The New Frontier of Mental Health (with Dr. Chris Palmer)
The Mark Divine Show
The Paradox of Mitochondrial Dysfunction
Mitochondrial dysfunction impacts brain behavior, causing mental disorders. Cells in the brain malfunction, either being overactive or underactive. The mitochondria, the cell's furnace, plays a key role in this imbalance. Different brain regions have varying vulnerabilities to metabolic failure, resulting in different symptoms of mental illness. Understanding this metabolic dysfunction opens up possibilities for a wide range of treatments.
Mental disorders are now the leading cause of disability on the planet and in the United States. We have a crisis and we need new ideas and new approaches.
Mental health has become a global crisis. Harvard psychiatrist and researcher Dr. Chris Palmer (@ChrisPalmerMD) is the Director of the Department of postgraduate and continuing education in McLean Hospital, and he's an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His research is leading the future of understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. His recent book Brain Energy outlines a revolutionary new understanding that for the first time unites our existing knowledge about mental illness within a single framework: mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain.
Dr. Chris Palmer was personally impacted witnessing the decline of his mother’s mental health when he was a child. His frustration with the medical system and his own struggles drove him into the field of psychology where he has focused on understanding what mental disorders are and how they can be treated in a new and more effective way. Dr. Palmer has made a link of metabolic health and treatment that is changing the way Western medicine views and approaches our mental health crisis.
“ I am putting people with mental disorders (bipolar, schizophrenia, depression) into full remission, sometimes off of psychiatric medications, using strategies like the ketogenic diet, but also exercise, good sleep, get off the drugs and alcohol, and stress reduction.”
- Dr. Chris Palmer
Key Takeaways:
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Mitochondria and Brain Health: Genes get turned off or on primarily in relation to mitochondria.There has been an explosion of research on the tiny things in our cells and the benefits of addressing them for brain health. Mitochondria are the primary regulators of the metabolism, and brain disorders are being linked to metabolic disorders. Scientists are beginning to understand the role of the metabolism and mitochondria, and the role they play in mental health.
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Individuals Brain Strength: Just like how each of us have certain muscles that are stronger than others, our brains are similar. Each of us have areas of the brain that are stronger or weaker. Once you locate the weak areas of the brain you can often retrain them and see amazing results in cognition and emotional functioning.
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Ketogenic Diet, Lifestyle, and Brain Function: The ketogenic diet has amazingly profound impacts on the human brain. The ketogenic diet promotes metabolic health which positively affects the brain. The application of the Ketogenic diet paired with proper sleep, stress reduction, finding purpose, and exercise is a prescription that is working. However it isn’t a quick fix, it takes years of dedication and focus to see full remission in patients.
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Medication is Limited: Although medication can be effective in treating the symptoms of a mental disorder there are limitations and many side effects. Dr. Palmer has dedicated his life’s work to finding better ways than the mainstream focus on medicating patients. He believes that although medication is necessary at times it is not the only route for treatment, and can be very limiting for overall recovery of mental health and brain disorders.
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