Megan Smith used visual thinking to build infographics to explain how the ADHD brain functions.

Major depressive disorder is a mental illness with symptoms that affect a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Depression is widespread, but poorly understood. This video provides an overview of what depression actually is including discussion of symptoms, causes, and treatment. Created by Therapist Aid (http://www.TherapistAid.com) Music: "Water Lily" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

​Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a condition characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions. Although the neuroscience of OCD is not completely understood, in this video I discuss one supported perspective on what happens in the brain to cause the obsessions and compulsions that occur in OCD. For a more in-depth discussion of the neuroscience of OCD (on my website), click this link: https://neuroscientificallychallenged.com/posts/know-your-brain-obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd TRANSCRIPT: Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a condition characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions. Obsessions are recurrent unwanted thoughts, while compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts often performed in response to obsessions, typically with the goal of reducing anxiety and discomfort. It’s important to note that OCD is often very distressing, and is not just a preference for orderliness, as the term is sometimes used to imply. The neuroscience of OCD is not completely understood, and it’s likely that different neural circuits may be involved based on a person’s age and symptom profile, among other factors. One supported perspective on the neuroscience of OCD, however, points to a prominent role for circuits that connect the orbitofrontal cortex with a group of structures called the basal ganglia. According to this perspective, increased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex is associated with a heightened focus on concerns that spawn obsessive thoughts. When the orbitofrontal cortex is activated in response to something the brain perceives as a danger or concern, it communicates with the basal ganglia. A simplified version of basal ganglia circuitry suggests it consists of two opposing pathways: an excitatory pathway called the direct pathway, and an inhibitory pathway called the indirect pathway. When the orbitofrontal cortex sends a signal to the basal ganglia, it often leads to an action designed to alleviate the discomfort caused by the perceived danger; that action is mediated by the direct pathway. In a healthy person, the indirect pathway then inhibits further action. In someone with OCD, however, the direct pathway is over-excitable, drowning out the activity of the indirect pathway and causing a difficult time switching to a different behavior or turning focus away from the concern causing the discomfort. Thus, according to this model, overactivity in the orbitofrontal cortex and the direct pathway of the basal ganglia increases the occurrence of both obsessions and compulsions. REFERENCES: Lanciego JL, Luquin N, Obeso JA. Functional neuroanatomy of the basal ganglia. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2012 Dec 1;2(12):a009621. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a009621. PMID: 23071379; PMCID: PMC3543080. Pauls DL, Abramovitch A, Rauch SL, Geller DA. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: an integrative genetic and neurobiological perspective. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2014 Jun;15(6):410-24. doi: 10.1038/nrn3746. PMID: 24840803. Saxena S, Rauch SL. Functional neuroimaging and the neuroanatomy of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2000 Sep;23(3):563-86. doi: 10.1016/s0193-953x(05)70181-7. PMID: 10986728. Stein DJ, Costa DLC, Lochner C, Miguel EC, Reddy YCJ, Shavitt RG, van den Heuvel OA, Simpson HB. Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2019 Aug 1;5(1):52. doi: 10.1038/s41572-019-0102-3. PMID: 31371720; PMCID: PMC7370844.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a disorder that develops after someone experiences a traumatic event; it involves a variety of intrusive symptoms related to the trauma. In this video, I discuss hypotheses about what might be going on in the brain to cause PTSD. TRANSCRIPT: Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a condition that develops after someone experiences a traumatic event. It involves the occurrence of intrusive symptoms like nightmares or distressing memories that are linked to the trauma and may cause the person to feel like they are reliving aspects of the traumatic event. These symptoms also lead to the avoidance of things that remind a person of the trauma. PTSD may cause various other issues such as difficulty sleeping, negative emotions like fear, guilt, or sadness, trouble concentrating, and irritability. Although the neurocircuitry underlying PTSD is still not completely clear, one supported hypothesis suggests that PTSD involves decreased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and increased activity in subnuclei of the amygdala that are involved in the identification of threats. According to this hypothesis, the medial prefrontal cortex normally acts to regulate amygdala function, inhibiting it when there is not an immediate threat to devote attention to. In an individual with PTSD, however, the amygdala might be hyperactive and provoke a fearful reaction in response to trauma-related stimuli. The medial prefrontal cortex fails to inhibit this unnecessary amygdala activation, causing patients to experience responses that are disproportionate to the threat that trauma-related stimuli currently pose. Some patients with PTSD, however, also experience the suppression of emotions, which causes symptoms like social detachment and emotional numbness. This might be caused by an opposing mechanism where increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex dampens activity in regions such as the amygdala and other areas involved in emotional expression. Thus, the neuroscience of the disorder is complex and the neurocircuitry involved likely depends on the symptoms a particular patient displays. Additionally, more recent research has suggested a role for other networks that span larger areas of the brain in bringing about the symptoms of PTSD. REFERENCES: Etkin A, Wager TD. Functional neuroimaging of anxiety: a meta-analysis of emotional processing in PTSD, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. Am J Psychiatry. 2007 Oct;164(10):1476-88. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07030504. PMID: 17898336; PMCID: PMC3318959. Rauch SL, Shin LM, Whalen PJ, Pitman RK. Neuroimaging and the Neuroanatomy of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. CNS Spectrums. 1998 July/August;3(7):31-41. Yehuda R, Hoge CW, McFarlane AC, Vermetten E, Lanius RA, Nievergelt CM, Hobfoll SE, Koenen KC, Neylan TC, Hyman SE. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2015 Oct 8;1:15057. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2015.57. PMID: 27189040.

Anyone can develop an eating disorder. To mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2019, Cardiff and Vale UHB's Eating Disorders team, alongside a group of their service users, have developed informative animations to highlight the reality of what it means to live with an Eating Disorder. This film explores the physical and emotional consequences of living with an Eating Disorder. It was developed in partnership with Valley and Vale Community Arts and was animated and directed by Jane Hubbard. The music was by Sam Barnes. This project was made available by funding from Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and the Arts Council of Wales.

One in four adults experiences at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any given year. 9 out of 10 people who experience mental health problems say that they face stigma and discrimination as a result. Poor mental health in the workplace costs the UK an estimated £26billion a year. Recognising stress and mental health problems is not easy. Employees may take time off for odd reasons, be unproductive or unhappy at work, but the hard part is doing something about it and that is where Mental Health at Work can help managers by training them to start the conversation with a common language and literacy around mental health.

Nowadays, we know more and more about what it means to be mentally unwell - but what exactly constitutes mental 'health’? In this film, we’ll explore what characterises an optimally functioning mind. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/3kq9l Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/7O6JU The School of Life runs a global online psychotherapy service that assists clients from over 40 countries. To find out more and book a session today, please visit our website: https://t.ly/xP3EL FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/3wzucqh “So efficient and hushed are our brains in their day to day operations, we are apt to miss what an extraordinary and complicated achievement it is to feel mentally well. A mind in a healthy state is, in the background, continually performing a near-miraculous set of manoeuvres that underpin our moods of clear-sightedness and purpose. To appreciate what mental health might be (and therefore what its opposite involves), we might take a moment to consider some of what will be going on in the folds of an optimally-functioning mind...” MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Deanca Rensyta https://www.deancarensyta.com/about Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/

Addiction is not due to weakness or a lack of willpower. Instead, it’s a chronic disease involving changes in the brain. Watch to learn more. Connect with us! Website: https://www.dana.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danafoundation Twitter: https://twitter.com/dana_fdn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danafoundation/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-dana-foundation