Integrating Nutrition Into Mental Health Care

Mental health counselors, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists realize that nutrition may be a factor in their clients’ mental health, but a lack of nutritional science background and resources makes it difficult for them to incorporate nutrition into the care they provide. Likewise, registered dietitian nutritionists, new to the field of mental health care (whether in a facility or in private practice), may feel the need for succinct resources geared to this area of nutritional care. Integrating Nutrition into Mental Health Care illuminates the intersection between nutrition and mental health, bridging the gap for professionals in both fields.

It presents resources in areas such as caffeine intake, family history of a genetically transmitted nutrition-related condition, interpretation of laboratory nutritional assessment, and safe upper limits of supplements, as well as additional nutrition factors, helping practitioners easily incorporate selected nutritional aspects into the mental health care of clients. The book includes sample forms for office use and instructions to interpret client information. They can be easily downloaded and printed from the Routledge book page. Additional forms available help in facilitating referral to a registered dietician nutrtionist (RDN) for a deeper look at individual patient’s nutritional issues.

To offer further information on nutrition and metal health, the text features a series of short fictional, but real-life, nutrition stories. These stories provide an enjoyable format in which to train, or test, the reader’s knowledge.