Mental Health: The Inspiring New Roadmap for Thriving Minds
A Provocative Dialogue With Two Pioneering Voices In Holistic Healing
Mental health is in crisis. Not just because of rising rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout. It’s because people are waking up to a deeper truth:
Symptom relief is not the same as healing.
Despite unprecedented access to therapy apps, medications, and self-care advice, people are still suffering. What’s missing?
A model that doesn’t just suppress symptoms, but restructures the self. A multidimensional approach—one that integrates biology, psychology, emotional energy, and existential awareness.
In this conversation, Dr. Jade Teta and I explore what’s working, what’s missing, and what’s next.
Rooted in functional medicine, transpersonal psychology, and deep identity transformation, we discuss how real healing demands more than tools—it requires a shift in perspective.
Let’s get into it.
Q1: What do you believe are the true root causes of anxiety and depression—and how should we be addressing them differently?
Anxiety and depression are messages from a system in crisis.
Their true roots often lie in disconnection: from our bodies, from nature, from meaningful relationships, and from a life aligned with our values.
Trauma, chronic stress, inflammatory diets, gut dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, lack of purpose, and emotional suppression all fuel the fire.
We must stop treating symptoms in isolation.
The future of mental health lies in integration. That means addressing biology—yes—but also story, spirit, and environment.
Instead of numbing pain, we need to ask: What is this pain trying to tell me?
When we approach mental health with curiosity instead of fear, with compassion instead of labels, we unlock real healing.
We don’t need more band-aids. We need reconnection—with ourselves, with each other, and with a deeper truth.
Q2: Psychedelics, ketamine, and other emerging therapies are everywhere right now. Are these breakthroughs—or just trends?
Dr. Jade Teta
The emergence of psychedelics and ketamine as therapeutic tools is both exciting and cautionary. While these substances offer real potential for shifting entrenched mental health patterns, the field is rushing forward faster than it’s integrating.
High-dose experiences often propel people into deep, altered states—but the insights that emerge can be difficult to bring back. Gamma wave activity may spike in these journeys, creating vivid awareness, but that doesn’t guarantee integration. If the nervous system is overwhelmed, the material remains inaccessible—like a dream you can’t remember when you wake up.
That’s why in my practice, I prefer a different approach. I use microdosing protocols in conjunction with intentional techniques like BEEP (Breath-Enhanced Emotional Processing) and DEEP (Depth-Enhanced Emotional Processing)—tools designed to move individuals into alpha and theta states safely and predictably. These brain states are meant to enhance introspection, emotional accessibility, and neuroplasticity.
This allows for a “softer doorway” into the subconscious, making insight not just possible, but usable. Transformation isn’t about going deeper—it’s about bringing something back.
The substances aren’t the problem. The lack of integration is. And the more we romanticize the journey without building the bridge, the more we perpetuate the pattern of chasing healing instead of embodying it.
Q3: Is self-care really transformational—or are we just using it to cope?
The modern idea of “self-care” has become bloated with surface solutions. It’s been reduced to aesthetic rituals—green smoothies, gratitude lists, bath bombs. None of these are harmful, but very few are transformative.
True self-care is not about comfort. It’s about capacity.
Not escaping your emotions—but expanding your ability to be with them.
When we talk about nervous system health or emotional resilience, we’re really talking about pattern interruption. Practices like breathwork, meditation, and journaling work not because they’re trendy—but because they momentarily create space between stimulus and reaction. They help us break the loop of unconscious behaviors and access the part of us that can choose differently.
But here’s where most people get stuck: they use these tools reactively, not intentionally. They use them to feel better, but not to become better.
The real power of these techniques comes when they’re used not to regulate emotion, but to re-pattern it. When you enter brainwave states like alpha and theta—those deep meditative spaces where the body relaxes and the mind becomes fluid—you temporarily open access to unconscious material. In this space, your brain becomes more plastic, your stories more editable, your emotions more malleable.That’s when self-care stops being a coping mechanism and starts becoming a tool of transformation.
So yes, I recommend these practices—but not as routines. I prescribe them as rituals. Not for maintenance, but for metamorphosis.
Q4: How much do lifestyle factors like sleep, food, and movement actually impact mental health—and what should we be doing differently?
Dr. Sara Redondo
Lifestyle is not secondary, it’s foundational.
Decades of research show that poor sleep, ultra-processed diets, and physical inactivity are major, modifiable risk factors for depression and anxiety.
A landmark study in The Lancet Psychiatry linked physical activity with reduced risk of depression.
The SMILES trial showed that a Mediterranean-style diet rich in real, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory foods significantly improved outcomes in people with major depression.
And sleep? Even mild deprivation alters emotional regulation and increases amygdala reactivity.
We need to stop treating lifestyle as self-care, and start treating it as clinical intervention.
Real food, deep rest, and consistent movement regulate the gut-brain axis, support neurotransmitter synthesis, and restore safety to the nervous system.
Healing starts in the kitchen, on your pillow, and with every step you take.
