This was inspired by Richard Feynman's commencement address, which gets posted to Hacker News fairly regularly. Scrolling the comments on the latest submission of <i>Cargo Cult Science,</i> I saw ... my name [3]? Hah.<p>I might have figured out the physiological antidote for my friend's condition, last August. But it took a few months to really kick in. I ended up having to file a complaint with Adult Protective Services last fall, who only picked her up and returned her to her guardian, which follows the recommendation to keep her in care homes. She escaped from her guardian again this year, in February. This time she's been able to stay off of alcohol (5 months!), and hasn't gotten re-captured by the mental health industry.<p>The good news from the mental health world is that Chris Palmer, M.D. published Brain Energy [0] last year. I haven't read more than excerpts from google books [1]. My understanding is Dr. Palmer was a conventional palliative psychiatrist, then he had a patient whose schizophrenia improved on a ketogenic diet. The patient was able to discontinue antipsychotics: Dr. Palmer's mind was blown. Then he discovered the 70+ years of research establishing that mental health conditions are metabolic problems that can be successfully treated with pro-metabolic therapies.<p><pre><code> Perhaps the most bold and disruptive aspect of
Brain Energy is understanding precisely how and
why medications that harm metabolism might
reduce mental health symptoms.
The long-term consequences are of great concern
and require the urgent attention of the psychiatric
community.
</code></pre>
-Chris Palmer, MD - <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisPalmerMD/status/1687850270602981376" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/ChrisPalmerMD/status/1687850270602981376</a><p>One of your submissions informed me about the mechanism of how cocaine harms our metabolism, by shredding our mitochondria: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10956058">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10956058</a> / <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18211048">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18211048</a><p>Dr. Palmer recommends a ketogenic diet. I think most of the benefit of 'keto' stem from avoiding fortified flour: <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesKnochel/status/1595562197412851712" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/JamesKnochel/status/1595562197412851712</a><p>A lot of people are harmed by folic acid, and the iron and lack of fiber in fortified white flour is harmful for almost everyone, in that they disrupt the microbiome. Most people get adequate iron, and don't actually need iron filings ("reduced iron"); the fiber in whole wheat fiber feeds bacteria that make short-chain saturated fatty acids [2].<p>The Supreme Court denied four of my petitions last year. :(. I'm going to contact my (new) congressional representative about congressional oversight, to see if he has any interest in protecting those who can't protect themselves from do-gooders with obsolete approaches to mental health.<p>[0] <a href="https://brainenergy.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://brainenergy.com/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FoxlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT233&dq=B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://books.google.com/books?id=FoxlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT233&dq=B</a>...<p>[2] <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4756104/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4756104/</a><p>[3] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37108434">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37108434</a><p>7422 / 108