Well with Arielle Lorre - 338: How Hormones Impact Mental Health and Tools to Regulate Your Symptoms with Dr. Judith Joseph

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Episode Description: Dr. Judith Joseph is a board-certified psychiatrist, researcher, and at the forefront of mental health innovation. In this episode, we discuss the intersection of hormones and mental health, specifically when it comes to women. She provides tactical tips around cycle syncing, PMS, regulating symptoms throughout your cycle and menopause, what to eat during hormonal fluctuations and so on. We also discuss anxiety, depression, and chronic issues impacted by hormones, and what we can do about them. Overall, an interesting, impactful listen surrounding women’s health and hormones!Subscribe to Patreon for exclusive weekly content: patreon.com/ArielleLorreLearn more about Dr. Joseph: https://drjudithjoseph.com/This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.Visit article.com/BLONDE for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Go to helloned.com/BLONDE for 15% off all products.Visit drinklmnt.com/BLONDE for a free sample pack!Go to airdoctorpro.com and use code BLONDE to receive up to $300 off air purifiers and a free 3-year warranty. Get who gets you, on eHarmony! Sign up today at eharmony.com Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lorry, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there's so much information out there, so I'm bringing on expert guests and sharing my own experiences to help you sift through all the wellness stuff without the BS. Enjoy the show.

Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I have a great episode for you today. I am talking to Dr. Judith Joseph. She is a renowned board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in mental health and trauma. Currently, she is at the helm of a groundbreaking research lab that is developing original psychometric skills for mood, anxiety, and wellness, and pioneering treatments for myriad high functioning conditions. And it's really fascinating to hear about this research, which we do discuss in the episode. She received her BS in biology and chemistry from Duke and her medical and business degrees from Columbia University. She is also the recipient of the U.S. Congress and House of Representatives Proclamation Award for her social media advocacy and mental health research and two digital share care Emmy awards for mental health.

So in this episode, we are talking about mental health. We're talking about high functioning depression. We're talking about mental health and hormones, the impact that hormones have on mental health and the interaction and the correlation between the two, which I thought was really fascinating. And we also talk about really helpful tools to regulate your symptoms. So please enjoy Dr. Judith Joseph. Welcome, Dr. Joseph. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for being here. I was just telling you before we started recording that I feel like, This topic that we're going to be talking about today is something that I haven't done, I don't think, in five years of having this podcast. I've talked a lot about hormones and a lot about mental health, but not about the intersection of the two. So that's what we are going to be delving into today. But to start, why don't you just introduce yourself and tell the listeners a little bit about who you are and what you do? I'm Dr. Judith. I'm a board certified psychiatrist.

And I'm a researcher as well. I have a lab where I study conditions. And some of my studies have to do with women's health. So things like postpartum depression, perimenopausal mood symptoms. Because women are different than men. They have different hormones. And I think it's interesting that when you look at the studies, women are twice as likely to have anxiety or depressive conditions compared to men.

So there's got to be something about the biology that makes us more vulnerable. Yeah. And I feel like oftentimes we're kind of written off as just having these conditions, just, oh, you're just anxious or, oh, you just have depression. And I know for myself, I was telling you before we started recording that I have PMDD. Bad PMDD. I mean, I don't think any PMDD is good, but it can be very debilitating for anybody who's experienced it. And I feel like it's not very widely recognized. And we're just, told that all of this is just normal, right? So how did you become interested in researching this? So I do think that you're onto something. I think that we're not told to validate what our bodies do to our emotions or how the impact our emotions. And I love to study the things that are unmet needs because people need answers. Every single time I do a TikTok or a reel on PMDD, people are like, can you do more of this? No one talks about this. So I know there's a real need. But I do think that

there is this kind of like political sensitive balance because on one hand, you want people to recognize that our hormones may affect our mood. On the other hand, you don't want them to use it against us. Yes. So you got to be careful. Women can't be presidents. They're too crazy during their periods, that kind of thing. That kind of thing. Yeah. But the thing is that while many women, some studies say three out of four will report having PMS. Not as many have PMDD, the premenstrual dysphoric disorder that can be more impactful in terms of your functioning and can really disrupt your life. So it's a more severe form of it. Only about 5% some of the studies show. So I think we have to be very careful to validate that yes, hormones may impact our mood, but to the extent that they do should not or does not impact

