It’s often claimed that mental illnesses derivate from a ‘’chemical imbalance’’ on the brain –that occurs when there’s either too much or too little of certain chemicals, called neurotransmitters- but that would be diminishing how complex those disorders are. In fact, APA (American Psychiatric Association) defended in 2005 that ‘’the exact causes of mental disorders are unknown’’. In that same year, Drs Thomas Insel and Remi Quirion proposed that mental disorders need to be ‘’addressed as disorders of distributed brain systems with symptoms forged by developmental and social experiences.”
Pies, RW. (2014, April) Nuances, Narratives, and the ‘’Chemical Imbalance’’ Debate [Blog Post.] Retrieved from https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/nuances-narratives-and-chemical-imbalance-debate (last accessed on 13th October 2020)
Mental illnesses don’t simply result from an amount of certain brain chemicals, but of a set of probable causes, such ‘’as faulty mood regulation by the brain; genetic vulnerability; stressful life events such as a history of physical, psychological, or emotional abuse; medications; medical problems genetics; family history; having a history of alcohol or illicit drug use and taking certain medications psychosocial factors, such as external circumstances that lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness’’.
Harvard University. (2009, June) What causes depression? Harvard Health Publishing Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-causes-depression; Eske, J. (2019, September) Everything you need to know about chemical imbalances in the brain, Medical News Today Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326475#myths (last accessed on 13th October 2020)
However, chemicals are involved, it’s just not as simple as ‘’one chemical being too low and another too high”, but of millions and billions of chemical reactions working both inside and outside of nerve cells. There are specific areas of the brain that regulate it so scientists believe that the cause of these disorders might lie in the nerve cell connections, nerve cell growth and functioning of nerve circuits rather than on levels of brain chemicals. The use of antidepressants supports this theory because despite the immediate increase of chemical messengers on the brain, the patients take several weeks or longer to feel results. The researchers started to question why; if depression was only the result of low levels of neurotransmitters, how come people didn’t feel better as soon as their number is increased? They then progressed their theory to ‘’the real value of these medications may be in generating new neurons (a process called neurogenesis), strengthening nerve cell connections, and improving the exchange of information between nerve circuits. If that's the case, depression medications could be developed that specifically promote neurogenesis, with the hope that patients would see quicker results than with current treatments.’’ However, the understanding of the neurological function influence in disorders is incomplete and therefore, susceptible to change.
Burns, D.D. (2017, December). Do depression and anxiety result from a Chemical Imbalance in the brain? [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://feelinggood.com/2017/12/12/do-depression-and-anxiety-result-from-a-chemical-imbalance-in-the-brain/ (last accessed on 13th October 2020)
Professor David D. Burns, a winner of A. E. Bennett Award from the Society for Biological Psychiatry, among others, dedicated a long time of his life studying the chemical imbalance theory but stopped when he ‘’realized that the chemical imbalance theory was not a productive or valid.’’ In one of his clinical studies, he flooded the brains of depressed veterans with serotonin – a neurotransmitter that was believed to cause depression when in deficiency- but there was no effect on their moods or disease. This led him to believe that the theory wasn’t accurate and he now defends that although there are biological brain disorders, he finds unlikely that mental disorders are a ‘’chemical imbalance’’ since the brain itself it’s not a ‘hydraulic system of balances and imbalances.’’. Instead, he thinks that ‘’Everything about being human results from biological (genetic) and environmental influences—such as IQ, personality, height, hair colour, and the proclivity to being naturally more negative in outlook (depression, anxiety, shyness, anger) or more naturally positive (happy, confident, outgoing). However, we do not yet have much understanding of the brain systems that are involved. To what extent is depression the result of problems with our hardware (tissue level brain abnormalities or damage) vs. software (learning, neural circuitry, etc.)? We just don’t know.’’
Burns, D.D. (2017, December). Do depression and anxiety result from a Chemical Imbalance in the brain? [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://feelinggood.com/2017/12/12/do-depression-and-anxiety-result-from-a-chemical-imbalance-in-the-brain/ (last accessed on 13th October 2020)
Depression
The team
This project was a colaboration between four people, Inês Lercas, Juliana Carvalho, Mafalda Jaime and Mafalda Monteiro, under the subject of Sciences, Languages and Technologies.
This group has been baptized by us four as "Quarteto das Princesas".
(The project's Instagram)
Our self-presentations
(First Term)
Inês Lercas:
My name is Inês. I really like being with my family, with my friends, I like watching football, I love peanuts, breaded chicken and lasagna. I have already been in horsemanship, for a short time, I have already tried learning first aid, Italian and self- defense through internet. I often go to a youth group and an English academy.
As a person, I have some difficulties to describe myself because normally I can´t put into words what I think, but I guess I am a simple person, protective, sensitive, insecure, stubborn and according to my father, persistent. I think for the people, who don´t know me, at first sight, they think that I am an innocent girl, always daydreaming.
The opportunity arose to be able to choose this subject which I dived in head first, because my english is so bad, but then after thinking that it could be useful to the future, as professionally as personally (because I think I´ll be valued, I think I will grow up working in group and I will gain autonomy, working individually), so I decided to risk.
As for my future and what I want to do is something that I will have found throughout this year. The goals that I pretended to achieve have proved to be difficult for the marks I´m getting! I will try to get as close to my goal as possible, which was to enter the field of investigation. Depending on the level I reach I will decide where to target my capacities! It is this uncertainty of not knowing more confidently where I will be able to reach that makes me frustrated. But we will get there, for a while we are looking forward to next chapters…
Juliana Carvalho:
I am Juliana Carvalho, and I am seventeen. I'm at 12th grade, and this year I chose to have a new and innovative subject. It's very challenging for me since I didn't go for the safe path as I have always done, which is unexpectable because I'm a routine person and I like to know how everything is going to happen. The biggest challenge about this subject is that it is bilingual and I'm not very good at speaking and writing in English.
