MindFull of Good - Dr. Chris Palmer on Brain Energy; Impermanence Anxiety; Can We Increase Brain Power?; Our Kinship wi th Nature

How to live while letting go; Metabolic function and Mental Illness; Can we increase brain power?; online Making Kin exhibition

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MindFull of GOOD

An Occasional Offering from Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST:

Metabolism, Brain Energy, and Mental Health
with Dr. Chris Palmer

"Nobody in their right mind should consider PTSD — resulting from ongoing bullying for example — as a brain disorder or chemical imbalance. And yet that is the way the DSM describes it, and unfortunately that's the way some clinicians will treat it: You've got PTSD? Here's a pill."
– Dr. Chris Palmer

Dr. Chris Palmer, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins Forrest to discuss the relationship between metabolic function and mental illness, including Dr. Palmer’s work with patients suffering from severe conditions like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, psychiatry’s current challenges with treatment-resistant conditions, and the important distinction between difficult psychological states and brain-based disorders.

WATCH/LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE

FREE FROM CLOUD SANGHA:

Making Great Relationships and
Neurodharma Open House Session
September 1 and 14

On your path to growing and changing for the better, having a group of like-minded peers to encourage and motivate you can make a big difference. My friends at Cloud Sangha have put together discussion groups that focus on material from my books Making Great Relationships and Neurodharma – and you can check them out for free at one of the open houses.

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ALSO NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST:

Impermanence Anxiety
How to Live While Letting Go

The only constant in life is change. Forrest and Dr. Rick explore impermanence anxiety: the fears we have related to change.

CHECK OUT THE EPISODE

ASK RICK:

Can we do anything to increase the amount of the brain we use?

If we did, would we unlock special powers?

We can increase the brain’s functional capabilities by protecting it (e.g., avoiding or reducing injuries, toxins, drugs and alcohol, and stress) and by internalizing beneficial experiences – helping them get encoded into lasting changes in neural structure and function – in order to grow more inner strengths such as resilience, gratitude, self-compassion, kindness, insight into oneself and others, and overall well-being.

"Unfortunately, this isn’t a process that will give us true 'superpowers'..."

But doing so leads us to being happier ourselves and more helpful to others. To me, that’s a really wonderful superpower! There are also many examples of people who have really gotten the most out of their brain and body through intense training in music, sports, dance, or meditation, and developed some remarkable abilities because of it.