Women's Health

Women's Health

Kelly Brogan MD
kellybroganmd.com/about/bio/
Health Topics
Defeat Depression
The Paleo Brain
Gut Health and Mood
Sane Motherhood
Rethink Health
Drug Side Effects
Books
A Mind of Your Own
A Time for Rain
Program
Vital Mind Reset
Success Stories
Video Testimonials
Facebook Testimonials
Vital Mind Stories
Bio & Credentials
About Dr. Kelly Brogan

Kelly Brogan, M.D. is a holistic women’s health psychiatrist, author of the NY Times Bestselling book, A Mind of Your Own, the children’s book A Time For Rain, and co-editor of the landmark textbook, Integrative Therapies for Depression. She completed her psychiatric training and fellowship at NYU Medical Center after graduating from Cornell University Medical College, and has a B.S. from M.I.T. in Systems Neuroscience. She is board certified in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and integrative holistic medicine, and is specialized in a root-cause resolution approach to psychiatric syndromes and symptoms. She is on the board of GreenMedInfo, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Functional Medicine University, Pathways to Family Wellness, Mind Foundation, SXSW Wellness, Chickasaw Nation Wellness, and the peer-reviewed, indexed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. She is Medical Director for Fearless Parent and a founding member of Health Freedom Action. She is a certified KRI Kundalini Yoga teacher and a mother of two.

Training
Board Certified in Integrative Holistic Medicine, ABIHM
Board Certified in Psychosomatic Medicine/ Consultation Psychiatry, ABPN
Board Certified in Psychiatry, ABPN
NYU School of Medicine, NY Faculty, Clinical Instructor; Fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
NYU School of Medicine, NY Resident in Psychiatry; NYU Reproductive Psychiatry Program
KRI Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training Certification

Education
Cornell University Medical College, NY Doctor of Medicine
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA BS in Brain and Cognitive Science/Systems Neuroscience

Publications
Integrative Therapies for Depression: Redefining Models for Assessment, Treatment and Prevention, edited by and with contributions from Dr. James Greenblatt and Dr. Kelly Brogan
Brogan K. Remote Healing of Bipolar Disorder, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Through Lifestyle Change. Adv Mind Body Med. 2017 Fall;31(4):4-9.
Brogan K. Resolution of Refractory Bipolar Disorder With Psychotic Features and Suicidality Through Lifestyle Interventions: A Case Report. Adv Mind Body Med. 2017 Spring;31(2):4-11.
Brogan K. Psychobiology of Vaccination Effects: Bidirectional Relevance of Depression. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 2015; 21(3): 18-26.
Brogan K. The Role of the Microbiome in Mental Health: A Psychoneuroimmunologic Perspective. Alternative and Complementary Therapies. 2015; 21(2): 61-67.
Taylor Z and Brogan K. Anxiety: Inflammatory Origins and Natural Treatments. Price-Pottenger Journal. 2014; 38(3): 13-19.
Brogan K. Complements and Alternatives to Psychopharmacology in Pregnancy. Psychopharmacology and Pregnancy – Treatment Efficacy, Risks, and Guidelines. Galbally, Snellen, & Lewis. 2014.
Brogan K. Nutrition During Pregnancy. ICAN Clarion. 2014; 31: 5-6.
Brogan K. Fire in the mind: The depression-inflammation connection. The Carlat Report: Psychiatry. 2013; November; 11 (11).
Brogan K. Putting theory into preliminary practice: Neuroinflammatory models of postpartum depression. OA Alternative Medicine 2013 May 01;1(2):12.
Brogan K. Perinatal depression and anxiety: beyond psychopharmacology. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2013 Mar;36(1):183-8
Brogan K., Lux J. Management of Common Psychiatric Conditions in the HIV+ Population. Current HIV/AIDS Reports. 2009 May; 6(2).
Brogan K., Bernstein C. Review of Medical Psychiatry: The Quick Reference. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2008 October; 69(10): 1665.
Brogan K. Pregnant and Mentally Ill: Protecting Mother and Child (Letter to the Editor). Current Psychiatry. April 2008.
Hurria A., Panageas K., Brogan K., et al. Effect of Creatinine Clearance on Patterns of Toxicity in Breast Cancer Patients Age 65 and Older Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy. Drugs and Aging. 2005;22(9):785-91.
Hurria A., Brogan K., et al. Change in Cycle 1 to Cycle 2 Haematological Counts Predicts Toxicity in Older Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy. Drugs and Aging. 2005;22(8):709-15.
Hurria A., Brogan K., et al. Patterns of Toxicity in Older Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2005 Jul;92(2):151-6.
Altemus M., Brogan K. Women and Anxiety Disorders: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment. Pregnancy and Postpartum. CNS Spectrums, Symposium Monograph Supplement. 2004 Sep 9 (9): 10-11.
Brogan K. James. JAMA. 2003 Sep 3;290(9):1221-2.
Hurria A., Brogan K., et al. Toxicity to Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients Age 65 and Older. International Conference of Geriatric Oncology: Cancer in the Elderly. September, 2001. (Abstract).

Free Downloads
Browse: Recent Posts by Topic
Learn: More About Dr. Kelly Brogan
Watch: Let Dr. Brogan Change the Way You Think About Health
Download: Dr. Brogan's Free E-Book

Popular Articles
Vitamin B12 Deficiency: A Trigger for Depression and Anxiety?
Eating for Two: the Pregnancy Diet
Contraception Depression: Can the Pill Affect Your Mood?
5 Foods That Can Cause Depression
Depression: It’s Not Your Serotonin

Popular Categories
Defeat Depression
The Paleo Brain
Gut Health and Mood
Sane Motherhood
Rethink Health
Drug Side Effects

© Kelly Brogan MD

-----

New to the site?
Welcome!

If you haven’t already, I recommend you download my free ebook. Don’t worry, you won’t get a ton of spam or sales pitches. Instead, you’ll get an introduction to a whole new way to approach health – and not just mental health. Join the revolution and discover how food – not drugs – can heal your mood and change your life.

Dr. Brogan’s Recommended Reading List
Just below, I’ve selected a few posts that I think are the most important posts to read. Feel free to skip down and look at the posts by category and find the specific topics you are looking for.

Defeat Depression
We’ve been told a story about depression – that you are born with a chemical imbalance that requires lifelong medication. Get ready for some myth-busting around the benefits, risks, and the truth about what depression is.
Stop the Madness: Coming off Psych Meds
Depression: What Is It Good For?
Depression: It’s Not Your Serotoin
View All In Category

The Paleo Brain
Evolutionary mismatch. This is the term used in the medical literature to encompass the root cause of most modern ills. We are living a lifestyle – diet, stress level, movement and sunlight deficiency, toxic exposures, pharmaceuticals – that is incompatible with what our genome has evolved, over millions of year, to expect.
Heard of the Glycemic Index? Forget About It!
Go Gluten Free, Fix Your Brain
Where do Vaccines Fit into a Paleo Lifestyle?
View All In Category

Gut Health and Mood
Over 90% of the cells in our body are non-human. This microbial ecology, found largely in our digestive system, is intricately connected to processes in our bodies that make us healthy – or make us chronically ill. Modern life is wreaking havoc on the healthy balance required for health – including brain health. We are nature and nature is us. See how the latest science supports this truth.
Probiotics for the Brain
Steps to a Healthy Microbiome
Origins of the Microbiome
View All In Category

Sane Motherhood
I have studied, taught, and published in the field of reproductive psychiatry. I’ve treated women in every stage of the reproductive cycle. And, I’m a working mom. So, I’m acutely interested in and aware of the many ways in which modern medicine is impacting, and sometimes hurting women and their children – more than helping them. In this category you’ll find a wide range of topics of interest to mothers, and mothers to be.
Pregnant and Pre-Polluted: 8 Choices for a Healthier Womb
Dear Class Moms: My Top 5 Optimal Children’s Health Tips
Will You Choose To Rise?
View All In Category

Rethink Health
You may have noticed that my approach to women’s mental health deviates from the norm – from what is being taught in medical school and what is being offered by doctors around the country. I believe that our current model is outdated and disempowering. Take a look at posts in this category to discover a new, powerful way to take more control of your health than ever before.
Immunity: The Emerging Truth
The OCD Cure You Haven’t Heard Of
What’s the Point of Health?
View All In Category

