Natural Management of Mental Illness (and what no one tells you)
- Rebecca Blanton
- Feb 24
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 1
Twelve years ago I stopped taking all western medication to control my Bipolar I disorder and give a more “natural” approach to my mental illness a try. It worked.
I have lived with Bipolar I since I was a child. My first severe symptoms started when I was 11 (in 1985). By the time I was in high school, the symptoms of both depression and mania were extreme. However, in the late 1980s, mental health professionals did not diagnose children with “manic depression.” I was an “unruly teen” and “struggling with my sexual orientation.” In fact, neither were true. I was a mostly well-behaved A student and very comfortable being out as bisexual, but that was not what mental health professionals saw.
I was successfully diagnosed when I was 19 and graduating undergrad. I was immediately started on Lithium. Over the next 20 years I would take more than 50 different drugs to try and manage the mood disorder and the side effects from the various mood stabilizers. Some worked for periods of time. Some were intolerable. Some made things worse. Overall, I managed to have a highly successful career and personal life.
Most drugs worked for a few months or even a year or two. Depakote was the one consistent thing which worked for me. The rest of the medications were sprinkled in to help when I had swings not controlled by a base medication. At times, I was on as many as 10 medications to control the mood swings and all the side effects from the medications.
In 2014, I had a series of horrific experiences at UC Davis Medical Center with the Psychiatric department. This culminated in a doctor falsifying my medical records which led to a sexual assault by medical staff. More falsifications and cover ups followed. I vowed never to return to see a psychiatrist.
Finding Alternative Therapies
This meant finding an alternative form of treatment for Bipolar I. I sought out peer support groups to help me understand how my peers were seeking help with mood disorders. I discovered CANMAT online and did a deep dive into the research. I am privileged enough to have an academic background which includes chemistry, brain physiology and function, statistics, and research methodology at an advanced level.
I decided to try a combination of over-the-counter supplements, energy work, mindfulness practices, and dietary changes. It worked for me. In the past 12 years I have not had a single major mood swing, eliminated my need for sleeping pills, I stopped all forms of self-harm, and have found peace. I am deeply grateful that that was the result of the change.
The thing no one tells you is…
Trying more “natural” therapies does not work for everyone. I DO NOT recommend anyone try this unguided. I DO NOT recommend anyone stop taking any prescribed medications. Trying a natural approach to mood stabilization is a crap shoot at best and deadly at worst.
Trying a natural approach to mood stabilization is a crap shoot at best and deadly at worst.
Every one of us has a unique physiology and psychology. The reason many of us struggle with pharmacologic management of mental health is there is not a “one size fits all” way to help us. The reasons for a mental illness is manifold. It includes traumas, biology, physiology, diet, stress, capitalism, and more. Psychiatrists get you for 15 minutes on average. In this limited amount of time they must assess how you are doing, determine what you need, chart for insurance purposes, and decide if they need an extra three minutes to pee between patients. And… they rely on self-reporting of symptoms which may be skewed by your own mental health status.
The result is to start with the most popular drug or the one that their drug rep showed up hocking that week. Check in at your next appointment, assess, and repeat as necessary. For most of us seeking mental health care, this means years of experimentation with medications to find something which provides relief. For those of us with extremely painful symptoms, as I had, this is gut wrenching, painful, and can be life-altering.
Finding Good Help is Hard
The old adage that “good help is hard to find” is very true when it comes to mental health care. Doctors are humans. They have the same bias and stigmas and misinformation we all do. They come in with preconceptions of patients based on gender, race, sexual orientation, age, class, weight, and more. With just 15 minutes to assess someone, relying on stereotypes is useful (check out Tversky and Kahnammen’s Fast Thinking, Slow Thinking for a better understanding of this).
I fired dozens of doctors and alternative health practitioners before finding two I could work with. I found the phenomenal Angela Ingendaay. She is an MD and practices Five Element Acupuncture. She saved my life. One of the big reasons for this is that she understands every body is unique. We have had numerous conversations about how I respond to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. She has told me that she rarely prescribes Chinese herbs to patients because of the limited help many folks get from these treatments. However, I respond like the Chinese medicine textbooks predict, so I use them.
Once again- just because this worked for my body does not mean it will work for anyone else. You have to find your own combination of treatment modalities which work for you.
So what is a crazy girl to do?
First, get professional help. This may be a primary care physician, a mental health professional, or an alternative/complimentary medicine professional. Do not do as I did and go it alone. It is extremely risky to try and manage your own mental healthcare. My experience could have been much worse. I only went this route because at the time I could not afford non-western doctors and my western doctors were rapists.
Second, keep track of how you respond to medication. Keep track of mental AND physical responses. In my experience, mental health professionals never ask about (or care about) physical health issues caused by the medication if it happens to control the mental health symptom it was prescribed for.
Third, commit to a long process. Mental health management is an art, not a science. You will most likely not get relief from symptoms overnight. Go into treatment understanding that it will take time to find the right combination of treatments which work for you.
Fourth, advocate for yourself. Doctors are often bad at accepting that a patient may not see “success” in the same way they do. Be clear about your goals. If you are okay with one side effect but not another, say so. If you want to “mostly” control an issue but complete elimination of a symptom is not necessary if the side effects are more tolerable at a less controlled level, say so. And fire doctors as needed. I have a trail of bodies in the medical profession leading me to the two good doctors I now have.
Fifth, because many of my readers are kinky or polyamorous or trans or queer or all of the above, here are a couple of resources for finding a culturally competent doctor.
I Did Go Back to a Single Western Medication
I have been successfully managing most of my Bipolar symptoms with alternative medications and practices. However, after the election of 45 in 2016, my anxiety spiked. I tried a few complimentary treatments, but nothing controlled the impending dread I faced daily. I asked for an anti-anxiety medication. I LOVE my Lexapro. Seriously, I have found nothing which works as well to stop my brain from focusing on all the horrible possibilities and allow me to move forward in the world.
Pharmacological treatments for mental health have their place. They are life-saving for many people. The appeal of the RFK Jr. “mental health drugs are bad” argument is that many of us have had really bad experiences with some mental health prescriptions. I have a long list of horrid side effects from gaining 60 pounds in 3 months, to constant vomiting, to losing the ability to do basic math. His argument will appeal to people who have had those bad experiences.
The thing is those bad experiences do not negate the tremendous amount of help that mental health drugs have for millions of people. This includes kids. Had I been able to get effective treatment for my mood swings at 12 or 13 instead of waiting until 20, I could have avoided a nearly-successful suicide attempt, failing out of undergrad and having to apply for readmission, and destroying several important relationships.
Finally, please don’t use my experience as a justification for you taking your own health into your hands and quitting your meds. If you take anything from this article, please advocate for the combination of care which best works for you.