Dealing with Depression and Anxiety
Dr. C.M. Curtis
01/15/2024
Important Note: Before I begin this discussion, I strongly urge anyone who has thoughts of harming themself or any other person to immediately seek appropriate professional help.
We are now almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century. We transplant organs, we have cars that drive themselves, we carry our phones in our pockets and it would be impossible to list all the things those little devices can do. The list of mankind’s achievements is long and impressive.
But so far we haven’t built shopping carts that don’t stick together.
We seem to just stick with the same old design of shopping carts that seems like it has been around since shopping carts were invented.
We do that with a lot of things. Case in point: Antidepressants. Millions of people are taking them and every year, millions more are added to that number. I don’t mean to be critical of anyone, but doesn’t it seem kind of archaic and unimaginative to simply write a prescription for an antidepressant drug anytime someone shows any sign of being affected by the stressors of life?
Please don’t think I’m unsympathetic to those people who struggle with depression or anxiety. I’m definitely not. Nor am I unaware that there are people who have severe trauma of some kind in their background. I’m not a psychologist, but I have been around long enough to have known many people whose problems needed to be dealt with by mental health professionals who could work with the patient to get to the root of their depression, be it a bad childhood, some form of abuse or some other type of trauma.
Other forms of depression/anxiety have their roots as well, but it seems that far too often, no attempt is made to get to the roots of the problem. Instead, the patient is simply prescribed an antidepressant.
We all understand that physical diseases and disorders can be caused by a deficiency of a crucial nutrient, be it a vitamin, a mineral, an amino acid, an enzyme, or any other of the countless substances our bodies require for proper functioning.
We also know that there are certain substances, sugar, and seed oils, for example, that can have a deleterious effect on our physical health.
We seem to sometimes forget that, like the body, the brain requires adequate amounts of a wide array of natural substances to function properly, and that there are substances like sugar, caffeine, glutamate, chemical sweeteners, and others, that have a negative effect on proper brain function.
Let’s apply some logic
In light of the preceding statements, doesn’t it seem that the logical approach would involve having the patient avoid those substances that cause depression or anxiety and correct any deficiencies that may be contributing to abnormal or subnormal brain function?
It seems logical to me.
I always find it interesting to observe that the things that are causing our current obesity epidemic are the same things that are causing our degenerative disease crisis. A deep dive into the causes of depression/anxiety will reveal that it is those same factors that are at the root of a large percentage of cases.
Our food supply is atrocious. It is depleted of nutrients and filled with