Good evening. Depression. Yes, today depression will be the subject of this show instead of being a consequence of this show.
Yes, many people report that watching this show is depressing. But the truth is, it's not our fault, we're just the messengers. What causes depression is Brazil.
And we need to be fair to Brazil because it's just a part of a larger whole that also depresses, the world. Sure, a part that's especially fucked up in the world. Brazil, we have to admit, is the world's meniscus.
The only function of the meniscus in the body is to get screwed. It's a part of our body that never gets attention for anything positive. Nobody says, "What a beautiful meniscus!
Congratulations on that well-toned meniscus. " No. The meniscus only shows up in soccer, and when it's injured or damaged.
. . Yes, soccer is a sport that was born to highlight the meniscus, even if it screws it up.
In other words, who is it like? Like Brazil. But back to depression before the conversation gets too cheerful.
The truth is that we've been living a pandemic of depression. And the COVID pandemic certainly made the depression pandemic worse. In recent years, Brazilians have been feeling a bit like Bolsonaro.
Defeated, anxious, humiliated, unemployed. The media, in fact, has never covered someone's state of mind for so long and so comprehensively: According to reports, Bolsonaro is feeling down and still processing his defeat. We've seen a very melancholic Bolsonaro in the times he appeared in live broadcasts.
Very discouraged, still. . .
And yes, this is a fact. It's a perception of the former president's allies that Bolsonaro is still down. Bolsonaro has shown a very low profile.
Quiet, downcast, kind of. . .
depressed, let's say. . .
Bolsonaro is so depressed, so depressive, that he might simply disappear. Natuza, Natuza, don't let us dream. .
. The idea of him disappearing is something I hadn't even considered yet. And I liked it, I got attached to it.
But what I like most about these videos is the rich vocabulary our language has to describe sadness. Just in this compilation, I've noted: down, depressed, depressive, melancholic, discouraged, feeling down, low profile, quiet, and downcast. And there are still some missing, I missed: unhappy, sorrowful, anxious, gloomy, teary, sulking, inconsolable, sullen, morose, grumpy, and my favorite: "borocoxô.
" I doubt that in any other language in the world there's a word as self-explanatory as "borocoxô. " An alien landing in Varginha would be able to understand "borocoxô. " Probably because it landed in Varginha.
So many places to land, folks! It must be feeling "borocoxô" too. But it's crazy that when we hear news about Bolsonaro being depressed, how do we react?
Ecstatic, radiant, cheerful, animated, smiling, lively, content, in high spirits, upbeat, joyful, blessed, fortunate. . .
As we say, "happy as a chick in the trash. " I like this expression because it says a lot about Brazilians. When we're really happy, how do we feel?
Like a chick in the trash. Why? Because the chick doesn't know it's in the trash.
The chick, when in the trash, thinks it's in Disneyland. So, our dream of fulfillment isn't to get out of the trash because that would be aiming too high, but to be in the trash like a chick. In other words, forgetting that it's trash and having fun among waste and coliforms.
That's our dream! Look at how small we dream, how low we aim. But yes, I have to confess that there isn't much empathy left around here for Bolsonaro's state of mind.
Especially because all these articles describing his despair were written after he lost the election. He didn't lose a loved one, he lost power. And it's worth remembering that when he was the President of Brazil, in the midst of a COVID pandemic with over a thousand people dying each day from the disease, he was all joy.
It was jet skiing, barbecue, motorcycle rallies, a big party, crazy fun. Apparently, the only loss that has depressed him so far is the loss of his privileged legal status. That one really hurt.
. . I don't know if it's because of Bolsonaro himself, or the pandemic, or the awful mix of Bolsonaro and the pandemic.
. . The fact is that during his government, cases of depression in Brazil increased significantly.
And with that, of course, sales of a certain category of medication reached record highs, and I'm not just talking about ivermectin. Yes, because during the pandemic, ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug, was the best-selling medication in Brazil, even though it had no proven efficacy against COVID. Yes, singer Anitta was only the second most successful Anitta in this country.
But it makes sense because the medication had an omnipresent spokesperson on TV. But ivermectin was a unique case. Because the best-selling category of medication was antidepressants, such as Prozac, Effexor, and Lexapro.
