Regulate & Rewire: An Anxiety & Depression Podcast

Bloodwork & The Chemical Imbalance Theory (Part 8: B2B Series)

• Amanda Armstrong • Season 1 • Episode 108

Share episode

In this episode, we’re continuing with Part 8 of the Back to the Basics series by exploring the vital role that comprehensive lab work plays in healing anxiety and depression. I break down why we take a physiology-first—but not physiology-only—approach, the truth behind the outdated “chemical imbalance” theory, and how functional labs can uncover real root causes that are often missed in standard care.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why focusing on your body is often the missing piece in mental health treatment
  • How the “chemical imbalance” theory got started—and why it doesn’t hold up
  • What’s often missing from standard lab work and how comprehensive blood testing can uncover hidden drivers of anxiety or depression
  • What markers we include in our custom lab panel and why
  • How optimizing your biology creates capacity for deeper healing

3 Key Takeaways:

  1. Physiology First, Not Only: There’s an interplay between physiology and psychology but if your body is depleted or stressed, it changes how your brain functions. You can’t mindset your way out of a nervous system stuck in survival mode.
  2. The Chemical Imbalance Theory is outdated and debunked. This oversimplified narrative can prevent people from exploring the root causes of their symptoms and keeps many stuck in medication-only treatment plans that don’t fully support their healing.
  3. Comprehensive Lab Work can take out some of the guesswork. It helps uncover hidden imbalances—like nutrient deficiencies or hormone issues—that may be driving anxiety or depression. It gives you clear, personalized data to support your healing.

Looking for more personalized support?


*Want me to talk about something specific on the podcast? Let me know HERE.

**Referenced Sources: Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R. E., Stockmann, T., Amendola, S., Hengartner, M. P., & Horowitz, M. A. (2022). The serotonin theory of depression: A systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(8), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0

Website: https://www.riseaswe.com/podcast

Email: amanda@riseaswe.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaontherise/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amandaontherise

Amanda Armstrong  0:00  
Amanda, welcome to regulate and rewire an anxiety and depression podcast where we discuss the things I wish someone would have taught me earlier in my healing journey. I'm your host, Amanda Armstrong, and I'll be sharing my steps, my missteps, client experiences and tangible research based tools to help you regulate your nervous system, rewire your mind and reclaim your life. Thanks for being here now let's dive in. 

Amanda Armstrong  0:27  
Hey friend. Welcome back to what is part eight of my Back to the Basics series, where, with each episode, I have tried to build upon the concepts of the last to really help you understand my approach to supporting folks to help you understand what I mean when I say that we take a nervous system or physiology first approach to understanding and healing anxiety and depression, and today, we are going to talk about the importance and the role of blood work or other functional lab testing, and also touch on the chemical imbalance theory in this conversation. 

Amanda Armstrong  1:05  
So when I say that we take a physiology first approach, we do not take a physiology only approach, but instead a physiology or a body first approach, because what we know is that 80%; 80% of the Mind Body conversations, conversation originates in the body. So if your body is stuck in survival mode, has imbalanced hormones, is undernourished or under rested or overstressed, unwell, it literally changes the way that your brain works. There is no amount of talk therapy or meds or mindset work that is going to be able to outplay a nervous system stuck in survival mode, or outplay physiology that is depleted and imbalanced. And what is so amazing about lab work is that it can take the guesswork out of that part of your healing. It no longer needs to be about arbitrary supplement or lifestyle suggestions. It can be data driven and specific to you.

Amanda Armstrong  1:06  
Comprehensive labs, other functional testing can give you the personal health data about what you specifically need to address. This creates a more effective and efficient path towards decreasing the overall stress load on your nervous system. Part of what we help our clients assess when we do that stress bucket assessment, some of those stressors aren't just your daily tasks, your past lived experiences, your relationships. Remember, we're looking outside, inside and in between. Part of that inside is your mindset, is your beliefs, is emotional regulation. But a big part of what we're considering inside is your underlying health markers, the balance, the imbalance, the depletion of that healing doesn't always have to be about doing more, and this is what it can feel like when we are listening to a bunch of podcasts or reading books or trying to put these pieces together on our own is, oh well, we know that magnesium or vitamin D or make sure that you're exercising, get enough sleep, do this perfect morning routine. And what has been such a key factor in my own healing journey and in many of our clients, is being able to have their personal health data to point to this specific place that is suboptimal, and when you can address that in whatever way you need to, whether that's lifestyle changes, supplementation or more of a western medicine approach, sometimes we do need medication to balance a thyroid or hormones that can stabilize your system, giving you more capacity for other areas in your life, because there's absolutely a place in healing for mindset work deeper trauma, healing for looking at your experiences, beliefs and patterns and doing the work so that you can bring enough curiosity and compassion to them to shift and change the ones that are no longer serving you. 

