Women Are Being Given Antidepressants for a Hormone Problem — Dani Williamson on How to Fix It at the Root

Ancient Health Podcast

Medicine, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Went to your doctor in your early 40s with sudden anxiety, insomnia, brain fog or unexplained weight gain — and walked out with an antidepressant? Author and nurse practitioner Dani Williamson joins Dr. Chris Motley to explain why SSRIs are not the answer to perimenopause, what's actually happening in your body as estrogen drops, and how healing your gut can bring your thyroid and hormones back into balance. Key Takeaways from this Conversation: Women are being prescribed SSRIs for anxiety when the real cause is perimenopause. There’s no SSRI for that. Estrogen-loss comes with mood symptoms, weight gain and health concerns like Hashimoto's Thyroiditis as your thyroid begins to slow down. Fix your gut and your thyroid and hormones will (usually!) fall into place. Dani Williamson’s Top 7 Most Inflammatory Food: Gluten Dairy Soy Corn Sugar Eggs Peanuts If your doctor’s reaction to a health concern brought on by estrogen-loss is “let’s just watch this for 6 months,” it’s time to find a new doctor. A tiny low-dose estrogen patch can change your perimenopause game. Healing trauma and abuse is key (especially when it comes to thyroid health): Unaddressed childhood trauma can collide with the body-chaos of perimenopause. EMDR and talk therapy can help with this journey. ------ Follow Doctor Motley! Instagram TikTok Facebook Website Connect with Dani Williamson (she’s taking new Hashimoto's patients) https://www.instagram.com/daniwilliamsonwellness/ https://daniwilliamson.com/ Buy Dani's book: https://shorturl.at/28pv3 Dani and Dr. Motley’s Sunday Night Service: Your health questions answered: Dani Williamson and Dr. Motley ------ * You can get cell support in gummy form: Mitopure now starts at $79, when you go to timeline.com/DRMOTLEY. *Join Doctor Motley’s newsletter for TCM insights and regular podcast updates: https://www.doctormotley.com/ *Do you have a ton more in-depth questions for Doctor Motley? Check out his course on emotions and the body in his membership. You’ll find other courses full of his expertise and clinical wisdom, plus bring all your questions to his weekly lives! To try risk-free for 15 days click here: https://www.doctormotley.com/15

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the time that patients go to their healthcare provider, right? And what are they prescribed?
0:04.9	They tell their doctor, oh gosh, I can't sleep anymore. I can't sleep in my heart is racing. I've got anxiety. I've never had anxiety in my life. I've had three kids. I've got a husband. I got a job. They're prescribed antidepressants, aren't they? That's right. SsrrIs and depressants, yeah. I was put on SSRIs as well in my 30s.
0:23.3	And that's right. S-S-R-I's and I was put on SSRIs as well in my 30s
0:23.3	and that's not the problem, right? It's not the problem. It's not the problem. It's a hormone.
0:28.7	Now, it's also could be inflammation. So that's the patients that we see. They're having all
0:34.3	these symptoms and nothing is getting addressed.
0:42.2	Welcome to the Ancient Health podcast, where East meets West in the world of medicine.
0:43.8	I'm Dr. Chris Motley.
0:47.8	Let's bridge the gap between ancient practices in cutting edge medicine.
0:49.1	Let's get started.
0:50.9	Hello, everyone.
1:10.1	I'm here with one of my closest friends, Danny Williamson, nurse practitioner, extraordinaire. And we have been talking about doing more podcast together, more monthly. When we talked about doing things together, people like our banter back and forth. It started off at the Sunday night services.
1:12.3	Kitchen table. Kitchen table.
1:19.0	Franklin, Tennessee, literally with a laptop in front, no ring lights. And there we are. It's Sunday night service. Kling, our wine glasses. We should have some wine glasses here. I love it.
1:25.2	Everybody loves it. We did it for years. Every Sunday night.
1:28.3	Every Sunday night. Every Sunday night. And then it started getting further and further apart. Now I do it by myself. Two Sundays a month. And everybody is always asking, where's Dr. Montley? Where's Dr. Molly? I'm like, well, what am I? Chop liver. No, stop that. You know, but they love our, we flow very well, and now we work together.
1:48.2	That's right.
1:48.7	We're at the same office, same clinic.
1:50.9	She has the Wild and Well Health Clinic, and she has a beautiful store, has all the great top-of-the-line supplementation.
1:58.9	We do.
1:59.2	And you're working in a world where you're mixing
2:02.0	East and Western medicine, and it's just really, it's a place where people come and you can
	...

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