RICHARD P. BROWN, MD, is associate clinical professor of
psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons and has a private practice in integrative
psychopharmacology. His wife and coauthor, PATRICIA L. GERBARG,
MD, is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at New York
Medical College. They reside in upstate New York.
BARBARA GRAHAM has written for numerous publications,
including O: The Oprah Magazine, Self, and Vogue. She divides her
time between New York and Washington, D.C.
“When this book manuscript passed over my desk, I grabbed it out
from all the myriad articles and reviews on which I am always
working. A few years ago, I had wanted to find out more about
SAM-e, a substance that could help people with problems as distinct
as depression and arthritis. The first book that I encountered
hardly impressed me-it seemed merely undocumented "gushing" over
the miraculous substance, and I ended it unpersuaded, as well as
undereducated about SAM-e.
Then I encountered Dr. Richard Brown's book: SAM-e (with Teodoro
Bottiglieri Ph.D. and Carol Colman.) The book was so accessible, I
found myself finishing it in a couple of days-then going back to
research further some of the intriguing scientific studies it
cited. What an anomaly: a book both readable and scholarly! Now I
was persuaded enough to recommend SAM-e to my patients-and even try
it myself for arthritis (a very bad thing for an aging amateur
flying trapeze artist)--and with excellent results. Now SAM-e and
Rhodiola are my daily companions!
Going over the pre-publication manuscript, I found that The
Rhodiola Revolution is everything that earlier book was, and even
moreso. I suggest the improvement may be due to Brown's being
partnered in the writing with his remarkable wife, Dr. Patricia
Gerbarg. Pat perfected her writing skills over the years by helping
to make Brown's many scholarly and technical papers eminently
readable! (My wife Robin and I have published three books together,
and when the synergy works, it can be awesome.)
These two physicians, in my opinion, are just what our stressed-out
twenty-first century needs. As you read their own personal stories,
woven in with those of their patients healed through Rhodiola, you
have no doubt that they have compassionate hearts, as well as very
competent professional minds. The stories, including Pat's own
struggle with the debilitating aftermath of Lyme disease-helped by
Rhodiola-are believeable, personal, and engaging. The authors point
out that clinical evidence does not carry the same weight as
placebo-controlled scientific studies; but they provide plenty of
those as well, and in ways that do not bore the reader. There is no
lack of substance at all in this book, and yet it flows easily from
topic to topic.
Prepare yourself for an education as you encounter the Rhodiola
lore these two scholar-physicians have assembled. Beginning with
the "herb of invincibility" that allows the ancient Greek hero
Jason to overcome fire-breathing bulls, and fierce warriors, we are
taken through some very credible ethnobotanical and historical
sources that show us that this little-known herb has worked its
wonders for many centuries-for those wise enough to employ it!
These include the residents of rugged Siberia, and of the Caucasian
Georgian area, where people still walk over mountains and shovel
snow off rooves at 100, and sometimes live to 130, years of
age.
Rhodiola grows in sub-arctic climates and at high altitudes. The
herb's coping with its own stressful existence, the authors tell
us, is exactly what fills it with adaptogenic phytochemicals that
can help experimentally stressed-out laboratory animals-not to
mention us humans. It is no wonder that during the "cold war,"
Former Soviet Union scientists were told to keep the herb's
wonder-working properties a guarded secret. The Soviet Union wanted
their own Olympic athletes, astronauts, and soldiers, with its
invisible aid, to have the edge over others.
We are provided very convincing evidence that the reddish,
rose-fragrant sap from the plant, and the teas brewed from it,
improve stamina, decrease fatigue, even calm the emotions under
fatiguing conditions requiring extreme concentration-such as
manning the Mir space station! It was Dr. Nikoalai, Lazarev, we are
told, who identified a class of herbs referred to as "kingly" in
the ancient world. It was he who suggested the term adaptogen for
those herbs which increased stamina, while helping overcome
fatigue, improved resistance to a spectrum of diseases, toxins, and
other traumas, and enhanced longevity. (While at the same time
having no toxicity, and minimal or no side effects.) The herb
should stimulate the underaroused, and calm the overwrought, not an
easy task for any pharmaceutical. Most preparations either excite
or calm--but not both. Of 158 herbal folk remedies studied,
Rhodiola emerged at the top in its efficacy and versatility. (p
56.-57.)
While able to enhance physical processes such as metabolism, and
boost the immune system, Rhodiola does not neglect the brain and
nervous system in its effect, helping with attention deficit and
hyperactivity in youngsters, depression and anxiety in most
populations, and age-associated impairments in the elderly. Dr.
Brown has also used the herb effectively with illnesses like
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The authors make no claim that any of
the herbs can arrest progressive neurodegenerative disease, but
that the adaptogenic action assists the afflicted person better to
cope with symptoms, and function far longer than they would
ordinarily have been able. In combination with other herbs, and
pharmaceuticals, the authors have even used Rhodiola to help with
the after-effects of head trauma and stroke-which can leave their
victims almost incapacitated.
I should mention that because the authors take such a fundamentally
balanced approach, even the miraculous-seeming results they present
are believable. Where indicated, they show Rhodiola can be combined
synergistically with other herbs, with conventional prescription
drugs (albeit in much smaller doses-which reduces the annoyance of
side-effects), or with other therapies such as biofeedback or
neurofeedback, meditation, or even the vigorous Sadarshan Kriya
Yoga breathing exercises-in which Brown is a certified instructor.
They mention repeatedly that Rhodiola works best only if integrated
into a balanced lifestyle: taken along with proper diet, sleep,
exercise, and a positive attitude. Their approach is so thoroughly
reasonable that it is hard to find fault with any of the--amazing
seeming, some might say-claims for what Rhodiola might accomplish
for a whole spectrum of maladies from which a contemporary person
might suffer.
As a former college professor, I appreciate the amount of time
Brown and Gerbarg give to a systematic elucididation of the science
and physiology undergirding the action of Rhodiola. They provide a
clear and detailed explanations of the excitatory HPAA
(hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis), and the GAS, the general
stress-adaptation syndrome of Selye), for example. They provide
detailed explanations for how heart-rate variability may be a
strong indicator of health (something I already knew about as a
certified teacher of the HeartMath method), and how exquisitely and
sensitively the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS
need to be balanced-one of Rhodiola's special actions. These
physiological details are woven so artfully into the general
account of how the herb works, that the reader may not notice that
he is getting a decent medical or psychophysiological education,
along with information on how to take Rosavin, what to expect, and
how to gauge the results. (These technical areas are handled so
clearly, the material does not seem as difficult as it might
be.)
One compelling story is how the authors' friend, Dr. Zakir
Ramazanoff, serving his time in the Russian army in mountainous
Afghanistan, first used Rhodiola to help cope with battle
fatigue:
"During the winter of 1980 his comrade Sergei-like many of the
soldiers-received a holiday box from home. While most of the boxes
overflowed with beautiful fruits and other treats, Sergei's
contained a bunch of ugly roots.."
When Zakir asked "what the hell they were," Sergei told him it was
Rhodiola, and that though ugly, it smelled like a rose, and made a
wonderful tea. Ramazanoff noticed that himself and the other
soldiers who drank the tea were "better able to hike through deep
snow over high mountain passes, carrying full gear, AK-47's and gas
masks. And they did it on 4 hours sleep a night." (p. 146-147)
Dr. Ramazanoff forgot about the marvelous tea after the war, until
he began to develop the awful symptoms of PTSD (Post-traumatic
Stress Disorder) known to returning warriors everywhere who
participate in the horrors of war. (Depression, mood-swings,
hypervigilance, insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, and panic attacks
among them.) During a time when Ramazanoff was almost crippled by
symptoms, he accepted a lecture invitation in Siberia, where the
herb was known to grow wild. He got some, and began to drink the
tea regularly. Within a month he both had more energy and was
sleeping better. "Within about two months the depression went away
completely. By then I was no longer overreacting to things, as the
images of war had stopped running through my head." He entered into
a very productive phase, and published 10 scientific papers in one
year, which led to an invitation to come to the US as the guest of
the National Academy of Sciences (Ibid.)
Rhodiola seems even to help DNA repair itself, a factor that makes
it anti-carcinogenic. (It inhibits the out-of-control mutations
that lead to cancer, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of
chemotherapy.) Best of all it seems to aid with recovery from any
invasive therapy that stresses the patient's resources, and leaves
him or her weak and vulnerable.
Throughout this book there is not only a careful balance and
structure, but detailed instructions as to how to take the herb,
and for what conditions, how to estimate its efficacy, and how to
integrate it holistically into a healthy lifestyle. The
instructions include something that should be present with every
pharmaceutical-how to evaluate the right dose for your own unique
constitution, how to gauge its side-effects, if any, even what
times of the day to take it, and how to combine it in an optimal
way with other medicines and herbs
For the skeptic or the research oriented--there is no lack of
published scientific studies, provided in the reference notes
copiously supplied for each chapter. These, in fact, give the solid
footing to the multitudinous claims made for this remarkable herb,
and undergird the clinical success stories. Even for those who
prefer not to read them, it is reassuring to know that a solid
research base underlies all the statements and claims in the
book.
After we began carrying Rosavin, and two other preparations that
include it: (called Synergy-
cf0for athletes, and Clear Mind-for the mentally active) at our
clinic-we've noticed that we can't keep it on the shelves-in fact
people seem to get genuinely miffed when we run out! So we keep
ordering it.
All in all, you'll never need to read another book about Rhodiola.
(This one as as much as you need and more.) Your only decision will
be: When to begin taking it?
--Stephen Larsen, Ph.D. is Psychology Professor Emeritus (SUNY),
and director of Stone Mountain Center for Psychotherapy,
Biofeedback and Neurofeedback in the Hudson Valley of New York. He
is the author of seven books currently in print, including, with
his wife Robin, A Fire in the Mind," the Life of Joseph Campbell,
and The Fashioning of Angels: Partnership as Spiritual Practice.”
—Stephen Larsen, Ph.D.
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