Brain Energy: Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025
As 2024 draws to a close, I’m filled with gratitude and inspiration as I reflect on what has been an extraordinary year. The progress we’ve made together in advancing the understanding of metabolism’s role in mental health has been nothing short of remarkable.
Speaking and Advocacy
This year, I had the privilege of delivering 27 lectures to professional audiences, including international keynotes, Harvard Medical School CME conferences, and Grand Rounds at esteemed institutions. These opportunities allowed me to share the metabolic and mitochondrial theory of mental illness with a wide range of audiences. I also participated in 24 podcasts and major media interviews, including a segment on the Today Show and a feature article in Psychology Today. Each of these platforms provided a chance to reach people who are looking for hope and new solutions to some of the most challenging mental health conditions.
National advocacy efforts have expanded significantly. I was honored to participate in Senator Ron Johnson’s Roundtable discussion, meet with Senators, Congress members, and their staff to advocate for prioritizing mental health care and treatment, and join the nation’s first rally in Washington, DC, focused on metabolic health. By framing mental illnesses as systemic conditions with deep connections to metabolism and physical health, we’re shaping a more integrated and comprehensive approach to care. This message is gaining traction at the highest levels of government, positioning us to influence national policy in the years to come.
Collaborations and Scientific Milestones
The metabolic approach to health has seen tremendous validation and growth this year. One of the highlights has been the publication of Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means and Calley Means. This blockbuster bestseller shines a spotlight on the foundational role of metabolism and mitochondrial health in the chronic disease epidemic. Their work has been instrumental in broadening public understanding of how metabolic dysfunction drives not only physical illnesses but mental health challenges as well.
Meanwhile, research in metabolic psychiatry continues to flourish. Metabolic Mind and the Baszucki Group have funded approximately 20 clinical trials, including eight randomized controlled trials, exploring the ketogenic diet’s potential to treat severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. The results so far are deeply promising, reinforcing the power of dietary interventions to revolutionize mental health care.
Stanford Medicine also recognized the field’s advancements this year, naming a pilot study on the ketogenic diet’s impact on severe mental illnesses as one of their top scientific breakthroughs of 2024. This study demonstrated improvements in both metabolic side effects and psychiatric symptoms, underscoring the transformative potential of this approach.
Looking Ahead to 2025
As we enter 2025, I am optimistic about the future. The incoming administration is aware of and supportive of our work, offering a tremendous opportunity to integrate these ideas into national health policy.
At McLean Hospital, the Metabolic and Mental Health Program continues to innovate and provide cutting-edge care, and I am excited about the opportunities to expand this work further.
I’m deeply grateful to all of you for your support and shared commitment to advancing this cause. Together, we are not only reshaping the understanding of mental illness but also laying the groundwork for systemic change that prioritizes health and healing for all.
Here’s to a 2025 filled with progress, collaboration, and hope.
Warm regards,
Chris Palmer, MD
Dr. Christopher Palmer is a Harvard psychiatrist and researcher working at the interface of metabolism and mental health. He is the Founder and Director of the Metabolic and Mental Health Program and the Director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. For almost 30 years, he has held administrative, educational, research, and clinical roles in psychiatry at McLean and Harvard. He has been pioneering the use of the medical ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric disorders—conducting research in this area, treating patients, writing, and speaking around the world on this topic. Most recently, he has proposed that mental disorders can be understood as metabolic disorders affecting the brain, which has received widespread recognition in both national and international media outlets.
