Maria R de Almeida - Psychoanalyst

GENS are a sequence of DNA. HOW do genes are expressed (or not) depends on certain proteins which activate or deactivate those genes.

▶️ EPIGENETICS: Beyond the genome. Epigenetics is the study of the mechanisms which modify the expression of genes without changing the underlaying DNA sequence.

▶️ The influence of the ENVIRONMENT on our genes determines our PHENOTYPE (physical features: tall, dark hair,…)

▶️ MUTATIONS are any changes in the sequence of DNA. Mutations can be deadly but also… lead to an evolutive advantage 😉.

Today we know that certain mutations could lead to tumours. Mutations happen quite frequently, however, abnormal or old cells should die. CANCER starts when something goes wrong in this process and… abnormal cells grow OUT OF CONTROL crowding out normal ones. This is why we say “cancer cells” are PSYCHOTIC: because they have no limits.

‼️PSYCHIC CHANGES impact the BIOCHEMISTRY of our body. It has been proved that chronic stressed and depressed patients show higher levels of cytokines and different levels of interleukins for example. These are key enzymes which regulate the inmune system.

Most of the features of our organism (including disease) are polygenic (Not because your parents are short… you will be short ..!) and influenced by the environment (lifestyle, toxic chemicals …) ➡️ Our… UNCONSCIOUS MIND is part of that “environment” 😉.

💡It could be thought as… a LANGUAGE : it is all about things which are EXPRESSED and… REPRESSED ➡️ Very similar as well to the way unconscious mind works 😳. Also… it is UNIQUE for each of us: even monocygotic twins (born from the same cell) grown up very differently🤷🏻‍♀️!

‼️There is still A LOT to investigate but ALL in ALL, we could say that… PSYCHOANALYSIS is an… EXTERNAL FACTOR which could POSITIVELY influence our PHENOTYPE✌🏻🍾 . What it is still unknown is… how powerful that could be 😬!

BTW: the other TWO GIRLS in the pic… are MY SIS (not sure if you could have guessed). We do have the same DNA 🙄!