OT? - Mental Health Parity - The Psychs are at it again.

November 28, 2001

Dear Melinda,

Thanks for the feedback and you're own story.

I hope you'll pardon the pun, but I just can't resist - "Psychiatry is for the birds" ;o)

LOL, OK, OK, I'll go back to my corner now.

Laughingly,

Doc

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

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herbal remedies

Sunday, November 25, 2001 5:00 PM

[herbal remedies] OT? - Re: Mental Health Parity - The Psychs are at it again.

Dear Doc Ian,Thank you for posting this! I agree with you totally -- this stuff is absurd. When my son was little, even less was known. He was diagnosed as "hyperactive" (we didn't have the fancy terms in those days). The doctor wanted to put him on Ritalin but I said NO DICE, much to the doctor's chagrin. Yes, sometimes it was tough, but we made it in the same way generations of people have made it before, with a healthy diet, exercise, positive behavior modification techniques, and generous bucketloads of TLC. My son is now a wonderful adult with a college degree, a great job and many close friends -- and a liver that isn't full of toxins from drugs that may well have robbed him of his childhood. As an extra bonus, he's a very close friend of mine who has learned he can trust me to look out for his welfare in all situations.As a society, we are taught (from the big moneymakers) to "just take this magic pill" and all will be hunkey-dorey. At the same time we're encouraged to eat garbage foods. Unfortunately, this is becoming just as common when dealing with our pets.I hope this isn't too far off-topic, but I think it further illustrates your point. I recently added to my parrot flock a rare Macaw from a rescue situation. She has plucked out a lot of her feathers, presumably as a result of a grief situtation in her life. So, I joined an email list about this subject to seek help. Now, birds are even more sensitive to toxins than humans are -- the canary and the mineshaft, and Rachael Carson's "Silent Spring" come to mind. So guess what I read there? Several of these folks' vets are putting their birds on drugs such as Haloperidol (Haldol), Fluoxetine (Prozac), and Tegretol! EGAD! One lady mentioned last week that with psychotropic drugs her bird had stopped biting, and several people immediately chimed in to say, "Gee, I wonder if that would help with my bird, too? He bites." SHEESH! Can you believe it?! They would rather pop a pill in the poor little critter than take a little time to train it (behavior modification techniques are the GOOD part of psychology, IMHE). Meanwhile, a lot of these birds are subsisting (and I do mean "sub") on cooked, processed diets filled with artificial colors and preservatives, merrily pushed on them by the veterinary community. And folks wonder what's wrong with them and why they come down with the diseases that are known to underly plucking? Needless to say, I wrote in a long, impassioned plea for these folks to get back to basics, starting with a diet based on raw, organic produce and sprouts and to use training to address behavior problems, not drugs! I just wanted you to know that this fight for sane action is continuing on MANY fronts all the time -- you're not alone in what you're saying and thinking!Melinda