#34 Meet the Psychiatrist Redefining Mental Illness! Dr Nicholas Fabiano

Dr. Nicholas Fabiano is a psychiatrist, researcher, and rising star in the world of mental health who’s challenging the foundations of how we diagnose and treat mental illness.

He believes depression isn’t just in your head — it’s in your whole body. From prescribing exercise as medicine to exploring the role of creatine in mood and cognition, Dr. Fabiano is pioneering a new, evidence-based psychiatry that breaks free from outdated diagnostic boxes and recognizes the deep connection between mental and physical health.

Expect to learn why the DSM fails to capture the complexity of depression, how exercise can match or exceed the effects of antidepressants, what creatine actually does in the brain, whether it could work as a standalone treatment, how psychiatry can benefit from AI and wearable data, why gait speed might predict IQ, whether cats really increase your risk of schizophrenia, and what it means to treat a person — not a label.

Plus, we dissect Dr. Fabiano’s most viral science threads, viewed by millions, and end with one big question:Could creatine save your personality?

Timestamps:

00:02:08 The Interconnection of Mental and Physical Health

00:04:59 Redefining Diagnostic Criteria in Mental Health

00:08:12 Challenges in Integrating Mental and Physical Health

00:11:15 The Role of AI in Diagnostics and Treatment

00:14:10 The Future of Prophylactic Care and Wearable Technology

00:17:08 The Importance of Exercise in Mental Health Treatment

00:31:09 The Importance of Proper Exercise Prescription

00:34:17 Reframing Exercise for Mental Health

00:40:23 Understanding the FIT Principle for Exercise

00:48:09 Creatine: A New Frontier in Mental Health

00:57:46 The Case for Universal Creatine Supplementation

01:00:06 Creatine and Sleep Deprivation

01:02:08 Creatine's Mechanism in Cognitive Function

01:04:06 Creatine and Depression: Exploring the Connection

01:05:57 Dietary Creatine and Mental Health

01:08:10 Forms of Creatine: What You Need to Know

01:10:04 Dosage and Timing of Creatine Supplementation

01:12:05 Creatine and Bipolar Disorder: A Cautionary Tale

01:14:03 Creatine's Role in Schizophrenia

01:18:15 Caffeine and Creatine: The Interaction

01:20:05 Exercise, Creatine, and Depression

01:22:04 Future Research Directions for Creatine

01:23:56 Creatine for Vegetarians and Vegans

01:29:47 Exploring the Efficacy of Creatine

01:30:14 Neuroscientific Insights on Emotional Bonds

01:32:28 Dietary Impacts on Brain Cancer Survival Rates

01:36:07 The Ketogenic Diet and Mental Health Applications

01:39:18 The Connection Between Pet Ownership and Mental Health

01:42:22 Coffee's Role in Aging and Cognitive Function

01:45:29 Daytime Napping and Brain Volume

01:47:55 Dog Ownership, Physical Activity, and Dementia Risk

01:49:57 Walking Speed as a Proxy for Cognitive Function

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Follow Dr Fabiano on X (He Posts Awesome Content) : https://x.com/NTFabianoCreatine as a treatment for depression: A brain bioenergetics perspective - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40215588/