the majority of our functioning. Okay. So before we get into PMDD and all of that, what is kind of a normal cycle of emotions if there is one throughout a woman's cycle? So right before you get your period a week before your period, there are changes in progesterone. And many of us, including myself, like I'm a week out from my period. So I fail it. Many of us have like some of the cognitive or the thinking symptoms. So we may get a little moody, we may feel a little anxious, and then we had the physical symptoms, like bloating. Some of us have cravings like I do. I have to have chocolate chip cookies, right? Like all week I was eating chocolate chip cookies. And then sometimes we have like problems with our sleep or just feeling fatigued. But I was still able to go to work, fulfill my duties, take care of my daughter,

do all the things that I need to do in life. It didn't significantly impact my functioning. However, when you get to a point when your mood symptoms are really disrupting your ability to do what you typically do, and you're having really extreme mood issues and anxiety, that's when you really should be thinking about PMDD, which is a more severe condition. And that warrants treatment because it impacts your functioning. Yeah. So I feel like I normally love the progesterone phase. I don't know if that's normal. But when you said progesterone, I was like, oh, that's my favorite because I have, I sleep really well. I have that kind of natural feeling of calm. Like, I know the day that it washes over me. And I personally really love that. But then after that, when it starts to dip, it's like just craziness with really bad anxiety, insomnia, agitation.

But how much of that is, again, quote unquote normal? And when is it time for somebody to maybe seek out help? I mean, I've had clients who have become, you know, suicidal. And they've had thoughts that they don't want to live anymore. And some of my clients have even had really disruptive arguments and outbursts with people that they care for, things that they typically wouldn't do. So when it's really impacting your ability to show up in your relationships, show up at work, and do the things that you love doing, well, you know, you're worthy of getting support. So that's when

you really should reach out for treatment and for help. Yeah, I mean, not to keep making this about myself, but like just in my experience, especially as I get older, and I'm 38 now, so I'm sure there are other hormonal changes happening. I feel like I have two good weeks a month. You know, it's the first two weeks after my cycle. And I ended up in like forums and reading threads of other people who experienced this because I felt like I wasn't getting any help really from anybody in the medical community. You know, I know that there are solutions like cycling SSRIs maybe during that time. There's obviously bioidentical progesterone, you know, hormones that you can maybe take, but I really ended up looking for answers from other people who were going through it. And that

seemed to be a pretty universal thing where there's two, even sometimes one. good week out of the month where you feel kind of normal and like, oh, this is how somebody is supposed to feel. That's how I feel. It's like, oh, this is what a normal person probably feels like. So what are some solutions if somebody is experiencing that? I think that what you're describing is really understanding your body. So I think the first part is understanding yourself. So I encourage my clients to keep a journal. In the way that you track, okay, I know these are the weeks that I'm going to possibly be having these symptoms. Track your cycle.

Track, you know, the weeks where you're having the most energy and then get things done during those weeks. Track the weeks when you need more rest because you got to give yourself permission to rest. Personally, and I'm about to get my period and when I'm on my period, that's when I'm not going to be hitting the gym so hard. I'm going to be like doing my walks through time square to work, but I'm not going to necessarily be on the stair master like I normally do, right? So you have to give yourself permission.

to rest. And my diet even changes. If I'm on my cycle, I am going to be eating meat. I really don't like to eat red meat, but that's when I'm going to think about like getting more vitamins, more nutrition that support me. And then I know that I have a sweet tooth right before my period. So I try to keep some of the sweets away from me because I do want them and I allow myself permission to have them. But I'm very mindful that I'm going to have these cravings. I need to also have a lot of protein around me. that I'm not just craving empty carbs and feeling that crash afterwards. I'm giving myself protein and drinking a lot of water and so forth and rest. I get so much more rest because you need to feel supported. So I think the first step really is understanding your biology. And that is so empowering

because if you walk into a room and the light is out and you hear a noise, you're going to freak out. But if the lights on it, you know what you're dealing with, you're going to feel calm. So knowing what you're dealing with that you're not going crazy. Like so many clients will say, oh my gosh, I tracked my period and like I felt funny and I looked at the calendar and I knew and you were right. It made me feel better. I felt like it wasn't going crazy. There's nothing wrong with me. Yeah.

