It’s time to look at how your physical health affects your mind.  Historically, if you had any “mental illness” type symptoms, you were either deemed crazy, sent to a shrink, locked up or all three.  But where are those “mental” symptoms coming from?  Is it logical to think that they randomly appear out of nowhere?  Of course not.  It is logical that the human body can develop a  physical ailment or deficiency which could be detrimental to your mental well-being.  If you are lucky enough to know that, then alternative mental health treatment will get you back to your old self in no time.  
Unfortunately today the field of psychiatry has impinged upon society that most “mental illnesses” are treatable with powerful mind-altering drugs.  Lying on the couch and talking about Freudian childhood traumas has been replaced with a chemical brain imbalance theory.   We are all bombarded by ads on television and in magazines claiming that a simple pill is the ticket to a happy and well state of mind.  Their marketing is brilliant, but unsubstantiated and certainly not the answer.   
The problem is that psychiatry has no scientific evidence of any sort to back up their claims.  Just as a blood test confirms a diagnosis and an x-ray shows the fracture in a bone, there are no medical tools to show the source of the “mental illness.” Their only “source” is just someone’s opinion, not science.  This is why treatment using alternative mental health methods are much more reliable because the source of the problem is found using sound medical science.  It only makes sense that treating the physical source will restore mental well-being.  
For example, a woman was hearing voices, losing touch with reality and was barely communicating.  Her husband wanted to get her a very thorough physical exam.   Instead, he was told that his wife was a catatonic schizophrenic and probably would have been on psychiatric drugs for the rest of her life had her husband agreed.  He did not agree and persisted until he found a doctor that would look beyond her symptoms and do a very thorough exam.  It was found that the citric acid in her urine was five times the normal amount indicating deficiencies in a few amino acids.  Within a month of treatment, she was completely recovered. 
This is not just an isolated success story for alternative mental health.  In nineteen eighty-one, there was a study of one hundred people admitted to a research ward.  Upon entry, they did do a physical exam consisting of an electrocardiogram, urinalysis, extensive blood work and the like.  It was found that eighty percent had a physical illness that needed treatment.  Additionally, forty-six percent had previously undetected ailments that aggravated the mental problems or were the source of the mental problems themselves.
In the past thirty-plus years since this study was done, the alternative mental health field has developed many more tests to detect physical sources of mental issues.  There are food allergy tests, hair analysis tests for toxins,  hormone tests and multiple-point urine tests to name a few.  The good news is that many more tools are now available to find a physical cause and therefore a cure for mental ailments.  If these tests were available in nineteen eighty-one, many more than forty-six percent would have been found to have mental problems originating from something physical.  
On the other hand, what this means is that there is an outrageously high rate of misdiagnosis in the field of mental health.  People are not getting that thorough physical exam and are cursorily being evaluated as “mentally ill.” They are being diagnosed and labelled with so-called “disorders” when they are actually physically ill, not mentally ill.  Instead of getting the proper medical treatment to handle to the source of the problem, they are given a prescription for a powerful mind-altering psychiatric drug with potentially lethal side effects.
A doctor and author has firmly stated that people don’t just go nuts.  Generally, the physical source is from an allergy, toxins, a medical condition or poor nutrition.  For example, a malfunctioning thyroid can cause psychosis and depression.  In a study of twenty-five thousand people who were apparently depressed or crazy for no apparent reason, ten percent had a malfunctioning thyroid which they were unaware of.  Without such information one is left with a misdiagnosis and a drug prescription.  
Also, some people have severe reactions to certain foods and chemicals.  Mercury and lead are prominent causes of mental problems as are    pesticides and cleaning agents.  In addition, it’s quite possible that the food you eat every day could be affecting your mental health.   In a study of “schizophrenics,” ninety-two percent had an adverse reaction to common things like wheat, corn and cow’s milk.   
The point is this:  there is no logical reason to follow the psychiatric route of treatment.  If you, a friend or family member is experiencing something that falls under mental health, it may be beneficial to find a caring medical doctor who will give an extensive medical exam.  That doctor will perform routine medical examinations that have proven workability in detecting underlying physical causes of unwanted mental health symptoms.
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/press/wellbeing.htm