Last month, Canadian mental health researcher Bonnie Kaplan was interviewed for the Economic Times about the emerging field of nutritional psychiatry.
Nutritional psychiatry involves the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders using nutrients. Here are 6 things we learn about nutritional psychiatry from the interview.
- Nutritional psychiatry is effective because micronutrients are a fundamental component of brain chemistry, including the processes that influence mental illness.
- Opposition to nutritional psychiatry is prevalent among psychiatrists.
- Drug companies are uninterested in this method because it’s less profitable.
- Funding from government agencies to properly study the effectiveness of nutritional psychiatry is difficult to obtain.
- While nutritional psychiatry isn’t a solution for every situation, an ideal world would see nutrition playing a primary role and medication a supportive role.
- Nutritional psychiatry involves not only supplementation, but also a wholesome, varied diet.
Visit the Economic Times website to read her entire interview.