That is such a good point because for the longest time I didn't track and I have pretty irregular periods. And it's so funny. I was talking to a friend about this recently. I was like, you know, this time leading up to the period is so erratic. emotionally and otherwise, you know, energy and all of that. And every month, I'm like, something is wrong with me. What is happening? Am I going to be like this forever? Like, I forget. And you would think after having a period for 25 years at this point, like I would remember that this is what's happening. And I finally started tracking it or just putting it in my calendar.

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have during whatever phase of your cycle that you're in. But there isn't really that same support, I don't think, when it comes to the mental health aspect of it. No, there isn't. And the fact that we're talking about this right now is huge because just like five years ago, you talk about your period in public like this, you feel like, what's wrong with you, right? So I think that, you know, the way that you were seeking support on those online forums, talking about this on something very public like a podcast, is super supportive and helpful in itself. And we don't get that validation when we go to the doctor. You know, if you go to the doctor and you talk about it, a lot of my clients will say that doctors will be like, well, everyone gets their period. And they look at you

like, well, women get their period. That's all women. Why are you complaining, right? Here's first control. And, you know, for many years, that was a response to menopause. Well, everyone goes through it who's a woman, like suck it up, right? But we're learning that that is not appropriate, that we need to validate the experience that human beings have when they have hormonal fluctuations, that we need to support them. It's so important because if we don't support people, they don't stay in the workplace, they don't stay in environments. And it's not inclusive.

and diversity makes organizations, corporations better. So we have to do this, not just for the individuals, but for everyone. Diversity is better for everyone involved. Can we rewind a little bit and talk about like how exactly do these hormones impact mental health? Like what is the mechanism of that? I know that, you know, progesterone, we have progesterone, testosterone, estrogen. Isn't there one other kind of main one?

Like the FSH, the FSAG, yeah. about this. Well, really, progesterone and estrogen are the ones we talk about when it comes to these hormonal fluctuations. And in the brain, the neurohormone alopregnatalone is really impacted by progesterone. So when you are about to give birth, you're at, you're like this really juicy hormonal period and then it drops. And a lot of the work understanding hormonal fluctuations was done around women who were having a lot of moodiness. sadness when they were supposed to be happy. So you have mothers who are just supposed to be happy to be a mother because they have a healthy baby. Why are you upset? Again, another thing,

doctors would be like, well, why are you complaining about? Your baby's healthy. You should be happy. But 80 percent, as many as 80 percent of women who give birth will report having the blues. So how invalidating is that to be like, well, you should be happy. You have a healthy baby. But they're not. It's not that they're ungrateful, but two things can be true. You can be happy that you have a healthy baby, but you can also validate that these hormones are causing real, not made up fluctuations in your mood and your ability to sleep and your ability to manage anxiety. See a lot of OCD when people give birth and they'll be like, is my baby safe? Are they breathing? How many times we heard those stories, right? And it's like, your baby's fine. But it's true

OCD symptoms related to these hormonal fluctuations. Interesting. So women are not getting supportive. mothers are not getting supported and they're being told they should just be happy. So invalidating. One might think that that's just biology happening, right? When somebody might have those symptoms of OCD when they give birth because suddenly they have this thing that they're caring for. And I'm sure it has some kind of evolutionary reason that it's happening. The hormone fluctuation and that massive probably spike and then drop is causing this cascade of symptoms. throughout the body. Yeah, it's real. And I think that when women know that it's real, when mothers know that

it's real, they don't feel as guilty. I mean, I know that when I was right after giving birth, I had to return to a lab, take care of patients, take care of this small child. And it's a huge change, you know, like one minute there's a kid in you, and the next minute you're like, this kid isn't going anywhere. That's your kid, you know. And this child depends on you. So it's very different from a major depressive disorder that's not related to hormones. It's all those symptoms of a major depressive disorder. Plus you have those hormonal changes. Plus you have the physical changes after giving birth. Plus you have this needy infant, right, that you can't let down. So you see a lot of people just pushing through it, pushing through it. And that's why I do think that mothers in particular

are vulnerable to high functioning depression. Yes, that's something that I want to talk to you about as well, because I know that you're studying that and anadonia, right? But I kind of want to go back to how do other hormones impact mental health? Like, what about estrogen? So estrogen and progesterone go through fluctuations during the perimenopausal mood period. And many times women will say, I don't feel like myself. I don't know who I am anymore. Or I'm forgetful.

