I absolutely loved and enjoyed reading this book! So much sense , logic, empathy.
Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OC
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 1,492 ratings
Price: 15.55
Last update: 12-22-2024
About this item
This is the book that will forever change the way we understand and treat mental health. If you or someone you love is affected by mental illness, it might change your life.
We are in the midst of a global mental health crisis, and mental illnesses are on the rise. But what causes mental illness? And why are mental health problems so hard to treat? Drawing on decades of research, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Chris Palmer 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.
Brain Energy explains this new understanding of mental illness in detail, from symptoms and risk factors to what is happening in brain cells. Palmer also sheds light on the new treatment pathways this theory opens up—which apply to all mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, alcoholism, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, autism, and even schizophrenia. Brain Energy pairs cutting-edge science with practical advice and strategies to help people reclaim their mental health.
This groundbreaking book reveals:
- why classifying mental disorders as “separate” conditions is misleading;
- the clear connections between mental illness and disorders linked to metabolism, including diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, pain disorders, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy;
- the link between metabolism and every factor known to play a role in mental health, including genetics, inflammation, hormones, neurotransmitters, sleep, stress, and trauma;
- the evidence that current mental health treatments, including both medications and therapies, likely work by affecting metabolism; and
- new treatments available today that listeners can use to promote long-term healing.
Palmer puts together the pieces of the mental illness puzzle to provide answers and offer hope. Brain Energy will transform the field of mental health, and the lives of countless people around the world.
Top reviews from the United States
DanielaV.5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
DanielaV.
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2024
Images in this review
eyesa5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening, down to earth, first hand knowledge!
Very informative, heartfelt, well researched & written, this book is a must have on your shelf!
Prof. Massimo Benvegnu4.0 out of 5 stars revolutionary
A new approach to mental health through food control - hopefully a direction for the future.
Erik Kobayashi-solomon5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book on mental health
This book is incredible! I have been recommending it to everyone after our family was confronted by an occurrence of mental illness.
The insights in the book are simple, yet profound:
1) The brain makes up around 2% of a typical human's body weight yet uses 20% of a typical human's caloric intake. It makes sense that something related to dysfunction of energy processing might throw off the proper functioning of the brain.
2) Mental illnesses tend to be co-morbid with one another (e.g., different presentations of mental illness morphing unexpectedly into other presentations... depression >> anxiety >> OCD >> BDD >> etc.) and co-morbid with other metabolic diseases. The book discusses studies showing that diabetes patients start to demonstrate depressive symptoms months before being diagnosed with diabetes, for instance, and that people diagnosed with metabolic diseases are more likely to show symptoms of mental illness.
3) Incidents of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have been on an upward trajectory as rapid and notable as the trajectory of serious mental illnesses.
4) Psychiatrists have a very hard time explaining how the drugs they prescribe actually act on a patient to make them better. Drugs tend to "work" on some people and have no effect on others. Once on medication, it is hard to ever get off, no matter what the side-effects are.
Dr. Palmer discusses these issues, provides references to solid academic studies showing the linkage between metabolic dysfunction and mental disease, and makes a strong case for treating mental illnesses with protocols that improve metabolic functioning. He also provides some inspirational stories of severely mentally ill patients that were able to live fulfilling, sensible lives after making changes to lifestyle that impacted their metabolic function.
This book has been my family's North Star over the past year. It is the one resource to which we keep turning time after time. We have become Dr. Palmer groupies as well--listening to every podcast he is on and every presentation he does.
If you or someone you love is suffering from mental illness, I invite you to read this book and seek out a support team that will help you start to implement the suggestions.
The insights in the book are simple, yet profound:
1) The brain makes up around 2% of a typical human's body weight yet uses 20% of a typical human's caloric intake. It makes sense that something related to dysfunction of energy processing might throw off the proper functioning of the brain.
2) Mental illnesses tend to be co-morbid with one another (e.g., different presentations of mental illness morphing unexpectedly into other presentations... depression >> anxiety >> OCD >> BDD >> etc.) and co-morbid with other metabolic diseases. The book discusses studies showing that diabetes patients start to demonstrate depressive symptoms months before being diagnosed with diabetes, for instance, and that people diagnosed with metabolic diseases are more likely to show symptoms of mental illness.
3) Incidents of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have been on an upward trajectory as rapid and notable as the trajectory of serious mental illnesses.
4) Psychiatrists have a very hard time explaining how the drugs they prescribe actually act on a patient to make them better. Drugs tend to "work" on some people and have no effect on others. Once on medication, it is hard to ever get off, no matter what the side-effects are.
