Appeal to Mental Health Professionals and Behavioral Health Facilities. Natural Psychology

Western Psychiatric Institute - Thomas Detre Hall, University of Pittsburgh

Thomas Detre Hall - Western Psychiatric Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 2007. Photo: Piotrus.

University settings combined with clinics, such as shown here, provide excellent opportunities to offer non-pharmaceutical options as standard treatment for those who desire this type of psychiatric care. Intensive psycho-education, therapy, and teaching life skills to clients, can facilitate successful non-pharmaceutical solutions in mental health.

Groundwork for Future Research by those in the Field of Mental Health

Along with the educating of parents, if were more money and time were allocated for research into children's mental health in general, and more attention to the roots of children's mental health problems, it could prove to be very beneficial. The large sums of money being funded for testing pharmaceutical treatments might be considered to be overkill at this point; there seem to be plenty of medications to cover nearly every angle of mental health disorders.

Research and well-designed studies which test non-pharmaceutical methods and the success of lifestyle changes in relation to psychiatric disorders are not common. Part of the reason for this is that pharmaceutical corporations are the ones who are spending the most money for studies to be conducted, yes, even at universities.

Therefore it is important that universities and government be aware of the success that some are having in mental health through non-pharmaceutical methods, and the success that history indicates was once had in the past with non-pharmaceutical methods of treating mental helath disorders, and to allocate funds for the development and validization of these methods. Non-pharmaceutical methods do not necessarily exist isolated, but are more of a holistic approach. That is, one is not testing how a single lifestyle change affects mental health, but rather, a broader scope of non-pharmaceutical approaches to a single mental health issue.

As an example, if a study were designed that implemented cognitive behavioral therapy, and family therapy, along with dietary and other health lifestyle changes such as regular exercise. This coupled with "detoxification" from the media for 6 months to a year, that is a drastic reduction of, or doing without TV, movies, video games, during the trial, this would facilitate the effectiveness of a non-pharmaceutical approach to clients or parents of children who were willing to participate.

This approach could be used for any of a number of psychiatric disorders. Studies indicate, as an example, that cognitive behavioral therapy alone, is about as effective or more so than medication alone. When combined with psycho-education and lifestyle changes, it would stand to reason that it would be that much more effective.

Mental health clinics and hospitals are urged and enouraged to consider allocating beds in their hospitals or clinics that allow clients to choose a non-pharmaceutical approach to mental health treatment.

If such clinics or hospitals would provide intensive psycho-education and therapy, it could be groundbreaking in terms of establishing professional non-pharmaceutical treatment in the psychiatric community.

Psycho-education and family therapy can be of much value.

If successes or rates of success were documented, then it could provide a foundation and further proof that non-pharmaceutical management of mental health disorders is both possible and advantageous, as well as effective. Published accounts could lay groundwork for well structured clinical studies for the efficaciousness of non-pharmaceutical treatment and therapy in mental health.

If mental health professionals both in public schools and in private and public hospitals could spend more time in determining why children are developing mental or psychiatric disorders, putting to the background the idea that mental illness is purely genetic and that the best form of treatment is simply medication, and if lifestyle issues could be more fully explored, it could be a step forward in the field of mental health.

This could provide a foundation to build on in exploring the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical treatment in even serious mental health disorders. In pursuing non-pharmaceutical intervention in psychiatric hospitals or by psychologists and even psychiatrists in both schools or in private practice and by pediatricians involved with children's disorders, a clinician can see in individual cases the effectiveness of such non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Also, if universities could PURSUE and be given grants to sponsor more non-pharmaceutical studies and research, to look more deeply into the positive effects of mental hygiene, along with other forms of therapy such as the use of art and exercise as mood stabilizers, as well as more attention to positive lifestyle changes, for those with ADHD, depression or even bipolar disorder, then such matters could be more fully explored in a scientific context. This could add more weight to the viability of the use of non-pharmaceutical treatment of mental health disorders.

By stepping back and looking at the whole picture, we can gain perspective that can be helpful in the successful treatment of mental disorders.

Thank you for considering this request.

This page was produced with the personal encouragement of Joel, Nigg, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University and author of the scholarly and thorough work, What Causes ADHD? (2006)