66: How Can Nutrition Affect Mental Health?

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! Today's episode, the second in the Integrative Mental Health Series, includes a fascinating interview with author Dr. Leslie Korn, who is a Harvard-trained body-oriented psychotherapist who has worked for four decades to help people understand the connection between physical and emotional health. Leslie spoke with host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C all the way from Mexico, where she lives and works.

Leslie talks about how she got started doing body-oriented psychotherapy, what she learned in the jungle, and how nutrition can help our mental health. She discusses the connection between trauma and physical and mental health; self care; and her book "Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health". She talks about the "right diet" for everyone, explaining that fat is actually our friend! She explains that she prefers to take the ideology out of nutrition, stating that clinicians can use the science and the art of nutrition to help clients. Leslie discusses the idea of the gut as the second brain.

Leslie answers the question Laura has been wondering about for years. What is the connection between childhood trauma and ACES and long term physical health problems? She clearly explains this for clinicians to understand and explain to clients. And any survivor of childhood trauma who is listening will surely feel empowered to understand this connection from listening to Leslie's very clear explanation.

Finally, Leslie discusses pharmaceuticals "du jour" and diagnoses "du jour" and how the food-mood connection can be in direct conflict with traditional Western ideas about medicine and health. And she explains how the gall bladder plays a role in mental health, and how social justice fits in. In her work with indigenous groups and in the US she has observed the effects of the loss of traditional diets and culture on physical and mental health. And she points out that blood sugar can play a very significant role in mental health, and explains how clinicians can help clients look at this differently.

Dr. Leslie Korn teaches therapists nationally in the US through PESI on multicultural as well as offering supervision and working with clients in Mexico. Her most recent book is Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health, published by Norton; and Rhythms of Recovery: Trauma, Nature and the Body. Her new book will be published in early 2017. Here's where you can find more of what Dr. Leslie Korn is doing:

www.drlesliekorn.com

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