and I was just about to say something and I forgot something. That's the tip of the tongue. And so, you know, these changes, we used to think that they happened like, oh, like, don't worry about it until you're like about to turn 50. It's almost like your 49, you have your birthday and boom, now start worrying about menopause. No, no, no. It's not the case at all. In your like mid to late 30s, up until your 40s, you really should be thinking about these things because if you notice your period start to change. They're not the same periods when you were in your 20s or in your teens.

You start to get more tired. People are like, oh, I don't like to go out anymore. Like, I love to go to bed. That's related to your hormones. Really? So you can't, like, you can't eat the same things that you used to. Like, I remember in my 20s, I was like all about salads and smoothies. We should be building protein.

We should be eating more protein to build our muscle mass to support our bone health. We should be getting more calcium. But no one tells us this. So, like, we're just not prepared. And it's never too late to prepare. We should be cutting out toxic people and toxic habits like smoking and drinking excessively because this is when all of those things really prepare us for having the best outcome when we're in like that menopausal transition.

And it's not to say that people can't do it in their 50s. It's never too late. You see these memes of like people in their 80s starting to work out for the first time. It's never too late, but it's just better if you could start earlier. And I have an MDMBA. So if someone told me, don't save for your retirement until you're 50, I'd laugh at them, right? Why are we doing that to our bodies? Our bodies are our banks.

They're the most precious banks that we could ever have. So why are we waiting until we're in our 50s to prepare for menopause? I never thought about those changes in your 30s having to do with hormones, really. I mean, I am that person. Like, I can't eat what I used to eat. I go to bed at like nine. If I'm up past that, I mean, I can't. 10 once in a while, but I need my eight hours of sleep. I need to go to bed early. My body wakes

me up earlier. Like everything is just different. And I mean, I guess it's kind of obvious if you think about it, but I feel like that is kind of a transition that so many people experience in their 30s. And I just never made that connection before. So is it like estrogen is decreasing? You're having more fluctuations. And it's not like you can measure, you know, like there's a a lot of tests right now where it's like, oh, if you measure, you can tell if you're in perimenopause. It's not true. There are more hormonal fluctuations. And I remember when I was like in my mid-30s and I was like, oh, I'm so tired. Like I'm getting old. It was like, somebody told me like, actually, no, you're like pari menopause. You start preparing. I would have started way earlier.

I think when people know, they feel like, okay, it's not me. I'm not just boring. Like, I'm getting older and my body's changing. And if I understand the science behind, it, then I know what to do about it. What are some things that we can do besides hormone replacement therapy? Or should we be starting that in our mid to late 30s? So one of the things that my doctor did for me was she put me on birth control. Usually, you know, you're on birth control to prevent, you know, getting, having a pregnancy. But I wasn't on birth control. And she was like, just get on it because that's like hormone replacement therapy. So I see that a lot. And it was helpful? I think so. It was very helpful. And,

And it's not hard to come off. Well, I haven't tried to come off. I'll let you know how that goes. Got it. But the other thing is, when I go to the gym, I see a lot of women on treadmills and, like, you know, on the elliptical. But they should be lifting weights. So things like that are really important. I mentioned that, you know, I used to have like smoothies and like salads.

But now I'm like eating so many eggs in the morning. I'm like protein loading. Yeah. So like all of these things. I just think that people need to know about them. Getting more sleep. Sleep is like queen. I really, really treat sleep with like the sacred reverence.

So I make sure that like my room is really dark, cool. I get like really neurotic and I cover up like even the tiny device lights because that sleep. Oh my gosh. So that sleep, that exposure to those lights can cause more belly fat. Ugh. And like, again, we don't talk about this stuff. Wow. Even though you're sleeping.

Even though you're sleeping, you're not getting that deep restorative sleep because those disruptions in your sleep cycle due to that light can disrupt melatonin and your sleep cycles. You're not getting that sleep that you really need and it can impact your metabolism. So these are all things. One of my clients over the years would say to me like, oh, I don't know. I'm like doing all the same things, but like I'm getting more like the middle fat. And it's not just for vanity. That middle fat, that belly fat can be a precursor. or could be the first signs of like early diabetes.

