Influence of Brain-based Explanations in the Subjective Experience of Anxiety and Depression

• In Event: Neurosocieties: Interdisciplinary Explorations of the Brain, Culture and Ethics 3

Abstract

This presentation analyzes the influence of brain-based explanations of anxiety and depression in the subjective experience of mental illness of benzodiazepines and antidepressants users in Uruguay, a small Latin American country where these psychopharmaceuticals have become easily available to the population.
Drawing on a combination of document studies, focus groups and in-depth interviews with 73 benzodiazepine and antidepressants users we explore the link between the notions of mental suffering, mental illness and personhood associated with use of these medications. The narratives of benzodiazepines and antidepressants users show that these notions have become a field in dispute between psychological explanations of the functioning of the self and neurochemical explanations of the functioning of the brain. In the users’ narratives both kinds of explanations coexist, and this makes them resort to a set of biological, neurochemical and psychological metaphors to make sense of how these medicines work on their moods and anxiety symptoms. The narratives also show that the conflict between psychological explanations and neurochemical explanations calls into question the very nature of the mental illness and the nature of the user´s self, insofar as resorting to psychopharmacological therapies and complying with the treatment presupposes a moral judgment about the strength or weakness of the subject.

Authors

• Andrea Clara Bielli, Universidad de la República

• María Pilar Bacci, Universidad de la República

• Gabriela Lilián Bruno, Universidad de la República

• Lauren Pedrebon, Universidad de la República