A Harvard Psychiatrist Rethinks Mental Health As A Metabolic Disease with Dr. Christopher Palmer

This episode is brought to you by ButcherBox, InsideTracker, and
Cozy Earth.   The common medical approach to psychiatric
disorders is to treat the symptoms. But the truth is that we just
don’t know how the biological, psychological, and social risk
factors and symptoms of these problems fit together. We don’t know
what the underlying pathology is. I was excited to talk to Dr.
Christopher Palmer who is disrupting the paradigm of psychiatry,
about new ways of treating psychiatric disorders, specifically with
the ketogenic diet and mitochondrial repair.    Dr.
Palmer is a psychiatrist and researcher working at the interface of
metabolism and mental health. He is the Director of the Department
of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital and an
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. For
over 25 years, he has held leadership roles in psychiatric
education, conducted research, and worked with people who have
treatment-resistant mental illnesses. He has been pioneering the
use of the medical ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric
disorders—conducting research, treating patients, writing, and
speaking around the world on this topic.    This episode
is brought to you by ButcherBox, InsideTracker, and Cozy Earth.
  Sign up today and get two ribeye steaks for free in your
first ButcherBox. Just go to butcherbox.com/farmacy.  
InsideTracker is offering my community 20% off at
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Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple
Subscriber version): Why mental illness happens and is so hard to
treat (6:33 / 3:51)  The patient who changed the way Dr.
Palmer treats mental illness (11:06 / 8:08)  The ketogenic
diet as a treatment for epilepsy, seizure disorders, and mental
health disorders (17:03 / 14:09)  Getting to the root cause of
inflammation in the brain (20:16 / 17:26)  Viewing mental
disorders as metabolic disorders of the brain (27:37 / 23:20)
Mitochondrial energy deficits in children with autism (34:28 /
30:03)  Improve mitochondrial function (35:14 / 31:20) 
Addressing inflammation in the body (42:16 / 38:00) 
Validating a multifaceted approach to treating mental health
disorders (47:55 / 44:39)  Dr. Palmer’s experience treating a
child with ADHD (57:23 / 52:52)  Children with high levels of
insulin resistance and associated risk for schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, and depression (59:05 / 54:42)    Referenced in
this episode: Before & after handwriting from Dr. Hyman’s
patient   Learn more about Dr. Palmer here. Get his book,
Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental
Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD,
and More, here.