7 Weeks to Emotional Healing
by Joan Mathews Larson, PhD
The Ballantine Publishing Group
1999, hardback, $24 US/$37 Canada, 375 pp.
For almost 20 years now the author of 7 Weeks to Emotional Healing has pioneered a biochemical approach to treating alcoholism at her Health Recovery Center in Minneapolis, with excellent results (Alcoholism -- The Biochemical Connection reviewed in TLfD April 1993). Now she has established a similar nutritionally-oriented program to address emotional instability, depression, etc. which she soon realized were overlapping symptoms with addiction. After getting her doctorate in nutrition, she began to understand the effect on the brain and emotions of hypoglycemia and nutritional deficiencies.
Larson gradually began to treat non-addicted individuals who shared many of the same unstable emotional traits as the alcoholics and other drug users. In fact, their lab results looked amazingly similar. Most were severely deficient in major nutrients for the brain and nervous system: amino acids, the B-vitamins, EFAs, and many more. This led her to organize a clinic-type protocol consisting of a 7-week intensive program at one of her newly opened treatment centers in the US.
There is adequate research to establish the links between chemical imbalances and nutrition, but as a nation, we still rely on psychoactive drugs like Prozac, and sadly, there is little change in orthodox treatment of either substance abuse or emotional instability. My reservations about 'franchising' treatment centers has to give way to pragmatism: This protocol is effective for most people, because even though it is a one-size-fits-all concept, the program includes extensive screening and tests such as Hair Mineral Analysis, glucose tolerance, HCl, and other tests for nutritional deficiencies, which will generally benefit anyone (and cause no harm).
Dr. Larson begins her book by reviewing some of the pioneering work of people such as Linus Pauling, Carl Pfeiffer, David Horrobin, and others whose work contributed to the orthomolecular (nutritional) approach to biochemical imbalances. This gives the reader a scientific basis for evaluating the program, with abundant references. There are case histories interspersed to illustrate specific problems such as depression and anxiety, and charts showing biotypes of emotions. Along with screening and tests, this program starts with The Balanced Emotions Basic Formula, a combination of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, EFAs, and other nutrients such as tryptophan and pancreatic enzymes. I was disappointed to find no mention of detoxification, although there is detailed information on toxic metals and their deleterious effects on the brain. Chelation is suggested in reference to mercury toxicity from amalgams. Very specific protocols for hypoglycemia are given, including the Low-Carbohydrate Hypoglycemic Diet. There are extensive charts for Mineral & Trace Elements, and for Vitamins, showing Symptoms of Deficiency, Found In, RDAs, and Maximum Therapeutic Repair Dosage for Adults.
From the Basic Formula and general information on the effects of nutrition on the brain chemistry, Part III gets into 'Your Specific Emotional Needs,' with an excellent section on anxiety, types of depression and causes (bipolar, EFAs and other nutrient deficiencies, hypothyroidism, Candida infection, heavy metals, and elevated histamine levels.)
An interesting and very informative section on Paranoia and Compulsive Perfectionism (OCD) examines the role of extreme imbalances of histamine. Too little histamine results in paranoia, hallucinations and grandiosity. Too much of this neurotransmitter results in hyperactivity, depression, aggressiveness, and compulsive behavior. Diet is primary, of course, and copper levels should be checked via Hair Mineral Analysis.
Another chapter on Controlling Irritability, Anger, and Sudden Violence, has special applicability today. Adolescent violence, road rage, and domestic violence, are all becoming common, everyday events in America. The author cites poor diet, exposure to toxic chemicals, and trace metals as the major culprits. A study of offenders with severe episodic violence, for example, found abnormal trace metal levels, especially lead and cadmium, which are predominate only in violent people. They also found other biochemical abnormalities: 40% were pyroluric; 30% were hypoglycemic; 30% were malabsorbers; all histamine levels were in the abnormal range (too high or too low).
There is a great deal of scientific information on the effects of nutrition on the brain offered in 7-Weeks to Emotional Healing. The kind of basic health information that is really useful to people suffering from depression and anxiety and other emotional problems. Dr. Larson's Health Recovery Centers are a bridge between the disastrous drug and behavioral programs, and the holistic, naturopathic practitioners whose treatment is unique to the patient.
The author ends this book with what seems like a real add-on (by the editors, no doubt) on anti-aging, which is a hot topic these days. I think the book could do without it, but Americans want not only to be healthier and happier -- they also want to stay young and beautiful. Come to think of it, that might come under the heading of grandiosity.
