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The balanced brain : the science of mental health / Camilla Nord.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 2024Copyright date: ©2024Description: xix, 269 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0691259631
  • 9780691259635
Other title:
  • Science of mental health
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
How the brain constructs your mental health. Natural highs: pleasure, pain, and the brain -- The brain-body axis -- Learning to expect wellbeing -- Motivation, drive, and 'wanting' -- Enhancing mental health via the brain. Placebos and nocebos -- How do antidepressants work? -- Other drugs -- How psychotherapy changes the brain -- Electric feelings -- Is there a mentally healthy lifestyle? -- The changing nature of mental health and disorder.
Summary: "There are many routes to mental well-being. In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific developments that are revolutionising the way we think about mental health, showing why and how events--and treatments--can affect people in such different ways. Nord explains how our brain constructs our sense of mental health--actively striving to maintain balance in response to our changing circumstances. While a mentally healthy brain deals well with life's turbulence, poor mental health results when the brain struggles with disruption. But just what is the brain trying to balance? Nord describes the foundations of mental health in the brain--from the neurobiology of pleasure, pain and desire to the role of mood-mediating chemicals like dopamine, serotonin and opioids. She then pivots to interventions, revealing how antidepressants, placebos and even recreational drugs work; how psychotherapy changes brain chemistry; and how the brain and body interact to make us feel physically (as well as mentally) healthy."
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction New 616.89 N828 Checked out 07/12/2024 33111011241417
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

How we can use what we've learned about the brain to improve our mental health

There are many routes to mental well-being. In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific developments that are revolutionising the way we think about mental health, showing why and how events--and treatments--can affect people in such different ways.

In The Balanced Brain , Nord explains how our brain constructs our sense of mental health--actively striving to maintain balance in response to our changing circumstances. While a mentally healthy brain deals well with life's turbulence, poor mental health results when the brain struggles with disruption. But just what is the brain trying to balance? Nord describes the foundations of mental health in the brain--from the neurobiology of pleasure, pain and desire to the role of mood-mediating chemicals like dopamine, serotonin and opioids. She then pivots to interventions, revealing how antidepressants, placebos and even recreational drugs work; how psychotherapy changes brain chemistry; and how the brain and body interact to make us feel physically (as well as mentally) healthy. Along the way, Nord explains how the seemingly small things we use to lift our moods--a piece of chocolate, a walk, a chat with a friend--work on the same pathways in our brains as the latest treatments for mental health disorders.

Understanding the cause of poor mental health is one of the crucial questions of our time. But the answer is unique to each of us, and it requires finding what helps our brains rebalance and thrive. With so many factors at play, there are more possibilities for recovery and resilience than we might think.

"There are many routes to mental well-being. In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific developments that are revolutionising the way we think about mental health, showing why and how events--and treatments--can affect people in such different ways. Nord explains how our brain constructs our sense of mental health--actively striving to maintain balance in response to our changing circumstances. While a mentally healthy brain deals well with life's turbulence, poor mental health results when the brain struggles with disruption. But just what is the brain trying to balance? Nord describes the foundations of mental health in the brain--from the neurobiology of pleasure, pain and desire to the role of mood-mediating chemicals like dopamine, serotonin and opioids. She then pivots to interventions, revealing how antidepressants, placebos and even recreational drugs work; how psychotherapy changes brain chemistry; and how the brain and body interact to make us feel physically (as well as mentally) healthy."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-258) and index.

How the brain constructs your mental health. Natural highs: pleasure, pain, and the brain -- The brain-body axis -- Learning to expect wellbeing -- Motivation, drive, and 'wanting' -- Enhancing mental health via the brain. Placebos and nocebos -- How do antidepressants work? -- Other drugs -- How psychotherapy changes the brain -- Electric feelings -- Is there a mentally healthy lifestyle? -- The changing nature of mental health and disorder.

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