Dr. Palmer discusses these issues, provides references to solid academic studies showing the linkage between metabolic dysfunction and mental disease, and makes a strong case for treating mental illnesses with protocols that improve metabolic functioning. He also provides some inspirational stories of severely mentally ill patients that were able to live fulfilling, sensible lives after making changes to lifestyle that impacted their metabolic function.
This book has been my family's North Star over the past year. It is the one resource to which we keep turning time after time. We have become Dr. Palmer groupies as well--listening to every podcast he is on and every presentation he does.
If you or someone you love is suffering from mental illness, I invite you to read this book and seek out a support team that will help you start to implement the suggestions.
Craig Lueck5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable and Groundbreaking
I have finally discovered someone with lived experiences and clinical success. There is nothing redundant or borrowed here in Dr Palmer's book. It's well beyond anything I've read before. His illustrations are helpful, artfully rendered and accessible while simultaneously offering a high degree of pragmatism. Nothing dreamy can be found here. Along with illuminating the science of healing, he's also serving up hope. Hope I have not known before, especially given my own three generations of families mental illness. With a careful reading anyone can connect the dots. Take your time with it, please. With Palmer's ability to sort out and explain the brain/body science and psychiatric clinical history, his perspective is fresh, pioneering, and challenging. No doubt that he's hot on the trail to finding the long lost keys to recovering mental health, potentially at many levels of complexity. Palmer is smart, experienced, measured, and a much needed compassionate voice.
Happy Camper5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive research of diet and mental problems
Dr. Palmer’s Book explains how mitochondria is responsible for every cell in our body and how the brain is affected by diet, stress and factors from our environment. It is based on research and hard data. If you read this book, you will definitely want to change the way you live! If you don’t have a scientific background you can opt to read the summaries and back of each chapter. I believe this book will not only will help people with mental but also those who want to be healthier.
Thomas P Seager, PhD5.0 out of 5 stars Practical insight that will improve your mental health
While the pithy Editorial Reviews from academics and clinicians describing 'Brain Energy' are accurate, they might not speak to the average reader who is struggling with low mood, depression, or unresolved trauma.
In this regard, 'Brain Energy' can help.
Part 1 deconstructs the DSM-5 and describes the way that current practices in psychiatry and psychology result in a confusing myriad of overlapping diagnoses that often leave patients feeling neglected, misdiagnosed, and overlooked. The metaphor of 'mental illness' suggests that maladies of the mind can be treated as if they were infectious diseases -- e.g., with pills. If you're a patient with a DSM-5 diagnosis, you may have experienced years of changing diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and unsuccessful medications that left you feeling increasingly hopeless and misunderstood. Dr. Palmer suggests that the reason so many of the DSM-5 mental disorders are so similar is that they all have a common foundational cause in the metabolism of the brain. While he is careful to acknowledge that schizophrenia, anorexia, and Alzheimer's are different diseases (for example), by the end of Part 1 you will understand that mental disorders are often accompanied by physiological comorbidities relating to metabolism. The implication is that there can be multiple expressions the same energetic dysfunctions.
Part 2 builds a convincing case that disorders of brain metabolism are the critical, overlooked risk factor in mental (or psychiatric) disorders. By itself, this is not a novel assertion. For example, we have known for decades that a ketogenic diet will control epileptic seizures. However, ketosis (or endogenous ketone ingestion) has an undeserved reputation as some kind of dangerous, radical fringe diet adopted by only by 'biohackers' and conspiracy theorists. Dr. Palmer advocacy for ketogenesis from his position at Harvard University (notorious for advancing now discredited theories of diet and nutrition such as the cholesterol-heart hypothesis) may in fact be revolutionary. Originally popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins as an effective strategy for weight loss, Dr. Palmer (a practicing psychiatrist) accidentally discovered improvements in mood among patients who adopted keto for weight loss.
Although the discover was accidental, the mechanisms of action are not. When the body ingests more carbs than it burns, two things happen: 1) fat gain, and 2) insulin resistance. The later is a condition in which insulin in the bloodstream -- responsible for shuttling glucose across the cell membrane -- becomes increasingly less effective. That is, the cells resist the action of insulin, resulting in higher concentrations of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Although the evolutionary reasons for insulin resistance are unknown, it may be that lower concentrations within the cell walls give the mitochondria inside more time to process the carbohydrate without production of excesss reactive oxygen species. Overworked mitochondria can be more prone to damage by ROS, and damaged mitochondria in the brain are less effective for powering essential cognitive processes.
Ketosis is a proven remedy for insulin resistance, and may rejuvenate the mitochondria throughout the body, including the brain. When your brain's mitochondria function better, you will feel a boost to both your mood and your mental energy. For example, ketosis has been shown to have an anxiolytic effect (which means it reduces anxiety) and consequently it has been used with some success in the resolution of anorexia nervosa.
