The biggest mistake most people make when it comes to understanding what can cause depression
is a limiting belief that there's only one reason for this health condition.
Hi, I'm Dr Janelle Sinclair, I'm a biochemist and natural medicine practitioner.
And I get it.
Because when you’re an expert in something and you’re trained in a specific area, that’s
what you know, and your solutions will be derived from that knowledge.
Because psychologists are experts in the mind, they will tell you that trauma or negative
thinking patterns are the cause for depression.
Because naturopaths think that all health, including mental health, begins in the gut-
they will focus in on this area.
Medical doctors focus in on increasing serotonin levels, because that's what medications do.
And unfortunately, I've heard of pastors saying that you can't have depression or a mental
illness if you're a believer, that you just need to have faith and pray more.
It's so easy to fall into the trap of believing that there's only one cause for mental unwellness
when you're talking to an expert in that specific area.
But let me ask you.
Does everyone who does counselling get well?
Or does everyone who improve their gut health have their mood improve?
Or does everyone that takes medication have their depression resolved?
And does everyone that has faith for healing overcome depression?
No, and you could actually miss your healing if you hold on to the belief that there's
only one cause for mental unwellness for you.
Because if there's only one cause, then there's only one treatment.
I think of the body and mind as a complex machine with different components, interacting
with the outside world.
Much like a car.
Imagine you're on a journey in your car, and you start to have problems getting to your
destination.
You're bumping into other cars, swerving across the road and only going 30 in the slow lane.
What's going wrong here?
Wouldn't you agree that there's a number of possible causes?
It may be that you're not a good driver, that noone has taught you and you need to take
some lessons and learn some defensive driving skills.
But maybe you're surrounded by some crazy drivers.
Maybe it's them that need the driving course, not you.
And maybe you just need to distance yourself from them in order to continue your journey.
Couldn't it also be that you're in the middle of a storm, and that torrential rain and wind
is blowing you off course?
It's pretty hard to see and drive straight under those conditions wouldn’t you agree?
Or perhaps there's something physically wrong with the car, perhaps you've got a flat tyre,
got a broken steering wheel or your windscreen has been shattered and you can't see through
it.
Your mental health can be just like that.
Your mental health may be suffering because of a lack of psychological skills, your social
or spiritual environment, or poor physical health of your body and brain.
And the truth is that one will often impact the other, and more than one factor could
be affecting you.
To get well, we need to have a holistic perspective of mental health.
I talk about the dozens of biochemical or physical imbalances like nutritional deficiencies,
hormonal imbalances, exposure to toxins, weak genetics and gut health that can cause depression.
That's what this YouTube channel, my Instagram and Facebook accounts are all about.
I do this, not because I don't believe in the psychological, social or spiritual causes
of mental unwellness, but because the biochemical causes of depression are so overlooked and
under-recognised.
To help you uncover whether there's a biochemical cause for your depression or anxiety, I've
created a helpful checklist covering over 29 signs and symptoms for you to fill in.
Make sure you go to my website and download your free copy.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.