The Balanced Brain
The Science of Mental Health
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Narrated by:
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Camilla Nord
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By:
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Camilla Nord
About this listen
This audiobook narrated by Camilla Nord reveals 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 revolutionizing 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. Finding what helps your brain rebalance and thrive means finding the answer to this question. With so many factors at play, there are more possibilities for recovery and resilience than we might think.
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Critic reviews
“This excellent book is a breath of fresh air . . . anyone reading it will come away with a kinder, better understanding of themselves. A clear-thinking tour of the latest research from a leading mental health scientist and an accessible exploration of how our bodies and minds make us feel the way we do—or better or worse.”—Lucy Foulkes, author of What Mental Illness Really Is . . . (and what it isn’t)
“This is a wonderful, living history of how scientists have gained insights into and currently think about the dynamic health of the brain. Nord’s narrative style is intimate and engaging, making you feel almost as though you were there when breakthroughs were made. The denouement is a deeply compelling message. To navigate the fleeting joys and transient displeasures of life, there is one sustaining imperative—namely, balance.”—Karl Friston, University College London
“Fascinating . . . Camilla Nord, one of our most original thinkers, writes compellingly about the complexities of the brain and mental health. She presents new insights from neuroscience about how the brain generates our mental state, thoughts, moods and feelings, and what happens when things go wrong. This thought-provoking book is an essential resource.”—Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, author of Inventing Ourselves
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Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency—or free will—is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines responding to physical forces but agents acting with purpose.
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Adding Clarity to Agency
- By Brad Caldwell on 10-10-23
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The Confidence Map
- Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity
- By: Peter Atwater
- Narrated by: Peter Atwater
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What does our desire for certainty and control have to do with our decision-making? According to behavioral economics pioneer Peter Atwater, the answer is simple: everything. In The Confidence Map, Atwater explores the hidden role of confidence in the choices we make, and why events described as being unprecedented are often entirely predictable—if we know what to look for. Using compelling stories from the past and present, Atwater shows listeners how to apply the same tools he teaches to help them make sense of complex situations and optimize strategy.
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Excellent book
- By steve on 08-27-23
By: Peter Atwater
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Mixed Signals
- How Incentives Really Work
- By: Uri Gneezy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An informative and entertaining account of how actions send signals that shape behaviors and how to design better incentives for better results in our life, our work, and our world.
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it's written by settler
- By Lizzy on 09-15-24
By: Uri Gneezy
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Mania
- A Novel
- By: Lionel Shriver
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity movement takes hold. Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence. Because everyone is equally smart, discrimination against purportedly dumb people is ""the last great civil rights fight."" Tests, grades, and employment qualifications are all discarded. Children are expelled for saying the S-word (“stupid”) and encouraged to report parents who use it at home.
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Thoroughly enjoyed this
- By upgrayedd on 04-14-24
By: Lionel Shriver
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Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- By: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled.
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History through a far left lens
- By Josh on 09-03-20
By: Kurt Andersen
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How the World Made the West
- A 4,000 Year History
- By: Josephine Quinn
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In How the World Made the West, Josephine Quinn poses perhaps the most significant challenge ever to the “civilizational thinking” regarding the origins of Western culture—that is, the idea that civilizations arose separately and distinctly from one another. Rather, she locates the roots of the modern West in everything from the law codes of Babylon, Assyrian irrigation, and the Phoenician art of sail to Indian literature, Arabic scholarship, and the metalworking riders of the Steppe, to name just a few examples.
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Middling
- By Amazon Customer on 11-14-24
By: Josephine Quinn
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Free Agents
- How Evolution Gave Us Free Will
- By: Kevin J. Mitchell
- Narrated by: Kevin J. Mitchell
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency—or free will—is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines responding to physical forces but agents acting with purpose.
-
-
Adding Clarity to Agency
- By Brad Caldwell on 10-10-23
-
The Confidence Map
- Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity
- By: Peter Atwater
- Narrated by: Peter Atwater
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does our desire for certainty and control have to do with our decision-making? According to behavioral economics pioneer Peter Atwater, the answer is simple: everything. In The Confidence Map, Atwater explores the hidden role of confidence in the choices we make, and why events described as being unprecedented are often entirely predictable—if we know what to look for. Using compelling stories from the past and present, Atwater shows listeners how to apply the same tools he teaches to help them make sense of complex situations and optimize strategy.
-
-
Excellent book
- By steve on 08-27-23
By: Peter Atwater
-
Mixed Signals
- How Incentives Really Work
- By: Uri Gneezy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An informative and entertaining account of how actions send signals that shape behaviors and how to design better incentives for better results in our life, our work, and our world.
-
-
it's written by settler
- By Lizzy on 09-15-24
By: Uri Gneezy
-
Mania
- A Novel
- By: Lionel Shriver
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity movement takes hold. Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence. Because everyone is equally smart, discrimination against purportedly dumb people is ""the last great civil rights fight."" Tests, grades, and employment qualifications are all discarded. Children are expelled for saying the S-word (“stupid”) and encouraged to report parents who use it at home.
-
-
Thoroughly enjoyed this
- By upgrayedd on 04-14-24
By: Lionel Shriver
-
Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- By: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled.
-
-
History through a far left lens
- By Josh on 09-03-20
By: Kurt Andersen
-
How the World Made the West
- A 4,000 Year History
- By: Josephine Quinn
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In How the World Made the West, Josephine Quinn poses perhaps the most significant challenge ever to the “civilizational thinking” regarding the origins of Western culture—that is, the idea that civilizations arose separately and distinctly from one another. Rather, she locates the roots of the modern West in everything from the law codes of Babylon, Assyrian irrigation, and the Phoenician art of sail to Indian literature, Arabic scholarship, and the metalworking riders of the Steppe, to name just a few examples.
-
-
Middling
- By Amazon Customer on 11-14-24
By: Josephine Quinn
What listeners say about The Balanced Brain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Sam Torrisi
- 02-22-24
Fantastic
Fantastic overview of the current state of the science, not selling BS, being realistic about what we understand, being brilliantly integrative, and offering plenty of hope for the future.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michael
- 03-29-24
Mildly informative, minimally actionable
This is a bit like a dinner conversation with a neuroscience expert.
Many topics are mentioned, some novel ideas are raised, but nothing really actionable is proposed. Basically, a lot of different things work in different cases. This is a pleasant optimistic outlook.
There were two concepts I recall being particularly interested in. First was her focus on tiny barely noticeable neurological imbalances which can over long periods of time slowly self reinforce to a significant imbalance.
The other was her focus on “drive” as distinct from desire/want/like. This is an interesting topic that needs more research and is only touched on in this book
The author’s narration was excellent.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Thomas P Christopher
- 07-03-24
thorough and scientific
I appreciate that Camilla organized a huge subject and boiled it down to its relevant parts. It encourages my curiosity to learn more about mental health. Thanks for what you've done.
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