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I read with great interest Richard Karel’s article, "Alternative Medicine: Past Is Prologue," in the September 19 issue. I consider myself a holistic psychiatrist and use various alternative approaches to complement conventional treatment. In addition to prescribing medication and doing psychotherapy, I use herbs and nutritional supplements, as well as hypnotherapy, meditation, and other approaches that affect the mind.
I use St. John’s Wort as an alternative to medication, especially for patients who are sensitive to conventional medication’s side effects. I also use L-tyrosine for antidepressant activity; I find that L-tyrosine is helpful in augmenting antidepressant medication, without extra side effects. This would make for an interesting research study.
Hypnotherapy is very useful in uncovering unconscious conflicts, and it does so much faster than conventional psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy can reveal hidden emotional issues underlying many cases of psychophysiologic problems and chronic pain. I also use hypnosis and meditation for stress reduction in patients.
The holistic approach encourages the patient to take more responsibility in his or her treatment. This is based on the premise that the patient has healing potential within and should be empowered, whenever possible, to take charge of his or her life, through increased awareness and self-care.
Gordon E. Abbo, M.D.
Boca Raton, Fla.