by Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman

Mainstream Medicine Does Not Have All the Answers for Depression and Mental Illness

We began our work in the psychiatric field 40 years ago. Witnessing the side effects of psychiatric medications, especially for schizophrenia, some of which were irreversible, convinced us that there must be a better way. Now, years later, a new family of antidepressants has given hope and the possibility of happiness to some who have never known joy before. Some of the patients who benefit from these drugs do so at the expense of other life-enhancing aspects of a normal life, such as sexual performance. For others, Prozac and the other SSRI’s just don’t work. Lithium carbonate has helped to stabilize many patients with bipolar disorder and most need to remain on the medication for life. Conventional medicine still offers no impressive answers for schizophrenia. Mainstream medicine also offers no magic pill to assist recovery from sexual abuse and multiple personality disorder. So now, more than ever, we are advocating for safe and natural treatments for depression and other mental health concerns.

Depression Is Epidemic

Chances are if you’re not taking antidepressants, someone else you know is. Depressive disorders affect well over 20 million American adults each year, one in eight individuals over the course of a lifetime, and are twice as common in women as in men. Nearly twenty percent of Americans will experience a major depression during their lifetimes. The number of prescriptions for antidepressants has skyrocketed. Over half of all new antidepressant prescriptions written in the United States in recent years were for are for SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac and Celexa). If you’re not one of these statistics, considerable yourself fortunate. You might begin to wonder if anyone out there is really happy without drugs of one sort or another.

Designer Drugs: The Ups and Downs of Antidepressants

Like every other drug, the ones that zero in on serotonin have side effects. Elavil makes people sleepy. Zoloft can trigger anxiety, agitation, headache, nausea, and diarrhea. Zoloft and Prozac may, among other side effects, cause sexual dysfunction. Paxil is known to sedate and to cause dry mouth and constipation. If you are like many others suffering from depression, you are willing to suffer the side effects, even the extremely troubling ones, because you think there is no alternative. Think again!

The most common side effects, which millions of patients are willing to put up with in order to feel happier, include the following:

• Sexual dysfunction is much more common than originally thought. Approximately 30 to 50 percent of those on Prozac experience decreased sex drive and difficulty with orgasms. For those who are only mildly depressed, exchanging a few blue days a month for compromised sexual satisfaction may be a bad tradeoff.
• About 14 to 20 percent of people complain of insomnia.
• Nausea is a complaint of 20 to 25% of patients.
• Feeling drowsy or drugged is a problem for 12 to 20 percent of individuals.
• About 10 percent of patients complain of a dry mouth.
• Headaches are a problem in approximately 20% of those on serotonin-regulating drugs.
• Diarrhea is a problem in about 12 percent of cases.
• Intense restlessness and agitation, although rare, can be serious and is an indication that the drug should be discontinued immediately. It is thought that this restlessness may trigger suicidal behavior.

Homeopathy Is a Safer and More Effective Long-term Answer for Depression

What if we tell you about a type of medicine that:

• can promise at least a seventy percent improvement in your depression?
• is free of the side effects of antidepressants
• is safe even for pregnant women, seniors, and newborns?
• can heal you over time so you no longer needed to take it
• chooses among 2000 medicines rather than only a handful of antidepressants?
• chooses your medicine based on an in-depth interview of two hours or more?
• treats you as a unique and whole person rather than a diagnostic label?
• addresses not only your depression but all of your other physical, mental, and emotional concerns as well?
• tastes great
• needs to be taken infrequently
• actually strengthens your immune system rather than only alleviating your depression?
• is administered in doses lasting months rather than only hours?
• can be taken along with and can often replace antidepressants?
• is readily available and cost effective?

All of these statements are true of homeopathic treatment, and lead thousands of patients each year to seek out homeopathy instead of, or in addition to, conventional medicine.

