The Best Of 2021 | Austin Perlmutter MD | Depression, And The Impact Of Covid-19 On Mental Health

#236 Austin Perlmutter, M.D., is a board-certified internal medicine physician, New York Times bestselling author, educator, and consultant. He received his medical degree from the University of Miami and completed his internal medicine residency at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland Oregon. His focus is on helping identify and resolve the biological basis for “stuckness” in the body and brain, especially around decision-making. He hosts the Get The STUCK OUT podcast and is a co-producer of the Alzheimer’s, the Science of Prevention Docu-series. His writing is featured online on MedPage Today, Doximity, KevinMD, Medium, Psychology Today, MindBodyGreen, and DrPerlmutter.com, and his work connecting COVID-19 with immune-related depression appears in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. 

In this episode we cover:

• Some of the known or ‘theorized” mechanisms that underpin depression
• How systemic inflammation, behavioural changes and psychological stressors related to Covid-19 can increase the risk of depression
• The impact of Covid-19 on BDNF and what the consequences of this are
• How the pandemic has influenced our diet and what impact this is having on depression
• How sleep influences our risk of depression
• Psychedelics
• Strategies to help prevent the onset of depression or to support those who are experiencing depression
• And so much more