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My point is that you wouldn't need research if the effect was large. If depressed people stopped acting depressed after having a minor infection (treated with
by blfr 11y ago
My point is that you wouldn't need research if the effect was large.
If depressed people stopped acting depressed after having a minor infection (treated with antibiotics), they would notice. Their families would notice. Just like people figured out that quarantine works long before we had the germ theory, and without knowing any statistics.
- Turing_Machine 11y agoIt took decades to recognize the link between stomach ulcers and bacteria and begin treating ulcers with antibiotics, and that's a lot easier to quantify than mood.
- peterfirefly 11y agoThere are many kinds of antibiotics and many kinds of bacteria...
- Fomite 11y agoKeep in mind that you'd need a long term change in your gut flora - a short term disruption by a single course of antibiotics is usually returned to equilibrium in a short amount of time, and would be easily masked by the psychological effects of actually being sick. Longer term microbiome disruptions are also major life events. It's a hard thing to disentangle.