The Role of Probiotics and Their Metabolites in the Treatment of Depression

Course overview

Course Description: This course is based upon material published in Molecules and is available as an open-access article. Depression is a common and complex mental and emotional disorder that causes disability, morbidity, and quite often mortality around the world. Depression is closely related to several physical and metabolic conditions causing metabolic depression. Studies have indicated that there is a relationship between the intestinal microbiota and the brain, known as the gut-brain axis. While this microbiota-gut-brain connection is disturbed, dysfunctions of the brain, immune system, endocrine system, and gastrointestinal tract occur. Numerous studies show that intestinal dysbiosis characterized by abnormal microbiota and dysfunction of the microbiota-gut-brain axis could be a direct cause of mental and emotional disorders. Traditional treatment of depression includes psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, and it mainly targets the brain. However, restoration of the intestinal microbiota and functions of the gut-brain axis via using probiotics, their metabolites, prebiotics, and healthy diet may alleviate depressive symptoms. Administration of probiotics labeled as psychobiotics and their metabolites as metabiotics, especially as an adjuvant to antidepressants, improves mental disorders. It is a new approach to the prevention, management, and treatment of mental and emotional illnesses, particularly major depressive disorder and metabolic depression. For the effectiveness of antidepressant therapy, psychobiotics should be administered at a dose higher than 1 billion CFU/day for at least 8 weeks. This course on the use of probiotics as a treatment for depression is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. In addition, this course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their knowledge of the use of probiotics as a treatment for depression. The course material includes a literature review of interventions and research. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require continuing clinical education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article that includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A significant benefit of reading research-based articles for continuing education is they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Jach, Serefko, Szopa, Sajnaga, Golcyzk, Santos, Borowicz-Reutt, Sieniawaska Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding the use of probiotics as a treatment for depression. Specifically, a professional will: identify characteristics of various mental disorders as well as benefits and limitations of specific treatments. Describe the role of microbiota in physiological processes. Recognize the use of probiotics as a treatment for depression and other mental disorders. Citation: Jach, M. E., Serefko, A., Szopa, A., Sajnaga, E., Golczyk, H., Santos, L. S., Borowicz-Reutt, K., & Sieniawska, E. (2023). The Role of Probiotics and Their Metabolites in the Treatment of Depression. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 28(7), 3213. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28073213