Q5: How does mental health evolve as we age—and what should people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond know about their emotional landscape?
Mental health is not a fixed state. It evolves across time, just like identity. What presents as anxiety at 25 may become restlessness at 35, or existential flatness at 45. Emotional struggle isn’t failure—it’s a signal. It’s your soul’s GPS, recalibrating you back to alignment.
In your 20s, the dominant issue is identity confusion.. You’re constructing your internal architecture—relationships, purpose, work, belief. Anxiety isn’t dysfunction. It’s feedback. You’re not lost—you’re becoming.
In your 30s, you start living the life you designed in your 20s. And for many, it doesn’t feel right. This is the “high-functioning unfulfilled” phase. Depression may creep in—not from disaster, but from disconnection.
By your 40s, the shadow starts whispering. Unlived dreams, suppressed grief, and misaligned narratives rise up. What we call a “midlife crisis” is better understood as a midlife awakening. And the real danger isn’t the breakdown—it’s ignoring the call to break open.
In my work, I don’t ask, “What’s wrong with you?” I ask, “What truth are you being asked to align with now?” Mental health is a seasonal process. Your emotions are not problems to solve. They’re messages to decode.
Q6: We’re drowning in mental health advice. How can people tell what’s actually helpful?
We’re flooded with advice, but not all of it heals.
Much comes from influencers with no clinical background, offering trendy, oversimplified tips that ignore human complexity.
Real transformation requires real science.
For example:
Mindfulness-based interventions have been validated by meta-analyses to reduce anxiety and depression.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) remains the gold standard in clinical trials.
And lifestyle psychiatry—focused on food, sleep, and exercise—is backed by studies like the SMILES trial and Harvard’s research on sleep and mood.
The most helpful tools are evidence-based, personalized, and focused on nervous system regulation, not just quick relief.
And above all, listen to your body. The best advice builds safety, not stress.
Q7: Despite all the progress, why does stigma around mental health still exist—and how do we finally move past it?
Dr. Jade Teta
Stigma doesn’t just come from culture—it comes from conditioning. We’re trained to hide pain, to package ourselves as functional, strong, optimized. But behind that performance, many are quietly breaking down.
We’ve normalized the conversation around mental health, but we haven’t normalized the depth of it. Most people still believe that their emotional struggles mean something is wrong with them. That they’re weak. Flawed. Defective.
In my work with DEEP, we create containers where people can finally drop the mask. Through breath and somatic recall, we reach the layer beneath the coping strategy—where grief, rage, and fear live. And when those parts are witnessed without shame, something changes. The body softens. The nervous system reorganizes. The self begins to integrate. Healing doesn’t start with a diagnosis. It starts with safety. With the permission to feel fully human.
Mental health isn’t a flaw. It’s signal intelligence. And the faster we learn to listen, the faster we stop suffering in silence.
Q8: What have your own mental health struggles taught you—and how do they shape how you work with others?
As a medical doctor, I was trained to treat depression, anxiety, and insomnia from a clinical distance—until I experienced them myself after the loss of my mother.
Nothing prepares you for the darkness of grief, the sleepless nights, or the silent storms of anxiety. It broke me open, but it also reshaped me.
That pain taught me what no textbook ever could: how it feels to wake up in survival mode, to pretend you’re fine, to crave peace in your own mind.
I didn’t just learn about mental health, I lived it. And that transformed the way I connect with others.
Now, I approach every person not just as a patient, but as a whole human with invisible battles. I listen with presence, hold space without judgment, and lead with empathy earned through experience.
My struggles made me more human. And sometimes, the best medicine we can offer is to say:
“I see you. I’ve been there. And you’re not alone.”
Closing Thoughts
We’re at the edge of a new paradigm—one that integrates the physical, emotional, energetic, and existential layers of the human experience.
The message is clear:
Mental health is not something to “manage.” It’s something we can actively transform.
What resonated most with you in this dialogue?
Have you experienced this deeper level of emotional awakening?
💬 Let us know in the comments. Let’s keep the conversation alive.
To your zenith within,
P.S.
This article appears on both Dr. Jade Teta’s and my Substack newsletters.
If something in this conversation sparked curiosity or clarity, consider subscribing to our newsletters.
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@Sara Redondo, MD and @Dr. Jade Teta - Thank you both for this expansive, clinically grounded dialogue. I found myself nodding throughout both as a mental health professional and as someone who believes that healing is a relational, layered and an ongoing process.
Your distinction between symptom relief and integration is so needed in today’s mental health conversation. The way you each speak to disconnection from our bodies, meaning, purpose and community as root causes rather than side effects particularly resonated with me. It’s rare to see biology, story and spirit held together so thoughtfully in a public forum.
I’m grateful for this conversation and for the way you both model a more integrated, compassionate and honest approach to mental health. This feels like the kind of dialogue our field needs.
This really resonated with me. As a holistic practitioner so many points made are fundamental but never mentioned by traditional doctors.
Thank you so much for sharing such a great article.