Gut, Signal, and the Emotional Collapse of a Culture
On Serotonin, Autism, and a Healthy Gut-Brain Axis
Hello Friends,
I recently came across a study linking autism to the gut microbiome—specifically, to an inability to produce and regulate serotonin. That breakdown in gut-brain communication, the researchers suggested, could be part of what contributes to emotional detachment and relational difficulty in those on the spectrum.
And something clicked.
We’ve long associated autism with challenges around emotional connection, eye contact, social nuance, and internal regulation. But if serotonin—largely produced in the gut—is disrupted, then the implications go far beyond autism.
Because you don’t need a diagnosis to be emotionally dysregulated. You just need to live in this culture.
This Didn’t Exist in the 1970s
In the 1970s, we didn’t see these kinds of patterns—not at this scale.
Autism.
Autoimmune disease.
Childhood behavioral disorders.
Metabolic collapse.
Early cognitive decline.
These were rare.
But something changed.
We introduced novel chemicals, processed foods, gut-disrupting antibiotics, plastics, synthetic hormones, glyphosate, food dyes, flame retardants, and seed oils—and we did it long before we had the tools to measure their effects.
And by the time we could measure the damage?
The damage had already been done.
The Science That Found the Damage Helped Create It
The very scientific tools that now show us the collapse—
Gene mapping. Microbiome sequencing. Metabolomics. Neurotransmitter tracking—
Were built by a system that also gave us the problems.
This is the paradox we’re sitting in:
A system that can analyze the fire it helped start, but refuses to name itself as the arsonist.
We’ve been taught to think of disease as genetic.
But the overwhelming majority of chronic illness today is epigenetic—inherited through lifestyle, food, exposure, stress, trauma, and rhythm.
Most People Are Already on the Spectrum—They Just Don’t Know It
We don’t call it autism.
We call it: • ADHD
• Panic attacks
• Social anxiety
• Emotional fatigue
• Tech addiction
• Gut dysfunction
• Sleep fragmentation
• Chronic inflammation
But what if these aren’t isolated pathologies?
What if they’re just different expressions of gut-brain disconnection?
What if what we call “mental illness” is often just a disrupted communication loop? • The gut can’t produce serotonin.
• The nervous system becomes inflamed.
• The immune system turns inward.
• The brain loses clarity.
• The emotions become chaotic.
Now eye contact is hard.
Stillness is threatening.
Presence is inaccessible.
And instead of healing, we cope.
While the study doesn’t claim that gut dysfunction causes autism, it does highlight a strong correlation between altered gut microbiota, serotonin pathway disruption, and behavioral differences in children with autism.
The researchers point to a breakdown in the gut-brain communication loop—specifically in tryptophan metabolism—as a possible contributor to emotional dysregulation and sensory processing issues.
And if these disruptions are being passed intergenerationally through the maternal microbiome, the implications go beyond autism. They suggest a broader, systemic mismatch between our biology and the world we now inhabit.
Why People Don’t Want to See It
This is where it gets hard—because deep down, most people feel it.
Their gut knows.
Their intuition knows.
But to see it clearly would mean:
• Questioning everything they’ve normalized
• Risking their job, their comfort, their relationships
• Facing what’s been passed down
• Admitting what’s been lost
So most people look away.
Because to truly see it would require transformation.
And that kind of change doesn’t just rearrange your diet.
It rearranges your identity.
But here’s the deeper truth:
The cost of ignoring the signal is far greater than the cost of facing it.
Because the signal doesn’t go away.
It becomes illness.
It becomes disconnection.
It becomes generational trauma.
And eventually, it becomes culture itself.
We May Be Losing Inherited Coherence
It’s possible we’ve lost more than we realize. The passing down of a resilient immune system, a diverse microbiome, and a coherent gut-brain axis once depended on natural rhythms—birth, touch, milk, earth, exposure. But synthetic inputs, environmental toxins, antibiotics, and hyper-sterility have stripped the biome across generations. What we’re seeing now may not be a rise in dysfunction, but a collapse of inherited coherence. Genes that were never meant to be turned on are being activated in a toxic mismatch. This isn’t just about disease—it’s about disconnection from the biological wisdom we were meant to receive through our mothers, through our food, through the earth itself.
This Is Why Gut Work Is Foundational
Gut health isn’t just about digestion.
It’s about connection—to self, to others, to rhythm, to clarity, to emotion.
• Serotonin is not just a mood chemical. It’s a relational frequency.
• Trust, empathy, presence—they all emerge from biological coherence.
• And when the gut sends a disruptive signal, no amount of therapy or spiritual bypass can rewire the body.
You don’t have to be autistic to struggle with eye contact, intimacy, or emotional regulation.
You just have to be living in this environment.
And if we don’t begin to repattern the gut-brain axis—
Not just with supplements, but with rhythm, whole foods, fasting, movement, silence, and emotional integration—
Then the deeper signal will continue to be drowned in noise.
We have the tools now.
We have the insight.
We have the experience.
What’s missing is the courage to reorganize around the truth.
This is the basis of the Coherence Nutrition model I’ve been developing.
And this is where the real healing begins—
Not in theory, but in the body.
Let’s go deeper.
In Light,
Dean Paul
*https://today.usc.edu/usc-scientists-find-a-gut-brain-link-that-may-affect-behavior-in-children-with-autism/