Joseph Firth - The Role of Exercise and Nutrition in Early Psychosis - a podcast by Mad in America

This week on MIA Radio we interview Dr Joseph Firth. Dr Firth is a postdoctoral research fellow at Western Sydney University. His research focuses on the role of exercise and nutrition in first episode psychosis in young people.

In this interview we discuss:

• That Dr Firth completed his PhD in Manchester, UK, which focussed on the role of exercise in the treatment of psychosis in young people.
• That he now works on a programme of adjunctive and novel treatments for psychosis, particularly the role of exercise and nutrition and including technology and mobile health.
• How results show that exercise can reduce symptoms in young people such as the cognitive deficit, lack of motivation and social withdrawal and that these are symptoms that the medications don’t really help with.
• That, in the very early stages of psychotic illness, there are currently few interventions other than therapy, so exercise and nutrition could have a role in reducing the need for antipsychotic drugs and even potentially affect the onset of psychotic symptoms.
• That qualitative research has shown that young people report that their symptoms are reduced or become less troubling when they exercise.
• How exercise and nutrition have key roles in reducing the health inequalities that are seen in young people treated with antipsychotic drugs.

To get in touch with us email: podcasts@madinamerica.com

© Mad in America 2017

Further episodes of Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health

Further podcasts by Mad in America

Website of Mad in America