Is it just me or has the narrative of mental health gone a little too far?

Why are More People Being Diagnosed with Mental Illness?

Yes the statistics are up across all ages with mental health problems.  Many things are being blamed such as COVID, screen time, school pressure, work pressure and an array of reasons why depression, anxiety, ADD (attention deficit disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are increasing in severity and numbers and age groups.

Plus I’m seeing subcategories of these mental health issues. 

For instance ADD is now categorised into; Classic ADD, inattentive ADD, Over focused ADD, Temporal Lobe ADD, Limbic ADD, Ring of Fire ADD, Anxious ADD.

ADHD is categorised into; Inattention ADHD,  Hyperactivity ADHD and Impulsivity ADHD

There is also OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and ODD(oppositional defiance disorder)

Prescribing Medications for Mental Health

 In Queensland where I live, GP’s are able to prescribe drugs for ADD and ADHD and soon Western Australia GP’s will be able to prescribe.  Usually, psychiatrists are the prescribers.

The most common medications given for these disorders are stimulants including methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) and amphetamines (Adderall, Dexedrine (dexamphetamine)), they are presumed to work by increasing levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, mainly dopamine and norepinephrine.  These are the focused, motivational neurotransmitters.  We also know that a meal dominant in protein helps with the increase in these two neurotransmitters.

Non-stimulants are also used when stimulants are not tolerated, these stop the reuptake of norepinephrine.  Alpha 2 agonists like clonidine and guanfacine are another class of medications to treat ADHD, they can be used with stimulants or stand alone. They work on the activity of the alpha 2 adrenergic receptors in the brain.  Antidepressants can also be used.

It’s a cocktail of drugs that can be used to treat ADD and ADHD…..

Can We Trust Mental Health Diagnoses?

A GP does very little, to no training in lifestyle and nutrition.  They are well educated and versed on diagnosis and treatment and management of illness with tests and medications respectively.  The MAYO clinic is one of the most accurate diagnostics facilities in the world.  It demonstrates a high success rate in refining or modifying diagnoses when people seek a second opinion.  A study found that 88% of patients who received a second opinion at the Mayo Clinic left with a new or refined diagnosis.  At best a GP may have a 30% accuracy rate, and worse 12% with mental health when the diagnosis is based on behaviour, not clinical testing. It may be a very grey area in the accuracy of mental illness diagnosis.

Having said that, if diet and lifestyle is not addressed then the injustice to the patient, child or adult is unconscionable.  I understand there are some people that don’t want to change their diet and lifestyle, and they are happy with a medication.  This article is not for them.  Rather this article is for someone who is keen to try another option that has been researched-based.

ADHD Medication Side-Effects

But first the side effects of the medication.  The American College of Cardiology in March of 2024 published a paper, How ADHD stimulants may increase the risk of heart damage in Young Adults.

It concluded that young adults placed on ADHD medications were significantly more likely to develop cardiomyopathy than those who were not.  The study found children prescribed stimulants such as Adderall were 17% more likely to have cardiomyopathy in their first year on the medication.  They were 57% more likely to have cardiomyopathy at eight years compared with those who were not taking these medications.  Many times, these medications are prescribed, and they are addictive without an end date or plan of getting off them is put in place.  Therefore 8 years on these medications is not inconceivable.

Other side effects of these stimulants prescribed for ADHD include; allergic reactions, heart rhythm changes, dizziness, chest pain, increase in blood pressure, irritability, confusion, muscle stiffness, twitching muscles, sweating, high fever, seizure, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety, nervousness, confusion, hallucinations, hostility, thoughts of suicide or self-harm, feeling of depression, Raynaud’s Phenomenon, confusion, trouble walking, stoke, blurry vision, change in sex drive or performance, headache, loss of appetite and weight loss, nausea and trouble sleeping and addiction.

History of ADHD

The history of ADHD has a checkered history starting as early as 1798.  In the late 1800’s there was a paediatrician, George Still, who studied the behaviour of 43 children in a London hospital.  Some were more obedient than others.  He labelled the less obedient children with Moral Defect of Character. In the 1930’s, moral defect of character was renamed ‘hyperkinetic response of children’ by German physicians Franz Kramer and Hans Poll.  Charles Bradley in 1937 inadvertently discovered that stimulant medications improved children with hyperactivity.  Brain research in the 1950’s and 1960’s linked specific brain structures therefore noting it was a brain function disturbance as opposed to brain damage.  By 1954 Ritalin became the drug of choice and the rest has been more diagnosis and more medications.

Treatments now include medication, behavioural therapies and educational interventions.

There is no recognition that diet and lifestyle can make a difference. 

