{"id":23756,"date":"2014-03-19T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T22:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=23756"},"modified":"2015-06-04T13:57:32","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T20:57:32","slug":"planting-seeds-of-a-healthy-brain-we-interview-dr-john-b-arden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/planting-seeds-of-healthy-brain-we-interview-dr-john-b-arden-031914","title":{"rendered":"Planting \u2018SEEDS\u2019 of a Healthy Brain: An Interview with Dr. John B. Arden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"drLast week was officially Brain Awareness Week. Yes, the brain<\/a>—the organ that basically governs all of our body processes—is officially honored for one week in March every year by The Dana Foundation<\/a>, a New York City-based organization dedicated to advancing brain research and public education.<\/p>\n

This only adds to the timeliness of GoodTherapy.org\u2019s recent chat with one of our upcoming continuing education presenters, Dr. John B. Arden. Arden is the director of Kaiser Permanente\u2019s mental health training programs in Northern California and author of a number of books<\/a> on neuroscience, psychotherapy, mindfulness<\/a>, 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<\/i>, offers a scientifically backed examination of simple steps we can all take to nurture optimum cognitive functioning and maintain overall brain health.<\/p>\n

Dr. Arden will be presenting on \u201cNeuropsychology: A Brain-Based Therapy<\/a>\u201d\u00a0in a GoodTherapy.org web conference in May 2014.<\/p>\n

GoodTherapy.org (GT): Can you explain to me what you mean by \u201cbrain-based therapy\u201d and where the idea for it originated?<\/b><\/p>\n

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Find a Therapist<\/a><\/h2>\n\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\tAdvanced Search<\/a>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>Dr. John B. Arden:<\/b> 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\u2019s going on\u2026 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].<\/p>\n

The words \u201cbrain-based\u201d need not be thought of at all as another one of these clubs; \u2026 but rather, okay, \u2026 since we all have a brain, every one of these psychotherapies and theories ought to relate in some way to the brain .\u2026 In the long run, brain-based therapy is the common denominator vision of the future, and it\u2019s not just my idea.<\/p>\n

GT: Your most recent book, The Brain Bible<\/i>, discusses \u201chow to stay vital, productive, and happy for a lifetime.\u201d What is the brain\u2019s role in nurturing vitality, productivity, and happiness?<\/b><\/p>\n

Dr. Arden:<\/b> We know now that if you want to be healthier—not pick up the latest virus that\u2019s floating around, not suffer from dementia<\/a> later in life, not suffer from anxiety<\/a> and depression<\/a>—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.<\/p>\n

What I try to do in The Brain Bible<\/i> 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. \u2026<\/p>\n

And these five factors are incorporated in the mnemonic SEEDS; if you\u2019re planting SEEDS now, and you cultivate them throughout your lifetime, chances are you\u2019re going to feel a whole lot better about yourself and about everybody around you; people are going to want to be around you, you\u2019re going to be ill less often, and you\u2019re going to get dementia symptoms much later than other people.<\/p>\n

GT: So, what are these SEEDS factors?<\/b><\/p>\n

Dr. Arden: <\/b><\/p>\n