#174: What If It’s Not Depression with Dr. Achina Stein

More than 60 million Americans are affected by mental health issues every year. While the conventional medicine approach focuses on balancing neurotransmitters in the brain through medication, the Functional Medicine approach is to look for the root cause. There’s a saying in Functional Medicine, “fire in the gut, fire in the brain.” If you have inflammation, or dysbiosis in the gut, then it’s going to produce an inflammatory response that in turn affects the brain. On today’s Broken Brain Podcast, our host Dhru talks to Dr. Achina Stein, an osteopathic physician and board-certified psychiatrist. She is certified by the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine and is a certified practitioner of the Institute for Functional Medicine. Dr. Stein has extensive experience working with children and adults who have chronic and persistent mental health problems in the community at large, in the prison population, and in a geriatric inpatient setting. Dr. Stein is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and received the NAMI-RI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award in 2008. She is presently in private practice in Rhode Island, and is the author of the book, What If It’s Not Depression?In this episode, Dr. Stein shares her story of discovering Functional Medicine while searching for answers to her son’s mental health crisis. He suffered from acute depression and suicidal ideation. He was stabilized on three medications and was “out of the woods” in terms of safety, but he wasn’t the same as before the episode. He was still suffering from some debilitating symptoms and had side effects from the medication. Dhru and Dr. Stein discuss the Functional Medicine approach to addressing depression and other mental health disorders. They also talk about the connection between autoimmune conditions and gut health.In this episode, we dive into: -Dr. Stein’s son’s health crisis (2:50) -Celiac disease and brain fog (14:58)-How long it took to notice a shift in her son’s health after taking a Functional Medicine approach (17:50)-What Dr. Stein did to turn around her own health (23:26) -The connection between gut health and autoimmune conditions (26:19)-The 5 R’s of Gut Restoration (34:55)-The inspiration behind Dr. Stein’s book, What If It’s Not Depression? (36:21) -Dr. Stein’s assessments for discovering the root cause of symptoms (44:51)-Where listeners can learn more about Dr. Achina Stein (51:26)For more on Dr. Achina Stein visit her website https://fxnmind.com/. You can find her book, What If It’s Not Depression? at https://www.achinasteindo.com/.For more on Dhru Purohit, be sure to follow him on Instagram @dhrupurohit, on Facebook @dhruxpurohit, on Twitter @dhrupurohit, and on YouTube @dhrupurohit. You can also text Dhru at (302) 200-5643 or click here https://my.community.com/dhrupurohit.Interested in joining Dhru’s Broken Brain Podcast Facebook Community? Submit your request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2819627591487473/.This episode is brought to you by Thrive Market and Optimize.Thrive Market makes it so easy to stay stocked with healthy ingredients. Right now, Thrive is offering all my listeners an amazing deal. When you sign up for a new membership, you will receive a free gift. And, any time you spend more than $49, you’ll get free carbon-neutral shipping from one of their zero-waste warehouses. Go to thrivemarket.com/brokenbrain to sign-up.I’m sure most of you can relate to trying to pack a lot into your day. I’m always trying to do my absolute best when it comes to balancing my career, my relationships, and finding some time for personal growth, so I really love when I can find a resource that makes any of that easier. That’s why I’m really excited about this company called Optimize, founded by Brian Johnson. His Philosophers Notes series has short summaries of more than 600 of the best books on ancient wisdom and modern science—they pull the most important Big Ideas into a 6-page PDF and 20-minute MP3 you can read or listen to on the go via the Optimize app. It’s the perfect time to check out Optimize because they’re offering Broken Brain listeners 10% off. Just go to Optimize.me/brokenbrain and enter code BROKEN to get 10% off  today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.