You’ve heard it all before: depression is a serotonin issue, ADHD is a lifelong condition, and schizophrenia? That’s just bad genetics. But Dr Chris Palmer, a Harvard psychiatrist, says the field has been looking in the wrong place for decades. His claim? Mental illness starts in the mitochondria—the tiny energy factories inside our cells. If they break down, so does the brain. Forget chemical imbalances and trauma as root causes. Palmer argues the real culprit behind much of modern psychiatry’s failure is metabolic dysfunction. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Palmer’s work is gaining traction among clinicians, patients and a wave of lifestyle-focused thinkers who believe that the path to better mental health lies not on a therapist’s couch or in a pill bottle, but in the kitchen, the bedroom, the park, and perhaps even the sauna. He doesn’t throw out decades of psychiatric insight. But he rearranges the furniture entirely.
The numbers speak louder than theory. In Australia, one in five adults aged 16–85 (22%, or 4.3 million people) experienced a mental disorder in the past year, with anxiety disorders affecting 17% of the population and affective disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, affecting 8%. Despite increased awareness and treatment options, many patients remain unwell. For instance, the use of ADHD medications has surged, with prescriptions for certain stimulants increasing dramatically between 2019–20 and 2021–22. Yet, the effectiveness of these treatments varies, and a significant proportion of individuals do not experience meaningful improvement. This is the problem Palmer set out to understand—and reframe.
His lightbulb moment wasn’t about mood; it was about metabolism. Mitochondria, those tiny energy generators found in almost every cell, do more than keep us moving. They regulate neurotransmitters, hormones, inflammation, stress responses and immune signals. When they fail, the brain falters too. Palmer’s theory connects physical and mental health through a biological bridge. If your mitochondria are off, he says, your brain won’t work properly. That applies whether you’re struggling with low energy, poor focus or severe psychosis.
It’s not a fringe idea. Emerging research already shows that depression is more common in people with diabetes and that some cancers, like pancreatic cancer, seem to trigger depressive symptoms long before a formal diagnosis. Palmer builds on this by arguing that nearly all chronic mental illnesses are metabolic in origin. It’s a perspective that neatly explains why people with one mental illness are so much more likely to have another—and why mental and physical illnesses often walk hand in hand.
So what breaks the mitochondria? Palmer’s list is long and uncomfortably familiar: poor diet, alcohol, cannabis, sleep deprivation, ultra-processed foods, low physical activity, stress, inflammation, gut health issues, loneliness and unresolved trauma. He’s careful not to dismiss emotional experiences. But where others see trauma as the root cause, he frames it as a stressor that can damage energy production in the brain. This shift matters. It changes what healing might look like.
The conventional serotonin model of depression—still popular despite shaky evidence—is politely discarded. Palmer points out that low brain serotonin has never been consistently found in people with depression. The idea, he says, came from tuberculosis patients who experienced euphoria while taking certain medications, a historical quirk that led to the birth of modern antidepressants. These drugs can offer temporary relief, but Palmer warns they may impair mitochondrial function over time, especially if used without addressing underlying causes.
His alternative isn’t a wonder pill. It’s a comprehensive set of habits, many of them unglamorous. Whole foods, early bedtimes, walking, weight training, mindfulness, and a sense of purpose—these are Palmer’s six pillars. One tool Palmer champions more than most is the ketogenic diet. Originally developed for epilepsy, keto shifts the body’s energy system from glucose to ketones. This metabolic switch, he argues, repairs damaged mitochondria and can lead to profound changes in brain function. Palmer doesn’t claim it’s for everyone, but he sees it as a powerful option, especially for people who haven’t found relief through traditional care. He recommends keeping blood ketone levels between 1.5 and 3.0 mmol/L—roughly where therapeutic benefits are thought to occur.
There’s a story that drives this home. Doris, a 70-year-old woman with a long history of schizophrenia and childhood trauma, adopted a ketogenic diet to lose weight. Unexpectedly, her psychotic symptoms vanished. She stopped taking medication and lived symptom-free for the next 15 years, until her death from pneumonia at 85. Palmer shares this case not as proof but as possibility. It’s a reminder that healing may come from surprising places, and that age or history doesn’t rule out recovery.
Even conditions like ADHD, often seen as lifelong, are reframed through this lens. Palmer suggests that ADHD may be a matter of brain energy dysregulation, not a permanent brain defect. Areas of the brain in people with ADHD may simply be underpowered. Stimulants help short-term by increasing alertness. But to fix the engine, you need to fuel it properly. His patients, including children, have reportedly reversed ADHD symptoms through sleep, diet and exercise. He suggests that the rising rates of childhood ADHD may be linked to metabolically unwell parents, with impacts beginning as early as fetal development.
For all its radical feel, Palmer’s message is less about disruption and more about realignment. He doesn’t dismiss medication. He doesn’t suggest we throw away existing treatments. What he does offer is another path—one that combines the metabolic and the emotional, the biological and the behavioural. He invites psychiatry to reconsider its foundations. And he offers patients something that’s been missing for too long: a sense of agency.
His approach is about equipping people—Food and light matters. Movement matters. Connection matters. It’s an old wisdom, backed by new science. Whether psychiatry embraces this theory or resists it, the mitochondria are already part of the conversation.
Palmer doesn’t promise a cure. But he does offer a way forward. And for many, that’s more than enough to begin.
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🧠 Harvard psychiatrist @ChrisPalmerMD links mental illness to mitochondrial dysfunction, not chemical imbalance. ⚡ His 6-pillar lifestyle plan includes diet, sleep, exercise, mindfulness & purpose. 🥦 Emerging science backs his model. 🌱 #TheIndianSunhttps://t.co/GMrSFYBRp2
— The Indian Sun (@The_Indian_Sun) April 15, 2025
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