For decades, we were told depression = a chemical imbalance that only a pill could patch.
And yet, in 2018, 1 in 3 women over 60 were on psych meds!
New Senior Fellow, Psychiatrist Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring is flipping the script in this new video, (link below) he challenges us to stop masking symptoms, and to tackle the “whole-body levers” that can really move the needle (he talks through each of these and gives us the science)
Daily physical activity (yes, even a 10-min walk)
High-quality sleep (dark room, no doom-scrolling)
High-quality diet (protein + micronutrient dense)
Deep social connections and a resilient marriage
Financial stability (or at least a plan)
Targeted therapy—only if it adds tools, not labels
“The goal is empowerment, not diagnosis.”
Your turn:
If you’ve faced anxiety or depression, did you start with meds, therapy, or lifestyle tweaks, and how did that choice play out?
Anyone successfully taper off SSRIs by dialing up exercise, nutrition, or community? What hurdles did you hit?
Years ago I was put on depression meds after horrific tragedy. A holistic doctor saw the danger, tapered me off, and got me on thyroid. Made a huge difference
My anxiety & depression started with alcohol abuse, which of course made it much worse. I wrecked the family car, nearly killing myself in the process. My wife and I separated. I was about as low as you could get. My county’s Alcohol & Drug Council offered outpatient programs to help get sober, but those spots in the program took time (as did the insurance arrangements). In the interim I saw a psychologist and attended AA meetings. My psychologist’s diagnosis was that I was self-medicating with alcohol due to depression, and would be helped by anti-depressants. He gave me the chemical imbalance pitch, and I bought it. My regular MD prescribed Zoloft, and after a time I got switched to Wellbutrin. I don’t recall any difficulties with the switch. Meanwhile, I participated in the mental health program for a year. I remained on some form of antidepressant for about 5 years, during which time I gained quite a lot of weight. I told my MD I wanted to stop taking them, and he agreed it was fine “to just see how I am now.” As it turned out, I was fine. I’ve been free of anxiety and depression, as well as sober, for more than 15 years. (Oh, and I lost 100 lbs.) My wife came home after 2 1/2 years, and we’re fine and happy now. So, am I an antidepressant success story? I honestly don’t know. Personally I think the group therapy helped more, and the pills may have been a placebo. I don’t really care what worked; only that it did. When you are at the bottom of that hole you don’t care about academic debates; you just want out. It seems that the “chemical imbalance in the brain” theory has fallen into some disrepute. A mind-body connection makes more sense to me from this perspective. We underestimate how the way we think affects how we feel. As my psychologist often repeated: “The mind is a powerful thing!”
Your turn: