Depression

Depression/Mental Health

Depression Videos

Functional Medicine

Alternative Therapy

Prevalance, Causes and Solutions to Depression/Mental Health

Statistics show that as many as 15% of people will suffer with depression at sometime in their life.  I suspect that this is an underestimate and that the spectrum of mental illness that Includes anxiety, depression, psychosis, obsessional disorders, addictions and phobic problems will hit us all at sometime during our lives.  If you then add in the huge epidemic of autism, Asperger’s disease, ADHD and asthma with allergies, also the Modern epidemic of stress, it is not surprising that mental illness will touch most of our lives at sometime.

Depression is characterised by persistent low mood so much so that we lose our will to carry out our normal daily activities and withdraw.  For other people depression involves a swinging mood between negative and positive symptoms.  Long-term anxiety can sometimes lead to Depression since living with anxiety is pretty Miserable so that in the end we will end up feeling depressed as well.

Mental health within the NHS Setting is not always well handled.  In my experience of depression for example, only 30% of depression is actually resolved with drug therapy.  This is Because there are many different types of depression depending on the Biochemical causes.  Occasionally a depression can be reactive due to the stress of a bereavement or a significant happening in our lives such as a loss of job, move out of house, divorce, etc.  Other times it can be a latent biochemical illness which has built up over the lifetime.

Here at Private General Practice Services, we pride ourselves in that we combine orthodox medicine and pharmaceutical Drugs with a multitude of other types of support for mental health.  We have CBT therapists.  CBT which is cognitive behavioural therapy, is an evidence-based treatment used in depression, anxiety, phobias, obsessional compulsive disorder and other types of mental health challenge.  We have a CBT therapist for weiCht loss, phobias and general depression.  We also have a consultant psychiatrist specialising in addictions on drugs.  Sometimes addictions are due to underlying depression and diagnosis need to be teased out very carefully. We need the right Diagnosis to supply the correct medication.

Depression can also be related to biochemical changes.  People with depression are sometimes found to be low in thyroid function, low in various vitamin B preparations such as B12, folate or other vitamins; also essential fatty acids.  Much of the latter revolves around the reducing amount of nutrients that we have in our food these days compared with 50 to 60 years ago.  It also revolves around our poor diet which is based on processed food, trans and hydrogenated fats with added Preservatives.

Here at the Practice we have access to new functional medical blood tests.  Functional medicines the process by which we understand the underlying mechanisms behind illnesses such as depression rather than label them after a tick-box symptom check thereafter treating with drugs.

The functional Medical approach looks for deficiencies, nutrition, absorption, digestion, deficiencies and dependencies and minerals, vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids, also the interrelationship between the eco-system of our bowel, liver detoxification, our Neurohormonal systems and our neurotransmitters.  Correcting some of the imbalances that underpin depression is part of the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment.

The subendophenotypes of depression which exist can sometimes be apportioned to deficiencies or excesses of various neurotransmitters.  Depending on your symptoms, we can quite often support these excesses or deficiencies with nutrient supplements which have proven benefit.  In the USA, this technique is Utilised on a more frequent basis but overall the professional psychiatric world in the UK does not recognise functional medicine despite the Biochemical Evidence that exists to support it.   Functional medicine however is a Young Science and needs to be given More Attention in the world of research. 

I often find that before nutritional and Biochemical Deficiencies are addressed, drug therapy may not work particularly well but after the deficiencies have been addressed, drug therapy can work much better.

There are other therapies such as massage therapy, psychotherapy, psychological mapping of our early childhood relationships in order to underpin transference reactions, Reiki, art therapy, music therapy and many, many more.  In short, there are Multitudes of Ways to get better from depression.

One of the tools that I use in my Practice is hypnotherapy and neurolinguistic programming.  I teach people self-hypnosis which is the ability to relax very deeply and to access the part of their hard drive within their Mind-Body System and soul which does not always get accessed.  Remember that your Intuitions Work at their Best when your hard drive is aware that the conscious Mind is listening; also when you are totally relaxed.  It is better to work as a whole complete person than it is with different parts of us fighting other areas of our Personality on different levels.  The concept of self-hypnosis can help with this.

If you would like to find out more about any of these issues please contact the Practice or make an appointment with myself, Dr J Piper, with one of our psychologists, psychiatrists or other therapists.  Our functional nutritionist is also Present on site to help you obtain optimal biochemistry.

We run some of the leading functional medical tests in the world, and we will be happy to discuss your needs. 

 

If you have a query or would like to email us please go to our contact us page.

If you would like to book an appointment please call us on 0844 800 8673 or email info@privategp.com.

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