Probiotics in Mental Health

The concept that the gut and brain are intricately linked is widely accepted not just within the lay community but increasingly within scientific and therapeutic circles as well. Terms such as "heartache" and "gut wrenching" are more than mere metaphor, they represent key fundamental aspects of human experience which all individuals will invariably endure from time to time. The relationship between the gut and brain is complex but fundamental to health and wellbeing. Increasing and compelling evidence supports the existence of a relationship between the health and status of the gut and the manifestation of significant psychopathology. Uniquely within the field of mental health and psychiatry, the role of gut flora and probiotics in both the understanding and treatment of mental illness represents an emerging science whether the potential for therapeutic intervention, through the use of probiotics, offers an opportunity to determine efficacy within a coherent evidence-based model of both action and pathology or, moreover, offers interventions that are comparatively benign compared to the side-effect profile associated with most drugs used to treat mental illness. Probiotics in Mental Health examines the role of probiotics in a range of clinical presentations associated with significant psychopathology and facilitates a reconsideration of how mental illness may be conceptualised within a coherent gut-brain model of health and wellbeing. Under the rubric of enhancing wellbeing rather than dwelling on illness and disease, this exciting new volume not only comprises the latest evidence in the field but also advocates an approach characterised by the understanding of mental disorder within an evidence-based model and the pursuit of mental health and wellbeing through the most benign of interventions.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction: Probiotics and Psychopathology

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics, Mood, and Exercise:

Marie Claire McCormick & Julian S. Baker

 

Impact of Probiotics on Communication Between the Brain-Gut. Implications for the Treatment of the Psychological Effects of Digestive Disease States:

Mélanie G Gareau, Colin Reardon, Kim E Barrett & Philip M Sherman

 

Probiotics and Their Effect on Maternal and Neonatal Health

Caroline J. Hollins Martin and Colin R. Martin

 

Mechanisms of Action of Probiotics in Psychopathology

Moira S. Lewitt

 

Probiotics and Eating Disorders

Ursula Philpot

 

Probiotics and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics and Depression

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics and Alcohol Dependency

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics and their Potential Effects on Schizophrenia Symptoms

Mick P. Fleming & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics and Alzheimer's Disease

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

Probiotics and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Derek Larkin & Colin R. Martin

 

The probiotics evidence-base: Improving quality through innovation in research methodologies

Colin R. Martin & Derek Larkin

 

Foreword

 

Editors biography

 

Acknowledgements