Over the years, we’ve been learning more and more about how harmful bad gut bacteria is for our mental health.

We’re also hearing more and more about the role diet plays in our mental health (I’d bet the most common sentence on the interent is, “Instead, doctors suggest plenty of fresh fruit and veggies”).

And now a new study from the Joslin Diabetes Center makes the link complete — it’s precisely because of how diet affects our gut bacteria.

When researchers gave mice a high-bad-fat diet, the mice showed much more clinically-depressive behavior. However, when they gave them antibiotics to clear the bad gut bacteria, their behavior returned to normal.

Okay.

Now the fascinating part? Researchers then gave mice the antibiotics WHILE they continued to eat terrible food, and the mice’s behavior returned to normal WHILE they were eating the terrible food.

That’s because the bad gut bacteria was getting cleared out. It didn’t matter that their diet was bad, as long as their gut profile was healthy.

So clearly, the depression was related to one specific consequence of the terrible diet — the way it contributed to bad gut bacteria.

And it suggests that if you have a bad diet but somehow maintain a healthy gut bacteria profile (good luck with that), you probably wouldn’t be at a greater risk than average for depression.

So this suggests that gut bacteria, and not diet, is the driving factor (though, as I said, both are linked). The question is what’s the MAIN driver (the X variable, as they say), and it seems to be gut bacteria.

At this stage, the researchers have not specifically targeted which bacteria could be causing the neurochemical changes, or what mechanism may be generating the effects.

 

But it’s a compelling beginning and yet another piece of strong evidence suggesting the bacteria in our gut has a more profound effect on our well being than we ever previously realized.

The news media is endlessly speculating over why depression is on the rise, and there are lots of sexy potential explanations — more screen time, social isolation, social media, over zealous doctors who define a cry as depression.

All of these could definitely contribute, but the reality might be that our crappy Western diets are as much to blame as anything.

Studies like this really are part of this site’s raison d’etre.

The Christian church historically tends to tell Christians to pray their depression away, when in reality, they should say, “Pray your way to a good probiotic.” Or “pray your way to a better diet.”

How tragic that we’ve been pointing people to spiritual answers for physical, medical problems.

If your depression is related to bad gut bacteria, the way to pray might be, “Lord, give me the self-control to refuse the Oreo.” Or, “Lord, please help me find that Live Strong review of the best probiotics” (here you go).

As Dwight Carlson (hat tip: Amy Simpson) writes in his book, Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded:

“Most people consider it appropriate to call a roofer when the roof leaks, a plumber when the sink won’t drain…Though God could miraculously solve each of these problems, in most instances he doesn’t. IT has nothing to do with his ability or his sufficiency for the task. He is able to, but he chooses not to use that means.”

CTV with some exciting news:

A new genetic profile test is bringing personalized medicine into the realm of psychology by determining how individual patients are predisposed to respond to more than 30 different drugs.

 

Some in the medical community think the test could change the way doctors help patients with depression, who often go through expensive and frustrating periods of “trial and error” with antidepressants before they find a drug that works.

 

A new genetic profile test is bringing personalized medicine into the realm of psychology by determining how individual patients are predisposed to respond to more than 30 different drugs.

 

Some in the medical community think the test could change the way doctors help patients with depression, who often go through expensive and frustrating periods of “trial and error” with antidepressants before they find a drug that works.

It is notoriously difficult to immediately pick the right antidepressant for someone with clinical depression, and the trial-and-error process can lead many to a) abandon hope and b) question the legitimacy of the entire idea of antidepressants.

(I’ve said this before — it took about five until I found one that worked. I was one of the cynical ones who was then amazed by what the right one did for me).

So why is it so hard?

Earlier this year, a huge new study in Nature Genetics found identified at least 44 different gene variants that contribute to raising the risk for depression — including thirty that were unknown as recently as last year.

That’s one of the reasons it’s difficult to find the right Rx.

However, the more we know about genes, the more precise we can be.

Each of the newly identified gene variants is essentially a target that could be addressed with a drug therapy, said co-lead study author Dr. Patrick Sullivan, director of the Center for Psychiatric Genomics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. (Sullivan, along with several other of the study researchers, has ties to either pharmaceutical or genetics companies.)

 

…..Sullivan compared the study on depression and genetics to research that was done on cardiovascular disease decades ago, which has led to drug therapies that significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke. Most of the antidepressant drugs used today were discovered by chance, but now the search for new drugs can be “rationally driven” by biological discovery, he said.

I have had so many friends who genuinely need medicine, but swear it off after their first try at an antidepressant fails them.

“They don’t work,” they say, and continue living in misery.

That’s why it’s so important to get that first Rx right, and scientists seem to be on the path to getting there.

Christians need to pay attention.

If you’re living with depression — the damage to yourself, your family, and your walk with Christ is potentially significant. It’s not just about feeling better. It’s about taking care of your body, mind, and soul, so that you can better minister to other bodies, minds, and souls.

Painting: Wyeth.

The Wall Street Journal writes today on how computer-assisted language analysis can recognize speech patterns that might hint at whether someone is more or less likely to be depressed.

The most interesting finding: Based on a study in January, people who speak in absolutes are more likely to be depressed.

The WSJ:

The researchers, from the University of Reading in the U.K., used software to calculate the percentage of absolutist words used in messages by approximately 6,400 members of internet forums for depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and a host of control forums.

 

They found that approximately 1.5% of words used by people in the depression and anxiety forums were absolutist—which was 50% more than those used by people in the control forums. The percentage was even higher for people in the suicidal ideation forums: about 1.8%.

 

Why are absolutist words so bad? People often don’t realize they are using them, and they can amp up negative thoughts.”

Does this mean Donald Trump is really depressed?

Of course, context is huge, and internet forums seem like a good place to study (as opposed to talking with marketers or sales people).

This sort of study has the ring of truth, but it would also be interesting to see whether the absolutes are more related to a variable like verbosity than view of the world.

In other words, depressed people might have to use more absolutes to get their point across, because they’re simply less interested in communicating, and absolutism cuts down on density. So the terseness of depression drives the absolutism. It’s not that depressives necessarily think in more absolutes. They just talk in them because they don’t like talking as much. So the results of the study would stay the same, but the driver could be a depressive desire for brevity, rather than an absolutist view of the world.

But like I said, the absolutism, from anecdotal evidence, as well, does have the ring of truth, and as the article suggests, reframing things from a less absolutist framework is CLEARLY the BEST IDEA IN THE WORLD.