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If I was depressed in 2026, here's what I wouldn't be doing. I wouldn't be trying cutting-edge new therapies like ketamine, TMS, or psychedelics. Wouldn't be touching any of those.
Because having been a psychiatrist for over a decade and specializing in helping people get to the root of their mental health problems and taper off their medications, here's what I've learned. Many people are so busy focusing on the newest cutting-edge technology because this is what's heavily marketed, instead of focusing on treatments that they haven't yet tried, which actually have a lot more evidence behind them.
And so today, we're going to talk about all the boring things that are completely forgotten and are proven to improve depression, and they're a lot cheaper than forking over several thousand on the latest hyped pharmaceutical or device intervention. Because let's face it, a lot of you have tried a lot of those things before. You've tried all these medications, all these different things, and really, how well do they work in the long term?
But to start off with, I want to begin with a premise that so we can all get on the same page about something. And that is is that the reason that you're depressed is because you lack direction in three core areas of your life. And that's what we're going to talk about today. And I separate these into these areas. First, the body. Second, the mind and the spirit. And so, let's get into it.
Let's start with the body. Why do we start here? Well, it's because your brain sits inside your body. That if the physical environment that your brain is sitting in is unhealthy, well, your brain is unhealthy. And if you have an unhealthy brain, it's going to affect your thoughts. You're going to become more anxious. You're going to become more depressed.
And so, what can we do here? Now, so to start with, I'm going to talk about the dangers of being on different chemicals. Now, you're not going to hear this from any other psychiatrist out there, but I actually see this a lot. And that is that many medications, even things like psychiatric medications that are actually meant to be helping you, often times they turn on people over time. I'm not going to say that they don't work in the short term. These drugs certainly work in the short term. You know, I've taken them. My wife has tried them. I prescribed them to thousands of people. But the longer I've been doing psychiatry for, the more I've learned is that simply the brain is not designed to be in a drug state indefinitely.
And so what I see is that these medications wear off. I see that they turn on people sometimes. And how does this look? Many people will they'll start coming to me and they'll just say, "I feel flat. I have no joy. I have brain fog. I feel like really fatigued." and they go about looking for all of these other things that could be contributing to the way that they're feeling, but they never really look at the drug. From taking so many people off these medications, especially long-term users who are on SSRIs, sometimes antipsychotics, sometimes mood stabilizers, often times it is actually the drug that is causing that fatigue and that brain fog and all of that. And so I want you to give really serious thought to whether some of the medications you are taking could actually be making you depressed, especially if you've been on them for a really long period of time and you're just not getting better.
Moving outside of the realm of psychiatric drugs, we also need to look at drugs that are used in medical conditions. Now, this is like a long shot. I know a lot of listeners here may not be on many of these, but there is one class that I want you to really think carefully about, and that is hormonal birth control. Now, this does not happen to everyone, but for a large portion of women, hormonal birth control, especially ones that contain progesterone and ones that you don't take out of your body or go on a holiday for each week. So, think like the Mirena, the implantable IUD, they can cause mood swings. They can cause mood problems, depression, anxiety, all of that. So, that's just something I want you to have on your radar. The other thing to keep in mind is if you are on things like steroids as well, that tends to cause a lot of problems. Also, the whole list of these things.
Outside of that, there's a couple other like little things that I think everyone should keep in mind. No cannabis, you know, bring the cannabis use down. The stuff people are smoking today, super dangerous and it's just not good for for your mental health. And then just be mindful of how many stimulants you're using. If you're smoking a pack of cigarettes a day or using lots of nicotine products, if you're pounding three cups of coffee, that's not going to be good for you either. That's going to put you into a hyperaroused state. It's going to impact your sleep. It's going to cause problems with anxiety and all of that. So my general thinking here is that we want to pursue a state of sort of like sobriety in our body from things that are going to affect our mind and we want to move in that direction because our mind really functions best long-term in a non-drugged state.
