Thanks. Glad you found it useful, in 2024 I’ll have a course available on teaching the meditation techniques.

​@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments please teach us how to boost BDNF

Thank you! I'm glad you find it helpful, more to come next year

Hi, I'm going to be concentrating on making videos on bipolar disorder, as I write my up-and-coming book Living Well With bipolar Disorder. One of the chapters is going to be on the inflammation depression connection, although I'm focusing on bipolar/depression the same mechanism of inflammation pruning synapses than your neuro plasticity can replace them, and inflammation disrupting neurotransmitter production applies equally well to unipolar depression. There are a couple of books to read on the connection between mental health problems and inflammation: "the inflamed mind" by Edward Ballmore "cytokines and depression" by Ronald Smith. I also highly recommend: "why isn't my brain working." By Karrazian

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments Hi thank you so much for your reply :) It is really great to hear back from you :) Yes, I understand that this is where your focus will be considering your first hand experience in dealing and treating your own bipolar depression. I think your own personal journey through your mental illness is incredibly brave and, inspiring. I am always happy to hear more about it and, yes, thank you for pointing out that the mechanism of inflammation is common to unipolar depression as well. Sharing with people who may learn and, benefit from your story is so very important and meaningful considering the negative impacts of mental illness on a person's well-being and health. I am just happy to have found this information you are sharing and to know that there is hope. I will be emailing you soon to request the brain relaxation exercise recording that you are so kindly sharing for free. Thank you so much for the book recommendations, I will definitely be looking them up. Thank you for all the work that you are doing to help those who need help the most.

@@kamalikshasingh231 bro Dont do a high protein diet It could be dangerous, you'd better do a high fat and very low carb diet (ketogenic diet) which is anti-inflamatory. Good luck dud.

Thanks, I'm still learning how to set up a youtube channel :)

I’ve just got a couple of other videos to do first then I really want to get started on a series of videos on bipolar, it will definitely be my main subject though 2020, sorry for the wait. Making the videos is surprising lengthy process, I hope to get quicker over time.

Where is the neuroplasticity protocol please. What herbs, supplements & exercises you used please!! Turning 50 severely depressed . Been living in hell for years. So grateful i found your story today & videos. So much trauma in last 5 yrs. Including Haldol caused me 2 cardiac arrests. Need to stay out of mental hospital to stay alive for my boys only 11 & 15. Help pls & thk u! Refuse to take any more medication torture & my cognitive decline is really bad with this last 1.5 yr depression. Only sleep 1-3 hrs a night for like years. I cannot function for my boys or to work so hoping to save my life here & not end of homeless . Fought so hard to live & now i am losing the will​@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments

working on next videos right now.

There are so many things to consider, mood disorders covers a wide range of conditions and people have different compounding issues. I would need to take a case history and understand the specifics of her case before I could recommend a combination of supplements. You can book an appointment on the link calendly.com/petersmithuk See my fees on the following webpage www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/peter-smith/128/Bookings-&-Fees.html

You welcome

Hi Zac - I understand from you that it is getting a whole list of things to take is just too much . Enough to drive you crazy...

Lithium Orotate

I intend to make a post about genetic variation and epigenetics down the road. I've tried applying the work of Walsh manipulating transporter expression with folate and other methylating agents, although he strangely doesn't differentiate between folate and folic acid, but I generally found the ground reality did not match theory, I mean what the genetics predicted would be good or bad supplements for an individual did not match up with what happened when they took the supplements. I believe we simply don't have sufficient understanding of the interaction of gene expression yet for it to be a reliable predictor of outcomes; I wish it was. My guess is epigenetics may radically alter gene expression and we will have to be able to map out both and understand their interaction a lot better before nutrigenomics becomes a viable alternative, effective and cost-effective alternative to real-world personal experimentation. Case in point I have bipolar and without constantly stabilising my dopamine levels with remedies I go manic like I'm high on cocaine then crash and want to die. Over many years of experimentation I found the supplements that actually work for me long before we had genetic testing, but here's the contradictory thing when I look at the list of DO take these and DON'T to take these supplements if you high-COMT or low-COMT (COMT is the main enzyme that brakes down dopamine) it doesn't fit with my experience. I know for a fact in the real-world that I do fantastically well taking some of the supplements on the both the do and don't list. I never had my COMT V158M gene tested and I'm really glad I didn't because it would not have informed what supplements work for me, in fact testing it would have seriously held me back by not testing things I literally rely on to keep me well. It could be that bipolar is so complex that taking a mixture of COMT inhibitors and enhancers at the same time makes sense, but my point still stands that real-world testing is still necessary beyond genetic testing. I've met several people especially anxious people that were paralysed from trying new remedies because their genetic test suggested that have an issue with this or that remedy. I so want genetic testing to mature and be a reliable guide in the future.

What you need to take to be effective is individual, it depends on the rest of your health. There’s no one size fits all.

I only just touched briefly on benzo withdrawal, I'll be doing a video and posts with a more comprehensive overview of strategies to speed up the withdrawal process. I have bipolar and one of the strategies I use to maintain my wellness is dampening down excessive glutamate activity in my brain which is one of the central imbalances in bipolar.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments the thing is.. yes excessive glutamate activity is an issue in benzo withdrawal.... but it's the glutamate receptors that are upregulated, so simply stopping excess glutamate activity wont cause the receptors to downregulate. in fact wouldn't stopping excess glutamate activity slow down the process at which the glutamate receptors down regulate? how long will it take until you have your benzo video?

