Simple Dietary Rules

by Jurriaan Plesman, BA (PSYCH), Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr

The question often arise what to actually eat in nutritional therapy. It is rather what NOT TO EAT!! Here are some simple rules:

1. Try to avoid food that has been processed by the food processing industry, because they are usually denatured and laden with toxic (preservative) chemicals, despite their advertising.
2. Avoid as much as possible sugar, caffeine, alcohol, artificial colouring, commercially bottled drinks like coke, sugar-laden drinks and other drugs, but ...
3. If you suffer from sugar withdrawal take Glycerine.
4. Drink plenty of fresh water at least one litre a day, which helps in detoxification of toxins.
5. Have frequent high protein, low refined carbohydrates (sugar) snacks, avoid feeling hungry. See Hypoglycemic Diet .
6. Treat any possible Candida infection as a result of high sugar diet that encourages candida growth in the intestinal tract. See treatment .
7. Take nutritional supplements among them: vitamin C, zinc, magnesium, calcium, chromium, omega-3 fatty acids (fishoil), vitamin D (the sun-shine vitamin), vitamin E, single nutrients seldom do the job. See Rich Sources A cheap way of obtaining vitamins and minerals is by way of juice therapy (See books )
8. Eliminate foods that are heavily processed and have been adulterated in any way with any kind of food additives, preservatives and colouring.

9. Avoid as much as possible Genetically Modified Foods, such as Soy, Corn, Cannola and Cotton that could possibly affect your digestive system.

10. Start off with foods you like. Home cooking is the best!! It is important to enjoy your food in order to produce digestive enzymes such as saliva and hydrochloric acid for proper absorption of nutrients. When you force-feed yourself with food, that you "should" eat but you don't like, you are surely going to develop an allergy. For the important role that hydrochloric acid plays in metabolism and diseases see here.
11. If you suffer from any form of indigestion, it is likely that you may be vitamin B12 deficient for lack of the "intrinsic factor". B12 needs to be combined with the "intrinsic factor" produced in the lining of your stomach for proper absorption down the intestines. Vegetarians are often found to be deficient in Vitamin B12. J Sabaté et al 324 . In that case ask your doctor for vitamin B12 injections and a prescription for folic acid. These nutrients are required for serotonin production.
12. Ask yourself: "Is what I am about to eat, nature-made or man-made?" Home-grown food is the most natural food. I know this is well-nigh impossible in the industrial western society. But try at least.
13. Avoid allergies, treat digestive disorders and there are many of them. Look out for foods that you feel you are addicted to (milk, chocolate, coffee, cakes). They give you an initial high, and followed by a low.
14. Having a gluten sensitivity is one of many allergies. If you have celiac disease go on a gluten free diet , avoiding wheat, rye, barley and possibly oats. There are many other allergies and if you want to find your own allergies, you can do so by keeping a daily food diary .
15. Have regular exercises suitable to your ability, age and body.
16. Lap up sun-shine for its vitamin D, essential in serotonin production.
17. Remember: Nutritional Therapy is about treating a specific disorder in a unique person with a unique biochemistry, and one man's diet may be another man's poison.

These are some of the simple rules. References:

Video on Nutritional Typing by Dr Mercola

Mood Food Body Connection by Gary Null

The Hypoglycemic Diet

Hypoglycemic Recipes

Nutrition against the Epidemic Flu

Go back to Main Page

Index of Articles

Nutrition Against the Pandemic Flu

Nutrition against the Pandemic Flu

by

Jurriaan Plesman, BA (pych), Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr

ABSTRACT:The epidemic flu usually strike people towards the end of the summer season. It can be shown that with declining exposure to sun-shine one of the factors causing the flu is vitamin D deficiency derived from less sun exposure. Another factor is psychological stress, that decreases one's immune system. Like climate change, the ever increasing risk to epidemic flu appears to be man-made because of our agricultural practice in meat production. Large scale factory farming of chickens and pigs place animals in a constant state of severe stress weakening the animals' immune system, thereby exposing them to opportunistic viruses. 70 percent of all antibiotics produced are used in animal factories, making them less responsive in human diseases. These viruses are sometimes transmitted from animals to humans. When the pathogens are transmitted from humans to humans we have an epidemic of the flu, that usually affects the respiratory system first. There are certain steps individuals can take to reduce the risk of exposure to the flu.

