Overcoming Stress And Anxiety - Dr Julie Smith

When we change our relationship with uncomfortable feelings, whether that's stress, anxiety, whatever those sort of uncomfortable feelings are, if we're willing to have them and use them to our advantage and take them with us, then they don't hold us back. (wind blows)

Have you seen this most recent study about the impact of SSRIs and the serotonergic, uh, system and how it's related to depression?

Uh, I think that there's been lots of sort of news headlines going on. But I think it's not unusual for there to be headlines about things like medication, so to be fair, it's not something I've hugely engaged with 'cause I'd sort of rather go to the source, of which I haven't been to yet. So, um, yeah. I try, uh, in general, I try to sort of steer clear of, um, some of the headlines, partly because they can get it really, really wrong.

Yes.

Um, but I- I assume there's a, a brand new study?

It looks like it, yeah. So this is from theconversation.com. "Depression is probably not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain." This is the people that have done the study. Uh, "The serotonin, uh, theory of depression has been one of the most influential and extensively researched biological theories of the origins of depression. Our study shows that this view is not supported by scientific evidence. It also calls into question the basis for the a- the use of antidepressants. Most antidepressants now in use are presumed to act on their effects via serotonin. Some also affect the brain, uh, via noradrenaline, but experts agree that the evidence for the involvement of noradrenaline in depression is weaker than that for serotonin." Uh, there's a bunch of mechanisms. Basically things are now up in the air and chemical imbalance is something which appears to be, uh, being criticized, uh, and, uh, looked at with a lot more cynicism.

Yeah, and- and I think it's not the first study to, um, sort of indicate that. And there's been, you know, there are sort of, you know, books written on it and- and things over the years. But I mean, uh, from someone who's- who's not a medic, so I'm a psychologist, so we focus on sort of psychological formulation and looking at how people can, uh, manage their mental health through skills work and- and therapy. Actually, you know, I- it- it does sort of ring true that, you know, there are some people that might come along with the idea that, um, it's something that is wrong with them and, you know, "There's something in my brain that's not right and I need fixing." And- and there's other- other people that d- don't necessarily come along with that, um, conceptual idea of- of things that are happening to them. Um, and often we'll work for, you know, whatever idea somebody has about the origins of their distress. Uh, we tend to, I tend to work from a- an individual basis. So whether there is or there not, there isn't, um, uh, you know, an exact sort of biological cause. Actually, I've never come across anybody... Um, once- once you hear somebody's story, um, and- and everything that they've been through from- from the word go, I- I- I've never, uh, been through that whole process of hearing somebody's story without then thinking, "Of course. Of course you feel this way. Look at everything you've been through. Why wouldn't you? It'd be strange if you weren't suffering the effects of that trauma or, you know, this relationship," or what- whatever that person had been through. So I've always been able to, you know, from the psychological perspective, I've always been able to make sense of people's distress through their life story and what's happened to them and the way that they are, um, uh, sort of choosing to cope with it, and their different sort of coping mechanisms. And- and by adjusting some of those, we can have, y- you know, massive transformations in how people function.