Amanda Armstrong  4:02  
But that work is often dysregulating. It is often confronting. It often adds a measure of instability to your life and your psyche before it creates more stability and resilience if you are trying to do that deeper work with a biological system that is already in overdrive when your brain is constantly registering imbalance and stress and depletion. That is not a brain wired for flexibility for healing, that is a brain wired for survival mode. 

Amanda Armstrong  4:39  
Now, before I go into more details about what specific labs and why those labs and some of the nerdy science things there, I want to put this conversation into context in three primary ways. First by again reiterating physiology first, not physiology, only biology first, not biology. Body only, body first, not body only, however, that makes the most sense for you. And here is my bi directional hot take. Like I have said many, many times, there is no amount of talk therapy or mindset work that'll heal anxiety symptoms caused by a underlying physiological stressor or imbalance, and unfortunately, many mental health professionals are not taught about physiology and the role that it can play and does play in the symptoms that people seek them out for, for care and inversely, you are not going to see real changes to your health or mental health from trying to optimize your lab work alone, especially if you are in toxic relationships, stuck in a job that is draining you you have unhealed trauma, a lack of purpose or sense of belonging in your life, taking 40 supplements will not heal your gut. If you are living in a body that never feels safe and no healing plan will work if it is not designed specifically for you, given considerations to both your physiology and psychology as well as the reality of your current capacity and life circumstances. And this is what we mean when we say that we take a whole human, whole life approach. We are not looking at your lab work and then handing you this optimal protocol of the 42 things that you need to do to be well. We are looking at your labs and saying, Hey, within the context of your symptoms, within the context of your capacity and your daily life. This is the number one thing that I think we could address. You could address that would have the biggest ripple effect, and then we could take on some other things. How does that sound for you? What does this look like for you in your life? Here's what I suggest. Let's workshop that together to find an appropriate starting point. 

Amanda Armstrong  6:57  
Whole human, whole life, physiology and psychology all has an equal seat at the table. And I also want to clarify that when I say we, I me personally, Amanda, the one speaking, am not the one interpreting your labs. I have somebody far more qualified and licensed on my team who does that work for our clients. I have an incredible team of practitioners that supports every area of what our clients need. 

Amanda Armstrong  7:27  
Now the second context that I want to add to this conversation is the inaccurate narrative that far too many physicians are still doling out about anxiety and depression being caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain, and I want to do so first by sharing a story. I had a teen client. He was 17 when we started working together, and had spent the last few years on a variety of different medications. And at the time of this conversation, he was on a s, s n, r i, which is a particular category of psych meds, and his psychiatrist had just doubled his dose, and he wanted to talk about it. I asked him how he felt about it and what questions he had. This is all in the context of all of our clients. Know that we do not do meds management, but we can be a safe place to have a conversation around medications, to share the research, to learn, to educate our clients together, we believe in true and informed consent, and far too many people are handed medications thinking it's their only option without what I would consider true and informed consent, and so this was just a supportive place For him to have a neutral, unagended conversation around the role that these meds might be taking in his mental health management journey. So I asked him, How do you feel about this? What questions do you have? What conversation could feel supportive right now? And in this he mentioned, you know, it's my senior year of high school, and while I don't think these meds are helping. I also don't want to get off of them, just in case things get worse. He shared with me that he had spent the last few years telling doctors that the meds didn't seem to make a difference for him, so they would just change the medication or change up the dose. I then followed up, and I asked him if he understood why he was on this Med, or why he had been put on any other meds that he had been put on. And he told me that his doctor told him that he was born with a chemical imbalance and that meds were going to be the best way of managing his symptoms, implying for the rest of his life. 

