The science of mental health – with Camilla Nord
How does the body affect our brain, and vice versa? Can exercise, psychedelics, or the gut biome improve your mental health? Find out with neuroscientist Camilla Nord.
Watch the Q&A here (exclusively for our YouTube channel members): https://youtu.be/OP6_xnzIhuI
Buy Camilla’s book ‘The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health’ here: https://geni.us/tBErOVE
This talk was recorded at the Ri on 4 March 2024.
In this talk, Camilla reframes mental health as an intricate, automated process that is different for all of us, relying on the way our bodily processes and our expectations of the world interact in our brains. She explains how our brain uses dopamine to learn what to expect, and how that can change the way we feel day to day. She looks at a variety of treatments, from therapy and medication to recreational drugs and electrical brain stimulation, to show how they work – and why they sometimes don’t.
00:00 What is mental health?
7:03 Dopamine, the brain’s learning system and expectations
16:00 The link between our bodies and brains
24:42 How do anti-depressants and therapy work?
30:43 Psychedelics and the placebo effect
33:01 Bodily treatments for mental health
33:25 Anti-inflammatory drugs for depression
34:36 Is exercise a panacea for treating mental health?
37:16 The role of the gut microbiome
39:06 Are we in a mental health crisis?
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Camilla Nord leads the Mental Health Neuroscience Lab at the University of Cambridge. Her lab explores the brain, body, and cognitive changes that drive mental health and disorder. Her lab’s s aim is to translate insights from neuroscience into improved treatments for mental health conditions, whether that’s by making better use of our current treatment arsenal by targeting treatments to personalised brain or cognitive profiles, or inventing novel, neuroscience-based treatments that might be better able to treat disabling symptoms of mental health conditions.
Camilla was named a Rising Star by the US Association for Psychological Science, received the Young Scientist Award from the European Society of Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, and has been awarded over £14 million in research funding, including from Wellcome and the Medical Research Council (MRC). Her work has been widely featured in the media, including in the Sunday Times, BBC’s The Naked Scientist, and the New Statesman. Her first book, The Balanced Brain (Allen Lane) was named one of the FT’s ‘Best books of the year’ in 2023.
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26 Comments
Are you saying desires are the root of suffering.
Guess the Buddha was on to something 🙏
The silver bullet for mental and physical health is the mind learning how to manage itself in the most constructive way.
Thanku for giving this awareness! I am grateful to you!
Sence do taste but smell do right change brain
Fun gus of eatable will give calm nature
Ms. Nord has great enunciation and a wonderful voice! I would love to hear more lectures from her.
27:43 is where people’s brain take them on different paths in life.
Your perception/processing of an external input or situation if you like is automated. If you have it, you can’t Not have those thoughts. And when you’re either on a good antidepressant or have fixed your issues some other way, it’s like entering a secret easy life paradise.
Your brain either doesn’t perceive things as automatically negative, or if something less great happens, your brain just kinda process that information, says “that’s a big suck…” and then your brain says “Well, let’s move on and focus on other things now”.
And sometimes, you actually notice how the big cares you had just aren’t there anymore. You’re not emotionally blunt. But you don’t linger in the dark forever. It’s wonderful.
Yes more detailed long things that I won’t have the time / focus to read, but fully enjoyed listening to that while working just now
Camilla, watch your vocal fry. It triggers some people. Most people don't care but it's fingernails on a blackboard to some.
Kip on going 👍👍👍👍❤❤❤❤❤
Jesus told a parable about workers being hired at different times of the day; clearly the ones who worked longer, expected to be paid more. Jesus said that this expectation was wrong; that if you are paid fairly, you should not be unhappy because someone else received generosity. In general gratitude is a very good predictor of happiness. So these results are not surprising to me.
