How does the body affect our brain, and vice versa? Can exercise, psychedelics, or the gut biome improve your mental health? Find out with neuroscientist Camilla Nord.

Watch the Q&A here (exclusively for our YouTube channel members):    • Q&A: The science of mental health - w...  
Buy Camilla's book 'The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health' here: https://geni.us/tBErOVE

This talk was recorded at the Ri on 4 March 2024.

In this talk, Camilla reframes mental health as an intricate, automated process that is different for all of us, relying on the way our bodily processes and our expectations of the world interact in our brains. She explains how our brain uses dopamine to learn what to expect, and how that can change the way we feel day to day. She looks at a variety of treatments, from therapy and medication to recreational drugs and electrical brain stimulation, to show how they work - and why they sometimes don't.

00:00 What is mental health?
7:03 Dopamine, the brain’s learning system and expectations
16:00 The link between our bodies and brains
24:42 How do anti-depressants and therapy work?
30:43 Psychedelics and the placebo effect
33:01 Bodily treatments for mental health
33:25 Anti-inflammatory drugs for depression
34:36 Is exercise a panacea for treating mental health?
37:16 The role of the gut microbiome
39:06 Are we in a mental health crisis?

---

Camilla Nord leads the Mental Health Neuroscience Lab at the University of Cambridge. Her lab explores the brain, body, and cognitive changes that drive mental health and disorder. Her lab’s s aim is to translate insights from neuroscience into improved treatments for mental health conditions, whether that’s by making better use of our current treatment arsenal by targeting treatments to personalised brain or cognitive profiles, or inventing novel, neuroscience-based treatments that might be better able to treat disabling symptoms of mental health conditions.

Camilla was named a Rising Star by the US Association for Psychological Science, received the Young Scientist Award from the European Society of Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, and has been awarded over £14 million in research funding, including from Wellcome and the Medical Research Council (MRC). Her work has been widely featured in the media, including in the Sunday Times, BBC’s The Naked Scientist, and the New Statesman. Her first book, The Balanced Brain (Allen Lane) was named one of the FT’s ‘Best books of the year’ in 2023.

---


The Ri is on Twitter:   / ri_science  
and Facebook:   / royalinstitution  
and TikTok:   / ri_science  
Listen to the Ri podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Donate to the RI and help us bring you more lectures: https://www.rigb.org/support-us/donat...
Our editorial policy: https://www.rigb.org/editing-ri-talks...
Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter

Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.