Every year on October 10th, the world pauses to recognize World Mental Health Day, a time to raise awareness, break stigma, and advocate for better access to mental health care. In 2025, this global initiative is more important than ever, as we face a rising tide of chronic disease and mental distress.
Serious mental illness doesn’t just affect individuals; it reshapes entire families. In the United States alone, nearly 1 in 4 adults (23%) live with a mental health condition. And for about 6% of adults, these conditions are so severe that they disrupt daily life.
When we look at the adolescent population in the U.S., the picture is equally as troubling, with 20% (nearly 1 in 5) adolescents aged 12-17 currently diagnosed with a mental or behavioral health condition.
Globally, mental illness affects 1 in 8 people. Disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression remain leading causes of disability, diminished quality of life, and tragically, early mortality. Standard treatments often depend on psychotropic medications, yet while these can be life-changing for some, many patients see little relief and instead face heavy burdens of side effects, including weight gain, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease.
But a new paradigm is emerging, one that looks beyond symptoms and toward the metabolic roots of brain health. Grounded in cutting-edge science, this approach is offering a renewed sense of hope that recovery can go deeper than symptom management.
For World Mental Health Day, let’s help spread the word that metabolic therapies are transforming lives, helping countless patients dramatically improve their quality of life and achieve lasting well-being.
What is World Mental Health Day?
Established in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health and supported by the World Health Organization, World Mental Health Day was created to raise awareness, foster dialogue, and drive change. Each year, it offers a moment to recognize the reality of mental health worldwide: how far we’ve come, and how far we still need to go.
This year, as stories of medication overload, chronic relapse, and broken systems become more common, we’re focusing on a powerful yet underexplored truth: Mental illness is often metabolic.
Rethinking the Roots of Mental Illness
For decades, traditional psychiatry has taught us to see mental health as a problem of neurochemistry alone. This narrow view leads many to believe their only option is a lifetime of managing symptoms with medication. Never improving from a root-cause perspective, but merely coping.
But science is beginning to tell a different story.
Research now shows that conditions like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety are closely tied to metabolic dysfunction in the brain; patterns of glucose hypometabolism, neurotransmitter imbalances, inflammation, and impaired mitochondrial function. And these aren’t just side effects of mental illness. Increasingly, clinicians and researchers recognize them as root drivers of psychiatric symptoms.
And if metabolic dysfunction is a root cause of mental illness, then healing metabolism may be key to recovery.
Metabolic Psychiatry: A New Path Forward
Metabolic psychiatry is an emerging field that focuses on treating psychiatric disorders by targeting underlying metabolic dysfunction. Rather than managing symptoms alone, it aims to improve how the brain transforms and uses energy.
At the center of this movement is ketogenic therapy, a therapeutic approach that shifts the brain’s energy source from glucose to ketones. Already used for over a century to treat epilepsy, ketogenic therapy is now showing promise for psychiatric conditions, even in conditions that have resisted every other intervention.
And science is catching up.
Today, across multiple institutions, researchers are beginning to rigorously evaluate ketogenic therapy in clinical settings, applying it not just conceptually, but practically, in people living with complex psychiatric diagnoses. Early trials are small, but the consistency of outcomes across mood, metabolism, and brain function is striking. In depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, ketogenic therapy is showing the potential to drive meaningful clinical change, quickly and across multiple domains of health. You can explore the emerging evidence on our Foundational Clinical Trials page.
These early trials offer a glimpse of what may be possible when psychiatry begins to treat mental illness metabolically. Across depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, ketogenic therapy has shown rapid shifts in mood, metabolism, and even brain chemistry, pointing to a deeper root cause of mental health disorders. While still in its infancy, metabolic psychiatry offers hope for conditions long marked by suffering and limited options, suggesting that healing the body’s energy systems may unlock new pathways to recovery.
How to Get Involved in World Mental Health Day
1. Share Resources
Spread awareness of new treatment possibilities by sharing the Metabolic Mind Resource Hubs with your community. Our hubs bring together the latest research, expert guidance, and personal stories from individuals using metabolic therapies for mental health.
Other resources to explore and share include:
- THINK+SMART: A Free Metabolic Framework for Mental Health
- Share Your Story: If you’ve changed your life with metabolic therapies, your story can inspire others.
- Ketogenic Therapy Clinician Directory: Professionals to guide your journey
- Schizophrenia Resource Hub
- Bipolar Resource Hub
- Youth Mental Health Resource Hub
2. Use Your Voice
Join the conversation on social media using the hashtags #WorldMentalHealthDay and #MetabolicPsychiatry. Let the world know that metabolic-based approaches are not fringe; they are science-backed, life-changing, and urgently needed.
3. Tell Your Story
If you’ve used ketogenic therapy or other metabolic interventions for at least four months to support your mental health, share your experience through THINK+SMART, Metabolic Mind’s free, community-driven mental health tool.
THINK+SMART is a self-guided tool designed to make metabolic therapies for mental health more accessible. Built on both expert insights and lived experience, it provides a practical framework for anyone seeking new ways to support mental well-being. If you, or anyone you know, is looking for new ways to support mental health, THINK+SMART is an excellent place to start.
4. Learn and Advocate
Turn your passion into action with Metabolic Collective, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization that builds grassroots communities that advance awareness of and access to metabolic therapies for psychiatric and neurological disorders
Consider hosting or joining a local or virtual event. Encourage your organization, school, or community to explore how nutrition, metabolism, and brain health are deeply connected.
THINK+SMART: Powerful Stories Of Transformation
While clinical trials offer critical data, the lived experiences of real people bring the science to life. Around the world, people facing some of the most challenging psychiatric diagnoses are turning to ketogenic therapy as a way to reclaim their minds, their health, and their futures.
Donika Overcomes Binge Eating And Bipolar Depression
Donika Hristova knows what it feels like to hit rock bottom. For years, she battled type II bipolar disorder and a severe binge eating disorder, trapped in a cycle of panic, brain fog, and despair. Medication kept her afloat, but the side effects left her feeling like a shell of herself; unable to think clearly, forgetting simple things, and never feeling fully present.
Cutting out sugar and processed foods brought some relief, but it wasn’t until she adopted a ketogenic diet that everything transformed. Her mind cleared, her mood stabilized, and with careful support, she was able to taper off medication completely.
Today, Donika calls ketogenic therapy the tool that helped her reclaim her best self. It was her way back to clarity, stability, and hope she once believed was gone forever.
Visit Donika’s THINK+SMART profile to learn more about her journey.
Caitlyn’s Journey Back to Joyful Living
Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2016, Caitlyn struggled with paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, and the emotional toll of weight gain and withdrawal. At one point, she was prescribed 80 milligrams of antipsychotic medication daily, but despite treatment, she remained unable to work or engage fully in life.
In early 2024, Caitlyn began a therapeutic ketogenic diet as part of a metabolic approach to managing her symptoms. Within weeks, she noticed remarkable changes: her psychosis symptoms began to fade, her energy improved, and the 80 pounds she had gained on medication started to melt away.
Today, Caitlyn is working with preschoolers, meditating daily, and enjoying the foods that fuel both her body and mind. While she continues to take a very low dose of antipsychotic medication, just 10 milligrams, she no longer experiences negative side effects and feels fully empowered to live a life she enjoys.
Visit Caitlyn’s THINK+SMART profile to learn more about her journey.
Matt Finds Stability From Bipolar Disorder
Matt’s journey with bipolar disorder was anything but easy. Between 2016 and 2018, he was hospitalized four times for manic psychosis, spending over 60 days in psychiatric wards. Homeless at times, unable to care for himself, and prescribed five or six medications at once, life felt impossible.
Then Matt discovered metabolic therapies, and incredible shifts began to take place. He committed to a ketogenic diet, prioritized sleep, exercise, and meditation, and for the first time, his mood stabilized. He didn’t come off medications overnight, but he no longer needed constant increases, and his episodes stopped.
Today, Matt has held a full-time job for three years, lives independently, and describes his life as “really good.” For him, metabolic therapies brought back stability, purpose, and the ability to thrive—something traditional treatments alone never gave him.
Visit Matt’s THINK+SMART profile to learn more about his journey.
A Future Fueled by Hope
On this World Mental Health Day, we honor the struggles faced by individuals living with serious mental illness, and we amplify hope for a future where care goes beyond symptom suppression to address root causes.
Metabolic therapies, including ketogenic diets, are not yet a standard of care, but the research is growing, the clinical outcomes are promising, and the demand for alternatives is rising. The field of metabolic psychiatry is opening new doors, not just for treatment, but for real transformation.
Let’s make sure the world knows: A healthy metabolism is essential for a healthy mind.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is World Mental Health Day observed?
October 10th of every year.
What is the goal of World Mental Health Day?
To raise awareness of mental health challenges, reduce stigma, and advocate for better treatment and support globally.
What is the theme for World Mental Health Day 2025?
This year’s theme is: “Access to services – mental health in catastrophes and emergencies.” The theme highlights the importance of people being able to protect their mental health in times of global instability.
How can I participate?
Share stories, join online events, educate your community, and amplify the science behind metabolic psychiatry.
Stay Connected
Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X @metabolicmind.
Let’s shape the future of mental health together.