Cure for ADHD: Diet and Lifestyle

Studies on small populations are beginning to be published.  In 2007, a study on 300 children aged 3 to 9 diagnosed with ADHD were put on an elimination diet, they eliminated artificial sweeteners, dyes, gluten, dairy, corn and soy.  After 3 months, 72% of the children no longer met the criteria of ADHD.  Not that this is new.  In my 1998 book Changing Habits, Changing Lives I talked about many additives that were associated with hyperactivity disorders.  Everyone thinks that these additives are only in small amounts within food, but a child who eats a meal of ultra-processed foods may eat up to 100mg of food additives, colours, flavours associated with ADHD.  Behavioural tests found as little as 30mg can cause neurological injuries.

It is well researched that diet changes the brain’s metabolism.  Being in a state of ketosis changes the way the brain metabolises.  Fasting and using ketones for energy, can change the brain so dramatically that it can stop all seizures and epileptic episodes in the vulnerable.  The fact that psychiatrist and general practice doctors are not exploring these options is to me an injustice to their patients.

We also know that a meal high in protein will increase dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain whereas a meal based on carbohydrates will increase serotonin in the brain.

Yes, I am a nutritionist and, as they say, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  And nutrition is my love, but I’ve also seen the power of food.  As Hippocrates said, “Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine be Thy food”. The Hippocratic oath is said by doctors as they graduate yet the true essence of Hippocrates is not being adhered to in medicine.

Diet and Lifestyle are powerful allies in human physical health and mental health.

Let me show you how but not only with ADHD but other mental health issues.  When you change the metabolism of the brain and take away artificial additives as found in ultra-processed foods it can help with many disorders as you will see in the following discussion.

Metabolic and Nutritional Psychiatry

Manic depression, known as bipolar disorder, has been treated with drugs and psychotherapy, but a new study based out of Edinburgh University is seeing the mental health disorder as something quite different.  Rather than treating it as a mental health issue it is now being seen as a metabolic and circadian health issue.  And that’s good news.

520,000 people or 1 in 50 have a diagnosis of bipolar in Australia, in the UK the number is around 1,000,000 and the US above 7,000,000.  Approximately 2.3% of the population across these three nations have the condition.  In the last decade this has increased exponentially.  Bipolar is extremes in energy, mood and focus, oscillating between highs and lows.

In Australia, between 6-8% of children and 5% of adults have ADHD.  That’s 1 in 15 children are diagnosed with ADHD.  It is thought that a significant number of people with ADHD in Australia remain undiagnosed.  ADHD is difficulty with focus (attention), organization, executive function, and mood, and can lead to hyperactivity, hyper inactivity and impulsivity.

At The Nutrition Academy we have the philosophy of vitalism, which dictates that the human body is an innate intelligence, give it all the right ingredients and take away interference and it can be the healthiest it can be both mentally and physically.  On the other hand, mental health is viewed in the opposing way with the philosophy of mechanism where the body is made up of parts, diagnose and then treat the sick part (brain and mind) with medications and cognitive behaviour therapy without any thought for the rest of the body or environment.

I don’t know if you have noticed but between the head and the body there is a giant neck.  This neck is part of the transport system of cell made chemicals for communication, feedback and stimulation, it also has a nervous system that is controlled by the brain that sends electrical impulses to every part of the body and then a feedback loop telling the brain what it needs to do for the body to be at homeostasis, physically and mentally.  There is also the gut-brain axis which shows the health of the gut is very much in alignment with the health of the body and mind and thought processes. 

The vagus nerve, one of the cranial nerves carries signals back and forth from the brain to the digestive system, thoracic (heart) and abdominal cavity.  Vagus is Latin for wandering as it makes its way through the body communicating back and forth to the brain about the bodies vital organs including all systems.  It also communicates back the other way creating changes in the gut, heart and abdominal cavity with thought alone.  Changing the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses for survival and homeostasis.  It provides a feedback loop. 

When we treat the mind, brain or head as a separate entity not attached to a body or an environment as psychiatry has traditionally done then we miss out on valuable resources to help the person suffering from a mental health disorder and or bipolar, schizophrenia and the many named maladies of the brain to get well.

This new study out of Edinburgh spearheaded by Dr Iain Campbell who is afflicted with bipolar and has lost family members to the mental health disorder is redefining the disease as a metabolic disorder and thereby looking at the ketogenic diet and circadian health. In other words, they are beginning to see a link between mental health and physical health and environmental stimulus like light, sleep and sunshine.

It’s exciting times as I see an awakening to wholistic health management that I didn’t see 45 years ago when I started my nutrition training. In fact, if you mentioned diet for any disease including mental health disorders you would be told that diet has nothing to do with the presenting condition of the patient.  I would be so frustrated by this narrative and because I wasn’t a doctor I was seen as someone who didn’t know what I was talking about and out on the fringe of modern science.

I am now seeing more research showing that by looking wholistically at the condition, body, mind and environment then significant leaps can be made in the long-term prospects of cure and prevention without the use of medications for the rest of the person’s life or with a combination of medication, diet and lifestyle.

Psychiatrist Dr Georgia Ede, has written the book Change Your Diet Change Your Mind (2024). A powerful plan to improve mood, overcome anxiety, and protect memory for a lifetime of optimal mental health.  She discusses that through her four years at medical school, she had a couple of hours of nutrition education and specialising in psychiatry for four years, there was no discussion or study on diet affecting the brain and mind and mental health. 

