Prevention & healing — what works

An honest, tiered read of the evidence — what is established care now, what is promising research, and what is hype.

Evidence-based now

• Exercise — effect comparable to antidepressants (218-trial network meta-analysis).
• Psychotherapy (CBT, behavioural activation); combination best for severe/recurrent.
• Antidepressants (SSRIs/SNRIs) — modest-to-moderate benefit; not a "chemical-imbalance fix."
• CBT-I for insomnia — treats sleep and lowers incident depression.
• ECT, esketamine, rTMS for severe/treatment-resistant cases.

Promising / research-stage

• Psilocybin-assisted therapy — two Phase-3 endpoints met by 2026; not yet FDA-approved; works via neuroplasticity, not detox.
• Anti-inflammatory treatment stratified by CRP/IL-6; Mediterranean diet and omega-3 (EPA) in inflamed patients; probiotics as a third-line adjunct.

Hype / unsupported

• Generic "detox" cleanses; chelation in non-poisoned people; supplement megadosing; "natural = safe."
• MDMA-for-depression (MDMA-for-PTSD was FDA-rejected in 2024).

"Cleansing the body" — the honest version

You cannot scrub industrial chemicals out with a product, but you can (1) cut exposure at the source (quit smoking, reduce ultra-processed food, filter air/water, fix damp); (2) use evidence-based body-burden reduction for specific toxicants (fibre, blood/plasma donation, or clinical anion-exchange resin lower PFAS; supervised chelation only for genuine heavy-metal poisoning); and (3) damp the downstream funnel (sleep, fibre/plant diversity, exercise, anti-inflammatory diet).