Causes of Mental/Emotional Dis-ease: Depression, Anxiety, and Stress

While the mental emotional and spiritual can create disease, the opposite is also true.  There are physical situations that can create diseases of mental or emotional problems.  Heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, or mercury are well known for this.  Remember the Mad Hatter that got mercury poisoning from the making of felt hats.

Environmental toxins such as the pesticide DDT (see blog) mimics estrogen and can play hormone havoc.  The pharmaceutical product of the pre -1950’s diethylstilbesterol (DES), a synthetic estrogen, was given to mothers to aide in a healthier baby.  The female offspring receiving the drug in the first trimester suffered from a rare form of cancer, infertility, and an increased incident of lesbian or bisexual orientation.  Any health problem can bring on anxiety and depression.  These horrors of the past are not currently taught in medical or pharmacy schools so we will likely repeat these errors.

Steroids such as prednisone or food allergies that increase cortisol can lower the working threshold of neurotransmitters in the brain, which can contribute to panic attacks, emotional instability, and attention deficit.

Today, a common drug therapy (proton pump inhibitors) that prevents the stomach from creating acid for digestion is a potential setup for such brain problems.  Acid is needed to breakdown protein into small enough components to be absorbed and to create many of our brain chemicals, known as neurotransmitters.  Most of our neurotransmitters are created in the gut. 

Neurotransmitters control nerve conduction and are either excitatory or inhibitory. They either speed up nerve conduction or slow it down.  Epinephrine or adrenaline, known to be the “fight or flight” neurotransmitter is excitatory.  Serotonin and GABA are examples of inhibitory neurotransmitters.  Serotonin is associated with depression and GABA is associated with anxiety.

Common antidepressants allow the serotonin to remain available longer hence increasing the excretion in the urine, therefore actually contributing to its depletion.  Some targeted amino acid (protein) therapy works to help build such neurotransmitters.    This provides the building blocks (precursors) for the body to make it’s own neurotransmitters.  Natural Creations product Inhibitory Neurotransmitter is a helpful intervention for depression.

Gaba is another neurotransmitter that may be viewed as the brains natural tranquilizer.   The supplement approach is Gaba Calm which can be helpful in anxiety, panic attacks and sleep.   HPA Calm is helpful for high stress anxiety related to elevated cortisol and racing thoughts. 

Stay Well