Professor Julia Rucklidge, PhD
Professor of clinical psychology at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and leads the Mental Health and Nutrition Research Group
Originally from Toronto, Professor Rucklidge did her training in neurobiology (McGill) and Clinical Psychology (University of Calgary). Her interests in nutrition and mental illness grew out of her own research showing poor outcomes for children with significant psychiatric illness despite receiving conventional treatments for their conditions.
She has been the recipient of many awards, including the Ballin Award from the NZ Psychological Society for significant contributions to the development or enhancement of clinical psychology in Aotearoa New Zealand, being named as a Woman of Influence in New Zealand in 2015, 2018, and 2021, and a Braveheart award for her contribution to making Christchurch a better place to live.
For over a decade, her lab has been running clinical trials investigating the role of broad-spectrum micronutrients in the treatment of mental illness, including ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety and stress. Julia has over 140 peer reviewed publications, including in the Lancet Psychiatry, JAMA and the British Journal of Psychiatry and is currently on the Executive Committee for the International Society of Nutritional Psychiatry Research.
Having witnessed current conventional treatments failing so many people, Julia is passionate about advocating that a good nutritional foundation is central to helping people prevent and recover from mental health challenges.
See also:
- Professor Julia Rucklidge’s free online course on Nutrition & Mental Health,
- Read this in-depth interview, in which Professor Julia Rucklidge explains how she first became interested in the role of nutrition in mental health while doing her own PhD with Professor Bonnie Kaplan.
- Read or listen to her interview in Mad in America in which she talks about Nutrition, Mental Health and TED.
- Book review: 'The Better Brain: How Nutrition Will Help You Overcome Anxiety, Depression, ADHD and Stress' by Julia Rucklidge and Bonnie Kaplan
The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition is a long-awaited compilation of decades of work by two psychologists, Drs. Bonnie Kaplan and Julia Rucklidge, who have more experience treating various forms of mental illness with supplements than pretty much anyone else. Unlike the typical self-help book authors who tee up some questionable interpretations of a few poorly done studies and a huge helping of individual anecdotes, Kaplan and Rucklidge have spent decades conducting independent* randomized controlled trials of broad-spectrum multi-nutrients and publishing their results.
- Watch Dr Rucklidge's TEDx talk on YouTube:
