishing (Steps I-II). In 1992 the economic cost to the US society of drug and alcohol abuse was estimated to be $245.7 billion. Of this cost, $97.7 billion was due to drug abuse. The cost has increased 50 percent over the cost estimate from 1985 data. If we use the same percentage increase per year 7 percent, then in today’s figures, the total cost would be approximately, $435 billion!

It is obvious to the most casual observer that whatever we are doing is not working societally or individually. The relapse rates are too high. Learning about and engaging in a healing or transformative process for one’s self as a clinician allows one to make use of other interventions that can facilitate the resurrection process for others. Epiphanies do happen as the story of Bill W and others attest to. We need to orchestrate the conditions for this to happen for more people on the path of recovery.

Treating the Chemically Dependent as a Resurrection process is a very different concept and treatment goal for most clinicians. Looking at prisons as centers for fallen angels is probably at least three standard deviations from the norm. Yet for me this is the heart of the matter. To design and apply an effective treatment model of addictions, we must challenge and change the belief that the majority of the etiology of the problem resides in the individual not in the family, community and society. The individual can rise above the voices and contradictions that arise in the family and society, but only with a profound shift of awareness, a new relationship to their body, and a confident ability to use tools like exercise and meditation to take command of their emotional reactions, flow of thoughts and level of energy.

Before I compare and contrast the two paradigms-allopathic, symptom abatement to psychospiritual/humanological, it is important to know what criteria has to be met in order to give someone a diagnosis of Substance Abuse Dependence. Whatever paradigm one is operating under, one must carry out an assessment that leads to a diagnosis and then a treatment plan. To do that everyone uses the DSM-IV-TR.

What are the DSM-IV-TR criteria for Substance Abuse Dependence? The DSM is THE reference guide for providing a diagnosis that should lead to effective treatment but the authors of the DSM have stated that it is not the intended purpose of the DSM. It prescribes no treatment.

Furthermore, the DSM has come under attack for being culturally insensitive just as the I.Q. test has. And the DSM is itself a product of mind body dualism which it admits. “Although this volume is titled the diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the term mental disorders unfortunately implies a distinction between “mental” disorders and “physical disorders that is a reductionistic anachronism of mind/body dualism. (2) p30. I could not have said it better. “Inclusion of a disorder in the Classification (as in medicine generally) does not require that there be knowledge about its etiology. (3) Xxxiii. And finally, on page xxxiv, “Making a DSM-IV diagnosis is only the first step in a comprehensive evaluation. To formulate an adequate treatment plan, the clinician will invariably require considerable additional information about the person being evaluated beyond that required to make a DSM-IV diagnosis.” (4) p.35

This is our point of departure. For clinicians operating under the psychospiritual approach, the DSM has much less utility. Not only is the DSM totally silent on making treatment recommendations, the allopathic model does not have a comprehensive, integrated holistic model of what a human being is that would allow for recommending serious effective alternative approaches for the treatment of the chemically dependent that would substantially raise the cure rate for both those inside and outside of prison.

The medical allopathic and social model substance abuse treatment programs have failed to increase cure rates much in the last three decades. Refer to the above statistics. However, it is good to be aware of the criteria for arriving at a substance abuse dependence diagnosis if only for the purpose of comparing treatment effectiveness of psychospiritual approaches to allopathic ones for the same diagnosis. I believe that this is in line with main purpose of the DSM in the first place.

Definitions and Criteria to be Met for a Substance Abuse Dependence Diagnosis
“The essential feature of Substance Dependence is a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological symptoms indicating that the individual continues use of the substance despite significant substance-related problems. There is a pattern of repeated self-administration that can result in tolerance, withdrawal, and compulsive drug taking behavior. A diagnosis of substance dependence can be applied to every class of substances except caffeine. The symptoms of dependence are similar across the various categories of substances, but for certain classes some symptoms are less salient, and in a few instances not all symptoms apply (e.g., withdrawal symptoms are not specified for hallucinogen Dependence). Dependence is defined as a cluster of three or more of the symptoms listed below occurring at any time during the same 12 month period.”(5), p.192

Tolerance

Withdrawal

Larger amounts over longer periods of time

Persistent failures at stopping

Preoccupation

Isolation

Continues to use with adverse consequences

The majority of inmates, patients and 3HO residents that I worked with qualified for substance dependence diagnosis. Many of them were Polysubstance dependent. This was also true for patients in the state mental hospital. Many patients were self-medicating to deal with the pain of their life as well as the pain of their mental illness.

Theories of Addiction
Theories of addiction try to answer why someone becomes addicted. Why would a person continue to do things that cause so much pain and suffering for them and others? One would want to know this so that one could design a treatment program that would address the “real” causes of addiction. Dr. David Dietch, The Director of the Addition Transfer of Technology Center at the University of San Diego, has reported the consensus in the field of addiction concerning etiology. He posits that there are four models.

A. Nurture vs. Nature
B. Tolerance
C. Genetic Transfer
D. Psychological

Tension Reduction

Personality Disorders

Socio/Cultural

Pleasure Centers in the Brain.

At the present time there is NEITHER A CONSENSUS ON THE CAUSE OF ADDICTION NOR ON THE CURE FOR ADDICTION. All may contribute to addiction. There is a general consensus that AA and NA are the most successful interventions that lead to sobriety and maintain it. The most damaging assessment of treating the chemically dependent is that the knowledge base in the industry does not permit exact customization of a treatment plan. This is why the allopathic, symptom abatement paradigm is in crisis. Furthermore it does not have the knowledge base to sequence the interventions for maximum effect. This is not a limitation of the psychospiritual model when one includes state of the art diagnostic, assessment and treatment protocols that are available today and familiar to me.

Major Assumptions of the Allopathic Paradigm
It is necessary to identify the assumptions embedded in the allopathic paradigm as well as the anomalies or crises of this paradigm in treating the chemically dependent. Then we can see how the psychospiritual paradigm addresses these anomalies with solutions not available in the former paradigm.

As you know when one is preparing a business plan one is making projections of return on investment over time. Underlying these projections are always assumptions that these projections are based upon. What are the underlying assumptions of the allopathic and psychospiritual models? See Table below.

Allopathic Model Psychospiritual Humanological Model

1. Alcoholism and addition are diseases. 1. Your state of health is determined by your choices.

2. The best an addict or alcoholic can achieve is temporary sobrietyï¿½one day at a time. It is heresy to suggest that one can get recovered. 2. Ecstasy of consciousness is your birthright.

3. One gets sick because some germ from the outside invades you. 3. You are a spiritual being having a human experience. You are not a human being seeking a spiritual experience.

4. Doctors know best. They are seen as Gods 4. Body, mind and spirit are not separate. Your behavior and attitudes are derivative from your state of awareness and consciousness.

5. Individual has little or no responsibility for their illness 5. Addiction is a spiritual disease.

6. Only the doctor can cure them 6. You are perfect just the way you are.

7. Your disease will be eliminated some day when we find the gene that is causing you the problem. 7. You create your own reality. If you do not like the one you have created, you can create another. The television has many channels playing at the same time, change the channel and you tune into a different frequency and you get a different picture.

8. Life style is seen neither as a cause of your problem nor as a solution to it. 8. Every physical symptom has both a psychological and spiritual meaning.

9. Embraces mind body dualism. Mind is separate from body. 9. We have been conditioned to be more comfortable with pain and suffering than with joy and bliss

10. Environmental and cultural factors have nothing to do with disease 10. Changing oneï¿½s consciousness is the therapeutic task.

11. Attempting to discredit and punish alternative therapists are acceptable practices and in the best interest of the public. 11. It is possible to get recovered.

Humanology-The New Paradigm for Human Services for the Next Millennium
Humanology is the science of being human. The science of being human is not a soft science. It is based upon ancient wisdom and truth that has survived the test of time. It meets the two major criteria of every science. It has predictive ability and one can duplicate the results. Kuhn ï¿½ developed the concept of paradigm to demonstrate the process of how scientists change their allegiance to a different model that appeared to better address the anomalies of the present dominant paradigm. He wanted to know how an emerging paradigm gains adherents and prominence in the scientific community.
These enumerated beliefs form the basis of the humanological paradigm. It was not meant to be exhaustive but exemplary of the humanological paradigm. As you can see, if you embrace this paradigm, you have a very different sense of your identity and purpose. You certainly, if you are counselor, therapist, and healer would have a very different way of addressing the chemically dependent. Basically what these premises are saying is that if you identity your true identity which is infinity and you practice techniques that assist you in keeping you aligned with your identity, you will be healthy, happy, and holy.

Emerging Programs with Humanological Elements
Besides AA/NA meetings, Therapeutic Communities have had tremendous success in treating the chemically dependent. The Therapeutic community model is a starting point towards exemplifying an ideal treatment program based upon a humanological/psychospiritual paradigm. The reasons why it is an ideal beginning is shown by the enduring principles that Dr. Dietch uncovered in his research to identify the origins of the basic principles of the Therapeutic Community Movement. He found that they came from the Essenses who lived during the time of Christ.

TC Enduring Principles: D.A. Dietch (2/95)ï¿½

Concern for the State of Our Soul and Our Physical Survival

Search for Meaning: Transcending Truths

Challenge and Admonish With Love

Be Invasive-Accountable to Community

Public Disclosure of Acts, Fears, hopes, Guilts

Public Expiation for Wrongs Done

Banishment is Possible-Done with Concern for Survival

Leadership by Elders-by Models

Look at the first two enduring principles! This is what we are talking about–concern for the state of our soul, physical survival and finding meaning. This is a major departure from Betty Ford and Hazel den although they are now moving more in this direction. Ft. Leo Booth is a strong advocate that Addiction is a spiritual disease and must be addressed holistically. Was there ever a program that put it all together? The answer is yes. The 3HO SuperHealth program was located in Tucson, Arizona.

Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga and Administrative Head of all Sikhs outside of India, conceived of this program. He felt and saw the pain of America caused by alcohol and drugs. He knew that there was a better way. He believes that we are spiritual begins having a human experience. If that is true, then we need to recover our true identity. He provided the means for this resurrection process-poke, provoke, confront and elevate. Basically this means bring to a person where he is unconscious, give him the technology to bring him out this unconsciousness and give him his own experience of his elevated consciousness and awareness. I want to share with you a number of ways we did that at 3HO SuperHealth.

This program was in existence from 1975 to 1991. 3HO Foundation of Arizona a 501 C 3 non-profit corporation owned and operated this program. I was asked to move there and help them get accredited. In 1978 they received their first of many accreditations from the Joint Commission of Health Care Organizations. In 1987 they received the highest accommodation from this organization for being in the top 5% of all residential treatment centers for the chemically dependent. It was the first natural healing residential treatment center to ever receive such an accreditation.

The 3HO SuperHealth Program
The 3HO Program represents the next generation of treatment for the chemically dependent.

The residential treatment center was consciously chosen to be located in a Sikh Ashram (spiritual community) where members dedicated themselves to live a healthy, happy and holy life. The intent and purpose of placing a treatment center in a spiritual community was to increase the addict’s awareness and consciousness. Also to break the internal narrative story of only identifying one’s identify as a drug addict. Living in an ashram helps to create a sacred space for transformation, healing and resurrection. The program was designed to produce these changes from day one. No smoking or drinking coffee was allowed in or out of the facility by anyone. The Sikh community members welcomed the addicts and alcoholics in their home. If you were single then you would have a guest living with you in your room.