So it's really important. That's why doctors want you to have more like hips than belly, right? Because it's that belly fat that's problematic. And she was just saying like, I don't know, I'm like eating the same things. I'm doing the same exercises. But you can't be doing that. You got to switch it up because as you get older, your body changes in the way that it breaks down fat and calories and so forth. And you have to change the way that you treat your body because your metabolism is changing.

Things are changing in your body. You can't treat it the same way you would as if it were in their 20s. Yeah. I feel like we all just kind of fall into this trap of like trying to apply the same regimens all the time and being like, well, it worked for me then. I know for me like what worked for me last year doesn't work for me this year. What worked for me six months ago doesn't work for me now. And what works for me, you know, week one after my period doesn't work for me at week three. Like we're constantly fluctuating. That was very interesting to me, by the way. about the light because I have this new phone charger that emits this bright effing blue light. And it wasn't directly in my eyesight, but like plugged in, you know, by my bedside table. And for the first week, I was like not sleeping well at all. And finally I covered it with something. And it was like

night and day. Yeah. I'm like the light hunter in my room. If there's any new light, I'm like, where is it? Yeah. And I travel with tape, like whenever I stay at a hotel. Because if usually I'm traveling for work, I have an event or I have to speak. I'm not going to get good sleep if there's this big old light in the room, you know. No, the light hunter. That's so funny. Do you have red light and all of that? Do you go to that extreme? I don't. I don't. I had red light bulbs in my bedroom because I was like, I don't want to just light this kind of light even after I podcast. I'm so sensitive. I'm like, I need to go sit in a dark room. One of my friends of the psychiatrist, she brings down all these like goggles, you know, the light blockers. I'm like, I can't have anything on my face.

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symptoms is very, very helpful because you can be someone who has a major depressive disorder and have worsening of your mood symptoms around your period. So if the symptoms start to ease once you get your period, then I think you could be pretty certain that it's related to your hormones. But if your symptoms persist, even after your period and they continue, a major depressive disorder is by definition two weeks or greater. Well, your symptoms should be lifting right after you get your period. So that's how you can tell. So keeping a journal and just kind of seeing where it aligns with your cycle.

Yeah. And the journal and using a calendar allows you to see which days. I encourage my clients to use like a big red marker. And then like these are the days that I'm feeling this way. And then, oh, then the yellow marker, they're getting better. And then they disappears. But if you keep having red and you're going on two weeks, beyond two weeks, okay, that's not your period. So you mentioned high functioning depression. And I would love to talk about high functioning anxiety, too, if that's anything that you have studied as well. Let's talk about that and as that relates to hormones as well. I do see a lot of women pushing through symptoms because, hey, like everyone has their period. Everyone gives birth. And there's just like this gaslighting that happens. And then we start to gaslight ourselves. Well, I guess everyone does have their.

period and everyone does give birth. So what's wrong with me, right? And I do think women are these like superheroes that are supposed to be invincible, that even if they're having a bad day, they show up for their kid, they show up for their coworkers, for their boss or if they're a leader, and they're just not allowed to have a bad day. And I do think that pushing through and gaslighting and not validating how you feel sets you up for high functioning depression. And high function depression is not a condition that's recognized by the DSM-5, which is like the Bible of psychiatry. But, you know, if we went by the DSM-5, well, one of the criteria is you have these symptoms of depression and you have a lack of functioning or significant distress. Well, what if you had some of

the symptoms of depression, but you were actually exceeding functioning and you were acknowledging your distress? If you went into a doctor's office, they'd say, well, you're functioning. You're actually killing it. You're doing well. And you're not really acknowledging any distress. So I'll see you in a year. Bye. Right. So you have a whole bunch of people who have these symptoms of depression.

