Flowing wood: the side effects of weather and time. Southern Utah
Conventional/traditional psychiatrists and holistic/integrative psychiatrists have very different perspectives on the issue of "side effects." Well, at least my perspective on the issue of side effects has changed significantly from the time I was a conventional psychiatrist.
As an MD, I was trained to think of side effects as a problem caused by the medication that I needed to reduce by lowering the dosage, adding another medication, or switching to a different medication.
"So, what's wrong with that?" most doctors will wonder.
There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that now, as a holistic psychiatrist, side effects mean so much more to me. Instead of pesky problems I have to stomp out, they provide important information about the patient. Let me share what I mean . . .
Understanding the Meaning Behind "Side Effects"
A holistic and integrative perspective
I don't know when my thinking about side effects started to shift as a holistic psychiatrist. I'm sure it was a gradual process, like the slow growth of a termite mound. Initially, I thought side effects were caused by medications and could only be addressed through additional medication adjustment or replacement. My mind encircled the words "side effects" within the pharmaceutical playground.
As my practice shifted to a more holistic perspective, I began to connect side effects to their biochemical processes, or a lack thereof. Because of my holistic approach, my practice attracted patients who couldn't tolerate their medications due to side effects.
Empirically, patients divided themselves into two groups: those who could improve on supplements and those who couldn't. In the latter group, patients either had difficulty tolerating supplements, or the supplements didn't help very much. They also tend to have more negative reactions to medications and the world in general, i.e. allergies and inflammation. In time, I came to understand that these individuals were burdened by a lot of inflammation and/or toxicity.
Applying the same biochemical and physiological principles to side effects that patients experienced helped me to:
Locate vulnerable systems: For example, if supplements cause bloating or diarrhea, then the GI system needs additional support and healing: more absorbable supplements or more digestive support. If stressors cause palpitations and tachycardia (rapid heart rate) then the cardiovascular system needs more support.
Determine the underlying cause: Knowing how supplements are transformed and metabolized allows the detective work to go more smoothly. Recently, an individual noticed that she had been feeling unusually tired and needed to have a nap during the day. Among her supplement regimen was SeroPlus, which increases serotonin levels, and since serotonin is metabolized to melatonin, a hormone that helps people to fall asleep, it was clear even without energy testing that she needed to lower her dosage of SeroPlus.
Estimate enzymatic and metabolic health: Every medication does the same thing in each individual body. Extraneous effects are taken care of in the background by those who don't experience these "side effects." Those who do experience unpleasant side effects are lacking necessary functions to completely metabolize the medication, so they manifest as symptoms. Therefore, it is likely that the more side effects a patient gets from a substance, the lower their metabolic and enzymatic health and function.
One way to look at the plethora of psychiatric illnesses is to view them as "side effects" as well. The same biochemical and physiological principles apply. If certain enzymes are either missing or dysfunctional, stressors can create a situation where harmful metabolites/toxins are not cleared or important products are not created quickly enough.
If these toxic metabolites (or absence of important products) create euphoria, an individual may become manic. If they lower mood, then the person may feel depressed. And if they cause hallucinations, cognitive distortion, and fear, then the person may become psychotic.
When these metabolites are cleared away or necessary enzymatic products are restored through natural supports, i.e. supplements, glandulars, herbals, or essential oils, etc., the person will regain their mental health. Sometimes psychotropic medications are necessary as buffers between the receptors and the alarming messages that these conditions create.
To illustrate this hypothesis, a patient who was psychotic and had tried to hurt himself came to see me. He refused to take medications and wanted to take supplements instead. His mother was willing to watch him at home, and he promised not to harm himself. I started him on some supplements. One was Pure Harvest Greens by Integrative Therapeutics, a whole food powder that helps with detoxification. The next week, he reported that he felt 80% better. After the second week, he stated that he was back to his old self and had found a job working in a grocery store.
Bryce Canyon National Park
That experience happened very early in my holistic psychiatry journey and was so surprising to me that I've never forgotten it. It taught me that sometimes psychiatric illnesses are hard to treat simply because of psychiatry's ineffective approach, like trying to cut a loaf of bread with a hammer.
Just to be clear, I'm not recommending that all psychotic disorders should be treated with a few supplements. In fact, I find that weaning patients off of antipsychotics to be quite challenging. There are many different underlying causes for mental illness, and I don't pretend to know them all. However, I do hope that this article will encourage more lateral thinking when it comes to psychiatric treatment.