Psychotherapist Efanova: It is pointless to start therapy before vitamin D is replenished

Residents of Siberia, like many other Russian regions, where there are few sunny days in winter, often suffer from depression associated with a deficiency of vitamin D. Meanwhile, it is unacceptable to take it on your own without consulting a doctor. Before proceeding with the replacement, you need to donate blood for analysis, psychotherapist Tatyana Efanova told AiF-Novosibirsk.

Vitamin D deficiency significantly affects the psyche, she says, playing a key role in the development and functioning of the central nervous system. “There is no need to accept it on your own. First, you should take a blood test for the level of vitamin D in any laboratory where this is done, ”the specialist noted.

The psychotherapist may recommend vitamin D to the patient, or refer the patient to a general practitioner or hematologist. Only after that it makes sense to start a course of psychotherapy, since during a vitamin deficiency a person does not have the strength to work on himself and change his life.

She told about a case when a woman came to her, complaining that she was crying all the time, and she had no strength either for her children, or for her husband, or for work. “I sent her to take vitamin D. It turned out that her level is a little over zero, and should be at least 21. When the level was restored, it became much easier for her,” says the psychotherapist.

Earlier, Irish doctors found out that a lack of vitamin B12 in the body threatens not only anemia, but also depression. People with B12 (cyanocobalamin) deficiency in their blood increased the risk of developing clinical depression by 51%. Doctors urged older people to eat more food of animal origin – meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, since B12 is contained only in them. Doctors explained that depression over the age of 50 is fraught with deterioration in health and even early death.