![\"microbes\"](\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg\")
<\/a>iome? It refers to the genetic material of the vast collection of microbes (bacteria) that line your GI system and that also live on your body. (1) This collection can weigh up to 6 pounds, has 2 million genes (vs. our own humble 23,000), and can be thought of as another organ with potentially diverse functions still to be discovered and confirmed.<\/p>\nI first read about the microbiome in The New York Times Magazine\u2019s June 28, 2015 mental health edition, in an article entitled Gut Feelings, by Peter Andrey Smith. Gut Feelings described a compelling hypothesis currently being investigated that suggests that gut microbes might influence mental states like anxiety and depression, and explored some possible mechanisms of action of this influence. This hypothesis seems plausible to me, as many clients with depressive and anxious (especially anxious) symptoms also report GI symptoms; and, as the article describes, intestinal disorders \u201ccoincide with high levels of major depression and anxiety\u201d. So compelling is this hypothesis that the US Taxpayer-funded National Institute of Mental Health in September 2014 offered four grants of $1 million each to support research on the gut microbiome\u2019s role in mental disorders.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomehow\u201d the article describes, \u201cmicro-organisms in the gut tickle a sensory nerve ending in the\u2026 intestine and carry that electrical impulse up the vagus nerve and into the deep-brain structures thought to be responsible for elemental emotions like anxiety.\u201d The article explains that neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and GABA\u2014the same ones that are thought to communicate and regulate mood in the brain, and that are often targeted with antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications\u2014are actually also secreted by these microbes in the intestinal tract. Thus, much of our supply of neurochemicals may originate in the gut; and thus, these bacteria might affect the brain and mental health. And hence, neuroscientists John Cryan and Ted Dinan have named these potentially mind-altering microbes \u2018psychobiotics\u2019.<\/p>\n
What are the implications? Will changing someone\u2019s bacteria one day be a treatment option for mental health issues? For example, in one experiment by Cryan and Dinan, mice fed bacteria kept swimming longer when placed in water than their counterparts, who gave up sooner and just floated in \u201cbehavioural despair\u201d (or \u201cimmobilized woe\u201d).<\/p>\n
This treatment application is perhaps plausible, but still very far from supported, as the research is still in its infancy. But, certainly food for thought!<\/p>\n
Trudi Wyatt, MA, RP, CCC is a Registered Psychotherapist and Canadian Certified Counsellor in Private Practice in downtown Toronto. She has been practising for over six years and currently works with individual adults on a variety of life challenges such as depression, anxiety, anger, trauma issues, and career choices.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve been reading a lot lately about the nervous system connection between the gut and the mind\u2014primarily, about the importance of the vagus nerve that connects the GI system to the brain, and whose branches orchestrate whether we respond to changes in the environment via social engagement, fight or flight, or shutting down. This past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1],"tags":[318,620,159,1466,1467,1553,1389],"class_list":["post-7932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-counsellingandpsychotherapyincanada","category-uncategorized","tag-anxiety","tag-depression","tag-health","tag-health-well-being","tag-mind-and-body","tag-trudi-wyatt","tag-well-being"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The Wild West of Psychobiotics - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Wild West of Psychobiotics - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been reading a lot lately about the nervous system connection between the gut and the mind\u2014primarily, about the importance of the vagus nerve that connects the GI system to the brain, and whose branches orchestrate whether we respond to changes in the environment via social engagement, fight or flight, or shutting down. This past […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-12T16:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-17T12:51:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Trudi Wyatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u00c9crit par\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Trudi Wyatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Trudi Wyatt\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5a65910a68f3c8c5258155a2242d3bcf\"},\"headline\":\"The Wild West of Psychobiotics\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-12T16:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-17T12:51:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":546,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/microbes-300x212.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"anxiety\",\"depression\",\"health\",\"Health & Well-Being\",\"mind and body\",\"trudi wyatt\",\"well-being\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Counselling & Psychotherapy in Canada\",\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Wild West of Psychobiotics - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/microbes-300x212.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-12T16:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-17T12:51:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5a65910a68f3c8c5258155a2242d3bcf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/microbes-300x212.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/microbes-300x212.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/wild-west-psychobiotics\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/fr\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Wild West of Psychobiotics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5a65910a68f3c8c5258155a2242d3bcf\",\"name\":\"Trudi Wyatt\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\\\/fr\\\/author\\\/tstrasbergiuxb1fhihjhqry8\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Wild West of Psychobiotics - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Wild West of Psychobiotics - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie","og_description":"I\u2019ve been reading a lot lately about the nervous system connection between the gut and the mind\u2014primarily, about the importance of the vagus nerve that connects the GI system to the brain, and whose branches orchestrate whether we respond to changes in the environment via social engagement, fight or flight, or shutting down. This past […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/","og_site_name":"L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie","article_published_time":"2015-11-12T16:22:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-17T12:51:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Trudi Wyatt","twitter_misc":{"\u00c9crit par":"Trudi Wyatt","Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/"},"author":{"name":"Trudi Wyatt","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/5a65910a68f3c8c5258155a2242d3bcf"},"headline":"The Wild West of Psychobiotics","datePublished":"2015-11-12T16:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-17T12:51:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/"},"wordCount":546,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg","keywords":["anxiety","depression","health","Health & Well-Being","mind and body","trudi wyatt","well-being"],"articleSection":["Counselling & Psychotherapy in Canada","Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/","name":"The Wild West of Psychobiotics - L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg","datePublished":"2015-11-12T16:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-17T12:51:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/5a65910a68f3c8c5258155a2242d3bcf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes-300x212.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wild-west-psychobiotics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Wild West of Psychobiotics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/","name":"L'Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/5a65910a68f3c8c5258155a2242d3bcf","name":"Trudi Wyatt","url":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/author\/tstrasbergiuxb1fhihjhqry8\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001037"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"microbes\"](\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/microbes.jpg\")
<\/a>iome? It refers to the genetic material of the vast collection of microbes (bacteria) that line your GI system and that also live on your body. (1) This collection can weigh up to 6 pounds, has 2 million genes (vs. our own humble 23,000), and can be thought of as another organ with potentially diverse functions still to be discovered and confirmed.<\/p>\n