Every one was considered family and everyone participated in meal preparation and the maintenance of the facility. We went on back packing trips and outings together. If a prison therapeutic community is powerful in developing pro social behavior and supporting transformation, you can imagine what living in a spiritual community produces. This is incredible use of positive modeling and family bonding.

The Therapeutic use of the word. “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, God was the Word. People of many religious and spiritual traditions understand that not only does the word have meaning, they have kinetic power. The use of Mantras is one way to change consciousness and clean out the subconscious mind. Mantras and meditations can be rotor rooters to the subconscious. For example, in the first Kundalini Yoga Manual, there is a meditation to break any addiction. I have used this in every treatment program I have ever worked in with great results. Try it and let me know how it works for you. To get the desired results you must do it for 40 days for 31 minutes a day without missing one day. If you miss a day, you must start over.

Here is how to do it. Sit in a cross legged position (easy pose), with a straight spine, making sure that the first six lower vertebrae are locked forward. Make fists with both hands and extend the thumbs straight. Place the thumbs on the temples, and find the niche where the thumbs fit just right. Lock the back molars together and keep the lips closed. The molars will alternately tighten, then release; right then left, then right and so on. You should feel the alternating movement under the thumbs at the temples. Keep a firm pressure applied on the temples. Keep the mouth closed, focus at the brow point, and mentally hear the sound of sa ta na ma, one sound for each pressing of the molars. Continue coordinating the mantra with the subtle movement of the jaws for 5 to 7 minutes. With practice the time can be increased to 20 minutes, and ultimately to 31 minutes.

This is one form of the use of the word or sound current therapeutically. The other use of it is in counseling sessions where one is using one’s words consciously to break through the denial and other defense mechanisms. As a therapist, you are modeling by word and action healthier states of being. You become a mirror to your clients. This is where the poke, provoke and confront process starts. You are making them aware of their blind spots. In a spiritual therapeutic community like in a regular TC, everyone sees what is going on and can bring that to the attention of someone who is having a hard time. The client in community is seeing that it is possible to change and have a different life. They are seeing living roof of it.

Yogi Bhajan wrote a book titled, Foods for Health which provided the menus for the 3HO SuperHealth Program. Food as Medicine was written by Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa from the teachings of Yogi Bhajan which further explains how food can be used as medicine. The 3HO Program really understood how to select the right foods to contribute to cellular reconstruction and healing of the whole body and mind. As they say, “You are what you eat”. The staff knew what foods to feed someone during the detoxification stages and then in the rehabilitation stages. Juices, Ayurvedic and Bach Flower remedies were also used. One of the most powerful treatment for liver toxification was a special drink made in the program by the clients themselves-Liver Flush. For every six ounces, one would prepare 3 ounces of celery juice, 2 ounces of carrot juice and one ounce of beet juice. This was drunk 3 times a day for those in the detox phase. Extensive use of garlic, onions and ginger were used in preparing many of the vegetable dishes. (All community members adhered to a vegetarian diet.

Yogi Tea which can now be purchased commercially in most health food stores is another great blood purifier and nerve relaxer. In the late 70′ and 80’s this was a radical approach for any type of treatment program. We were the only ones in the country doing these things in a very scientific and comprehensive way.

The 3HO Program assisted the client to obtain control once again over their primary body functions and life in general. One of the main ways it did this was by teaching three Kundalini Yoga classes a day. In Kundalini Yoga there are thousands of different exercises and meditations for almost all human conditions, symptoms, and ailments. One’s self esteem, self confidence, endurance, stamina are just some of the reported benefits of regularly doing yoga and meditations. These clients were doing 3 yoga classes a day seven days a week. Along with these Kundalini yoga exercises, the staff took the clients for a daily walk for at least 30 minutes. Walking with consciousness normalizes many of the physical and emotional problems. Dr. Gurucharn Singh Khalsa has written a book, Breathwalk that explains how walking and conscious use of the breath and sound can be healing.

Keep in mind that all of the clients had a customized treatment plan. Although they did the community yoga classes, they would be given their own yoga and meditations set to do. They were all on their own vitamin, herb and supplement program and they got massages and access to the sauna as needed. Counseling sessions were usually conducted by five or six staff with one client. This is a different form of group therapy. It was almost impossible for a client to con the whole staff. This format was excellent for making the client more aware of many things particularly their unconscious patterns and how they chose to get their needs met.

Many of these guests were cocaine and heroin users and some came right out of prison. Most of their physical and mental health needs were addressed from a holistic framework. The program protocols had the effect of improving the total health of the guest not just getting the addict into recovery. Recovery meant recovering their total health, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. With this in place, they could then fulfill their desire for meaning and purpose in their life and they possessed the tools to do so.

Every guest that came to the 3HO program met the criteria for substance dependence. But what they received as treatment came from a totally different paradigm. This program was managed and staffed by yogic therapists for the most part. The most transformative element of the program was not the degrees or licenses that the staff had but their ability to engage in a spiritual alliance with the addict.
It is an incredible achievement for 3HO to have a program run by yoga teachers producing better results than programs run by doctors, psychologists and licensed substance abuse counselors.

The total focus of this program was bringing the guest out of unconsciousness into a higher state of awareness. As this was done, their cravings and psychological attachments to their drugs lessen. By the time they left (six month program), they were drug free and living a very healthy lifestyle. It did not work for everyone and not all guests who entered the program finished it. But those who did finish the program transformed themselves.

3HO Case Example
A 22 year old African American entered the program in 1980 for cocaine addiction. He also was an asthmatic who needed to use his aspirator five or six times a day to prevent his attacks. After three weeks of being in the program doing the yoga classes; changing his diet, no smoking and using drugs, he threw away his aspirator. I do no think that any regular M.D. would have thought that this was possible. Many clients who had multiple physical and emotional problems were cured along with their addiction. This is when I knew how powerful these techniques and lifestyle were for healing and transformation.

Ideal Program
Now twenty one years later after my 3HO Superhealth experience and exploring multiple healing techniques, health products and equipment and world class healers, what would I design now? Okay, let’s put it all together. I would keep in tact all that the 3HO SuperHealth program offered and I would add to it in certain ways.

1. Assessment Process: The assessment and diagnostic process would, in itself, be a healing experience. This is where you start establishing a therapeutic alliance.

a. I would use live cell blood analysis where the guest would see their own blood on a monitor and the clinician would be explaining the condition of their blood and how it relates to their health. Something very powerfully happens when you look at your own live blood. This really gets a person’s attention and brings them out of denial of what they have to do to get better. This is a very powerful motivator that helps one take the first steps in making a commitment to change and following through.
b. Next, I would use Rayid Interpretations. This system allows both the guest and the clinician to identify one’s gifts and challenges in one’s life. It accurately pin points the emotional, psychological and transgenerational issues that are in the DNA and then provides the guest with exactly the right therapies to achieve balance and integration in their life.
c. The last one I would use is Behavior Kinesiology developed by Dr. David Hawkins. This diagnostic system lets you find out what the core issues are in about 15 minutes. See his book, The Eye of the I, David Hawkins, M.D., Veritas Publishing, 2001, Sedona, Arizona

To my knowledge no center or human being has used and combined all of the information available in these three diagnostic and assessment systems to develop a treatment plan. Much treatment is provided and experienced during the diagnostic and assessment process. By the end of this process, the guest knows that you know them at the heart and soul level. No question. This is where you build an incredible therapeutic alliance in a very short period of time. This then allows one to get treatment compliance. You know in this system that once the person starts doing the treatment that they are going to feel better and better which supports them in taking on more disciplines and the harder to do therapies. One produces an upward spiral which directly counter acts their life experience as a downward spiral.

There would then be a multi-disciplinary team where these individual clinicians would present their findings with the guest present and a treatment plan would be developed. This profound in depth assessment process almost guarantees treatment compliance. There is very little resistance to treatment when you reach someone at this level. This process of assessment not only identifies the correct treatment for you but the correct sequence of administering that treatment. No one else has that sophistication. If you find that the person needs massage, what kind of massage, Rolfing, Swedish, etc. How many massages do they need? What should be the sequence and frequency of these massages? All of the answers to these questions come from the above diagnostic procedures, particularly from behavior kinesiology. There is no guess work here and therefore, this is the best risk management program in the world.

In essence your treatment of each guest is extraordinarily customized to their exact needs in the moment. And, you are to detect, on an ongoing basis, changes in health that would require treatment plan updates. No guess work anymore. If they need herbal supplements, you can figure out how many to take, how many times a day and for how long. This level of assessment and treatment cannot be done by the average licensed professional.

The persons hired have to be spirit-guided, heart centered, conscious, and competent. Using Dr. Hawkins Behavioral Kinesiology is a great way to determine the level of consciousness of an individual and whether they would be a good team member. Remember we are operating out of a totally different paradigm. Assessment and diagnostic procedures, hiring practices-human resource department, selection of healing spaces, the choice of treatment modalities etc is all consistent with our new psychospiritual/humanological paradigm.

One would want to create a sacred space in the mountains or near water. It would be built with great consciousness as to materials, placement of building e.g., feng shei, disposal of wastes. It would be environmentally friendly and would demonstrate how to put it all together. It would be a world model of truly integrative addiction services in a health promoting environment.

Wherever I have worked I have won the trust, respect and love of the chemically addicted. I was not the professional staff who aligned himself with the correctional philosophy that these are bad men and need to be punished. I embraced their light and not their darkness. I helped them shine forth. As Nelson Mandela said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This philosophy comes from a different paradigm. It is consistent with and exemplifies the psychospiritual approach. Just as one drop of lemon can curdle a glass of milk the reverse is true. People of higher consciousness can neutralize negatively. I know it is my purpose to change the consciousness and vibration of those I come in contact with. I did this through teaching Kundalini yoga, confronting men in group about their lapses into unconsciousness and supporting those in pain with compassion, love, and hope. I also worked with the mentors of the TC so that they would be the support for the other men and help the men free themselves from self-destructive attitudes and behaviors.

Everything I did was consciousness raising. Once a man in a group asked me what he could do to change his life. I gave him an assignment to only tell the truth and if he gave his word he would keep it no matter what. This man reported to the group that just this exercise alone changed his life. Because of so much positive transference from him, he asked me to be his spiritual teacher. I declined but said that I would guide him as best I could. For a drug using gang banging youth to ask someone to be his spiritual teacher seems to represent a transformation. He has new reference points, new vocabulary, new attitudes, and new insights because he has adopted a different paradigm.

Summary
A psychospiritual holistic approach is far more effective in treating the chemically dependent than almost any program which is derivative from the allopathic or social model paradigm. The 3HO SuperHealth Program with certain augmentations represents THE model for treating the chemically dependent. Almost anyone can be trained in the use of these diagnostic, assessment, and treatment protocols. The world needs another program like 3HO SuperHealth.

