Microbial communities and mental health states both have the means to affect one another. In order to better understand this abstract connection, lets first examine how microbial communities can impact mental health states.
Microbes tend to utilize the resources around them to propagate. In this hypothetical scenario, these resources are allocated in our bodies. For the purpose of this example, lets analyze microbes that tend to attack the lungs. Although these microbes may not be feasting on the matter in our lungs, their presence may cause an immune response which causes inflammation of the lungs. Due to this inflammation, the lungs become incapable of inhaling as much air as they could previously. Thus, less air reaches the brain. In extreme cases, this could cause the cells of the brain to work less effectively, and perhaps die. This is an example of how microbes can affect our mental health states.
An example of the inverse is in the case of someone with bipolar disorder. These people tend to have depressive and manic phases. During these manic phases, these people tend to race about and stay up for several days performing some task. During this time, their body temperature is elevated. This elevation in body temperature could provide an optimal environment for some bacteria to flourish, and for others it may be the opposite and they may die. This is an example of how a mental health state could affect microbial communities.
