90: A Mind Of Your Own: Tackling Mental Illness and Fixing Hormones with Dr. Kelly Brogan

In one of my favorite episodes of all time, Dr. Kelly Brogan and I go deep on how to beat depression, anxiety, and other problems with a root-cause approach. We also delve into hormone balance, what to do when blood tests are wrong, and the only non-negotiable part of her protocol for everyone.

Dr. Brogan’s opinions on psychiatric drugs, health, and even motherhood caught my attention early on, and I’ve been an avid follower ever since. This is seriously one of my favorite interviews, ever, and a real bucket list item for me!

Sitting Down with Kelly Brogan MD (S0 Awesome!)

Dr. Kelly Brogan has the training and credentials that make you sit up and listen.

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. Dr. Brogan is board certified in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and integrative holistic medicine.

She serves on the boards of GreenMedInfo, Functional Medicine University, Pathways to Family Wellness, NYS Perinatal Association, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Mindd Foundation, the peer-reviewed, indexed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, and the Nicholas Gonzalez Foundation. She is also Medical Director for Fearless Parent and a founding member of Health Freedom Action.

A Radical Approach to Healing Mental Illness

In her practice Dr. Kelly Brogan takes a radical approach for an Ivy League-trained psychiatrist and pharmaceutical expert: she helps her patients heal psychiatric conditions and symptoms without medication.

Despite the controversy, Dr. Brogan’s not shy about why she put down the prescription pad. She vetted her new beliefs about health through thousands of hours of medical research. (She shares my love for PubMed!) What she uncovered led her to realize that much of her medical training was simply behind the times, ignoring the most current scientific research … and was frighteningly wrong.

Today Dr. Brogan works with real passion to bring her patients to holistic healing. In addition to running her practice, she wrote the international and NY Times bestselling book on healing depression, A Mind of Your Own, as well as the awesome e-book Change Your Food, Heal Your Mood. And if you don’t live near her Manhattan practice, she offers a complete wellness program online called Vital Mind Reset. (See the Resources section below for links!)

But enough of my gushing … on to the interview!

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• Dr. Brogan’s own struggle with Hashimoto’s and what it uncovered
• the major problem no one is talking about when it comes to mental health
• why this Ivy League trained doctor tore up her prescription pad … for good
• the holistic treatment plan that can heal even serious mental illness, without medications
• the one non-negotiable part of Dr. Brogan’s protocol for everyone!
• reasons that incidence of mental illness is escalating (even though we supposedly have better treatments)
• the surprising way mental illness is diagnosed (and the gaping hole in the process)
• hormone imbalances that manifest as mental illness but aren’t
• key clues to look for to tell if blood tests are wrong
• how the thyroid and the immune system interface … and how it can manifest as mental illness when they get out of balance
• common antigenic foods that can wreck mental health
• how Dr. Brogan’s outcomes are so much different than regular practices
• the reason Dr. Brogan won’t prescribe hormonal contraceptives (even though she took them for 12 years)
• why psychoneuroimmunology is important to you … even if you don’t know it!
• how to take back your power and determine your own healing
• and more!

Resources We Mention:

• kellybroganmd.com
• The Vital Mind Reset
• Book: A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Woman Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives
• Article: Alcoholism: Is It A Disease?
• Article: Healing from Depression and Psychiatric Medication with Community

What do you think of Dr. Kelly Brogan and her radical approach to mental illness? Have you experienced some of the things she’s talking about? Please share!

Special Thanks to Today’s Sponsors

This podcast is brought to you by Kettle and Fire Bone Broth. If you love the benefits of bone broth but don’t love the time it takes to make and how tough it can be to find quality bones to make it, Kettle and Fire is for you! They have the first grass-fed (and grass-finished) non-perishable bone broth and it is ah-mazing! You can find them in many Whole Foods on the west coast and you can also order online from here.

Their bone broth is a regular staple in my kitchen these days, and it was what I used to create the recipes in my new bone broth e-book (releasing later this year). Give Kettle and Fire bone broth a try and support a company making a difference in our food industry!

This episode is also sponsored by Plant Therapy. There are so many options out there when it comes to essential oils and I’ve used a lot of them over the years. Now I most often turn to Plant Therapy because they have a
large assortment of organic oils and a whole lot of kid-safe blends. (It doesn’t hurt that they also have really good prices!) Their oils have no additives or synthetic ingredients and they publish their testing results for all of their oils so you can verify the quality.

Their kid-safe blends are formulated by Robert Tisserand, who is largely considered one of the foremost experts in essential oil safety, so I feel I can trust him. If you want to check them out, right now they’re running some big sales that are changing daily. Go to wellnessmama.com/go/oils to get all the current discounts.