And I call it pro-dromal. It's like leading up. And they're not getting that support because they don't have a condition that impacts functioning. And as a result, they go on without the support. And I think eventually they will either burn out or develop a major depressive disorder where their symptoms really impact their functioning. Or they develop something else like. a substance use condition or overusing things like social media to cope or overspending,

because I see a lot of that these days, like compulsive spending, just to feel better, but it doesn't feel better that you just want more and more and more of it. So, you know, I do think that there's this opportunity for us to support people before they get to a point where they're not functioning, but that's not how the coding is in medical literature. Insurance will pay for something when it's broken, not before it's broken. not before it's broken, right? Yeah, there's not a lot of nuance, it seems, in medical literature, medical diagnoses. I went through something myself last fall where I won't get too into it here, but, you know, I had this crazy debilitating health issue, and I went to like nine different doctors.

And because it didn't fit the diagnosis, the black and white official diagnosis, I didn't get diagnosed with anything until six months later. And I know so many people have that experience as well. well. And it's not always black and white. So I think it's so important that you're, you know, studying this and doing this work and bringing it to light. So what does high functioning depression look like? Like what are some ways that that depression can manifest where it isn't, you know, that depression that we all might think of where you can't get out of bed to your point. You can't function. You've lost all interest and in everything. Aside from maybe coping by overeating, overspending, numbing out social media, all of that. How does it show up in somebody? Well, I'm sorry you went

through that experience. And I think that people who have invisible illnesses, they look for answers sometimes for years. Yes. But I do think that Anhedonia, which is a really old medical term, it's been around since the 1800s, is something that people don't know about. And it's really that feeling of like blah, lack of interest, lack of pleasure. And when I tell my clients and my patients that Anadonia, Ann is the lack of head is pleasure. Anadonia, lack of pleasure is something that's actually a symptom or could be a symptom of depression. They're like, oh, I didn't even know that was a thing. I just thought I felt blah or meh. And one of the things that I've developed in my lab is a quiz that anyone can take, it's online, it's free, and it's the Anhadonia Rating Scale. And there have been

Anhedonia skills for decades, but they're a bit older. So one that is well known as the Shaps, and it has kind of like a British twang to it. So I've updated my Anadonia scale to include things like streaming and so forth that people can relate to. But there are these simple pleasures in life. And I don't really like to use the word joy so much, but there are sensations that give us pleasant feelings, so pleasure, things like, you know, quenching a thirst or feeling nourished, feeling rested, feeling connected, feeling inspired, having awe. And all of those little points of pleasure or joy make life really worth living. But if we're not feeling those things because we are too busy, right, some of us busy ourselves with work, or we're too distracted because

we're on our phones all the time, or we're just trying to numb out trauma, if we're not really taken the time to engage and feel those simple pleasures, then we're going to feel blah. We're going to feel meh. We're going to feel anhydonic. And many patients will say, I don't feel sad or depression. I'm not crying all the time, but I feel nothing. Well, that's that's anadonia. And I think people don't realize that's a thing. They just think, well, something must be wrong with me. Anadonia is, I think, the silent epidemic. And I think it's the result of having unprocessed trauma. You know, we were, we went through a pandemic. We were told that we were safe, but then we're told we're not safe. Go back in your homes. And then there were all these reports of police brutality and these images. And then there were

political uprisons. There were wars. It's just like bad news after bad news. So it's like a wave hitting us, the ocean hitting us. And we just feel like we can't catch our breath. And what do we do? No one says, okay, let's all process it. It's like, well, just get through it. Everyone feels this way. let's just get through it. But we're not processing it. And so we're feeling, we're just getting through. Yeah, I had never heard of that. And I think maybe the New York Times did something on Anadonia, like during the pandemic, I think. Maybe I even just saw it on like their social media on Instagram or something. And the response was crazy. Everybody was like, oh yeah, that's me. Like so many people could identify with that. And I had never heard of it before either.

Well, the interesting thing is you ask any nurse, healthcare professional doctor, they know what it is. But think about it. Health care workers, I mean, I think personally that's like a breeding ground for anadonia. Yeah. Let's see all these patients and not eat and let's not pee and let's just get through the day and let's go home and crash. That is anhydonia, right? Healthcare breeds anhydonia. So if you see a patient who has anadonia and you have anadonia as a doctor, you're going to be like, well, are you working? Yeah. Are you getting things on? Yeah. Okay. Go. That's not my problem. Right. So I think that there's this. It's a blind spot. It's a huge blind spot.