Drug Side Effects
The truth is that drugs can’t heal. And yet the primary approach to healing in modern health care is to treat symptoms with drugs. This is based on the erroneous belief that we are broken. We are machines that need calibrating and we need chemicals to feel better. But the evidence shows us that drugs can’t heal – and often, don’t even help.
That Naughty Little Pill. Birth Control Side Effects
Cracking the Cholesterol Myth: How Statins Harm The Body and Mind
Antibiotics: The Bad News and the Worse News
View All In Category

-----

Moms & Moods: Opening the Conversation on Postpartum Rage
by Kelly Brogan, MD
It’s been known for centuries that women carry one another’s medicine. When they join together in circle, their bodies, minds and spirits gets stronger. So what happens when 5 badass feminists get together to talk about rage? …more specifically, postpartum rage?
The answer is raw, uncensored, and unapologetic truth-telling that holds the key to all women’s radical self-healing and reclamation.
Most people are aware that the postpartum window is a sensitive time for women. But what they may not know is how this window is actually a time when the truth is most emergent. Women begin to awaken to the absence of community, health and their status within society. The awareness of what’s missing in the collective provides a meaningful context for the struggle that many women experience.
It is through this lens that I invite you to listen in on this powerful panel discussion, hosted by Molly Caro May (author and activist). In this conversation, you will learn how hormones, rage, culture, pelvic muscles and birth intersect in the postpartum landscape.

Kelly Brogan, M.D. is a Manhattan-based holistic women’s health psychiatrist, author of the New York Times bestselling book, A Mind of Your Own, and co-editor of the landmark textbook, Integrative Therapies for Depression. She completed her psychiatric training and fellowship at NYU Medical Center after graduating from Cornell University Medical College, and has a B.S. from MIT in Systems Neuroscience. View full bio. Want to share this article on your own blog? View our reposting guidelines.

Comments
Melinda Campbell
March 6, 2019 at 10:44 PM
This 2 hour video on “angry mothers” drew me in for my daughter and my own past. The sound is terrible with echoing, etc. It’s very difficult to listen to. The message is great but hard to get. Not sure what I did but I quickly went to another video with Dr. Kelly Brogan. That video was fabulous!

-----

Learn the Truth About Mental Health & Reclaim Your Vitality

Meet some of the everyday people who are blazing the trail of radical healing. They’ve defied conventional medical dogma, and you can too.
LEARN MORE

LATEST FROM THE BLOG
Is Your Prescription Drug Causing Your Depression?
By Kelly Brogan MD Team

Let’s face it... our current medical industry loves pills. When you go to the doctor for any kind of discomfort with any kind of diagnosis, chances are that the doctor will write out a slip of paper and send you to the pharmacy. Every illness, every injury, every bodily inconvenience has some kind of corresponding medication for us to take. So that’s what we’ve done for the greater part of the last century. It’s tempting to think that we can be “fixed” by medication because it’s quick and easy. That’s why the United States pharmaceutical market was valued around 446 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 alone.1 But the truth is that our bodies are more complex than we’ve been taught, and more importantly, we know much less than we think we do. Only recently have we started to understand how connected the gut, brain, hormones, and immune systems are. So it’s not a huge surprise that we think of our bodies as machines — that we can feed them some chemicals and they’ll run smoothly again like a car that just got an oil change. The severity of consequences that result from thinking this way hasn’t really settled into the public consciousness yet, but a June 2018 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association2 explores that very question: What does this society-wide reliance on prescription drugs really cost us? Apparently, often times, our wellness.

More Than 200 Commonly Used Prescription Drugs Have Depression as a Potential Side Effect
In the aforementioned study, researchers analysed the medication use patterns of 26,192 adults between 2005 to 2014, which were collected as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The research discovered that more than 200 commonly used prescription drugs have depression or suicide listed as potential side effects.3 The drugs on that list run the full gamut across antidepressants, blood pressure drugs, allergy medications, hormones and more. A short and incomprehensive summary of the study’s offending drugs was compiled by the Washington Post and they include (and are certainly not limited to) 4:
Beta blockers and angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (blood pressure drugs): metoprolol, atenolol, enalapril and quinapril.
Antidepressants: sertraline (Zoloft and generic), citalopram (Celexa and generic), bupropion (Wellbutrin and generic) and amitriptyline.
Anti-anxiety drugs: alprazolam (Xanax and generic), clonazepam (Klonopin and generic), diazepam (Valium and generic), and lorazepam (Ativan and generic), as well as the sedative zolpidem (Ambien and generic).
Opioids: hydrocodone combination meds (Lorcet, Norco, Vicodin, generic and more) and tramadol (ConZip).
Corticosteroids: prednisone and others.
Over-the-counter proton-pump inhibitors: omeprazole (Prilosec, Zegerid and generic) and esomeprazole (Nexium and generic), as well as the antacids ranitidine (Zantac and generic) and famotidine (Pepcid and generic).
Allergy and asthma medications: over-the-counter cetirizine (Zyrtec and generic) and the prescription drug montelukast (Singulair).
Anticonvulsants: gabapentin (Neurontin and generic) and topiramate (Topamax and generic).
Hormones: estradiol (Delestrogen, Elestrin, EstroGel and generic) and finasteride (Proscar, Propecia and generic).

As a matter of fact, the study found that the more drugs people took, the more likely they were to have depression. While about 7 percent of those taking one such drug were depressed, 15.3 percent of the patients taking at least three were depressed. Additionally, the study showed that one-third of US adults may unknowingly use medications that can cause depression.5 The most alarming thing is that even your doctor who may have prescribed the drugs to you might not know about these side effects. In an interview with Science Daily, Mark Olfson, one of the study researchers who is a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York said, “Many physicians may not be aware that several commonly prescribed medications are associated with an increased risk of this disorder.”6

Are prescription medications really worth it?
This June 2018 study analysed more data than other previous studies have, but really, science has known that common prescription drugs cause depression for a while. Are we really that surprised that so many medications, all researched and developed under a one-size-fits-all assumption that all medications will work the same for everyone, are wreaking havoc on our unique bodies? For example, depression has been consistently associated with interferon α treatment of hepatitis C — 45% to 60% of treated patients developed mild to moderate depression and 15% to 40% of treated patients developed moderate to severe depression 15% to 40%.7,8, 9 Other studies have linked hormonal contraceptives10, β-blockers11, and more drugs to depression. The June 2018 study doesn’t detail exactly how these listed drugs can lead to depression, and there are too many for us to explore the mechanics of each one, but we might be able to get a general sense by understanding depression as a syndrome of “evolutionary mismatch.”12 Think about it. Depression is our body telling us that something about our lifestyle isn’t working right. It’s our immune system yelling at us, saying our evolutionarily-unprecedented environment is out of sync with our optimal health. It’s our immune systems telling us that our lifestyle decisions — or maybe the pharmaceutical products we’re putting in our bodies — are really stressing it out. And when our immune systems get stressed, inflammation can become chronic leading to the symptoms of depression.13 Even antidepressants, which are supposed to “cure” us of depression, still come with so many problems attached. Recent studies have also uncovered antidepressant tachyphylaxis, or the loss of antidepressant “efficacy” over time.14 Basically, people on antidepressants lose the initial drug effect over a time period that leaves them physically dependent so that they are rendered medicated, symptomatic, and unable to easily stop taking medication due to withdrawal symptoms. Other studies have found that antidepressant use also actually induces chronic depression, a phenomenon called tardive dysphoria.15 So, the study authors are working on bringing more awareness to the fact that depression is a potential side effect to so many drugs, but the study results might just be a red flag that is signalling something even more fundamentally wrong with how we approach healing and our bodies. Why make louder warnings that prescription drugs might cause depression when we should be finding pharmaceutical-free alternatives? There’s a lot about our bodies that we don’t fully understand, and it’s time to acknowledge a new biology. We can no longer participate in impersonal medicine, ignoring details of our lifestyle, environment, relationships, and trauma histories. We’re humans, and that means that our beliefs, our stressors, our diets, our exposures, our sense of meaning and purpose all play a role in how healthy we are. As science helps us understand more about the complexity of our health, maybe it’s time to turn to a more holistic, more empowered kind of lifestyle medicine to heal ourselves, side effect free.

