Anonymous wrote:I work in mental health and I always cringe when people use the chemical imbalance line. Fine if you have a simplistic understanding and need to call it that to differentiate it from being a character flaw but from a professional. I cringe. Chemical imbalance isn't used in the health field in talking about mental illness. As others have said it was a theory that had two intentions - decrease stigma by making mental illness physiological (even if oversimplified and not correct) rather than personal flaw, and 2) to sell medications that 'fix' chemical imbalances.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).

The chemical imbalance argument is a good justification for why medications work, but there is very little proof that it is actually the cause of depression. It is more credible than a marketing ploy, but less factual than you think.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1277931/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).

The chemical imbalance argument is a good justification for why medications work, but there is very little proof that it is actually the cause of depression. It is more credible than a marketing ploy, but less factual than you think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).

The chemical imbalance argument is a good justification for why medications work, but there is very little proof that it is actually the cause of depression. It is more credible than a marketing ploy, but less factual than you think.

And there is no evidence whatsoever that diet causes depression.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).

The chemical imbalance argument is a good justification for why medications work, but there is very little proof that it is actually the cause of depression. It is more credible than a marketing ploy, but less factual than you think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).

The chemical imbalance argument is a good justification for why medications work, but there is very little proof that it is actually the cause of depression. It is more credible than a marketing ploy, but less factual than you think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).

Anonymous wrote:It's the grind - environment pulls the trigger, and genes load the gun. You must have a genetic propensity for anxiety/depression. With medicine, you'll be fine. The right medicine, as this sounds more chemical than situational or an error in a thinking process. And maybe when the kids are both in school, you can quit the meds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like depression, but therapy and/or meds address the symptoms, not the root cause. Try changing your diet (you say you eat healthy, but conventional wisdom about what is healthy eating is wrong in so many ways).

This is one site that explains the link between digestion and mood: http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

I speak from experience, btw. I had the exact same issues as you. I completely altered my diet (everything else has remained the same), and I have no more problems like that.

Ugh, I hate these kinds of posts. Yeah, it's great that you sorted out your problems by changing your diet. But it's possible that your problem wasn't clinical depression in the first place, and that's why you didn't need medication.

For many people, mental illness -- be it anxiety, depression or something else -- has nothing to do with diet and can't be fixed by dietary changes. So, again, just because your issue was diet doesn't mean that diet will fix clinical depression in other people. For many people, the "root cause" of depression and/or anxiety is a chemical imbalance that has nothing to do with diet but rather with their brain chemistry. That is why there is increasing evidence that mental illness, like depression, is hereditary (i.e. if you had a grandparent who suffered from severe depression, you are at a greater risk).