How to encourage brain cells to grow

Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret speaks on TEDtalks about sex, the taste of food, wine, depression, exercise, and comedy can affect neuro-cellular growth. 

from June 2015

TEDtalk video

Watch the video

Read the Transcript

LACCC presents: Innovations in Recovery Conference, Monday, June 23rd, 8am – 4pm

The LOS ANGELES COUNTY CLIENT COALITION is putting on the 3rd Annual Innovations in Recovery Conference. The conference will ill take place on Monday, June 23, 2014 at the California Endowment Center (Directions & Innovations Conf 2014.flyer)  located at 1000 N. Alameda Street Los Angeles, CA 90012, from 8:00am to 4:00 pm. 

Please join us!!! The Wildflowers’ Movement will be exhibiting and presenting SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND, an innovative workshop with music, singing and art! Our group is about giving & receiving mindful support while practicing self-awareness, cultivating radical wellness, and celebrating diversity. We meet every 1st and 3rd Sunday at SHARE! in Culver City and out at various events, and in nature, our natural habitat.

 

 

Why French Kids Don’t Have ‘ADHD’: The Cultural Differences of Child Rearing

It’s quite encouraging to realize that in other countries the DSM is not taken seriously. In fact, it’s not used at all. For example, the focus in France is on addressing the underlying psychosocial causes of symptoms, not on finding the best pharmacological bandaids with which to mask symptoms. It is a totally different perspective from the American tendency to attribute all symptoms to a biological dysfunction such as a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Unfortunately, in the United States, the strict focus on pharmaceutical treatment, encourages clinicians to ignore the influence of dietary factors on our behavior. This and comparing other cultural child rearing differences can help us save our children

published by Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D. in Psychology Today

Why French Kids Don’t Have ‘ADHD’

In the United States, at least 9% of school-aged children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and are taking pharmaceutical medications. In France, the percentage of kids diagnosed and medicated for ADHD is less than .5%. How come the epidemic of ADHD—which has become firmly established in the United States—has almost completely passed over children in France?

Is ADHD a biological-neurological disorder? Surprisingly, the answer to this question depends on whether you live in France or in the United States. In the United States, child psychiatrists consider ADHD to be a biological disorder with biological causes. The preferred treatment is also biological–psycho stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall.

French child psychiatrists, on the other hand, view ADHD as a medical condition that has psycho-social and situational causes. Instead of treating children’s focusing and behavioral problems with drugs, French doctors prefer to look for the underlying issue that is causing the child distress—not in the child’s brain but in the child’s social context. They then choose to treat the underlying social context problem with psychotherapy or family counseling. This is a very different way of seeing things from the American tendency to attribute all symptoms to a biological dysfunction such as a chemical imbalance in the child’s brain.

French child psychiatrists don’t use the same system of classification of childhood motional problems as American psychiatrists. They do not use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM. According to Sociologist Manuel Vallee, the French Federation of Psychiatry developed an alternative classification system as a resistance to the influence of the DSM-3. This alternative was the CFTMEA (Classification Française des Troubles Mentaux de L’Enfant et de L’Adolescent), first released in 1983, and updated in 1988 and 2000. The focus of CFTMEA is on identifying and addressing the underlying psychosocial causes of children’s symptoms, not on finding the best pharmacological bandaids with which to mask symptoms.

To the extent that French clinicians are successful at finding and repairing what has gone awry in the child’s social context, fewer children qualify for the ADHD diagnosis. Moreover, the definition of ADHD is not as broad as in the American system, which, in my view, tends to “pathologize” much of what is normal childhood behavior. The DSM specifically does not consider underlying causes. It thus leads clinicians to give the ADHD diagnosis to a much larger number of symptomatic children, while also encouraging them to treat those children with pharmaceuticals.

The French holistic, psychosocial approach also allows for considering nutritional causes for ADHD-type symptoms—specifically the fact that the behavior of some children is worsened after eating foods with artificial colors, certain preservatives, and/or allergens. Clinicians who work with troubled children in this country—not to mention parents of many ADHD kids—are well aware that dietary interventions can sometimes help a child’s problem. In the United States, the strict focus on pharmaceutical treatment of ADHD, however, encourages clinicians to ignore the influence of dietary factors on children’s behavior.