Yes, Brazilians spent at least R$5. 7billion on antidepressants in one year, according to an audit by the pharmaceutical industry conducted by the industry itself. We have no better data because in 2021, Anvisa suspended an old regulation that required pharmacies to report the sale of controlled medications like antidepressants.
Brazil doesn't have reliable official data on the most dangerous and addictive medications that our people consumes. Our data doesn't inspire much confidence, just look at Dado Dolabella. And do you know what the second most sold category of medication was, according to this pharmaceutical industry survey?
It was anxiolytics, such as Rivotril, Frontal, and Lexotan. Brazilians spent R$3. 5 billion on these medications during the same period, probably to avoid having a panic attack with every new mess generated by the Bolsonaro government.
Maybe that even explains why Lula nominated Zanin for the Supreme Court: he was concerned about maintaining the pharmaceutical industry jobs, and to do that, he needed to keep our anxiety levels high. Zanin, by the way, sounds like a medication: a mix of Zolpidem and Drmin. He made a combo.
. . But the fact is, today Brazil is a more medicated country than ever.
I mean, the whole world is more medicated than ever. The pharmaceutical industry makes over $1 trillion a year, which is double what the arms industry typically makes. If it were the other way around, it would be even worse, but you can see the power of this stuff.
And a significant part of that revenue, about $36 billion a year, more or less, comes from the sale of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and other psychiatric medications that aim to alleviate people's mental suffering. Some of these people have neuroses: depression, anxiety, anguish, the kinds of things everyone feels, or at least everyone with internet access. But other people have psychoses, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and addiction.
For all these cases, there is a range of medications available. And with the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying and the recent advances in neuroscience, which provide chemical explanations for mental phenomena, psychiatric medication is selling like hotcakes. And water must be selling even more because you need water to take them.
Maybe it's all water industry's lobbying. But seriously, in 1990, less than 3% of Americans took antidepressants, okay? In 2022, that number had already jumped to 23%!
One-quarter of the population in the USA takes antidepressants. And you can see that in the commercial breaks. Yes, because unlike Brazil, where prescription drug advertising is prohibited, in the United States, they're everywhere.
And the most curious part is that the side effects usually take up half of the ad. Fan or hater? I'm not sure.
. . There, apparently, they don't let the announcer say at lightning speed that part.
Because here, the Ministry of Health warnings are usually read at Eminem's speed. The Ministry of Health warns: if symptoms persist, consult a doctor. There, it can be even stranger because the announcer doesn't change the commercial voice he was using.
"This medication can cause suicidal impulses! " It sounds like a good idea! There are kids playing in the park, and the announcer says, "You may experience permanent tremors until death!
" But why am I talking about this? Because recently, a book was released in Brazil that fits perfectly into the interests of the pharmaceutical industry. And it was written by none other than Natália Pasternak, that scientist who did important work defending vaccines during the pandemic, in partnership with her husband, the journalist Carlos Orsi.
In the book, the authors question the scientific validity of things like astrology, ufology, anthroposophy, paranormality. . .
And these influencer diets, like the one where the guy only ate raw beef liver, which was obviously a lie, or the fitness grandma who eats 150 eggs a month. I'm not so shocked by the fact that she eats 150 eggs in a month because Gracyanne Barbosa probably eats 300, but I'm shocked by the fact that she calls herself "Fitness Grandma. " Those are two words that don't go together.
It's like a baby called Waldemar, it's not allowed. You're either Waldemar or a baby. You have to choose in life.
. . You're either a grandma or you're fitness.
"Oh, but if a person is a grandomther, can't she be fitness? " Grandmother is okay. But grandma, no.
They're different things, folks. A grandma, to be a grandma, needs to sauté, bread, and gratin everything in sight. Grandma is the person who even grates the remote.
A grandma might have an exercise bike in the living room? Yes, but it has to be covered in spiderwebs, and she can never have ridden it. A grandma, it's not that she needs to be chubby, but she needs to have a fluffy hug, a cushioned hug.
That's what a grandma is. But no, the internet needs to ruin everything, even grandma! And are we going to let grandma go extinct, like the elevator operator, the typist, the telephone operator?
Are we going to silently watch this grandma-cide? But getting back to the point: the book flays all these practices under the argument that they claim to be scientific, even though they don't follow the rigor of the scientific method. Therefore, they are pseudosciences.
