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clear search termsPowerful Depression Pearls for Practitioners
Hi!
According to a survey released by the American Psychiatric Association, “More than one-third of Americans say the pandemic is having a ‘serious impact’ on their mental health.”
How could it not? As savvy practitioners, we know the pandemic goes way beyond the physical. We are looking for the hallmarks in our clients – keeping the lines of communication open, asking about anxiety, encouraging social connections, and gauging mindset and mood.
It’s never been more important for us as practitioners to have the tools we need to support our client population in this time of high stress and unease.
Are you confident in your knowledge of depression, as seen through the functional medicine lens?
Although you may already be a savvy practitioner, I am certain you will learn something new in this video. You’ll walk away with pages of notes and practical pearls you can use in your practice right away.
Here are some of the things we’ll be discussing:
- Of course, our modern lifestyle is at the root of much depression. But do you know which factors matter most?
- Depression is not a deficiency of ______________. So why do we keep acting like it Is?
- Disease begins in the Gut. Again! But find out why even progressive views of the gut – brain axis aren’t telling the whole story.
- What’s food got to do with it? Ha! Everything. Do you know which specific, missing or imbalanced nutrients are often at play?
- Interconnectedness rules. Do you know the most common below-the-neck imbalances that directly promote depression?
- Hormone havoc. What are the most common hormonal imbalances that can naturally perpetuate feelings of depression?
- The body follows the mind? Or the mind follows the body? Yes! But in ways that may surprise you.
Thank you very much for joining in the fun and learning!
With warmth, love, and gratitude to you for sharing your gifts with so many –
Please share your thoughts (please be thorough) in the “Ask a Question” area below about what inspired you in this presentation before Midnight ET tonight – to enter the drawing to win a FREE Deep Dive Clinical Course (a $297 value)! Include what type of practitioner you are, so that we can all see your unique perspective.
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Tracy : What a great topic in these lockdown times around the world!
I’m a new SAFM student and I just love it so far. There is so much interconnectedness in our body that blows me away and that conventional doctors are not aware of. I special like leaky gut & leaky brain and the licorice impact on testosterone. I’m from Denmark where the population eat so much licorice. Very interesting.
Thank you for a great FB live. I find this topic so interesting that I had hoped I had chosen it for my deep dive course 🙂
Thanks for joining us! These may be of interest to you: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2019.00484/full and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498851/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7167772/ .
Thank you Tracy for remind us the importance of acknowledging our emotions, breathing through what is happening in our life. I loved when you mentioned “Creating space for emotional richness..”, so powerful!
Thank very informative. I like pearl regarding the role of B6 and magnesium in depression and that no has Prozac deficiency. Thank u
First, very thankful for the discussion about moving, box breathing and gratitude. We all know the power, but we so easily don’t engage in these free, simple and powerful ways to change our perspective and reduce stress and anxiety (and I needed that nudge right now). A pearl for me, that really interested me, was about neuropeptide receptors throughout the body / response to emotion. Lots to digest. Will watch again!
I have loved the pearl that dehydration, poor sleep, and poor nutrition lead to anxiety and that Magnesium Glycinate is a key to treat anxiety and depresion, as well as B vitamins for all B6 to support neurotransmitters.
Thank you for the awesome presentation! I am a SAFM student and a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach and I found all of the information to be very helpful. I liked the suggestions of exercise, or movement, getting outdoors in natural environments, and taking time every day to journal and reflect on things to be grateful for. I have found that a simple change in perspective from focusing on what’s lacking or wrong in your life to focusing on all of the great things you do have can make a profound difference. I also loved hearing about the connection between the gut and brain, and how a deficiency in B vitamins can lead to mood disorders. I was surprised, however, that Vitamin D was not mentioned!
Thank you, so many pearls and pearl reminders! Dehydration, Vitamin B considerations, Mind -gut (primal) connections. Grateful for the info!
A pearl that resonates with me is there are things we should do before treating with a medication such as making sure there is not another root cause of depression such as a deficiency, thyroid issue etc. helping our clients to find within themselves the ability to be resilient, journaling, gratitude, looking through another lens.
No one had ever had a Prozac deficiency. I like it! Gut health and nutrients; eaten, digested & absorbed is one of the tenets to reverse depression/anxiety. Excellent Clinical Pearls. Thank you
Thank you Tracy for another amazingly informative FB live. Hypothyroid, low testosterone and and hypoadrenal as drivers of depression was my take-away pearl today???