Its what u get when your childhood falls completely apart, when u loose Big people's, like mommies & siblings, but not u , u got silly old any silly way , y we think life is ti beat us up , y when u young & when u old they silly find & give u more !how u get drug abuse & alcoholics! But your doing that ! 💝☕️🍯🍶🚴
Gut microbiome in depth research may help us better understand how the brain affects the level of happiness and sadness therefore giving us some answers on how to tackle those who struggle with unhealthy levels of depression.
Very informative lecture. The voice recording seems to fluctuate a lot in volume level.
I think a lot of us forget that giving can be one of the most powerful things we can not only do for others but for ourselves
My God, these comments 😂😂😂
Something I've sadly realised in the last year is basically I am never truly happy, and I don't think I've never been in my life. Ok maybe when I was a kid. I get momentarily 'fake happy' when I'm planning something maybe. I sort of borrow a splash of happiness from the future, but I never really get it back. I am always very aware of the fact I SHOULD be happy. I sit there by the pool in the sunshine on holiday, looking at the blue sky and knowing that absolutely everything around me should mean that I am totally peaceful and happy right now. But it's all just grey and beige.
Her theory on how anti depressants work is interesting. The key idea is that the medication allows cognitive space to think properly which then allows your mood to improve. This might also explain why talk therapy is effective, as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a form of corrective cognition. This theory (as I understand it) might mean that once you have “cognitive space” or room to breathe, out of the survival state, then once can read books, engage with positive influences and effectively re-wire the brain to effect mood. However, if you’ve face multiple crises in your life, that rebuilding process requires a lot more soul searching and understanding why suffering exists. But that’s the journey. The longer you avoid that soul searching, the more your delay your full recovery. Thoughts have power, they affect your mood.
This is the best class on mental health I've seen on YouTube since Dr. Sapolsky's talk on Stanford
Brain & Spine
Rr
I believe mental health always linked with life condition in another words the more comfortable you are in your life the more healthier you will become in your mental states we humans all the time get exposed to many circumstances bad or good that is paly a role in shaping our behavior, perception of the world our us I reject the idea that suggested our genes or inner body structural elements or neural cells really direct us to thins in one way or other way in conclusion environments the have gone through from the day we porn until we become adults are the determine facts of our mood or the way perceive everything that surrounds us humans people either way positive or negative subsequently led to identify our mental believes and psychological situations that we carry we known for
11:40– is this dopamine, where is the amine group? It's hydroxybenzoic acid.
excellent lecture…in every way.
She reminds me of Hermione Granger ❤ smart and well spoken
interesting , and true , to resume a little personal experience : how can the world / people can be in a decent mental state if, salary are not keeping up with cost of living, and relatively speaking getting worst, your basic needs are not meeting needs, i dont think its a perception issue, its a greed issue at the top of the pyramid, i dont think my expectations are too high to be able to live by myself owning a house. end, i went though some middle life stuff and i dont beleive in pills, i mean i belive in science and chimicals, yes sure, but for me, i decided to work on my perception of thing instead to f up my brain with chimicals, i had physical pain for long time and lead to when you have pain everyday for long periods of time it ends to affect you and drain you, and i still have issues but i change my work, by myself thing that the systems would have not done my doctor was like you are fine i m not stopping you working , well i quit myself then, and had rough times but i went through my project of better myself and it had to go into less physical issues, like i just said i will not down my expectation to the ground and let the creators of world conditions go away with this …. i dont think my perception is that much off of a normal beeing could ask and i want the ability to be free, the system is this way of slavering people modernly without them noticing , or making it feel good beeing robbed…. i mean most people dont even notice they are getting absolutly expoited, but ok i ranted enough and it wont fix anything. so im off , one question is why any of the environement conditions are never talked in this, i mean politics and finance of mental health. why idiots have to decide what i can do and not.. of course theres obvious stuff thats are wrong we ll not debate about that . but other smaller things . and consumer protections and justice. and the fact that politics these days are friends with corporations and the tax payer is getting fucked over corporate financing. i mean common most people are dumb thats why they get away with it.