This week we have been learning about brain disorders. This topic is very important when we are talking about public health, as brain disorders are more common than we expect and in consequence they are also expensive and also have some undesirable consequences. We have been talking about anxiety and mood disorders; the first one related to an imbalance in the amygdala – hippocampus feedback regulation of stress, and the second one, possibly also related to the same system.

I found particularly interesting to read about mood disorders, and not only depression, because emotions are a fundamental part of our personality and model the way we interact with others. It is clear that depression is probably the most common mood disorder and that it is currently considered a major health issue by the WHO. Depression is related to some other social and health problems as food disorders, suicide, addictions and even social and economic challenging situations. It was also evident that we know very little about it, as the hypothesis of the brain circuits involved in depression are not clarified. This leads to the utilization of medications provoking a lot of side effects, as they are not very well framed. Nevertheless, therapy is a good option, as it relies in the brain plasticity and seeks to develop new neural circuits allowing to alleviate of minimize the disorder. But, are we able to design adequate psychological therapy for a disorder we do not understand? If we get a better understanding of mood disorders, could it be possible in the future to develop new therapy techniques able to combat this kind of disorders?

Now, I am studying the emotional responses related to prejudice and one of the final objectives of my research is the proposal of a digital tool that could help high prejudice people to fight against their prejudices. I think this approach is close to the design of a therapy for the control of specific emotional responses. Maybe in the future, we will be able to categorize and understand more mood disorders and other disordered emotions, and then implement strategies and tools that could help, not only people with a major disorder, but also those that struggle to maintain healthy relationships with people.

Posted by Gloria Mendoza Franco