References
1 www.statista.com/statistics/238689/us-total-expenditure-on-medicine/
2 jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2684607
3 jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2684607
4 www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/depression-can-be-a-side-effect-of-some-common-drugs-including-ones-for-acid-reflux-and-hypertension/2018/12/21/6525811e-fc9e-11e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html?utm_term=.22b28aaa3baa
5 jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2684607
6 www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180612185204.htm
7 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11274622
8 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22878466
9 www.psychiatrist.com/JCP/article/Pages/2005/v66n01/v66n0106.aspx
10 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27680324
11 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28338548
12 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25060574
13 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12473019
14 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22120449
15 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21459521

-----

Why “Being Emotional” Is Actually Good For Us, Our Children, And For Our Species As A Whole
by Natalie Christensen

In our culture, emotions are often seen as a nuisance, something to get over or around. Even worse, having emotions — other than a select few positively-associated ones — has been seen as a weakness, something that we should be ashamed of and must work to conceal. It may, therefore, come as a surprise to many of us to learn that emotions are the key to a fully developed brain and a fully realized life.

The emotional brain, the part that governs emotional experience, acts as a gatekeeper that decides whether we live individual moments from our reptilian brains, thrashing about to achieve basic security, or from our upper brains, skillfully navigating with logic and compassion. In other words, awareness and support of emotional processing can make the difference between merely surviving, and fully thriving. And perhaps more importantly, our emotional brain is also responsible for connecting us with others. The aspect of human existence that makes it all worthwhile — deep, meaningful relationships — is only possible with a robust and healthy knowledge of emotions and how to work through them, not around them.

We want our children to live the fullest lives possible. We don’t want them barely scraping by, clawing their way through a base and limited experience. We like to imagine them with robust brains capable of soaring to the highest heights. In this light, we want to teach emotional literacy with as much devotion as we teach reading, writing, and arithmetic.

How?
Emotional literacy is not learned via pen and paper, or lengthy lectures by mom and dad. Thanks to mirror neurons, if we model healthy emotional expression our children will learn to do it as well. This means: identifying frustration when the garbage cans block the driveway, expressing nervousness and insecurity when it bubbles up before a holiday party, no longer saying: ”I’m fine.” when really we’re worried or mad, and no longer waiting to shed tears when alone.

We want to protect our children. Tax bills, divorce, world wars, and scary politics do not belong in the realm of the innocent, it’s true, but living our emotional life out loud does not mean always revealing the adult material behind our woes. We can express sadness, anxiety, anger, disappointment, or fear without sharing age-inappropriate details.
“What’s wrong Mama?”
“I’m feeling anxious about a few things.”
“Oh. You’re crying?”
“Yep. I feel sad and nervous right now.”
“Are you okay?”
“I am okay. I’m taking good care of myself and good care of you, and I’m sad and nervous at the same time.”

A parent that hides emotion, blames emotion on others, explodes suddenly with pent up emotion, or one that runs away from emotion — into their phone, or room, or work, is damaging. A parent that cries when they are sad, names their emotion, and continues to care for themselves and others is an emotional leader. This kind of modeling wires a child’s brain to effectively use their emotional brain, the most efficient and powerful way to manage the ups and downs of life.

Don’t Fix
When our children are upset we find ourselves willing to do almost anything to make the crying or the screaming stop. Even when it’s only a mild upset, we immediately look for how we can remove it instead of moving through it.
“(Crying) Mom!!!! I dropped my cookie and the dog ate it!! Dumb dog! Waaaaaah!”
“Oh honey! It’s okay! Honey, stop crying! We have more cookies. Look! Here’s a new cookie! Really, it’s ok. It’s not a big deal.”

Sometimes the crying stops with a new cookie, but often it doesn’t. We scratch our heads, roll our eyes, chalk it up to exhaustion or the “terrible twos”, maybe we even get mad and rescind our offer of a replacement.
When the upset doesn’t stop, even though we’ve come up with a perfectly logical solution, it’s confusing, until you understand how emotions work. Feelings don’t get fixed. A feeling arises, the upper brain notes it, and because the upper brain doesn’t do emotion, it shuts down and sends processing to the emotional brain. The emotional brain checks to see if the environment is safe (meaning there is a trusted person willing to hold space for the emotion), and if it is, the emotion surfaces, is processed, and then drifts away.

When we come at emotional situations with logical solutions:
Dog ate your cookie? Get another!
No friends at school? Ask someone to eat lunch with you!
Your sister has the water bottle you want to use? Take turns!
…the emotional brain gets very agitated. It’s like shouting Chinese to someone that speaks French, it’s simply the wrong language. It comes across as antagonistic, not soothing and safe. When emotional safety is lacking, the emotional brain shuts down and let’s the lower brain literally duke it out.

We want our kids to become emotionally literate. So we want to get comfortable with our discomfort when they are upset. We want to remember that emotion is a friend not a foe, and prove that to our kids by not pushing them to avoid emotion with logical fixes.

Connect
So if we aren’t troubleshooting the issues that seem to be causing our children so much pain, what are we doing? We’re providing that key piece mentioned above: emotional safety. It sounds complicated but actually it’s extremely simple. The first step is to notice an emotion, name that emotion, and express understanding for that emotion. In practical terms it looks like this:
Notice: “Dog ate your cookie?”
Name: “Shoot! Do you feel mad?”
Understand: “Darn it! That’s not what you wanted!
Notice: “You don’t feel like there is anyone to hang out with at school?”
Name: “Do you feel lonely?”
Understand; “Bummer, that makes sense. It feels good to be with people you enjoy.”
Notice: “Your sister has the water bottle you want to use?”
Name: “I see. That can feel frustrating, huh? You both want the same one.”
Understand: “Shucks. You were really wanting to use that.”

Leave space around the emotion. Ask open-ended curiosity questions like: How long have you felt this way? Have you ever felt this way before? Where do you notice it in your body? Let them describe the emotion to you and empathize some more. Augment the sense of emotional safety with additional connection such as eye-contact, proximity, and touch.

The last ingredient is time. Even with a connective response, it can still take anywhere from thirty seconds to an hour and beyond — depending on the intensity — for an emotion to express and for neurochemistry to shift. When emotional regulation is reattained, the emotional brain opens that golden gate and allows processing to move into the upper brain. Only when the child has regained access to their upper brain, does it make sense to troubleshoot the issue at hand, because only then will they have access to logic and problem-solving faculties.

Children’s brains aren’t developed enough to do this sort of processing of emotion on their own. They need us to walk with them through their emotions again and again. With practice their brains will hard-wire for this activity and they will no longer need us as guides.

When?
Emotions happen all the time because life happens all the time.
Sometimes we forget to send an important email, or we step in dog poop, or accidentally lock the keys in the car. These are perfect opportunities to model healthy emotional expression. Simply notice the arrival of the emotion, and name it. Modeling this sequence is powerful enough to set up a strong foundation for emotional literacy.

Sometimes our child loses their teddy bear, hates what’s for dinner, gets shampoo in their eyes, isn’t invited to a birthday party, or rips the seat of their jeans in algebra. These are perfect opportunities to stop yourself before you suggest brilliant solutions to their problems, or try to reassure them the issues aren’t anything to be upset about. These moments are ideal for helping them name those emotions instead, to nod understandingly and rub their backs, to connect with them until the emotions lose their grip.

(Once everyone is back in their upper brains you can still discuss where to look for the teddy, how to avoid shampoo in the eyes, different friend-making strategies, jean patching, and other solutions, but not before!)
Emotional interactions are not something to be saved up or scheduled on the calendar. If our children are to grow dynamic and powerful emotional brains these conversations should happen at least daily.

Why do we find something so simple so hard?
The majority of us did not receive this kind of emotional training as children. By watching our parents we learned strategies like stoicism, avoidance, achievement, and blame as ways to work around having feelings. We learned this subtly via body language and adult conversations, and also explicitly when we were punished for crying or lauded for being brave. We became neurally wired to hide emotions, overpower emotions, and avoid emotions, not to tenderly walk through them.

Later, we began noticing that most of our inherited childhood strategies simply don’t work. We were still feeling uncomfortable emotions and figured something was wrong with us. Many of us sought therapy and wrestled with our shame, convinced we were different from others, broken. Many of us were diagnosed with conditions and medicated. Our awareness of our emotions became dulled. We lived a flatter life, but at least we weren’t experiencing as much pain.

