Christina Bjorndal, ND

Naturopathic Approach to Mental Health

Aired On: January 26, 2024

Episode Description

Dr. Bjorndal will discuss a comprehensive naturopathic approach to mental health issues, rather than prescribe medications that have varying success, she takes a holistic approach. She embraces looking at root causes and provides insights that can help us all.

Naturopathic Approach to Mental Health

Christina Bjorndal, ND

90 million Americans and 1.7 billion people worldwide suffer from mental illness.
In the US, only 44 % of the adults and 20 % of the children receive mental health treatment
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide
Other than pain from arthritis, depression is the most disabling
At any time in the US, 17 % of the population is depressed.
In 2017, the Social Security System declared a new impairment category, “mental illness including depression
Rates of mental health conditions vary
- In Japan 6.6 %
- Mexico 8 %
For psychiatrists there is no clear formula for which medications would be prescribed for each condition
The organic acids test gives insight as to which metabolic pathways are malfunctioning
- For example contributing to depression are:
  - Iron, zinc, copper, vitamin B 12, folate, vitamin B 6
- Contributing to anxiety are vitamin B 3, Magnesium, vitamins B 6, B 9. B 12, level of stomach acid

Dr. Bjorndal combines mental , physical and spiritual approaches

Her journey

She took antibiotics for acne, subsequently developed an eating disorder
She also was an over acheiver and people pleaser and highly sensitive
In the university she experienced depression and anxiety
- She was prescribed tricyclic antidepressants
- Three months later she had a psychotic episode
- She had difficulties accepting the fact that this was genetic
- She was diagnosed with bipolar I and felt shame
- On the outside she looked like she had it all together, but was struggling on the inside
- She had a suicide attempt was in a coma and was on dialysis. She was told she would need a kidney transplant
- She felt there was something else out there other than the five medications whe was on
  - These medications did not help her get better
- Note, medications are given for medicating the side effects of other medications
  - In depression, remission is only achieved in depression 37 % if the time
    - 2/3 of those have unresolved symptoms such as anxiety and suicidal ideation
- She sought a different way to navigate her health
  - She read about surrendering in a Marianne Williamson’s book
  - This involves melting into who one is. Take off the armour and mask. All God needs is one surrender moment where love means more than anything, and nothing else matters at all.
  - She then went to an orthomolecular psychiatrist, Dr. Abraham Hoffer
  - He was nutritionally oriented.
  - Nutrition has to be addressed
- Then she bumped into her core beliefs, limiting beliefs, shadow beliefs, her emotional reactivity, her inability to set boundaries
She believes that the in-utero experience and intergenerational trauma play a role in her condition
- While Western medicine focuses on the physical, she also looks at thought, emotions
- She bumped against her core beliefs and limiting beliefs.
Her message is healing is possible and a place of mental wellness is possible.
- In 1988, she had three suicide attempts and six psychotic episodes
- Currently, she is not on medications and has not had a manic episode since 2008.
Typically, in bipolar disease if people try to monitor it without medications, typically the judgment goes before
Gabor Mate talks about trauma in mental health and looks at the myth of mental health
- People aren’t objective about their subjective reality
- She started by focusing on sleep and stress
- Note: stress leads to oxidative stress, inflammation, and can lead to chronic diseases
- He looked at the adrenochrome component of psychosis
- Some people have difficulties clearing too much cortisol.

Everyone is different

The explanation of how one gets there is missing
She wants to restore people to optimal health
Western medicine looks for a diagnosis to match to a medication
- They gave her the message that “here is your medication, and off you go.”
She is pro health and not anti-medication

What is a psychotic episode like

Every sense is on overdrive
She has heard voices of loved one who has gone
“You are there but you are not there.”
It is enticing for some folks
She connected with someone who a few minutes agp died. Do psychotic people connect with a different reality?
Joseph Campbell, “the psychotics drown in the same water the mystics swim.”
There is someone inside the psychotic state
- We have to dig a little bit deeper for folks in psychosis
- Society is not comfortable and the MDs want to medicate away from it.

