What the Heck is Affective Spectrum Disorder?

In 2003, Hudson and Pope from Harvard published a paper proposing that over a dozen brain disorders are part of the same disease process. They decided to name this condition Affective Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These are the conditions they put under the ASD umbrella:

• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
• Dysthymic Disorder
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• Panic Disorder
• Social Phobia
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Bulimia Nervosa
• Fibromyalgia
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Migraine
• Cataplexy

Their concept caught the academic world off guard. How could all these apparently different conditions be somehow connected? They didn’t outline the pathology of ASD or effective treatment, so the concept died on the vine.

Connecting the Dots in the Real World

While Hudson and Pope were developing the ASD concept, I was operating my own clinic on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota, not far from Bob Dylan’s boyhood home. I was trying to figure out what was behind the emerging obesity epidemic. The experts wanted us to use Body Mass Index (BMI) to diagnose and treat obesity, but BMI is a size measure that tells you nothing about body fat, and obesity is defined as excess body fat. I purchased various pieces of equipment to measure body composition for every patient at every visit, and over several decades I took over 10,000 such readings. I also belonged to Stephen Stahl’s Neuroscience Education Institute (NEI), so I was very familiar with common symptoms of brain dysfunction.

Over time, I noticed a strange correlation between changes in some of these symptoms and changes in body composition. The change in symptoms always preceded changes in body composition, suggesting that when it comes to body fat, the brain calls the shots! This certainly makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Thus, it appeared to me that folks storing too much body fat also had some type of brain dysfunction. I eventually identified 22 symptoms that seemed to fit this pattern, and many of these symptoms overlap with traditional brain disorders, creating massive diagnostic and therapeutic confusion. I eventually determined that this brain dysfunction was triggered by long-term consumption of ultra-processed foods high in excess sugar, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and omega-6 fats. I decided to call this disease Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome.

ASD and CARB Syndrome Merge

It soon became obvious that Hudson and Pope were looking at the same disorder I was seeing, perhaps from a different perspective. Over time, it became apparent that the symptoms of CARB syndrome or ASD were caused by depletion of monoamine neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. The medical profession uses drugs like SSRI medications to treat these symptoms. They work by amplifying the levels of these neurotransmitters without increasing their levels. After trying various approaches, I learned that giving patients a supplement containing a balanced mix of the precursor chemicals the brain needs to make neurotransmitters, along with certain co-factors, would cause all neurotransmitter levels to rise simultaneously. The 22 symptoms would slowly improve and eventually disappear. Shortly thereafter, patients would start to lose excess body fat without traditional dieting. I had stumbled on effective treatment for CARB syndrome and ASD, mainly because they are likely the same disorder.

An Example From the Real World

I understand why this might be confusing for many people, so allow me to give you an example. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has been around since the dawn of humankind and was always associated with a loss of appetite and weight loss. It has also always been quite rare. Over the past 70 years or so, we started to see a lot of folks who appeared to be depressed, but they had an increased appetite and weight gain. The so-called experts at DSM weren’t quite sure what to do, so they decided to call the weight gain depression “atypical depression”. I have news for you. Atypical depression is CARB syndrome, and it has absolutely no connection to MDD. If you treat it with SSRI medications, they get worse over time, and you gain more weight—not what you want!

The Road Back to Metabolic and Brain Health

If you appear to fit the CARB syndrome pattern, these are the steps you should follow if you hope to regain your metabolic health and brain function:

• Eliminate ultra-processed foods loaded with high-glycemic carbohydrates, excessive sugar, and omega-6 fatty acids from your diet, and consume a sensible amount of whole foods.
• Keep your fructose intake below 25 grams daily as recommended by my medical school friend Richard Johnson.
• Take targeted supplements to boost neurotransmitter levels and support healthy brain function. The one I recommend is CARB-22.
• Exercise your body and mind. This includes regular physical exercise, mental challenges through learning new things, and meditation.
• Get plenty of restful sleep, around 8 hours per night. Avoid getting too little or too much sleep.
• Maintain as many healthy relationships as possible to enhance your social life.
• Minimize inflammation by consuming enough high-quality omega-3 fatty acids and limiting seed oil intake to maintain an AA/EPA ratio of 1:3. I recommend OmegaRx by Barry Sears.
• Measure your homocysteine level; if it’s above 7umol/L, read my blog post on how to lower it.

If you follow these steps, you can regain optimal brain function, restore metabolic health, and lose excess body fat. What could be better than that?