Praise for Brain Energy
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, in fact, almost any brain disorder. The discoveries of brain science have forced us to reimagine mental health and provide hope in a field that for many has not provided significant relief from suffering. If you suffer any mental health challenges (who hasnt), then this book just might change your life.
Mark Hyman, MD, senior advisor at the Cleveland Clinic Pr_R for Functional Medicine and 14-time New York Times bestselling author
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. Christopher Palmers work empowers patients and their health care providers alike.
David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain
Dr. Palmer takes a provocative and insightful look into the origins of mental disorders, which have profound implications for how we treat the disease... and for our diet.
Jason Fung, MD, nephrologist and author of three bestselling health books
Psychiatry will never be the same. The medical profession needs to apply Biochem 101 if its going to solve mental illnessand metabolic illness, while theyre at it. 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, emeritus professor of pediatrics at UCSF and author of Metabolical
For more than two decades, Dr. Palmer has organized world leaders in psychiatry to educate clinicians about emerging innovations in the field. He challenges the status quo with this brave new idea in Brain Energy that instructs us to seek simple solutions to human problems, rather than chemical ones that can only change biology, not lived experience. Brain Energy is a book all psychiatric professionals should read as a useful criticism of our fields 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. Basic health is self-evident but takes courage to commit to taking exquisite care of your body and, by extension, your brain.
Lois W. Choi-Kain, MD, MEd, director of the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
After a bipolar episode at age nineteen, our son was seen by more than forty mental health practitioners and prescribed twenty-nine different medications. But it was not until he started on a ketogenic metabolic therapy under the guidance of Dr. Chris Palmer that he got his mind and his life back. Dr. Palmers metabolic approach has the potential to radically impact the worlds mental health epidemic. Brain Energy is a must-read.
David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox and cofounder of the Baszucki Group, and Jan Ellison Baszucki, author of A Small Indiscretion and cofounder of the Baszucki Group
If you have ever been dissatisfied with the rather hard-to-defend explanations of mental illness, this groundbreaking book is for you. Palmer, a practicing psychiatrist, not constrained by the received wisdom of the field, audaciously travels further than most. He puts forward a strong case for throwing away what we were taught about the causes, the diagnosis, and the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Instead, he brings the tiny mitochondria, once mere bacteria, into center stage and takes you on an exhilarating intellectual journey to reveal the new beginnings of psychiatry.
Zoltn Sarnyai, MD, PhD, professor and head of the Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, James Cook University, Australia
Dr. Christopher Palmer has written a must-read primer for anyone considering understanding and treating mental health. The book will guide you to understand why metabolism and mitochondria are fundamental to keep your brain healthy... a call to action to transform mental health treatment. Read this bookand learn from one of the best.
Ana C. Andreazza, PhD, professor of pharmacology and psychiatry, University of Toronto and founder and scientific director, Mitochondrial Innovation Initiative
Dr. Palmer is uncanny in his synthesizing extant literature and providing a prescient thesis on the pathoetiologic and potentially therapeutic role of metabolics of neuropsychiatric conditions. The thesis and framework proffered by Dr. Palmer provides for many
prevention and therapeutic opportunities in psychiatry and take us one step closer to disease-modifying possibilities.
Roger S. McIntyre, MD, FRCPC, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Toronto, Canada
Brain Energy , by Dr. Chris Palmer, is the much-needed new perspective on mental health that could revolutionize the way we think about, research, and treat mental health conditions. Its a guaranteed best-seller, a book you wont want to put down, and one that could change your life or that of a loved one. The nuance, clarity, and sensitivity with which Dr. Palmer addresses the complex issues of mental illness is nothing short of incredible. He brings his skills as a Harvard-trained clinical psychiatrist to bear in his writing, anticipating the readers next question and then weaving it into a narrative that is the perfect mix between science lesson and storybook. Filled with brilliant analogies, jaw-dropping statistics, fascinating scientific details, and moving patient stories, this book is an absolute must-read. And, speaking as both a PhD scientist myself and a Harvard medical student, I wish this book could be mandatory reading for the next generation of doctors. If it were, Id suspect wed see rates of metabolic diseases, including mental health conditions, start to dip within a generation. This book will change many lives.
Nicholas Norwitz, PhD in neurometabolism (University of Oxford) and Harvard Medical Student
There is so much we do not know about the relationship among metabolism, health, and disease. Thankfully, Dr. Christopher Palmer cuts through the noise and tackles mental disorders by focusing on first principles: metabolism is the foundation of brain health, and brain health is the foundation of our best future. Brain Energy is a book that cannot be read and incorporated into policy soon enough: mental disorders are an accelerating crisis, especially among children. This is not rocket science; its neuroscience.
Susan A. Masino, PhD, professor of applied science and neuroscientist at Trinity College
Kudos to Dr. Chris Palmer for penning a thought-provoking and superb book on the revolutionary breakthroughs occurring in psychiatry, a discipline in medicine that has suffered far too long and from too much stigma. Its a must-read for all of us as we undoubtedly,
without exception, have a family member or a dear friend battling a challenging psychiatric condition. There is finally optimism and light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Sanjiv Chopra, MBBS, MACP, FRCP, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and bestselling author
It is clear to me from clinical practice that what we eat and drink affects our brain function and mental health but I never understood why. Dr. Palmer brilliantly connects the dots to explain why this is true. A pioneering work!
Eric C. Westman, MD MHS, director of the Duke Keto Medicine Clinic
Dr. Palmers Brain Energy seemed to take me by the hand and gently walk me through the most complex of medical journeysarriving at the most fascinating yet incredibly logical conclusions. Though not a scientist, I was able to follow and actually become riveted during every step of the journey. His rare ability to explain sophisticated scientific and medical concepts in lay terminology makes it accessible to a very wide audience. His case is carefully and thoroughly constructed. The dots are always connected. His frequent use of anecdotes and examples is also helpful. Visualizing metabolism by comparing it to automobile traffic is kind of brilliant. Turning the Titanic of the understanding of mental health from genetic to metabolic underpinnings is not going to be easy, but Brain Energy seems to be a huge swing in the right direction.