Leeanne

Leeanne’s Case

Leeanne, a 28-year-old woman receptionist from Eastern Washington, was soft-spoken and extremely sweet. “I’ve been feeling a loss of self-esteem because of my weight. I go to school full-time and work part-time. I’m majoring in accounting but it wasn’t my first choice. I don’t like my job. I don’t eat right or exercise right. I’m not very assertive. It takes a lot of arm twisting to get me to go to a party, then I just go off and sit in a corner. It takes me a long time to get comfortable with people. Friends tell me I’m an introvert.”

“My parents divorced when I was in the second grade. Like most kids my age, I thought it was my fault. I chose to live with my dad in another state and I left my sister, Kate, with my mom. For the past ten years Kate has refused to talk to me. We were very close. Every time I talk about her, I cry. I’m sorry. There are two half siblings. At times they feel like my children because they’re so much younger. I was there to help my dad financially and to take care of the kids.”

“I was married once. To a jerk who put me down. He never worked and I supported him. I’ve managed to remove anything which reminded me of him. I don’t want to feel I’m still supporting a freeloader.”

“Most of the time I’m unhappy. Mostly with my weight. But no matter how much I’ve weighed I’ve still been unhappy. I wish I could be more assertive. If someone asks me to do something, I just jump and do it then I get mad at myself. I guess I just want to feel needed. Pleasing my mom was the only way I made her happy. She was only happy with me when I was doing things for her. It hurt that mom didn’t accept me, especially because it was so obvious that she loved my sister more than me. We were latchkey kids. I shared a bed with my mom. My sister had her own room. At thirteen we decided to move out and live with my dad. While I was packing I found out that my mother wouldn’t let my sister come with me. It was very traumatic.”

“My stepmother told me to lie about my half-siblings so she and my father wouldn’t have to send more money to my mother. I kept the secret for years. I’m resigned that my mother never loved me. My sister won’t even talk to me. I feel very, very hurt. I keep trying to contact her but she won’t talk to me. I feel like I want to go forward, but I don’t know how. People say I’m fun but I don’t see why.”

“I would most like to learn to accept myself. I feel like other people see me as a wallflower. I typically get called by other people’s names. I’d gained about 75 pounds around the time I moved out on my own and I’m still overweight. I mostly stay at home. All my books are there so I’m safe. Nothing can happen there that I don’t let happen. I’m happy that I’m not in an intimate relationship. Sometimes it’s lonely, but I don’t have to share my space with anybody.”
Leeanne feared big dogs, high places, and losing weight. She didn’t like to lose control.” She was afraid to go on walks or hikes by herself and was concerned that she might fail in school even though she was a good student. “I worry about anything, even whether the sky will turn blue.” Leanne dreamed about being chased or driving too fast and the brakes failing, of a plane crashing, or about being a bug on a wall.

Her main physical complaint was tension headaches two or three times a month, which could last for days. Icy cold hands and feet also bothered her

Leeanne’s Remedy

Leeanne needed a medicine for gentle, soft-spoken, self-conscious individuals who are sensitive to criticism, shy, fearful, and have a strong need to please others. For people who think they have to manage on their own without assistance and are prone to dreaming about accidents. We prescribed Calcarea muriaticum. (calcium chloride). This is an example of a salt, or combined form of a cation (calcium) and an anion (muriate). Someone needing this medicine has characteristics of the individual medicines: Calcium carbonate (cautiousness, a desire for security, hardworking and dependable, slow-paced and steady, fear of dogs, heights, insects, airplanes, and driving too fast, and a tendency to excess weight) and Natrum muriaticum (introversion, disappointmen in love life, lack of nurturing from one’s mother, emotional sensitivity, and chronic headaches).

At her six week visit Leanne reported feeling very well. “ I feel like I’m standing on solid ground again. I’m more confident in myself and I’m not worrying so much about what others are thinking or saying. I’m doing better in school and my grades are improving. I’m getting more A’s. I can take more challenges. I wrote a letter to my ex-husband telling him that I want the money he owes me now. I’m not getting depressed as often. I’m happy to say that I’m not letting people stomp all over me. Someone was being rude to me recently and I told her I didn’t deserve to be treated that way. She went away then came back and apologized for her rudeness. My fears are not so overwhelming. I can actually think of standing next to a cliff and not being worried. A dog came by and I didn’t feel nervous.”