@JC-ko1bp Unfortunately there just isn't sufficient understanding of the brain yet to precisely answer the details you are questioning; exactly how to best reduce up regulated glutamate receptors is unknown at this time. Funnily enough as we speak I am just writing a post about the lack of scientific evidence conclusively showing that diet can combat depression but I make the point that we should not let a lack of scientific evidence prevent us from experimenting ourselves with (safe) interventions and see if they can help us. I've used and prescribed herbal remedies, nutritional supplements and amino acids to help people transition off benzos over 3 decades despite a lack of specific details of the mechanisms by which these remedies work. Something we must never lose sight of is that biological systems are highly evolved to self-regulate and in the main as long as we create an optimum internal physiological environment for healing and self-regulation to occur the systems can get the job done without us having to know the precise mechanisms. I totally understand that this is less than the precise mechanistic explanation that you may have hoped for, sorry for that. I come from a scientific background myself and often feel frustrated at the lack of research into how natural remedies work but in the meantime I just get on with applying naturopathic treatments that seem to work. Something I'm will share is that whenever I've applied hard linear logic to biological systems in the brain such as the hypothetical idea that inhibiting glutamate activity may slow down the down-regulation of excessive glutamate receptor site activity I was invariably proved to be wrong within a few years. As an understanding of science that biological systems operate with what's called fuzzy logic as opposed to linear logic and often display characteristics that at least initially appeared to be illogical. I've got my KZfaq studio setup so I'm hoping to make 2 video posts a week and get round to the benzos within the next couple of months but there is no fixed timetable or date. Actually I'll have to break off now because I want to get into my studio and start filming.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments thanks for your answer and id love it if you made benzo withdrawal a priority :) on average, once you set conditions just right for benzo withdrawal, how long does it usually take to recover... by up regulating neuroplasticity.. sorry for wasting your time

A huge benefit of any kind of whitdrawal is lithium. It also regulates the amounts of many transmitter systems, it has also an influence to many receptors. People in whitedrawel used high doses of lithium, they had no high as feedback by taking cocain, heroin and alcohol. (James Greenblatt: "Lithium - The Cinderella Story...", Leader of a private psychiatry clinic in Waltham, Massachusetts) If all withdrawals are primaly influenced by genetic, how can high dosed vitamin C - with cofaktors - in many cases work??

You have to taper it very slowly. Might take 5-6 months. Augment it with natural calming supplements.

It certainly could be the reason. When I first took 10 mg of lithium orotate a day I felt emotionally flattened perhaps brain fog and tired. I reduced the dose down to a quarter tablet approximately 1.25 mg and felt okay on this. I then doubled the dose every week, back up to 10 and now I feel better than ever on it. To get those symptoms from just 2 mg would indicate you are very sensitive to it, but you do get used to it.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments thanks for replying. Yes I already have brain fog and chronic fatigue so I tend to be sensitive when things have even a slight effect. I do believe it could be due to lithium having some kinda detox effect on the brain. I remember you mentioning something about vanadium.

Hi Alexander, the specific meditation technique and talking about is modified amalgamation of techniques like mindfulness of breathing, it is a directed focus mindfulness technique whereby you deliberately pick and choose what you focus your attention on as opposed to open monitoring mindfulness which is the classic style taught all around the world today. The technique I've developed is an amalgamation of components of directed focus mindfulness adapted to engage the task positive network to the maximum extent. It's only in the last 5 years or so that it's been possible to know how to do this thanks to new brain scans and scanning techniques. I'm going to be starting quite affordable meditation classes in small groups via Skype, Facebook and Instagram. To be informed when I start these classes you could send me an email so I have you in my email contacts list. The first classes will probably be on Sunday evenings UK time which will be afternoons and mornings across the US I hope that works for you.

I’m sorry this is not at all my area of expertise, so I couldn’t say.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments If you could only take one herb, vitamin, mineral, or supplement what would it be?

@@zacl7774 I wouldn’t just take one supplement, if you want to get therapeutic effects from supplements you need to take a lot because they only have gentle effects. There’s no magic single pill, there’s no snake oil that does it all.

I’ll be concentrating on Bipolar for the rest of 2020 but there will be info on depression that is universal to both BP and unipolar depression

Eliminate ultra processed foods

Yes still doing consultations. As far as I know the email in my site still works, alternatively use petersmithuk@yahoo.com If you are ready to book an appointment you can do so directly online on this link, you will also see my terms and fees here www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/peter-smith/32/Skype-Self-Help-Coaching.html I hope I can be of help to you

Sorry no I don’t have any expertise with BPD. I think the psychotherapy Schema Therapy has developed for BPD and Dialectical behavioural therapy. Good luck with your treatment.

Thanks for the reply. I have looked into various types of therapies for my Bpd. I also have anxiety, depression and PTSD. Are you able to give me a consultation to help with those issues (whilst I get help elsewhere for bpd)? Also, you mentioned that the brain can heal itself which is something I am interested in as I was given antipsychotic drugs for my depression a long while back. Even though I came off them, I still experience negative effects from them.

I thought I already replied to your comment but cannot see my reply. Yes I treat depression and stimulating neuroplasticity to repair the brain from drug use. I can also discuss a sequence of self help techniques you can work through to treat PTSD. If you want to book a appointment you can see my fees and availability on the following link: www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/peter-smith/32/Skype-Self-Help-Coaching.html

@@UP-mx8dj Yes, I specialise in repairing the brain from drug effects and depression, I can also explain a sequence of techniques you could work through to overcome PTSD. If you want to book an appointment you can see my fees and availability on the following webpage: www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/peter-smith/32/Skype-Self-Help-Coaching.html

I have sent you an email regarding the consultation. Please check. TIA

I’m preparing a new vid on the neurotransmitter imbalances in bipolar disorder, should be posted by October 21

My email is hello@petersmithuk.com

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments just emailed you

@@Fireball1974 ok I’ll get back to you tomorrow

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments thanks

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments I haven’t heard from you I have emailed you 2 days ago still waiting