Amanda Armstrong  9:41  
In just five months of us working together, this teen's symptoms were not a mystery to me. He was sleeping four to six hours a night. He felt a lot of pressure around sports. He felt unlistened to and unsupported by many of his coaches. Plus he. He had a creeping injury that was threatening to take away his senior season from him. He was struggling in school. Felt really uninterested in a lot of the subjects being taught. He felt anxious about his plans for after senior year. He had a lot of digestive issues. Was regularly skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch so that his digestive issues didn't act up at school. He was starting every single day, sleep and nutritionally depleted. His stress bucket was full and his emotional regulation skills were minimal. His symptoms of anxiety or anger or depression are not some mystery. And we talked through all of this, and I asked him what he wanted to do, and he made the decision that he wanted to keep taking his medication at the double dose that his psychiatrist had just given him guidance to do, prescribed him to do, but that he wanted to pay attention the next couple weeks To see if doubling his meds did make a difference for him, and if it didn't, then he would want to talk to his psychiatrist about going back down and then again paying attention for another few weeks to see if there was a difference. And if not, then his plan was to keep taking them until summer, until after graduation, and try to taper off again. He knows I'm not a doctor. He knows that I don't do meds management or make any suggestions that I am simply a supportive place to have these conversations and to discuss alternative approaches. 

Amanda Armstrong  11:32  
Now, at the end of the conversation, I asked him if he thought that that was helpful, and his response floored me. He said, quote, yes, definitely. It's definitely way more helpful than the same six questions that my psychiatrist asks every month before writing me a new prescription. He has deserved and deserves better care than this. He deserves a more whole human approach. He deserves to know why he is taking and being put on certain medications, and he deserves better than answering some canned six questions every single month we are putting this kid on the trajectory of the rest of his life. And in my opinion, he deserves way, way better care, and I have been so honored and grateful to have been part of the support team, and I have heard many, many times in our sessions, oh yeah, that makes sense. I've asked him many times, hey, the last few weeks, what has felt the most supportive from the work that we've done? And his response is often a flavor of, well, I guess the way that I reacted makes kind of sense, or the way that I'm feeling makes more sense to me. Now I am dismantling this internal story of you're broken and you came this way one piece at a time, without discrediting that meds may or may not have been supportive in his healing journey up to this point, you have probably heard somebody say that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, because for a long time, this was the dominant narrative, simple, easy to digest, and honestly kind of comforting. It suggests that anxiety or depression was caused by something measurable and treatable like low serotonin levels. 

Amanda Armstrong  13:22  
But here is the truth, the chemical imbalance theory was never actually proven. This theory gained popularity in the 60s or 70s, mainly as pharmaceutical companies were developing and marketing SSRIs, which stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, these medications increase serotonin levels in the brain. So the assumption was that people with depression might have low serotonin to begin with. It was a tidy explanation that helped to sell a lot of prescriptions. But the science has evolved. The science has evolved since and more recent research has shown that low serotonin isn't consistently present in people with depression, and boosting serotonin doesn't always resolve symptoms. In fact, many people with anxiety or depression have completely normal serotonin levels, and others improve without any changes to them. So the theory it just doesn't hold up in major research reviews, including one from 2022 published in molecular psychiatry that I will link in the show notes, has confirmed this, that there is no clear evidence that a serotonin imbalance causes depression. 

Amanda Armstrong  14:34  
And I want to kind of add an asterisk here, that again, sometimes these meds, oftentimes these meds do help decrease people's symptoms. So the question might be, why? Why, though, and an analogy I often make is, if I wake up feeling tired and I drink a cup of coffee, if I have caffeine and then I have more energy, the symptom of being tired went away as a result of a synthetic activator. More caffeine, but the reason I was tired wasn't because of a lack of caffeine in my system. So just because boosting serotonin levels in your brain makes you feel better doesn't necessarily mean that a lack of serotonin or a natural or or birthright reason of low serotonin is the reason for your symptoms. We know that there are innumerable ways that we can become the chemists of our own brain, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, are all influenced by our thoughts, our habits, our relationships, outside, inside, in between. And in my opinion, we do an incredible disservice to people by letting them believe that they just came this way, that it's unfixable organically. And I think I can help, and I do often help people understand that without discrediting the possible beneficial role that synthetic neurotransmitters meds have played in their life. So why are so many people still being told that depression or anxiety is caused by a chemical imbalance in their brain? When? When? For decades now, it has been scientifically disproven, and part of it is because of inertia. It is a simple explanation that many providers were trained to use. It is also easier to say that you have a chemical imbalance. Take this pill, then to open the more complex conversation about how somebody's symptoms might be connected to their nervous system, their physiology, their past trauma, their lifestyle, their environment. 

Amanda Armstrong  16:34  
So I think it is clear. But to be extra clear, I am not anti medication. For some people, they can be incredibly helpful, but I am pro informed consent and pro root cause. I believe that medication is an option, but I don't believe that it is ethical to ever present it as the option or the only option, without greater context. The context that you give people about their mental health or symptoms matters, and if we are going to heal anxiety and depression in a lasting way, we need to look beyond the outdated idea of a chemical imbalance and consider what is happening across the whole mind body system, which is exactly what we aim to do with our clients, and I felt this conversation had a specific place in today's conversation, because it is a misguided physiological, biological reason often given for symptoms. 

