We think with our stomachs. When we are hungry, our mood is affected. When we are stressed, our hunger is affected. We eat out of fear and we don’t eat out of fear. Our gut tells us things we need to know like when we are nervous, instinctive, stressed, anxious, or excited. We eat to feel and we eat to not feel. Needless to say, the idea that a complex and scientific bond exists between the gut and the brain is not far-fetched.
Recent research has discovered that the mind-stomach connection might have a real relationship with trauma. A study published in the scientific journal Microbiome took a deep look at the correlation between the existence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and trauma. The study focused on groups of students who had existing IBS and a group who were otherwise deemed “healthy”, meaning they did not have IBS. Analyzing the stomach and mind connection happens on different levels within the study. Researchers looked at stool samples, brain scans, and intensive information from participants regarding behavior and biology.
What the results provided was an insight into how early incidences of trauma can provide long term physical effects. First, researchers found that the students with IBS had greater levels of anxiety and depression than the control group of healthy students. Interestingly, the researchers found that some of the students with IBS did not have a distinct microbiome from some of the control students. Some, however, had a distinguished difference. Students with IBS, who also had considerably different microbiomes, had a greater history of traumatic experiences from their childhoods. Called ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, the traumatic events changed their microbiome, intensifying their symptoms of IBS. Curiously, this specific group of participants, those with IBS and with a distinguished microbiome, also had a difference in brain size which can also be the result of experienced trauma.
Healing the connection
Trauma can result in precarious eating patterns that do more damage than good to the brain and the body. Recovery from any kind of mental health disorder should be holistic, taking the mind and the body into account as a whole, rather than separate parts. Local, organic, and clean-focused eating that balances the right vitamins, minerals, and nutrients should be at the forefront of any recovery diet. Eating right in trauma recovery soothes and nourishes the soul.
The Guest House provides an in-house chef who sources organic produce locally. Our beautiful home is the quiet sanctuary needed for total recovery from trauma, addiction, and other related issues. We believe sharing the darkness of trauma in a clinical sanctuary of love and compassion is the birthplace of transformation. There is hope. Don’t give up. Call us today for information: 1-855-483-7800