Every year and usually at the end of summer, we hear reports about the flu epidemic. Elderly people are advised to go to their doctors to ask for anti-flu vaccinations. Tamiflu, the drug of choice for the flu epidemic, went through some rough times not too long ago. As the dangers of this drug came to light in 2007, the FDA finally began investigating some 1,800 adverse event reports related to the drug. However, the drug may lessen the effects of the symptoms, and can mean the difference between life and death in marginal cases.
Epidemic influenza kills roughly a million people every year worldwide, usually by causing pneumonia. Over two hundred different viruses can cause upper respiratory infections (colds and flu), and they are around all year long. Christine Ann Leatz Page 224.
We are told that the flu virus may change its 'colours' every year and we wonder whether the flu injection may be the right one. The vaccination could be fighting an outdated virus. Or it could even have evolved accidentally "in eggs scientists use to grow viruses" to manufacture vaccines. Adrian Gibbs & Mercola .
One reason why we seem to become vulnerable at the end of summer and beginning of the winter is related to our sun exposure. The less sunlight we get, as during autumn and winter, the less we get vitamin D3 that we normally obtain from the sun. No wonder vitamin D is not so much a vitamin but a sun vitamin. The Vitamin D Cure by James Dowd et al., 35 
There are many studies to show that vitamin D has a powerful ability to aid the functioning of the immune system such as T cells and macrophages. As well as having the potential to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels and strengthen your immune system and virtually eliminate crippling conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis. Steve Blake Page 101 and Joseph Mercola Page 52 and vii.

For instance, following an epidemic of influenza in a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane, it was found that in a ward where inmates were given 2,000 units of vitamin D every day for several months, were not affected by the epidemic. According to Dr. John Jacob Cannell, high doses of vitamin D taken at the first sign of influenza can effectively reduce the severity of symptoms. Dr Mercola

A flu epidemic, like climate change, is often related to human activities. It is not by sheer accident that the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI). Millions of soldiers in trenches and people had to endure incredible psychological stresses, that would have affected their immune system. Somewhere between 20 and 40 million people died. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster. Source

Psychological stress is well known to increase the susceptibility of the common cold and flu. Burton Goldberg Page 675 and by decreasing mucosal immunity in the upper respiratory tract. The findings also suggest a multidimensional relationship between stress and susceptibility to cold and flu.  Virginia Hill Rice page 287.

The question is where do these epidemics - such as bird flu and swine flu - have its origin? It is no great surprise to hear that the epidemics have been named after animals.  Let the literature speak for itself by quoting the following extracts:

Let's look at factory farms and the unanticipated consequences that have come with the adoption of factory techniques to produce animals for human consumption.
The crowding of many animals in a small space and confinement of individual animals in small stall creates stress, frustration, and boredom in the animals. John L Seitz Global Issues page 216

Sadly, maximizing productivity is the sole objective on factory farms and no consideration is given to the comfort or quality of life (or death) of the animals that end up on your dinner plate... causing them severe respiratory discomfort and illness. Pigs are intelligent creatures with a higher IQ than dogs, yet in today's pig factories, they are stuffed into narrow steel stall they can barely move in, stacked row upon row on top of each other. The urine and excrement from pigs in the upper levels drop down on those in the lower levels and toxic gases from waste (methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide) build up, causing them severe respiratory discomfort and illness....The Best of All Worlds: A Complete Culinary Guide to Feeling Great, Staying ...‎ - Page 66

See Images here and here and here

Beef cattle, pigs, and sheep are not immune to the cruelties of factory farming. The conditions under which these animals are raised result in severe physiological as well as behavioural afflictions. Anemia, influenza, intestinal ailments plague factory-farmed animals...The pork industry's own research revealed that 70 to 90 percent of persons who work in such places experience acute respiratory symptoms. It was revealed that up to 70 percent of all factory-farmed hogs display symptoms of atrophic rhinitis and pneumonia.
The Bible Diet: 40 Days to Cleanliness‎ - Page 28

