Depression and Anxiety
Natural, Safe and Effective Treatment Alternatives for Depression and Anxiety.
We are a drugged nation, overdosing on antidepressants and antipsychotics like no other country in the world.
In 2007, we spent over $25 billion dollars on antidepressants and antipsychotics.
In 2009, the U.S. wrote more prescriptions for psychiatric disorders than there are people in the U.S.A.
Treating depression is an intimidating topic to cover, and is often a little taboo. When it comes to mental health, we always jump to the assumption that the brain chemicals MUST be off and we NEED medications to fix it.
I don’t agree. While necessary sometimes, in my experience, depression, anxiety, nervousness, etc., can most often be controlled naturally. This can be done through diet, lifestyle, and selective neurotransmitter enhancing or adaptogenic herbs and vitamins that restore the body’s natural balance and return it to health.
The causes of depression can be many and varied, and there are many contributing factors that need to be addressed. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not completely opposed to psychiatric drugs. Often times they are needed. BUT!
In my opinion — and according to the the U.S. government, the FDA and Medicare — these drugs are grossly over-prescribed and are often doing more harm than good.
While our approach to depression and many mood disorders is multifactorial, much of how we approach a natural treatment program revolves around neurotransmitters and how they interact with each other and affect the body.
Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the body that act as messengers, regulating many physical and emotional processes including movement, stress response, cognition, emotions, energy, cravings, and pain, to name a few.
The three neurotransmitters that people most commonly associate with depression or mood disorders are dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.
However, three other transmitters that are just as important but less discussed are epinephrine, GABA, and glutamate.
In our office, all of our patients are tested and assessed for adequate levels of all of these neurotransmitters. Without adequate testing, we are just shooting in the dark and may actually do more harm than good.
When you don’t know where you are or where you have been, you have no way of knowing where you should go.
Oftentimes when patients seek our help, they already know they are depressed. They may be looking for a natural solution to help them cope, or they have already gone down the medication route and they didn’t like the way it made them feel.
In many cases, the antidepressant medications people go on actually make the depression worse.
Go figure! a medication to help with depression actually makes depression worse? Funny how that works.
Patients may experience other signs and symptoms that also point to having out-of-balance neurotransmitters. Generally, these will precede the typical mood or behavioral disorders.
The body will initially manifest the symptoms in other ways as it attempts to compensate for and essentially save the brain (the most important organ); but, as the neurotransmitter levels continue to be unbalanced or lacking, the mood and behavioral disorders inevitably follow suit. These are the symptoms to look out for:
Pain
Sweating
Dizziness
Heart palpitations
Attention deficits
Addiction
Altered sleep
Decreased concentration
Fatigue
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Altered mental clarity
For more information or to set up a free consultation with Dr. Mortensen to help evaluate your depression, anxiety, or mood disorder contact us today.