Resource Guide for Holistic Health Group of Portland Hearing Voices

Resource Guide

for Holistic Health Group of Portland Hearing Voices

by Elissa Mendenhall, ND, and Krista Tricarico, ND

For those of you who would like to learn or explore more, we’ve included some links, practitioners, clinics, and books for further info. We recognize and support a wide variety of choices for the mental health consumer. Each person’s path will be different. Our goal is to make you a more well-informed mental health consumer, to be able to question and make educated choices. We’re here to help inform you about the physical and medical nuts and bolts of psychiatric care and healing.

What is naturopathic medicine?

Naturopathic medicine (also known as naturopathy) seeks to improve health and treat disease by assisting the body’s innate capacity to heal. Naturopathic doctors (“N.D.s”) emphasize a holistic approach that attempts to address the underlying causes of illness rather than just the symptoms. They often take an extensive medical history and may perform physical exams and order laboratory testing before determining the best individualized treatment approach. Treatments may include nutritional supplements, diet and lifestyle counseling, homeopathy, herbs, physical medicine and hydrotherapy as well as pharmaceutical medications.

A naturopathic approach to mental illness might be to look for and treat underlying causes or contributing factors such as nutritional deficiencies, hormonal or neurotransmitter imbalances, food allergies, undiagnosed diseases, heavy metal toxicity or chronic viral infections. An N.D. can work with a patient to decrease side effects of psychiatric medications or provide alternatives for people who want a more natural approach.

Information Sources

Safe Harbor

www.alternativementalhealth.com

Safe Harbor is an internet site with listings of articles, doctors, patients’ rights groups and events. Their mission is to provide education and choice to the public in the matter of alternative mental health practices. This is an invaluable resource for getting in-depth articles about the varied approaches to mental health diagnosis and treatment.

One especially important highlight from this site:

Articles about medical and physical causes of psychosis. If you have been diagnosed with a mental illness and have not had a thorough evaluation with many blood tests, consider reading these articles. This is not “holistic,” per se, it’s just responsible medicine.

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/fieldmanual.htm

http://home.att.net/~LetFreedomRing/updates/MedProbs.html

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/stradford.htm

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/causesofschizophrenia.htm

Pfeiffer Treatment Center – “Orthomolecular psychiatry”

HRIPTC.org

Pfeiffer Treatment Center is a not-for-profit, outpatient medical facility that specializes in behavioral and learning disorders, autism spectrum disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, post traumatic stress syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. PTC has an integrative approach to identify and treat the root metabolic causes of these symptoms.

A Reading List:

Natural Healing for Schizophrenia. Edelman, Eva. Updated 2009.

A practitioner or consumer guide to orthomolecular psychiatry and other nutritional treatments for schizophrenia.

Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs. Written by our own Will Hall, 2007. Completely downloadable. A necessary read for those who may be considering this option. Excellent resource guide at the end.

http://theicarusproject.net/HarmReductionGuideComingOffPsychDrugs

Let Them Eat Prozac. Healy, David. 2004.

Written by a psychiatrist and former secretary to the British Association of Psychopharmacology, this book is a recent expose of the drug industry’s slanting of research about SSRI’s (such as Prozac). Reading this helped me to understand the true benefits and risks of using this particular class of medicines, and to better understand biases in medical research for psychiatric drugs.

The UltraMind Solution. Hyman, Mark. 2009.

A great overview, by system, of various ways of approaching wellness care geared towards cultivating a better “brain.” It’s thorough, and an easy read. It addresses the subjects of: nutrition, hormones, inflammation, digestion, detoxification, metabolism, and calming the mind.

The Mood Cure. Ross, Julia. 2002.

A guide to amino acid therapy and dietary change as a way to balance neurotransmitters. This method is usually used to address depression and anxiety and has not been used extensively for schizophrenia. It can be extremely helpful for managing these issues, however.

Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care. Lake, James.

The most definitive textbook on this subject matter than I’ve seen. Written by a psychiatrist for other practitioners. May be a good reference for a consumer.

Holistic Mental Health Care Resource List

Open Mind Medicine - Krista Tricarico, N.D.

Approaching Mental Health with an Open Mind - Specializing in the Treatment of Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

1016 SE 12th Avenue

Portland, OR 97214

(503) 593-8900

Dr. Elissa Mendenhall, ND

Holistic mental health, general medicine, and addiction treatment

Two locations: 8512 SE 9th Ave and

852 SW 21st Ave

Portland, OR

(503) 239-8181

www.doctorelissamendenhall.com

NCNM Natural Health Centers

Natural Health Centers are the teaching clinics for the National College of Natural Medicine, the oldest naturopathic college in the country. The treatment team for each patient at these clinics typically includes two student doctors, a resident physician and a supervising physician. The following two clinic shifts have a focus on mental health:

· Applied Psychophysiology and Stress Management

Specializing in Biofeedback for Traumatic Brain Injury, Anxiety and Panic

2220 SW 1st Avenue

Portland, OR 97201

(503) 552-1551

· PCC Capitol

Low-cost Naturopathic Community Clinic Serving Psychiatric Patients

18624 NW Walker - Building B, Room 1562

Hillsboro, OR 972006

Wednesdays 4-8pm

Scheduling (503) 552-1515 / Spanish Scheduling Line (503) 552-1502

Portland Alternative Health Center (PAHC)

Outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program that offers drug-free treatment options for homeless and low-income clients. The center provides counseling, acupuncture, and herbal therapy as well as traditional and primary healthcare. PAHC offers specialized services for clients with mental illness.

727 W Burnside

Portland, OR 97205

(503) 288-4533

Quest Center for Integrative Health

http://www.projectquest.org/quest_center_news.php

Nonprofit clinic with a program for integrative mental health care and addiction treatment, among others. Committed to making treatment available to low- or no-income patients.

2901 E. Burnside Ave.
Portland, OR 97214
503.238.5203

Pfeiffer Treatment Center – not local

HRIPTC.org

4575 Weaver Parkway

Warrenville, IL 60555

(888) 504-6076

Money-Saving Tips

· Choose water as your main beverage.

· Buy less processed foods.

· Eat seasonally and save foods when they are abundant and less expensive.

· Learn to prepare meals at home. Start simple and plan several meals for the upcoming week. Free cooking classes are offered at the Oregon Food Bank, Wild Oats and New Seasons.

· Free consults with a nutritionist are available at all New Seasons stores. A great way to get recipes, dietary advice and shopping tips.

*If you want naturopathic medicine at the treatment facilities you use, ASK FOR IT. They need to know that consumers want options. Ideally, naturopathic medicine and holistic psychiatry would be included in the variety of services offered by state-funded programs, and you would be able to choose the kinds of medical care you want. This is how we can make quality medicine affordable to all.