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Mental health.Is my anxiety or depression only in my head?

No. Mood lives in the whole body. Gut health, inflammation, sleep, hormones, and events you may have stopped talking about years ago all shape it. The practitioners here take medication seriously, and they look further, at what the body and the story are saying together.

Last updated October 4, 2026

Why does this get missed?

Because mood is usually treated as a question for the mind alone. The gut, inflammation, hormones and sleep tend to be checked separately, if they are checked at all.

The events that shaped someone can take years to surface, and a short appointment is rarely where they come out. Medication can be essential, and the story around it still deserves to be read.

The curated pieces

3 pieces

  1. Podcast, On Being, 51 min

    01

    Bessel van der Kolk – How Trauma Lodges in the Body, Revisited

    Bessel van der Kolk, MD, a psychiatrist, Boston University professor and author of The Body Keeps the Score, who has studied and treated trauma for more than four decades.

    What you’ll learn

    Why talking about something painful is not always enough to feel better. Van der Kolk describes how overwhelming experiences are stored as body sensations and reactions, not just as stories, and why movement, yoga and EMDR can reach what words cannot. The 2021 update reflects on what the pandemic taught him. Calm, humane, and full of real clinical examples.

    Worth asking your doctor

    Could past stress or trauma be playing a part in my anxiety or physical symptoms, and which body based or trauma focused therapies might suit me?

    Go to the source

  2. Podcast, The Art of Manliness, about 1 hr

    02

    Podcast #585: Inflammation, Saunas, and the New Science of Depression

    Charles Raison, MD, a psychiatrist and professor who researches how the immune system and inflammation shape mood, has run trials of whole body heat for depression, and coauthored The New Mind Body Science of Depression.

    What you’ll learn

    Depression as something that can involve the whole body, not just brain chemistry. Raison explains how inflammation can signal the brain to withdraw and feel low, and why stress triggers that response. He is careful to say depression comes in many forms and that anti inflammatory pills do not help everyone. A conversation, not a sales pitch, including the early research on markers like CRP and on heat and exercise.

    Worth asking your doctor

    Would it make sense to check an inflammation marker like CRP as part of understanding my depression?

    Go to the source

  3. Study, open access in BMC Medicine

    03

    A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial)

    Felice Jacka, PhD, founder of the Food and Mood Centre at Deakin University and of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research, whose work built much of the evidence linking diet quality and depression.

    What you’ll learn

    The first randomized trial to ask whether improving diet could help people already living with moderate to severe depression. Over 12 weeks, people who met a dietitian to improve their everyday food had a much bigger drop in symptoms than people who had social support visits. The food was ordinary and affordable, with no special products. A small trial, used alongside existing care, never instead of it.

    Worth asking your doctor

    Could seeing a dietitian be a useful addition to my current depression treatment?

    Go to the source

Every card links straight to the original source. We summarize and send people there. We never republish. How pieces are chosen

Questions to bring to your next appointment

  1. 01Could past stress or trauma be playing a part in my anxiety or physical symptoms, and which body based or trauma focused therapies might suit me?
  2. 02Would it make sense to check an inflammation marker like CRP as part of understanding my depression?
  3. 03Could seeing a dietitian be a useful addition to my current depression treatment?

This is a starting point, not medical advice. Talk with a doctor you trust before changing anything.

Research tells you what’s possible.

Your story tells you what applies to you.

Begin your story

The answers are in your story. Build it, to heal and stay healthy.