Amanda Armstrong  17:37  
Now I want to get into what you came here for, the nitty gritty of lab work, what lab work? Why that lab work, and what we are doing as a practice to incorporate that into our approach to helping people heal. Now, at the beginning of this year, we began including a custom comprehensive blood work panel for all of our one on one coaching clients, we found an incredible lab that allowed us to create a totally customized panel that includes all of the routine labs that you might get at your annual checkup, things like your CBC that screens for red And white blood cell count, anemia, infections, inflammation, or your CMP, which is a comprehensive metabolic panel that looks at lipids and cholesterol. And while those labs are a start, and any red flags in those labs definitely can point to increased stress load in a particular body system, but for someone struggling with symptoms of anxiety or depression. 

Amanda Armstrong  18:42  
There are also a number of other specific biomarkers that research shows us can directly cause or exacerbate symptoms of anxiety and depression, things like and it's worth noting that many providers do not routinely run more detailed or functional tests on things like vitamin D, B, 12, ferritin, iron panels, inflammatory markers, CRP or ESR, a full thyroid panel. Ours includes free t3, free t4, antibodies and a number of other thyroid measurements, hormone testing, cortisol testing, advanced cardiovascular risk markers, comprehensive gut microbiome panels, mold heavy metals, other environmental toxicity considerations. 

Amanda Armstrong  19:34  
One of the most frustrating experiences that many of our clients have had is being told that their lab work is, quote, normal, despite them still feeling terrible, and this might be because a they're only getting a very basic panel that maybe is normal or that the bigger picture isn't being considered. It's also important to know that standard medical reference ranges are. Designed to identify disease states not optimal function. So most lab ranges are established by taking the results from 1000s of people, many of whom are not well, and creating what's called a bell curve. And if you fall within 95% of that bell curve, then you are considered, quote, normal, even if you are nowhere near your personal optimal function. So let me give you a more concrete example with something like the vitamin B 12, the standard reference range in many labs goes as low as 200 PG, slash ml. I'm just going to say the number from now on, but that would be the metric following it.

Amanda Armstrong  20:48  
But research shows that neurological symptoms often appear below a range of 500 so if you are pinging above 200 you're going to be told that you're normal. While the research shows that we can have some neurological symptoms if we are below 500 and many functional medicine practitioners really optimally aim for levels above 800 for optimal brain function. So someone with a B 12 Level of 300 might be told that they are, quote, normal, yet they are experiencing significant neurological or psychological symptoms as a result of that deficiency. And this pattern is repeated across numerous markers, thyroid hormones, vitamin D, iron, inflammatory markers. The gap between, quote, normal and optimal is where many, many people get stuck in a limbo of continuing symptoms without clear medical diagnoses or markers.

Amanda Armstrong  21:46  
So in our practice with the clients that we have, we are not looking for disease, we are looking for optimal function that allows your body and nervous system to thrive, that gives it the support for healing. We are looking to stabilize balance and optimize your physiology, your biology, as much as possible, because, again, that reduces the overall stress load on your nervous system. So I want to come back to the stress bucket concept for a minute. Any and all imbalances or deficiencies happening on the inside of your body adds to your stress bucket. So when we can reduce that, it reduces the overall stress load, giving you more capacity for daily life before overflowing, giving you more stability and capacity to do that deeper healing work, it has very real potential to decrease intensity of symptoms in a really strategic and data driven way. Optimizing your health is undeniably and directly correlated with improving your mental health, and I think that far too often, people are being put on psych meds for years, even decades, without having comprehensive lab work done, the very symptoms that these meds are suppressing might be the ones pointing you right to the ways of improving your health, right to improving your biological system. And I wish, I wish that it was standard practice that before prescribing psych meds, people were offered comprehensive lab work and asked even sometimes basic questions about their stress levels, relationships, diet, movement habits, hormones, sleep, symptom management is only part of the solution, but when it is presented as a solution, everyone suffers honestly. 