Each day these chicken eat about 70-100 grams of specially designed feed, which may contain antibiotics or growth hormones. Although chickens are efficient at converting grains into protein, their living conditions make them very susceptible to respiratory diseases.
Happier meals: rethinking the global meat industry‎ - Page 17

Chickens raised in small quantities, were fed table scraps and hunted and pecked for insects that were attracted to manure. But in large numbers, there are not sufficient table scraps and the chicken must be fed special feeds.
Chicken raised indoors do not get enough sunlight to metabolize calcium properly, so the feed must be supplemented with vitamin D and cod liver oil. Because the birds live in close proximity to each other, antibiotics are often necessary to keep the birds healthy.
Food safety by Nina Redman Page 81
See images here and here and here 

Many of these antibiotics are the same ones used in human medicine. There is now widespread concern among health professionals that agricultural antibiotic use is an important factor in the well-documented declining ability of antibiotics to fight human diseases, and the constant presence of antibiotics selects for drug-resistant strains of bacteria. One study found that 70 percent of all antibiotics use in the United States is for livestock production, mostly for uses other than the treatment of sick animals. (Another 14 percent is used as pesticide in fruit and vegetable production)...An invitation to environmental sociology‎ - Page 60

Farmers add antibiotics to the feed to keep the animals going until slaughter. For poorly understood reasons, antibiotic help fatten some livestock on less food, adding an economic incentive for feeding excess non therapeutic doses. Many of the drugs used on farm animals closely resemble the types used for treating human bacterial infections, the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer.
Clearly, antibiotic overexposure undermines the drugs' effectiveness for treating infectious diseases at least, and at worst can render them useless. In other words, continuing to eat these drugs in our food eventually could make us very vulnerable to bacterial diseases. Public health authorities already have found pathogens in antibiotic-fed animals that resist many of our wonder drugs.... But factory-bred farm animals still eat antibiotics at eight times human ...
The American West at Risk: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and ...‎ - Page 57

This, in turn, can have serious impacts on human health. About 25 million pounds of antibiotics are fed every year to livestock for growth promotion and ...
Biblical Holism and Agriculture: Cultivating Our Roots‎ - Page 71

Regular swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease, caused by a type-A influenza virus that affects pigs. The current strain, A(H1N1), is a new variation of an H1N1 virus -- which causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans -- that also contains genetic material of bird and pig versions of the flu. It is interesting to note that some strain of the herpes simplex virus (shingle) can be starved to death by a diet that is high in lysine and low in arginine. (Chaitow L. Page 53).
It is not known whether lysine also inhibits EBV, HHV-6, or CMV, but these viruses are all members of the herpes family. Lysine is safe and inexpensive. The recommended dose is 1,000 milligrams three times a day. It is certainly worthwhile to include high lysine foods in the diet, which will lower arginine sources. However arginine is also the forerunner of nitric oxide and growth hormones. A decrease in nitric oxide may affect Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) as this illness is marked by low levels of growth hormones.  Jacob Teitelbaum page 142. Thus it is wise to consul a doctor.

Hence some dietary tips to protect against the epidemic flu are:

1. Optimize vitamin D levels (up to 2,000 IU's/ day when you have the flu), they should be at levels of 50-65 ng/ml. See: Dr. Mercola 
   
2. Avoid sugar and processed foods
   
3. Get enough rest
   
4. Exercise: this increases your blood circulation throughout the whole body
   
5. Supplement with animal based Omega-3 fatty acids like Krill Oil
   
6. Wash your hands regularly
   
7. Eat Garlic regularly (From Dr J. Mercola)
   
8. Eat foods high in lysine:arginine ratio such as: fish, chicken, beef, lamb, milk, cheese, beans, brewer's yeast and mug bean sprouts
   
9. Avoid: Foods high in arginine:lysine such as: gelatine, chocolate, carob, coconut, oats, wholewheat and white flour, peanuts, soybeans and wheat-germ. Leon Chaitow page 54
   
10. Drink green tea which contains EGCG (50%), together with vitamin A, E, C, L-Lysine, zinc helps in inhibiting the invasion and spread of viral infection. Nutrient mixture of lysine, proline, ascorbic acid, green tea, NAC and selenium. RR Watson Page 210
    

Please discuss with a Nutritional Doctor, Clinical Nutritionist or a Nutritional Psychologist.

