Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett

These are chemicals that are directly involved in your metabolism. It's not a belief that depression has a metabolic basis to it. I think the question is, what is the elixir of all these metabolic influences that would lead somebody to develop a depressive state? But

These are chemicals that are directly involved in your metabolism. It's not a belief that depression has a metabolic basis to it. I think the question is, what is the elixir of all these metabolic influences that would lead somebody to develop a depressive state? But

The simple point that I was making is I actually came to this idea about metabolism and depression because I was doing a shit ton of reading trying to figure out how to help my kid.

The simple point that I was making is I actually came to this idea about metabolism and depression because I was doing a shit ton of reading trying to figure out how to help my kid.

Yeah. Well, I will tell you that I've given this talk before about depression in adolescence. Adolescence, it's like a perfect storm of metabolic vulnerability for many, many reasons. Your brain is trapped in a dark, silent box called your skull. It's receiving signals from the body and from the world. It doesn't know what the causes of those signals are. It's receiving the effects.

Yeah. Well, I will tell you that I've given this talk before about depression in adolescence. Adolescence, it's like a perfect storm of metabolic vulnerability for many, many reasons. Your brain is trapped in a dark, silent box called your skull. It's receiving signals from the body and from the world. It doesn't know what the causes of those signals are. It's receiving the effects.

It has to guess at the causes. What are the guesses? Predictions from the past, right? So it doesn't know about hormone surges immediately as they happen. It takes 20 minutes or so, or sometimes a little less, depending on where the hormonal changes are and what their origin is, for the brain to receive the signals of those changes. And then it has to guess at what the causes are.

It has to guess at the causes. What are the guesses? Predictions from the past, right? So it doesn't know about hormone surges immediately as they happen. It takes 20 minutes or so, or sometimes a little less, depending on where the hormonal changes are and what their origin is, for the brain to receive the signals of those changes. And then it has to guess at what the causes are.

The narrative that's used in psychiatry And medicine is a narrative that goes something like this. It gets back to this, like your brain is a battleground, right? So the idea is that, you know, you're born, the story is that you're born with these innate emotion circuits. You're not, you don't have any emotion circuits. You don't have any emotion circuits actually.

The narrative that's used in psychiatry And medicine is a narrative that goes something like this. It gets back to this, like your brain is a battleground, right? So the idea is that, you know, you're born, the story is that you're born with these innate emotion circuits. You're not, you don't have any emotion circuits. You don't have any emotion circuits actually.

But the narrative is you're born with these innate emotion circuits. They work, but you're not born with the ability to control them. That has to develop over time. So in adolescence, the idea is that mood disorders arise because you don't have enough cognitive control and you have too much emotion. So you've got this unbridled emotion and that's the problem. That's a really compelling narrative.

But the narrative is you're born with these innate emotion circuits. They work, but you're not born with the ability to control them. That has to develop over time. So in adolescence, the idea is that mood disorders arise because you don't have enough cognitive control and you have too much emotion. So you've got this unbridled emotion and that's the problem. That's a really compelling narrative.

It's just neuro bullshit. Basically, there's not a good evidence for that narrative.

It's just neuro bullshit. Basically, there's not a good evidence for that narrative.

Yes. Well, sometimes people talk about that chemical imbalance in terms of serotonin being a happy chemical and dopamine being the reward chemical. And that's such a simplification that it's not even wrong. Okay. Dopamine is not a reward chemical and serotonin is not a happiness chemical. They're both metabolic regulators.

Yes. Well, sometimes people talk about that chemical imbalance in terms of serotonin being a happy chemical and dopamine being the reward chemical. And that's such a simplification that it's not even wrong. Okay. Dopamine is not a reward chemical and serotonin is not a happiness chemical. They're both metabolic regulators.

You see increases in dopamine in some neurons during episodes of punishment. And serotonin does many things in your body in many places. But one of the things that it does in controlled experiments is it allows animals to spend to forage, to engage in activity, physical activity and learning when there is no immediate metabolic reward at the end. There's no deposit at the end.

You see increases in dopamine in some neurons during episodes of punishment. And serotonin does many things in your body in many places. But one of the things that it does in controlled experiments is it allows animals to spend to forage, to engage in activity, physical activity and learning when there is no immediate metabolic reward at the end. There's no deposit at the end.

So dopamine is seen more, I think now by many neuroscientists as a chemical that is necessary for effort. whether that is a physical effort or learning something, a mental effort of learning something. It's not really specific to reward per se. So at first with my daughter, you know, she went from being a really exuberant,

So dopamine is seen more, I think now by many neuroscientists as a chemical that is necessary for effort. whether that is a physical effort or learning something, a mental effort of learning something. It's not really specific to reward per se. So at first with my daughter, you know, she went from being a really exuberant,