This 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. ( )

The 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. ( )

For 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. ( )

4
this book is especially helpful for women struggling to taper from anti-depressants or who feel they are over medicated/over prescribed. while I do think anti-depressants have helped many people function they are not for everyone. Dr. Brogan gives a well-researched argument about why nutrition, exercise and a comprehensive evaluation of a woman's health history can avoid unnecessary prescription drugs that ultimately do more harm than good. Very easy to read. ( )

“Probably as much as 75% of the medicine of sickness is unnecessary and its cost can be avoided.”
– Dr. Ghislaine Lanctot, Author Of The Medical Mafia

Dr. Kelly Brogan's work first became known to me when she addressed countless health issues in an article she penned years back that was shared via the website GreenMedInfo. From there, she's been one of my 'go-to' alternative medical doctors whose work we attempt to read as much as possible.

Given that, we've come to expect high quality information from the author, and she does not disappoint.

A Mind Of Your Own: The Truth About Depression And How Women Can Heal Their Bodies To Reclaim Their Lives by Kelly Brogan M.D and Kristin Loberg, takes the reader through a journey of countless examples of issues regarding medications doled out like candy by Big Pharma, coupled with other notable concerns within the medical establishment.

As someone who's had friends that has had depression, as well as being a person that has great interest in health, this book is chock-full of real data that would shock most people who haven't begin doing their own research within the health establishment. In fact, some of it can be quite downright disturbing considering how many are affected by medications.

Not only is this book a rather quick read, but the reader can see/feel the honesty and concern that have been staples of Brogan throughout her work. This is vital, because in the arena of medicine, there are countless doctors who care more about prescribing pills, than they do about the welfare of the patient and actually solving the problem. And that is where the authors shine, because they are doing what should be done by most, if not all doctors or concerned individuals within the medical establishment, which is outlining the dangers so many people are going through in respect to side effects by the overmedication of America.

Brogan's outlook on the mental health in America is quite unique and reminiscent of another author. In fact, for me, it reminds me of a book called Toxic Psychiatry by Peter R. Breggin M.D., where the author not only outlines problems within the psychiatric establishment, but also, like Brogan, covers issues with medications that most people would consider safe, but aren't as safe as they are made out to be.

Am not saying that the Dr. Brogan's work takes from Dr. Breggin. What am saying is however, that both doctors have great concern regarding mainstream health, and seem to share very similar values in how they think patients should be treated in respect to solutions and such. This is just a personal opinion however.

There aren't many doctors out there standing up for what's right within medicine, but both Dr. Brogan, Dr. Breggin, and a growing number of others are. That is why is so vital to support these people, because they're in it to help people, and are not willing to throw people under the bus, just so they can profit over you like many other people within Big Medica/Big Pharma have been doing for years.

In any case, if you've read any of Dr. Brogans work, this will definitely follow suit. She definitely pulls no punches in her journey to not only outlining dangers individuals should be concerned about, but also in offering holistic solutions that many do not realize are available.

If you've made it this far, and are really interested in the topic, do yourself a favor and purchase this book. That, or perhaps recommend it to people that might find great value in it, because they will find information that's not only deep, but quite extensive. The information in this book can really change the course of someone's life if they realize what's out there.

In the age of information, ignorance is no excuse, and this book does an outstanding job of erasing mountains of ignorance that otherwise would be everpresent in respect to the mainstream medical establishment if one were not to exposed to it.

Kindest Regards,

Zy Marquiez

P.S. For those curious about more avenues regarding health, besides Dr. Kelly Brogan, other great doctors that might be of interest to many of you would be as mentioned before Dr. Peter R. Breggin, Dr. Mercola, Dr. Duzanne Humphries, Dr. Sircus, Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride and the work of Sarah Ballantyne PhD. These people all put out very high quality information regularly and are concerned with various aspects of health. But don't take my word for it, do your own research so you can be better informed. ( )