Page 52 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

52 | Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

the SAM-e group experience complete remission, compared to
12% of controls (Papakostas 2010).
An Italian study comparing the effects of imipramine versus
SAM-e found they proved equally effective against depression in
a four-week trial, with SAM-e, at a dose of 400 mg/day
intramuscularly, causing significantly fewer side effects
(Pancheri 2002).
Of course, all of these studies supplemented elements of the
methylation cycle—B12, B6, SAM-e, etc.—in isolation, providing
an increased dose of a single nutrient. Many CAM practitioners,
working with the structure of the methylation cycle, often
supplement with multiple elements simultaneously—such as B6,
methionine, calcium, magnesium, SAM-e, inositol (a B vitamin),
vitamin C, and others—to provide more substrate materials for
the cells, thus hopefully enriching the functionability of the
methylation pathway and obtaining a more therapeutic
response.
Not all patients, however, are deficient in methylation, so one
has to be alert to a negative response to methylation
supplementation and discontinue supplementation if necessary.

Fatty Acids

In the past decade we have seen a plethora of studies showing
the effectiveness of fatty acids in the treatment of a range of
mental disorders. Like the elements of the methylation cycle,
fatty acids have their own chemical pathway, which also
requires specific substrate materials which must be in adequate
supply for normal physiological response to occur.
Of particular interest to mental health professionals has been
the omega-3 fatty acids—so-called because the molecule has 3
hydrogen atoms at the end of a carbon chain. Note that this
makes CH , a methyl group. Omega-3 fatty acids include alpha
3
linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These are found in fish oil, flax
seed oil and other sources.