We see an incidence of major depression in Western countries, now affecting 50% of adults across a variety of socioeconomic environments. Anxiety disorders rank just behind depression, and the more chronic forms of neurologic dysfunction including disordered sleep and attention deficit disorders are affecting our children by age two.

To achieve today’s mental health crisis at this unprecedented level across all ages, we must simultaneously have achieved severe, widespread changes in the neurochemistry environment of the population. While a series of emotional stressors is commonly involved in the more acute manifestations of mood disorder, we are discovering that the epicenter of our mental health crisis lies in the gut/brain microbiome and the dysfunction of our intestinal linings.