Today, we're going to the source, a vitamin that forms the building blocks of serotonin,

dopamine, and norepinephrine, and has some significant interactions with mood stabilizers

and antidepressants.

Ballet.

Welcome to the Carlisat Psychiatry Podcast, keeping psychiatry honest since 2003.

I'm Chris Akin, the editor-in-chief of the Carlat Psychiatry Report.

And I'm Kelly Newsom, a psychiatric MP and a dedicated reader of every issue.

It's often said that we don't treat the underlying cause in psychiatry, and that's basically

true.

The brain is complex, and it's hard to tell if our drugs are directly addressing a cause, such

as by blocking dopamine and schizophrenia, or altering serotonin, anorepinephrine, and depression.

Or do those meds exerts their effects through some downstream

mechanism like neuroprotection? But there are a few areas where we can arguably say that we treat

depression by addressing an underlying biological deficit. I've thought of a few, and maybe you can think of more.

If you do, write me at C. Aiken at thecarlatte Report.com. Here they are. There's vitamin D deficiency.

This one is controversial, but if the vitamin D level does go real low, below 20, there is evidence

that it causes depression and treating the problem improves it.

There's gut dysbiosis, lots of evidence links deficiencies in the gut microbiome,

by which I mean lack of healthy bacteria and lack of variety with depression,

and adding probiotics improves depression.

And maybe even omega-3s count.

These essential fatty acids are lower in people with depression,

...