A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives
Written by Kelly Brogan, M.D. and Kristin Loberg
Narrated by Cassandra Campbell
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Depression is not a disease. It is a symptom.
Recent years have seen a shocking increase in antidepressant use the world over, with 1 in 4 women starting their day with medication. These drugs have steadily become the panacea for everything from grief, irritability, panic attacks, to insomnia, PMS, and stress. But the truth is, what women really need can’t be found at a pharmacy.
According to Dr. Kelly Brogan, antidepressants not only overpromise and underdeliver, but their use may permanently disable the body’s self-healing potential. We need a new paradigm: The best way to heal the mind is to heal the whole body.
In this groundbreaking, science-based and holistic approach, Dr. Brogan shatters the mythology conventional medicine has built around the causes and treatment of depression. Based on her expert interpretation of published medical findings, combined with years of experience from her clinical practice, Dr. Brogan illuminates the true cause of depression: it is not simply a chemical imbalance, but a lifestyle crisis that demands a reset. It is a signal that the interconnected systems in the body are out of balance – from blood sugar, to gut health, to thyroid function– and inflammation is at the root.
A Mind of Your Own offers an achievable, step-by-step 30-day action plan—including powerful dietary interventions, targeted nutrient support, detoxification, sleep, and stress reframing techniques—women can use to heal their bodies, alleviate inflammation, and feel like themselves again without a single prescription.
Bold, brave, and revolutionary, A Mind of Your Own takes readers on a journey of self-empowerment for radical transformation that goes far beyond symptom relief.
Kelly Brogan, M.D.
Kelly Brogan, M.D., studied cognitive neuroscience at MIT before receiving her M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College. Board certified in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and integrative holistic medicine, she is one of the only doctors in the nation with these qualifications. She practices in Manhattan and is a mother of two young daughters.
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Reviews for A Mind of Your Own
45 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The premise of A Mind of Your Own is mental illness and many other issues are caused by poor gut health that can cause inflammation and the connection it has to the rest of our body. Big pharma companies invented the misconception that mental disorders are an imbalance of chemicals in the brain and that a simple pill can fix this, studies have disproven the chemical imbalance theory and the effectiveness of antidepressants/antianxiety/etc. The author recommends eating a diet that is more aligned to precivilization way of life because our bodies evolved to work and be healthy at that kind of life, not the lives we currently live today behind desk and eating processed food. I think everyone can benefit from her diet and her other life changes, but she takes it to an extreme to the point where I don't see how its possible to sustain. I like that she admits there are things in the environment we simply cannot change that are bad for us, but by making some changes that help with gut health we can resist those risk better. I do wish she explored other causes of mental health problems besides the gut relationship, but the book is very informative about that connection.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is still awesome on the 2nd read. Great information!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very helpful. Totally in alignment with my functional medicine doctors recommendations. I used to think potatoes were my mood enhancer. Found out it was really eggs that i needed. Her eating pan is very close to the AIP diet and together they are life changing. Functional medicine is our best hope.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a beautiful book! Truly eye-opening and will be recommending it to very many people. Brought me to tears many tunes!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a great book that speaks the truth, and hopefully more people can awaken to their wisdom within.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This book was recommended by someone who said it had a lot of great information on big pharma and the evidence of how harmful chemicals are to our bodies. I didn't know it was about depression until I got the book from the library.
Once upon a time after I gave birth to my last child I was under a lot of stress and was experiencing a lot of weird symptoms the doctor listened to me for about a minute, if that, and immediately prescribed some medicine. It made everything worse and I stopped taking it and I told her I would not be seeing her again. All this to say, that when I cut out HFCS all but two of my symptoms went away. The last two were monthly cramping and occasional headache.
There are some common sense points about the book; eat right, get the right amount of sleep for you, exercise, and unplug from electronics.
Something I didn't find mentioned in the book, or maybe I missed it, a great way to help depression is to get your mind off self and onto others.
I found it humorous the author mentions religious dogma as the outgrowth of fear and unresolved parental issues and yet pushes sorcery of sleep and eastern mystism of yoga. I didn't pick up this book for an introduction to the occult, but that's what it felt like. She recommends kundalini yoga which is to awaken the snake god within you. No thank you. You can keep your snake god. I was interested in eating better and being healthier.
I wouldn't recommend this book at all. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The premise of A Mind of Your Own is mental illness and many other issues are caused by poor gut health that can cause inflammation and the connection it has to the rest of our body. Big pharma companies invented the misconception that mental disorders are an imbalance of chemicals in the brain and that a simple pill can fix this, studies have disproven the chemical imbalance theory and the effectiveness of antidepressants/antianxiety/etc. The author recommends eating a diet that is more aligned to precivilization way of life because our bodies evolved to work and be healthy at that kind of life, not the lives we currently live today behind desk and eating processed food. I think everyone can benefit from her diet and her other life changes, but she takes it to an extreme to the point where I don't see how its possible to sustain. I like that she admits there are things in the environment we simply cannot change that are bad for us, but by making some changes that help with gut health we can resist those risk better. I do wish she explored other causes of mental health problems besides the gut relationship, but the book is very informative about that connection.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For women, anti-depressant drugs are prescribed for problems ranging from depression to anxiety to PMS to insomnia. This book explores a very different approach.According to the author, the assertion that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that is easily fixed by a drug like Prozac is total nonsense. Rarely do such drugs help at all. In fact, they may make things worse by permanently disabling the body's self-healing mechanism. Depression, and other such mental and emotional problems, are not separate diseases. They are symptoms of physical problems elsewhere in the body.There is a well-known physical connection between the gut and the brain, as an example. A digestive or intestinal problem could easily manifest itself in the brain. Inflammation seems to be the cause of of most physical problems that are common today. Some inflammation is quite normal, then it goes away. When the inflammation is "on" all the time, that can be a serious problem, and needs to be addressed.The author's prescription starts with getting rid of all processed food and going organic. The cause may be those unpronounceable chemicals that are listed in the ingredients. Next, get rid of your artificial cleaning products with more unpronounceable chemicals. There are household cleaners available that are a lot less harmful. The author also talks about what blood tests should be performed at the next doctor's visit. Get a good night's sleep, every night, and start exercising; they will help a lot.This book is better than excellent. It is highly recommended for everyone. It is especially recommended for those whose anti-depressant does not seem to be working. Your problem may be somewhere else than in your head.