Email | Print

Recently, my mental-health team suggested that I try two naturopathic remedies to help improve how I feel. These methods are simple, inexpensive, safe and readily available to psychiatric patients.
My psychiatrist told me that Omega-3 fish-oil supplements contain essential fatty acids important for the healthy function of nerve cells in the brain. They come in bottles of 100 1000-mg capsules for about the same price as a store-brand multivitamin bottle. One capsule per day is all that is required. Although they are hard to swallow because they are so large, one gets used to doing so fairly quickly.
When I began taking fish-oil supplements a month ago along with my regular prescription psychiatric meds, I noticed with the first capsule a change in me. I became very calm, had no more psychiatric symptoms, and experienced no side effects. In fact, I became calm without any feeling of sedation, and felt completely well for the first time in years. Mercury and dioxin contamination are not a problem on small doses, my doctor states. However, fish oil is unsafe for people who are taking cholesterol or heart medications, because it interferes with these drugs.
I recommend Omega-3 fish-oil capsules for anyone with anxiety, mania or depression. They work as well as 1 mg of Xanax (a tranquilizer)—actually, I think they work even better. And the effect lasts all day long. Since they don’t make you sleepy, you can be calm, yet alert, so that you can concentrate and think. And as a mood stabilizer, they work better than lithium. Please try fish-oil capsules in tandem with your psychotropic meds—you will be glad you did!
I am also learning to practice Buddhist meditation. I am using a guided yoga meditation CD. After one lesson, I was already serene. With guided meditation, I had no problem eliminating the negative nervous chatter of my mind that had been plaguing me at night and preventing me from falling asleep. My mind was like a pinball machine bouncing ideas off the walls for hours and keeping me awake.
With meditation, I have been clearing my mind of thoughts (Buddhist emptiness) and filling myself with deep breaths while relaxing my body. The tranquilizing effect lasts for days. You can meditate to music, or to a narrator’s voice, or to both. If you practice meditation every day for an hour, you will sleep better. Once you learn the technique you can practice it at work, at home, or while traveling to get relief from stress. The feeling one experiences is akin to that of attending religious services, or praying.
CDs vary in the amount of Buddhist philosophy and religion they contain. Some are very neutral. I definitely recommend meditation for relaxation, stress reduction and better sleep. Yoga meditation CDs can be obtained at religious bookstores (especially Eastern religious bookstores), or online. Please be open to trying guided meditation. You will be astonished by the peace it provides.
Guided meditation would also benefit patients in the hospital. Meditation regimens tailored to the needs of the mentally ill would be invaluable.
I have found such relief that I feel doctors and therapists should recommend them to all their psychiatric patients. You can feel so much better starting today with these two very simple and inexpensive techniques that are available to all of us.