References
1. Delbert Boone, “Psychology of Addiction”, in an Article “Titled Addiction & The Criminal Offender with Delbert Boone”, CASA, 1997. (This information was verified in a Telephone Conversation on)
2. David Deitch, University of California, San Diego, Psychiatry Addiction Training Center Curriculum 1991 and Substance Abuse; A Comprehensive Text, Eds. Lowison, Ruiz, Millman and Langrod, Third Edition Williams and Wilkens (97). D. Deitch, Training of Clinical Personnel, pp. 790-799.
3. Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Ed., Text Revised, DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p.30
4. Same Reference DSM, p. 33
5. Same Reference DSM, p. 34
6. Same Reference DSM, p. 35
7. Sane Reference DSM, p. 192
8. NIDA INFO FACTS, http://drugabuse.gov/infofax/costs.html
9. Ambrose Publishing Videos

Books
Herbert Benson, M.D., Timeless Healing, Scribners, New York, 1996
Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Ed., Text Revised, DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C., 2000
Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D., and Gurucharn Singh Khalsa, Ph.D., Breathwalk: Breathing your way to a Revitalized Body, Mind and Spirit. Broadway Books, June 2000.
Yogi Bhajan, Foods for Health and Healing: Remedies and Recipes, South Asia Books, January, 1999

David Hawkins, M.D., The Eye of the I, Veritas Publishing, Sedona, Arizona, 2001
Denny Johnson with Eric Ness, What the Eyes Reveal, Rayid Publications, 2nd Edition, January 1997
Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., Food as Medicine, Atria Books, January 2003
Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd Edition, The University of Chicago Press, 1970

Sadhu Singh Khalsa, LISW, MSW

Sadhu Singh Khalsa, founder of Total Health Recovery Program has over 30 years of experience as a caring clinician, administrator, researcher, educator, yoga teacher and advocate for the disenfranchised. He has been a hospital administrator of a 100 bed psychiatric hospital in Chicago; program director of the only holistic natural healing residential treatment center for the chemically dependent in America; and recently, the Mental Health Bureau Chief for the New Mexico Corrections Department. He is a man of vision and heart and knows how to design and manifest superior treatment programs without comprising the integrity of the design.

Sadhu Singh Khalsa graduated from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in 1969 with a specialty in Administration and Community Mental Health. He has studied with Yogi Bhajan, a spiritual teacher for over 25 years learning how to apply spiritual principles in the healing artsï¿½mental health, physical health and in the field of addiction. When he saw firsthand what can be done with the chemically dependent using all natural methods, he never wavered in his commitment to create more centers using superior diagnostic, assessment and treatment protocols. Total Health Recovery Program is the culmination of years of research, exploring and networking so that their clients could finally find the best treatment program in the world.

Sadhu Singh Khalsa can be reached at:
or

sadhu.khalsa@gmail.com or call 505-310-1340.

Herbal Therapy & the Cardiovascular System

David L. Hoffmann BSc Hons MNIMH — Wed, 06 Dec 2000 21:28:02 +0000

Herbs still maintain a central position in orthodox medicines treatment of various heart problems. Plants that contain cardiac glycosides are used throughout the world for the treatment of heart failure and some arrhythmia’s. In such conditions these herbs increase the strength of heart beat, and normalize the rate of beat. Their real value lies in the increased efficiency not necessitating an increase of oxygen supply to the heart muscle. In heart problems there is often a deficiency in blood supply because of blockage in the coronary arteries. It is not just Foxglove that has such valuable actions. Lily of the Valley shares its therapeutic value but has fewer side effects and lower toxicity. However, herbal remedies nurture the heart in deeper ways as well. Consider the cordial, a warming drink and a word for heart-felt friendliness. The original cordial was a medieval drink based on Borage that warmed the heart and gave the person HEART.

The Medical Herbalist recognizes a broad range of relevant herbs for the cardiovascular system. As a group they are known as cardiac remedies. This is a general term for herbs that have an action on the heart. Some of the remedies in this group are powerful cardio-active agents such as Foxglove, while others are gentler and safer cardiac tonics such as Hawthorn and Linden Flowers. Cardio-actives owe their effects on the heart to active substances such as cardiac glycosides, thus having the both the strengths and drawbacks of these constituents. Cardiotonics have a beneficial action on the heart and blood vessels but do not contain cardiac glycosides.

Primary Actions for the Cardio-Vascular System

Cardiac Tonic: Hawthorn

Cardio-active: Lily of the Valley, Scots Broom, Bugleweed, Figwort

Circulatory Stimulant: Cayenne

Peripheral Vaso-dilator: Prickly Ash, Ginkgo

Hypotensive: Linden Blossom, Mistletoe, Garlic

Hypertensive:Scots Broom

Diuretic: Dandelion leaf, Yarrow, ‘Cardio-actives’

Vascular Tonic: Horsechestnut, Buckwheat, Ginkgo

Nervine: Motherwort, Linden Blossom, Valerian, etc.

Anti-spasmodic : Cramp Bark, Valerian

Lifestyle & Risk Factors

Half the annual mortality in Western society results from heart and blood-vessel diseases and so any contribution that herbal medicine can make to its treatment is to be welcomed. Heart disease is often the result of an inappropriate life style; stress, diet, belief system, alcohol etc. etc.. Preventative measures are by far the best, but are people willing to change? This raises questions that herbal medicine cannot answer!

The origins of heart disease are complex and confusing. Some of the factors involved are well known and can lead to clear guidelines for possible prevention, but simplistic statements about saturated fats or jogging can be misleading. A number of factors that contribute to the scourge of heart disease have been identified and as many of the pathologies that assail the cardiovascular system share these components, similar preventive strategies apply as well.

Age & Sex

The older an individual is the more likely they become to develop cardiovascular disease. Thus the risk of heart attack is 4 times greater for a man of 50 than a man of 30. Such problems are unusual in pre-menopausal women although after menopause the incidence in women is the same as for men.

Heredity

The tendency towards developing a range of CV diseases appears to be at least in part inherited. Such a family history should strongly suggest taking appropriate steps with diet, stress and herbal tonics.

Diet

Whole forests have been turned into pulp to provide paper for articles about cholesterol, polyunsaturated fats, and heart disease. Anyone trying to read them all, or even trying to follow the broad arguments, invites a hypertensive crisis!

From the wealth of research done, it has been shown that heart disease has definite links with dietary fat, raised blood cholesterol, raised blood pressure, smoking, obesity, short stature, and under activity. The precise role of these factors is unclear, but enough is known to formulate general guidelines about a possible-preventive diet. Something that is certain is the involvement of fats. While the so-called saturated fats may be the ‘worst’, it seems that it is an over-preponderance of all fat in the total diet that is at fault. The details are becoming understood, but the more that is discovered, the more multi-factorial it all becomes.

Tobacco

The death rate from heart disease is 300% higher in smokers than in non-smokers in North America. What more needs to be said?

Alcohol

Whilst a small amount of alcohol occasional may actually be beneficial for the circulatory system (due to vaso-dilation), there is no doubt that alcohol abuse is a major contributing factor in heart disease.

Stress and Personality

An association between a particular type of personality and heart disease is recognized. Researchers have shown that there is a difference in the risk of developing heart disease between people with two extreme types of behavior.Type A behavior is characterized by a chronic sense of time, urgency, aggressiveness (which may be repressed), and striving for achievement. They drive themselves to meet deadlines, many of which are self-imposed, have feelings of being under pressure, both of time and responsibility, and often do two or three things at once. They are likely to react with hostility to anything that seems to get in their way and are temperamentally incapable of letting up.

Type B behavior is characterized by the opposite traits., being less preoccupied with achievement, less rushed, and generally more easygoing. They are less prone to anger and do not feel constantly impatient, rushed, and under pressure. They are also better at separating work from play, and they know how to relax.

There is much debate about the value of such personality typing, the details of which do not concern us here. The important thing is the association of types of behavior with disease development. However, we need to bear in mind that there are not two types of people! Each person is an individual, and while it may sometimes be useful to sort people into artificial categories, these categories do not identify them.

Socioeconomic factors

Social and economic factors are associated with an increased risk of heart disease; however, the findings tend to vary according to the society being studied. Some studies emphasize high risk in upper socioeconomic groups, while others emphasize the opposite. Some evidence suggests that class variation disappears when the degree of physical activity is taken into account. High-risk factors include:

social mobility involving a change of environment, e.g. moving house or changing jobs.

social incongruity, which is an inconsistency in people’s status relevant to their life situation.

The relatively low occurrence of heart disease in women appears to be due to psycho-social rather than biological factors. Men are more likely to have an exaggerated striving for dominance and to use work as a major outlet for aggression, and so are more exposed to particular stresses and conflict and are more conditioned than women to “controlling” emotions when dealing with this conflict.

Life Events

Particularly stressful times in a person’s life act as possible danger points in stress-related problems such as heart disease. When these stressful times are identified, it is possible to take them into account and plan ahead. This makes it possible to manage and lessen the impact of these stresses on health and well-being. There points of increased stress, called life events, in everyone’s life. These are especially relevant in the development of conditions such as angina and heart disease.

Losing Addictions Naturally

Christopher Hobbs LAc AHG — Wed, 06 Dec 2000 13:28:02 +0000

Let’s meet a few people in the office of Bartlett Insurance Company.
Although they sound like cases, their situation is not unusual. Recent statistics
show that xx are addicted to alcohol, xx million people smoke, and xx are
overweight.

Maggie would like to stop smoking, but doesn’t have confidence in herself–she
has already tried and failed too many times. Bill would like to lose the
4-cup a day coffee habit, because he knows it’s a major factor in his poor
sleep at night. He often wakes up in the morning feeling more tired than
when he went to bed, and really needs that first cup to get him going. Ann
has been drinking alone at night, and wakes up with a headache feeling groggy.
She feels as if she can’t have fun without the wine she always has at dinner.
Fred thinks about food all the time. The only thing that gets him through
the day is the thought of a big dinner, and afterwards, dessert. During
the day he snacks on candy bars and chips, and a 6-pack of cola is always
ready at hand in the refrigerator. Not that it will last long–he has been
known to drink 6 cans of the stuff in one afternoon.

Addictions. It has been said that we are all addicted to something. Whether
it be sex, food, tobacco, drugs, drama or strong emotions. Or appreciation,
the company of a close friend, nutritious food or even the air we breathe.
While there are things in life that we need to have, we don’t normally call
these addictions, if they are not excessively compulsive, and they don’t
cause problems. Though I find that I am addicted to good nutritious food
and caring expressions from others, but what keeps these needs from being
addictive is their positive, life-affirming nature. Those “addictions”
that lead to increased health and well-being, especially as a mutual benefit,
when others are involved are obviously human attachements and needs that
don’t fall into the addictive category that we are considering here.

But what if we find that there are things that our “higher self”
knows is not positive and life-affirming? They are not in the Tao of our
life; they may even be ruining our health and even destroying us. Although
we don’t want to get too philosophical here, one could even say that smoking
and drinking, under the proper circumstances, can be healthy. I have read
the stories of old people in Russia, who were over 100 years old, that drank
a glass of vodka every day and smoked 2 cigarettes. They simply enjoyed
them–they had a salubrious and stimulating effect on their life. It’s obviously
when a thing becomes compulsive, we have no say or control of it–it rules
us– that it becomes a problem to work on.

I find myself eminently qualified to talk about addictions, because I have
an addictive constitution. I have gone through addictions, struggled with
them, become more clear about their meaning and their place in my life,
and let them go. Healing these addictions, some of which has come through
family genetics, has taken effort, but well worth it. I feel stronger and
more confidant about all aspects of my life, my work and relationships because
of this work.

So how to go about it with natural methods? How can we best use herbs, diet
and other remedies and support to help us come into the consciousness, clarity
and power we need to resolve the problem?

