Your Diagnosis Isn't The Root Cause | Dr. Will Cole

What if the anxiety, brain fog, fatigue, intrusive thoughts, or dysregulation you're experiencing isn't coming exclusively from your thoughts? And what if a physical symptom isn't exclusively physical either?

In this episode of Decoded, Elisabeth McKay sits down with functional medicine expert Dr. Will Cole to examine the intersection between mental health, cellular health, inflammation, hormones, environmental exposures, gut health, and behavioral patterns.

The central question is one that conventional conversations often separate into competing camps: Is the origin of a symptom physiological, psychological—or both?

Dr. Cole explains how functional medicine approaches that question through comprehensive lab testing, tighter functional ranges, health history, and bio-individuality. They discuss cellular aging, mitochondrial dysfunction, metabolic health, thyroid function, environmental toxins, mold, intrusive thoughts, trauma, peptides, IV therapy, and why receiving a diagnosis still doesn't necessarily explain the mechanism that produced it.

They also get into the philosophy behind longevity. Dr. Cole distinguishes extending healthspan from the pursuit of immortality and discusses the spiritual dimension of health explored in his new book with Dr. Josh Axe, Heal Yourselves: Reversing the Irreversible.

In this episode:

Mental health symptoms and cellular dysfunction

Why mental health and physical health aren't separate systems

Intrusive thoughts and neuro-immune-endocrine dysregulation

What functional medicine actually is

Optimal lab ranges vs. conventional reference ranges

Why the same diagnosis can have different underlying mechanisms