Now, embracing emotion feels challenging because we simply aren’t wired for it and have no practice with it. It’s like suddenly realizing we have another limb. We’re awkward and unskilled with it. The good news is that our brains are plastic — they can change — and brains are affected by one another. Each time we help our children to notice and name their feelings, each time we help them feel understood, our brains also receive that benefit. As we help our children to become emotionally literate we rewire our own brains for the same.

What if we don’t have children?
Many of us come up against this sort of thing because we have children and they have emotions all the time, so we have no choice but to get involved at some level. In many ways this is the greatest gift children bring us — an engagement with our own emotional terrain that we otherwise do our very best to avoid. But that emotional terrain exists whether or not we have kids. The good news is everything we offer them in the name of emotional support we can offer ourselves.

Don’t fix. When you notice anxiety, or frustration, or anger, stop yourself before you make a to-do list, start an internet search, or schedule an appointment. Remember feelings don’t get fixed. Whatever solution you think you may find is only an illusion, the feelings will simply wait for the next trigger, getting more potent all the while. Instead take some time, notice and name the feeling.

Connect. We tend to think that we need other people in order to experience connection, but self-connection is also very powerful. Offer yourself empathy for your emotional experience. Nurture yourself like you would a newborn — with a warm blanket, a gentle hand on the back of your neck — not as a way out of the emotion, but to give yourself the stamina and courage it takes to be with an emotion.

At first it will feel effortful (like moving that new limb would be) to identify what feelings we are feeling, and initially we may only be able to name a few basics like “mad” or “frustrated”. But the more we look, the more varied shades of emotion will emerge. The process of getting to know oneself and love oneself at this level is new and unfamiliar, but with continued practice we will get better at it.

We can do this.
We can raise our children to use emotions to their advantage, to walk through them gracefully and therefore to spring back easily and quickly from setbacks. We can nurture their emotional brains so well that meaningful relationships based on true connection form the fabric of their lives. We can offer ourselves the same level of emotional support. Embrace emotions that we have long tried to avoid through torturous, demeaning methods, and thus re-raise ourselves. Grow big powerful emotional brains capable of moving us through even our darkest hours. And find the kind of true connection of which we have as yet only dreamed.

Natalie Christensen is a Parenting and Life Coach, and co-founder of The Center For Emotional Education. Her aim is to support women and children in developing powerful emotional support systems that pave the way for lifelong success and happiness.

Comments

Adam Kimble
February 27, 2019 at 10:23 AM
Fantastic article! A skillful call to emotional integrity while acknowledging how and why this natural response evades us. Such an important topic.
Thank you Dr. Kelly Brogan for sharing. Your transparency and integrity is amazing!

Darla
February 27, 2019 at 10:37 AM
Thank you! Love this! It is so needed at this time of our existence.

SJ
February 27, 2019 at 5:26 PM
Great article on handling emotions. We are so trained to want to “fix” an emotional outbreak from our children or grandchildren. This was very helpful!! Thank you.

Pati Brandon
February 28, 2019 at 1:17 AM
Thank you! I noticed several simple strategies offered, felt grateful for the research and effort put into the explanation, and understand that we would all be so much happier if we could remember to put these ideas into practice!

Naomi Mintzer
February 28, 2019 at 3:41 PM
This article is an answer to one of the deepest prayers of my heart. I’ve been attempting to do all of the above for over a year now, without a clear understanding of HOW to do it. You explained something that was nearly impossible for me in the most simple, practical terms, and I feel extremely empowered and excited to begin the work. Thank you! Rise, sister, Rise!

Brenda Joyce
March 3, 2019 at 1:09 PM
Excellent and Important information. Thank you. One suggestion I would offer is to define a more clear distinction between “feelings” (take place in and are felt in/by the body) and “emotions” (feelings which are portrayed and expressed (emoted) to outside of the body. “Emotions” (energy in motion) express our “Feelings.”

Maria
March 10, 2019 at 11:45 AM
Oh thank you for this article! May as many adults as possible read it and rejoice!

-----

Hormonal Contraceptives Increase the Risk of Suicide and Suicide Attempts
by Kelly Brogan MD Team

More than 100 million women worldwide use hormonal contraception, and not just to avoid pregnancy. Many have other reasons for using hormonal contraceptives, such as alleviating menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, premenstrual syndrome or acne.

But at what cost?
A 17-year Danish study published in 2017 revealed a startling association between hormonal contraception and the risk of suicide and suicide attempts in women from ages 15 to 33 (Skovlund, 2017). These previously mentally healthy women had no prior history of suicide attempts, psychiatric diagnoses, or antidepressant use.
Yet, there were 6,999 first suicide attempts and 71 suicides among the 475,802 women who were followed in this study for 8.3 years, on average.
And these were just the suicidal behaviors that were known; that is, women who had a recorded diagnosis of suicide attempt or Cause of Death. The real numbers were likely higher.

While the side effects and other risks (such as ischemic stroke) of hormonal contraceptives are well-known, little attention has been paid to this life-threatening potential side effect. And, of course, suicide or attempted suicide is more than just a “side effect.”
Which Hormonal Contraceptives?

If you use hormonal contraceptives, you’re probably wondering: Which hormonal contraceptives are implicated? Here’s the list…
Combined Products Oral 50 μg Ethinylestradiol (Levonorgestrel);
20-40 μg Ethinylestradiol (Norethisterone, Levonorgestrel, Norgestimate, Desogestrel, Gestodene, Drospirenone, Cyproterone acetate)
Non-oral: Patch (norelgestromin) Vaginal ring (etonogestrel) Progestin-only products
Oral Progestin-only pills Noresthisterone Desogestrel

Which hormonal contraceptives are the most dangerous? For both suicide and suicide attempts, patch, vaginal ring, and progestin-only products were associated with higher risks than oral combined products. (You can explore the relative risks for specific products below.)

The “Hazard Ratio:” How High Is the Risk?
Following are some of the most important findings of the 2017 Copenhagen study (Skovlund, 2017):
The first couple of months of use are especially dangerous. Compared with never-use, the relative risk of suicide attempt rose twofold one month after initiation of hormonal contraceptive use, peaked after two months of use and remained at least doubled until one year after initiation. After one year of use, the risk decreased, but remained 30% higher (compared to never-users) after more than 7 years of use.

Adolescents are at greatest risk. A companion study found that mentally healthy adolescent women using hormonal conception experienced the highest risk of suicide or suicide attempt (Skovlund, 2016). Why? Adolescence, as we all know, is a period characterized by raging hormonal changes, not to mention shifting cultural and social demands — both of which could exacerbate the influence of any additional factor (such as hormonal contraceptives) that might cause mood disturbances. Researchers speculated that another possible factor could be the initiation of a first sexual relationship, which might increase the risk, for some, of a first suicide attempt or suicide.

Former hormonal contraceptive use was associated with an increased risk of suicide attempt and suicide. Researchers believed that the decrease in suicide risk after one year of use was likely due to “out-selection” — many women who developed adverse mood reactions while on hormonal contraceptives stopped using them. Sensitivity to mood disturbance (e.g., depression) in these particular women may explain the higher relative risk of suicide attempts and suicide in former users who return to hormonal contraception, rather than the fact that they were former users.

Researchers developed hazard ratios (relative risk) for suicide attempt and suicide for women 15–33 years of age who were hormonal contraception users, as compared with never-users, or those who had never used hormonal contraception.
Here’s how the hazard ratio works…
The never-users hazard ratio = 1.0, for both suicide and suicide attempt. But, as you’ll discover in the following charts, the hazard ratios for hormonal contraception users are all significantly greater than 1.0. (A hazard ratio of 2.0, for example would mean that the hormonal contraceptive user was more than twice as likely as the never-user to attempt suicide.)
General Risk of Suicide Attempt
For all women in the study group, ages 15-33, the overall relative risk among current and recent users was 1.97 for suicide attempt and 3.08 for suicide, compared to never-users.
Former users had a risk of 3.40 for a first suicide attempt and 4.82 for suicide.

