Over the years that I have been practicing alternative/complementary medicine I have found the treatment of anxiety one of the more challenging health condition to treat. Homeopathy and acupuncture helped many patients. However, there seemed to be about 30% of the patients suffering from this debilitating illness whom I was unable to find the therapeutic key that would release them from their suffering.
It was in 2019 while at an ozone conference that I overhead another physician recommend the Walsh Institute as a unique place to learn to treat emotional illness like anxiety, ADHD, depression, and even insomnia. I made a mental note and that evening found that the course was being offered in the Chicago area and immediately signed up for it.
At the conference I found that Dr. William Walsh PhD was a humble, curious and deeply compassionate man that spent his life researching solutions for mental illness. His research first start with testing the blood and urine of prisoners some of whom were serial killers. On meeting with the prisoner’s parents he noticed many came from well functioning families, not families struggling with trauma, poverty or other adversities. Some parents recalled knowing there was something wrong with their child as early as the age of two. They had other children who were thriving. He wondered why were some more vulnerable to criminal behavior from their very beginnings
Over the next 18 years, Dr. Walsh analyzed the biochemistry of over 30,000 patients. Although, his research began with prisoners he eventually gravitated towards treating children. Using nutrient therapies he first started treating just violent behavior. But when coexisting ADHD symptoms and learning problems started to disappear as well, he expanded his work to eventually include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.
Though there are more than one thousand nutrients important in the body. Dr Walsh found, as he says, “…only about six or seven …seem to have a dramatic impact on mental health.” It turns out that each of these nutrient factors is directly involved in either the synthesis or the epigenetic regulation of a neurotransmitter in the brain.
One such nutrient, copper if in excess pushes the conversion of dopamine into norepinephrine which can short-circuit thought processes in the brain, and lead to anxiety, brain fog, depression, hyperactivity, nervousness, or irritability. Imbalances in these important neurotransmitters are associated with ADHD, behavior disorders, depression, and violent behavior.
Dr. William Walsh’s has found copper excess to be more common in women (96% of subjects) and as a result they are more likely to suffer from high anxiety, adrenal fatigue, fibromyalgia and even postpartum depression in their childbearing years.
Another study revealed that 75% of young males with ADD, episodic rage disorder, hyperactivity, destructive, and/or assaultive behaviors exhibitor exhibited elevated copper/zinc ratios. Separate outcome studies in this group of males reported significant improvements in behavior after normalization of their Copper/Zinc ratios.
Since implementing Dr. Walsh’s approach I have seen many similar and often dramatic improvement in my patients mental and emotional health.
In our next newsletter I will share one such experience with one young girl.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD