More and more cases of anxiety and depression are happening than ever before. And now what was once limited to mostly adults, anxiety and depression disorders are now rampant in our youth, as young as 10 years old. What is even more alarming is that our children are being put on potent drugs that are leading to psychosis and even death in some cases! And what’s worse is that in many cases these medications are not working in adults either.
Medications have their place, but they are not designed for long term use and they never heal illness. While prescriptions may sometimes be needed, their use should only be for the short term in most cases because they only help to suppress symptoms, but the problem is the root cause of what’s causing the issue isn’t being addressed and the underlying problems is only getting worse.
Discovering what the underlying causes are and what the underlying issues are that are triggering their mental illness and directly addressing those underlying causes should be the goal, instead of just masking symptoms through medication management. Medication is just a tool that should only be used as a temporary bridge to help people address those underlying issues and then get well instead of just saying, “You have this ‘xxx’ diagnosis and you’ll need these medications the rest of your life.”
When someone is on these medications long-term, it’s very difficult for them to get off. In addition, they start missing out on the joy of life, and say things like, “You know, I’m not really even in touch with who I am anymore or my feelings. I’m not depressed, but I’m also not happy or fulfilled.” If the underlying issue or issues are not dealt with, there will be just as much anxiety and to make matters worse people on these medications can become tolerant and dependent on the medication and with worsening symptoms they also have the side effects of the medication to deal with. Medication for anxiety, such as Xanax or Valium works by decreasing the amount of neuronal activity in the brain slowing brain and body activity down. It can make a person feel calmer. But then in time, the brain actually push back and up-regulates the amount of excitability in the brain to counterbalance in an effort to fix itself.
Anxiety medications often create long-term chronic anxiety in most people. Benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium which affect the frontal lobe of the brain, can trigger some of the most dangerous side effects to include impulsiveness and poor decision making. This means the person affected may make decisions they normally wouldn’t make such as poor driving decisions leading to car accidents for example. It’s common to see people make poor relationship decisions as well. Antidepressant medications are known to create long-term chronic refractory depression (rebound depression). The medication decreases the breakdown of serotonin so there’s more serotonin in the synaptic cleft between the nerve cells. When the build up of more serotonin occurs as a result of the medication the body will start decreasing its own sensitivity to serotonin. Over time the brain will lose some of that sensitivity to serotonin and people often become less responsive to the medications. Sometimes those serotonin nerve cells will actually start dying off and people will no longer be responsive to the medication. What follows is they get more and more depressed and the medication has to be switched or increased in dosage. They start getting to the point where they don’t respond to prescription treatment at all. Instead of getting better, they get worse over time.
A major side effect of antidepressants like Prozac and others is that they can increase suicidal thoughts and sometimes actions and this is especially common in children who are put on these medications. Some people that have started these medications have actually harmed themselves or other people, too. Antipsychotic medications make the brain overly sensitive to dopamine, which leads to more common episodes of psychosis. There are many other dangerous and common side effects including development of movement disorders, like tardive dyskinesia. Just like with anxiety meds many people get worse over time.
Yet another problem with antipsychotics is they block the release and stimulation of dopamine into the frontal lobes which can cause problems with cognition (learning and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses). People can experience difficulty with thinking clearly, motivation, and attention also known as tardive dementia. In addition, both antidepressants and antipsychotics cause problems with mental processing, memory, and impairment of frontal lobe function, which is important for logic, self-control, and moral reasoning. It is common for people on these drugs to become apathetic, meaning they don’t really care about themselves, their family, their career, or anything anymore.
These medications are not without their consequences! We have to be careful in understanding that these are potent drugs. If they’re not used correctly they can do more harm than good. There are cases where people have done things that are completely out of character because their brain was altered with medication or because the drugs altered their fear of consequences for acting violent to somebody or to themselves. When a violent act occurs in a household or public place, medications are often considered, and benzodiazepines are of greatest concern. They have the biggest effect on the frontal lobe, especially when combined with alcohol. It’s a very lethal combination.
While these facts may seem scary there is hope! There are safer and many times more effective solutions. Many people have been able to reverse their anxiety and depression with the tools that we have developed. The 4 top causes that we are sharing with you in this article have PROFOUNDLY positive effects on hundreds of our clients around the world. It’s vitally important that people become aware of how lifestyle choices with our foods, environmental exposures, and what we think are healthy choices are actually make us sicker. It’s more important than ever that we as a society, take the time to better understand the varying root causes of mental issues including anxiety and depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s, and how we can address these root causes to eradicate this epidemic for ourselves and our future generations.
There are undeniably a handful of underlying causes of Anxiety and Depression, and when these root causes are addressed and eliminated, the outcome for people who are able to heal themselves is remarkable with over 90% according to our own clinical experience.
Below I have outlined the following 4 MAJOR causes of anxiety and depression and other mental health disorders:
1. Mental and Emotional stressors including physical and emotional traumas such as abuse, brain injury, life-threatening experiences, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and life other stressors such as death, divorce, serious disease, accident, etc. Emotional traumas and stress have a direct correlation on anxiety and depression and can often lead to disorders of the immune system and gastrointestinal system. Emotional stressors down-regulate or inhibit various parts of the immune system because neurotransmitters, neurohormones, our metabolic system, and adrenal hormones are significantly altered in times of emotional stress or trauma. In fact, there have been many studies on the association between stress/depression and its influence in IBS, gastric ulcers, dementia, and even colon and stomach cancer. Not only do emotional stressors and traumas affect our physical health, these stressors actually alter our genetic expression which is then passed down to our children for generations.
2. Dietary food choices can cause inflammation, a weakened immune system, food sensitivities, allergies, microbiome imbalances, hormone imbalances, and nutrient deficiencies from lack of nutrients and/or inability to absorb nutrients. Our dietary choices of processed and chemical laden foods is causing numerous chronic diseases. The SAD (Standard American Diet) is poisoning people with conventional foods that are genetically modified, highly processed, laden with chemicals, and contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides.
3. Environmental stressors may include heavy metal toxicity, mold, parasites, bacterial or viral infections, and Lyme disease and its co infections. Other common environmental toxins that can affect brain function and even endocrine (hormone) function come in the form of common household cleaners, common grooming products, and contaminated tap water. These can cause a weakened immune system, inflammation, and even nutrient deficiencies. In addition these are known endocrine disruptors – that means they alter your hormones leading to infertility issues, PCOS, and early menopause.
4. Leaky gut or intestinal permeability is a condition in which the junctions in the gut are open bigger than they should be, allowing things into areas where they shouldn’t be. And when pathogens or proteins or other things get in that shouldn’t be there, the body starts attacking it. Then autoimmunity and neurodegeneration are triggered because the body can’t tell the difference between the large foreign particles and the normal particles of the body. The body starts attacking itself, creating autoimmune disorders of organs like the thyroid, adrenals, joints, nerves, and even the brain. Microbiome Health = Brain Health!
There are many natural ways to combat devastating depression and anxiety – and when they are used together, the results can be astounding.
For a more in depth look on how to heal your anxiety and depression click here for a free copy of our eBook ‘13 Step Formula To Rebalancing Your Brain Chemistry’. In this eBook, we cover powerful actions you can implement immediately that will allow your body to heal and restore itself. These are the same tools that we have used with 100s of successful cases. You can also visit our website to learn more.
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