Micronutrients

Julia Rucklidge, PhD, is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Cambridge in Christchurch, New Zealand who studies the use of micronutrients in treating and preventing mental illness. In her TED talk, she discussed how poor nutrition is a major risk factor for the development of mental illness, but is something that can be easily modified.

She has conducted more than 20 studies on the benefits of micronutrients. One of her studies in 2012 showed that stress, anxiety, and mood in participants was improved in only four weeks following a natural disaster. She conducted several other studies showing the benefits of micronutrients vs. traditional medications and long term effects.

In the video, she talks about how Ritalin and traditional medication for ADHD in children are shown to work quickly and to be very effective in children, at first. But according to her studies, at the end of 36 months, those on medications showed increased symptoms of ADHD.

Another study has shown that people with anxiety and depression who were treated with antidepressants actually converted to bipolar at a rate of 7.7 percent each year, which is 3 times higher than someone not exposed to the medications. This shows how antidepressants are a risk factor for developing other mental illness.

She also has pointed out the negative side effects of antipsychotic medications, such as increased risk for diabetes and weight gain. A study in JAMA Psychiatry, which was a seven-year follow-up of a trial that demonstrated that people with schizophrenia who either discontinued or reduced the drugs were two times more likely to recover than the patients who stayed at the same dose.

There is also a financial benefit to using these micronutrients as they are much less expensive.

Borchard, T. (2016). The Surprising Role of Nutrition in Mental Health. Psych Central. Retrieved on July 6, 2017, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2016/06/21/the-surprising-role-of-nutrition-in-mental-health/