Risk of Suicide Attempt By Product; Hazard Ratio; Oral Combined Products;
All oral combined 1.91 50 μg Ethinylestradiol
Levonorgestrel 2.78 20-40 μg Ethinylestradiol
Norethisterone 2.03 Levonorgestrel 1.81 Norgestimate 1.92 Desogestrel 1.89 Gestodene 1.88 Drospirenone 2.05 Cyproterone acetate 1.81
Non-Oral Patch (norelgestromin) 3.28 Vaginal ring (etonogestrel) 2.58 Progestin-only products
Oral Progestin-only pills 2.29 Noresthisterone 2.77 Desogestrel 2.01
Non-Oral Implant 4.42 Intrauterine (with levonorgestrel) 2.86 medroxyprogesterone acetate 6.52

The Depression Factor
Several studies have linked hormonal contraception to depression and adverse mood affects. A separate study by the Copenhagen researchers investigating the association between hormonal contraceptive use and risk of depression (Skovlund et al., 2016) found a 70% higher risk of depression among users of hormonal contraception, compared with never-users. These researchers found that use of hormonal contraception, especially among adolescents, was associated with subsequent use of antidepressants and a first diagnosis of depression.

The irony is that antidepressants, which are often prescribed to prevent suicide, have been linked to impulsive and violent behaviors, including suicide and homicide; in fact, they even carry a black box warning label of suicide risk.

If you’re following the implications here… for these women, the use of contraceptives has now launched a pill chase — they’re now taking a second drug to “fix” the problem that the first drug caused, not to mention that adding an antidepressant further increases the risk of completed suicide, let alone a long list of additional adverse effects. Vicious cycle!

Brain Chemicals and the HPA Axis
The Copenhagen researchers suggest that one explanation for the increased risk in suicidal behaviors is that hormonal contraceptives likely have a direct influence on the neurotransmitters and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system involved in stress regulation and the neurobiology of suicidal behaviors (Sokolowski & Wasserman, 2015). The rapid increase in first suicide attempts within a month after initiation of hormonal contraception appears to provide support for this theory.
The HPA axis is a brain-body circuit that plays a critical role in how we respond to stressors; it’s responsible for the neuroendocrine adaptation component of the stress response. It includes three components — the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenal glands — and is regulated by an area of the amygdala, which acts as (the emotion factory — “Alert Central”). The HPA axis is a complex and dynamic intertwining of the central nervous system and endocrine (hormones) system, that when stimulated by stressors, releases “alarm chemicals” such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol, ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) and CRF (corticotropin-releasing factor).

Hyperactivity of the HPA axis has been associated with major depressive disorder, as well as to suicide attempt in people with depression (Jokinen & Nordstrom, 2009; Li et al., 2013). The Li study found that cortisol levels increased with the increase in severity of depressive symptoms.
But other studies have found that blunted or hypoactive HPA axis activity (such as lower resting cortisol) can also increase the risk for suicide attempt among people with a history of mental health problems (particularly a family history of suicidal behaviors) because it reduces their ability to respond adaptively to ongoing stressors (Melham et al., 2015). And interestingly, those who were taking antidepressants also had lower total output and baseline cortisol levels, which raises the question: Were the antidepressants actually contributing to the increased risk of suicide attempt? A revealing study suggests just that.
The common thread between these HPA axis studies is the parallel fluctuations in cortisol levels and severity of depressive symptoms. So, it’s important to understand that HPA axis dysfunction in depression is a state rather than a trait, which means that it’s always reversible for women who discontinue the use of hormonal contraceptives when they’re dysregulating HPA axis functioning.

So, What should Hormonal Contraceptive Users Do?
It’s important to remember that the 71 suicides and 6,999 first suicide attempts in the Danish study were committed by women who were considered to be mentally healthy before they started using hormonal contraception. Researchers screened for mental health problems, though, in fairness, recognized that some of these women could have had undiagnosed, untreated mental health disorders, or that one may have developed during the 17-year study period.

Still…
Those hazard ratios, which for some hormonal contraceptives, double (or triple or even quadruple) the risk of suicide attempt, demonstrate that women who are using these contraceptives should, at the very least, vigilantly monitor mood, listen to what their bodies are telling them.
Considering the life-threatening severity of this little-recognized potential “side effect” of hormonal contraceptives, you may want to explore other natural alternatives.

Comments

Manon Pelletier
February 13, 2019 at 6:20 AM
Mindblowing. Please do a follow up for pre/menopausal women who go on hormones, and get so much worse. From what I’ve read, progesterone affects GABA receptors and exasperate depressive thoughts. Mixing progesterone, benzodiazepines, hypnnotics is a recipe for disaster. More women need to know this.

Patricia M Fisher
March 3, 2019 at 6:20 AM
This is something I have experienced in my life and now 68 yrs old.

Poca
February 13, 2019 at 10:30 AM
You’re sooo brilliant Dr. Brogan—THANK YOU SOOO VERY MUCH, for putting the truth out there!! I’ve had my suspicions for quite sometime, and I’m sooo glad that FINALLY the TRUTH is coming to light!! Thank you for your courage and bravery in speaking out about theses chemicals, synthetic drugs, that are NOT healthy for mankind. I wholeheartedly appreciate your profound research backing it ALL up!!🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 ~Poca

Patricia M Fisher
March 3, 2019 at 6:32 AM
I agree with you.

Danielle
February 13, 2019 at 11:30 AM
What to do when you have a premature menopause? Then you need hormones? Without hormones at a young age you can develop all sort of aging related diseases! I must admit with or without hormones can be a very challenging task. Is there any advice?

Gaylee
February 14, 2019 at 2:08 PM
What about the use of hormone creams such as Estrace (estradiol) to treat vaginal symptoms in menopausal women. Are the same risks involved?

Krysia
February 18, 2019 at 1:31 PM
Thank you Kelly for sharing this research. Back in 2010 my GP prescribed me Cerazette. I had previously had the mirena coil. Within a week my mood had changed. I felt irritable and low. Within 3 weeks I was screaming at my children, hating myself and having ‘dark thoughts’. This was totally out of character! I was in a new relationship with an amazing man who also noticed a change in my behaviour! After 4 weeks I had made the decision to put myself out of my misery and do my family a favour by milking myself. I looked up how to commit suicide on the internet and was going to take my life the following morning as my children were going to their father. That night as I was falling asleep I clearly heard the word ‘pill’ I leapt out of bed and looked up cerazette side effects on forums and couldn’t believe how many women had suffered the same symptoms!! I stopped taking the pill and the change was astounding!! Happiness flooded in. When I told my Dr. she said that I was 1 in a million – unlucky and refused to fill in a adverse side effects form!! How many women die because of the pill?!! I’d say more than 1 in a million. And isn’t 1 woman’s life worth saving? Thank you for the work that you do. 💖

Krysia
February 18, 2019 at 1:32 PM
Predictive text!!! Killing myself not milking myself!!! 😂

pat brannan
February 25, 2019 at 8:45 PM
kelly, I just want to say thanku. Peter Breggin, toxic psychiatry. What a scary book. antidepressants are poison for the soul. but my gp did not tell me that. Thanks Kelly for your continued time helping us recover.. I am Pat Brannan, 62 heterosexual male, made impotent by prosac.
Praise to you and all the other light workers.
alanis morissette, Thanku

Patricia M Fisher
March 3, 2019 at 6:41 AM
Yes, Kelly, thank you so much for your research. I realize I am probably the “medical miracle” one female internist who didn’t believe what I had experienced and prescribed another antidepressant. I immediately stopped going to her, but unfortunately returned to a psychiatrist who use to have me read as he said “monogram and let me know what you think about trying this medication”.

Shasha
March 3, 2019 at 12:49 PM
Since this is not real progesterone and estrogen dominance can block thyroid and lower oxygen burning in the brain/body.

-----

How Long Does Antidepressant Withdrawal Last?
by Kelly Brogan MD Team

You board a flight for a stated destination, expecting to arrive within six hours. You can tolerate the hardships inherent in typical air travel, especially since you’re motivated by the anticipated result of getting from point A to the more desirable point B. But 12 hours later, the plane you boarded is still stuck on the tarmac because of unexpected and unexplained “mechanical problems.” Had they only informed you ahead of time, you would have made other arrangements. You would have avoided your prolonged misery… and the unforeseen delay in gratification.

Nobody wants to sign up for a complicated and enduring process, either en route to a planned geographic destination or on a personal journey to health and wellness. While these occurrences are relatively uncommon on airlines, they are increasingly prevalent in the world of modern medicine. Antidepressant drugs, for example, are routinely prescribed without informing patients that the exit plan may involve excruciating delays and complex withdrawal.

