I have done some reading on herbal remedies for various mental illnesses. For example, people have used St. John's wort for years to self-treat depression. Some people swear by it, some say it works for a while, others say it doesn't work at all. It's another one of those herbs that is touted to work on anything from cuts and scrapes to cancer and HIV/AIDS.

There is actually a web site that tells you how to wean yourself from antipsychotics and replace them with a concoction of calcium, magnesium, and cider vinegar along with a litany of a couple dozen other substances you need to take. It looked like you would spend all day self medicating. The site doesn't offer anything in the way of actual results. I do know that the success rate of treating schizophrenia with alternate remedies is pretty poor.

I think there is a pretty large psychosomatic element to this. If you believe it will work, then sometimes it will. For a while. Psychosomatic elements are very fragile. If anything happens to question the effectiveness of the remedy, the belief in it goes away and it stops working.

I mentioned above that I take vitamins that help with my depression, but I would never even consider using them instead of my regular medication. I just don't want to risk finding myself in the middle of a psychotic episode with no real way to get it under control.

Just my $0.02.