Depression-Free, Naturally: 7 Weeks to Eliminating Anxiety, Despair, Fatigue, and Anger from Your Life

by Joan Mathews Larson

In this groundbreaking book, nutritionist Joan Mathews Larson, Ph.D., founder of Minnesota's esteemed Health Recovery Center, offers her revolutionary formulas for healing your emotions--biochemically. Through proven all-natural formulas, Seven Weeks to Emotional Healing will help you find the emotional well-being you've been missing your entire life. Inside you'll discover how to

- Screen yourself for emotional and behavioral symptoms
- Recognize the mental and physical clues that indicate biochemical imbalances
- Heal your depression and anxiety with the right vitamins and minerals
- Stabilize your mood swings and protect your well-being with essential fatty acids
- Choose the right foods for optimal mental fitness
- Rejuvenate your body with key natural hormones

Safe, fast, more long-lasting and cheaper than prescription drugs or psychotherapy, Seven Weeks to Emotional Healing will help you find balance and well-being.

Genres: Self Help, Health, Nonfiction, Psychology, Mental Health, Nutrition, Food

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2001

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 1 out of 5]

A nutrition/biochemical approach to depression -- if you feel like adhering to strict diets and taking (no joke) about 100 supplements and vitamin pills EACH DAY this is the book for you. I couldn't even get through the long lists of minerals
and vitamins, tests and such. Pills before you eat, pills when you eat, pills after you eat, pills before you go to bed.
Forget it. I'll take my chances with drugs! The lady seems to know her stuff, but her clinic also sells such pills, so I am immediately turned off.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk therapy and pharmaceuticals have their place, but wouldn't you prefer to see if you can address the ROOT CAUSE with some natural, nutrient solutions first? Get at the CAUSE, don't mask the symptoms, I say! This was by FAR the best book I've read yet on the connections between the quality of your nutrition & the quality of your brain function (mood, energy, focus, ability to handle stress, etc). Anxiety, depression, irritability, rage, anger, brain fog, cravings, and addictions are not "normal," though they are common. These are all symptoms of dysfunction and malnutrition. I learned a TON of new things I will be utilizing in my nutritional therapy practice. Bonus section on anti-aging nutrition, which was quite eye-opening as well.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got off diet pepsi, no sugar, down to one cup of coffee...got on some estrogen and feeling a lot better!

[Tara Ravi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing I really enjoyed was the diet plan. I followed it for a week to give my friend a review, and I found myself looking forward to meal times as I could eat whatever was in my diet plan without worrying so much about the nutrition content of random things I might choose. So, having the structure was good, and I felt healthier.
I appreciated the author's specialised perspective on depression, having lost a son to it.
I don't think it would be healthy to be taking the 50 or so supplements prescribed in the book, and I ignored everything about those.

[Tina Dahlen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My therapist has referred to this book a few times in our sessions so I decided to read it on my own. While some parts are really interesting and connects dots you wouldn’t think to be connected, some information is outdated and just plain wrong. But, that’s to be be expected in a book 20+ years old. Some of the studies she cites need more research (if it hasn’t already happened) as the test group numbers were small. Take the information with a grain of salt, do your own research as well, and speak with your medical providers. We know medical research can change a lot over time.

[Sogzewalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book, very informative and helpful for anyone with ongoing issues of depression, addiction, or any other mental health issues. Joan Matthews Larson gives you all the clues health wise and many times the simple solutions that are to be found in natural substances, not pharmaceuticals. Everyone should read this book and understand that many behavioral problems are often times mis-understood health issues that are solvable.

[Ann Marie Rillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some good ideas and plenty of information, but it seems outdated since it was written in 1999.

[Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good information. Many sections are outdated, but it is a great starting point for anyone with generalised depression or from addiction.

[vienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've tried a handful of pharmaceuticals for my depression and anxiety disorder with little success, so I am always searching for new remedies to help. This book is super old and probably outdated, but it did have some helpful information about supplements that can be used for anxiety and depression. This books is similar to The Mood Cure, but it goes a little deeper. I have tried some of her recommendations under my doctor's care and they have helped a little more than drugs have. I highly suggest only implementing alternative treatments with the help of a doctor, and not just with the advice of the author. Your doctor needs to know what you are taking especially if you are already taking other medications! I knocked off some stars because there are claims about vaccines that have been debunked countless times. I was trusting most of the information in the book up until I reached this part, and then I started to question if the author is truly credible at all. I only gave her a pass because this book is outdated and we have much more information regarding the safety of vaccines now. I wish that this book could be updated to remove this misleading information. If you're interested in this book, I would recommend reading The Mood Cure by Julia Ross first because it is more straightforward.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was cut down the middle in regards to this book. I learned quite a bit about various causes of health disorders (chemicals, nutrient deficiencies, etc) which can help me to investigate and learn to heal my disorders naturally. The majority of the book though was filled with ways to deal with these issues with various supplements. While I much prefer to use natural alternatives to drugs, there were way too many listed for me to take. If I took everything listed for every problem I might be having, I would be paying hundreds of dollars each month. I was hoping to find more supplement free suggestions (more sunshine, exercise, etc) to relieve depression.

[Jennifer Ricks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoy the nutritional perspective, but it's a little over-the-top. I think you'd be taking like 45 pills a day if you followed her regime completely. But looking at emotional concerns from a nutritional viewpoint is helpful. It is not helpful that the book is 15 years old. An update is sorely needed! Also, it feels like she's mostly addressing an over-50 population, which isn't very helpful to me. If it was updated and included younger sufferers in the in-need population, I'd probably give it 3 stars.

[Nathalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book going over the many physiological ways we can be off balance and how to fix it. Comprehensive. For more complicated cases, of course, please find a qualified orthomolecular psychiatrist to help you navigate the tests and interpret the results. I highly recommend, even if you feel just low energy and don't think you are depressed. Sometimes the fix is quite simple. :-) Good luck!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful dietary recommendations for regulating moods. Not many people know that food intolerances and sugar, alcohol and caffeine have such a huge effect on mental health, so it is refreshing to have this written out explicitly by a practitioner.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did not like the influence that I was feeling while I was taking SUI drugs. I decided to read the book and take natural substances that are suggested in the book. It worked for me.