Psychiatry is at a crossroads, and after more than 25 years as a Psychopharmacologist, I've come to realize that our medications can help reduce some suffering, but we are not helping people to truly get well. In the artificial dichotomy that psychiatry has created to separate the brain from the body, we seem to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
As part of my own healing path to recover from serious autoimmune disease, I found functional medicine. Functional medicine teaches that all parts of the body and brain can be affected by chronic illness, with the common denominator being Inflammation.
The inflammation that affects your gut (diarrhea, bloating, constipation, acid reflux, etc) or your thyroid (hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's) or your pancreas (diabetes, metabolic syndrome) or your joints (arthritis) can also affect your brain. Inflammation in the brain can manifest as all of the psychiatric disorders (Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD, Psychosis) and also the Neurodegenerative Disorders (Alzheimer's, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, ALS, etc.).
The road to wellness then starts with the search for what is driving the inflammation, and putting out the source of that fire, rather than simply covering up one manifestation of the inflammation (like Depression or ADHD) without addressing it's root cause.
Yes – an antidepressant may give someone suffering from depression some temporary relief (in addition to possibly some nasty side effects). But if the root cause is a deficiency in Vitamin D, Fish Oil, and a Folate genetic mutation (MTHFR mutations are present in up to 70% of the population. and MTHF folate is a necessary cofactor in production of all of the Neurotransmitters, as well as many other important reactions), why would you not want to correct your biochemistry once and for all by providing the appropriate nutrients to correct and prevent the depression?
Psychiatry is at a crossroads, and after more than 25 years as a Psychopharmacologist, I've come to realize that our medications can help reduce some suffering, but we are not helping people to truly get well. In the artificial dichotomy that psychiatry has created to separate the brain from the body, we seem to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
As part of my own healing path to recover from serious autoimmune disease, I found functional medicine. Functional medicine teaches that all parts of the body and brain can be affected by chronic illness, with the common denominator being Inflammation.
The inflammation that affects your gut (diarrhea, bloating, constipation, acid reflux, etc.) or your thyroid (hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's) or your pancreas (diabetes, metabolic syndrome) or your joints (arthritis) can also affect your brain. Inflammation in the brain can manifest as all of the psychiatric disorders (Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD, Psychosis) and also the Neurodegenerative Disorders (Alzheimer's, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, ALS, etc.).
The road to wellness then starts with the search for what is driving the inflammation, and putting out the source of that fire, rather than simply covering up one manifestation of the inflammation (like Depression or ADHD) without addressing it's root cause.
Yes – an antidepressant may give someone suffering from depression some temporary relief (in addition to possibly some nasty side effects). But if the root cause is a deficiency in Vitamin D, Fish Oil, and a Folate genetic mutation (MTHFR mutations are present in up to 70% of the population. and MTHF folate is a necessary cofactor in production of all of the Neurotransmitters, as well as many other important reactions), why would you not want to correct your biochemistry once and for all by providing the appropriate nutrients to correct and prevent the depression?
