Alternatives to the Use of Psychiatric Medications

More and more people are seeking alternatives to psychiatric medications for a variety of reasons. They don't like the side effects: the losses of concentration, inspiration, sexual excitement, or joy that may accompany the use of medications for depression and depressive disorders. The cost or dependencies associated with these psychiatric drugs may also be problematic. But the prospect of continuing to live with the handicap of feeling bad and unproductive is also unacceptable. Some may have tried conventional talking therapies and herbs as alternatives to medications but without relief. This section explores these issues and offers a new alternative that assigns the origins of emotional disorders to traumatic experience and offers a new approach to treatment.

Issues & Quiz:

A Note of Caution tells the story of my daughter Morgan Lesley's experience using antidepressant medications for the treatment of depressive symptoms.

Medication Red Flag Quiz gives you an opportunity to assess problems you may be having as a result of taking antidepressant medications.

Healing Emotional Disorders - An Alternative Approach describes groundbreaking research based on a new way of identifying and responding to many common mental health problems.

Segal is noted in the field of emotional intelligence. Her books include Feeling Great: Enhancing Your Health & Well-Being (Unity, 1981), Living Beyond Fear: Coping with the Emotional Aspects of Life-Threatening Illness (Ballantine, 1989), and Raising Your Emotional Intelligence: A Practical Guide for Harnessing the Power of Your Instincts and Emotions, (Holt, 1997). She has coordinated the From Neurons To Neighborhoods Conferences in Los Angeles that are spreading the word about new ways to understand and heal emotional trauma.