And then, of course, there are the vastly different philosophies of child-rearing in the United States and France. These divergent philosophies could account for why French children are generally better-behaved than their American counterparts. Pamela Druckerman highlights the divergent parenting styles in her recent book, Bringing up Bébé. I believe her insights are relevant to a discussion of why French children are not diagnosed with ADHD in anything like the numbers we are seeing in the United States.

From the time their children are born, French parents provide them with a firm cadre—the word means “frame” or “structure.” Children are not allowed, for example, to snack whenever they want. Mealtimes are at four specific times of the day. French children learn to wait patiently for meals, rather than eating snack foods whenever they feel like it. French babies, too, are expected to conform to limits set by parents and not by their crying selves. French parents let their babies “cry it out” if they are not sleeping through the night at the age of four months.

French parents, Druckerman observes, love their children just as much as American parents. They give them piano lessons, take them to sports practice, and encourage them to make the most of their talents. But French parents have a different philosophy or discipline. Consistently enforced limits, in the French view, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, they believe, actually make a child feel happier and safer—something that is congruent with my own experience as both a therapist and a parent. Finally, French parents believe that hearing the word “no” rescues children from the “tyranny of their own desires.” And spanking, when used judiciously, is not considered child abuse in France.

As a therapist who works with children, it makes perfect sense to me that French children don’t need medications to control their behavior because they learn self-control early in their lives. The children grow up in families in which the rules are well-understood, and a clear family hierarchy is firmly in place. In French families, as Druckerman describes them, parents are firmly in charge of their kids—instead of the American family style, in which the situation is all too often vice versa.

Copyright © Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D.

Marilyn Wedge is the author of Pills Are Not for Preschoolers: A Drug-Free Approach for Troubled Kids

Way OUT of DEPRESSION naturally…

by Andrew W. Saul

Those of us that have experienced the depths of clinical depression know just how awful it really is. When you are in the bag, it is hard to think out of the bag. But there is a way out.

Rather than give a synthetic drug to block or mimic the body’s chemical nerve messengers (neurotransmitters), it is possible nutritionally to encourage the body to make its own natural ones.

If we are what we eat, then our nerves also depend on what they are fed. Here is tremendous potential for the alleviation of depression and related disorders.

MAKE YOUR OWN NOREPINEPHRINE 
A depletion of the neurotransmitter called norepinephrine may result in poor memory, loss of alertness, and clinical depression. The chain of chemical events in the body resulting in this substance is:

L-phenylalanine (from protein foods) -> L-tyrosine (made in the liver) -> dopa -> dopamine -> norepinephrine -> epinephrine

This process looks complex but actually is readily accomplished, particularly if the body has plenty of vitamin C. Since one’s dietary supply of the first ingredient, L-phenylalanine, is usually adequate, it is more likely to be a shortage of vitamin C that limits production of norepinephrine. Physicians giving large doses of vitamin C have had striking success in reversing depression. It is a remarkably safe and inexpensive approach to try.

MAKE YOUR OWN ACETYLCHOLINE 
Acetylcholine is the end neurotransmitter of your parasympathetic nerve system. This means that, among other things, it facilitates good digestion, deeper breathing, and slower heart rate. You may perceive its effect as “relaxation.”

Your body will make its own acetylcholine from choline. Choline is available in the diet as phosphatidyl choline, found in lecithin.

Lecithin is found in egg yolks and most soy products. Three tablespoons daily of soya lecithin granules provide about five grams (5,000 milligrams) of phosphatidyl choline. Long-term use of this amount is favorably mentioned in The Lancet, February 9, 1980. Lecithin supplementation has no known harmful effects whatsoever. In fact, your brain by dry weight is almost one-third lecithin! How far can we go with this idea of simply feeding the brain what it is made up of? In Geriatrics, July 1979, lecithin is considered as a therapy to combat memory loss. Studies at MIT show increases in both choline and acetylcholine in the brains of animals after just one lecithin meal! Supplemental choline has even shown promise in treating Alzheimer’s Disease. (Today’s Living, February, 1982)

Lecithin is good for you. How good? Each tablespoon (7.5 grams) of lecithin granules contains about 1700 mg of phosphatidyl choline, 1000 mg of phosphatidyl inositol, and about 2,200 mg of essential fatty acids as linoleic acid. It also contains the valuable fish-oil-like, omega-3 linolenic acid. It is the rule, not the exception, for one or more of these valuable substances to be undersupplied by our daily diet.

