Page 57 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

Nutritional Treatments in Psychiatry | 57

Digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s Disease, that inhibit
nutritional absorption, can contribute to a deficiency state in
these and other nutrients. Low magnesium can cause depressive
symptoms, confusion, anxiety, and hallucinations; calcium
deficiency can lead to nervousness, apprehension, and
numbness. Often supplemented together in approximately a 2:1
calcium-magnesium ratio, this combination is well-known in the
CAM world as a calmant and muscle relaxer.
Magnesium deficiency has been linked to depression and other
psychiatric disorders (Barbagallo 2009). A study of older diabetic
patients found that the prevalence of low serum magnesium was
3.5 times higher amongst depressed individuals compared to
controls (Barragan-Rodríguez 2007). Follow-up research by the
same team showed that magnesium treatment of depression in
elderly diabetics was as effective as imipramine therapy
(Barragan-Rodríguez 2008).
Calcium carbonate supplementation, in the form of 1200 mg of
elemental calcium daily, was given to 497 women between the
ages of 18 and over a range of three menstrual cycles. The
researchers concluded: “Calcium supplementation is a simple
and effective treatment in premenstrual syndrome, resulting in
a major reduction in overall luteal phase symptoms.” (Thys-
Jacobs 1998)

Summary
Nutritional psychiatry has come a long way since Hoffer and
Osmond’s first double-blind studies in the 1950s. Through the
extensive research of neurochemistry and related fields over the
past decades and ample clinical evidence, the logic behind the
therapeutic use of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients has
become clear. Hopefully, it is also evident that, for many
patients, psychiatric symptoms are warning signs of nutritional
deficiency that impact physical status as well. Failure to address
these nutritional deficits may not only result in little or no
change in the patient’s complaints but, as when any medical