First of all, I've never seen a paranormal or an astrologer claiming to be a scientist. Unless, of course, they have Aries Sun and Aries Rising. But seriously: the grave part in the book is that the authors include in this mishmash an extremely important mental health practice: psychoanalysis.
And perhaps because of the attention that Pasternak gained during the pandemic, also because of the forced comparison between ufology and psychoanalysis, the book has gained a lot of media attention. So much so that it became the best-selling non-fiction book in Brazil. And now, newspapers, magazines, podcasts, and television and internet shows are taking seriously a book with a somewhat strange name.
Regarding the title, if there's no problem with something not being science, then why the title is "What Nonsense"? Gianna, we explain the title in the book. So I would like to invite you to read "What Nonsense" because we explain what motivated the book's title.
But if she asked, it's precisely because she doesn't want to buy the book. But what I find more curious is that they propose a serious discussion, and the book is titled "What Nonsense! " which seems like a title by Thalita Rebouças, who, in her defense, writes young adult books, so it makes sense.
But she says that the explanation of the title is in the book. You have to read it to understand. It's a clickbait title, she learned it from YouTube videos: "See here the top five pseudosciences, the fourth will surprise you.
" Oh, what nonsense. By the way, this could be the title of a book by Narcisa. Remember that she published the books "Oh, how crazy!
" and "Oh, how absurd! " The third one would be "Oh, what nonsense! " Narcisa, by the way, is a Freudian name.
Speaking of Freud, one of the book's chapters is dedicated almost entirely to attacking Freud, whom Pasternak and Orsi call a "publicist. " Yes, a publicist. They crossed the line.
What's the next step? Call him a yuppie? A crypto expert?
But yes, Freud, let's remember, was a neurologist. He was the guy who understood that neurology alone couldn't explain the entire mental phenomenon. He had an absolutely subversive, sophisticated, and revolutionary idea, which was, you know what?
Listening. And by listening to patients, most of them women, he understood how sadness, anguish, or anxiety could make people sick as much as tuberculosis. And this comparison with tuberculosis isn't mine, it's his.
Freud produced a literary work so vast in size and importance that he changed the way humanity sees itself. The only publicist thing about him is that he invented the superego, in honor of Nizan Guanaes. But seriously: Freud is to the field of mental health as Newton is to physics, Socrates to philosophy, or Palmirinha to grandmas.
The world is divided between before and after what they did. And now they are all under attack. In the case of psychoanalysis, painting, photography, cinema, literature, humor, and of course, medicine, all of this started to be heavily influenced by Freud's thesis that the human being was denser than imagined, that our mental constitution was a battle between desire and repression.
Now, more than a hundred years after changing the course of humanity, Freud is being equated with Washington Olivetto and Roberto Justus. And I would like to remind you that Justus released a jazz album called "Só entre nós", because that's the translation of his name: just us. He did that.
What did Freud do to deserve this? Yes, Freud is being called a marketer, but it wasn't Freud who wrote a book called "What a neurosis! " "Oh, give me a break!
" He didn't do that. Anyway, in the book, Pasternak and Orsi refer to psychoanalysis as a "fallacy" and compare it to recent absurdities like the use of chloroquine and ivermectin to treat COVID-19. The type of science advocated by Pasternak and Orsi is quite specific, known as positivist science.
It is based on a validation methodology that indeed is not followed by most psychotherapies. Because at the heart of this methodology is the idea of repetition: you need to repeat the same treatment, exactly the same, on a large number of people, and you also need to divide them into two groups, one receiving the treatment and the other taking a placebo for comparison. How do you do that with psychoanalysis?
How do you treat a person with a placebo psychoanalyst? Do you call a coach? Do you call ChatGPT?
And the craziest thing is that the very concept of a placebo proves that the mind has a power that positivist science cannot explain. Besides, it's impossible to apply the same treatment to people with such different and unique issues, and that is precisely the advantage of psychotherapies. But that doesn't mean there aren't serious scientific studies demonstrating positive effects of psychotherapies in the treatment of various mental disorders, because there are several.
You may have noticed that I'm using the term "psychotherapies" in plural, because therapies are indeed plural. And there is a difference between a psychoanalyst and a psychologist, and I think it's important to explain that. It sounds like a joke.
"What's the difference? One looks good and the other is elegant. " No, there really is a difference.
