PsychEducation.org (home)

TrueHope.com / E.M.Power Plus
(revised 3/2008)

This is a "dietary supplement" of sorts.  It's a collection of about 40 different trace minerals, vitamins, and a few other compounds (including inositol, which has been studied itself as a treatment in bipolar disorder, particularly for depression^Chengappa ; and which has even been recently reported to share some properties with other mood stabilizers^Williams).  Availability may become limited due to political/economic and possibly scientific interference with the company, but as of the legal developments reviewed below, hopefully this will no longer be a problem.   

There are case reports which support use of this approach.^{Kaplan, Popper}  Another set of cases was submitted as a letter in March of 2003; follow this link ^Simmons to see details of the 19 patients involved.  Here's a testimonial from woman with an important perspective as someone who's seen long-term benefit (an opposite experience is reprinted below).  At the same time, there are intense arguments about whether this stuff is "real" or just a another wish that is making it's manufacturers a bunch of money even while they themselves believe it to be helpful.   

A legal battle with HealthCanada (equivalent of the U.S. FDA) halted research on this treatment approach for several years. The court recently cleared TrueHope and chastised HealthCanada for their inappropriate emphasis on rules (a minor triumph for all who dislike bureaucratic non-thinking). That story appears in two articles from the Calgary Sun from August 2006: one on the legal issues and one with more testimonials from users. However, these articles may not tell the whole story -- but unfortunately, whatever real story needs to be told about this legal issue has been obscured by the emotional energy behind claims and counterclaims from involved and peripheral parties. I've published excerpts from and links to these parties but now apparently my comments have been used in that continuing battle.  

So while there are now many testimonials about this product, we still do not have any evidence from the most respected and most standardized form of research:  a "randomized clinical trial", the gold standard of evidence in medicine. Now that such research is reportedly back underway, I hope we can all step back and wait for those data. Any further comments from me reflecting a "pro" or "con" view appear to be at risk of misinterpretation.   

Update 3/2008: here is a testimonial I received unsolicited from one True Hope client; reprinted with permission (minor editing for clarity). Of course we cannot know if her experience is representative but for it to happen once is not good. 

i am a former i guess you would say empower plus guinea pig.  i turned to it when i was told i was treatment resistant to meds, which i was clearly: they only worsened my symptoms.  After researching true hope and many testimonials about people who had recovered i decided it was my last chance. Slowly they weaned me off what meds i was still on and put me on their program. Each time i called and told them i was still clearly rapid cycling and getting worse they blamed it on something else: it was the seroquel withdrawal, i wasn't absorbing  it, i needed to add insositol, choline, take lithium orotate, so months went by and money down the toilet, my symptoms worsened i became more suicidal. But since meds clearly hadn't worked i stuck with them for over a year at two hundred dollars a month. Every time i called to see if i could talk to someone that knew what was going on, i was told it wasn't possible. When i demanded they let me talk to one of the doctors or people in charge they said they had waiting lists and i didn't qualify, so basically i was getting advice from a call centre of people who were taking the product apparently with good results but were not in a position to help others. When i was honest about my situation on the message boards they took my account away and said i might scare potential customers.

So eventually i went off true hope [which] caused me to have no hope, and so i wasted a year on a product that gave hope but had no backing.

i am sure you have heard many stories like mine i don't know if you are still fighting them but thanks for trying.

sick people will do anything when desperate and there will always be people to take your money , but clearly what they are doing is inhumane.

best of luck

hopefully something good will come out of this  

On the other hand, here is a rebuttal sent to me in response to this particular testimonial, used by permission: 

I've only recently heard about this product being interested in the C-51 issue in Canada and the continued attack on our human right to decide what we put in our bodies and how we decide to treat ourselves medically.

I find it interesting that you post the sad story of this woman and her problems with depression. No sarcasm intended, it really is sad. But, what drug or treatment for that matter has perfect results? You conclude the post with something to the effect of, "for it to happen once is horrible". I have to disagree. What exactly happened? The woman took a product that had plenty of useful nutritional content that she probably wasn't getting from her normal diet? Apparently she'd already been consulted and treated by the mainstream medical establishment with no results and tried something else. I don't find that to be unacceptable in the slightest. Try a little less bias next time around.

Dietary supplements are here to stay and if they're made illegal those of us who choose to stay informed will find a way to get them one way or the other. At least now being above ground there's some semblance of quality control, etc. I for one know that I feel great since I stopped following the doctors advice. I eat plenty of protein (grass fed beef & plenty of organic eggs, filter my water for chlorine & flouride, eliminated high fructose corn syrup from my diet and the pounds just continue to drop off. My muscle mass is way up, testosterone levels increasing, estrogen decreasing. I feel like a million bucks. Thank god for the dietary supplement and alternative health markets.

With that caution, you can go to the website of the outfit that makes this supplement: TrueHope.com.