Amanda Armstrong  23:47  
It was pretty tricky. It was pretty, pretty tricky for us as a mental health practice to figure out how to incorporate blood work, because our clients are across state lines. Our clients are international. I had to find a virtual lab that allowed us to create a custom panel that shipped internationally. I had to find a licensed provider to join my team to interpret these labs and support clients in understanding what to do with their results. We also didn't want just generic testing. We wanted to be able to create a custom panel that included specific biomarkers associated with anxiety and depression, and it took me almost two years to get that all in place, to be where we are now. And the only reason I even pursued this was because we had seven of our clients in just six months, ask their GPS, their general providers, their family doctors, for a little bit more comprehensive lab work, and their GPS told them that they didn't need lab work for anxiety and depression, or that they would only order the most basic lab testing that they had always ordered for them. Do which wasn't what our patients needed. They needed something beyond that. And so when this kept happening, I stubbornly put my foot down and said, Fine. Like fine. If they won't do it, then I'm going to figure out how we can do it. And we did a part of this equation too, is that I also wish that more therapists were informed about the underlying biology and physiology that can be playing a big role in the symptoms that their clients are seeking them out for. 

Amanda Armstrong  25:32  
I wish more often it was recommended that before we keep working with your trauma, maybe, or we've been working with your trauma for a long, long time now, and we're not getting traction. You might want to consider seeing if there's anything else at play under the surface, because, again, there's no amount of talk therapy that's going to get rid of anxiety symptoms caused by a nutrient deficiency, a thyroid imbalance, gut overgrowth. There's no antidepressant that's going to heal depression caused by isolation tanked cortisol levels, iron or vitamin D deficiencies, and it has been really awesome to have heard from so many therapists and other mental health providers out there who found this podcast reach out to learn and to be mentored in the underlying physiology, to incorporate that, or at least have that on their radar In the work that they do with their clients, the biggest problem I am trying to solve is the fragmentation of mainstream mental health approaches, because your mental health symptoms are not separate from your physical health. And optimizing your labs isn't the only thing that you will likely need to do to heal, but it might be a key piece for you, and has been for many of our clients. And in my opinion, what you deserve in your healing isn't just to quote, like not feel sick. What we aim to provide for our clients is to create conditions for your mind and your body to have the flexibility that life demands, to have the resilience to really thrive. We get one go at these 100 years, and I want to help people do it in the best way that they can now. 

Amanda Armstrong  27:08  
The last thing that I want to include in this episode is what specifically our lab testing covers at the moment, because we're always finding new research and tweaking it, and love the flexibility to do that, because this is a question that I get asked a lot, and I want to be able to just send people here to listen to this episode. And for those of you who maybe already have great care, you may not ever want to work with us directly, but maybe this list can give you an idea of areas for you to consider testing or requesting from your own providers. So bringing this all together by answering the question, What exactly should comprehensive blood work include? 

Amanda Armstrong  27:48  
And so here at regulated living, we have developed panels that include, again, all your basic bio markers, things that you might get during your annual physical things that I have previously mentioned, and then we specifically target the physiological systems most relevant to mental health and nervous system regulation. So some of the key areas that we assess are hormone and thyroid balance. Hormones are chemical messengers that influence virtually every aspect of your physical and mental health. Imbalances in these areas can manifest as anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbances, mood swings. So for example, even mild hypothyroidism can present as depression and brain fog, while hormonal fluctuations often drive anxiety symptoms, especially in women, and this is also why it was really, really important that I brought on a provider who had extensive experience and training in hormone regulation and balancing. Something else that we test is nutrient status. Your brain requires specific nutrients to produce neurotransmitters, to maintain energy production, to regulate mood. So some of the key nutrients that we assess are vitamin D, which impacts mood significantly B vitamins particularly B 12 and folate, which are essential for neurotransmitters. That's your brain chemical production. So do you have a serotonin deficiency or maybe a B vitamin deficiency? I don't know. Does your doctor know? Did they test it? We also test minerals like magnesium, zinc and iron, which support hundreds of different enzyme processes, fatty acid balance, which is crucial for brain cell integrity and inflammation regulation. Deficiencies in these areas are really, really common. Even when you have a seemingly healthy diet, these things can often be deficient, also, because just the nutrient density in modern day, food is also deficient. We look at inflammatory markers, chronic inflammation is increasingly being recognized as a driving fat. Factor in depression, anxiety, cognitive illness, metabolic health. We look at metabolic health extensively. Your brain consumes 20% of your body's energy, making metabolic health crucial for cognitive and emotional well being. So we look at things like blood sugar regulation, fasting glucose, insulin, HBA, 1c we look at leptin resistance, which affects both appetite and mood regulation. We found a really great research study directly linking some leptin factors with depression. We look at lipid profiles that influence brain cell function. One of the biggest things that we educate clients on who choose to go a little bit deeper in optimizing their physiology within our practice is we really help them understand blood sugar. Blood sugar instability is one of the most common yet overlooked drivers of anxiety symptoms, because it creates this physiological stress response. If you are either skipping breakfast or eating a high carb breakfast, it spikes your blood sugar. A spike is immediately met with a drop, and then you crave sugary, carbohydrate driven foods that spike your blood sugar again, and it's this stark increase and drop off, increase and drop off that can create internal physiological markers that create anxiety. 