Psychology is a university degree. Psychoanalysis is a study you pursue after completing some undergraduate degree, not necessarily in psychology, you can study literature, for example. .
. I don't know why that's what came to mind. .
. And then you go to a psychoanalysis course. Many psychoanalysts are also psychiatrists, meaning they completed medical school and then pursued psychoanalysis.
Psychologists and psychoanalysts have one thing in common: they seek to alleviate a certain type of suffering that primarily affects our minds. But psychologists generally have a more practical approach to finding a solution that makes the person more adapted to the world. Whereas a psychoanalyst doesn't seek adaptation.
And not necessarily a cure either. "Damn, that complicates things, Greg. If it doesn't cure, it's a fraud.
" No! Especially since anguish, sadness, and anxiety are not necessarily diseases. And if there's no illness, there's no cure.
What you can have is an elaboration. In the end, psychoanalysis is a tool for getting to know yourself. I know what you're thinking: so many interesting people in the world, and I'm going to get to know myself?
What am I going to do with myself? There's nothing to discover inside here. It's just that you're the only person you're obliged to live with.
If your mind were an iPhone, your neurosis would be like those U2 songs. You can't get rid of it. You have to learn to live with that crap forever.
So there's not much way to measure the effectiveness of a method that doesn't have a clear goal. There's even a thing called psychodynamic therapy, which is a therapy entirely based on the psychoanalytic method, but with a defined objective. And studies on psychodynamic therapy show that if you're looking at the method, it's as effective as any other, and there's even evidence that its effects can last longer, even after treatment is finished: the effect of medication goes away, but the effect of elaboration remains.
Yes, it's like the Feiticeira's Elysée belt, which shaped your abdomen without you needing to exercise. "It's not witchcraft, folks, it's psychology. " Psychoanalysis doesn't exist to solve your problems, but it helps you avoid certain problems, such as getting a crappy tattoo, for example.
If Carlos Bolsonaro had undergone analysis, he wouldn't have tattooed his father's face on his arm. And Richarlyson wouldn't have tattooed Neymar's face. And Neymar wouldn't have tattooed his sister's face.
And Neymar's sister wouldn't have tattooed her own face! Her own face on her own arm! Worse than that would be if she had tattooed her own arm on her own face.
That's something Whindersson Nunes might end up doing any day. I hadn't thought about it, but behind this book "What nonsense! ".
. . Yes, because there's an exclamation point, I hate books with exclamation points.
You have to shout to mention it. Let's go. Behind this book, "What nonsense!
", there must also be a powerful tattoo lobby. I believe that. Because if I go to a psychoanalyst and say I'm going to tattoo "Gregório" really big on my back, they'll just say, "talk about that.
" And I'll talk. And half an hour later, I'll leave there with one less shittyy idea in my head. And one less shitty idea on my back too.
I think a lot of shitty ideas would die on a therapist's couch. Bolsonaro wanted to be a soccer player and only joined the army because his father forced him to. Then, in the army, he was expelled for bad behavior, of course, he didn't even want to be there!
And I think that he decided to become president just to take revenge for that, undermining those generals who expelled him in front of society. Yes, a whole life guided by resentment. And what I just did is called "barroom psychoanalysis," in which, modesty aside, I am qualified, and that's the one that deserves to be in Pasternak's book.
But the others don't! And, in fact, there are no signs that Bolsonaro has undergone analysis. This was already evident back when he was part of the Superpop humor cast: If you had a gay son, you wouldn't love him?
Is that true? Look, I was raised in an environment where I would never say "I love you" to a man. To fit into your line of thinking.
. . You've never said "I love you" to your son?
-No, never. -Do you love your son? -I would never tell him that.
. . -But do you love him?
Of course, I'm passionate about all my children, but I don't say. . .
It's part of my upbringing. -And to your daughter, do you say it? -Of course!
My daughter melted my heart. . .
-What's her name? -6 years old. .
. Laura. She must be watching me now.
Laura, I love you! Son, I'll be there for you no matter what! "Son, I'll be there for you", you can say that even to a cop who fined you.
Poor son. You can see that the lack of love is passed from father to son like baldness or diabetes. And therapy is the only thing that could have interrupted this cycle of lovelessness, which neither of them did, obviously.