Point number two, the second thing that affects your body is food. You know, and why wouldn't it? You know, food is the building blocks for everything in our brain. You know, the carbohydrates, the proteins to make the neurotransmitters, the fats to make our hormones, and then all of the micronutrients that are within those things to help these enzymatic reactions in our body work really well. And so, if you're eating a diet that's just filled with processed foods that doesn't have any nutrient density in it, that's no good. So, let's move towards a whole foods diet with minimum processed foods.
I know that sounds simple, so I'm going to give you a couple things that are a little bit more technical, which should be on your radar as well. Anybody who has serious mental health problems that seem to be coming out of nowhere, whether it's really bad anxiety or really bad depression, sometimes even things like schizophrenia or bipolar, I want you to try a one-month removal of gluten. I know everyone thinks that gluten right now is like this fad and it's this thing that everyone's talking about, gluten-free, this and that. Again, I run the largest clinic in the world dedicated to having people come off medications. And so, a lot of people come to me and they're just like, "Hey, I tried a gluten-free diet. My symptoms have gone away and now I want to come off antipsychotics." Yes, antipsychotics. And I actually did a video about this with Trudy. You can search for it on my channel. She was on antipsychotic medications for 20 years because she had a gluten intolerance. And when she removed that, all of her symptoms went away. And she's been symptom-free for the last six years. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. So do not discount this if you have never tried it.
Now the third thing that you want to be aware of with your body is movement. Now I get it. If you are feeling totally depressed right now, it's hard to move. It's hard to get up. It's hard to find that motivation. I'm right there with you. But I'm not talking about, you know, going and lifting a whole bunch of weights. I'm not talking about going on a jog or anything like that. Let's just move a little bit. And so 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day is awesome for this. Every single randomized control trial I've seen that's looked at exercise for depression where they've like randomized the two groups, it always results in a significant bump in your mood. Now, why is this? Well, for two reasons. Human body is designed to move. It just so happens that when you move, inflammation goes down in your body and you feel better. It's another important thing that happens. You're hitting around 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day and you're mindful of your diet, you're going to be losing weight as well. And as your weight drops, you're going to have less inflammation within your body. So, your sleep is going to improve, your anxiety is going to improve, and you just get into this kind of like upward spiral where things just get better and better and better. And so, try to not get overwhelmed by this. Just start by walking. It's one of the best sustainable things that you can do for your health.
Now that we've talked about the physical body, we have to talk about your mindset. Because often times when we become super anxious or really depressed, it's because we are struggling to overcome problems in our lives. Now, there is no shame in that. Most people aren't equipped to deal with every curveball life throws at them. I certainly know that I am not. I certainly know that I've been hit with a whole bunch of stressful things in my life which have like been really hard to go through, but I have gotten through them. But once you realize that you're struggling with something, the responsibility really is on you to do something about it.
And so, what can you do? The first thing that I really want you to do is to not ignore your emotions. They mean something. I want you to be really curious about them cuz they could be coming from, yeah, your physical health, a drug you're taking, some area of your life that's out of balance. And this stuff and this stuff is really important. And so the last thing that I want you to do is to suppress your emotions with drugs or distractions. You are losing an opportunity for growth. And just by doing this a lot, the things that usually get people anxious and depressed is that there is a barrier in their life that is preventing them from being able to live in alignment with their values. You know, whether it's something that's preventing them from having that relationship that they want or that better physical health or a deeper connection with God or meaning, whatever it is. And once you are clear about like what you want and what this barrier feels like that's preventing you from get there, then you can start making progress to overcome it. And that's a decision that you're going to have to make instead of avoiding those uncomfortable emotions.
Now, a lot of people are going to be listening right now and they're going to say, "Well, yeah, okay, but I don't know how to overcome these problems." And I'm going to give you a big thumbs up because that's the first step. Even knowing that you don't know how to progress, that is progress because it leads to the next step. So, what's the next step? If you are stuck, I want you to start asking people that you trust for help. I want you to find mentors. I want you to find someone who understands your problem and can break it down into simple steps so that the whole thing feels less overwhelming. Because me, I firmly believe that many mental health problems simply come down to people feeling overwhelmed by problems that feel impossible to solve. I can tell you what, in a world of 7+ billion people, a lot of people have faced those problems and they overcome it. So there is certainly someone out there that can help you with this.