I feel I'm taking all the risks and I'm making some decisions that Juliana from two years ago wouldn't take, and I like it because I think that gives me the courage to continue to take risks and shots in the dark.
I'm learning we should have new experiences, and we should do different things instead of sticking with the things we know since it's just with this mentality that the world and the society will improve.
I am very organized, perfectionist and meticulous so I like that everything is always well done. I prefer having to do something on my own and be flawless than to see other people doing something I could do and not be as I idealized.
I have one year to get to know me better and to make a decision that will change my life, and I know CLT will help me.
I have many dreams, some are more realistic than others, but I think that's just the way it's supposed to be. I like to dream high while I keep my feet on the ground so I can't be disappointed by having big expectations.
This is me. This is Juliana.
Mafalda Jaime:
Hello, I'm Mafalda Jaime and this is my self-presentation. This is slightly hard because I don't think that highly of myself so I have a hard time trying to see my qualities and flaws but I'll try.
I am a very rational and objective person, I rarely do things impulsively because I like to think first about how my actions will affect others, myself and my future, how the others will react, is there a way someone can get emotionally hurt by my actions? So I guess I would say I am a very understanding person: i rarely get mad and, because of what I said in the last sentence, it's just easy for me to try to see things from others points of view.
I'm very messy and disorganized but I can also be very strict with myself and with the things that actually matter. I'm usually very devoted to everything I do, and I will also try my best to get the most out of this project.
I am very easy to adapt to whatever environment I'm inserted on, it might take me some time around really extroverted people but I will. Around introverts, I usually get the best out of them because I'm really easy going and sarcastic which makes them feel comfortable, I guess.
I'm really open-minded, I don't like stereotypes and I don't practice any type of prejudice towards anyone. I believe we don't actually know most of people we think we know, so we shouldn't really judge them by the idea we have of them since we have no clue of what that individual might be going through.
I think that CLT might be a really good thing for me because I love to do researches on things I'm passionate about, I love writing about it and most of all, I love public speaking and doing/planning presentations. I always try to find a way to catch everyone's attention usually by making them as easy to understand, original and creative as possible.
In 10 years I hope I'll be happier, even though now, I already am.
Mafalda Monteiro:
Hey, I'm Mafalda Monteiro and this is my self-presentation.
I am seventeen years old and I'm on 12th grade.
This year I chose to take on a new subject, CLT. It was a pretty impulsive and scary decision, which isn't how I usually act. I like to weight the pros and cons of everything I do, since I'm scared that one bad decision might stop me from achieving my goals, even though I'm not really sure what those goals are. I change my mind very often about what I want to do in college and in life, again, because I'm scared of making the wrong decision.
I am very introverted and shy, which sometimes makes it hard for me to speak my mind, but I'm very passionate about several things, so when more important discussions are started I don't hesitate to share my opinion. I love debates and I feel like the more we talk about the world's problems, going from injustices and prejudices to environmental issues, the closer we are to fixing them.
I don't feel the need to change the world, I would be more than happy if when I die I know I changed at least one person's life for the better. However, seeing the state of the world at the moment makes me feel obligated to do something, it's a "if you want something well done you have to do it yourself" type of thing, but I don't feel like politics is a place for me at all. This is the main reason I want to be a teacher, don't get me wrong I love explaining different subjects to my friends and help them understand, but teachers are a very big influence in who we become and what we choose to do, depending on the teacher, they can also be a resource in a time of need. Every teacher I've told this said to not go down this path, that being a teacher is exhausting and the conditions aren't great, which is unmotivating, but I really think it would be something I would be good at and would give me a feeling of fulfillment.
The main thing I hope for my future is to be happy with what I'm doing and the people around me. I might not know now what I want to do but I'm sure I'll figure it out and until then I'm going to keep doing the things I love and that make me happy. I also hope to start living my life more fully and not continue to just sit back while it passes by, I want to seek happiness and new experiences.
Final Reflection
As a conclusion of our project, we made this website to share with you all the information we collected.
Choosing this subject was not an easy decision for any of us. It was the unknown, a completely new idea, which meant jumping in head first, not knowing where we were going to end up. That caused a lot of doubts for all of us, but now we can all agree that it was one of our best choices. Eventually, what made us actually choose CLT was the opportunity for growing, learning and gaining experience that no other subject could offer.
The experience of developing this project was so important to gain autonomy, work in groups and deepen our skills on the language (for example, we have added to our vocabulary a vast amount of scientific terms) and on a varied amount of programs such as Excel, Mind the Graph, Prezi, which we struggled yet succeeded on mastering.
Working on this serious topic allowed us to have a different perspective on it, since we now understand better the struggles those who go through it endure and how many of them are affected by it. Furthermore we also realized that most of these illnesses are surrounded by lonesome (provoked by our society's misunderstanding and lack of education on them) which led us to feel compassion for these people.
Individually, this project means a lot to the four of us. We work very well together, we respect each other’s opinions and timings. We have grown in all possible ways, became more mature and more thoughtful. We think our goal of spreading awareness about mental health was achieved, which makes us feel very proud of our hard work. We were able to be always focus on the things we have to do and in the message we wanted to share. A lot happened this year and the support we shared between us was so important and helpful to keep us going mentally well.