McCurdy, CarrieBayerl, CorinneCasement, MelyndaMcGuire, Casey2021-07-272021-07-272021https://hdl.handle.net/1794/2654552 pagesAs the prevalence of both obesity and mental disorders continues to rise, researchers aim to determine the physiological mechanisms of these conditions. Many people with obesity have medical comorbidities such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease, but there are often many psychological comorbidities to obesity as well. The newly developing idea of the gut-brain axis has been theorized to play a role in linking many conditions via the gut microbiome, which exhibits distinct differences in obese and depressed individuals when compared to lean/healthy controls. Bariatric surgery, the frontier treatment method for sustained weight loss and improved metabolic functioning in morbidly obese patients, drastically changes the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract along with the composition of the gut microbiome. Depression is also associated with distinct changes to the gut microbiome. The purpose of this review is to compare changes in the gut microbiome caused by bariatric surgery to the alterations of the gut microbiome in depressed individuals. When obesity and depression co-occur following bariatric surgery, the role of the gut microbiome may be amplified, and further researching the mechanisms by which obesity, depression, and the gut microbiome interact will allow for more personalized treatments for both obesity and depression in the future. en-USCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Gut MicrobiomeBariatric SurgeryDepressionGut-Brain AxisObesityThesis/Dissertation0000-0002-8207-6599