And above all: Vote for political parties that ban the establishment of disease generating animal factory farms and that encourage the creation of humane free-range animal farms.

Video: Swine Flu, Vaccination & You by Barbara Loe Fisher, President National Vaccine Information Center


Further references
The great bird flu hoax: the truth they don't want you to know about the ...‎
The Case for Alternative Healthcare: Understanding, Surviving and Thriving ...‎ - Page 279
Mosby's handbook of diseases‎ - Page 350
Family Medicine Examination and Board Review‎ - Page 295
Oxford Textbook of Medicine‎ - Page 1361
Family medicine: principles and practice‎ - Page 336

About Dr JJ Cannell abstract

Pubmed articles by Cannell JJ et als.

Use of viamin D in clinical practice by JJ Cannell (2008)

On the epidemiology of influenza by Cannell JJ et als. (2008)

Simple Dietary Rules by Jur Plesman

References for free-range farming
Deep vegetarianism‎ - Page 168
Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Agriculture‎ - Page 208
Food for life‎ - Page 17
Happier meals: rethinking the global meat industry‎ - Page 54
Animal Welfare and Meat Production‎ - Page 246
The Gold Coast Cure's Fitter, Firmer, Faster Program: Get a Killer Body ...‎ - Page 26
The 150 healthiest foods on earth: the surprising, unbiased truth about what ...‎ - Page 189

Website disclaimer

Articles index

Back to main

 

Transference in Counselling

by Jurriaan Plesman, BA (Psych). Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr

Transference usually refers to a an emotional relationship between a client and an counsellor, where the counsellor is seen by a client as an important figure in the client's life, such as a parent, or sibling. For example, a client may see his counsellor or analyst as a father figure, or perceive the client/counsellor relationship to change into "love relationship". This alone may cause grave consequences for both client and counsellor. Emotions and desires originally associated with one person are now shifted to another person usually for the sake of therapy.

The concept of "transference" is usually associated with psychoanalytic theory and psychotherapeutic practice, that holds that many of our emotional problems have its origin in our childhood experiences. Thus a problem with authority figures is seen by many psychoanalysts to stem from a person's relationship with one or both parents or other parent/significant persons in the past. Thus a rebellious youngster may have a negative expectations from his counsellor. Parents who may have been reserved in expressing their feelings of love, may have created a low self-esteem in a child, who may then have developed a negative self-image as an adult. Many psychoanalysts seem to encourage the unconscious redirection of their clients' feelings towards themselves. This is believed to provide a therapeutic opportunity - so the theory goes - to address this "emotional problem". By providing a different interpretation of the origin of feelings, it is expected that a client will able to deal with an undesirable emotion in a more mature way.

The concept of transference should always be discussed together with "counter-transference" in a counselling situation. This refers to the emotional reactions of the counsellor to the client, that could misfire. See here . A counsellor who unwittingly enjoys being flattered or being able to control an other person by transference could easily instil a mutual interdependency between client and counsellor, thereby reinforcing a pathological submissiveness in the client, as well as an unhealthy reluctance by a counsellor to give up his authority over a client. But regardless of a counsellor's theoretical philosophy, every counsellor should be aware of transference in a counselling relationship, as exemplified from a personal counselling experience.

One day, a female client came to see me for an interview in order to prepare a social history for her coming court appearance. She took an instant disliking to me and reported me to my supervising counsellor. She said that she could not stand "this counsellor" and demanded to see another, because I reminded her too much of her grey-haired father. My supervisor - quite familiar with the phenomenon of transference - advised the client to report back to me and express her dislike to me. In the next interview she expressed her hatred of her father and realizing that we were dealing with transference I ask her to play the role of her father and I would then play the role of the client. In other words, we had an interesting session of "two-chair" work as in Gestalt therapy and also explained here . She attacked me in the role of her father and I countered her accusations with strategies employed in "Assertiveness Training Program". See here . She really enjoyed that session and we had a great laugh after that. She now wanted to learn all about how to handle her father the way I did from now on.