Lecithin tastes crummy. How crummy? Well, the lecithin that is available in capsules is the most popular. These are sold at health food stores and are admittedly convenient, but are also expensive. In order to get even one tablespoon of lecithin, you would have to take eight to twelve capsules! Since a normal supplemental dose is three or more tablespoons daily, that’s a lot of capsules to swallow. Much less costly is liquid lecithin. A taste for liquid lecithin has to be acquired, shall we say. It is easier to take if you first coat the spoon with milk or molasses. After taking liquid lecithin, it is wise to have a “chaser” of any dairy product or, again, molasses. Beef and sheep brains are also an excellent source of lecithin, but don’t expect me to recommend them.

Probably the best way to get a lot of lecithin easily is to take lecithin GRANULES. Stir the granules quickly into juice or milk. They won’t dissolve, but rather will drift about as you drink. Lecithin granules can also be used as a topping on any cold food. Ice cream comes to mind. Also, they are not bad if stirred into yogurt. If you put lecithin granules on hot food, they will melt and you will then have liquid lecithin.

If that “brains” comment a while back is still bothering you, please bear in mind that all supplemental forms of lecithin are made from soy beans. An alternate non-soy source is egg yolk. Generally, maximum benefit is obtained when you eat the yolk lightly cooked (such as in a soft-boiled egg).

By the way, the correct pronunciation of LECITHIN is “LESS-A-THIN. This is easy to remember because you are probably less-a-thin than you used-to-a-be.

MAKE YOUR OWN SEROTONIN 
Before the FDA temporarily removed all tryptophan supplements from the market due to a now-corrected, industrial manufacturing error, millions of people had safely taken regular suppertime doses of this amino acid, usually 500–2,000 mg, to help them sleep. Inside you, tryptophan is broken down into anxiety-reducing, snooze-inducing niacin. Even more important, tryptophan is also made into serotonin, one of your body’s most important neurotransmitters. Serotonin is responsible for feelings of well-being and mellowness. This is such a profound effect that Prozac, Paxil, and similar antidepressants artificially keep the body’s own serotonin levels high. You can do the same thing naturally through diet. And no one can tell us that beans, peas, cheese, nuts, sunflower seeds, and good ol’ wheat germ are toxic if you eat a lot of them!

Plenty of carbohydrates in your meals helps tryptophan get to where it does the most good: your brain. In order to cross the blood-brain barrier and get in, carbs are required. So cheese and crackers provides a better effect than the cheese standing alone. Cover your ears, animal friends, for I am also about to condone eating the occasional dead bird. Poultry, especially the dark meat, is a rich (yet very cheap) source of tryptophan. Add potatoes or stuffing, and you have the reason everybody is sprawled out and snoring up a storm after a typical Thanksgiving food orgy. But to be able to look your parakeet in the eye after the fourth Thursday in November, you can stay vegetarian and still get tanked up on tryptophan.

Consider that five servings of beans, a few portions of cheese or peanut butter, or several handfuls of cashews provide 1,000–2,000 mg of tryptophan, which will work as well as prescription antidepressants—but don’t tell the drug companies. Some skeptics think that the pharmaceutical people already know, and that is why the FDA is less than enthusiastic about tryptophan supplements. Here are two quotes in evidence:

“Pay careful attention to what is happening with dietary supplements in the legislative arena. . . . If these efforts are successful, there could be created a class of products to compete with approved drugs. The establishment of a separate regulatory category for supplements could undercut exclusivity rights enjoyed by the holders of approved drug applications.”

(FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy David Adams, at the Drug Information Association Annual Meeting, July 12, 1993)

“The task force considered many issues in its deliberations includingto ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development.”

(FDA Dietary Task Force Report, released June 15, 1993)

Tryptophan is one of the ten essential amino acids you need to stay alive. It is by law added to liquid feedings for the elderly and all infant formulas. This says a great deal about its safety, as well as its importance.

