"Mental disorders are increasing in prevalence and they are now the leading cause of disability in the United States and on the planet… and it’s not because people aren’t getting treatment, it’s because our treatments fail to work for far too many people."
Dr. Chris Palmer, MD
EFR 682: The Brain Energy Theory - The Root Cause of Mental Illness, the Connection Between Physical and Mental Health, and How We Can Actually Get Better with Dr. Chris Palmer
Harvard Psychiatrist, Dr. Chris Palmer, shares his groundbreaking Brain Energy Theory of Mental Illness, helping us to understand the root cause of mental illness, the connection between mental and physical health, and how we can actually get better. Chris explains how mental illness is metabolic dysfunction in the brain and shines light on the current state of mental illness and mental healthcare in America.
Too many people are told they must sacrifice their physical health for mental stability. Take your pills, deal with the side effects, and hope your mental health improves. Obviously, there’s something wrong about this system. The standard of care in the mental health field needs drastic improvement and Dr. Chris Palmer is someone who’s taking huge strides to make that happen “because far too many people do not get better with our current approaches”.
Dr. Chris Palmer is an academic physician and psychiatric researcher at Harvard Medical School with a focus on helping people suffering from treatment-resistant mental illnesses, including mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders. Chris is the author of Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health--and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More.
Follow Dr. Chris Palmer @chrispalmermd
Follow Chase on Instagram @chase_chewning
Follow him on Twitter @chasechewning
Key Highlights
How harmful is it to use the word “crazy” when talking about mental illness? How can we change our language to fight the stigmas around mental illness? “Sometimes using the words everyone’s thinking is the way to actually create change,” Chris says.
Chris emphasizes the difference between mental illness and brain disorders, and why it’s important for mental health professionals to distinguish those differences.
“Mental health and physical health are inseparable,” Chris says. Listen in as he illustrates the connection between mental disorders and physical/metabolic disorders, like obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, epilepsy, and more.
Where do we start in treating mental disorders? What area of health do we need to be focusing on? Metabolism! Tune in to learn the importance of metabolic health, mitochondrial health, and environmental health (food, water, shelter, light, human connection, and purpose) in treating mental disorders.
Poor metabolic or mental health can cause impaired brain function, motivation, muscle function, pain, and soreness. Chris believes that a different narrative, based on cell biology and scientific evidence, may help people with mental disorders recover better.
Chris explains his groundbreaking Brain Energy theory, highlighting the five broad consequences of metabolic or mitochondrial dysfunction (that have never been published anywhere else).
What does science say about the correlation between mental disorders and having purpose in life? Tune in to hear Chris’s fascinating answer!
Powerful Quotes by Dr. Chris Palmer
Mental disorders are increasing in prevalence and they are now the leading cause of disability in the United States and on the planet… and it’s not because people aren’t getting treatment, it’s because our treatments fail to work for far too many people.
These are medical problems with the brain and they deserve compassion and they deserve effective solutions.
Death is the absence of metabolism.
If the narrative is “I am a big, fat, lazy loser”, that person is going to live up to that narrative. We must change that narrative.
There’s a way out of the hell you’re in. There’s a way out.
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