Amanda Armstrong  31:12  
So an additional testing that we do when needed, depending on our clients specific situations, we might recommend food sensitivity testing, advanced gut health assessments, heavy metal screenings, mold toxicity screenings, special hormone testing, autoimmune testing, and we are even looking into ways to possibly bring genetic testing to help our clients understand their unique biochemical needs through that lens as well. 

Amanda Armstrong  31:41  
So our goal, our goal is to create a comprehensive picture of your internal environment, helping you to identify the specific factors that may be undermining your mental health and nervous system regulation. 

Amanda Armstrong  31:55  
All right, bringing this together, three tangible takeaways from today's conversation. 

Amanda Armstrong  31:59  
Number one, physiology first, not only if your body is depleted or stressed, it changes how your brain functions. You cannot mindset your way out of a nervous system stuck in survival mode, supporting your body first, in a data driven way, can take the guesswork out of healing and give you the capacity for deeper healing. Work, I want to reiterate, physio first, not physio only. There is this interplay between physical health, mindset, trauma, life, circumstances, relationships, all of it has a seat at this table. 

Amanda Armstrong  32:31  
Number two, the chemical imbalance theory is outdated and debunked. The idea that depression is simply caused by a serotonin imbalance has been widely, widely debunked, and yet it is still commonly told to patients today. This oversimplified narrative prevents people from exploring the root cause of their symptoms and keeps many stuck in a medication only treatment plan that does not fully support their healing. 

Amanda Armstrong  32:58  
And number three is that comprehensive lab work can take some of the guesswork out of your healing journey. Comprehensive blood work helps uncover hidden imbalances, things like nutrient deficiencies, hormone issues that might be driving some of your anxiety and depression symptoms. It can give you clear, personalized data to support your healing journey in a really foundational way, if you are looking for a new way of healing, one that truly helps you to zoom out and consider all of the different variables at the root of anxiety and depression. 

Amanda Armstrong  33:35  
Myself, my team would love to support you in the show notes, you will always find a link to book a completely pressure, free discovery call with me. This is about a 20-30, minute call with me that is a space for you to share your experience, your struggles, concerns, questions, your healing goals. It is where you really get to vet me to see if our program is the right fit for your healing journey, and if it is amazing, and if it's not, then in that call, I still do my best to help you get the most out of that time together, maybe offering some suggestions for where else or what else you might want to consider to be a better fit for you. My promise that this is always a pressure, free call, regulated living from start to finish, our number one goal is that this is a safe and supportive space for you. 

Amanda Armstrong  34:24  
So if you're just curious, I would love to have that conversation with you. And again, there's always a link for you to book that with me in the show notes. Thank you for being here. Thank you for continuing to tune in week after week to learn more about mental health, either to support yourself or others. This is a un advertised podcast as of right now, which means I don't make a thing. I don't make a thing from putting this podcast into the world. My ask is that if these conversations felt helpful for you, to share them with other people, to help get these tools, these messages, these conversations, out into the world in an even more it's. Supportive way. And if you've got an extra two three minutes, shameless ask is always to rate and review the show. If you are enjoying what you're hearing. 

Amanda Armstrong  35:08  
All right, friends, I hope to hear from some of you. I hope to see names popping up on my discovery call. I know there are many of you who tune in week after week because you are looking for something different. You are looking for a new, more whole, human approach to healing, and if you resonate with what I'm saying here, we might be a good fit now until next week, you know what I'm sending your way, hope and as much healing as possible. 

Amanda Armstrong  35:32  
Thanks for listening to another episode of The regulate and rewire podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please subscribe and leave a five star review to help us get these powerful tools out to even more people who need them. And if you yourself are looking for more personalized support and applying what you've learned today, consider joining me inside rise my monthly mental health membership and nervous system healing space, or apply for our one on one anxiety and depression coaching program, restore. I've shared a link for more information to both in the show notes. Again, thanks so much for being here, and

Amanda Armstrong  36:08  
I'll see you next time you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai