The Link Between Glutathione, Oxidative Stress & Mental Health

As we've learned more about mental health over the years, the clearer it's become that psychological states of mind can have biochemical origins. The connection between messaging chemicals called neurotransmitters and depression, for instance, is quite clear. 

In 2017, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Weill Medical College of Cornell University joined together to publish a paper on adolescent depression. Using magnetic spectroscopy (a magnetic resonance test that looks at biochemical changes in the brain), the group compared the glutathione levels of adolescents suffering from depression1 with those of healthy control subjects. 

When researchers look at glutathione levels in these studies, the question they are often asking is: Does oxidative stress play a role in this particular disorder? 

Oxidative stress is the unfavorable ratio of antioxidants to free radicals, and glutathione is a marker of oxidative stress. If glutathione is low, it indicates that it's been used up fighting free radicals. 

To me, the more salient question is: If more glutathione was available, would the problem be averted? That's something we don't know the answer to right now, though I hope it will be addressed in the future.

Many factors can be involved in depression and anxiety. Among them is dysfunction in the brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine. Some researchers believe that glutathione helps dopamine in the brain become more effective and increases sensitivity to serotonin. 

While we're on the topic of states of mind, it seems a good time to ask: Are glutathione and psychological stress—i.e., the stress you experience over such things as fluctuating finances, marital woes, and professional pressures—at all linked? The answer is no—but, indirectly, also yes.

Glutathione is primarily involved with chemical stressors. Its job is to get rid of anything harmful in the body, be it heavy metals or free radicals.

Psychological stressors are mostly handled by the adrenal glands, which releases the hormone cortisol to help your body cope with anything your brain sees as a threat. So, in that sense, glutathione isn't called upon to assist you in dealing with road rage when someone cuts you off in traffic or the tension you feel when you've got a big project due at work. 

Psychological stress doesn't "use up" GSH. However, reducing stress in your life can help your body get the most out of glutathione. Here's why: Stress raises the heart rate and interferes with how deeply you breathe. These are two things that can inhibit glutathione's job of detoxifying the body. 

While there's no definitive link between the antioxidant glutathione and mental health disorders, a lack of GSH may be associated with oxidative stress and neurochemical dysfunction.