I have found it useful to organize our knowledge about how to resolve addictions
with natural remedies like this:

1. Emotional/Spiritual

2. Diet

3. Herbs

4. Nature cure

Emotional and Spiritual Issues

“Sitting With our Addiction”

It is important as a first step in the process of resolving addictions to
sit with our addiction like a meditation. Often, addictions develop slowly
over the years, which may start at a very early age, or even before we are
born, and we fail to notice them. They become such a part of our behavoir
and our life that we either have no conscious abot it, or we deny that we
have a problem. We are unconscious about the addictive behavoir. For instance,
when I was smoking, many years ago, I eventually noticed that I would sometimes
light a cigarette and smoke it, then put it out and not even remember I
did any of it. When I began to really watch myself as I went through the
ritual of smoking, I found that there were many things I didn’t like about
the habit. I began to look at it more and more closely, I used it as a meditation.
I watched my desire for a cigarette arise, I watched any judgements that
would come, I watched my feelings in relationship to other people who reacted
to my smoking or supported it (because they smoked), and I watched the feelings
and body sensations when I was out of cigarettes and couldn’t smoke one
beyond the time my body called for one. Sometimes I would sit in meditation,
and simply watch all of my feelings about smoking, follow it back and back
to the beginning of the need. I saw how the sucking response was tied to
my lack of the breast when I was an infant (breast-feeding wasn’t fashionable
then). I saw how the smoking ritual was something to hide behind, as I came
into contact with others. And I saw how the nicotine affected my biochemistry,
the changes in blood pressure, the feelings of slight dizziness, the suppression
of hunger, if I wanted to keep speeding and not take time to eat.

If we sit with our addiction with good faith and good intention and ask
for the grace to see it for what it is clearly, then the other practical
steps we need to follow in order to heal the addiction will come naturally
without tremendous effort.

The part that does take effort is going through our resitance to clarity
about the addiction. On our way to that place of clarity we will have to
face our darkest and deepest, and often most painful, places. This is the
mythological journey of Jason slaying the dragon. This is the journey to
our God self that requires courage and concentration.

Every one of us has the ability to travel to this place of God-self, but
not everyone will travel there. This is the irony of being human. But as
we are able to travel there, we are able to show others how best to make
that journey for themselves. This is the power and magic of this effort.
No one person is any more or less perfect than another–we are being called
forth by those who have made the journey, just as we are calling others
forth by our efforts and consciousness.

As a practical exercise, try sitting in a quiet place for 15 minutes. Concentrate
on the process of whatever addiction that needs healing. For instance, if
one is a drinker, think about the drink. Envision going to the store, buying
the bottle. Look at the feelings that come up. Are we fearful, embarrased?
Do we feel guilty, or angry? Imagine the first drink. Are we anxious to
have it? How does it taste? Is it good to our tastebuds, sweet? Does it
taste foul, but we choke it down? Watch the first sensations of the alcohol
as they come to our nervous system. Watch closely until we start to lose
ourself to the feeling and sensations of being high. Watch as long and as
closely as we are able. Also watch the feelings in the morning. Does it
hurt? Do we feel guilty?

It is important to watch without judgement. When we judge ourselves or the
behavoir, we are using the ego to try and control the ego. There is too
much possibility to fool ourselves and get nowhere. This is a common process
that we go through, sometimes for years or lifetimes. The only way this
process will be truely productive is if we only watch very closely, with
exquisite attention and dedication, with no thoughts about right or wrong.
When we are in the state of watching without judgement or evaluation, we
are closer to our God-self. Then and only then will a true movement into
the light occur. Another way of saying it is that we are accessing our higher
intuition about our life. When we are in this space, increasingly, we are
able to access universal knowledge about our healing process. We are in
a powerful healing process, in fact, we are an integral part of it.

Be the “smoker” or “drinker” absolutely. Don’t play
games with the mind–“I am not really a smoker,” I’m better than
that, I will quit soon.” Just be the smoker all the way. “I am
the smoker. I smoke. I smoke often. I light the cigarette, I enhale, I feel
the smoke go into my lungs and I feel the chemicals pervade my body. I smoke
Luckies (or whatever brand). I like this brand because Cowboys (or smartly-dressed
powerful women) smoke them. Cowboys are cool, they don’t have a problem
with women, or life–they know who they are and what they want.” Get
into the perceptions of the brand that we embrace.

The Company we keep

Throughout my life I have changed friends and acquantances many times. Not
that old friends aren’t important or fulfilling, far from it. But through
the years, as I have gotten the call to change, to grow, I have found myself
being attracted to people that already embodied the way I wanted to be.
For instance, as a practical example, when I was a smoker, most of my friends
and acquantances were also smokers. As I struggled with smoking

A Sense of Humor

By not taking ourselves too seriously, we are allowing God to enter into
us. God is always in us, but we are really noticing the presence. So by
being able to laugh at ourselves, to see our folly, our inconsistencies,
we are able to be with our God-self.

By taking ourselves and our condition seriously, we get heavier and heavier.
We connect ourself with the mind, we bind ourselves to its constructs, we
get caught up in the web of self-deception.

Health is Now

When we are in the space of thinking about how we will improve our diet,
or stop drinking or smoking, or start working out, or take that long walk
tomorrow (or even later that day), we are not in the healing way. Health
is only created moment by moment in what we do right now. The choices we
make at this instant is all that can create health, and all that can heal
addiction.

Diet

Diet makes a great deal of difference. For our health, and especially for
healing addictions. When we eat foods that are not appropriate for our own
constitutional needs, we lose power. The most common problem with diet is
sugar and processed foods. Sugar comes in many forms–fruit, fruit juices,
sucrose, fructose, honey, corn syrup and maltodextrin, among others. First
of all, it is important to identify where the sugar is in our life. It is
hidden in so many foods, that it is easy to overlook. When we eat many foods
with sugar, especially in a cool or cold climate, or during the winter,
we can weaken ourselves in a number of ways. I can speak form experience–when
working with addiction, it is important to be conscious about sugar in every
form, and eliminate as much as possible of it from the diet. Instead, focus
on strengthening foods that will create longer-lasting and steadier energy
and warmth, such as grains, beans, lightly cooked vegetables, a few nuts
(whole and unroasted) and seeds (especially fermented), and some dairy and
meat, where appropriate.

This kind of diet will lead to a steadiness that helps create a space for
us to be in that will be of invaluable help in healing addiction.

Herbs

Herbal remedies

Herbs are increasingly coming back into vogue. In many ways, they have never
left our consciousness, and have always been with us as mutual allys. Let
us not forget we share the planet with our green companions so that we can
offer them respect and allow ourselves to be in a healing space with them.

There are a number of ways that herbs can help us heal addiction. Herbalists
will differentiate the therapeutic categories to help clarify what herbs
will be the most effective, and how they should be used. See the sidebar,
“Herbal Programs for Addiction”

*Cleansers

One of the most important herbal treatments for addictions are cleansers
that can help remove residues of the drug substances, or other irritants
from the blood system and tissues. I have found from experience that the
faster one can remove these substances from the body, the better chances
of success.

Sweating is one of the best forms of cleansing, if it is done properly,
because it is a passive form of cleansing, and does not place an extra strain
on the kidneys and liver. Try the following tea blend to help initiate sweating
and enhance the effectiveness of the cleansing process.

Yarrow, elder flowers and peppermint leaf, one part each. Infuse the herbs
in a pot of water (1 part of the herbs to 10 parts water, weight to volume)
and let them steep for 15 minutes. Drink 2 cups during the sauna, and follow
with a cup or two of water.

It is also a good idea to clean out the lymph system with red root and echinacea,
either in tincture or tea form. Take these herbs for 4 or 5 days and then
enjoy a lymphatic massage. This cleansing massage is performed with the
aid of lots of oil. I recommend the addition of 20 drops of rosemary oil
(to 1 ounce of oil) to stimulate circulation. Start at the back of the head,
move down the neck with repeated strokes, then around the collarbone, under
the armpits (if you’re not ticklish!) and down along the ribs, around the
breast area, down to the abdomen and move in a circular motion, clockwise
to stimulate bowel elimination. Then start from the feet (especially on
top between the bones), stroke towards the ankles, then around the ankles,
up the inside of the leg (just below the bone), up to groin, along the inguinal
groove, and another circular motion around the abdomen. This massage does
wonders for eliminating drugs and toxic wastes.

It is also good to combine this massage with a liver flush–the other special
method for removing toxins from the body efficiently and quickly.

The Liver Flush

Liver flushes are used to stimulate elimination of wastes from the body,
to open and cool the liver, to increase bile flow, and to improve overall
liver functioning. They also help purify the blood and the lymph. I have
taken liver flushes for many years now and can heartily recommend them.
And if you make the herbal formula right, it can be quite tasty. Here are
the instructions:.

1. Mix any fresh-squeezed citrus juices together to make 1 cup of liquid.
Orange and grapefruit juices are good, but always mix in some lemon or lime.
The final mix should have a sour taste–the more sour, the more cleansing
and activating. This mixture can be watered down to taste with spring or
distilled water.

2. Add 1-2 cloves of fresh-squeezed garlic, plus a small amount of fresh
ginger juice, which you can obtain by grating ginger on a cheese or vegetable
grater and then pressing the resulting fibers in a garlic press. (Note:
Both garlic and ginger have shown amazing liver-protective qualities in
recent studies (Hikino, 1986). Garlic contains strong antioxidant principles,
and also provides important sulfur compounds that the liver uses to build
certain enzymes.)

3. Mix in 1 tablespoon of high-quality olive oil, blend (or shake well in
a glass container), and drink.

4. Follow the liver flush with two cups of cleansing herbal tea. I like
“Polari-Tea”, which consists of the herbs below. I make plenty
of this tea and keep it in a quart canning jar, so it is always available.

Fennel (1 part)

Fenugreek (1 part)

Flax (1 part)

Licorice (1/4 part)

Burdock (1/4 part)

Peppermint (1 part)

Directions: Simmer the herbs for 20 minutes, then add 1 part
peppermint and let the tea steep for an additional 10 minutes. For extra
soothing properties, try adding 1/2 part marshmallow root (cut and sifted)
to the initial tea blend.

5. Drink the liver flush in the morning (preferably after some stretching
and breathing exercises), then do not eat any other food for one hour. This
liver flush can be taken in cycles of 10 days on and 3 days off, as needed.

There are also several good commercial formulas for liver-cleansing available
in natural food stores everywhere, both in bulk and in tea-bag form. One
product I can recommend is a blend called “Puri-Tea” from herbalist
Brigitte Mars. It contains peppermint, red clover, fennel, licorice, cleavers,
dandelion, Oregon grape, burdock root, butternut bark, chickweed, parsley
root, and nettles.

*Nervines

Antidepressives: rosemary, hypericum, lavender

Sedatives: valerian, hops, passion flower, camomile

Nerve strengtheners: wild oats

Energy herbs: rosemary, ginseng

Antispasmodics

Antiaddictive herbs

Adaptogens (adrenal support and stress-protection): eleuthero, ashwaganda,
gotu kola

Hormonal balancing herbs: vitex, licorice

Circulation activators: ginger, cayenne, prickly ash

Flavoring herbs: peppermint, ginger

How to take the herbs

Nature Cure

Deep breathing, exercise, cold water, stretching, relaxing movement.

Many Paths to Healing to Depression

Nancy ShawStrohecker — Wed, 06 Dec 2000 13:28:02 +0000

“It’s supposed to be a professional secret, but I’ll tell you anyway. We doctors do nothing. We only help and encourage the doctor within.”

Albert Schweitzer

There is no shortage today of media stories on depression. Newspaper
headlines from this year cover a wide range of issues surrounding
depression: “Herb is Found to Aid Mild Depression,” “Researchers Probe
Heart Disease-Depression Link,” “Millions of American Teenagers Suffer from
Depression,” “A Hidden Epidemic of Male Depression,” “Feeling Blue? Check
your Thyroid,” “Medicating Kids: A Pacifier for Depression,” and of course,
“Prozac Keeps Drug maker Feeling Good After 10 Years.” Why this sudden
fascination with depression? Is it because depression is rapidly becoming
recognized as the one of the biggest health problems facing our society,
not only affecting adults, but teens and children?