The thing that really stood out for me was WATER intake! It’s so hard to get all of the water in that I need per day BECAUSE I begin my day with something that actually dehydrates me – coffee. There were so many great pearls, but WATER INTAKE is not something that I’ve ever heard anyone mention as a way of warding off depression. It makes so much sense! Thanks for this great little pearl and SO MANY others!
I appreciate that Tracy reminds us to honor our emotions and they information they provide us. The importance of normalizing some level of depression and anxiety in light of difficult circumstances. I love her reminder to “breathe through” what is happening in life. And as always….the interplay between crap food, toxins, and stress.
I really enjoyed this live video, and loved hearing your take on dehydration and the connection it has to depression. I am a pharmacist and have a pharmacogenomic certification, so we’ve focused a lot on antidepressants. We’ve been utilizing pharmacogenomics to pick the right medication, sometimes still with no response. Functional Medicine became and important player and hearing you say not everyone who has depression has a serotonin deficiency just reminds us how we really need to be considering ALL of the factors you mentioned. I appreciate this so much! Thank you.
There were many inspiring moments for me during this presentation! That our role as practitioners is to help our patients honor their feelings, sit with them, experience them, breathe through them and be present using various breathing techniques, yoga and meditation. And not to jump to the quick fix of medications. As a yoga practitioner/teacher, this fully resonates with me. I am aware of a connection between the mind and the gut, but did not know that such huge numbers of neurotransmitters are produced in the gut, thus the relationship between what we eat (and absorb, convert) and the health of the gut and how we feel! I would like to learn the specifics of the leaky gut and how it leads to mood imbalance, and how to incorporate supplements such as omega 3 essential fatty acids, vitamin B6, and magnesium as opposed to prescribing SSRIs as I have been taught. This all makes so much sense! Thank you for a fascinating presentation! I am a Family Nurse Practitioner.
The virus of fear is rampant and is having and will have a massive impact on mental health. The news is exhausting! People are being bombarded by fear promoting and fear mongering information and statistics. It is hard for the educated, informed person to tease out the truth from the sensationalized news. This video is timely and the multitude of pearls are so important for us to remember as practitioners. I love how we can use the basics to help people and empower them. It is as simple as turning the news off or getting off of social media to go for a walk or do some gratitude journaling. I love how you recently said, we need to “counter the virus of fear with the antiviral of inspiration.” As an occupational therapist and naturopathic doctor, I know how important it is to lead with this example!
I found it to be very interesting in seeing the interconnectedness in Hypothyroid, Low testosterone and Hypo Adrenal function which creates sluggishness in our physiological functions creating symptoms of depression. It is very clear how important is to look at the whole person. Thank you for your great webinars.
I am a health coach. What inspired me is the beginning of the presentation – to be understanding with the client and to let the client feel the feelings and not immediately jump to supplements or medications. I particularly liked the approach, don’t “push” a client if he suffers with mood disorder or depression. Even “pushing” a client to meditate can put pressure on him, if he is not ready for that.
I myself suffer with anxiety and depression, that keeps coming back . I have tried diet, amino acids, omegas, magnesium, B vitamins… but I find most helpful working with a practitioner who listens to my struggles in a non-judgmental way and meets me where I am, instead to start pushing protocols and supplements right away.
My question is: is there a specific order of recommendations/tests that you give to a client with anxhiety and depression?
I did not know about the mag – depression link. I have been focused on Vit. D as a tool in my depression tilting, but not magnesium. I will be doing a deeper eve into this connection! Always learn a thing from these FB posts! Thank you!
Michele – DNP
As a Physician Assistant in a family practice I see patients often for anxiety and depression concerns. Although I found great insight throughout the entire talk today, the focus on the foundational pieces are always the most “of course” moments and can not be overlooked. Allowing the body to face some turmoil in order to find the wisdom and deeper connections with our lives, this is so important and want to be sure I am educating and empowering my patients on, to not numb and escape automatically. Small changes can make huge differences, clean water, less screen time, more time in nature with simple movement, B vitamins to start slow, magnesium. Changes that are feasible when someone isn’t feeling motivated but can bring relief without jumping to a SSRI or other mood stabilizer first line. Thank you Tracy for your time and I look forward to learning more!
Thank you Tracy for another pearl packed Facebook live! I am particular interested in knowing about opioid receptors are there all over our body. The interconnection between leaky gut & leaky brain. The effect of licorice on testosterone is something that inspires me into further studies.. oh they are all valuable pearls hard to pick just one!
Being a SAFM student I was amazed at how much more I can understand now compared to a year ago, thank you Tracy for sharing your knowledge!