Onward Mental Health and Craig Wagner are not healthcare practitioners or providers. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Always seek the advice of trained and licensed practitioners before using or altering treatments for mental health issues. Although numerous studies support the use of non-drug approaches for mental health, individual responses will vary. Psychiatric drugs may be an important element of your individual mental health treatment. 

 

1. INFORMATION. To the extent that any information is provided by Craig Wagner or Onward Mental Health (including its employees and agents) through this website, in the book, Choices in Recovery, in public and private forums, individually, or elsewhere, it is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute or substitute for (i) medical advice or counseling,  (ii) the practice of medicine including but not limited to psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy or the provision of health care diagnosis or treatment, (iii) the creation of a physician-patient or clinical relationship, or (iv) an endorsement, a recommendation or a sponsorship of any third party, product or service by the Sponsor or any of the Sponsor's related companies, agents, employees, consultants or service providers. Information and statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

 

2. LIMITATIONS. Information contained in and referenced by this site, in the book, Choices in Recovery, or otherwise created by Craig Wagner or Onward Mental Health (including its employees and agents) represent only a subset of available treatments, diagnostic approaches and research. Although we have worked diligently, the research changes continually and is necessarily incomplete. Errors may be included. Onward Mental Health, its agents, related companies, employees, and affiliates, and Craig Wagner make no guarantee or warranty related to the accuracy of this information. 

3. MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES. Craig Wagner, Onward Mental Health and its agents, employees, related companies, and affiliates, disclaim any responsibility related to medical consequences of using or not using any medical products or procedures. Evidence suggests that changes in psychiatric medication should be done slowly and under appropriate practitioner care to minimize withdrawal and relapse issues. We make no claims of therapy efficacy or the ability to reduce drug dosages or withdraw from psychiatric drugs. In general non-drug approaches are not FDA approved. Unlike psychiatric drugs, there is often little financial incentive to seek such approval. 

 

4. RATINGS. To better organize the many mental health approaches, some resources cluster them into tiers and star levels based on strength of evidence that the approach shows efficacy for a particular diagnosis. Ratings are subjective by their nature and may not represent how well the approaches may work for individual cases.

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5. BIPOLAR DRUG USER's GUIDE. This guide is intended as a simplified education tool that can be used in doctor-patient dialog. It makes many assumptions and attempts to distill numerous heterogeneous data sources. The structure of this guide forces an intense level of simplification of data, so it cannot take into consideration many influencing factors. Many limitations are included in this approach. It is an attempt to cast efficacy metrics for large populations into metrics that can be considered from an individual effectiveness context. It is subject to limitations inherent in Number Needed to Treat and Number Needed to Harm metrics on which it is based. Professional guidance from trained and licensed practitioners is of paramount importance in making mental health care decisions, as is the individual preferences and unique situations of the individual using this tool. This guide does not necessarily reflect individual experiences.

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