Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
In today’s world of high stress and fast paced lifestyles, many people can feel overwhelmed. Depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues are skyrocketing. Many people turn to their medical doctor for help.According to the CDC, one in twelve Americans over the age of 12 report some form of depression, and a full 11% of the population over age 12 is on some type of antidepressant medication. In the Geisinger Health System, the number one drug class prescribed by their doctors is for depression/anxiety.
Unfortunately, the latest research overwhelmingly shows these drugs do not work as advertised. They may actually exacerbate the cause of some of the mental disorders.
The drugs I’m talking about are classified as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRI’s. This class of drugs includes Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft, Paxil, and Lexipro. At their best, SSRI’s are comparable to placebos. In the worst cases, there are major side effects including deterioration into more serious mental illness, suicidal and homicidal tendencies, and mental disease in children whose mothers took them during pregnancy.
If you take a close look at most of the recent school and mass shootings, those people were taking antidepressants.
Research shows that boys with autism are three times more likely to have been exposed to SSRI’s in utero than non-autistic boys.
SSRI’s work by preventing the reuptake of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. This makes more serotonin available to the brain, which is thought to improve your mood. This is known as the “chemical imbalance” theory. It says that these mental disorders are caused by low blood serotonin levels. It’s too bad that it is just that, a theory. It has never been shown to be true, and there is no evidence behind it at all.
In 1983, the NIH investigated whether or not depresses people had low serotonin levels. They concluded there was no evidence of that. Research done by Northwestern University and presented at the Neuroscience 2009 conference showed that low serotonin levels had no correlation to depression, and in fact, found that depression started much further up in the chain of events in the brain. They said medications focus only on an effect of depression, not the cause.
Yet, the drug companies continue to push the low serotonin theory because it is their only justification for continued aggressive medication of millions of people.
There’s one major problem, though, in that recent studies show the exact opposite is true of mental health problems. It turns out mental health patients show high levels of serotonin, not low levels. If this research is taken as it should be, mental health treatment should be completely overhauled.
Some women are put on SSRI’s to counter the symptoms of menopause. These women show a 73% increase in bone fractures after just 2 years of treatment with SSRI’s. The increased risk lasts for years even after ending SSRI treatment.
Your central nervous system and your gastrointestinal tract are created from identical tissue during fetal development. The tenth cranial nerve, the vagus nerve, is the communication link between the two. Believe it or not, but your gut microbes produce serotonin. In fact there is more serotonin made by your gut than your brain! It’s no surprise then that the link between your gut health and your mental health are intertwined.
Diet and general lifestyle are foundational factors that must be addressed to optimize your mental health. So if you suffer from anxiety or depression related disorders, please consider addressing your diet and lifestyle before you turn to drugs that haven’t improved depression outcomes for 50 years.
You need to dramatically decrease your consumption of processed foods, fructose, grains, and GMO’s; increase consumption of fermented and cultured foods; optimize vitamin B12, vitamin D, and krill oil; eat grass fed meats; increase your salt intake with Himalayan salt (salt deficiency mimics depression); get proper exercise and sleep, and find proper ways to relieve stress through church and family connections.
There may be situations where SSRI’s are warranted, but most often these mind numbing drugs are overused. Natural remedies are at your disposal. Get motivated and try them; you may be surprised at your results.