Calliope Holingue researches how the microbiome and mind affect each other. She's part of a growing field, exploring how that connection could ultimately improve treatments for mental conditions.
My theory is that we probably conflate lots of mental illnesses because they have similar symptoms. We know today how there are many unrelated reasons that can cause a blocked nose. Even though a pollen allergy and viral infection both cause sneezing and a blocked nose, the way to deal with these conditions in the long term is not the same. My gut says that we’re still early as a society in our exploration of mental health and at least some illnesses will be identified in our lifetimes as definitely being caused by the biome.
My theory is that we probably conflate lots of mental illnesses because they have similar symptoms. We know today how there are many unrelated reasons that can cause a blocked nose. Even though a pollen allergy and viral infection both cause sneezing and a blocked nose, the way to deal with these conditions in the long term is not the same. My gut says that we’re still early as a society in our exploration of mental health and at least some illnesses will be identified in our lifetimes as definitely being caused by the biome.