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The Truth About Depression and Antidepressants
by Kelly Brogan, MD • New York City
Recent years have seen
a shocking increase in
antidepressant use the
world over, with one in four
women starting their day with
medications.
These drugs have steadily become the
panacea for everything from grief,
irritability, and panic attacks to insomnia,
PMS, and stress. But the truth is, what
women (and everyone else) really need
can’t be found at a pharmacy.
Antidepressants not only overpromise
and under-deliver, but their use may
permanently disable the body’s self-healing
potential. We need a new paradigm: the
best way to heal the mind is to heal the
whole body. The true cause of depression
is not simply a chemical imbalance, but
rather a lifestyle crisis that demands a
reset. It is a signal that the interconnected
systems in the body are out of balance—
from blood sugar to gut health to thyroid
function—and inflammation is at the root.
Conventional medicine has built a
mythology around the causes and
treatment of depression. However, based
on published medical findings, as well as
years of experience in my clinical practice,
Here are the Facts:
- Depression is often an inflammatory
condition, a manifestation of
irregularities in the body that can start
far away from the brain and are not
associated with the simplistic model of
so-called “chemical imbalances.”
- In 6 decades, not a single study has
proven that depression is caused by
a chemical imbalance in the brain. There has never been a human study
that validates low serotonin levels as the
cause of depression. Imaging studies,
blood and urine tests, post-mortem
suicide assessments, and even animal
research have never validated the link
between neurotransmitter levels and
depression.
- Antidepressants have the potential to
irreversibly disable the body’s natural
healing mechanisms. Antidepressants
have repeatedly been shown in longterm
scientific studies to worsen the
course of mental illness—in addition to
risks of impulsivity, suicide, agitation, liver damage, bleeding, weight
gain, sexual dysfunction, and
reduced cognitive function
they entail.
- Studies have shown that they
are among the most difficult
drugs to taper from, more
so than alcohol and opiates. While you might call it
“going through withdrawal,”
medical professionals have
been instructed to call it
“discontinuation syndrome,”
or label it a “relapse” of
previous symptoms. A grassroots
movement demands
attention to the struggle with
antidepressant withdrawal,
which is characterized by
fiercely debilitating physical
and psychological reactions.
See: Can long-term treatment
with antidepressant drugs worsen
the course of depression? Fava, G.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 64
(2003):123-33.
Also see: Discontinuing
antidepressant treatment in major
depression. Viguera,
A. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 5
(1998): 293-305.
Also see: Efficacy and Effectiveness
of Antidepressants. Pigott, H.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics,
79 (2010), 267-279.
Also see: Blue Again: Perturbational Effects
of Antidepressants Suggest Monoaminergic
Homeostasis in Major Depression. Andrews,
P. Frontiers in Evolutional Psychiatry 2
(2011): 159.
- Antidepressants have a well-established
history of causing violent
side effects, including suicide and
homicide. Five of the top 10 most
violence-inducing drugs have been
found to be antidepressants.
- Almost three-quarters of the
antidepressant prescriptions are
written without a specific diagnosis. Most are doled out by family
doctors—not psychiatrists, with seven
percent of all visits to a primary care
doctor ending with an antidepressant
prescription.
- When the Department of Mental
Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health did its own
examination into the prevalence of mental disorders, it found that most
people who take antidepressants
never meet the medical criteria
for a bona fide diagnosis of major
depression, and many who are given
antidepressants for things like OCD,
panic disorder, social phobia,
and anxiety also don’t qualify as
actually having these conditions.
- The Great Pretenders. Many
different physical conditions
create psychiatric symptoms but
aren’t themselves “psychiatric.”
Two prime examples:
dysfunctioning thyroid and
blood sugar chaos. We think
we need to “cure” the brain,
but in reality we need to look
at the whole body’s ecosystem:
intestinal health, hormonal
interactions, the immune system
and autoimmune disorders,
blood sugar balance, and
toxicant exposure.
- The field of psychiatry has
known about the role of the
immune system in the onset of
depression for the better part of the last century. But only recently
have we really begun to understand
the relevant connections thanks to
better technology and large, long-term
studies that reveal just how impactful
the relationships are among immunity,
inflammation, gut flora, and mental
health. This field of study is called
psychoneuroimmunology and it breaks
down old barriers between seemingly
discrete areas of the body.
- Gut health—especially the state of the
intestinal microbiome—is inextricably
linked to mental health.
- Basic lifestyle interventions can
facilitate the body’s powerful
self-healing mechanisms to end
depression: dietary modifications
(more healthy fats and less
inflammation-inducing sugar,
dairy, GMOs, and gluten); natural
supplements like B vitamins and
probiotics that don’t require a
prescription and can even be delivered
through certain foods; minimizing
exposures to biology-disrupting
toxicants like fluoride in tap water,
chemicals in common drugs like
NSAIDs, acetaminophen, birth control,
acid-reflux drugs, and statins, and
chemicals in cosmetics; harnessing the
power of sufficient sleep and physical
movement; and behavioral techniques
aimed at promoting the relaxation
response.
Based on the book, The Truth about
Depression and How Women Can
Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their
Lives, by Kelly Brogan, MD. Published by
HarperCollins ©2016.
![Kelly Brogan, MD](../../photos/C168/Brogan_sml.jpg) ![The Truth about Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives, by Kelly Brogan, MD](../../photos/C168/Brogan_book.jpg)
Kelly Brogan, MD is
a Manhattan-based
holistic women’s health
psychiatrist. She completed
her psychiatric training
and fellowship at NYU
Medical Center after
earning her medical degree
from Cornell University
Medical College, and
has a B.S. from MIT in
Systems Neuroscience.
Dr. Brogan is board
certified in psychiatry,
psychosomatic medicine,
and integrative holistic
medicine —one of the
only doctors in the nation
with these qualifications.
She is also a mother of two
young daughters. |