What Therapists Need to Know About the Gut–Brain Axis | E83

Your client’s mood might be shaped as much by their gut and their screen as by their thoughts. We talk so much about emotions, attachment, and insight in therapy - but what if physiology and media are quietly steering the wheel? In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Tatyana El-Kour, a psychologist and registered dietitian who studies how media and technology shape our everyday choices. Together, we’re unpacking how the gut-brain axis and digital exposure affect mental health, and why understanding these forces matters for our work as therapists. Dr. Tatyana shares her “Three Ps” framework (plate, physiology, and platform), a simple, science-backed way to think about how nutrition, stress, and media interact to influence mood and behavior. We explore how inflammation, poor sleep, and doomscrolling can drive anxiety and irritability, and how even small “circuit breakers” like more fiber, deep breathing, or curating your digital feed can help restore balance. This is an invitation to expand your clinical lens - to look beyond the purely psychological and consider the full system your clients live in: body, brain, and the world around them. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Why Therapists Must Look Beyond Psychology 01:40 The Gut–Brain Axis Explained for Therapists 05:40 The “Three Ps” Framework: Plate, Physiology, and Platform 08:20 How Therapists Can Expand Client Assessments 16:20 Simple Circuit Breakers for the Gut–Brain Loop 21:10 Digital Diets and Algorithmic Hygiene 27:10 The Future of Gut–Brain Research in Mental Health I’d love to keep learning together. You can explore our free CEU trainings library to watch on-demand trainings and sign up for upcoming live webinars. These are my way of supporting you in deepening your work, while also earning CEUs that actually feel meaningful. And if you’d like to stay connected and get updates when new free CEU trainings for therapists are released, come join my For Therapists newsletter. I’ll share resources, reflections, and real conversations about what it means to grow in this field, personally and professionally. Connect with me on LinkedIn - it’s one of my favorite spaces to connect with colleagues, share reflections, and hear what’s inspiring you lately. And if something from this episode is staying with you, I’d love to hear about it. Let’s talk - tell me what came up for you, what questions you’re sitting with, or what you’d love for me to explore in a future episode.  This podcast is for us, and your voice always matters here. xoxo, Dr. Lisa Marie BobbyGrowing Self