On the other hand, we know that Jair buys antidepressants. Yes, and he buys them on his corporate credit card. Yes!
He also buys anxiolytics. After all, Brazilian military men don't live on Viagra alone. Bolsonaro did indeed buy Lexapro and Rivotril with the same card he used to fund the motorcycle parade.
By the way, a motorcycle parade is like a gathering of thousands of men who have never heard an "I love you" from their fathers. Psychoanalysis would save a lot of money on the corporate credit card. Understanding human suffering in a plural way, beyond what can be found in the physical body, is a problem for whom?
The pharmaceutical industry. And here's some information to consider when analyzing Orsi and Pasternak's book: Natalia is now on Janssen's board. It's there on her CV.
And Janssen manufactures Haldol, Invega, and Risperdal, which are antipsychotics. They also make Concerta for ADHD. And Topamax, a mood stabilizer.
And Spravato, a nasal spray for depression that costs R$2,500 with very fast results but scary side effects. Yes, it's expensive, fast, and nasal, like socially acceptable cocaine. The fact is, much more important than discussing whether psychoanalysis is a science or not is discussing why it is still so inaccessible.
That's the fundamental problem. There are psychoanalysts in the public health system, working in maternity wards, family clinics, or at CAPS. CAPS are the Psychosocial Care Centers that replaced asylums starting in the 1980s, replacing confinement with psychotherapies.
But there is still no widespread system of psychoanalytic care. And in the meantime, we are suffering, and the pharmaceutical industry is booming. Flaying psychoanalysis does nothing to reverse this situation, on the contrary, it provides the perfect argument to further dismantle our mental health system and replace it with quicker and cheaper solutions: shoving medication down everyone's throat without much concern for anyone's emancipation or long-term side effects.
And the best part: not giving back to the world subversive, questioning people, people who have been analyzed. The social vocation of psychoanalysis is something Freud himself advocated back in 1918 at a conference in Budapest. But psychoanalysis has never really been made available to the masses.
It's rare to find a psychoanalysis clinic in a working-class neighborhood. The same goes for psychoanalysis schools. And consequently, it's rare to find psychoanalysts and patients from working-class backgrounds.
At the same time, psychoanalysis has always been attacked since its inception. Because in a well-conducted psychoanalysis, if everything starts to go right, you free yourself from what society desires for you and start desiring on your own. This can also free you to some extent from the narcissism of social media.
, from the consumerism of advertising, from the supposed need to buy the latest iPhone or state your opinion on the Barbie movie or change your car every year, your wardrobe every month. . .
But that's not in the interest of capitalism. And it's not in the interest of the state either because analyzed people are more self-reliant. That's why initiatives aimed at popularizing psychoanalysis today exist on the fringes of the state.
There's a wonderful website, Territórios Clínicos, that has mapped several of these initiatives in the greater São Paulo area. In Rio de Janeiro, there are sporadic initiatives. And in several other Brazilian cities as well.
The folks at Clínicas de Borda have compiled some of these initiatives and put them on the website below if you want to find out more about them. Psychoanalysis is not synonymous with psychology or therapy. But it was psychoanalysis that introduced the idea that there is a type of human suffering that can only be confronted through speech and listening.
Those who discredit the foundation of psychoanalysis discredit the very idea of therapy. And in the name of science, they advocate for a more obtuse world, further removed from human reality. And denying the validity of this way of understanding the human being may be scientific, but deep down, it's pseudo-intelligence.
It's nonsense. . .
We live in a culture increasingly defined by psychic disarray. Depression, anxiety, narcissism, insomnia, addiction, attention deficit are no longer mere diagnoses, but elements that define our era and our lives. This is a world begging for a truly human science: contradictory, symbolic, speculative, tragic, and deeply empathetic.
We live in a world that needs a lot of therapy and the insights of psychoanalysis, beyond private offices. Mental health, for a mental being like us, is simply health. MRI, X-ray, PET scan, none of them will prove the existence of the unconscious.
But everything else in our lives proves its existence. Starting with another thing that exists and that these machines also can't prove. Something that changes heart rate, blood pressure, oxygenation: love.
That thing that makes us euphoric, radiant, sprightly, animated, smiling, cheerful, lively, content, festive, gallant, alive, fulfilled, blessed, fortunate, happy as a chick in the trash. That was the Greg News! See you!
