In our society today mental health has become an epidemic of vast proportions. The overly taxed mental health system struggles to reach around to the needs this epidemic has created. Our beautiful parks and our sidewalks overflow with garbage and tents, and people with no homes. Our jails and our psychiatric wards overflow with some of these same victims of mental health. Our psychiatric doctors continue to prescribe powerful but insufficient antipsychotics, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers. And yet the problem of mental health remains and many patients repeatedly cycle through the revolving door of the psychiatric ward, or worse, the criminal justice system. If psychiatric medicines truly healed an individual or gave them the ability to function normally in society, why do these individuals continue to haunt the halls of our psychiatric institutions? Individuals and families who have found psychiatric medicine to be wanting, may desire to explore alternatives. However, most psychiatrists are not versed in nutritional healing (Naidoo p. 1) and may even discourage an alternate approach to treating mental health. There are also few resources and little education available outside of traditional psychiatric treatment. But what if a focus on healing the gut could improve mental health beyond what psychiatric medicines are able to do?
Science has verified the connection between our brain and our microbiota. Our central nervous system and our enteric nervous system are connected and communicate via the vagus nerve. Our gut microbes make vitamins and nutrients for us, help to train our immune system, and help to regulate the nervous system (Naidoo p. 3). The gut also produces endorphins, our body’s own self-made opiates (Pollock p. 3), as well as more than 40 different neurotransmitters including about 90% of the serotonin and 50% of the dopamine that our body utilizes (Obrenovich et al. p. 5). Neurotransmitters have a profound effect on mood and have been studied in depth in relation to mental disorders. The microflora of the gut control the levels of neurotransmitters and in this way influence mental health. Studies show that imbalances of serotonin and norepinephrine lead to depression and anxiety. The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a role in schizophrenia and autism-spectrum disorder. Also, interruptions in neurotransmitter messages affect other mood disorders, such as personality disorders (Liu et al. p. 2). Because the microbiota of the gut produce many of these mood regulating neurotransmitters, gut health may be intricately connected to brain health.
Individuals with a mental disorder, or their family members, know well the gamut of psychiatric medicines. For some individuals it takes years to find the proper medication to help calm the wild symptoms of mania, or to quiet the unrest of anxiety, or to lift the darkness of depression. And even the right medication, a psychiatric doctor would agree, will only reduce a certain percentage of symptoms (Athena Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd. p. 2). The cure to mental illness also comes with some serious side effects which can range from dystonia, to tardive dyskinesia, to type II diabetes mellitus, to severe weight gain, to unbearable emotional flattening (Bolos et al. p. 8-9). These medications can create comorbidities in mentally ill individuals which decreases their overall quality of life. But for someone in the throes of psychosis, these medicines have proven miraculous in bringing them back to some semblance of reality. And for an individual whose psychosis endangers their own life or the lives of others, this could mean the difference between life and death. So traditional psychotropic treatment of mental illness comes with costs but also offers benefits. The costs elicit a desire and even a demand for a better solution, but the benefits and lack of alternatives drive the continued use of these wonder drugs.
Many studies done in the field of the gut and brain connection show the impact of gut health on brain health and vice versa. Liu, et al., used knowledge graphs to determine the connection between different species of gut microbes and the neurotransmitters they produce, and therefore the mental disorders they influence (p. 8). The correlation between antibiotic therapy and manic episodes or psychiatric symptoms in some individuals also indicates that the microbiota affect mental health. Antibiotic therapy not only targets pathogenic microbes but also disrupts and destroys the body’s natural healthy microbes which can then disturb mental balance as well (Obrenovich et al. p. 4). How can the knowledge gained from these studies and the impact of the microflora on mental health change the future of mental health treatment?
In her book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Dr. Campbell-McBride offers advice on restoring the health of the gut through diet and nutrition. This type of treatment may not appeal to those who want to see quick results like those that may come from popping a tranquilizer. However, a tranquilizer will not restore normal gut flora or return the body to homeostasis. If the gut cannot function normally, this means that nutrients cannot be absorbed properly which affects the health of the entire body, including the mind. After many years of working with psychiatric patients, the French psychiatrist Phillipe Pinel determined, “The primary seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines” (Campbell-McBride p. 7). Solving the mental health crisis may just involve turning the American diet upside down and returning to a more simple, nutrient-rich diet that promotes a healthy gut.
