Depression &

Anxiety Resources

The following information is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice; it is provided for educational purposes only. You assume full responsibility for how you choose to use this information.

Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified healthcare provider's advice before starting a new treatment or discontinuing an existing treatment. Talk with your healthcare provider about any questions you have regarding a medical condition.

Books

Plant Medicine

Psilocybin (2-5g +):
Single-dose sessions can bring remission to even treatment-resistant depression. Check out research by Imperial College in London, which showed remission for up to three months following treatment. Read this article in Nature to learn about the various clinical trials and their results. 

Micro-dosed Psilocybin (.05 - .5g):
There are now studies looking at the efficacy of “micro-dose” amounts of psilocybin for depression. Dosages range between 1-5 mg of synthetic psilocybin. For reference, 5mg of synthetic psilocybin roughly equals 1 gram of dried psilocybin mushroom. So far, the results aren’t too promising compared to high-dose sessions, but it can still be worth a shot. Microdosed psilocybin has more anecdotal evidence for reducing anxiety and PTSD symptoms. There are a few popular protocols that you can learn about here. 

Low-Dose Sublingual Ketamine at night:
Not yet studied or published, but mounting anecdotal evidence that dosing very low (5-12 mg sublingual - that’s a 16th-8th of a 100mg troche) at night and eventually every other night can lift heavy depression and help sometimes help with anxiety. This is a “sub-perceptual dose," but has worked for some people who have tried everything else and then miraculously find that low-dose ketamine can help. Warning: Only use prescription ketamine! “Street ketamine,” in powdered form is increasingly cut with fentanyl and can be fatal. 

Ayahuasca Journeys:
Ayahuasca contains harmaline, a natural anti-depressant, in addition to the psycho-emotional and energetic healing that ayahuasca can facilitate. Some people have tried other plant medicines over the years to only finally find relief from depression with ayahuasca. The best way to really give this a shot is to attend a retreat where you drink multiple times over 1-2 weeks and see how you feel afterward. Another option is to find a local Santo Daime group and start attending weekly sessions. 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/health/ayahuasca-depression-study-partner/index.html

LSD session or multiple (200 mcg+):
Sometimes opens things up for people who don’t respond to psilocybin. Needs to do this with someone trained in this modality as it’s a long day and unique medicine.

Supplements

Lavela Lavendar capsules

Theanine

Additional

Health

Considerations

See an Integrative Psychiatrist or Functional MD specializing in Mood:

There can be various physiological imbalances contributing to depressive states. (heavy metals, environmental toxins, undiagnosed chronic viral infections such as EBV, undiagnosed MTHFR mutation). This place has been recommended: medicine with heart. 

Gut-Brain Axis:
There is more and more research looking at the gut-brain axis's connection with depression. 80% of serotonin is made in the gut. Consider a mood-boosting probiotic and probiotic-rich foods. There is a practitioner in San Rafael named Gilles Marin who is an expert at Chinese belly massage (chi nei tsang) Chinese medicine says that if the belly is constricted, it can’t make serotonin. 

Supplements:
There are short-term supplements that can help people get relief from anxiety and nutritional changes that can support more calming neurotransmitters. Not a long-term solution but can give relief. Here is a good book.

Additional supplements for anxiety are GABA, lavender oil capsules, and theanine. But the ideal would be to find an integrative psychiatrist or naturopath who can prescribe these specific to the patient. 

Therapy

Trauma-informed Somatic Therapy:
Especially in cases of depression stemming from developmental trauma or PTSD, I recommend finding a trauma-informed somatic/SE therapist for weekly or bi-weekly sessions.
Start with the Somatic Experiencing directory of practitioners. I suggest looking for a SE practitioner also trained in “touch work.” Hakomi with a trauma-informed therapist is another option. Here is the Hakomi Therapy directory of practitioners. EMDR is also great when done with a trained practitioner.

DNRS:
Applied neuroplasticity. Doing a daily 1 hour of practice of this method is very powerful for re-wiring neural networks. Helps people with chronic illness, PTSD, and some results for depression and anxiety. It teaches people how to “interrupt” closed, looping circuitry in the brain and re-direct toward healthy, open neural circuitry. https://retrainingthebrain.com/

Havening:
A super simple practice that is profound. Best to begin by learning the practice from a practitioner. 

You can learn about Havening here: https://www.ptsduk.org/the-havening-technique-and-ptsd/
And a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqHN4B4AGEU
Video about how to do Havening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VApAYR-R1Qc&t=58s

Here is a list of Havening practitioners. 

Venturing Further Beyond:
Lastly….if nothing else works, I suggest going further “outside the box” and finding an energetic-psychic healer that specializes in depression and anxiety. In the healing systems of Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, which have been treating human ailments for thousands of years, they say first you try the gross/material medicines and treatments, and if there is no response, then the symptoms likely have their roots in in utero, birth trauma or past life events and are embedded deep in the subtle body. Conventional medicine or treatments are unlikely to help. In this case, you need to find healing practitioners who work on subtler levels of reality. They are out there.

Best of luck!

Copyright 2022 Kristina Hunter