And, tryptophan is really quite easy to get from the good foods listed below.

So go, eat, and be happy!

Foods High in the Amino Acid L-Tryptophan

(In milligrams per 100-gram (3.5 ounce) portion, about the size of a deck of playing cards. That is not a large serving, and in a single meal you might easily double or triple the figures listed here.)

Beans 
Lentils 215
Dried peas 250 
Navy 200 
Pinto 210 
Red kidney 215 
Soy 525

Nuts and Seeds 
Brazil nuts 185
Cashews 470 
Filberts 210 
Peanuts 340 
Peanut butter 330 (natural, not commercial) 
Pumpkin seeds 560 
Sesame seeds 330

Tahini (ground sesame seeds) 575

Sunflower seeds 340

Other nuts generally provide at least 130 mg per small serving; usually more.

Grains 
Wheat germ 265

Cheese 
Cheddar 340
Parmesan 490 
Swiss 375

Other cheeses tend to be lower in tryptophan, but are still very good sources.

Eggs 210

Poultry 250

(Note how vegetarian sources are as good as, and often much better than, flesh sources.)

Brewer’s Yeast 700

(Source: USDA, Amino Acid Content of Foods)

Meats are generally regarded as a good source of tryptophan, organ meats supposedly being the highest. However, most meats are in the range of 160–260 mg/100 g, with organ meats ranging between 220 and 330. These figures certainly do not compel meat eating. They compel split pea, cheese, and cashew eating!

VITAMIN B-6 AS AN ANTIDEPRESSANT

Ample amounts of B-complex vitamins, especially B-6 (pyridoxine) must be present for for your body’s normal, depression-fighting chemical reactions to occur. B-6 deficiency is very common in Americans, and that “deficiency” is measured against an already ridiculously low US RDA of only two milligrams. The amount of B-6 needed for clinical effectiveness in, say, rabbits is the human dose equivalent of 75 mg daily. That is over 35 times more than the RDA!

Really enormous doses of B-6 taken alone have produced temporary neurological side effects. It usually takes between 2,000 and 5,000 mg daily for symptoms of numbness or tingling in the extremities. Some side effects have been reported as low as 500 mg daily, but these are very rare indeed. Therapeutic doses between 100 and 500 milligrams daily are commonly prescribed by physicians for PMS relief. A daily total of a few hundred milligrams of individual B-6, especially if taken in addition to the entire B-complex to ensure balance, is very safe indeed.

Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html ) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html )

What you need to know about the Carcinogen found in water

AlterNet / By Rebecca Sutton

December 22, 2010 |

When you see news reports about a cancer-causing chemical in drinking water everywhere you turn, you probably have a few questions. Of course you can read EWG’s full report, but on the off chance you’re pressed for time and just want to know the basics, we put together these 11 questions and answers.

1. What is hexavalent chromium?

Hexavalent chromium (or chromium-6) is a highly toxic form of the naturally occurring metal chromium. It is a well-known human carcinogen when inhaled, and recent evidence indicates it can cause stomach or gastrointestinal cancer when ingested in drinking water. However, a different form, trivalent chromium, is an essential nutrient.

People typically are exposed to chromium-6 by consuming contaminated water or food, and in some workplaces by breathing contaminated air. That’s a concern especially for those working in metallurgy or leather-tanning facilities. Ingesting or inhaling contaminated soil particles may also be a source of exposure. Widespread industrial use has led to detections of hexavalent chromium in two-thirds of current or former Superfund toxic waste sites.

2. How does it get into tap water?

Chromium-6 can get into water as a result of industrial contamination from manufacturing facilities, including electroplating factories, leather tanneries and textile manufacturing facilities, or from disposal of fluids used before 1990 in cooling towers. It also occurs naturally in some minerals. The widely used tap water disinfectant chlorine can transform trivalent chromium into the toxic hexavalent form.

3. Why is it a problem?

Exposure in tap water has been linked to cancers of the stomach and gastrointestinal tract in both animals and people. California’s Environmental Protection Agency has issued a draft public health goal based on the conclusion that levels of chromium-6 greater than 0.06 parts per billion (ppb) in tap water may increase cancer risk.

