Psychoneuroimmunology: the experiential dimension

The Effects of Probiotics and Prebiotics on Mental Disorders: A Review on Depression, Anxiety, Alzheimer, and Autism Spectrum Disorders

BACKGROUND

Probiotics and their nutrient sources (prebiotics) have been shown to have positive effects on different organs of the host. The idea of their potential benefits on Central Nervous Systems (CNS) and the incidence of Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer, Depression, Autism, and other mental disorders has proposed a new category of medicines called "psychobiotic" which is hoped to be of low-side effect anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and anti-anxiety constitutes.

OBJECTIVE

In the current review, we present valuable insights into the complicated interactions between the GI microbiota (especially in the colon), brain, immune and central nervous systems and provide a summary of the main findings of the effects of pro- and prebiotics on important mental disorders from the potential mechanisms of action to their application in clinical practice.

METHODS

Google Scholar, Pub Med, Scopus, and Science Direct databases were searched using following key words: "probiotics", "prebiotics", "mental disorders", "psychological disorders", "depression", "anxiety", "stress", "Alzheimer" and "autism spectrum". The full text of potentially eligible studies was retrieved and assessed in detail by the reviewers. Data were extracted and then summarized from the selected papers.

RESULTS

The results of the provided evidence suggest that probiotic and prebiotics might improve mental function via several mechanisms. The beneficial effects of their application in Depression, Anxiety, Alzheimer and autism spectrum diseases have also been supported in clinical studies.

CONCLUSION

Pro and prebiotics can improve mental health and psychological function and can be offered as new medicines for common mental disorders, however, more clinical studies are necessary to conduct regarding the clinical significance of the effects and their bioequivalence or superiority against current treatments.

Mind-life continuity: A qualitative study of conscious experience

There are two fundamental models to understanding the phenomenon of natural life. One is the computational model, which is based on the symbolic thinking paradigm. The other is the biological organism model. The common difficulty attributed to these paradigms is that their reductive tools allow the phenomenological aspects of experience to remain hidden behind yes/no responses (behavioral tests), or brain 'pictures' (neuroimaging). Hence, one of the problems regards how to overcome methodological difficulties towards a non-reductive investigation of conscious experience. It is our aim in this paper to show how cooperation between Eastern and Western traditions may shed light for a non-reductive study of mind and life. This study focuses on the first-person experience associated with cognitive and mental events. We studied phenomenal data as a crucial fact for the domain of living beings, which, we expect, can provide the ground for a subsequent third-person study. The intervention with Jhana meditation, and its qualitative assessment, provided us with experiential profiles based upon subjects' evaluations of their own conscious experiences. The overall results should move towards an integrated or global perspective on mind where neither experience nor external mechanisms have the final word.

Does 'existential unease' predict adult multimorbidity? Analytical cohort study on embodiment based on the Norwegian HUNT population

OBJECTIVES

Multimorbidity is prevalent, and knowledge regarding its aetiology is limited. The general pathogenic impact of adverse life experiences, comprising a wide-ranging typology, is well documented and coherent with the concept allostatic overload (the long-term impact of stress on human physiology) and the notion embodiment (the conversion of sociocultural and environmental influences into physiological characteristics). Less is known about the medical relevance of subtle distress or unease. The study aim was to prospectively explore the associations between existential unease (coined as a meta-term for the included items) and multimorbidity.

SETTING

Our data are derived from an unselected Norwegian population, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, phases 2 (1995-1997) and 3 (2006-2008), with a mean of 11 years follow-up.

PARTICIPANTS

The analysis includes 20 365 individuals aged 20-59 years who participated in both phases and was classified without multimorbidity (with 0-1 disease) at baseline.

METHODS

From HUNT2, we selected 11 items indicating 'unease' in the realms of self-esteem, well-being, sense of coherence and social relationships. Poisson regressions were used to generate relative risk (RR) of developing multimorbidity, according to the respondents' ease/unease profile.

RESULTS

A total of 6277 (30.8%) participants developed multimorbidity. They were older, more likely to be women, smokers and with lower education. 10 of the 11 'unease' items were significantly related to the development of multimorbidity. The items 'poor self-rated health' and 'feeling dissatisfied with life' exhibited the highest RR, 1.55 and 1.44, respectively (95% CI 1.44 to 1.66 and 1.21 to 1.71). The prevalence of multimorbidity increased with the number of 'unease' factors, from 26.7% for no factor to 49.2% for 6 or more.

CONCLUSIONS

In this prospective study, 'existential unease' was associated with the development of multimorbidity in a dose-response manner. The finding indicates that existential unease increases people's vulnerability to disease, concordant with current literature regarding increased allostatic load.

Psychoneuroimmunology and the pediatric surgeon

The mind-body connection is receiving increasing scrutiny in a large number of clinical settings, although research has lagged in the pediatric specialties. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a novel interdisciplinary scientific field that examines the relationship of the mind to the patient's neurologic, endocrine, and immune systems by examining critical parameters such as the effects of mental stress on wound healing and infection rates. Techniques that modify a patient's emotional and mental responses to illness and surgery have positive effects on their physiology resulting in improved recoveries and higher patient satisfaction rates. In the appropriate clinical settings, an awareness of PNI can enhance outcomes for pediatric surgical patients.