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A Natural Solution For Mental Illness

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A Natural Solution For Mental Illness 

Is mental illness on the rise? It seems like everyone I talk to is on some kind of prescription for bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, depression or OCD. Many “normal” people hear a voice inside their head- the voice of God, Jesus, saints, their higher self, guides, angels. Is this crazy or is it intuitive? Maybe these are symptoms of our mind trying to expand and grow and we are supressing it with drugs.

On a blog post on highexistance.com, the author writes, “Were she alive today, Sylvia Plath would be on anti-depressants. Salvador Dali would be on anti-psychotics. Beethoven would be on Lithium. Newton would likely be committed as well as heavily drugged for his multiple, pervasive mental illness symptoms. Don’t even get me started on Jesus Christ.” (http://highexistence.com/rethinking-mental-illness-are-we-drugging-our-prophets-and-healers/)

The author continues with: “Our mental health care system is breaking people. We have no room for the sacred, only normal. The narrow range of accepted behavior expected from us is more oppressive than you might realize. The symptoms for which we commit people to institutions in our culture, tribal communities recognize as marks of a healer. They respect and nourish the very same patterns that we condemn and drug. We’re taking people with a completely different perceptual experience and calling it “wrong”.

We’re weeding out our geniuses. We’re killing off our prophets. We’re drugging our messiahs.”

     This is an interesting concept she is touching on. Even though sometimes prescription meds may be necessary for certain people at different phases of their illness, wouldn’t it be great to find a natural solution that balances our brain and nervous system? That way, symptoms are reduced, the body can self correct at it’s own pace and any growth and development that needs to happen can transpire.

There may be a solution that does not involve medication. In the book “The Other Brain”, author and neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields, talks about glial cells which make up 85% of the brain. These cells were once thought to be structural only, but now it is being discovered that they are essential in a myriad of brain and nervous system functioning. Fields writes,“Glia are now believed to be involved in psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression…” If the glial cells are not functioning normally or are inflamed, then there are symptoms of dysfunction present.

CranioSacral Therapy, developed by Dr. John Upledger, works directly with the glial cells. This therapy corrects imbalances, improves nerve communication and gives proper energy flow to the areas of the system that have stagnation. Patients that have received this therapy notice a difference in their mental functioning. Isn’t it worth a try?

Trisha Schmalhofer, LMT and CranioSacral Therapist
License: MA 74941