Some people may be especially susceptible. Fetuses, infants and children are more sensitive to carcinogenic chemicals. In addition, people with less acidic stomachs appear to have a limited ability to convert chromium-6 to the benign trivalent form (chromium-3), putting them at greater risk. Using common antacids and proton pump inhibitors can lower stomach acidity. Other conditions that can inhibit stomach acid production include infection with Helicobacter pylori (a common bacterium linked to ulcers), pernicious anemia, pancreatic tumors, mucolipidosis type IV and some autoimmune diseases.

4. How can I find out if my tap water has hexavalent chromium in it?

California requires water utilities to test and report levels of chromium-6 in their water. For Californians, this is a good way to find out if this contaminant is a concern in your area. Unfortunately, these tests only measure levels at or above 1 ppb, more than 16 times above the suggested public health goal of 0.06 ppb.

Of the 438 community water sources in California that have provided test data to EWG, 223 detected levels above 1 ppb, and 93 detected levels above 5 ppb. This means more than 13.7 million Californians drink tap water contaminated with chromium-6.

Elsewhere, water utilities only test and report levels of total chromium — which includes both the toxic form and the essential nutrient chromium-3. Moreover, these tests only detect levels at or above 10 ppb, more than 160 times higher than California’s proposed public health goal. If your tap water has detectable levels of total chromium, it’s quite possible that it has levels of hexavalent chromium that exceed California’s suggested public health goal. The ratio of chromium-3 to chromium-6 varies in different water supplies, so it is difficult to estimate how much of each might be in your water.

Contact your local water utility or check EWG’s tap water database to learn if chromium has been detected in your tap water.

5. My tap water has high levels of chromium-6. What should I do?

If your tap water contains high levels, your best bet is to install a reverse osmosis filter certified to remove it. Reverse osmosis filters, especially when combined with superior carbon filter technology, are the best way to remove the largest number of contaminants.

EWG assembled a list of reverse osmosis water filters certified to remove hexavalent chromiumand available for purchase on Amazon.com.

See EWG’s water filter buying guide for more information on how to choose a water filter.

While drinking bottled water might seem like a good way to avoid exposing yourself to hexavalent chromium in tap water, there is no guarantee that bottled water has lower concentrations of this contaminant. If you drink bottled water, choose brands that provide water quality information indicating their water has levels of chromium-6 below 0.06 ppb or that use reverse osmosis filtration to treat their water.

Because infants can be especially sensitive to carcinogenic chemicals, it is particularly important to use safer water when preparing infant formula. Water treated with a reverse osmosis filter will contain fewer contaminants and be safer for babies than bottled water.

6. Can I test my own tap water for chromium-6?

Most commercial water quality laboratories do not offer this test.

7. Besides drinking water, how else can I be exposed?

Other sources of exposure to hexavalent chromium include contaminated food and contaminated workplace air, especially for those working in metallurgy or leather-tanning facilities. Contaminated soil particles may also be a source of exposure via ingestion or inhalation. Widespread industrial use has led to detections of chromium-6 in two-thirds of current or former Superfund sites.

8. Are some people more vulnerable to the effects?

Yes. Fetuses, infants, and children have a higher sensitivity to carcinogenic chemicals. Their developing organ systems are more susceptible to damage from chemical exposures, and less able to detoxify and excrete chemicals.

In addition, people with less acidic stomachs appear to have a limited ability to convert chromium-6 to chromium-3, exposing them to higher levels of the toxic form and putting them at greater risk. Using common antacids and proton pump inhibitors can reduce stomach acidity. Other conditions that can inhibit stomach acid production include infection with Helicobacter pylori (a common bacterium linked to ulcers), pernicious anemia, pancreatic tumors, mucolipidosis type IV and some autoimmune diseases.

9. What other chemicals in my tap water should I be concerned about?

Check out EWG’s tap water database for an in-depth look at water contaminants, including drinking water quality information for 48,000 communities in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

10. What is EPA doing to promote safe drinking water?

Not enough. In the case of hexavalent chromium, the EPA has taken no specific action to limit amounts in drinking water. The agency has left in place an inadequate standard for total chromium, set nearly 20 years ago. It does not distinguish between toxic hexavalent and nutritionally essential trivalent chromium and cites “allergic dermatitis” as the only health concern. The agency has not set a new, enforceable drinking water standard for any contaminant since 2001.

