The Balanced Brain

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

There are many routes to mental wellbeing. In this ground-breaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific and technological 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 reveals how the small things we do to lift our mood during the course of a day - a piece of chocolate, a coffee, chatting to a friend - often work on the same pathways in our brain as the latest pharmacological treatments for mental health disorders. Whether they help us to manage pain, learn from experience or expend energy on the things that are important for our survival, these conscious actions are part of a complex self-regulating process that is unique to each individual and the constant backdrop to our everyday lives. With so many factors at play, there are more possibilities for recovery and resilience than we might think.

©2023 Camilla Nord (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

A fascinating read, one that is able to make sense of unexpected connections . . . Nord makes a compelling case for rejecting any clear distinction between mental and physical illness
The Times
Compelling, revolutionary, compassionate . . . sharp-witted and intelligent . . . both down-to-earth and insightful . . . Nord provides an understanding of the brain which readers can leverage to conduct their own mental-health enhancing experiments
The Irish Times
Engaging, refreshingly open and fair-minded . . . Explains how our brains come to experience the world as they do, considering pain, pleasure, the mind-body connection and how events shape our outlook
New Statesman
Highly accessible and elegantly crafted . . . It wasn't until reading Camilla Nord's The Balanced Brain that I felt excited about the contributions that neuroscience is making to mental health . . . Nord masterfully distils what seems like a lifetime's worth of research into a synthesis that is both readable and engaging . . . it has the potential to be the foundational popular text in the field
The Psychologist
Rigorous, engagingly personal . . . provides an exciting snapshot of what we know so far about this vital organ's importance for maintaining our mental health
iNews
Compelling...optimistic...her writing is masterfully nuanced in its treatment of depression, without sacrificing the clarity of her argument
the Observer
Simply brilliant. This is science writing at its best. If you want to understand mental health - really understand it - read this book
author of The Social Instinct
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 - for better or worse
author of What Mental Illness Really Isu2026 (and what it isnu2019t)
Extremely relevant . . . a highly readable synthesis of the neuroscience underpinning mental health and its treatment
Simon Baron-Cohen
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

User Reviews

Book 4.0
Narration 5.0
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5.0
lozzcatt 09/03/2024

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