Medical Student talks on Research for Mental Health

Posted on September 13, 2019

Second-year medical student Kathleen Boshoff was a speaker at the annual TED X event hosted by the University of Pretoria at Future Africa. Kathleen spoke about “The effect of the gut microbiome on mental illness.”

The undergraduate medical student believes it is time to make a radical change in the way we approach research and possibly the treatment of mental health by pursuing a promising line of studies regarding the gut microbiome. Kathleen won last year’s Soapbox competition hosted by TURF (Tuks Undergraduate Research Forum) presenting the same topic.

Mental illness is a health condition that involves changes in a person’s emotion, thinking or behaviour. According to Mental Health Federation of South Africa, more than 17 million people in South Africa are dealing with depression, substance abuse, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia - illnesses that round out the top five mental health diagnoses. Only 27% of South Africans reporting severe mental illness ever receive treatment.

“We may be facing a revolution in how we view mental health disorders if they truly lie in the gut and not in the brain as we have always been led to believe. We could face a future where we treat mental health disorders with probiotics specifically designed for mental health disorder, such as adding Coprococcus to the diet for depression. This could be the answer to the age-old question: what causes mental illness?” shared Kathleen.

Kathleen’s talk offered a different perspective on how the gut microbiome affects individuals diagnosed with depression. A study has shown that individuals with depression are missing several species of their gut microbiome, most notably Coprococcus which is suspected to play a role in dopamine-producing pathways. The study suggested that restoring Coprococcus in depressed individuals might be a new treatment possibility for depression.

- Author Mmane Boikanyo

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