This current climate is a far cry from the amount of public interest and
media coverage of depression just four years ago in 1994 when we produced a
conference called “Healing Depression” in Santa Monica, California that
inspired this book. At that time, depression was still a taboo subject
socially, a frightening and mysterious condition that was treated medically
with powerful psychotropic antidepressants which had disturbing side
effects. The controversial antidepressant drug, Prozac, had been on the
market for several years and was just penetrating the public consciousness
and beginning to make headlines. There was little or no interest in, nor
knowledge of natural alternatives to treating depression.

Today, thanks to the barrage of media stories and a number of well known
public figures who have disclosed their battles with depression, including
television journalist Mike Wallace, actor Rod Steiger and novelist William
Styron, much of the social stigma surrounding depression has been removed.
Discussion of depression in our culture has become more commonplace, and
it can now be mentioned in the same breath as being “anxious” or “stressed
out.” Concurrently, there is an increasing public interest in natural
approaches to dealing with this health condition. Even conventional medical
doctors who have historically been known to only prescribe antidepressants,
are now responding to the public demand and are beginning to recommend
natural remedies like St. John’s wort for mild to moderate depression.

A National Health Problem

One in four Americans will experience some degree of clinical depression or
mood disorder during their lifetime, and each year over twenty- five
million people will be diagnosed with a depressive illness. Two-thirds of
those suffering from depression are women. However, the recent focus upon a
“silent epidemic” of depression among men indicates that these figures are
in need of adjustment.1

All told, it is estimated that depression will cost our economy more than
forty-four billion dollars, and an annual loss of two hundred million work
hours. These numbers may be deceiving, however, given people’s reticence in
the past to talk to their physician about depression. Today over 17 million
people, including teens and children, are currently on Prozac, the second
most commonly prescribed drug in America. Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly,
the maker of Prozac, is now engaged in a major media campaign to raise
public awareness about depression and Prozac. With the rising tide of
awareness of depression, many who would have never considered themselves
depressed will be taking Prozac, or some other antidote, pushing the
statistics even higher.

And it appears we are bringing our children along for the ride. It is
estimated that close to 13% of teenagers and approximately 3% of children
under thirteen suffer from depression according to the Center for Mental
Health Services. Until recently, no one has wanted to recognize that teens
and children suffer from depression. To make matters more difficult,
childhood depression is hard to identify and diagnose because it is so
easily confused with other health conditions, and because children lack the
verbal skills to explain what they are experiencing. As a result they act
out their depression in the only way they know how–what we commonly
describe as moodiness irritability, anger and even rage.

Are we becoming a “Prozac nation?” Prozac, despite its ability to transform
personality, appears to be a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
FDA statistics reveal unsettling reports of adverse side-effects ranging
from loss of sexual appetite to suicide and death. These serious
shortcomings, the rising incidence of depression, and the growing
popularity of natural health care, clearly demonstrates the need for safe
and reliable drug-free treatments. It is no surprise then that the
antidepressant herb St. John’s wort, despite having been successfully used
for centuries, was barely on the radar screen in the United States four
years ago, but is now the number four-selling herb in the U.S. and is
outselling Prozac in Germany.

Where Does the Answer Lie?

We have spoken with an endless succession of people whose psychiatrist or
psychologist reflexively prescribed antidepressant medication for their
depression as the only available option. Modern medicine, with its focus on
treating disease with a single “standard of practice” has created a serious
situation for those being treated for depression in the class of
psychotropic antidepressant drugs. Many complain they have been on a
treatment merry-go-round for years, going from one antidepressant to
another, and are still seeking help. They report that they have had some
relief but at the cost of unpleasant and grave side-effects. Others,
however, have received virtually little or no relief, or have actually
gotten worse, and are becoming increasingly desperate.

Two things are clear. The human suffering resulting from depression is real
and impacts every aspect of one’s life–family, work, and relationships.
Secondly, depression is not an illness that can be reduced to a single
cause or a single cure, as demonstrated by the problems associated with the
succession of antidepressant drugs produced over the years. There are no
magic bullets for depression.

Where then does the answer lie to relieving the toll of human suffering
brought on by depression? We have discovered that there are many answers to
solving this complex malady. The key is in understanding the many
underlying causes of depression, and becoming aware of the variety of
natural approaches to its treatment.

Many of the solutions come from the world’s great systems of traditional
health care. Some have ancient roots such as herbal medicine, the oldest
form of health care on the planet, and the Greek medicine of Hippocrates.
Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, both of which have both been practiced
continuously for five thousand years, can rightly be called the original
systems of holistic medicine.

Other systems of traditional health care have more modern origins, such as
homeopathy and naturopathic medicine, each of which originated in early- to
mid-19th century Germany before taking root in the U.S. After having fallen
into obscurity for most of the 20th century due to the advent of miracle
drugs, both are now enjoying a major renaissance.

What all of these systems of traditional health care have in common is a
focus on health maintenance, prevention, treating the whole person,
reliance on natural therapies, and taking a more integrative,
multi-disciplinary approach to treatment in order to restore health and
internal balance. These systems also share another commonality–for most of
this century, each has remained outside the accepted standards of
conventional Western medicine, but are now becoming increasingly in demand
by people like yourself in search of solutions to their health problems.

In order to prevent illness and achieve optimum level of personal health,
it is important to be familiar with the tools that can help build a
wellness-based lifestyle, and become aware of all of your treatment
options. The approaches in this book represent the collective wisdom of
thousands of years of the great healing traditions as well as the best of
the emerging field of integrative medicine–nutrition, healthy lifestyles,
mind/body therapies, and spiritual practices.

We have brought together a team of nine leading experts from each of these
fields to present, for the first time, a comprehensive and integrated
picture of depression, including an understanding of its many causes,
prevention and time-tested natural approaches to its treatment. This team
of health professionals will provide an in-depth understanding of the
following primary systems of natural medicine:

Ayurveda: The traditional system of medicine in India, the
practice of Ayurveda extends to 3500 BC. The term Ayurveda means “Science
of Life,” and it has a long history working with rejuvenation, longevity,
and mental health through diet, lifestyle, herbs, massage, yoga, and
meditation.

Chinese Medicine: Practiced for over 5,000 years, Chinese
medicine includes the use of herbs, acupuncture, dietary therapy, massage,
lifestyle as well as qigong, a system that uses movement, energy and
breath. This medicine is based on balancing the flow of qi or life force
through the body’s meridian system or energy pathways.

Herbal medicine: The therapeutic use of herbs to alter
physiology and mental/ emotional states. Both western and Chinese herbs
are explored here in the treatment of depression, and an emphasis on St.
John’s wort as the most highly researched and publicized herb for treating
depression today.

Homeopathy: Homeopathic remedies are designed to stimulate the
body’s own natural powers of recovery to aid in overcoming the disease
rather than simply suppressing symptoms. Homeopathy aims to treat the
patient rather than the disease and has effective treatments for
mental/emotional disorders.

Mind/Body Medicine: The use of stress-reduction techniques,
guided imagery, biofeedback, meditation and other modalities to achieve
higher levels of mind/body integration, greater capacities for
self-regulation and inner peace in order to better control anxiety and mood
swings.

Naturopathic Medicine: A comprehensive and natural approach to
medicine which looks at all of the factors needed to help move a person
towards health. This medicine looks to understand the underlying causes of
illness, and then addresses these causes with natural therapies such as
diet, lifestyle, herbs, homeopathy, nutritional supplements, hydrotherapy
and acupuncture.

Nutritional Medicine: This approach involves the use of diet and
nutritional supplements to correct nutritional deficiencies that may
contribute to biochemical imbalances in the brain resulting in depression.
Nutritional medicine also utilizes nutrients in higher, pharmacological
doses in order to push biochemical reactions in the desired direction to
bring about a return to balance and health..

Qigong: The Chinese art and science of gathering, circulating
and storing body/mind energy (qi) through breath and energy work. These
are techniques that involve movements and visualizations while standing,
sitting and moving.

Spiritual Medicine: An emerging field that explores the
spiritual dimension of health and psychology, utilizing psychospiritual
disciplines such as meditation, yoga, breathwork, self-inquiry and other
spiritual disciplines. In the more ancient systems of traditional health
care, the spiritual dimension of health was an integral part of a
comprehensive, holistic approach to health and well-being.

Yoga: A spiritual discipline practiced in India for many
thousands of years, employing diet, lifestyle, relaxation, physical
postures, breathing practices, meditation, and awareness to promote
physical, mental, and spiritual health.

(For a complete list of therapies covered in this book see Appendix B:
“Quick Reference to Therapies” in Natural Healing for Depression.)

Many Perspectives on the Causes of Depression

There are many underlying causes of depression beyond the conventional
biomedical perspective that focuses solely on imbalances in brain
chemistry. We now know that numerous biochemical and physiological factors
can induce depression. Many physical illnesses can be the cause and,
conversely, depression can lead to physical illnesses. Depression may be
caused by emotional, psychological factors or life’s circumstances. On an
energetic level depression can be viewed as an imbalance of vital energy,
and on a spiritual level it can be seen as stemming from spiritual
disconnection or lack of soul awareness.

From an overall systems perspective, depression can be viewed as a “warning
sign” that the body-mind is off-course in some manner–whether it be
biochemical, physiological, psychological, energetic or spiritual–and is
signaling that there is a need to make some change in your life.

Psychological/Emotional Causes of Depression

Depression often has emotional or psychological roots in the experience of
loss, which may involve the loss of a loved one, a job, a change of
circumstances, or divorce. Depression that accompanies the grieving process
following a significant loss is a natural phenomenon that we all experience
at one time or another in our lives. In many cases, depression can run its
course without professional intervention, and in these cases it is not
appropriate to “medicalize,” the experience and classify it as “mental
illness.” On the other hand, more severe and enduring forms of emotional
and psychological depression due to preocuppation with a loss, long-term
disappointments in life, or chronic pain and physical trauma may require
psychological intervention or counseling to help guide one through the
often dark and difficult process of emotional healing.

Biochemical/Physiological Causes of Depression

Contrary to conventional wisdom, there are numerous biochemical and
physiological factors that can induce depression. These elements include
diet, stress, sleep, exercise, environmental toxins, nutritional
deficiencies, or hormonal imbalances. Similarly, depression may be a
symptom of other underlying health conditions such as candidiasis,
hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, or hormonal imbalance. Cases of chronic,
psychologically-based depression may eventually result in altered
biochemistry, which in turn, may reinforce depression as a psychological
state, making it even more difficult to alleviate. In these cases, it may
be beneficial to deal with the biochemical factors while simultaneously
addressing the psychological level. The contributing health professionals
in this book will cover the following underlying factors that can cause or
contribute to depression:

Alcoholism: Depletes levels of many essential nutrients and amino acids
which are necessary for proper brain physiology.

Candidiasis: Chronic overgrowth of yeast in the gut

Chronic pain: The experience of ongoing physical or emotional pain

Dietary Imbalances: Excess sugar and caffeine consumption

Environmental factors: Toxic reactions to neurotoxins such as solvents
and heavy metals–aluminum, cadmium and lead.

Food and chemical sensitivities: Allergies to foods such as dairy and
wheat as well as to chemicals such as aspartame

Hormonal imbalance: When the endocrine glands (thyroid, ovaries,
testes, pituitary, and adrenal) are under stress or not functioning
properly, hormone levels may fluctuate and profoundly effect mood.

