Thyroid's Impact on Mood and Mental Health

The thyroid gland isn’t only the control center for many of the body’s most important functions, it also plays a major role in our mental health.

In his book “The Thyroid Solution: A Mind Body Program for Beating Depression and Regaining Your Emotional and Physical Health,” Dr. Ridha Arem said, “Scientists now consider thyroid hormone one of the major ‘players’ in brain chemistry disorders. And as with any brain chemical disorder, until treated correctly, thyroid hormone imbalance has serious effects on the patient’s emotions and behavior.”

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Holtorf Medical Group said that for more than four decades a known link has existed between thyroid dysfunction and depression. Mainly, this link existed with hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid gland is not producing adequate amounts of thyroid hormones called T3 and T4. This condition is most often caused by an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and its symptoms include cognitive symptoms like confusion, depression, irritability, and other mental abnormalities. These symptoms mimic disorders like schizophrenia, psychotic depression, and manic depressive disorder, so there is a danger of hypothyroid patients being misdiagnosed with serious mental health problems.

According to women’s health expert Dr. Christiane Northrup, T3, one of the thyroid’s main hormones, is found in high amounts in the area of the brain responsible for joy, pain, anger, and fear. Without enough T3, a domino effect of mood and energy changes can result. She also said that underactive thyroid can rob your body of serotonin and other important neurotransmitters that are important mood stabilizers, resulting in depression.

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There is evidence suggesting that chronically depressed patients can benefit from thyroid medications that bolster the amounts of thyroid hormone in the blood, said Harvard Health Publications. Some research confirmed this held true even for people who do not have hypothyroidism. They went on to say that enough evidence existed to suggest that seriously depressed patients should seek thyroid testing.

Holtorf Medical Group summarized a study that found giving patients a supplemental dosage of T3 hormone was as effective as giving lithium for the treatment of depression.

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