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Neurobiology - anxiety, depression, addiction, focus, stress etc.

Deleted user
over 3 years ago

Hi everyone, hope you are doing well today.

Firstly, a quick intro about this post. I have noticed how many people are suffering from anxiety and depression, and a few of the recent conversations on here have really concerned me, and I really don't know how to help. There are also a lot of posts about focus, or lack of, something I do actually experience on a regular basis.

I'm on this forum to try to understand myself better, understand others, and to hopefully share what I've learned with others.

I find it very difficult to understand things on an emotional level, so I like to try to understand the mechanisms behind things. If you understand the mechanisms you have a better chance of finding solutions to problems. And you have a better chance of understanding why people might be offering certain solutions. That might come from my childhood interest in science and engineering.

Anyway, to further understand myself, and others, it's easier for me to learn about the brain itself. 

And so, to the point.

-----

I've recently been watching a lot of video/podcasts by Andrew Huberman, professor of neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. This month's content is all about mental health and the underlying biological mechanisms involved. He goes into neurological pathways, brain chemistry, physical/pharmaceutical interventions etc. 

He does not diagnose, nor does he recommend self-diagnosis of these conditions, and always advocates discussion with your clinician.

All he does is lay out information explaining what is actually going on in the brain at a biological/chemical level. His content is free, timestamped for ease of use, but his videos are long. They do get quite technical at times, but are very accessible and quite easy to understand.

There are a few things I've already implemented, rather sceptically, but found them to have a rather immediate effect, such as physiological sighs for reducing stress response. I have found his recent videos about depression, ADHD/focus, and the latest one about dopamine incredibly interesting and useful.

Physiological sighs video - www.youtube.com/watch

-----

I believe his content will be of interest, and useful, to anyone, but particularly those who are detail driven, of an analytical nature, and who like to understand the mechanisms at play.

*I hope this is allowable content on this forum. I'm not selling, sponsored or anything, not trying to diagnose or prescribe anything. I genuinely believe that the information he shares will be very useful to many people on this forum, to help them understand themselves and their thought processes better.*

ANDREW HUBERMAN - HUBERMAN LAB - on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/c/AndrewHubermanLab/videos

----

I hope you are all well. Take care everyone. Have a great day

Parents
  • over 3 years ago

    OKAY...

    I think I'm going to keep updating this thread for a while. Adding stuff that I've learnt, stuff that I've done that has worked, and those aha moments.

    I've realised from watching the videos that I already try to implement some of the ideas or form my own, and I have been doing it for years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. But now having a little more basic understanding of what the brain is actually doing helps me understand why something might or might not work. 

    Now I didn't think I was ever anxious or depressed, but looking back at behavioural, environmental, neurological factors, I probably was, many times, sometimes sinking very low. But, I just didn't have a name for it (due to what is probably alexithymia)

    So what have I learned so far?

    I'm definitely not an expert, so my understanding of this is very, very basic...

    (this is only superficially touching on things, and it's obviously far more complex than I'm laying out here)

    ---

    STRESS

    • stress is all around us, all the time
    • the body and mind respond and remodel, depending on the type of stress
    • how we view the stress will determine its impact
    • stress we enjoy is often known as pleasure or excitement
    • stress we don't enjoy can lead to fear, anxiety, depression

    MECHANISMS

    • the brain uses the same systems and pathways for many things
    • pleasure/pain, excitement/depression, movement/motivation 
    • It seems Dopamine is the major component
    • each peak in dopamine will result in a lowering below baseline
    • every high will have a low

    Ah, it's too complicated, you need to watch the videos, hahaha

    MITIGATIONS

    • control, try to have a sense of control, 
    • a sense of control will make stressful things appear to be less stressful
    • small steps, enjoy the small things
    • don't fixate too much on the huge goals
    • have the occasional high, but not too often
    • small victories

    ---

    Remember, SMALL VICTORIES

    The brain is a biological machine, built to process things a certain way. Input/Output. Our perception of things literally programs parts of our brain to function in a particular way.

    We cannot control everything, but we can choose what we focus on. 

    • don't dwell too much on the future, nobody knows what the future holds
    • spend more time in the now
    • worry less about achieving other people's goals
    • be more task oriented as opposed to goal oriented
    • find positivity, even in the smallest of things 
    • even belief that things can improve will change how the brain is processing things
    • cut out as much extraneous 'noise' as possible 
    • control what you can control, to better handle what you can't control
    • we are social animals, try to connect with somebody in the real world*

    *This can be very difficult for autistic people to do, but just connecting with someone, even just having a nice chat with the local shopkeeper, or a neighbour, will have a positive impact.

    Find whatever works for you to reduce stress and increase positivity, and actually do it.

    SMALL STEPS

    SMALL VICTORIES

Reply
  • over 3 years ago

    OKAY...

    I think I'm going to keep updating this thread for a while. Adding stuff that I've learnt, stuff that I've done that has worked, and those aha moments.

    I've realised from watching the videos that I already try to implement some of the ideas or form my own, and I have been doing it for years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. But now having a little more basic understanding of what the brain is actually doing helps me understand why something might or might not work. 

    Now I didn't think I was ever anxious or depressed, but looking back at behavioural, environmental, neurological factors, I probably was, many times, sometimes sinking very low. But, I just didn't have a name for it (due to what is probably alexithymia)

    So what have I learned so far?

    I'm definitely not an expert, so my understanding of this is very, very basic...

    (this is only superficially touching on things, and it's obviously far more complex than I'm laying out here)

    ---

    STRESS

    • stress is all around us, all the time
    • the body and mind respond and remodel, depending on the type of stress
    • how we view the stress will determine its impact
    • stress we enjoy is often known as pleasure or excitement
    • stress we don't enjoy can lead to fear, anxiety, depression

    MECHANISMS

    • the brain uses the same systems and pathways for many things
    • pleasure/pain, excitement/depression, movement/motivation 
    • It seems Dopamine is the major component
    • each peak in dopamine will result in a lowering below baseline
    • every high will have a low

    Ah, it's too complicated, you need to watch the videos, hahaha

    MITIGATIONS

    • control, try to have a sense of control, 
    • a sense of control will make stressful things appear to be less stressful
    • small steps, enjoy the small things
    • don't fixate too much on the huge goals
    • have the occasional high, but not too often
    • small victories

    ---

    Remember, SMALL VICTORIES

    The brain is a biological machine, built to process things a certain way. Input/Output. Our perception of things literally programs parts of our brain to function in a particular way.

    We cannot control everything, but we can choose what we focus on. 

    • don't dwell too much on the future, nobody knows what the future holds
    • spend more time in the now
    • worry less about achieving other people's goals
    • be more task oriented as opposed to goal oriented
    • find positivity, even in the smallest of things 
    • even belief that things can improve will change how the brain is processing things
    • cut out as much extraneous 'noise' as possible 
    • control what you can control, to better handle what you can't control
    • we are social animals, try to connect with somebody in the real world*

    *This can be very difficult for autistic people to do, but just connecting with someone, even just having a nice chat with the local shopkeeper, or a neighbour, will have a positive impact.

    Find whatever works for you to reduce stress and increase positivity, and actually do it.

    SMALL STEPS

    SMALL VICTORIES

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