Author: This Is Your Brain producer
When Demetri Kofinas was diagnosed with a benign pituitary tumor, he faced bizarre symptoms and difficult choices. With the help of his father and Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield, Demetri took on the challenges and came to a decision. Dr. Stieg: I’d like to welcome my two most fascinating guests today, Demitri Kofinas, and Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield. Dimitri is creator and producer of Hidden Faces, a podcast exploring the underlying forces driving global change. And Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield is a Professor of Neurological Surgery specializing in minimally invasive approaches and the complex treatment of brain tumors. I wanted to first clarify for…
Dr. Stieg talks to psychiatrist Richard Friedman, MD, about depression and PTSD: How they are different from sadness, how the brain actually changes when someone is depressed and when they come out of it, and how therapy and medication work. Plus… identifying those at risk for suicide, and getting them help. Dr. Stieg: I’m back again today with Dr. Richard Friedman, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Psychopharmacology Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College. He’s also an op-ed contributor to the New York Times. Last time we met we were talking about fear, anxiety, and I’d like to change…
Dr. Stieg talks to psychiatrist Dr. Richard Friedman about the neuroscience of fear: How parents can transmit anxiety to their kids, how some babies seem hard-wired for anxiety, and why a little anxiety is good for you (but too much is like a burglar alarm that sounds all the time). Dr. Stieg: Today I’m with Dr. Richard Friedman, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Psychopharmacology Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College. He’s also an op-ed contributor to the New York Times. Richard, thank you for being with me today. It’s a pleasure. So being a psychiatrist, we’re going to…
Dr. Stieg talks to biological anthropologist Helen Fisher about the four hormonal systems that drive our relationship styles, and how they can predict whether love will last. Dr. Stieg: Earlier you mentioned, you know, the phases of romantic love, sexual attraction and bonding and the different brain regions that are activated during those components of being in love. Do those regions of the brain crosstalk and do they balance each other out? Dr. Fisher: Yeah, it’s a great question. They definitely crosstalk. Now, for example, when you fall madly in love with somebody, you’re driving up the dopamine system in…
Dr. Helen Fisher, one of the world’s foremost authorities on love, explains what happens in the brain when we experience romantic or sexual attraction, how that changes in long-term relationships, and why anti-depressants can make you fall out of love with your spouse. Dr. Stieg: You know when you meet someone and the chemistry is right, but feeling those butterflies and hearing the bells isn’t really happening in your heart. It’s because of hormones and neurotransmitters acting up in the brain, which, as a neurosurgeon, is the sexiest organ in the body. Our guest today has taken the study of…
New York Times journalist Alissa Rubin talks with Dr. Stieg about the cognitive and emotional effects of her injuries, and the treatments that helped get her back to work and to her life. Dr. Stieg: Hello, I’m here again with Alissa Rubin and we were talking before about her trauma and the subsequent events that resulted in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and I wanted to pick up from that area again. Did you recognize that you were depressed or did somebody have to tell you that? Alissa Rubin: I recognized it but didn’t want to admit it to myself…