Recently, however, the federal government has begun to focus a critical eye on chromium-6 and other water contaminants. EWG recommends that the EPA set a legal limit for hexavalent chromium in drinking water as quickly as possible and require water utility testing to assess exposures nationwide.

11. Is bottled water a safe alternative?

Drinking bottled water might seem like a good way to avoid exposing yourself to hexavalent chromium, but there is no guarantee that bottled water contains less of this contaminant. Furthermore, there is no legal limit for chromium-6 in bottled water, so consumers cannot assume it is free of it. EWG has assessed bottled water quality and the industry’s labeling practices and isn’t impressed with either. If you drink bottled water, choose brands that provide water quality information indicating that the water has less than 0.06 ppb of chromium-6 or that use reverse osmosis filtration to purify it. Overall, test results strongly indicate that the purity of bottled water cannot be trusted. As EWG’s Jane Houlihan says,

“It’s buyer beware with bottle water. The bottled water industry promotes its products as pure and healthy, but our tests show that pollutants in some popular brands match the levels found in some of the nation’s most polluted big city tap water systems. Consumers can’t trust that what’s in the bottle is anything more than processed, pricey tap water.”

Plus, there’s all that plastic waste.

 

 

 

Eco-consciousness and our HOME…

Everything has a balance. Life itself is a balance. When we are balanced, we feel better, act nicer, and are content within ourselves. When we are off balance, we feel fear, hate, violence, guilt, and many other negative emotions. We seek joy in material wealth and cannot see the beauty around us.

One of the beauties we ignore is our own home… our planet. The movie ‘Home’ reflects how we are upsetting the delicate balance on Earth every day, each moment. One of the main aspects of the film shows us that our food habits may be at fault. Our food habits are contributing to the imbalance of our planet. The good part is that WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! If we change our food habits and make eco-conscious choices, we not only can improve our health but also the health of the planet.

This film is an objective look into where we are at on planet earth and offers subtle hints as to what we can do about improving our health and the health of the planet.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL VERSION OF ‘HOME’ ON YOUTUBE

In 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate. The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film. HOME has been made for you: SHARE IT AND ACT FOR THE PLANET!!

Culture, behavior and diagnoses, the truth…

Nowadays people are questioning the existence of so-called ‘diagnoses’, such as ‘schizophrenia’, ‘bipolar disorder’, ‘attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’ (‘ADHD’), and many are becoming concerned about the dramatic rise in the number of diagnosed cases in the U.S. The American Psychological Association is the only committee that recognizes ‘ADHD’ as a condition. All other industrialized nations consider this part of normal childhood behavior. Journalist Ethan Waters, author of the book Crazy Like Us, the Globalization of the American psyche, says, “Every generation of psychiatrists believes they they’ve finally got past cultural influence. But mental illness and the expression of mental health are always shaped by culture.” The question is the relative roles of genetics and environment in creating conditions similar to ones the western medical model call ‘disorders’ or ‘diagnoses’, and whether the conditions need to be treated with drugs or can be effectively treated with talk therapy or other non-drug therapies.

Dr. Breggin, a medical doctor, has been especially concerned about the psychiatric abuse of children and the failure to provide more effective solutions through improved parenting, educational reform and community resources. Millions of children have been defined as ‘mentally dysfunctional’ and are submitted to brain-damaging psychoactive medications. As a result, doctors then try to treat the adverse drug reactions to stimulants – like over-stimulation, insomnia, agitation, ‘behavioral abnormalities’, depression, suicidality and violence, mania and psychosis –  with increased numbers of additional psychiatric drugs.