Her main tools were cognitive behavioural therapy and medications, and they were not working for many of her clients.  She had been a psychiatrist for 20 years and she viewed anything about nutrition and psychiatry with pure scepticism.  Rather she viewed the brain as a bunch of neurotransmitters that could be manipulated with medications.  Her colleagues had practices filled with people that were not being helped, and they began to view mental illnesses as chronic, mysterious and incurable malady.

She knew that medications had their part to play in helping with mental health, but they came with side effects and often the medications were layered for three or four diagnosed mental health conditions which compounded the side effects. 

Her curiosity got the better of her but only when she had her own health problems in her early 40’s.  Being curious, she tried different foods and ended with a diet that was based on meat with few plants.  She had never felt better in her life.  Dr Ede studied nutrition through Harvard then trawled through as many nutrition journals and archives and periodicals to learn more about the outdated unscientific ideologies of low fat, red meat, dairy, margarine, ultra-processed foods, low sugar, low calorie, saturated fat, the cholesterol phobia and came up with the realisation that the modern diet was not only making people physically sick but was affecting their mental health.  She calls herself the accidental nutritionist and believes that Nutritional Psychiatry is the way forward.

Dr Ede explains;

“I was genuinely shocked to learn that there is absolutely no science (or logic) behind recommendations to eat plant-based diets, balanced diets, high-fibre diets, low-cholesterol diets, or diets containing whole grains, low-fat dairy products, or rainbows of fruits and vegetables. At best, these ideas represent well-intentioned guesses based on deeply flawed, unscientific food questionnaires; at worst, they are intentional distortions of the facts designed to protect professional reputations or serve political and commercial agendas, not to protect and serve public health.”

I couldn’t agree with her more.  I love when I see this not only in doctors and specialists but when parents, teenagers, and all ages finally get that the modern SAD – standard Australian diet or standard American diet is making us sicker mentally and physically.  And don’t expect the government is going to turn the ship around, the change will be a grass roots movement with people like Dr Iain Campbell and Dr Georgia Ede that will propel the movement back to a more real food, ancestrally based eating regime.

Brain Energy Theory

Another psychiatrist making waves in nutritional psychiatry and has written the book Brain Energy is Dr Chris Palmer.  He believes ‘together, we can transform the mental health field to improve the lives of the millions of people suffering from mental illness’.   He published his book in 2022 in which he argues that mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain.  Based on decades of clinical, epidemiological, neuroscience, genetic, psychological, social, and metabolic research, this unifying theory integrates the mental health field with the rest of the medical field. The Brain Energy theory challenges the current diagnostic categorization of mental disorders (DSM-5-TR), provides long-elusive answers to questions that have plagued the mental health field, and details numerous lines of evidence connecting mental illness with disorders linked to metabolism, such as diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, pain disorders, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy. This theory offers new treatment options, ones that come with the hope of long-term healing as opposed to just symptom reduction. Brain Energy has been endorsed by leading psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and other physicians and holds the potential to transform the mental health field.

“On September 21, 2024, Chris Palmer, M.D., presented at a BSI Medical Society event in Boston. In this talk Dr. Palmer discusses the rising prevalence of mental illness and the limited success of current treatments like medications and therapy, which often fail to address the underlying causes. He proposes a new approach: considering mental disorders as metabolic disorders that impact the brain, rather than attributing them solely to neurotransmitter imbalances or trauma. By focusing on metabolic health, he suggests we might unify various risk factors—like genetics, stress, and environmental influences—under a single framework that connects physical and mental health.

Palmer argues that mitochondrial dysfunction in the brain could be the root cause of many mental health issues, explaining why mental illnesses often co-occur with metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. People with mental disorders are more likely to develop metabolic diseases, and vice versa.

Palmer also highlights the potential of metabolic treatments, like the ketogenic diet, to improve mental health outcomes by enhancing mitochondrial function. He points out that while some psychiatric medications positively affect mitochondria, others may harm metabolic health, leading to side effects that worsen long-term outcomes.

Dr. Palmer’s ongoing research aims to validate the metabolic theory of mental illness, with the hope of developing more effective, lifestyle-focussed interventions—such as diet, exercise, and supplements—alongside traditional mental health treatments.”

Here is a link to an informative lecture by Dr Chris Palmer.  The title of his talk is Brain Energy: The Metabolic Theory of Mental Disorders and New Treatment Strategies

It’s time to redefine mental health not solely as a brain issue but a physiological issue.  Change your diet and lifestyle and change your brain.  This information will help guide mothers, parents and adults in a new direction.  And once you have changed your own mental health around spread the word.  Become a Functional Nutrition Consultant by doing the certified Nutrition course with The Nutrition Academy.  The more voices about the power of food and lifestyle out there the less people who will suffer.  Be part of the Tsunami of Change we all want to see.

Cyndi O’Meara