Hypoglycemia: This condition of low blood sugar can lead to chronic
mood swings and depression.

Hypothyroidism: Low levels of thyroid hormone can lead to exhaustion
and depression.

Infectious Diseases: Such as strep throat, especially in children,
affects the auto immune system

Intestinal parasites: Symptoms of parasitic infection include brain
fog, depression and feelings of doom.

Lack of exercise: Non-exercisers are three times more likely to have
depression as exercisers.

Leaky Gut Syndrome: Caused by candidiasis and intestinal parasites can
lead to allergic reactions, poor absorption of food, and malnourishment.

Lifestyle: High stress levels, smoking and lack of exercise can lead to
depression.

Low levels of neurotransmitters: Low levels of serotonin and nor
epinephrine

Malabsorption: Inability to properly absorb nutrients due to deficiency
in stomach HCL, pancreatic enzymes or bile acids.

Nutritional deficiencies: Deficiencies in vitamin B Complex, vitamin C,
iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium

Pharmaceutical Drugs: Anti-psychotics, barbiturates, benzodiazepines,
beta-blockers, cholinergics, corticosteroids, estrogens (including
contraceptives, levodopa, reserpine.

PMS/Menopause: Often accompanied by mood swings, anxiety and depression.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Caused by lack of exposure to sunlight.

Energetic Basis of Depression: According to Traditional Chinese Medicine
(TCM) illness results from an energetic imbalance of qi or life force in
the body’s meridians and internal organs. TCM views depression as resulting
from a blockage or stagnation of emotional qi. Similarly, the Chinese
system of energy training known as qigong and the Indian system of yoga,
both recognize the link between the mind and life force (qi or prana),
while utilizing breathing and awareness practices to help regulate the flow
of life energy in the body/mind.

Spiritual Basis of Depression: According to the “perennial philosophy”
found in the world’s great spiritual traditions, we have essentially
forgotten who we are–our true nature and divine heritage–and feel
disconnected from our spiritual source. This disconnectedness or separation
is viewed as the primary source of unhappiness. Many sacred traditions view
mental illness and conditions such as depression not as a disease of the
mind, but as a lack of connection to and awareness of soul. It is when we
lose touch with our essential spiritual nature, and forget our true purpose
in life that we become subject to depression and other illnesses.

Is Depression Preventable?

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his
patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and
prevention of disease.”

Thomas Edison

When looking at the many faces of depression, the logical question arises:
is depression preventable? In many cases the answer is, “yes” if we can
learn to minimize or avoid the previously mentioned causes by living a
balanced, wellness-based lifestyle, and maintaining a healthy psychological
and spiritual perspective. Until recently, however, prevention has been a
hard sell in America, as our system of health care has actually been a
“sickcare” system focused on treating disease, not in preventing illness
and maintaining health. In this book, each of the health traditions
discussed by our team of health experts offer secrets to not just treating,
but preventing depression through a healthy lifestyle and having tools and
resources at hand to help deal with depression at its onset.

What Do the World’s Systems of Traditional Health Care
Offer?

Throughout history, the world’s great systems of traditional medicine have
provided a more balanced approach to health care, echoed in the World
Health Organization’s classic definition of health:

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being,
and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the term “traditional medicine” to
describe established systems of health care worldwide considered
“unconventional” by modern, standardized western medicine. Most people are
surprised to learn that according to the WHO, 80% of the world’s population
receives their health care from the various forms of traditional medicine
considered to be “alternative” or “unconventional” in the U.S. These
systems include Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, unani
(Graeco-Arab medicine), native American medicine, traditional African
medicine, naturopathic medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic and osteopathy,
among others.

The maintenance of health and the prevention of disease form the basis of
Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, naturopathic medicine and other forms of
traditional health care. The therapeutic protocols in these systems are
intended to restore balance to the body systems in order to reestablish
health. Samuel Hahnemann, the late 18th/early 19th century founder of
homeopathy wrote volumes on hygiene, health maintenance, mental health, as
well as the prevention of disease. These systems all understood the
connection between diet and mental health, the influence of lifestyle
factors, the strong connection of mind and body, and finally the importance
of the spiritual dimension in physical and mental health.

Yoga and qigong are psychospiritual practices aimed at integrating body,
mind and spirit. Meditation, now regularly prescribed by many physicians,
is one of the eight limbs of classical yoga. In fact, the basis of much of
today’s mind/body medicine, including guided imagery, biofeedback and other
relaxation techniques, have strong ties to the practices of yoga and
meditation.

The following poetic passage written thousands of years ago in the Yoga
Vasistha, a Sanskrit text of yoga and spiritual philosophy, demonstrates a
profound and time-less understanding of how illness can originate in the
mind–an understanding that is now weaving itself into the fabric of
today’s medicine:

“When the mind is agitated, then the body also follows in its wake. And
when the body is agitated, then there is no proper perception of the things
that are in one’s way and prana (vital force) flies from its even path onto
the bad road, staggering like an animal wounded by an arrow. Through such
agitation’s, prana, instead of pervading the whole body steadily and
equally, vibrates everywhere at an unequal rate. Therefore, the nadis
(subtle channels for circulation of prana) do not maintain a steady
position, but quiver. Then to the body, which is the receptacle of
partially or completely digested food, the nadis are simply death, because
of the fluctuations of the pranas. The food which settles down in this body
amidst such commotion is transformed into incurable diseases. Thus through
the primary cause (of the mind) the disease of the body is generated. If
this primary cause be annihilated at its root, then all diseases will be
destroyed.“4

The formation of a truly global medicine in the spirit of the World Health
Organization’s vision of integrating modern western medicine with the
world’s traditional medicines, is more and more becoming a reality. This
process involves a revitalization of medicine, inspiring the evolution of
even greater numbers of safe and effective forms of naturally-based
approaches to health care, side by side with the cutting edge developments
in the field of mind/body medicine and energy medicine.

Alternative, Complementary or Integrative Medicine? What’s
in a Name?

Alternative medicine is a relative term that refers in large part to the
systems of traditional medicine that until recently were considered to be
outside of the mainstream of western medicine. Today, courses on many of
these systems are now being taught in over fifty U.S. medical schools,
including Chinese medicine, acupuncture and qigong, Ayurveda, herbal
medicine, mind/body medicine, nutritional medicine, homeopathy,
naturopathy and chiropractic. There is a growing number of traditional
patient-care organizations who now offer alternative medicine services in
their clinics as well as insurance reimbursements.

Many in conventional medical circles, however, still refer to “alternative”
as unproven therapies which purport to replace or act as alternatives to
conventional medical treatment. The issue as to what constitutes proof,
conventional double-blind studies as opposed to hundreds or even thousands
of years of favorable or successful outcomes, remains a contentious issue
in conventional medicine.

We often see conventional medical experts erroneously stating that there is
no research on herbal or nutritional medicine. The German Commission E
Reports, probably the single most important collection of botanical
research in the world, have been publicly available in Germany for over ten
years. Few in this country were aware of its existence and many who were,
discounted it significance as it was not “American” research. However, the
German Commission E Reports2 have now been translated into English (1998)
in a project spearheaded by the American Botanical Council, and beginning
to gain its due respect. Similarly, Dr. Melvin Werbach’s classic book,
Nutritional Influences on Illness3, now a CD Rom containing over four
thousand pages of nutritional research on over one hundred health
conditions, was until recently little known outside of alternative medicine
circles.

Two other terms coming into greater use are “complementary” medicine and
“integrative” medicine. Complementary medicine means that it complements,
but does not replace conventional health care, such as the use of
acupuncture for pain control in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. The
Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) at the National Institutes of Health
now promotes the use of the term Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(CAM). Integrative medicine refers to a form of health care that integrates
both alternative/traditional and conventional medicine.

Whatever name you choose, the strengths of this approach to health care are
in maintaining a high level of health and well-being, treating the whole
person, preventing illness, and offering safe and non-toxic natural
therapies for treating illness, particularly chronic illness.

The public demand for alternative medicine is very strong. A national
survey conducted in1998 by Stanford Center for Research in Disease
Prevention showed that the public does not differentiate between
alternative and conventional medicines. Those polled wanted the options of
going to both conventional and alternative health practitioners, and using
those medicines and services that proved most effective without being
restricted by arbitrary definitions. Over 69% of the respondents had used
some form of complementary and alternative medicine in the past year.
Clearly, consumers want choice in the forms of treatments they pursue
–they want the best of both worlds.

How to Get the Most Out of This Book

The information and resources in this book will empower you to be more
proactive and self-reliant in dealing with cases of mild or transient
depression, showing you how it can be managed through the appropriate
self-care and wellness-based lifestyle practices. It will also show you
how to work in partnership with a health professional in more moderate or
serious cases of depression to create an effective treatment program that
incorporates the leading-edge natural approaches.

Choosing a specific program or approach for any health condition can be a
very personal process. For healing depression, some of you may choose to
work primarily with an acupuncturist or Doctor of Oriental Medicine, while
others may prefer to work with a homeopathic or naturopathic physician.
Still others will choose a psychiatrist or a physician who is knowledgeable
of both alternative and conventional therapies. Some of you may find that
taking a more multi-dimensional approach in designing a program that
utilizes several different health practitioners and forms of therapy
including exercise, massage, meditation, a healthy diet, nutritional
supplements and herbs, is the right solution for your condition.

Look over each chapter and see if the approach is relevant to your
situation, and whether or not its basic principles resonate with your own
philosophy and belief system. Each of these approaches has been
effectively used for treating depression, and can work if it is the
appropriate approach for you. With the broader acceptance of alternative/
complementary therapies we are no longer restricted to standardized,
conventional medicine which looks for one solution to each health problem
as if physicians were treating “disease units” rather than a whole person
with both biochemical and psychological individuality.

As the various systems of traditional medicine and the more modern systems
of alternative medicine share a common perspective–a holistic focus on
prevention, health maintenance, the use of natural therapies, and a
comprehensive treatment plan–you will find throughout the various chapters
some of the same therapies as part of an overall treatment plan. For
example, St. John’s wort is included in the chapters on herbal medicine,
naturopathic medicine as well as an integrated approach to women’s
depression. This overlapping is not only because of this herb’s high
success rate with depression, but because the description of each approach
would be incomplete without a discussion of this herb.

Finally, you can use this book to help increase your general level of
health and well-being by incorporating the dietary, lifestyle, and stress
management guidelines.

Every chapter provides tools to help you develop a wellness-based lifestyle
and to address imbalances that may occur in your physical and mental health.
We have provided additional resources in the appendices for each specific
therapy included in the book: recommended reading, national organizations
and educational institutes, professional referral sources, as well as
Internet resources. The Internet has played a strong role in disseminating
information and resources about alternative medicine to consumers, health
professionals and health care organization. More importantly, as a global
delivery system it supports the formation of an integrated global system of
health care which can utilize the best of traditional and modern medicine.

The Need for Self-Managed Care

“The next major advance in the health of the American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself.”

– John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

With the current direction of managed care, it is vital for the individual
to take more control over their own health care. The abundance of
information about medical options and alternatives necessitates that we
become educated brokers of our own health care. Consumers are doing much of
their own medical research today and assessing alternative treatments
before conferring with their health professional. The accessibility and
wealth of information on the Internet, has only accelerated thisprocess.

The philosophy of Self-Managed Care emphasizes maintaining health and
well-being, consumer empowerment, partnership with one’s health care
provider, and increased utilization of natural remedies and alternative
medicine services. The demanding baby-boomer population, many of whom are
now managing their own health as well as that of their children and aging
parents, are opting for less-invasive and more cost-effective natural
approaches as their primary strategy, tending to avoid the medical system
when possible in non-emergent cases. Savvy health consumers today want a
full range of treatment options from both conventional and alternative
medicine. More than ever the key word is choice.

