Staying Healthy with the Seasons or Lifting Depression

Staying Healthy with the Seasons: 21st-Century Edition

Author: Elson M Haas

DR. ELSON M. HAAS is the founder and director of the Preventive Medical Center in San Rafael, California, one of the leading integrated health facilities in the country. He lives in beautiful Sebastopol, California.

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Lifting Depression: A Neuroscientist's Hands-on Approach to Activating Your Brain's Healing Power

Author: Kelly Lambert

Today’s young adults are up to ten times more likely to experience depression than their grandparents were. Could it be that in our increasingly automated world, the reduced physical effort needed to accomplish anything may somehow interfere with our level of happiness and subsequent responses to stress? Neuroscientist Kelly Lambert finds compelling evidence that having to work hard for rewards significantly improves mood and prevents depression. Beginning with her innovative research on rats-she compared “trust-fund rats” (whose rewards came with no effort on their part) to hard-working “trained-to-succeed” rodents-Lambert offers hope of treatment for people without debilitating (and often ineffective) drugs. Drawing on a wealth of information from the fields of anthropology, neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology, Lambert develops a unique theory suggesting that physical effort directed toward tangible outcomes activates particular regions of the brain and builds resilience against the emotional emptiness and negative thinking associated with depression. Whereas most therapies emphasize the importance of mental activity, Lambert reminds us of the importance of physical activity in establishing control in a fast-paced culture that is focused more on the prospect of immediate gratification than savoring the fruits of our labor.

Table of Contents:

Depression Strikes Deep     1
Why Are We So Depressed? The Lifestyle Paradox     25
Building the Effort-Driven Rewards Brain Circuit: Use It or Lose It     47
Giving the Brain a Hand     69
Coping Effectively with Stress     91
Our Social Brains     119
The Building Blocks of Resilience     143
Nonpharmacological Treatments for Depression: A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action     173
Effort-Driven Rewards and Our Evolving Brains     201
The New Rx for Preventing and Lifting Depression     227
Acknowledgments     245
Notes     249
References     261
Index     281