Emotion has a great presence in Brazilian culture and is a frequent theme in Bossa Nova, which served as inspiration for the study published in the magazine Frontiers in Psychology
Missing you can help reduce symptoms of depression, according to a survey published in Frontiers in Psychology magazine in January this year. The feeling has a great presence in Brazilian culture and is a frequent theme in Bossa Nova, which served as inspiration for the study. “We believe longing acts as a channel of affective reconnection. It activates significant memories, often associated with positive bonds and moments, which can soften negative emotions, such as guilt and self -depreciation,” says Jorge Moll Neto, neuroscientist, creator of Idor Science Pioneer and one of the study’s authors, conducted in partnership with King’s College London researchers. “In addition, there is evidence that feelings such as nostalgia and longing help reinforce the sense of continuity of self, belonging and acceptance – all protective factors in the face of depression.”
According to the author, the idea of research was born from the perception that, despite being a feeling present in Brazilian culture, longing is little explored by clinical psychology. “It is often seen as a melancholy emotion, but it can also involve love, connection and meaning-thus becoming a potentially adaptive feeling,” he points out. “From this, we hypothesized that longing could function as a useful emotional resource in psychotherapy, especially for people with high levels of self -criticism, which have greater vulnerability to depression.”
What is longing?
According to Fatima Bertini, PhD in Psychology, professor at the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (Unilab) and coordinator of the clinical project of Saudade, the concept of longing can be defined as an affective experience that involves deep feelings of absence, desire and memory. She points out that longing is related to something or someone who was significant, but is distant or absent in the present. This is not just a lack, but a presence that persists in memory and feelings, which makes it a complex affection, often ambiguous, because it can cause both pain and affection.
“Homesickness has something very peculiar, which only the Portuguese language identifies: it is a sadness of memory, but also a power of joy. It is sadness and joy. Sadness because it remembers the absence, and joy because it remembers something that was good. So I believe that the longing – despite the etymology of Latin desiderium, which means deep sadness – does not define only sadness,” he says. “We just want to remember what was good. If longing exists, it is because, besides the sadness of absence, it also carries a power: the joy of remembering positive moments. So, I believe in a positive epistemology of longing,” adds Fatima.
How was the study done?
For the elaboration of the study of the Idor Science Pioneer with King’s College London, 39 people were invited to create 10 -minute personal movies with photos, songs and videos that aroused self -criticism, sadness and, finally, longing. After that, the group was instructed to watch the video every day for a week. ”The idea was that by revisiting difficult feelings such as self-criticism and sadness, they could resignify them by accessing, at the end, longing-a more constructive and affective feeling,” explains neuroscientist Jorge Moll.
Before and after the intervention, participants responded to standardized scales, including Beck’s depression inventory, a 21 -items self -relate questionnaire that evaluate the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Even with a short testing period, the results pointed to a significant reduction in the scores related to depressive symptoms. “There has also been improvement in self -criticism scales, which reinforces the hypothesis that longing can act as a positive emotional modulator, helping to regulate painful feelings. The high adhesion rate and the absence of negative effects are also important highlights,” says Idor Science Pioneer researcher. No events were recorded such as increasing a sense of anguish. Although there was support available in case of problems, no participant requested help.
Limitations
Because it is an experiment focused on the safety and feasibility analysis of new research, the tests were done in people without previously diagnosed mental health problems, but reported damage due to frequent feelings of self -criticism. Participants were recruited by ads on email lists and social networks. The selection involved a pretry, based on the data analysis collected in a form answered by 1,839 people, and due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic (the first stages of the study occurred in 2021), the research occurred online.
One of the limitations of the study lies in the difference between men and women volunteers. Most participants were women, which prevented more robust comparisons between genders. For the future, researchers intend to recruit balanced samples in terms of gender and ethnic-cultural diversity. “Our next step is to develop randomized clinical trials, with control groups and clinical samples, ie patients with formal depression diagnosis. In addition, we are interested in exploring the neurobiological correlates of longing – for example, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to understand how the brain responds to this type of emotion during intervention or before and after it,” says Moll. In addition to the Brazilian neuroscientist, through the Idor Science Pioneer, the study was attended by authors Nahed Lajmi, Suqian Duan and Roland Zahn, who work at the King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
