Natural treatments for depression, anxiety, and stress

From: ImmuneSupport.com
by Richard Podell, MD

Richard Podell, MD, is a clinical professor at New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He has special interests in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, stress related disorders, and clinical nutrition. Dr. Podell has offices in Springfield and Somerset, New Jersey. For more information please see DrPodell.org.

The "Functional Medicine" approach Dr. Podell employs adds to standard therapies the often over-looked elements of natural healing - including nutrition, herbal, and mind-body therapies. These add holistic support for the body's natural healing systems, which help resist and overcome a broad range of both physical and mental health problems, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, and stress.

Mind and Body Do Not Function Separately
The unstated assumption of most conventional strategies is that mind and body function separately: Each organ of the body is largely on its own. However, current science shows that just the opposite is true.

The multiple systems of mind and body communicate and interact with each other in a complex holistic web of biochemical, hormonal, and metabolic relationships. Even such distant organs as the brain, thyroid gland, adrenal gland, immune system, gut, and liver interact, and in important ways function effectively as one.

Our "Functional Medicine" approach views all systems of the mind and body as part of one large, interactive web. This implies that any obstacle to healing that affects one part of the system feeds through and harms all others. Any improvement we can make in any part is also likely to feed through this web and improve your well-being as a whole.

Supporting the Body's Biochemical and Metabolic Pathways
Many alternative treatments for depression act by strengthening the same biochemical pathways that medicines use to treat depression. For example, St. John's Wort acts in part by increasing the activity of...

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Natural treatments for depression, anxiety, and stress, by Richard Podell, MD