How to Use Herbs, Nutrients & Yoga in Mental Health Care

by Patricia L. Gerbarg, Philip R. Muskin, Richard P. Brown, et al.

Book Overview

Many physicians and therapists agree that herbs and mind-body practices enhance health, but many more are reluctant to integrate them into their clinical work because of a lack of training or, given... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393705250
• ISBN13: 9780393705256
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Lay people can find it all in this book

This book is encyclopedic! It covers most areas concerning adults who take charge of their own health. The authors speak with authority, backing up their information with 60 pages of references and case studies experienced in their practices. I finally could understand what the herbs can do, where to purchase the best brands,and the safest way to use them.

Excellent Resource!

This book is the reference I have been waiting for. Though many websites and health advocates promote nutritional supplements, I am aware that they are regulated by the FDA in a different manner than prescriptions and other over-the-counter medications. Like other consumers, I am forced to frequently buy without a sense of confidence. This is the first and only guide I have found that identifies manufacturers - and not in any way that benefits the authors. Though the book was filled with much valuable information, it is worth its purchase price just for the Appendix and Guide to Buying Quality Products. Further, there is ample empirical evidence to support yoga's myriad health benefits. I frequently recommend the practice of yoga to my clients and they invariably find improvement of both their physical and mental status. This book is a perfect reference point. Lay people and mental health practitioners alike, who respect the value of both Western and Eastern modalities and want to reap ALL of the benefits of the knowledge that is available to help themselves or their clients will find this an invaluable addition to their bookshelf.

Great Book!

Great resource guide for CAM treatments presented by esteemed doctors. Have used some of the treatments to my personal benefit.

Future of Mental Health

This book is a gift to us all. For those of us who have always known there was a better way than the existing mental health system, this book provides the Western data to support what many of us have known through direct observation of people that we've assisted over the years. This book will become a major source of reference for our agency: we are a trauma- focused, holistic Community Mental Health Center that provides spirit/mind/body work for our clients. I am very grateful for a tool that summarizes such invaluable information.

For Every Mental Health Professional

For those who hover between the worldviews of the Western medical establishment and the holistic model, this book offers a balanced and informative guide. Dr.'s Brown, Gerbarg, and Muskin have elite credentials, and offer excellent academic scholarship along with genuine empathy for people suffering with illnesses and traumas. This book is readable by healthcare consumers and is highly useful to mental health professionals as well. This book is very even-handed in dealing with traditional (prescription) psychopharmacology, herbal remedies, and mind-body approaches--and their interactions. For this reason, it is the best guide on the market for people who have tried multiple approaches to life-endangering, or life-quality compromising problems. The authors intelligently and respectfully analyze self-help approaches such as yoga, Qi Gong, or breathing exercises. Though they agree with modern medicine that the peer-reviewed, placebo controlled study is important in assessing the efficacy of any treatment, traditional or holistic, they also note the limitations of this approach. Side effects, risks, and benefits of all treatments are discussed as well as how to tailor remedies for different constitutions. This includes how prescription medications may contraindicate certain herbal remedies, or even certain yoga practices. Another invaluable feature of this book is that it provides guidelines that help locate reliable quality products. This book is a must for laymen and professionals who are open to a wide variety of approaches, use them, or share patients with other doctors or healers who use them. In a complex living nervous system, how might these interventions interact, amplifying (or detracting) from each others' effects? What are the underlying systems, say "serotonergic" or "cholinergic" that might be impacted by this anti-depressant, that herb? Highly effective alternative but less-well-known therapies such as neurofeedback, Les Fehmi's Open Focus, and yoga breathing techniques are discussed. As a professional who is versed in these fields, I found the sections on these topics carefully researched, accurate and well-presented. Stephen Larsen, Ph.D, LMHC, BCIA-eeg is Psychology Professor Emeritus, SUNY, and the author of The Healing Power of Neurofeedback, The Fundamentalist Mind, and A Fire in the Mind, The Life of Joseph Campbell.