Mental Health

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health issues in our society, with anxiety disorders affecting approximately 18% of adults. Anxiety and depression are not the same, but they are often experienced together as a complex set of emotional and functional changes.

Both anxiety and depression, along with other mood and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as eating disorders, bipolar disorder or sleep disorders, generally result from a complex interplay of factors. These may include a combination of nutritional, physical, environmental, social, emotional, and spiritual factors, affecting your genetic tendencies and brain biochemistry (meaning that your neurotransmitters, or the chemical messengers within your brain, can be affected by these key components of well-being). You can think of anxiety and depression as disruptions in brain health.

Data suggests that 30 to 40% of patients do not respond to current drugs to treat their symptoms. While it’s important to recognise that medication is essential for some people, I start by looking at the health of the gut. The relatively new understanding of how microorganisms affect every system of our body, along with the incredible volume of research on the microbiome is leading to a shift towards appreciating how important gut bacteria are for our mental health.