“Homeopathy is wonderful. I’ve been sleeping so well that I don’t want to wake up because I’m so relaxed. My feet and hands aren’t cold anymore. I haven’t had any anxiety dreams that wake me up. My headaches are really mild and less frequent. I still worry about things, but not to the same degree. As the foundation gets more solid, the worrying will go away. I just feel really, really good.”

Leeanne came to see us again three months later. “I called my sister and told her when she was ready to have a sister that loved her unconditionally she could call me. I feel better overall. More centered and not as vulnerable to other people. The things I considered frightening before are challenges now.” Leeanne needed five doses of the Calcarea muriaticum over a three-year period. After that she did not need further care.

Ronny

Ronny’s Case

Ronny, 40 years old, worked as a travel agent. Her early years had not been easy. She grew up in an Italian neighborhood in New York City. Ronny’s grandparents emigrated from Milan. Her mother had a third child at the age of 32. The baby died and she suffered a nervous breakdown. Ronny and her brother were sent to a Catholic orphanage. They thought they were responsible for the baby’s death. She cried herself to sleep every night that she was there.

After a time at home, her father, an abusive and violent alcoholic, took them back to the orphanage. Living around her father had been a terrifying experience. He beat her siblings and threatened her. She hid in a garment bag with a knife in case he attacked her when he came home from the bar drunk. There were times when she felt like she could have killed him. Ronny’s mother also had a violent streak. She beat the kids with a frying pan or whatever else she could get her hands on. Though Ronny often tried to protect her mother from her father’s abuse, she basically felt betrayed by her.

The two children eventually went back to live with their parents. When Ronny was 14, her parents finally divorced. Sent back to the orphanage once again, she received help from the nuns. At that time she had a revelation in the form of a visitation. She received instructions to speak the truth and not be afraid. After that she had the courage to stand up to her father.

At 24, Ronny married her Italian boyfriend. Over time he became sexually abusive and slept with her sister. Her sister never spoke to her again. Jealous and resentful, Ronny left her husband but he pursued her. She never felt vindicated for her betrayal by the husband and sister. The feeling she held towards her family was of rejection and excommunication. Ronny often felt attacked by her mother, her father, her husband, and even by friends.

Depression was a familiar companion, and was even more pronounced when it rained. Ronny remarried and had a daughter but was tormented with fear that her ex-husband would kidnap her. She also feared heights and had a fascination with snakes. When she was little, she used to play with her brother’s boa constrictor. The resentment took hold in Ronny’s stomach. Whenever she thought about her mother or about the betrayals, she would retch and her stomach “felt like it would come out through her mouth.” When we inquired about food, Ronny responded that she loved salads.

Ronny’s Remedy

Ronny’s intense feelings of jealousy, betrayal, resentment, need for vindication, fear of kidnapping, and fascination with snakes are suggestive of a homeopathic medicine from the animal kingdom and, more specifically, a snake. But which snake medicine? The affinity to stomach symptoms including vomiting, fear of heights, the aggravation from the rain, and preference for salads led us to prescribe Elaps (coral snake). When we saw her two months later, she was quite pleased with her response to the medicine. Her attitude was much more positive. She felt more detached from her family and was no longer retching.

Two months later she reported that her feelings towards her family were much less intense despite a family dispute over grandfather’s estate after his recent death. She continued to feel well physically and was less afraid of heights. We last saw Ronny several months ago at her daughter’s last visit. Two years after taking the Elaps, she continues to feel well and has not needed another dose of the medicine.

Forget Antidepressants and Try Homeopathy!

We believe that the time is ripe for homeopathy to attain its rightful place in the health care system. Homeopathic medicine is a safe, gentle, long-lasting, deep-acting, and affordable alternative to conventional medicine. And, most important of all, as you can see for yourselves from these stories, it works for many people. If you or someone you know is looking for an alternative to antidepressants and other psychiatric medications, consider homeopathy. It is safe, natural, effective and free of side effects!

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