“Mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain, so that means metabolic impairment in the body and/or brain can result in mental symptoms.”
— Dr. Christopher Palmer
Dr. Christopher M. Palmer (@chrispalmermd) is a Harvard psychiatrist and researcher working at the interface of metabolism and mental health. Dr. Palmer 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 administrative, educational, research, and clinical roles in psychiatry at Harvard. He has been pioneering the use of the medical ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric disorders—conducting research in this area, treating patients, writing, and speaking around the world on this topic.
He has developed the first comprehensive theory of what causes mental illness, integrating existing theories and research into one unifying theory—the brain energy theory of mental illness. You can learn more in his new book Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More.
Please enjoy!
The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
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Want to hear an episode that explores the ketogenic diet in greater depth? Have a listen to my conversation with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino here, in which we discuss muscle and strength gain in ketosis, the diet’s impact on type 1 diabetes, tricks for adhering to the diet in polite company outings, vegetarian and vegan options, exogenous ketone efficacy, and much more.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
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