Withdrawal Can Be a Years-Long Struggle
A new study analyzing withdrawal symptoms for patients coming off of antidepressants was published in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine. Authored by researchers at three British universities, this particular study focused on the characteristics of withdrawal associated with SSRIs and SNRIs, including time of onset, duration, and the nature of the symptoms.

They studied self-reporting by approximately 173 people using a website that aims to help those dealing with antidepressant withdrawal.
There were some differences in the withdrawal characteristics reported, based on the specific class of antidepressants. Neurological symptoms including “brain zaps”— a sensation resembling an electric shock inside the head—were more common, for instance, among SNRI users. On the other hand, psychosexual/genitourinary symptoms were reported more frequently by SSRI users.

Adding insult to injury, everyone in this study reported a prolonged experience of drug withdrawal.
The mean duration of withdrawal symptoms reported by those discontinuing the use of SNRI drugs was 50.8 weeks—almost a full year. The corresponding length of time withdrawal persisted for those who had been prescribed SSRI was nearly twice as long—more than 90 weeks.

These Drugs Aren’t Yet Fully Vetted
Patient feedback is teaching the reality of psychiatric medication dependence, currently absent from prescriber training, and largely unacknowledged by conventional physicians. Insights around withdrawal complications did not emerge in the published literature until recently, and is not likely to be formally studied by drug production companies themselves. The medical and pharmaceutical community downplays the issue of withdrawal from SNRI and SSRI drugs by labeling it “discontinuation syndrome.” But that’s an inadequate, misleading definition. Studies confirm that withdrawal may occur even without full-blown discontinuation. Symptoms may arise if a dose is skipped, for instance, or when your dosage is therapeutically decreased.

Not only can withdrawal symptoms present themselves, but relapse or recurrence of the original complaint for which the antidepressants were prescribed can occur without root cause resolution interventions in place. But there’s another aspect to withdrawal that is too often ignored…

Patients are Unwittingly Deprived of Self-Empowerment
The patient experiencing the pain of withdrawal stopped taking their antidepressants with realistic expectations. They believed that they would feel better, and regain their sense of independent self.

After all, they aren’t ingesting pills purchased illegally in some back alley from a street-level dealer. They’re under the vigilant care of a board-certified medical professional who has vowed, first and foremost, to do no harm. But despite those reassurances, they find themselves in a world of hurt. They are challenged by a whole host of withdrawal symptoms comparable if not exceeding those experienced by people addicted to alcohol or narcotics.

That experience may convince them that they have failed to heal and can never be well without dependence on antidepressant drugs. They may subsequently experience feelings of self-betrayal for wanting to discontinue the drugs, or shame of failure. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that the unintended outcomes from taking psychotropic medications, and attempting to discontinue them, even include suicide.

There Are Positive, Proactive Alternatives
The ugly, often unspoken truth is that these medications are habit-forming and debilitating. The withdrawal symptoms they precipitate can potentially undermine your ability to commit to the process of healing with a positive and determined attitude of self-empowerment. That increases the risk of relapse, which is why psychiatrist Peter Breggin called drug withdrawal programs “the most urgently needed intervention in the field of psychiatry.”

Patients need to be fully informed of the inherent risks of these drugs, and the adverse of impact of withdrawal. Otherwise they are robbed of their ability to gain objective perspective and reframe the experience with a view toward sustainable healing.

There are positive alternatives, and a way to improve physical, emotional, and spiritual resiliency through an upfront commitment to a healing protocol such as that offered in A Mind of Your Own and our online program. Our success stories derive from the fact that mindset is a key factor in the medication taper and discontinuation process. Because of this, patients have dramatically reduced the time it takes to discontinue their meds, while significantly reducing the withdrawal symptoms, and come to know a new and vital person beneath their prescriptions. They have overcome their challenges, without the additional burden of severe, unintended withdrawal symptoms. See what these individuals have to say about their journeys, and spread the word so that more are informed about psychiatric medication withdrawal and what might be required to navigate it safely.

Comments

Iris Whitelock
January 30, 2019 at 6:46 AM
Hi Kelly – I have been receiving your email newsletters for a couple of years now, and bought your book. I had the experience of a protracted “coming off” Zoloft some years ago, never having been warned of withdrawal, and wondering if I was in fact doing the right thing. Mindset is absolutely the most important thing, and fundamental to kicking the “habit” of the drugs as well as the depression. What I lacked at the time was a sense of who I was, and a purpose bigger than being a mum or carrying out a particular role at work. I am now happier, energised, and resilient – having woken up to my purpose and valuing the contribution I am here to make in my life. Thank you for your affirming emails – it is so important for women and people living with depression to be able to hear a voice from the medical “fraternity” that supports and encourages healing through self-empowerment. Keep on doing your good work – it is so needed! Kind regards, Iris Whitelock (Australia)
Reply

Tara
January 30, 2019 at 8:25 AM
I quit antidepressants after being on them for 22 years with only a few days withdrawal using NAD+ IV therapy. After 10 days of outpatient treatment in the NAD IV clinic, I left there a new woman. It’s been 2 months since treatment and I feel amazing. I eat clean whole food, no dairy, sugar or gluten. I drink bone broth daily, do yoga and take CBD tincture 2x/day. I never felt this good ever. No suicidal thoughts, no laying in bed all day. I’m cooking & being a mom & working. I’m finally happy after 22 years of hell. It’s all from NAD+ IV therapy.
Reply

Sherry Dearborn
February 8, 2019 at 9:31 AM
What is NAD therapy and how does anyone get into it? I am contemplating getting off25 years of depression meds. Past attempts were so horrendous that my husband wants me on meds forever. Tapering meds in a capsule doesn’t work .
Reply

Kelli Saginak
January 30, 2019 at 8:48 AM
Thank you, Kelly! Such important information for consumers. I was stuck in the tarmac with Citalopram for three months…that’s how long it took me to wean myself off the prescription and ease my brain through the withdrawal. . . and I had to do it on my own. When I wanted to stop taking the drug, my doctor challenged me, “Don’t you want quality of life?” “Yes, that’s why I want off the stuff,” I replied. After three years, I didn’t feel anything! I was numb emotionally, which was not quality of life for me. He explained the 10-day process, which did not work for me. The side effects of lowering the dose were staggering, so I had to create my own weaning-off process. I have been off medication for years now and will not return. Thanks for all you do!
Reply

Irene Warner
February 4, 2019 at 6:13 AM
Excellent ! Im proud of you . Im dealing with hardships myself . It seems more real , like not my illnessbut the community and political, scary .I know i m doing this right . I feel like im doing this right , I need time and to continue . I started with no sugar , no dairy no gluten and then full organic everything , getting to the mattress and filtered bathroom sink eventually. I m thinking about acupuncture . I need time and to continue and moving a new chapter , moving and forgetting the horrible past and live right with my son and dog . Thank you and I will comment again later .
Reply

Steve
January 30, 2019 at 9:17 AM
I’ve just started reading ” A Mind of Your Own ” and following blog posts, working through Calm Body, Clear Mind . Does KB, MD have comments on Ambien, Lunesta, etc ?
Reply

Pam
January 30, 2019 at 9:34 AM
Kelly have you heard of Topical Steroid Addication/Withdrawal. So many similarities here in terms of the depth of suffering experienced when the medication you were told would help you and is the only offering from your dermatologist, stops working for you. This includes immunosuppressants. It also takes a year on average for your body to get over the worst of the symptoms when you stop Topical and oral steroids. Unfortunately tapering is not really on option like with psychiatric drugs. It’s a complete crisis that the medical community in general doesn’t recognize this condition.
Reply

Deborah Graham
January 30, 2019 at 9:36 AM
Thank you very much for writing this blog. It was just what I needed to read! I went off Effexor in May 2018 and here it is January 2019 and I am still struggling daily. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t contemplate going back on the RX. I won’t!!! I am reading your book and learning how to cope and get to the place where I am whole again without medication. I have followed you for years and my dream has been to meet you one day. For now, I will continue this journey with your blogs and book. Thank you!
Reply

