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Planting ‘SEEDS’ of a Healthy Brain: An Interview with Dr. John B. Arden

dr Arden photo from websiteLast week was officially Brain Awareness Week. Yes, the brain [1]—the organ that basically governs all of our body processes—is officially honored for one week in March every year by The Dana Foundation [2], a New York City-based organization dedicated to advancing brain research and public education.

This only adds to the timeliness of GoodTherapy.org’s recent chat with one of our upcoming continuing education presenters, Dr. John B. Arden. Arden is the director of Kaiser Permanente’s mental health training programs in Northern California and author of a number of books [3] on neuroscience, psychotherapy, mindfulness [4], and how they work together in our everyday lives. His latest title, The Brain Bible: How to Stay Vital, Productive, and Happy for a Lifetime, offers a scientifically backed examination of simple steps we can all take to nurture optimum cognitive functioning and maintain overall brain health.

Dr. Arden will be presenting on “Neuropsychology: A Brain-Based Therapy [5]” in a GoodTherapy.org web conference in May 2014.

GoodTherapy.org (GT): Can you explain to me what you mean by “brain-based therapy” and where the idea for it originated?

Dr. John B. Arden: Everybody thinks they have the best type of therapy. So my job has been to sift through a lot of theory and try to get to the science, so that my training programs can operate at the cutting edge of what’s going on… and integrate all these seemingly disconnected theories and scientific domains into one robust vision of providing humanized services for people who want to see us [therapists].

The words “brain-based” need not be thought of at all as another one of these clubs; … but rather, okay, … since we all have a brain, every one of these psychotherapies and theories ought to relate in some way to the brain .… In the long run, brain-based therapy is the common denominator vision of the future, and it’s not just my idea.

GT: Your most recent book, The Brain Bible, discusses “how to stay vital, productive, and happy for a lifetime.” What is the brain’s role in nurturing vitality, productivity, and happiness?

Dr. Arden: We know now that if you want to be healthier—not pick up the latest virus that’s floating around, not suffer from dementia [8] later in life, not suffer from anxiety [9] and depression [10]—and in general, be happier, there are a number of characteristics that have been identified by many scientists over the past 30 or 40 years.

What I try to do in The Brain Bible is take the most important five that have consistently come up as a focus of inquiry and have a robust body of scientific literature backing them as the healthy behaviors for living with greater pleasure, less depression, less anxiety, and less chance of getting dementia later in life. …

And these five factors are incorporated in the mnemonic SEEDS; if you’re planting SEEDS now, and you cultivate them throughout your lifetime, chances are you’re going to feel a whole lot better about yourself and about everybody around you; people are going to want to be around you, you’re going to be ill less often, and you’re going to get dementia symptoms much later than other people.

GT: So, what are these SEEDS factors?

Dr. Arden:

GT: What are some of the brain degrading habits we should all be avoiding?

Dr. Arden: All the SEEDS factors, if not adhered to, are brain degrading. But what else? Substances … Alcohol on a regular basis—and I’m not talking about alcoholism [14], just regular drinking—is not brain healthy. And another real common one is medical marijuana, which is really out there right now [being touted] as this panacea, but it is not brain healthy. … Do I think it’s the worst thing in the world if you smoke a joint? No. But if you do that on a regular basis, just like if you drink alcohol on a regular basis, not so good for your brain.

Reference:

BrainFacts.org. What is neuroscience? Retrieved from http://www.brainfacts.org/about-neuroscience/what-is-neuroscience/