Schizophrenia's surprising link to the gut

a post by Matt Davis for the Big Think blog

What's in your tummy might affect what's in your head.

• For decades, researchers have tried in vain to answer the question: What causes schizophrenia?
• At the same time, we've developed a growing understanding of how intimately linked the bacteria in our gut and our brains are.
• New research shows that schizophrenics have vastly different microbiomes, potentially uncovering a cause of — and maybe a future cure to — schizophrenia.

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PTSD Doesn’t Only Reside in the Brain

a post by Philip Perry for the Big Think blog

In the US, 50% of men and 60% of women go through a traumatic event in their lifetime. Among them, about 7-8% experience PTSD. What experts have been wondering is, why do some people develop PTSD while others don’t?

Most of the studies surrounding the effects of trauma have focused on the brain. But there’s another body region that may play just as pivotal a role, the gastrointestinal tract. Where trauma is concerned, gut bacteria in the microbiome may play an important role in whether one develops PTSD or not. That’s according to a new study by researchers at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and colleagues at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Their results were published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

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