And on that note, while I can't fix a lot of problems, there is one problem that me and my team are really good at fixing. And so, if you are someone out there and you're on psychiatric medication, or maybe several, and you feel like your doctor is just refilling them without any real plan to help you come off, I'd encourage you to check out our free tapering guide. It breaks down the enormously complicated problem of coming off medications and replacing those medications with non-drug approaches to your mental health. It breaks down into bite-sized pieces, so it's not overwhelming. And by the time you get to it, you're going to know more about coming off medications than even your doctor does. And so, click the link below this video to get access to this completely free.
Now, let's move on and talk about the spirit. And I know this sounds a little woo, but I use the word spirit to describe our fundamental human needs. Because you can have great physical health, you can have a strong mindset, and you can have mentors and all of these things, but if you're missing some of these things right now, you're going to become depressed. And really what they are are loving relationships and meaning and purpose in your life. Every study that I'd ever looked at shows that people with strong relationships are happy. Yet many people struggling with depression feel so depleted that they don't want to connect to others. And that is understandable. And so if you don't feel like socializing right now, you don't feel like connecting with others, I want you to just have compassion for yourself cuz that's completely understandable. Often the first step in kind of kickstarting things is really just getting healthier. Doing everything that we've discussed above, you know, minimizing substances that might be harming you, getting your physical health in order. And then once you feel ready, I'm going to urge you to start prioritizing relationships in your life. I want you to be kind to other people. I want you to push yourself to attend social outings. And I want you to help others in your community. I want you to be the one who reaches out first to friends, even if it feels a little bit one-sided. Because every study that I've seen shows that people with stronger social bonds not only have better mental health, but they also actually live longer in their life. And here's the other thing, you never know what can happen when you do this. Because for many people, what I see is when they put themselves out there, they may eventually meet the person that they want to spend the rest of their life with. And that is the greatest thing in the world.
Now, the last thing regarding the spirit is making sure that your life has meaning and purpose because you are here on this world for a reason. You are kind. You are generous. And you have something to offer others. And so if you are in a dark place and you are struggling to find meaning, here's what I want you to do. Your north star should be to live a life in service of others. This is one of the most powerful things that you can do. Get involved in your community. Get involved in your church. Try and help someone who is younger than you. Look for work that aligns with your interests where you know you are making a positive impact.
And so there you have it. I know this list isn't sexy, but from taking hundreds of people off psychiatric medications, I can tell you that this is the stuff that is true. This is time-tested. This is not the stuff that has a billion dollars in marketing spend behind it. And it is as true today as it was 100 years ago and will be 100 years from now. Because human beings, we fundamentally don't change that much. We need to be healthy. We need to have a strong mindset. We need help from others. We need to have relationships and meaning and purpose. And so, please start here before you reach into your pocket and you spend thousands of dollars on new pharmaceuticals, new doctors, psychedelics, brain stimulation devices, and all of that stuff. Do not fall for the idea that you need a magic bullet that's going to come in and solve all your problems. And I think you know this deep down inside. I think you may have been suspecting that there's something more than just this transactional relationship with the doctor with these medications. I think that's probably in there. And I want you to listen to your emotions because they are telling you something and they are guiding you in a direction for a reason.
Now, if anything in this video really resonated with you and you're just like, "Oh my god, I think I want to try some of this." You may be interested in our US-based tapering clinic. This is where we specialize in helping people reduce the amount of medications they're on and replace them with evidence-based non-drug alternatives. And also, if you want to learn more about that, there's going to be a link below this video where you can click on it. You can check out our website and all of the good work that we do.
Now, one more thing. If you are thinking about coming off medications because you're not quite sure whether they're really helping you or not, you're not going to want to miss this next video where I talk about the biggest risks of antidepressants that most doctors never talk about.