Many Paths to Healing Depression

This book presents contributions from nine nationally recognized experts in
the major fields of alternative/complementary (traditional) medicine, which
as a whole, presents a comprehensive and holistic vision of depression.
Five of the contributors are experts in the major systems of traditional
medicine: Ayurveda, Chinese medicine and qigong, herbal medicine,
homeopathy and naturopathic medicine. Three contributors are experts in
mind/body medicine, nutritional medicine and spiritual medicine. The final
contributor, a psychiatrist and expert in women’s mood disorders,
represents the true integrative approach by blending western medicine with
nutritional medicine, herbs, and leading-edge psychotherapy.

In reading this book you will witness the true art of medicine as you are
intelligently and compassionately guided by dedicated health professionals
who look beyond the apparent symptoms to address the deeper, underlying
causes of depression through natural and humane approaches. Reading each
chapter will take you on a journey of hope and discovery. You will be
exposed to healing secrets, both ancient and modern, that will expand your
view of the nature of depression and illness as well as educate you in the
many paths to healing this condition.

The following summaries of the nine chapters of this book will give you a
sense for each healing system or approach, and help you or your loved one
begin developing the options for an effective treatment plan.

Depression as Emotional Pain: A Mind/Body Approach — David Bresler,
Ph.D., L.Ac.

Depression is a part of the natural healing process and does not always
require therapeutic intervention, says clinical psychologist and mind/body
pioneer Dr. David Bresler, who is an Associate Clinical Professor at the
UCLA School of Medicine and co-founder of the Academy for Guided Imagery.
In this compelling and human picture of the psychological dimension of
depression, he explains how our real concern should not be with people who
experience depression, but with those who have become stuck in the healing
process. From this perspective, we can view depression as a form of
chronic emotional pain or an emotional habit which results in one becoming
“stuck” in a depressed state of consciousness. In order to break the
habit of depressed thinking, we can employ mind/body approaches such as
interactive guided imagery which can have powerful physiological and
psychological effects, and put us in touch with our own inner resources.

Guided imagery can help us learn to “focus attention on the part of the
nervous system that may have answers to our questions and solutions to our
problems,” according to Dr. Bresler. Most of us are unaware of the powerful
inner resources we have at our disposal, and guided imagery techniques can
help us to discover these resources and use them to provide new insights
and creative solutions to our problems. The reader is guided through an
evocative imagery experience which is designed to identify the particular
qualities that are needed right now to help get one through a current
challenge or difficulty. Additional imagery tools are given for dealing
with depression: exploring the origin and meaning of symptoms, encountering
the Inner Critic, and accessing yourInner Intelligence or Inner Advisor.
According to Bresler, of vital importance in healing depression is keeping
the human spirit alive through hope and faith. “When we lose hope, we lose
the very thing that offers the greatest help in healing our problem.”

Natural Medicine and Depression: A Naturopathic Approach — Joseph
Pizzorno, N.D.

The true role of a naturopathic physician is not in treating disease but
helping people to re-establish health, says Dr. Pizzorno, President and
co-founder of Bastyr University and an internationally recognized expert in
natural medicine and author of the acclaimed book, Total Wellness: Improve
Your Health by Understanding the Body’s Healing Systems. Identifying a
disease is a useful label to help people understand their health problems,
however, the naturopathic approach looks beyond the label of “depression.”
It looks at the whole person and identifies the underlying causative
factors to determine what steps are needed to eliminate those causes and
help a person move towards a balanced state of health.

This approach has many advantages. Stressing prevention and honoring the
healing power of nature, Naturopathic medicine relies upon natural
therapies including diet, nutritional medicine, herbs, homeopathy,
acupuncture, massage and bodywork as well as psychological and lifestyle
counseling. The patient is able to utilize a combination of therapies
determined by the naturopath at very safe dosages, rather than a using a
single therapy at a higher, toxic dosage. Naturopathy also views the role
of the physician to be an educator, teaching and motivating people to take
more personal responsibility in maintaining good health and a state of
wellness. All of these factors allow the patient to be highly involved in
the treatment process.

Dr. Pizzorno’s naturopathic approach to treating depression identifies five
primary determinants of mood: physical factors; social factors (family and
social patterns), mental factors (a person’s thinking patterns), emotional
factors and spiritual factors. For example, on the physical level we may
need to eliminate toxins, normalize endocrine function and neurotransmitter
metabolism, increase exercise and light exposure, and utilize natural mood
elevators. On the mental and emotional levels we may need to deal with
family of origin issues, employ psychodynamic approaches when necessary, or
even follow a prescription for having fun if we are in need of lightening
up our lives.

Dr. Pizzorno offers a fascinating case study to illustrate naturopathic
medicine’s comprehensive and effective approach to dealing with depression
that first provides the necessary and immediate symptomatic relief while
treating the primary causes.

Women’s Depression: An Integrative Approach — Hyla Cass,
M.D.

Psychiatrist and author Hyla Cass, an expert in integrating leading-edge
natural medicine with innovative psychotherapy, and Assistant Clinical
Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, encounters many women in her
private practice with typical psychiatric complaints: depression,
addiction, impaired concentration, eating disorders, weight gain, insomnia,
anxiety, fatigue, and sexual dysfunction. Rather than approaching her
patients from a standard psychiatric, drug-prescribing perspective, Dr.
Cass examines other possible underlying causes for their depression and
related symptoms: genetic predisposition, hormonal imbalances, food and
chemical sensitivities, chronic fatigue syndrome, candidiasis, toxic
reactions, and nutritional deficiencies.

Her integrative approach to treating depression and mood disorders in women
utilizes a wide range of therapies depending upon the specific history and
biochemistry of the patient as determined by laboratory tests. These
therapies include dietary therapy and nutritional medicine, amino acid
therapy, herbal medicine, and natural hormone therapy, as well as mind/body
therapies, leading-edge forms of psychotherapy including Voice Dialogue,
and when necessary, conventional antidepressant medications. Dr. Cass’
integrative approach to treating depression and its underlying metabolic
causes is also relevant to men, with the exception of the specific hormonal
imbalances.

A Comprehensive Approach to Depression: Nutritional Medicine and
Biofeedback — Melvyn Werbach, M.D.

Psychiatrist Melvyn Werbach presents a “new” model for looking at
depression based on the natural and holistic principles of Hippocrates, the
ancient Greek physician/healer recognized as the father of Western
medicine. Depression can be viewed in three different ways according to
Dr. Werbach: as a failure of a body system, a psychological defense, and a
physical or psychological warning of the imbalance between mind and body.
Optimal treatment involves a holistic approach which integrates the best of
psychiatry, nutritional medicine and mind/body therapies.

Dr. Werbach, an internationally recognized authority in nutritional
medicine, an early pioneer in biofeedback research at UCLA, and Assistant
Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, provides a clear and
in-depth explanation of the nutritional treatment of depression through
diet and nutritional supplementation, based on solid scientific research.
Dietary factors and common foods associated with depression are examined
such as caffeine, sugar and alcohol, as well as specific nutrient
deficiencies including vitamin B-Complex, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin
B12, and vitamin C, as is neurotransmitter precursor therapy to raise
serotonin levels. A case study emphasizes the importance of integrating
therapies such as biofeedback and relaxation response training into a more
comprehensive model of treating depression.

The Natural Pharmacy: Herbal Medicine and Depression — Janet Zand,
O.M.D., L.Ac.

Depression is an enigmatic and complex phenomenon according to Dr. Janet
Zand, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, author, and a nationally known expert
in herbal medicine. In fact, many of the numerous symptoms of
depression–chronic fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, headaches,
backaches, bowel disorders, and feelings of worthlessness and
inadequacy–can, in other circumstances, be the cause of depression. Herbal
medicine has a long and respected history, and holds a valuable place in
the treatment of mental/emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression
as well as the vast majority of health problems. The proper use of herbs
not only helps to alleviate symptoms, but also helps to treat the
underlying problem and strengthen the overall functioning of a particular
organ or body system.

Dr. Zand profiles the Western and Chinese herbs herbs that have proven
effective in treating depression, anxiety and mood disorders, including St.
John’s wort, kava, Siberian ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, astragalus, Dong quai,
bupleurum, milk thistle, ginger root, and valerian. She also provides a
list of essential oils that are helpful in alleviating depression as well
as a useful herbal chart for quick reference. This chart lists the herbs
and the corresponding symptoms of depression that it addresses, along with
how the herb is taken, plus any possible side effects.

Homeopathy and Depression — Jacquelyn Wilson, M.D.

Homeopathic remedies use minute doses of a medicinal agent that stimulate
the body’s own natural powers of recovery to restore balance and health
rather than to simply suppress symptoms. Dr. Wilson, a nationally
recognized authority in homeopathy and past President of the American
Institute of Homeopathy, has found this system of natural medicine to be
consistently effective in treating mental and emotional problems, as a
method of individual self-care, and in more serious cases, when
administered under the care of a health professional. In classical
homeopathy, however, there are numerous forms of depression, as depression
is not considered to be a single disease but a specific symptom-picture.
Classical homeopathic prescribing matches a single remedy with a patient’s
detailed symptom profile. The keyto the homeopathic approach to treating
depression, therefore, is to find the medicine that corresponds or is
similar to the depressed person’s mind and body traits, and complaints.

The most important homeopathic remedies for depression are described in
this chapter, along with the appropriate Bach Flower remedies and cell
salts, including each remedy’s matching symptom profile. Dr. Wilson also
distinguishes between the advantages and disadvantages of the two primary
forms of homeopathy–classical single remedy prescribing, and complex
homeopathy which uses combination remedies. She provides a fascinating
account of a serious depressed woman who did not respond to
antidepresssants and conventional medicine, but significantly benefited
from a specific homeopathic remedy.

Qigong, Chinese Medicine and Depression: Roger Hirsh, O.M.D.

Chinese medicine as well as the many Chinese healing arts and martial arts
are based on the concept of Qi or vital force. Chinese philosophy
believes that the free and unobstructed flow of qi throughout the organ
meridian system of the body brings radiant health, whereas its blockage or
stagnation results in reduced energy that can lead to health problems.
There is a strong recognition in Chinese Medicine of the role of the
emotions in health and illness. When the body and mind move in harmony,
positive emotions prevail. Depression, however, is due to a stagnation of
emotional Qi within an individual’s internal organs, especially the liver,
kidneys and lungs. If the Qi is deeply stagnated for a period of time it
can affect every organ meridian system and cause severe depression.

Dr. Hirsh, a respected doctor of Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, and
a longtime teacher of Qigong and taiji (tai chi), leads the reader in a
journey into the secrets of Qigong, an ancient Chinese art of energy
training and rejuvenation. Qigong is increasingly utilized in health care
settings worldwide, and is used in both the prevention and treatment of
depression. For those experiencing either acute or deep-seated depression,
Hirsh provides some simple Qigong exercises which involves breathing,
visualization and movement to stimulate and energize. The first set of
Qigong exercises are warm-ups that can be performed either individually or
as a group to help deal with mild to moderate depression. The second group,
“The Eight Silken Brocades” is a set of ancient exercises that help to
stimulate and tonify the whole biomechanical system of the body in order to
relieve stress, maintain youthfulness, and promote general well-being.

