The Quiet Role of Vitamins and Minerals in Mental Health

I always had reasons to be tired. After all, I was a woman who gave birth to four children in under six years. Who wouldn't be tired and have a hard time coping with the stress? Should I be concerned that in 2014 I struggled to read? It isn't that I was suddenly illiterate! But I would read the same paragraph over and over again and not understand a thing. After having two more children, it seemed like I was more than tired. I was having mood swings, rages, and there were days I struggled to get out of bed. If I were being honest, most days I wished my children had a better mother. I wasn't suicidal, but I knew I didn't deserve to be their mother. 

In early 2021, I was trying to decide whether or not to get a COVID vaccine. I still struggled to read. I spent roughly three days a week wandering around my house, trying to figure out what I was going to do that day. Ultimately, I accomplished nothing. “Should I get the vaccine when I already have random heart palpitations?” It seemed risky. I decided to get a full physical before getting the vaccine. 

Fortunately, when I explained all of my symptoms, my doctor - a woman - didn't think that having six children and possibly being in perimenopause was enough of an explanation for my symptoms. She ordered tests, the most significant of which was a test for Intrinsic Factor Blocking Antibodies (IFBA - pernicious anemia) . I tested positive. What I came to learn is that my body was not absorbing B12, and that was causing me to experience these symptoms: sore and swollen tongue, heart palpitations, yellow skin, loss of balance, slight paranoia, suicidal thoughts, chronic anemia and dementia.

When I was diagnosed with pernicious anemia, I finally had a name for the wreckage that had taken over my body and mind. But my story is not unique. Far too often, symptoms that feel emotional or even existential are actually biological. Your fatigue may not be laziness. Your anxiety might not be trauma. And your depression might not be “just chemical” in the way people casually toss that phrase around. It might be nutritional.

Let’s talk about the vitamins and minerals that quietly and powerfully govern our mental health. And why no amount of therapy can replace them.

When Nutrition Wears the Mask of Mental Illness

The human brain is an organ - beautiful, mysterious, and incredibly needy. Though the brain makes up only 2% of your weight, it uses 20% of the body's resting energy. Every thought, emotion, and memory you have is powered by chemical reactions that rely on raw materials. Those raw materials are nutrients.

Your body doesn’t manufacture vitamins and minerals on its own, with the exception of vitamin D. You either ingest them through food, supplements, or fortified products, or you don’t get them. And when you don’t get them, your brain will start to malfunction. Sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically.

B vitamins, for example, are essential for making neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, the very chemicals that regulate your mood, help you manage stress, and allow you to feel joy. Iron helps deliver oxygen to your brain. Magnesium and zinc help keep your nerves from overreacting to every bump in the road. Vitamin D supports the part of the brain that regulates emotion. Omega-3s build the very structure of your brain cells.

When even one of these nutrients is missing or blocked from absorption, the result can look exactly like a mental health disorder. Fatigue. Brain fog. Panic attacks. Mood swings. Memory loss. Depression. Sometimes even paranoia or hallucinations.

This doesn’t mean that all mental illness is caused by deficiency, but the overlap is real, and it’s often ignored. The statistics tell the real story.

• A 2015 review in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that 20–30% of people with treatment-resistant depression had underlying medical causes: nutrient deficiencies, thyroid issues, or chronic inflammation.

• Studies show that nearly 40% of psychiatric inpatients are deficient in folate or vitamin B12.

• According to the CDC, 10% of women of childbearing age in the U.S. are iron deficient, one of the most mood-impacting deficiencies, and most are undiagnosed.

• Up to 70% of Americans are low in vitamin D, especially in northern climates, in the winter, or among people with darker skin tones.

Despite these numbers, nutritional screening is rarely part of mental health care. You might be prescribed an SSRI without ever having your B12 tested. You might be told you have generalized anxiety when what you really have is iron-deficiency anemia. You may believe you're weak or broken when you're simply starved of the most basic building blocks your brain needs to function.

I often hear people say, “mental illness is just like any other illness.” But if we really believed that, we would run the labs. We would check nutrient panels the same way we check A1C for diabetes or creatinine for kidney function.

We’d ask about digestion and absorption, not just childhood trauma. We’d check for autoimmune factors that can block absorption, not just family history of depression. And we’d stop making women, especially mothers, feel like they’re just overwhelmed, emotional, or hormonally unstable when they say they’re exhausted, forgetful, or numb. Sometimes they’re not depressed; they’re depleted.

Treating my autoimmune disorder and its underlying cause (gluten intolerance) saved me and my family. I started coping better with stress, to regulate. My mind cleared and I was eventually strong enough to start the years of emotional repair work it would take to recover from my illness, though I will never really regain full cognitive function to the level I was before my illness.

No matter how much clinicians care about our clients, we cannot fix these vitamin and mineral deficiencies with talk therapy - and mood altering medications won't fix them either! If you suspect your symptoms may have a medical basis, please go and have your levels tested. Remember: Vitamins are cheaper than therapy.

If you’re curious about what vitamin or mineral might be tied to the way you’ve been feeling, this list is for you. Don’t use it to self-diagnose—but do use it to advocate for better care.

Detailed Nutrient–Symptom Breakdown

Chronic Fatigue / Brain Fog

• Vitamin B12 – energy production, nerve health

• Iron – oxygen transport

• Vitamin D – energy and immune support

• Magnesium – cellular energy and enzyme function

• Thiamine (B1) – carbohydrate metabolism for brain energy

Depression / Emotional Numbness

• Folate (B9) – neurotransmitter synthesis

• Vitamin B12 – mood and cognitive function

• Omega-3s (EPA/DHA) – brain structure and anti-inflammatory

• Vitamin D – serotonin regulation

• Zinc – neuroplasticity and BDNF support

• Iron – low levels can mimic depressive symptoms

Irritability / Rage / Mood Swings

• Vitamin B6 – produces serotonin and GABA

• Magnesium – calms the nervous system

• Calcium – mood stability, especially during hormonal shifts

• Zinc – deficiency may correlate with emotional volatility

Anxiety / Panic / Restlessness

• Magnesium – GABA regulation and nervous system calm

• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) – supports heart and nervous system

• Vitamin B6 – modulates excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmitters

• Iron – anxiety-like symptoms when anemic

• Vitamin D – emotional regulation

Memory Loss / Cognitive Fog

• Vitamin B12 – myelin maintenance and memory

• Folate – cognitive health and neurogenesis

• Vitamin D – nerve communication

• Choline – memory neurotransmitter production (acetylcholine)

• Omega-3s – brain membrane integrity and protection

Balance Issues / Numbness / Neuropathy

• Vitamin B12 – nerve damage, demyelination

• Vitamin E – coordination and nerve function

• Copper – critical for nerve signal transmission