Customer Reviews

Natural Healing for Schizophrenia And Other Common Mental Disorders

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This book focuses on how to fight mental illness with up to date advances in nutrition. In the medical field this area of treatment is called orthomolecular medicine. While this field emerged out of research of treating schizophrenia with niacin in 1960's, today orthomolecular medicine offers very effective and safe treatments for large range of mental health conditions. The book covers a broad range of treatments from Vitamin, mineral & herbal treatments to issues such as cerebral allergies (food allergies that effect the function of the brain) and sugar imbalances. Out of all the publications on orthomolecular medicine I have read to date, this one stands out as the very best. This publication combines exhausted in-depth research conveyed in an elegant and well-written fashion. The rich presentation of the book arms the layman reader with knowledge that is far beyond the quality of any professional books on the subject. If I had to change anything about this book, it would only be the title; I would call it "natural brain healing ", since I find it very valuable to all mental illness. It is a real shame that mainstream psychiatry ignores these monumental advances in their own area of science. To them I say, wake up, and smell what is right under your nose.

I WISH this book were in the hands of not only all mental health professionals but also family doctors, couselors , etc . .

I am deeply distressed that my son has suffered for 3 years now and none of the doctors or therapists along the way ever questioned his basic biochemistry. He has had the typical treatment of simply being put on medication which may cause him further problems the rest of his life. If any of the professionals he has seen to date had read this book and known about the many possibilities of causes and cures of schizophrenia, perhaps he and the family could have been spared the brunt of this devastating illness. We are now working with a ND and seeing some improvement.

There are no simple answers or step by step instructions for curing any one individual, of course. But the information in this book opens the door to so many possibilities -- for the practitioner and lay person alike. This is the most comprehensive book I've read yet on the subject. In addition to a bounty of information, this book gives hope and encouragement that is so very much needed by sufferers and their families.

Buy 2 copies and donate one to the health professional of your choice!

I spent the last twenty years trying to sort out my emotional roller coaster of a life and trying to figure out why I have extreme levels of many heavy metals. This book led me -- finally! -- to the answer. Seems I have a genetic zinc deficiency that causes me to retain heavy metals in my body, and a histamine disorder. And thankfully, there is a simple (not easy, simple) nutritional cure for it all. BUT PLEASE NOTE: The book did not diagnose me but led me to the Pfeiffer Clinic in Illinois. THEY diagnosed me and I am now on their program and heading toward the light at the end of a very long tunnel. If you have or know of anyone with bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, this is a must have book. The wealth of information is unsurpassed. I would know -- my bookshelves and computer are FILLED with other books who give this piece or that piece of the puzzle. This book puts all the possible scenarios in one place AND gives information I'd not seen in other sources on these topics. Nicely organized, well written. I can only thank the author from the bottom of my heart.

Before I bought this book, I had read some pretty horrible "natural" books dealing with mental illness. Therefore I did not have high expectations for reading this book. I was very pleasantly surprised. This is a great book, and the scientific references are not bad either (most natural remedy-based books have either no references or unreputable references). I especially liked her section on the role of histamine in mental disorders. Histamine plays a much larger role in mental illness than the conventional doctors currently think. For example, only 20-25% of Americans have allergies, yet 85% of depressed patients have allergies---a four-fold difference, and very statistically significant. Histamine may also contribute to anxiety and ADD. This is elaborated in my new book, The Failures of American Medicine.

This book is very in depth, but if (like me) you are a lay-person looking for a cure, I would first recommend reading "Nutrition and Mental Health" by Carl C. Pfieffer. I found this was the key to finding out I was "histadelic". This book by Eva Eldman is like an encyclopedia of nutritional information for mental illness (don't be put off by the term "schizophrenia", this book is for people with mild depression, bipolar etc.). The only real thing I picked up from this book that I didn't get from Pfieffer's was that Vitamin B5 exacerbates histadelia. I'm curious why that is. The problem with this book for a person starting out on the natural healing pathway is there is way too much information in this book and it is possible you could miss your answer by going off on a tangent. It took me two years to finally stick to the simple regieme of calcium, methionine, B6 and zinc that is the key to beating histadelia. It was a catch 22 for me because I had to cure myself far enouth to be stable enough to stick to the answer I found in the beginning and stop obsessively latching on to everything else that possibly could have been the answer. I find the whole low-protein diet hard though.
Don't give up hope if you can't find a doctor! I thought there weren't any doctors in New Zealand that believe in this stuff but I was wrong! There are a few medical GP's that are pfieffer trained even down here in the remotest parts of the earth, so there's gotta be someone where you are (maybe 2-3 hours drive away) that can help!

This book is easy to read and understand even if you have very little knowledge of mental illness. Armed with the information I studied here I have started my son on a regime of fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. It's too soon to say what will happen but in just a few weeks his eye contact, memory and social skills have begun to improve. I believe every sufferer of schizophrenia should be taking nutritional supplements. Unfortunately, in the UK the protocol is to get them on drugs in order to make them well enough to be safe and that's it. I wonder what my son's life would have been like if I'd had this information seventeen years ago. If you have a mental illness or you care about someone who has this condition then find out everything you can about nutrition for the brain.

