COURSE XV: Neuroinflammation and Mental Health

In this lesson we place the diverse expressions of often abstracted ‘mental health issues’, back into our biology, in the recognition of the limitations and misunderstandings generated by the separation of mind and body. We take as a theme neuroinflammation, as a process that feeds the strain and distress of the mind. This opens a journey to consider the diverse factors that feed the state of general meta inflammation in the body, with consideration of the brain’s specific vulnerabilities and the ramifications therein. We review and detail the many elements involved; gut–brain axis and the vagus nerve; grains and their impact on the CNS; metabolic imbalance including insulin resistance and nutritional ketosis; fats that nourish and those that damage; neurotransmitters, their pathways and amino acid precursors; the methylation cycle and nutrient depletion; toxicity; chronic infections; chronic stress, raised cortisol and circadian imbalance; patterns of addiction, early life trauma and finally disconnection from life’s nourishing web. This journey of recapitulation provides insights and tools to support a return to calm and presence in body and in relationship with life’s mysterious flow.