Menu
← Back to Cogitra
Section 03 of 09 16 essays · Spring 2026

Mental Health.

Depression, anxiety, trauma, therapy, psychiatry, and what we now know about caring for the mind.

Section editor
Dr. Sela Hartmann
The mind is a long, patient instrument. We cover the clinical literature, the politics of care, and the slow craft of getting better — in whatever sense that turns out to mean.
More in Mental Illness · Physiological Origin
02
May 25, 2026 · 17 min read

When the Brain Breaks: Eight Stories of Mental Illness, Physiology, and Recovery

Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, anorexia, OCD, and phobia — each has a physiological and metabolic origin. …

03
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Depression: The Metabolic and Inflammatory Roots of Persistent Low Mood

Depression is not a serotonin deficiency. It is a disease of the HPA axis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. Five people wh…

04
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Anxiety Disorders: Amygdala Hyperactivation and the GABA Deficit

Anxiety disorders begin with a failure of inhibitory GABA tone over the amygdala. Five people — generalised anxiety, panic, social, health …

05
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Bipolar Disorder: Mitochondrial Energy Instability as the Root of Mood Cycling

Bipolar disorder is, at its metabolic core, a disease of unstable brain energy production. Five people who stabilised their mood cycling th…

06
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Schizophrenia: Dopamine Excess, NMDA Hypofunction, and the Metabolic Pathway to Recovery

Schizophrenia involves two interacting neurochemical disruptions — mesolimbic dopamine excess and prefrontal NMDA hypofunction — both downs…

07
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Epilepsy: GABA/Glutamate Imbalance and the Ketogenic Diet as Standard of Care

Epilepsy was the first neurological condition shown to respond to ketogenic therapy — a century of evidence. Five cases illustrating how ke…

08
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Eating Disorders: Hypothalamic Reward Disruption and the Starvation Loop

Anorexia nervosa is not a choice — it is a disorder of the hypothalamic dopamine reward circuit in which restriction becomes neurologically…

09
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

OCD: The Stuck Loop — CSTC Circuit Hyperactivation and How to Quiet It

OCD is a disease of metabolic hyperactivation in the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit. Five people whose intrusive thought loops qu…

010
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Specific Phobia: Fear Memory, Extinction Failure, and the Metabolic Prerequisites of Recovery

Specific phobias persist because fear extinction — an active, energy-demanding process — fails when PFC metabolism is impaired. Five people…

011
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

PTSD: How Chronic Cortisol and Hippocampal Loss Keep the Trauma Alive

PTSD is the condition that results when traumatic fear memories fail to be contextualised. Chronic cortisol shrinks the hippocampus; amygda…

012
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

ADHD: Dopamine and the Fuel-Starved Prefrontal Cortex

ADHD is a disorder of the prefrontal cortex — specifically of the dopaminergic and noradrenergic supply that enables sustained attention an…

013
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Alzheimer's Disease: Brain Insulin Resistance and the Ketone Rescue

Alzheimer's disease is increasingly understood as type 3 diabetes — brain insulin resistance that starves neurons of glucose decades before…

014
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Alcohol Use Disorder: GABA Dependence, Reward Hijacking, and Metabolic Recovery

Alcohol use disorder forms because ethanol hijacks the GABA and dopamine systems the brain depends on for calm and reward. When alcohol wit…

015
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Gut Dysbiosis, and the Metabolic Overlap

A significant subset of autism involves mitochondrial dysfunction and gut-brain axis disruption that drives neuroinflammation. Five people …

016
May 28, 2026 · 6 min read

The Biology and Psychology of Depression: What Sapolsky Explains About the Brain Under Siege

Depression is not a choice, a character flaw, or a failure of will — it is a biological disorder in which the brain's reward circuitry goes…

🌐 ID
Health Q&A
Hi! Ask me anything about species-appropriate nutrition, metabolic health, or ancestral eating.
Not medical advice. Consult a healthcare provider.