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Summary
On episode 441 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Dr. Jodie Skillicorn, an osteopathic physician board certified in psychiatry and a diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine who blends conventional medical training with breath work, meditation, yoga, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, EMDR, EFT, nutrition, and other holistic methods.
Jodie argues that medication is often not the answer for depression, and that placebo, perception, childhood trauma, movement, food, and sleep all play a bigger role in mental health than most people realize.
The conversation covers the power of the placebo and nocebo effects, how adverse childhood experiences shape lifelong risk for depression and disease, and practical tools like journaling and shaking that Jodie uses with her patients instead of, or alongside, medication.
Links
- https://www.jodieskillicorn.com
- https://www.facebook.com/drjodieskillicorn/
- https://www.facebook.com/drjskillicorn/
Key Takeaways
- The placebo effect is real and powerful, not a sign of gullibility. About 80% of the effectiveness of antidepressants is actually a placebo effect. In a 2010 irritable bowel syndrome study, patients who were told they were taking placebo, and educated on how powerful placebo can be, got results equal to patients on the real medication.
- The nocebo effect can make people sick through belief alone. A young man on an antidepressant drug trial overdosed after a fight and showed real symptoms, low blood pressure, sweating, a fast heart rate, but recovered within 15 minutes of learning he had actually been on placebo the whole time. Telling patients a condition has no solution creates hopelessness that can make outcomes worse.
- Perception physically changes how the body responds. In one study, people exposed to real poison ivy but told to imagine it was harmless avoided the histamine reaction over 80% of the time, while people exposed to a harmless plant they believed was poison ivy broke out in rashes. Hotel maids who were simply taught that their daily work already counted as exercise lost weight and lowered their blood pressure within weeks, with no change in their actual activity.
- Antidepressants and antipsychotics commonly cause significant weight gain. Around 65% of studies on antidepressants, and more for antipsychotics, show weight gain of roughly 15 to 25 pounds within six months to a year. These medications can also alter the gut microbiome, making weight loss harder, and the resulting weight gain doubles the risk of diabetes.
- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) sharply raise the risk of depression and disease. Someone with no ACEs has roughly a 15% lifetime depression risk; one ACE raises it to 25%, two to 40%, and four or more pushes it past 400%, with suicidality risk up over 1,000%. People with more than four ACEs are the most likely to end up on psychiatric medication and the least likely to benefit from it, because medication does not address the underlying unhealed trauma.
- The brain is not fixed; it rewires with every thought and action. Older textbooks taught that neuron count is static and unchangeable, but that is outdated. Repeating the same thoughts and behaviors keeps producing the same results, while changing the input changes the wiring and the output.
- Journaling for as little as 20 minutes a day improves mood and health. Studies show it can lower stress and anxiety and even boost immune function. Beyond that, a journal gives people concrete proof, in their own words, of how far they have already come, which matters most during a plateau or setback.
- Shaking is an ancient, grounded form of movement that helps release stress. The practice dates back over 100,000 years and is part of Qigong. Standing with feet grounded and letting the body shake helps move lymphatic fluid, which has no pump of its own and depends on muscle movement to circulate and clear toxins.
- Jodie’s three strategies to get and stay well: move your body and get outside, since even 15 minutes outdoors can lift mood and lower stress for weeks; eat real, whole food (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and quality meat if eaten) rather than processed food, which can cut depression risk by about 50%; and protect sleep, since less than six hours a night triples to quadruples the risk of depression, dementia, heart disease, and stroke.
“What we think and what we perceive and what we believe influences us on every level.”
Dr. Jodie Skillicorn
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