And I do think that, you know, it's endemic in a lot of industries like healthcare. So if it's not killing you or breaking your functioning, bye, I'll see you next year. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's kind of like the ethos, right, in the medical community from training and everything. I'm friends with a lot of doctors. And my dad's a doctor. And they joke about, you know, the training that you guys go through.

And it's like if you're not dying, like you show up no matter what. And I could see how that would be a breeding ground for that. And I'm curious what your opinion is on like how much social media is contributing to this. Because to your point, it's bad news after bad news after bad news. And we have so much access to the bad news. You can just be inundated with bad news all day if you're following certain accounts or if you seek it out. And I think some people do end up seeking that out, you know, and people are engaging with bad social media, like bad news and terrible things that happen.

How much do you think that exposure just on a daily basis is contributing to this as well? I know that's a really good point. And like if you see bad news after bad news, you're experiencing a form of trauma because you're seeing it. You may not be in that situation, but it's triggering you and it's causing your body. to go into fight or flight and you're you may have a hard time getting rid of those images. I've had patients over the years. You saw images and they haunted them and I had to do like trauma focused CBT with them for something that they never experienced, but they witnessed, right? So we really do have to protect our brain, especially for younger kids.

You know, right before, up until you're 25, it's thought that like that's when your brain is really having these bursts of development. Now, mind you, I think your brain continues to develop. It continues to change. but really up until your 25, you're really, that's when you're just like, you're forming, right? And so that's when we should really be protecting children's brains. And so what they see and how much time they're on screens may impact them. Children are supposed to be out in the world. They're supposed to be like putting things in their mouths and like testing things out and using their senses. But when they're on screens, they're not using their senses. So that in itself is dulling them.

And so we're setting up this generation, these generations, of kids for failure when we're not giving them the sensory stimulation that they should be having access to by putting them on screens. We can't get rid of screens. They're here to stay, but we have to make sure that they're still having those rich in reality experiences so that they have that proper development. I don't know how old you are, but I know for myself, like, I'm so grateful that I grew up in a time without screens. And I know, like, if that's what you grow up with, you don't know any different. So people growing up with screens don't know how it was, but we would play with the refrigerator, you know, the box that the refrigerator came in and that was

our fort. And like, we were outside all the time. Like, it was just so different. I can't imagine growing up, you know, with iPads and phones and all of that. I mean, I grew up with three siblings and we would play with boxes. I remember we turned my mom's tampon box into like a video recorder. making fake commercials. You don't see kids doing that. No. My daughter doesn't do that. So funny. I guess to close, are there any common myths that you see around women's mental health, hormones, high functioning depression, anything that we've spoken about today that you would like to debunk officially? Well, one of my good friends is dermatologist. She says, Black don't crack, but it does sag, right? And I think that the Black Don't Crack meme hurts

black women because on one hand, okay, they have melanin that helps the skin not wrinkle as much, but black women, they go into perimenopause menopause earlier. They have longer symptoms. They have worsened symptoms. And so black does crack, right? So I think that really hurts. That trope really hurts the black community because we are a community that should be thinking about preparing ourselves earlier, sooner rather than later. And trauma is one of the huge red flags for having worsened mental health symptoms as you go through paramedopause. Trauma literally makes everything worse, right? And there's studies with the aces that show that having a history of trauma can worsen your emotional well-being, your physical health. And black communities

go through a lot of trauma. So we really should be thinking that, no, black don't crack out the window. We need to be doing things to make sure that we're supported, earlier, supported better. And generational trauma, I would imagine, too, that's passed down, even if somebody's not experiencing big tea or little tea trauma necessarily, but something that's inherited. Absolutely. Interesting. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Tell everybody where they can find you. You have so much amazing information and videos and everything on your social media.

Well, thank you for having you so much fun. And everyone can find me on Dr. Judith Joseph on TikTok and IG. You can go to my website, Dr. Judith-Joseph.com, and fill out the Anhadonia, have functioning depression, rating skills, and listen to my podcast, and follow me with my newsletter. Amazing. All the things. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. I hope you enjoyed that episode. And if you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way. and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blond Files podcast on Instagram.

You can go to Ariallori.com, and I'm always posting about each episode over on my personal page at Ariel Lorry. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.