Psychiatrists recently began to diagnose thousands of children with ‘bipolar disorder’, and are giving more ‘mood stabilizing’ and ‘antipsychotic’ drugs to children, explains Dr. Breggin. They do not ask if the issue can be solved by non-drug therapies or what the root of the issue really is. They have forgotten their Hippocratic Oath, ‘First do no harm.’ They disregard the root of an emotional problem and describe it as a ‘genetic defect’. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) even cooperates with the big pharmaceutical companies by approving drugs, like Risperdal, for some diagnostic categories in childhood. Many doctors, such as Dr. David Stein, Professor of Psychology, explains that these drugs cause heart attacks, epileptic seizures, immune system problems, liver problems, etc. and that taking them is like, ‘playing with fire’! As a result, millions of children are growing up with drug-intoxicated brains. They are given no hope that they can learn to control their own behavior and grow up to be effective adults. While, at the same time, parents and teachers have become indoctrinated into believing that they cannot effectively raise or teach the children in their care and must instead resort to medical management by ‘experts.’

Doctors Thomas S. Szasz and Schaler, both on the Citizens’ Commission for Human Rights International, say that “Behavior is not disease.” Dr. Schaler points out that psychiatry has reduced human beings to the category of things and explains, “This is the legacy of psychiatry and neuroscience today, when it comes to entertaining biological explanations for behavior. Mind is equated with brain, behavior with disease, good with bad, morality with medicine, and ethics with mechanics. In other words, there is no soul. That which we consider uniquely human is destroyed by psychiatry and neuroscience.”

With his new film, Generation RX, Miller investigates collusion between pharmaceutical manufacturers and their regulatory watchdogs at the FDA, and also questions whether we have forced millions of children onto pharmaceutical drugs for commercial rather than scientific reasons. As research has shown, many drug-treated children will suffer from irreversible brain changes that hamper their mental life. In the case of stimulants, many will have their growth stunted and become prone to cocaine addiction in young adulthood. As a result of neuroleptics like Zyprexa, Risperdal and Abilify, many will suffer from development delays and from tardive dyskinesia with its irreversible abnormal movements that impair and stigmatize them. Dr. Breggin has evaluated dozens of children in his practice who have developed tardive dyskinesia from the newer antipsychotic drugs. Of all the harmful actions of modern psychiatry, the mass diagnosing and drugging of children is the most appalling with the most serious consequences for the future of individual lives and for our society! Dr. Mary Ann Block, D.O., testified before Congress explaining that behavior problems can certainly come from root causes, such as nutritional deficiencies, food allergies and other things. This video shows her testimony.

Remembering that drugs are not the answer to everything is imperative. In the recent documentaries: The Marketing of Madness and Food Matters, we are reminded of the economics behind pharmaceutical companies and of Hippocrate’s saying, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food.” Look at diet, exercise and natural remedies. In other words educate yourself about your options. As far as ‘treating behaviors’, there are no such treatments. Most behaviors are taught by parents and teachers using a variety of methods. Behavior can be altered by teaching and training an individual to act accordingly in a specific situation.

The Marketing of Madness is a documentary which clearly describes the motivations the psychiatric industry and the pharmaceutical industry have behind drugging people.

The documentary Take These Broken Wings is a well-described film chronicing the recovery of two patients with the diagnosis of ‘schizophrenia’ without drugs.

If ‘schizophenia’ can be treated without drugs, any psychiatric ‘diagnosis’ or ‘disorder’ can. It’s time that research shows this clearly and publicly throughout the world. It’s time that research shows the truth and not just the opinion or agenda of companies funding the research. Let’s concentrate on the eco-diversity we have been given, for a greener, healthier and more sustainable humane society.

Here are some natural therapies that have worked to treat so-called ‘chronic illnesses’-

The Gerson Miracle Holistic Method for the cure of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.

Safe Harbor includes links to find medical doctors (by zip code) who can assist with helping people safely get off of psychiatric drugs and medical personnel who will treat people without the use of psychiatric drugs

Alternative to Meds Center Residential psychiatric medication withdrawal with medical and naturopathic oversight in Sedona, Arizona

Green Mental Health Holistically centered mental health care system which reflects traditional environmental, humanitarian, and health conscious values

Alternative to Meds Center Combining Orthomolecular Medicine and Customized Heavy Metal Chelation Therapies to address Mental Health

The Road Back How To Get Off Psychiatric Drugs Safely

Soteria House Alternative & Non Drug Solutions for people diagnosed schizophrenic

Tree of Life Raw Food diet, rejuvenation center combining nutrition with alternative therapies