Her ten steps

Look at route cause medicine. Looking at all the pieces
Naturopathic medicine looks at the physical differently
- Use alternatives, energy medicine, nutrition
- Naturopath look at blood labs looking if the value is optimal vs in normal limits
- She says, one can only guide someone as far as they have gone themself
She wants people to acknowledge the physical
- Macrosystems: Detox organs, neurotransmitters, hormones, immune system
  - Which macrosystem needs supporting
  - How to support them
    - Nutrition and supplementation
    - Sleep
    - Managing stress
    - Exercise
  - Ask the patient which they feel needs support. They know their bodies.
Emotional
- Thoughts, emotions, how interact in the world
  - Role of environment
    - Quality of food, air and water
      - There are chemicals in everything
      - If antidepressants don’t work,
        might have had wrong macrosystem,
        wrong treatment,
        maybe something from environment blocking that substance cannot get into the cell
    - role of genetics v epigenetics (Bruce Lipton)
      - genetics are the gu; lifestyle pulls the trigger
    - Neuroplasticity
      - Norman Deutsch. “The brain that changes it self”
        Can create new neural pathways
  - Look at ability to be compassionate with oneself
Spiritual
- Wrap up everything in LOVE
  - Is war between two sides of ourselves
    - Stress or relaxed, fear v love, sympathetic v parasympathetic
      - Stress induces cortisol (inverse relationship with melatonin disrupting sleep)

Energetic medicine

Humans have life flow. Called Chi, Prana
Chinese medications:: mania is overactivation of heart meridian
- Tongue, pulses and ears are diagnostic in Chinese medicine
- The tongue is mapped out to represent different organs
  - Tip is heart
- Also Koreans look at such a model in the hands, Japanese on the scalp and auricular medicine looks at the model on the ears. Reflexology finds these models in the soles of the feet
She focuses on listening to the heart voice rather than the mind voice. Most people live from the ”neck up”
- Here folks are drown by the egoic mind which is based in fear
  - Ego mind is there to protect from pain of the past
  - This pain is not occurring now
- You can live your life listening to the voices around you or you can listen to the beat of your own heart.
- Need to learn to live in the heart centered place where can hear the whispers come from our heart/ soul spirit self.
- Her core wound was rejection
  - Issues depend on beliefs and wounds
  - Gabor Macke asked her “What emotion have you repressed?” concerning depression
    - Anger, losing control (mania)
    - Why was she uncomfortable with anger
      - For her being birthed and waiting three weeks to be collected
      - How does this baby feel with three weeks of no attention?
      - We are carrying these wounds til we can bring them to the light of love and bring healing
        Like Russian stacking dolls, there are many within
- One does what protects and is safe
  - So she stayed in a bad employment situation to avoid rejection
    - The subconscious runs the show
    - Need to make subconscious belief conscious
    - When want to do something and don’t do it, there is a subconscious belief that is driving one to be safe.
      - Richard Schwartze, Daniel Seigal, Debbie Ford shadow belief, Gabor Macke with compassionate inquiry. The myth of normal; finding sanity in an insane culture
- Exercise to trust one’s heart
  - Take a deep breath in and settle in body
  - First question with hand over heart and eyes closed
    - “heart show me where you are”
      - Observe word, colour
    - “Heart will you ever lie to me?”
    - “Heart, have I always followed you?”
      - Most answers are no
    - “Heart how do you feel when you hear I haven’t always followed you?
    - Breath into answer and ask
    - “Heart why do you feel this way (about the answer)
    - “Heart can you forgive me for not always following you?
      Joseph Campbell “the heart must usher the mind into the zone of revelation”
Final messages
There is a road to wellness
- Has to start at the physical level
- Need to pay attention to thoughts
  - Be discerning about thoughts
  - Learn to navigate thoughts
  - We don’t need to be servants to the mind
  - Bring parts one is disowning into light of love
    - She was not at one with her bipolar disorder initially
    - She leaned into truth and vulnerability reason why she is still here
She has programs for patients and clinicians