Counsellors who adhere to a more rational cognitive (RC) or rational cognitive behaviour therapy (RCBT) viewpoint - like myself - would view such an "transference as a therapeutic tool" with some caution. They tend to view a client/counsellor relationship to more like a "teacher/student" relationship, where emotions are discussed in an "about" fashion and from a more rational point of view. Here, undesirable emotions are more likely to be viewed as stemming from irrational attitudes and believes in the here-and-now, that upon calm analysis and considerations should be abandoned, if we want to get rid of unpleasant emotions. We may have to "re-learn" our thoughts by a repetitive learning process. Thus counsellors using RCBT insist on considering their clients to be fundamentally rational and looking at problems in the here-and now. This alone would bestow self-respect in the client.

It should be pointed out that both these approaches have some benefits and there are many others, but they tend to overlook the biological aspects of human behaviour. I believe that underlying biochemical factors play a primary role in mood disorder and need to be treated first, before considering "psychological" factors. In terms of TA I prefer to have an ADULT to ADULT relationship with my clients, where the aim is to make the adult ego or the "analytical mind" in control of our unwanted emotions.

Here are some more book references on Transference

Back to main page

Index of Articles

How to prevent Post Traumatic Stress ...

How to prevent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

by Jurriaan Plesman, BA(psych), Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a real disease, where a stress situation can trigger a depressive illness. This becomes indelibly associated with the trauma that triggered the PTSD. Most people recover naturally from a traumatic situations, when after some time the body starts to produce normal amounts of feel good neurotransmitters, such as serotonin. The reason why some people do not recover is because the traumatic event(s) triggered a PRE-EXISTING silent disease that underlies mood disorders. Thus it may be said that some people are pre-disposed to PTSD and others are not, depending on the health of a person.

Most depressions are associated with pre-diabetic insulin resistance - one of the 'silent diseases responsible for mood disorders - and the incidence of PTSD cases following war situations can be reduced, if doctors would test people for hypoglycemia prior to sending them into war. Hypoglycemia is just another term for "pre-diabetic insulin resistance". Because conventional allopathic medicine does not recognise the existence of 'hypoglycemia' and it's connection to depression in general, they cannot and won't test for it. Marilyn Light

The test for hypoglycemia is described at:

How to get tested for Hypoglycemia

To fully understand how psychonutritional therapy can help in the treatment for PTSD, please read:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Hypoglycemia
Silent Diseases and Mood Disorders

Further readings

Index of articles

Alcoholism is a Treatable Disease

ALCOHOLISM (ADDICTION) IS A TREATABLE DISEASE

by Jurriaan Plesman, BA (Psych), Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr.

 

Although this article mainly concerns alcoholism, it equally applies to any addiction.

 

Contrary to popular opinion many scientists consider alcoholism to be a specific disease in the literal sense of the word. Of course this may not sit well with people who believe that alcoholism is a mental disorder, that can be treated by talk therapy or a change in religious beliefs. The faith based treatment programs are well know for its failure rates of about 80 per cent. This does not mean that they could not be of any benefit, for at least it brings people together with a common illness.

I have explained the biochemical nature of alcoholism and why hypoglycemics are particularly attracted to alcohol. This may apply to all other kinds of drug addiction.

It clearly shows that alcoholics and for that matter many other form of addicted people, have problems metabolizing glucose into biological energy, called ATP. Biological energy is derived form glucose from sugar sources in our food, and converted to energy by a biochemical pathway called glycolysis. Without that energy the brain is starved of energy and cannot produce the feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

The following simplified illustration shows how glucose is converted to biological energy via glycolysis and the citric acid cycle (Kerbs Cycle) to produce ATP.

 Please notice that alcohol (ethanol) is produced from pyruvate, the end-product of glycolysis, and that people addicted to alcohol are likely to have problems converting glucose in the 10 step biochemical pathway to pyruvate. Alcohol is rapidly converted to ATP.