Part 3 expands the description of 'metabolism' beyond diet to include sleep, light exposure, exercise, drugs, and alcohol. The implication here is that the brain and body act as a complex system, and consequently systemic approaches to health will be more effective than focused strategies. While this is true, the unfortunate outcome for some readers, already discouraged, maybe to conclude that it is all impossibly complex, difficult, and too ambitious to fix.
That's not true.
The most important critique of Dr. Palmer's otherwise fine text is that the prescriptive section 'Developing Your Metabolic Treatment Plan' is too general. It lacks specificity and actionable recommendations that readers can implement immediately on their own. Instead, it funnels readers towards professional clinicians -- despite the fact that by Dr. Palmer's own description the vast majority of his colleagues are unwilling or unqualified to act on the type of science 'Brain Energy' describes.
Thus, readers reaching the end of the book may be disappointed or confused about where begin their 'Brain Energy' approach to healing.
An outstanding companion to 'Brain Energy' is Ben Bikman, PhD's book on insulin resistance called 'Why We Get Sick.' Professor Bikman explains insulin resistance in greater detail in a way that will help readers understand how to reduce their risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer, as well as improve their mental health.
My own advice is to begin by eliminating refined sugar and flour (e.g., bread, pasta, rice) from your diet. Bikman gives some suggestions (e.g., Stevia) for sweeteners that will not spike your blood sugar. And Dr. Paul Saladino is well-known for advocating for honey and maple syrup as healthy sweeteners. Dr. Palmer doesn't mention these sweeteners specifically, but there's nothing in his 'Brain Energy' book that contradicts or is inconsistent with the Bikman & Saladino recommendations.
More difficult is the elimination of seed oils. Called "vegetable oils" by the industry that invented them, these are cooking oils extracted from soybeans, corn, cotton, peanut, and other seeds. Unlike fruit oils (olive, avocado, coconut) the seed oils contain a type of fat that interferes with the proper function of cell membranes, and can result in insulin resistance. It's more difficult to eliminate them because they are cheap and ubiquitous. But you can reduce their intake by avoiding margarine, Crisco, soybean oil (e.g., in salad dressings) and fried potatoes.
Finally, it sounds crazy to most people, but deliberate cold exposure (e.g., ice baths) is a proven method for increasing insulin sensitivity and resolving metabolic disorders. The cold will clear glucose from your bloodstream and recruit brown fat that helps modulate your thyroid function. As a bonus, winter swimming and ice baths have been shown to stimulate production of dopamine, which makes it impossible to stay in a low mood.
In summary, Dr. Palmer's 'Brain Energy' book presents a convincing case that metabolic syndrome is a critical disorder that impinges upon mental health. Because this fact is overlooked by most, if not all, mental health professionals, it's easy to see why rates of recovery associated with mood-stabilizing pharmaceuticals and talk therapy are so low. Without fixing your metabolism, your efforts to fix your mental health will be challenged by a brain that is working without the energy it needs to perform demanding tasks like cognitive reframing and the executive functions necessary for mental well-being.
However, once you and your mental health professional are convinced by Dr. Palmer that metabolism is at the core of your dissatisfaction, you will likely need to seek other sources to develop a successful metabolic treatment program.
In this regard, 'Brain Energy' can help.
Part 1 deconstructs the DSM-5 and describes the way that current practices in psychiatry and psychology result in a confusing myriad of overlapping diagnoses that often leave patients feeling neglected, misdiagnosed, and overlooked. The metaphor of 'mental illness' suggests that maladies of the mind can be treated as if they were infectious diseases -- e.g., with pills. If you're a patient with a DSM-5 diagnosis, you may have experienced years of changing diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and unsuccessful medications that left you feeling increasingly hopeless and misunderstood. Dr. Palmer suggests that the reason so many of the DSM-5 mental disorders are so similar is that they all have a common foundational cause in the metabolism of the brain. While he is careful to acknowledge that schizophrenia, anorexia, and Alzheimer's are different diseases (for example), by the end of Part 1 you will understand that mental disorders are often accompanied by physiological comorbidities relating to metabolism. The implication is that there can be multiple expressions the same energetic dysfunctions.
Part 2 builds a convincing case that disorders of brain metabolism are the critical, overlooked risk factor in mental (or psychiatric) disorders. By itself, this is not a novel assertion. For example, we have known for decades that a ketogenic diet will control epileptic seizures. However, ketosis (or endogenous ketone ingestion) has an undeserved reputation as some kind of dangerous, radical fringe diet adopted by only by 'biohackers' and conspiracy theorists. Dr. Palmer advocacy for ketogenesis from his position at Harvard University (notorious for advancing now discredited theories of diet and nutrition such as the cholesterol-heart hypothesis) may in fact be revolutionary. Originally popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins as an effective strategy for weight loss, Dr. Palmer (a practicing psychiatrist) accidentally discovered improvements in mood among patients who adopted keto for weight loss.
Although the discover was accidental, the mechanisms of action are not. When the body ingests more carbs than it burns, two things happen: 1) fat gain, and 2) insulin resistance. The later is a condition in which insulin in the bloodstream -- responsible for shuttling glucose across the cell membrane -- becomes increasingly less effective. That is, the cells resist the action of insulin, resulting in higher concentrations of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Although the evolutionary reasons for insulin resistance are unknown, it may be that lower concentrations within the cell walls give the mitochondria inside more time to process the carbohydrate without production of excesss reactive oxygen species. Overworked mitochondria can be more prone to damage by ROS, and damaged mitochondria in the brain are less effective for powering essential cognitive processes.
Ketosis is a proven remedy for insulin resistance, and may rejuvenate the mitochondria throughout the body, including the brain. When your brain's mitochondria function better, you will feel a boost to both your mood and your mental energy. For example, ketosis has been shown to have an anxiolytic effect (which means it reduces anxiety) and consequently it has been used with some success in the resolution of anorexia nervosa.
Part 3 expands the description of 'metabolism' beyond diet to include sleep, light exposure, exercise, drugs, and alcohol. The implication here is that the brain and body act as a complex system, and consequently systemic approaches to health will be more effective than focused strategies. While this is true, the unfortunate outcome for some readers, already discouraged, maybe to conclude that it is all impossibly complex, difficult, and too ambitious to fix.
That's not true.
The most important critique of Dr. Palmer's otherwise fine text is that the prescriptive section 'Developing Your Metabolic Treatment Plan' is too general. It lacks specificity and actionable recommendations that readers can implement immediately on their own. Instead, it funnels readers towards professional clinicians -- despite the fact that by Dr. Palmer's own description the vast majority of his colleagues are unwilling or unqualified to act on the type of science 'Brain Energy' describes.
Thus, readers reaching the end of the book may be disappointed or confused about where begin their 'Brain Energy' approach to healing.
An outstanding companion to 'Brain Energy' is Ben Bikman, PhD's book on insulin resistance called 'Why We Get Sick.' Professor Bikman explains insulin resistance in greater detail in a way that will help readers understand how to reduce their risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer, as well as improve their mental health.
My own advice is to begin by eliminating refined sugar and flour (e.g., bread, pasta, rice) from your diet. Bikman gives some suggestions (e.g., Stevia) for sweeteners that will not spike your blood sugar. And Dr. Paul Saladino is well-known for advocating for honey and maple syrup as healthy sweeteners. Dr. Palmer doesn't mention these sweeteners specifically, but there's nothing in his 'Brain Energy' book that contradicts or is inconsistent with the Bikman & Saladino recommendations.
More difficult is the elimination of seed oils. Called "vegetable oils" by the industry that invented them, these are cooking oils extracted from soybeans, corn, cotton, peanut, and other seeds. Unlike fruit oils (olive, avocado, coconut) the seed oils contain a type of fat that interferes with the proper function of cell membranes, and can result in insulin resistance. It's more difficult to eliminate them because they are cheap and ubiquitous. But you can reduce their intake by avoiding margarine, Crisco, soybean oil (e.g., in salad dressings) and fried potatoes.
Finally, it sounds crazy to most people, but deliberate cold exposure (e.g., ice baths) is a proven method for increasing insulin sensitivity and resolving metabolic disorders. The cold will clear glucose from your bloodstream and recruit brown fat that helps modulate your thyroid function. As a bonus, winter swimming and ice baths have been shown to stimulate production of dopamine, which makes it impossible to stay in a low mood.
In summary, Dr. Palmer's 'Brain Energy' book presents a convincing case that metabolic syndrome is a critical disorder that impinges upon mental health. Because this fact is overlooked by most, if not all, mental health professionals, it's easy to see why rates of recovery associated with mood-stabilizing pharmaceuticals and talk therapy are so low. Without fixing your metabolism, your efforts to fix your mental health will be challenged by a brain that is working without the energy it needs to perform demanding tasks like cognitive reframing and the executive functions necessary for mental well-being.
However, once you and your mental health professional are convinced by Dr. Palmer that metabolism is at the core of your dissatisfaction, you will likely need to seek other sources to develop a successful metabolic treatment program.