According to the CDC, “About one in 10 Americans aged 12 and over takes antidepressant medication.” With over 300 million Americans making up the population, that means at least 30,000,000 people are on antidepressants nationwide. And yet, more and more holistic practitioners and spiritual gurus are claiming anxiety, ADHD, depression and other mental health conditions can be solved through supplements, meditation and diet. Gut health has been one of the most recent ties to mental health from both western and eastern medicine practitioners, but while traditional doctors recommend a probiotic for a balanced gut biome, eastern practitioners claim that + vitamin deficiencies can be to blame for some mental health issues.

In today’s climate, the average person experiences an array of emotions throughout the day that might contradict each other. Jobs are demanding, parenthood is exhausting, connecting with others is harder than ever, and with the influx of subliminal messaging from social media about what your life should look like, our minds are overloaded with way more information than a healthy brain is likely intended to consume. This, unsurprisingly, all creates a perfect breeding ground for all sorts of mental health issues to arise. In fact, according to The National Alliance on Mental Illness, 20% of American adults (50+ million people) experience some type of mental illness annually, and that’s just what’s been reported — we all have family members who refuse to see mental health practitioners that undoubtedly suffer from some sort of mood or personality disorder. I’d say it’s more like 50%, based on the sample size I see in everyday life. With that being said, some mental illnesses remain more stigmatized than others. Bipolar disorder is one of them. It is a commonly misunderstood condition, with people casually weaponizing it in everyday life to label someone’s change in mood or feelings.