The fundamental question is why do alcoholics have problems producing serotonin? A serotonin deficiency has been associated with Endogenous Depression , which is more or less saying that scientists are not aware of the exact mechanism that cause people to be depressed. But at least it emphasizes that the disease is internally generated and has nothing to do with whatever is going on in the environment. Thus it can be asserted that alcoholism is a manifestation of a pre-existing depressive illness. Alcohol being a depressant chemical seems to be an antidote against some of the stress hormones active in depression.

For the brain to produce serotonin it needs an inordinate amount of biological energy to convert tryptophan - found in food - into serotonin. It also needs sufficient amounts of vitamin B6, zinc and magnesium for this conversion to take place.  In fact the brain, although only 2% of the body by weight needs about 60-70% of all available glucose to feed the brain with fuel for its biochemical apparatus. An active cell requires more than two million molecules of ATP per second to drive its biochemical machinery. Unlike other organs in the body it has no other sources of energy and it must obtain this from the blood sugar supplies.

Thus the question is why is the brain energy starved in a society that is flooded with sugar in its food sources?

The reality is that excess sugar consumption in society may well have contributed to energy starvation in the brain. Excess sugar consumption causes free radicals to attack other tissues in the body. The body sets up a defence mechanism in terms of Insulin Resistance.

This means that receptors for insulin fail to push glucose across cell membranes for metabolism into energy inside cells. Thus the result is a higher then normal blood sugar levels, called hyperglycemia. This in turn will trigger the pancreas to secrete more insulin resulting in hyperinsulinism. This then will cause a steep descent in blood sugar levels called hypoglycemia.

Here is an illustration showing what happens when receptors for insulin fail to respond to insulin. It can cause abnormal fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

 

 Notice how resistance to insulin initially results in a higher than normal blood sugar concentrations, which is then followed by a drop.

Thus we see that Insulin Resistance can cause wild fluctuations in blood sugar levels. When the brain senses a energy starvation, during a hypoglycemic dip, it will send a hormonal message to the adrenal gland to secrete adrenaline into the system. Adrenaline functions to convert sugar stores in the body such as glycogen into glucose, so as to feed the brain again. But adrenaline is also the fight/flight hormone.

Thus a recovering alcoholic is wrecked with unstable blood sugar levels and wildly fluctuating stress hormones, that will cause anxieties and insomnia, and a return to depression.

In my work with alcoholics - 75% of the prison population have addiction as a comorbid condition of their offences - Dr George Samra found that if you test alcoholics with the four hour Medical Test for Hypoglycemia, most of them are found to be hypoglycemic.

You can also test clients with a paper-and-pencil test called the Nutrition Behavior Inventory Test (NBI). Another useful test is the Hypo Quizz. If you score high you are likely to have a metabolic disorder that is contributing to your depression/anxiety.

Fortunately, Insulin Resistance can be treated without recourse to drugs by going on a Hypoglycemic Diet.

Thus we see that alcoholism could be seen as Nutritional Disorder. The hypoglycemic diet is essential in any treatment for alcoholism.

Withdrawing from alcohol is most likely to cause sugar cravings for reasons explained above. The person can help to alleviate this sugar cravings by taking glycerine as mentioned elsewhere in our web site. Glycerine is a sweet tasting substance, obtainable from any pharmacy. You mix one table spoon of glycerine in a glass of water and add a dash of lemonade (to improve taste). It is not recognized by the pancreas and does not produce excess insulin. It is slowly converted to glucose in the liver and will stop the sugar cravings. It will also normalize the stress hormones and may help in having a normal sleep.

It may take up to a year for the brain to restore normal receptors for neurotransmitters. This can be sped up by a high protein diet such as the Hypoglycemic Diet, including nutritional supplements as mentioned in the Hypoglycemic Diet. In the meantime the person may still have a few bouts of depression, and this where social support becomes important.

It is only after the underlying metabolic disorder has been attended to by nutritional means, that the person can benefit from talk therapy or whatever ‘mental’ approach.

We also have a self-help PSYCHOTHERAPY specially designed for recovering alcoholics and their families.

 

Research References:

Alcoholics in recovery Anxiety, depression

Alcoholism

Alcoholism and Violence

Depression and Insulin resistance

Drug addiction

Drug Addiction Recovery (Volcow study)

Glycerine

Marijuana, Sex, Violence, Depression

Violence and aggression

Zinc and picolinic acid, tryptophan

 

 

See other articles at:

The Serotonin Connection

What is Hypoglycemia?

