Antidepressants Explained: Benefits, Risks, and Alternatives for Depression | Dr. James Greenblatt

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (0:00)
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Let's talk about antidepressants, what percent are they affected for, who are they affected for, and where are we failing with these medications?

**Dr. James Greenblatt** (0:54)
For too many years, the psychiatric community completely ignored what happens when you stop these medications. I call it withdrawal, they call it discontinuation syndrome, and it was just kind of eye-opening when I had two people stop the same medicine, it was Selexa, and one person did it fine, and the next one had these intractable, you know, brain zaps and suicidal thoughts. And I realized, what's not the medicine, it's what's going on in that individual. And once we do the functional testing, we replete the D and the B12 or the amino acids, we can safely withdraw someone from these antidepressants.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (1:30)
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If you've been dealing with anxiety, low energy or trouble focusing and still feel like you're missing something, you're not alone. That's why I created the Brainshaping Academy, a new program that looks in places most people never think to check, like nutrient deficiencies, the health of your gut, metabolism, your immune system and lots more. Dr. Greenblatt, welcome back to the podcast. It's so good to have you. I mean, right now, estimated that 18 percent of Americans suffered depression.
One in four people in their life will have a major depressive episode. So this affects everybody at some level, either you or someone you know. I mean, I know many people who committed suicide. I know many people have been depressed.
I've had that in my experience myself at different times of my life.
What we're learning about is really what you wrote about in your book, what you've been studying for the last 30, 40 years. You and I are kind of in the same generation. We came up going, wait a minute, what we learned in medical school and what we learned in residency, and what we learned in our conferences and the orthodoxy, doesn't actually explain what we're seeing.