We cannot expect the mentally ill to fight for their freedom from damaging medication, torturous prison cells, and the stark halls of psychiatric wards. For someone in a state of survival, it can be difficult if not impossible to find their own way from surviving to thriving. We who are well need to be the voice and make the change that can impact the lives and futures of those who struggle with mental disorders. We must acknowledge the needs of this population of often ignored and forgotten individuals. We need to continue to research the amazing benefits that our microbiota have on our brain. We need to then educate the public about these studies. More funding needs to be directed towards this mental health research as well as toward public education on this research. Psychiatrists should be required to study nutrition and how it affects mental health and the physiology behind the gut and brain connection. They should be able to educate their patients on the benefits and costs of psychiatric medications as well as offer them alternative therapies such as nutrition and diet. We cannot continue to ignore the epidemic among us called mental health. We must stop quieting our consciences with solutions that do not solve the root of the problem.
Bibliography
Athena Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd. “Karuna Therapeutics announces EMERGENT-1 phase 2 trial results evaluating KarXT to treat schizophrenia.” PharmaBiz, 27 February 2021, pp. 1-3.
Bolos, Alexandra, et al. “An overview of the most important side effects of the psychotropic medication.” Bulletin of Integrative Psychiatry, vol. 22, no. 2, 2016, pp. 1-24.
Campbell-McBride, Natasha. Gut and Psychology Syndrome. Medinform Publishing, 2010.
Liu, Ting, et al. “Predicting the relationships between gut microbiota and mental disorders with knowledge graphs.” Health Information Science and Systems, vol. 9, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-13.
Naidoo, Umadevi. “Nutritional Psychiatry: The Gut-Brain Connection.” Psychiatric Times, vol. 36, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1-7.
Obrenovich, Mark, et al. “Recent findings within the microbiota-gut-brainendocrine metabolic interactome.” Pathology and Laboratory Medicine International, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-24.
Pollock, Stephanie. “The enteric nervous system and body psychotherapy: cultivating a relationship with the gut brain.” International Body Psychotherapy Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, 2014, pp. 1-24.
Notes by Mark Roth (Dora’s Dad)
- Dora wrote this for an assignment in her pre-nursing-school college writing class (submitted April 15, 2021).
- She got to pick her own subject (“one you feel passionately about”), but had to use a certain development style (Aristotelian).
- She had to limit her paper to a certain number of paragraphs across four pages. (I found this strange since it makes for such long paragraphs! Maybe that’s how Aristotle wrote.)
- Her professor was well pleased with her work!
- This is not a research paper. It is not intended as a thorough, well-rounded exposition on the subject at hand. It is a limited, narrowly focused set of paragraphs intended to show the Aristotelian Argument method of developing a presentation or discussion. It is not Dora’s comprehensive evaluation of mental health and it certainly does not express Dora’s comprehensive opinion on the matter. 😀
- Her interest in, knowledge of, and connection to this subject is more than academic.
- I found this so fascinating and enlightening that I wanted you to read it also. I publish it here with her permission. (Oh, and, no, I don’t know all the words she used!)
- I trimmed down the bibliography for this post. I also added all the links, including any Amazon Affiliate links which generate a small commission for me if you purchase through them.
- Ruby read Dora’s copy of Gut and Psychology Syndrome and was so impressed by it that she would like to give copies of it to a few people.
- Do not read Dora’s piece above or the book linked to as a balanced dissertation on the subject. Read them as another angle to the complex problem of mental health — a problem so “involved” that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Dora, Ruby, and I are quite aware that nutrition and gut health are not the only “things” on the table when it comes to this issue. We believe other factors also affect mental health, including spiritual matters of guilt, sin, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and the like.
- Learn more about Aristotelian Argument. Also here.