Testing for Hypoglycemia

Depression: a Disease of Energy Production

Depression is a Nutritional Disorder

Is the Hypoglycemic Diet a Cure-all for Mental Illness?

Anxiety and The Sympathetic Nervous System

Why Alcoholics Drink.

Is the  Diet a Cure-all for Mental Illness?

 

 

 Website disclaimer

Articles index

Back to main

Last updated 13 February 2008

Drug Companies are a Major Cause of

Treatment-Resistant Depression

by Jurriaan Plesman, BA (Psych), Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr

Many people using psychotropic drugs for depression have become a victims of the pharmaceutical companies, that actively promote drugs for the treatment of mood disorders. Once you are on the drug merry-go-round, it may take years to overcome the toxic effects of multiple drugs on receptors for normal neurotransmitters in the brain. Of course, people become hooked on drugs! You cannot do without them! You are now dependent of drugs to feel normal. You seem to be no different from a drug-addict. They believe in drugs and when they don't work psychiatrists will try out alternative drugs of which there are many. I believe that the monopolistic selling of psychotropic drugs is a major cause of "treatment resistant" depression. And the pharmaceutical companies are glad to have drug-using patients on board to promote the sale of these drugs to other non-suspecting victims that happen to join discussion boards on depression. The tragedy is that so many gullible drug consumers have placed the psychiatric profession on a pedestal, with a religious fervour.

But drug companies are self-serving supra-national organizations, beyond the control of local governments, as are other self-serving corporations that have now caused the downfall of the free enterprise free-market capitalistic system.

The psychiatric profession is no more than a front-shop for psychotropic drugs that we all know may benefit only a minority of patients. The reality is that drugs are of no benefit to the majority of depressed patients. See:

Studies showing the ineffectiveness of drug and/or psychotherapy for depression. Shown here .

The role of drug companies has been well documented in:

"After falling behind economically in competition with psychosocial approaches, psychiatry formed what the American Psychiatric Association admitted in 1992 is a 'partnership' with the drug companies. Organized psychiatry has become wholly dependent for financial support on the unholy collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry. To deny the effectiveness of drugs or to admit their dangerousness would result in huge economic losses on every level from the individual psychiatrist who makes his or her living by prescribing medication, to the American Psychiatric Association, which thrives on drug company largesse. " Source: Gary Null

"In 1990, psychiatrist Matthew Dumont suggested that psychiatry give up its coquettish claims to psychotherapy and openly declare itself an arm of the drug industry". Ibid Page 43

Drug companies control most universities who could not operate without the largesse of international drug companies. For example, do you know any university that offers a course and qualification in Clinical Nutrition or Nutritional Psychology? No, you can only obtain these qualifications OUTSIDE conventional universities.

Long-term users of psychotropic drugs have real problem withdrawing from them, as their toxic effects have harmed receptors for healthy neurotransmitters. Hence there is no quick-fix nutritional therapy to heal the cellular damage.

Drugs are only beneficial to a small minority of patients, but even so, do not "cure" them of depression! They hook most patients on drugs for possibly the rest of their lives, which is exactly why the drug trade - legal or illegal - is so unmanageable and make such tremendous profits for criminal gangs and legal corporations and their investors. The drug trade - legal or illegal - is just outside the control of ANY governemnt. Legal drug companies also control political parties both in the USA and other Western countries. See here and here.

Also, please study: Codex Alimentarius how drug companies use the United Nations in trying to curtail the free access to nutritional supplements and natural health.

From my experience people who have been on drugs for any length of time, take extra-ordinary professional knowledge and experience to treat this by nutritional means. Xenobiotic drugs have confounded their depression and most victims would not have the experience or knowledge to overcome this by sheer self-help techniques.

What really upsets me that many drug-using depressed people who are victims of the sale of pharmaceutical drug companies, take it upon themselves to "advise" naive depressed patients to visit "their GP" as a first step in their treatment. This renders drug-induced treatment resistant depression a socially contagious disease, not unlike the one we find among illegal drug-users.