Why aren't mental illnesses considered endocrine disorders?

I was sitting in bed just wondering, what exactly is endocrinology? I mean, I know what my endo does for me and what he does for my mom. It's the doctor who monitors diabetes and thyroid disorders. But what is endocrinology? So I looked it up and learned that it is basically the study of hormones and their effects on the body. Then I wondered, if this is so, why are people with mental illness being treated by psychiatrists? Why aren't they being treated by endocrinologists? Mental illnesses are usually caused by hormone imbalances. Hormone imbalances are caused by dysregulation of the endocrine system. Therefore, mental illness should be treated by endocrinologists. Right? I think that DBT and CBT and all those other behavioral therapies are important in helping people realize that thought distortions are a function of maladaptive coping strategies. But the underlying cause is a hormonal imbalance in the brain. So why are psychiatrists even in the picture? Why don't we spend more energy on finding the physiological basis for mental illness? Why don't we already have a cure? I am starting to see that all of the information we need to heal mental illness has already been found, the data just isn't being interpreted effectively or maybe just not trickling down into the mainstream fast enough. What exactly are they teaching in medical school anyway? #mentalillness, #thyroid, #endocrinology, #hormoneimbalance

Body, Mind and Brain

Now that I have shifted the purpose of this blog a little bit, I hope that if you have been here before, you will keep returning. I will focus a lot on metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders, nutrition and their effects on mental health. Of course there is a behavioral aspect to mental health as well. Sometimes traumas cause mental illness also. I want to understand the interplay between how the body reacts to the mind and vice versa. I want to learn how trauma causes brain damage which leads to mental illness. I also want to learn how to heal the brain after trauma so that the sufferer can go on to live a happy and functional life. I also want to be clear that there are some mental illnesses that are completely congenital and not caused by trauma at all. These conditions are present from birth.

So what is mental illness? According to the National Institiute of Health, A mental illness can be defined as a health condition that changes a person’s thinking, feelings, or behavior (or all three) and that causes the person distress and difficulty in functioning.

There are mental illnesses and there are brain disorders. What is a brain disorder? According to dictionary.com, a brain disorder is any disorder or disease of the brain.

Can you have a brain disorder and not be mentally ill? Yes. Can you be mentally ill and not have a brain disorder. Yes. How can you tell the difference? Let's keep going and see if we can find out.

Now that I have given some well established definitions of these two terms I am going to give you mine. I believe that a mental illness is a symptom (not a disease) of an underlying brain disorder, health disorder or well established maladaptive behavior, which leads to thoughts or behaviors which cause difficulty in daily functioning for the sufferer and/or leads to behaviors which cause harm to others.
  
A brain disorder is when the brain is wired in such a way that it causes a person to feel chronic pain, discomfort and/or suffering.

Sometimes brain disorders cause mental illness and sometimes mental illness or stress can cause a brain disorder. Wild right? And sometimes not. What? Okay, so I'm making some pretty radical claims right? Don't just turn away and call foul. Here me out. Follow this blog and learn right along with me as I continue on my path of learning.

Some of the things I will be writing here are based on what I learned as a psych major way back in the dinosaur age when I was in college. I am not a psychologist now, I am actually an unemployed anthropologist. But I did spend a considerable amount of my undergrad education as a psych major. Some of the things I have learned and continue to learn about are from peer reviewed journal articles. Some of what I learned came from web searches from sources such as Harvard University, MIT, Johns Hopkins and NAMI. Mostly, I write about the things I have learned, observed and wondered about from working with high needs children for over 20 years.

So how can you tell if you or your child has a true brain disorder and not simply reacting to stressors in the environment? 
First of all, make an appointment with your primary care physician. Before the appointment, make some simple observations about yourself or your child and write them down so you don't forget. The doctor is going to automatically assume that problem behaviors in children are due to lack of discipline. If you know this is not the case, give evidence for it. Tell her, this is how you discipline your child and they still have problem behaviors. Are there any new foods in the diet? Have there been any recent profound changes to the environment such as moving to a new home, adding a new sibling or changing schools or work? What have you noticed has worked and what has not? Do you or your child complain of chronic pain that comes and goes for no apparent reason? Do you suspect you or your child is a hypochondriac? Do you have a family history of autoimmune disorders such as Hashimoto's, lupus and/or type I diabetes or hypoglycemia, etc? Ask for a full metabolic panel including a test for TSH, T4, T3, A1C and anti-bodies.

At home, do this simple test:

1. Eliminate high fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes, especially red dye #40. There is inconclusive data regarding the effects of these substances but a lot of parents report improvement in ADHD symptoms after eliminating these from the diet.

2. Eat fruits and vegetables at every meal, even breakfast.

3. Make and keep a consistent daily schedule including a consistent sleep schedule.

4. Develop a well thought out and consistent discipline plan. Everyone has differing opinions on what is the best discipline method. But really, the best discipline plan is the one you stick with consistently all day, everyday.

5. Limit screen time. This includes PBS, computers and hand held video games.

6. Make sure kids get at least 60 minutes of active play every day and at least 15 minutes in the sun with no sunscreen daily.

After making these changes and ruling out physiological illness, if you or your child still has problem behaviors or thoughts, you are going to need intervention from a mental health professional. This is where you must become an expert in your or your child's condition or suspected condition. Doctors get it wrong sometimes. Well actually, they get it wrong a lot. This is because they must rely on patient reporting of symptoms in order to make an accurate diagnosis. Try to be aware of even seemingly unrelated problems. Sometimes two things go together which seem to have nothing to do with each other. You won't know until you explore the question and discuss it with your health care team.

Thank you for reading. I have to go now because we are playing soccer in the park today with friends. Please forgive spelling and grammatical errors, I did this fast without proofing


National Institute of Health
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Free Dictionary, free online dictionary

Processing

Sometimes something happens to you that is so impactful that you just have to take a couple of days to process it all. That is what is happening to me at this very moment. So I may be back sooner but I think I need to take some time to get my thought together before I make any type of statement about how I will move forward. But this time I do promise to be back.