Maudsley Talks – The weight of mental illness with Dr Toby Pillinger
Dr Toby Pillinger led our fourth Maudsley Talks session to discuss the often-overlooked link between mental and physical health.
Toby’s research found that those with severe mental illnesses experience some of the worst health inequalities.
He said “People with severe mental illness die 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population. Most people would assume this is due to suicide but most die from entirely ordinary physical illnesses, most commonly cardiovascular disease.”
The talk explored how gradual weight gain from interventions and treatment is often reframed as the “price of mental stability”. However, Toby argues that this shouldn’t be accepted as an inevitable or acceptable outcome.
“We’re often waiting for preventable and predictable disease to occur before intervening, but we can turn severe mental illness from a metabolically disturbed illness into a neutral one,” Toby said.
There is growing evidence that physical health can be managed alongside mental health with input spanning everyday lifestyle changes to medications like GLP-1 (weight loss injections). Inequalities in healthcare and gaps in knowledge are contributing to a high rate of obesity, but solutions are now available.
Toby’s research included using himself as a case study, putting himself on a calorie restricted diet to explore the emotional reaction this had on him. While his mood didn’t worsen, he did find it difficult and became very irritable, highlighting how challenging interventions for weight management can be, even without severe mental illness as a factor.
Watch the full talk
