Vice’s Shayla Love has a wonderful piece on the fastest, most innovative stream of research on mental health — immunology.
Scientists are increasingly finding that haywire immune systems can be huge contributors to nearly every kind of mental illness — depression, anxiety, PTSD etc., (I recently posted about inflammation and motivation).
For example, in one study, researchers found that 9 year old kids with abnormal inflammation but no depression were far likelier to develop depression 10 years later. Studies have found the same thing in adults.
In other words, inflammation now, depression later. It’s not a fait accompli, of course, but your chances for developing mental illness rise dramatically as your inflammation does.
The temporal nature of the relationship suggests that inflammation drives mental illness. Then, once mental illness sets in, inflammation gets even worse.
Lots of people are keen to lay blame for skyrocketing depression/anxiety rates on things like social media, the “snowflake generation”, increased detection etc.,
But we are, above all else, the “inflammed bodies” generation.
Researchers theorize that one massive reason might be the famous “hygiene hypothesis.” The idea that we’re literally scrubbing off and cleansing ourselves sick as children (or, rather, our parents are doing so).
Our immune systems need exposure to all kinds of bacteria (including the bad stuff) in order to function properly. If they’re just exposed to safe things, guess what they’ll start questioning — safe stuff.
Vice highlights a fascinating study where college students who grew up on the farm vs. those who grew up in the city were faced with the same stressful situation. Both had similar levels of stress, but the farm kids’ bodies didn’t explode with inflammation the way the city kids’ bodies did.
So what about this vaccine stuff?
Well, immunologists have discovered a lovely bacteria in the soil, M. vaccae. The scientists found, in multiple studies, that when they injected mice with this particular bacteria, they started behaving less anxiously.
Their serotonin metabolism also increased, and they got over their fears much more quickly.
The point — help immune system function and you help mental health. And one way to help immune function might be M. vaccae injections.
The researchers are still waiting on FDA approval for trying this out on humans, but other bacterial studies have been extraordinarily promising.
A study of more than 1,000 people from February found that people with depression had reductions in specific bacteria that were producing key chemicals. Knowing who has what microbial deficit—like a vitamin deficiency—could help people for whom other drugs aren’t working.
Okay, pulling this all into The Weary Christian’s mission.
For years, we’ve been told that our mental illness is a product of our spiritual health.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Our immune system has nothing to do with our spirituality. In fact, it appears that if parents practice “cleanliness is next to Godliness,” they could be doing us more harm than good.
Inflammation, not cultural disintegration, is a far likelier explanation for rising rates of depression and anxiety.
Human history is full of sin and cultural upheaval. That’s a constant.
A key difference between now and then is the transition from a rural to an urban environment. From a society without antibiotics to one swimming in them. From healthy diets to McDonald’s.
This isn’t about sin. It’s about science.