Matty
February 3, 2019 at 4:18 PM
I was on anti-depressants for better part of 33 yrs., going from major depression to “bi-polar” diagnosis. Finally, on 2 antidepressants & 1 anti-seizure drug, I was unable to function on any level. Psychiatrist refused to safely help me withdraw from the living nightmare I’d become. Determined to see life without these damaging drugs, I began to wean myself using Omega 3 fish oils to protect my brain during withdrawals, I dropped one pill a week, then two, then went to meds every other day all the while taking 3 tablespoons of fish oil a day. Burping was far better than staring at walls, smoking non-stop and wishing I was dead every day & frightening my daughter. After 3 months I began opening capsules and shaking some out, it took 9 months & my feelings fluctuated wildly but I was feeling, instead of being in the long time chemical strait jacket, where I could neither laugh nor cry. The doctor said I would have a total mental breakdown. Instead I began walking, then doing yoga, then stopped smoking and then began eating whole foods, doing volunteer work and repairing all my relationships from years of depression. Yes, this took time and yes it was difficult. At no time did I ever wish to go back to the dead life of antidepressants. I stopped in 1999, am now 70 yrs. old and have had nothing but a few blue days in all these years. My life is happier than ever, I’m healthier than I was at 35 and it was totally worth it. Thank God for Kelly Brogan, MD. The work you are doing is life saving, and restores people to the friends and families who thought they’d lost you. As time goes by, I look back and wonder how I ever existed on those soul numbing drugs. If this is all new to you, I urge you to stay with a plan, the reward is being completely alive, truly being able to feel the love of family and knowing you are a whole person not someone whose entire identity is depression. If only A Mind of Your Own had been available to me then. Happiness is out there, you’ve got to reach out of the antidepressant haze and hug life, for real.
Reply

Juan
February 22, 2019 at 4:28 AM
Beautiful testimony. Dr Kelly and your testimony is a motivating blessing.

Donna Z.
January 30, 2019 at 10:00 AM
This exact thing happened to me and it took me 15 mths to “come down” as I always described it… My brain had terrible trouble readjusting. I shook and sweat throughbwithdrwal by myself in my bed for 3wks. I got no help from any Dr and when I was in the ER again after my withdrawal and the seizures I had stopped by me stopping all the damn drugs they had me on and the seroquel that was caus8ng my seizures and the dum drs told me I was an epileptic…..I would tell them…so they wouldn’t prescribe any for me any more that in HAD BECOME ADDICTED TO THE ANTI DRPRESSANTS THEY HAD HAD ME ON….and do you know what they wrote in my chart that will follow me forever….that patient states she was a former prescription drug addict. Lovely, huh?! And I am a nurse. I trusted all of them….and there is so much more to my story of n years of abuse by drs …but to say I now suffer PTSD is putting it mildly bc now I have zero faith or trust in drs bc if the degree of ignorance and arrogance that most exhibit and in my head I have no one to turn to if I were to be in need. They take great liberties with our bodies and lives and they are most often wrong in what they do to us. It pains me to say this and to feel this way…..

Brenda Astor, RN, DCN
January 30, 2019 at 10:08 AM
Hello. Am a Jungian oriented holistic nurse working in Residential Addiction Recovery with women and children for the past 15+years. In holistic behavioral health for decades. I am extremely concerned about the methods of treatment and how they are presented by prescribers to our people with co-occurring disorders. I think your newsletter especially on the use of anti depressants and anti anxiety would be helpful to our clients. Would love to find a center that practices what you teach in south Florida and Boston. Thank you for your wonderful and kind work.

Doreen turner
January 30, 2019 at 10:45 AM
I gave up antidepressants for 7 months only to give up and start on them again

nico
January 30, 2019 at 10:47 AM
What a great article and and what a nice comparison with a flight with delay.

Robin Murray
January 30, 2019 at 10:58 AM
I have been on Effexor for 21 years and want desperately to come off but can’t stand the withdrawal symptoms. I am emotionless bye to the medicine. I have no emotions. I hate it! I think I will have to be in a facility to get off of it!

Mark Kane
February 13, 2019 at 5:42 AM
I have also been on Effexor 150mg a day since 2002. I’m trying to get off of it as well and have decreased by 33 percent over the last month with minimal withdrawal symptoms. Please try to taper yourself off

Joy Markman
January 30, 2019 at 11:12 AM
Came off my anti-depressant – went mad – back on an SSRI nothing I can do.

Dani
January 30, 2019 at 11:17 AM
Hi Dr. Brogan,
I was wondering if you have found similar side effects when withdrawing from Adderall or other prescribed stimulants?

David
January 30, 2019 at 11:50 AM
I am currently taking anti depressants. Much of this is being pushed on me by my current wife. I understand addictions very well, since I was an opiate addict for years, took enough to kill me many times over, but did not die–or did I? I was in a motorcycle accident 9 years ago, in which two physicians thought that I would die, and the head nurse thought that if I lived, I would be in a coma for the rest of my life. I survived! I could not appropriately communicate with others for months, but I survived that as well. However, I have found myself doing a great deal of research into quantum physics, the multiverse, parallel universes, near death experiences, and the simulation theories. And, I could not even communicate before! Am I surprised? Yes, I am. I do not trust allopathic medicine anymore at all, but I realize that there are good people who are involved in it–it’s what they were raised with. If anyone is interested in communicating with me, please feel free to do so. I would love to find more great friends!!!

Shane
February 3, 2019 at 9:10 PM
Hi David, I can relate to your experiences and have been through very similar things. I also delved deep into the topics you mentioned and love going down the rabbit hole as far as it will take me. Also would like to have some more like minded friends who are on a level that goes beyond the day to day grind of the modern corrupted world we live in !!! Feel free to contact me and say hi. Shane

Julie
January 30, 2019 at 1:10 PM
I love this article and I am wondering how long do you think it would take me to go off my antidepressant as I’ve been on it at least 25 years?
I have your book, A Mind of Your Ownand have read it. The past three years I’ve been struggling with fatigue due to Hashimotos.
Reply

Scott
January 30, 2019 at 1:42 PM
This is such valuable information! Thank you!

Erica Quinn
January 30, 2019 at 5:24 PM
Thank you Kelly. It is like this article is talking straight to me. I will keep fighting!

Dave
January 30, 2019 at 6:16 PM
I have enjoyed reading the messages from your e-mails. Thank you Dave Taylor

Kay
February 1, 2019 at 1:31 AM
Thank you so much for your article.
Coming off Effexor was difficult for me – but there is hope. After five years of being on it, I took a year to taper off the meds and that was in 2006-2007. It was not easy, but it was no longer working for me and my brain was uncomfortable – zaps. After fully getting off, my body did not respond to any of life stresses – lots of body aches and pains; I didn’t understand what was going on and doctors had no idea as well. Fast forward to today, I have memory issues and if I stay up late, I still get faint zaps and sensations in my neck and back of head. Fortunately, with the support of my (very understanding and patient partner) I am determined to eat better and have armed myself with more tools in my emotional tool box to deal with life. I have thought about going back on the meds, but after what I went through, I feel like it can be potentially tough on the mind and body.

Lisa
February 1, 2019 at 3:54 PM
I had a terrible experience, the worst in my life, lasting 18 months in withdrawal from 25 years of SSRI’s. The physicality of nonstop agitation and panic led to exhaustion of the mind, body and spirit – and several attempts at ending my life. Without help from the medical community for assistance or even acknowledgment I went back on an SSRI and a Mood Stabilizer. Knowing more at this point, I see what I am up against if I want/need to try again. Even after beginning the new round of these medications it has taken a full year to gain basic levels of concentration, mental focus, and short term memory. I have felt so traumatized by the whole experience. Dr. Brogan, I want to thank you for your research and all your efforts to inform, educate and empathize with all who are touched by this illness.

Britt lee
March 7, 2019 at 11:28 PM
What dose were you on??

Vicky
February 1, 2019 at 4:03 PM
I suspected there would be withdrawal symptoms from anti-depressants, especially after an experience an acquaintance of mine had. I used to see her around and then she disappeared. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw her at a Christmas event at a group home for the mentally ill. I thought she was an employee there, but she told me after the show she had a breakdown when her doctor stopped her anti-depressant prescription cold turkey. She said she wasn’t able to function without help after that, thus having to live in a group home. Recently I was alarmed when the doctor was quick to offer an anti-depressant prescription to my daughter when she said she felt depressed at a check up. I know several people on anti-depressants and none of them have been off of them since they started. This can’t be good for the mind or body.

