Recently, an interview by Christiane Amanpour caught my attention. It was with Coralie Fargiat, the director of “The Substance.” Though I haven’t seen this 2024 body horror movie (nor do I intend to), the story brings up several teaching points about the left brain, undermethylation, neuroplasticity, and our collective obsession with beauty.
The movie is about an actress, Elizabeth, who loses her job hosting a fitness television show when she turns fifty. She has “aged out.” While in the hospital after a car accident, someone directs her to a product - the substance - a neon green liquid that will allow her to bud off a younger version of herself - Sue. The rule is that Sue can only go out into the world for one week at a time, alternating each week with Elizabeth while the other lies dormant. Not surprisingly, Sue has more advantages in the world (that Elizabeth inhabits), including replacing Elizabeth on her former TV show. Increasingly, when it’s time to switch, Sue breaks the one-week rule. This results in part of Elizabeth’s body becoming increasingly deformed. The culmination is a grotesque battle of gore between the two, who initially were instructed to remember, “You are one.”
In the interview, the director, Coralie Fargeat, discusses her personal experience:
“I turned 40 and was more impacted than ever about what it’s like to be a woman, the feeling that if I wasn’t young and pretty and sexy, I would be totally erased from the surface of the earth. So there was this kind of emergency, this vitality to the things I speak about in my film.”
Research supports this thinking that beautiful people are treated better and thus have more advantages. With the use of photoshopping, social media filters, and even plastic surgery, many teens and young adults are experiencing neuroplastic changes that are making real people, including themselves, appear increasingly off or even grotesque.
Left Brain
“The Substance” is a left-brain nightmare. It shows us the self-destructive path the left brain can take us on, especially in a world that tells it exactly how things should look.
Elizabeth, the main character in the movie, is rigid in her thinking, addicted to an image of herself, perfectionistic, and highly competitive. In some ways, these left-brain attributes have served her, but unchecked, they destroy her.
If the left brain were a person, it would have the following traits and perspective on appearance: (These traits are oversimplified and pulled from Dr. Ian McGilchrist's work) -
Detail-oriented, narrow focus of attention - “That doesn’t look right.”
Prefers what it knows and prioritizes what it expects - “I should look this way.”
Has difficulties disengaging - “I can’t stop thinking about this and how to fix it.”
Sees parts (as opposed to the whole)
Sees the body as a sum of parts
Doesn’t have a whole image of the body (as found in those who have damage to the right hemisphere)
Is competitive - “I need to look better than they do”
Fears of uncertainty and lack of control (As you can imagine, this is a problem for anyone human and thus who will age)
The left brain will set its sights on beauty, success, titles, money, objects, or anything else that feeds the “I.” Because the left brain can’t see the “big picture,” it has a hard time pulling back far enough to see how its way of thinking may be getting in the way.
The Right Brain
Our ability to feel embodied is a job for our brain’s right hemisphere. When the voice in the movie reminds Elizabeth, “You are one,” it may as well be speaking on behalf of the right hemisphere.
Our right brain allows us to have compassion, including self-compassion. It honors diversity and differences. It can see the bigger picture of our lives that involve multiple developmental stages. It can sit with uncertainty. It knows that our imperfections and differences promote connection with actual humans.
Undermethylation
Left brain tendencies strongly overlap with undermethylation traits.
Methylation is a biochemical and cellular phenomenon that serves many important functions. If we “undermethylate,” we can have more difficulties breaking down histamine, more difficulties detoxifying, and lower serotonin activity. Methylation is impacted by a number of genes, the most well-known being MTHFR.
Undermethylated traits include perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, being highly competitive, having ruminations, and addictive tendencies.
The NDMA Receptor
Those of us who are undermethylated can have high activity at the NMDA receptor, resulting in a problem with “memory extinction” or letting go of a thought. This could look like obsessive-compulsive tendencies (including those seen in body dysmorphia) and addictive tendencies. High histamine (again due to undermethylation) can increase activity at this receptor. Low zinc, high estrogen, and low magnesium can also be at play.
I suspect Elizabeth is undermethylated and has high activity at the NMDA receptor. Both could be assessed for and treated (in part) using targeted nutrients. I say, in part, because the brain training / neural training that occurs through social media is difficult to override if someone is still “using.”
Interestingly, EMF exposure (from phones and wireless technology) can increase histamine, further driving these issues.
Neuroplasticity and Images of Perfection
The more images of beautiful images of people we see, the more those images become the norm in our mind, and the more any deviation from that norm will stand out as problematic. This was already a problem with the photoshopping of celebrities and models. But now, with social media filters, teens and young women aren’t just comparing themselves to celebrities and models; they’re comparing themselves to a filtered image of themself.
Filters can create larger eyes, bigger lips, more angular jawlines, whiter teeth, slimmer faces, and smooth and even skin tones.
Research into the use of filters:
Millennials are predicted to take 25,000 selfies on average over their lifetimes
About 90% of women aged 18-30 report using beauty filters before posting selfies on social media.
Repeated interactions with filtered images and associated beliefs and worries are increasing the risk of mental health issues such as:
depression
social anxiety
reduced self-esteem
appearance anxiety
body dysmorphia
increase of plastic surgery
62% of plastic surgeons report that their patients wanted cosmetic procedures because of dissatisfaction with their social media profiles
Snapchat dysmorphia” is what plastic surgeons are calling the act of taking a picture of one’s self and using a filter.
Selfies are the leading cause of plastic surgery among young people
Girls who routinely shared self-images on social media had considerably higher body dissatisfaction relative to those who share selfies less frequently.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder among young women has been linked to social media use.
In short, the research shows that investing in one’s self-presentation on social media is often a harmful practice. The more one does it, the more damaging it tends to be. It encourages hyperattention to unrealistic beauty standards and a desire to change one’s physical appearance.
This problem of hyperattention to unrealistic beauty standards isn’t just a phenomenon of teenage girls and younger women. I´m 57 and understand these things, and still, I´ve had to be intentional about how much attention and neuronal wiring I put into what increasingly feels like defying the very full and lovely reality of my current age.
A Sequel
If I could write a sequel to “The Substance,” it would be about how Elizabeth (the main character) gets off screens and finds a group of real women (her age and older) that she comes to trust, finds refuge, and who she is inspired by. Instead of looking through a lens of culturally defined beauty, she is struck by the strength, courage, and peace they never could have embodied at a younger age.
These women who inspire and shape her would like Helen Mirin (79), who corrected a podcast interviewer after they said to her, “But you are young at heart.” She tells him that no, she is not….”My spirit is the age that I am. When you say 'youthful', I'm not full of youth. I'm full of the life that I've lived up to this point.
As girls and women, we need these women in our lives. We can do our part to become these women - the desperately needed embodiments of the right brain.
Wishing you peace and wholeness,
CourtneySnyderMD.com
P.S. This Saturday begins the mentoring group for MDś, NDś, DOś, NP and PAś.
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