A GOLD Coast GP has called for a more holistic approach to treat depression and has expressed his concern at over-medication of patients with mental illnesses.

Dr Paul Payton, of Varsity Lakes, said more than 12 million prescriptions for antidepressants were administered in Australia every year, second only in the world to Iceland.

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“Unfortunately, most GPs can only spend eight to 10 minutes with a patient and it’s often easier to write a script for an antidepressant,” he warned.

He said the situation was made worse by the fact that too many depressed patients had to rely on a trial-and-error approach from GPs as they experimented with medications.

“Only about 60 per cent of patients respond to antidepressants and if you are in the unlucky five to 10 per cent who have severe side-effects, your depression will get worse,” he warned.

Dr Payton said this could be avoided if GPs requested a whole blood histamine blood test, which could predict which of their patents would not respond to antidepressant medication.

“It makes sense to always get this test done first, but unfortunately, it’s seldom carried out by doctors on the Gold Coast,” he said.

Dr Payton has been practising medicine since 1994 and he started studying complimentary medicine when he became disillusioned with the limitations of being able to spend only 10 minutes with patients in a bulk-billing practice.

He has called for GPs to adopt a more holistic approach to patients with anxiety and depression, such as investigating abnormal nutrient levels in the brain before recommending aprescribing antidepressants.

“Latest research shows that if our brains have too much or too little of a significant nutrient that is needed for neurotransmitter synthesis, it is likely that mental problems such as depression and anxiety will be the result,” Dr Payton said.

“One example is the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter, serotonin. To make, this the body needs an adequate supply of vitamin B6.”

He said low levels of this vitamin could cause sleep and mood disorders and in many cases, medications such as antidepressants could be reduced or stopped altogether if vitamin B6 levels were normalised.

“Another example of an important nutrient for optimum mental health is zinc,” Dr Payton said.

“Low zinc can be associated with a poor ability to cope with stress, mood swings, as well as poor memory and sleep.”

He said people with copper overload could become easily angry or panicky due to excessive noradrenaline circulating in their bloodstream.

“People with folate deficiency can also be quite depressed but they often feel worse on antidepressant medication because of a low histamine level known as overmethylation,” Dr Payton said.

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