Jools Lewis
February 2, 2019 at 5:37 PM
Thanks for this.
I’ve been on 300mg or more of Effexor XR for 10 years, and 375mg for the last 4 years. About 7 months ago I decided that I’d like to reduce my dose (for a variety of reasons).
I was already aware of withdrawal syndrome, both from reading and experience (ever missed a dose? Eurgh. I missed 2 doses once – never again!) My psychiatrist had left the service a couple of months before, and nobody knew when a new one would arrive, so I did a lot of research on how to reduce the dose safely, and 5 months ago I started doing it on my own (this is not recommended, obviously). After experimenting a lot, I found a system that worked for me: I cut my dose by 12.5mg every 12 days, but I’d wait longer if the withdrawal symptoms hadn’t decreased to almost nothing by day 12.
I reached 300mg after 4 months and I stuck there for a month, until I saw the new psychiatrist. He wasn’t particularly pleased when I told him what I’d been doing, but he seemed to understand my method and my concerns. I told him that I’d like to continue, and we agreed that 225mg was a good goal.
5 days later I went to pick up my prescriptions and found that I’d only been given 225mg capsules. Multiple phone calls established that the psych thought I was being too cautious and he’d unilaterally decided that I should just drop the next 62.5mg overnight. !! It took days to get him to call me, at which point I explained everything again: the horrendous symptoms caused by missing even 1 full dose (I missed 2 doses once – never again!); withdrawal syndrome in general; my research (including journal papers, which I gave him references to); how I’d reached the method I was using; etc. He pooh-poohed it all and basically told me to trust him.
I kept going with my established method for 12 days while I tried to figure out what to do, which meant that I was going to run out of meds early. Eventually my self-doubt/self-hatred convinced me that I probably was being too cautious, so I dropped my dose from 287.5mg to 250mg in one fell swoop.
Oh. My. God. It has taken me over 3 weeks to get back to some semblance of functionality. My housemates were so concerned at one point that they almost called an ambulance (thank goodness they called my partner, instead). I’m on 300mg again, and I’m still not right. The psych doesn’t believe me, and he clearly hasn’t even skimmed the papers I told him about. What now?
I’m stumped.

Jory
February 3, 2019 at 3:40 PM
After multitude years of Zoloft, this info. so enlightens me. I thought my “solitary confinment” to this drug was terminal with no help at hand. Sort of a quiet secret that no one would approach and a self shaming went with that! Thank you for bringing this to light, it is a relief in just knowing the wide spread problems with others, concerning this easily prescribed solution from the medical field. I am grateful.

Irene Warner
February 4, 2019 at 6:20 AM
It’s awesome , stay with the diet .I’ve read the book and waiting for vital mindset .

Heather
February 4, 2019 at 12:04 PM
I was put on Paxil at age 17. At age 22 over Christmas weekend I ran out. I was writhing screaming crying and would have killed myself or another if I had access to a gun. I was clearly out of my mind and my body was in physical crisis. I think about the power those pills had over me without taking them for two days. Back then we didn’t know it was withdrawl. But after that I was terrified to get off of them. I told my doc what happened and only after 7 more years of use did a nurse practitioner actually acknowledge what I was saying. Otherwise the silence around my withdrawal from professionals was deafening. At 29 I became pregnant and was still taking 1/8 of my pill instead of the plan they put me on because the withdrawal was so intense. Only after SLOW weaning could I do it. It was an intense physical withdrawal reaction in my brain and body with intense emotional upheaval. Awful.
I stumbled into Alanon a support group for families of Alcoholics due to a family member’s addiction and learned a different perspective of addiction and realized for the first time that I was addicted also. The connection of other members and the freedom of following a spiritual path of my own choosing has been the only thing that has ever kept me out of depression. Reading the literature and hearing the shares of members normalizes human struggle, sadness, grief and anger while highlighting tools and various solutions instead of dwelling in the problems and situations we cannot control. I believe today our experiences “good and bad” can be used to help other people still suffering. I believe connection to others that have suffered and have found a way out is the antidote to depression, addiction, and anxiety when you find somebody that shares your experience. The word “God” in the 12 steps often freaks people out but is defined by the member and AA or Alanon is not allied with any religion. Many members use Love as their “God of our understanding” Addiction is a dirty word here in Wisconsin. Ironically, we are known for our heavy drinking. But as long as you work hard and are somewhat functional you are just another “good time Charlie.” My friends need a glass (bottle) of wine nightly to cope with raising their kids. Unless shame is removed from the word addition (all addictions) I feel like antidepressant withdrawal is lonely, painful, and potentially deadly for many. It almost was for me.

Michelle
February 21, 2019 at 5:19 AM
Hi I’ve was on Effexor for 8 years and then Cymbalta 60mg for 11 years and still currently taking Cymbalta. My doctor wants me to stop taking the Cymbalta and immediately start Zoloft the next day. Is this safe?

BROOKE ADAMS
February 21, 2019 at 9:52 AM
I am trying to get off Celexa which I have been on for 10 years following a disastrous attempt to get off of Zoloft which I had been on for 10 years. I have gone from 20mg every day to 20 mg. every other day. Can I just keep reducing it and how quickly can I do that? So far I haven’t had any bad symptoms from the withdrawal. Thank you.

Michael Blizzard
February 23, 2019 at 12:37 PM
It is Dr Kelly Brogan who inspired me to seek a holistic psychiatrist for help after a 15 year exposure to the horrific drug Paxil. Prescribed for Panic and GAD by my PCP, the drug stole years from my life and left me damaged and desperate.
I went through the very typical path of trying to stop the medication I was told wasn’t addictive only to experience hellish symptoms and being told it was original illness and that I obviously needed to be on the drug. Like diabetics need insulin I needed Paxil.
I gained weight on Paxil, developed Obstructive sleep apnea, and increased alcohol intake. I became prediabetic with an elevated A1C. 15 years of being numb and the physiological toll inspired me to discontinue this drug once and for all. So I embarked on what I thought was a responsible taper off this medication.
I had the usual symptoms, brain zaps, mood swings, agitation as I tapered down from 20 mg to 2.5 mg over about 6 months. Nothing I wasn’t willing to endure to get off this medication. Then I crashed. Words cant really describe what it was like. Auditory hallucinations, disturbing night terror dreams, unrelenting insomnia that was maddening. Then the Panic attacks started mostly when driving. I was borderline unable to function and questioned whether I could hold my high pressure job. Then the akathesia hit. Very hard to describe feeling of crawling in your own skin with no relief. Suicide seemed like a logical act. And not just because of the suffering. Its was a disturbing mindset.
I tried to increase my dose of Paxil to no relief. Desperate I had a Psych NP prescribe Prozac. I went up to 40 mg and discontinued the Paxil and went through a rough few months. I began to stablize slowly. The Psyche NP then wanted to add medication (wellbutrin) and I decided it was time to find another clinician. I came across Dr Brogan during one of my internet searches and she seemed to make a whole lot of sense. I searched holistic psychiatry and found a local Psychiatrist who very much like Dr Brogan was trained in traditional psychiatry but moved away from the psychiatric medication philosophy and trained to employ holistic methods to treat mental illness.
He switched me to liquid prozac and and along with supplements, diet change, and exercise I have been slowly tapering Prozac. Currently I am down to 6mg from 40mg over about a year and a half.
The crime committed by the prescription of these drugs is abhorrent. Unaware and with no idea I listened to my doctor. Years lost and with legacy effects I wonder how these medications became so widely prescribed and can only conclude it was for greed. Bitter and angry I do my best to do my part to share my experience in the hopes of sparing others. Maintaining a positive mind set at times can be difficult. Healing is slow. The trauma I experienced is always in the back of my mind and going to that place again scares me.
At 51 I hope to be off this medication within a year. But I will go as slow I as need to. The healthier you are through diet and exrecise is key.

virgie lourdes
February 28, 2019 at 9:14 AM
I just wanna share my experience in medical marijuana and it helps me deal with my health conditions. I’ve been suffering from chronic pain for how many years, but then when I learned that medical marijuana can help and cure sickness such mine like this article about marijuana kylekushman.com/topic/budworms/and THC They are also new to me and I do not even smoke. If this is true I can not find any solid conclusive evidence that speaks to its efficacy.