This truly exceptional book by Eva Edelman provide they layman with a comprehensive but understandable overview of field of knowledge known as orthomolecular psychiatry.

In the 1960s and 1970s, various scientists, such as Abram Hoffer MD PhD, two time Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling, Carl Pfeiffer MD PHD, and a supporting cast of many others claimed that they had made discoveries which were poised to revolutionize psychiatry, and replace psychoanalysis, then virtually mandatory, today largely discredited, and pharmacotherapy for many, perhaps most, patients. In their stead they proposed dietary changes, the identification and alleviation of vitamin deficiencies, getting rid of infections, and more. The results, they claimed, were immeasurably superior to anti-psychotics.

These scientists and clinicians reported that "schizophrenia" and "bipolar disorder" are not two illnesses, but rather many syndromes with very disparate sets of symptoms that have been shoe-horned into two "labels," which, conveniently enough, were large enough to support an industry selling medications that suppress, but do no cure, these symptoms.

The specific causes the reported for such syndromes were:

- a previously unidentified tendency to accumulate copper. The political process that decides which illness doctors are allowed to treat has recognized an illness, fatal if untreated, wherein copper accumulates in the brain AND liver, but not the illness they describe, in which it accumulates in the brain only.

- a disturbance in the synthesis of hemoglobin, which causes levels of Zinc and B6 to become pathological.

- a disturbance of methylation and or histamine levels, which may be related to an unresolved intoxication

- a variant of celiac's disease that had previously largely been overlooked, wherein the symptoms only manifest themselves in the brain.

- in some cases, a yeast infection, which releases toxic waste into the blood stream.

The big stars of psychiatry convened a task force to look into their claims; as things happened they found the claims to be without merit. Hoffer and others wrote a rebuttal explaining why their report was flawed, and perhaps not intended to do their research justice, which was never answered. After meticulous investigation, I have come to be convinced that Hoffer, Pfeiffer, and others were correct in their assertions.

10 or 15 years ago, my faith in organized medicine and the system was such that I would have wanted Edelman confined to a psychiatric ward or prison, for poisoning the minds of the young and not so young; today I would have other candidates...

I cannot recommend this book too highly to anyone with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and / or autism, or an interest in truly interesting medical research, and, to a lesser extent, to anyone with a psychiatric problems. If I could, I would gladly give this book 15, and not 5, stars. Make no mistake about it, this is the book that your psychiatrist probably has never read, and which many psychiatrists, comfortably ensconced in a routine of patients, pharma reps, freebies, and perhaps "consulting fees," and a very limited and unchallenging repertoire of medications, would likely much rather that you do not read.

This is an incredibly dense book. [...]. But I can not see how it could be written any more clearly. It is well written with good topical divisions and many side bars and jammed packed with information. I think of it as a "Bible" or encyclopedia on natural treatment of schizophrenia and similar disorders. I found it particularly helpful to understand the history of schizophrenia, seeing the illness as a disruption of cognitive and perceptual/sense functions. It does a great job of discussing the nutritional, toxic, and allergic/gut fungal overgrowth issues and bringing up some of the rarer issues. The knowlege I found here has already helped several people.

This book focuses on how to fight mental illness with up to date advances in nutrition. In the medical field this area of treatment is called orthomolecular medicine. While this field emerged out of research of treating schizophrenia with niacin in 1960's, today orthomolecular medicine offers very effective and safe treatments for large range of mental health conditions. The book covers a broad range of treatments from Vitamin, mineral & herbal treatments to issues such as cerebral allergies (food allergies that effect the function of the brain) and sugar imbalances. Out of all the publications on orthomolecular medicine I have read to date, this one stands out as the very best. This publication combines exhausted in-depth research conveyed in an elegant and well-written fashion. The rich presentation of the book arms the layman reader with knowledge that is far beyond the quality professional books on the subject. If I had to change anything about this book, it would only be the title; I would call it "natural brain healing ", since I find it very valuable to all mental illness.

It is a real shame that mainstream psychiatry have ignored these monumental advances in their own area of science. To them I say, wake up, and smell what is right under your nose.

For information on treating schizophrenia with alternative medicine, this book is most helpful. Written in very clear terms, understandable by persons with little, or no, medical training. Explains the main "bio-types" of those who suffer from schizophrenia, and what can be done to correct the imbalance/s.
Few practitioners are willing and able to treat schizophenia by means of balancing the chemistry of the brain with natural supplements. This book can guide both the practioner and patient in the quest for a successful alternative treatment of mental illness. It explains various deficiencies that may cause particular symptoms, which sources of supplements help most, which blood tests are useful, etc. This book has helped my son, who was psychotic -- in and out of hospitals -- to successfully wean off almost all prescription medication.
He continues to improve, and hopes to be drug free soon.