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More than 60 million Americans are affected by mental health issues every year. While the conventional medicine approach focuses on balancing neurotransmitters in the brain through medication, the Functional Medicine approach is to look for the root cause. There\\u2019s a saying in Functional Medicine, \\u201cfire in the gut, fire in the brain.\\u201d If you have inflammation, or dysbiosis in the gut, then it\\u2019s going to produce an inflammatory response that in turn affects the brain. 

On today\\u2019s Broken Brain Podcast, our host Dhru talks to Dr. Achina Stein, an osteopathic physician and board-certified psychiatrist. She is certified by the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine and is a certified practitioner of the Institute for Functional Medicine. Dr. Stein has extensive experience working with children and adults who have chronic and persistent mental health problems in the community at large, in the prison population, and in a geriatric inpatient setting. Dr. Stein is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and received the NAMI-RI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award in 2008. She is presently in private practice in Rhode Island, and is the author of the book, What If It\\u2019s Not Depression?

In this episode, Dr. Stein shares her story of discovering Functional Medicine while searching for answers to her son\\u2019s mental health crisis. He suffered from acute depression and suicidal ideation. He was stabilized on three medications and was \\u201cout of the woods\\u201d in terms of safety, but he wasn\\u2019t the same as before the episode. He was still suffering from some debilitating symptoms and had side effects from the medication. Dhru and Dr. Stein discuss the Functional Medicine approach to addressing depression and other mental health disorders. They also talk about the connection between autoimmune conditions and gut health.

In this episode, we dive into: 

-Dr. Stein\\u2019s son\\u2019s health crisis (2:50) 

-Celiac disease and brain fog (14:58)

-How long it took to notice a shift in her son\\u2019s health after taking a Functional Medicine approach (17:50)

-What Dr. Stein did to turn around her own health (23:26) 

-The connection between gut health and autoimmune conditions (26:19)

-The 5 R\\u2019s of Gut Restoration (34:55)

-The inspiration behind Dr. Stein\\u2019s book, What If It\\u2019s Not Depression? (36:21) 

-Dr. Stein\\u2019s assessments for discovering the root cause of symptoms (44:51)

-Where listeners can learn more about Dr. Achina Stein (51:26)

For more on Dr. Achina Stein visit her website https://fxnmind.com/. You can find her book, What If It\\u2019s Not Depression? at https://www.achinasteindo.com/.

For more on Dhru Purohit, be sure to follow him on Instagram @dhrupurohit, on Facebook @dhruxpurohit, on Twitter @dhrupurohit, and on YouTube @dhrupurohit. You can also text Dhru at (302) 200-5643 or click here https://my.community.com/dhrupurohit.

Interested in joining Dhru\\u2019s Broken Brain Podcast Facebook Community? Submit your request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2819627591487473/.

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