Page 13 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

| 13

1. Promoting Wellness in Mental Health:

The CAM Approach in Psychiatry

Dan Stradford

In 2003, after examining the American psychiatric system for a
year, the President’s Freedom Commission on Mental Health
recommended “a fundamental transformation of the Nation’s
approach to mental health care. This transformation must
ensure that mental health services and supports actively
facilitate recovery, and build resilience to face life’s challenges."
(President’s New Freedom Comm 2003)
Three years later an extensive study covering eight states
revealed that the seriously mentally ill in America now die 25
years earlier than the general public. This is a 10- to 15-year
shorter lifespan than they had less than two decades earlier
(Parks 2006). “We’re going in the wrong direction and have to
change course,” commented lead author Joseph Parks, director
of psychiatric services for the Missouri Department of Mental
Health (Elias 2007).
The Parks report, published for the National Association of
State Mental Health Program Directors, stated: “State Mental
Health Authority (SMHA) stakeholders need to embrace two
guiding principles: