Brain Energy

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What to expect

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 readers 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.

Critics Review

'Brain Energy provides a long-awaited unifying mechanism underlying a vast spectrum of mental illness conditions. And this new paradigm will undoubtedly usher in potent therapeutic interventions for pervasive psychiatric conditions for which standard pharmaceutical approaches have proven minimally effective.'

David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author

'Brain Energy is a dramatic breakthrough in understanding mental illness by a leading Harvard psychiatrist who provides a revolutionary road map for people suffering from depression, anxiety, bipolar disease, [and] in fact, almost any brain disorder.'

Mark Hyman, MD, New York Times bestselling author

'Takes a provocative and insightful look into the origins of mental disorders, which have profound implications for how we treat the disease.'

Jason Fung, MD, author of The Diabetes Code

'Psychiatry will never be the same...Christopher Palmer poses the hypothesis, supports it with data, and, in my humble opinion, nails the treatment: Feed the brain what it needs.'

Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL, professor emeritus of pediatrics at University of California, San Francisco, and New York Times bestselling author

'Brain Energy is a book all psychiatric professionals should read as a useful criticism of our field's major deficits. It is a book all people should read to understand how much they can do (and not do) for the sake of their mental health.'

LoisW. Choi-Kain, MD, director of the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

User Reviews

Book 3.0
Narration 3.5
5.0
5.0
Genuinely one of the best psychiatry books I ever read/listened to. Chris is talking us through the complexities of the human brain and mind and related scientific research evidence with such ease and lightness that it makes it possible for an average person to understand. This book and brain energy theory is a groundbreaking achievement in the field. For the first time all the factors are combined into one cohesive system.
Thank you, Chris, for your important work and I'm really sorry for what happened in your life, but at the same time very grateful that it has led you to writing this amazing book.
Aleksandra 01/07/2025
1.0
2.0
I always like to hear about new hypothesis in the world of medicine and regularly read books aboug them. Although as a Dr, I could not finish that one. It seems to be written with a focus on making the author's thought process and conclusions more striking rather than discussing an interesting topic. This leads to lot of redundancies, with some presented in misleading ways.

Here are a few examples.

- In the first part of the book, the grouping of neurodevelopemental disorders such as ADHD and autism, with disorders such as depression; is not consistent with the latest developments in the field, including the latest research and reports from leading experts on ADHD and autism, which especially shows the genetic inheritance importance. It's actually going backward to when everything "mental" was set in the same category. I hope for this book that the last part developed this further, in a way that makes more sense. Although this would not fully justify the misrepresentations in the first part.

- When discussing the increase numbers in both, the author brings several hypothesis but is not transparent with some fundamental datas. Notably, before 2013 and the DSM V, autism and ADHD could not be diagnosed together, even though they are highly comorbids. This fact alone shows how the evolution of the DSM leads to an increase in numbers of autism and ADHD, without an increase in the disorder prevalence in the general population. Similarly, diagnosis of women for both are increasing significantly. Both were only diagnosed in men before, leading to an increase in number without an actual increase in prevalence. As a last example of a important missed data, I would highlight that studies consistently show that both autism and ADHD are still significantly underdiagnosed today, although less than before.
Discussing an increase in numbers for both conditions among others, as a key point for this theory without exploring such fundamental datas, is significantly misleading.
Avi 27/05/2025

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