Ayurveda for Depression and Mental Health — Shri Kant Mishra, M.D.,
M.S., Doctor of Ayurveda

Ayurveda, the traditional system of medicine in India practiced
continuously for over 5,000 years, literally means the “Science of Life.”
The principal goal of Ayurveda is the preservation and promotion of health
with special emphasis on preventing illness. The secondary goal of this
form of medicine is the treatment of physical, mental and spiritual
illness, according to Dr. Shri Kant Mishra, an internationally renowned
neurologist, and the only western-trained M.D. working in the U.S. with a
formal degree in Ayurveda from Benares University in India. In addressing
one’s overall heath, Ayurveda embraces a holistic perspective, integrating
all aspects of life–nutrition, hygiene, sleep, seasonal changes,
lifestyle, and physical, mental and sexual activities. Diagnosis and
treatment in Ayurvedic medicine revolves around determining the
individual’s constitutional profile, which is based upon the unique
combination of the three doshas or humors (vata, pitta and kapha). Illness
and depression results when there is a dosha imbalance.

This ancient system of natural medicine has a long history in the areas of
mental health, rejuvenation, and longevity through the use of diet and
lifestyle practices, herbs, massage, yoga, and meditation. Dr. Mishra
explores the Ayurvedic approach to attaining a balanced state of mental
health and focuses on specific approaches to treating vata, pitta and kapha
forms of depression. He also provides yogic practices such as pranayama
(breathing practices) and meditation to help promote optimal health and
mental clarity and balance.

The Spiritual Dimension of Depression — Carlos Warter, M.D.,
Ph.D.

The great spiritual traditions of the world tell us that pain and suffering
are rooted in the forgetfulness of our true divine nature– our separation
from the universal source. Psychiatrist Carlos Warter, M.D., Ph.D., a
pioneer in spiritual psychology and psychospiritual integration, shows us
how depression can manifest through ignoring or forgetting our true
identity as spiritual beings. In treating hundreds of individuals with
symptoms of depression, Dr. Warter recognizes the validity of each
treatment modality, and the importance of looking at the physical,
biochemical, mental and emotional causes of depression. To be really
effective, however, he has discovered that one must cross into the realm of
the spiritual to create a truly comprehensive treatment approach. “In the
majority of depression cases that I have treated,” says Warter, “the
essential problem is that the individual’s identity is firmly established
in the smaller story of the personality and their larger, divine identity
has been ‘forgotten.’ ”

The solution, according to Warter, is to help the individual to move from
the small, contracted story where depression is able to develop, to the
awareness of a larger dimension of one’s being, the large or big story of
human life. This elevation in awareness entails a fundamental shift in the
very notion of who one is, thereby undercutting very basis of the
existing depression. In this final chapter, Dr. Warter charts out the
spiritual terrain of healing, by combining both eastern and western
spiritual traditions, and providing many practical tools and exercises to
help us reclaim our wholeness and spiritual birthright.

Where Do I Go From Here?

The final chapter gives you important tips to further educate yourself
about the therapies in this book, and the criteria for selecting the most
appropriate one for a specific condition. This includes referrals to the
various appendices of the book, that provide resources on alternative and
complementary health care, recommended reading and Internet resources. The
chapter also provides guidelines for finding the most suitable professional
services, including health professionals, diagnostic laboratories and
compounding pharmacies.

Treat this book like a treasure chest of healing approaches to depression
and mood disorders. Open and examine its unique and valuable contents.
Discover and take with you the map to healthier living.

Alcoholism

American Institute for Preventive Medicine — Wed, 06 Dec 2000 13:28:02 +0000

Alcoholism is used here to describe alcohol abuse and/or dependence. Alcohol abuse is the repeated use of alcohol that results in daily living problems. Examples include:

Failing to fulfill work, school, or home duties

Getting arrested for drunk driving, disorderly conduct, etc.

Having relationship problems such as arguments or physical fights

Alcohol dependence is alcohol addiction. It means not being able to stop using alcohol without some degree of distress. The distress can be from:

Cravings for alcohol

The need for more and more alcohol to get the desired effect

Withdrawal symptoms when blood alcohol levels decline

Causes

A tendency to become alcoholic is increased if family members are alcoholic. Men and women are about 4 times more likely to become alcoholic if one of their parents was, and 10 times more likely if both parents were. Environmental factors also play a role. For example, the more a person drinks, the greater the risk. Also, being able to consume a lot of alcohol (having a high tolerance) is a risk factor, not a safeguard, for alcoholism.

Alcohol abuse and/or dependence can develop in several ways:

Drinking in excess on an almost daily basis

Drinking a lot at certain times, such as every weekend

Drinking a lot in binges, with or without long periods of not drinking

Drinking infrequently, but with loss of control over drinking and/or behavior problems while drinking

Alcoholism is a disease which affects the alcoholic’s physical health, emotional well-being and behavior.

Physical Effects of Alcohol

Can impair mental/physical reflexes. The chart below describes the typical effects as blood alcohol content (BAC) increases.

For most states, blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.10 is the indicator for driving while intoxicated.

Can increase the risk of diseases such as cancer of the brain, tongue, mouth, esophagus, larynx, liver, and bladder; cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis; gastritis and brain damage when used heavily. It can also cause heart and blood pressure problems.

Can lead to malnutrition

Is known to cause birth defects

Emotional and Behavioral Effects of Alcohol

May cause someone to do things they might not do otherwise, such as driving at dangerous speeds or other daredevil acts

May result in anger, violent behavior, or depression which can intensify as more alcohol is consumed. Can result in suicide.

May result in memory loss, the inability to concentrate, and problems in other intellectual functions

Can make family life chaotic. The divorce rate is 7 times higher among alcoholics. Also, children of alcoholics often have emotional problems lasting into adulthood.

Often results in decreased work attendance and performance as well as problems in dealing with employees and coworkers

Treatment

Treating alcoholism as an illness is important. Recovery requires lifelong changes. Types of treatment are:

Self-help groups such as:

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

Rational Recovery (RR)

Women for Sobriety (WFS)

Men for Sobriety (MFS)

(See “Places to Get Information & Help” under “Alcohol/Drug Abuse” on pages 374 and 375.)

Alcohol treatment programs. Many types exist:

Outpatient treatment is held in hospitals, clinics, or other alcohol rehabilitation centers. It focuses on education and is often set up in a group format. Substance abuse counselors, psychologists, social workers, etc., staff this type of treatment, which generally lasts from 610 weeks.

Day treatment programs in which the person checks into a facility all day, but goes home at night. Individual and group therapy as well as education are provided. This type of treatment is suitable for persons with more severe prob- lems than can be helped by outpatient pro- grams. It is less costly than inpatient treatment.

Inpatient treatment is usually a 1428-day stay in a hospital or other residential treat- ment facility. The alcoholic may need to go through detoxification. The focus of treat- ment is to rehabilitate the person to not use alcohol. This is done through education and individual and group therapy.

“Aftercare” eases the person back into the world” through individual counseling, group therapy, and support group meetings such as AA, after inpatient or outpatient treatment is finished. This can last one year. The person continues with individual and group therapy and support group meetings such as AA.

Psychotherapy, which can be individual, family, and/or group therapy

Medications. One called Naltrexone, blocks the craving for alcohol and the pleasure of getting high. Another one, called Antabuse, causes physical reactions such as vomiting when drinking alcohol. Antabuse is rarely used.

Questions to Ask:

{Note: “Counselor” in this section may also refer to self-help support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).}

Have you had memory lapses or blackouts due to drinking?

Or

Do you continue to drink even though you have health problems caused by alcohol?

Or

Do you get withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, chills, shakes, and a strong craving for alcohol, and, as a result, drink more to get rid of these symptoms?

Or

Do you take part in high-risk behaviors such as: unsafe sex in a nonmonogamous relationship or driving a boat or car or working with hazardous machinery when under the influence of alcohol?

Or

Has drinking caused trouble at home, at work, and/or with relationships with others?

Or

Do you have to drink alcohol for any of the following reasons?

To get through the day or unwind at the end of the day

To cope with stressful life events

To escape from ongoing problems

Or

Do you answer yes to 2 or more of the following questions?

Have you ever tried to cut down on your drinking?

Have you ever been annoyed by anybody criticizing your drinking?

Have you ever felt guilty about your drinking?

Have you ever had an eye-opener (drink) in the morning?

Or

Self-Care Tips

Tips to Reduce the Risks Associated with Drinking:

Know your limit and stick to it or don’t drink any alcohol.

Drink slowly. You are apt to drink less.

Pour less alcohol and more mixer in each drink.

Alternate an alcoholic beverage with one without alcohol.

Eat when you drink. Food helps to slow alcohol absorption.

Talk to persons who will listen to your feelings and concerns without putting you down. You will be less likely to turn to alcohol to “drown your sorrows.”

Find ways to calm yourself other than with alcohol. Examples include hobbies, relaxation exercises, physical activities, music, movies, etc.

Realize that you are a role model for your children. They learn what they see. When you drink, do so responsibly.

Don’t mix drinking with driving, drugs, or operating machines. Doing so can be fatal.

Don’t rely on coffee or fresh air to make you sober. Even though you see these things done on TV, they won’t make a person sober.

Don’t have any alcohol if you are pregnant.

Contact your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at work for information and other suggestions.

Allopathic Model	Psychospiritual Humanological Model
1. Alcoholism and addition are diseases.	1. Your state of health is determined by your choices.
2. The best an addict or alcoholic can achieve is temporary sobrietyï¿½one day at a time. It is heresy to suggest that one can get recovered.	2. Ecstasy of consciousness is your birthright.
3. One gets sick because some germ from the outside invades you.	3. You are a spiritual being having a human experience. You are not a human being seeking a spiritual experience.
4. Doctors know best. They are seen as Gods	4. Body, mind and spirit are not separate. Your behavior and attitudes are derivative from your state of awareness and consciousness.
5. Individual has little or no responsibility for their illness	5. Addiction is a spiritual disease.
6. Only the doctor can cure them	6. You are perfect just the way you are.
7. Your disease will be eliminated some day when we find the gene that is causing you the problem.	7. You create your own reality. If you do not like the one you have created, you can create another. The television has many channels playing at the same time, change the channel and you tune into a different frequency and you get a different picture.
8. Life style is seen neither as a cause of your problem nor as a solution to it.	8. Every physical symptom has both a psychological and spiritual meaning.
9. Embraces mind body dualism. Mind is separate from body.	9. We have been conditioned to be more comfortable with pain and suffering than with joy and bliss
10. Environmental and cultural factors have nothing to do with disease	10. Changing oneï¿½s consciousness is the therapeutic task.
11. Attempting to discredit and punish alternative therapists are acceptable practices and in the best interest of the public.	11. It is possible to get recovered.

Have you had memory lapses or blackouts due to drinking?	Or

Do you continue to drink even though you have health problems caused by alcohol?	Or

Do you get withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, chills, shakes, and a strong craving for alcohol, and, as a result, drink more to get rid of these symptoms?	Or

Do you take part in high-risk behaviors such as: unsafe sex in a nonmonogamous relationship or driving a boat or car or working with hazardous machinery when under the influence of alcohol?	Or

Has drinking caused trouble at home, at work, and/or with relationships with others?	Or

Do you have to drink alcohol for any of the following reasons? To get through the day or unwind at the end of the day To cope with stressful life events To escape from ongoing problems	Or

Do you answer yes to 2 or more of the following questions? Have you ever tried to cut down on your drinking? Have you ever been annoyed by anybody criticizing your drinking? Have you ever felt guilty about your drinking? Have you ever had an eye-opener (drink) in the morning?	Or