In the past for many people the only hope offered for symptoms of mental distress came from common psychiatric treatments of the day, such as psychosurgery, electroshock therapy and other forms of shock treatment, and from powerful psychotropic drugs. Although most of these severe treatments are now gone, today psychiatric drugs are still the common avenue of relief or control from the distress of mental illness
More and more people are however reducing these treatments, or even deciding against these treatments in favour of more hopeful sciences, such as natural and psychotherapeutic sciences, to help them not only control their illness in the short term, but to perhaps help them achieve a more pleasant long term outcome.
Over the years it has been agreed that psychiatric treatments are not the sole answer to mental illness and that there are proven alternative care methods and treatment options. Many of these can be self-regulated by the sufferer (under guidance or support), giving the individual more control and independence. These options concentrate on finding the root causes of mental health problems, dealing with them psychologically and correcting imbalances naturally, bringing about control or cure. The root causes usually include nutritional, medical (from physical illness, virus or condition), environmental (toxic metal poisoning or developed allergies) and other problems, or a mixture of all of these. Whatever the cause, there are many case histories documented within the medical profession of successful recoveries from mental illness after these root causes were found, discussed and adequately and gently treated.
Even if the root causes cannot be found, natural therapies and psychotherapeutics, such as herbal remedies, homoeopathy, counselling, psychotherapy, massage, meditation, reflexology, nutritional medicine and vitamin and mineral supplementation, can all have a valuable effect in reversing conditions and rebalancing the chemicals in the brain and the biochemical environment, to bring about positive change and cure without the use of medication.
