Dr. Nicole Rust is an emotion neuroscientist and author of Elusive Cures, a bold new book exploring why neuroscience still hasn’t solved brain disorders — and how we can change that.
Despite decades of research and billions of dollars spent, conditions like depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia remain without true cures. Rust argues that part of the problem is how we think about the brain — not as a simple domino chain of causes and effects, but as a self-looping, complex system more like a hurricane. Fixing it isn’t about finding a single “broken piece,” but about helping the brain relearn its way back to health.
Expect to learn why our traditional models of mental illness are flawed, how feedback loops in the brain make treatment harder, why emotions aren’t localized to one brain region, the staggering advances that now let scientists record from a million neurons at once, how psychedelics may unlock childhood-like plasticity, why pairing them with therapy is key, how AI is transforming neuroscience, the future of mental health research, and much more…
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
03:20 – Can We Actually Cure Brain Disorders?
06:05 – The Precision Medicine Problem in Epilepsy
08:35 – Migraines: A Modern Success Story
10:20 – Are All Brain Disorders Even Curable?
12:15 – Why We Can’t Eliminate Negative Emotions
13:40 – Alzheimer’s vs. Psychiatric Disorders: Why One is Easier to Target
15:30 – The Domino Theory of the Brain — and Why It’s Wrong
18:10 – Feedback Loops: How the Brain Defies Simple Fixes
21:05 – Antidepressants, Complexity, and the Butterfly Effect
24:00 – Why Psychiatry Hasn’t Found Biological Fingerprints Yet
26:55 – Studying Mood: From Brain Circuits to Gut Bacteria
30:10 – The Gut–Brain Connection in Emotional States
33:02 – Redefining ‘Cause’ in Neuroscience
36:14 – How Psychedelics Affect the Brain (and Why Research is Hard)
39:45 – The Cultural and Regulatory Barriers to Psychedelic Studies
43:30 – Are We Studying Psychedelics at the Right Speed?46:18 – Why Mental Health Isn’t Just a Brain Problem
49:12 – The Role of Environment in Brain Disorders
52:05 – Could Psychedelics Transform Mental Health?
56:28 – Neuroplasticity: The Brain’s Built-In Adaptation System
1:00:15 – Why Cures Might Not Be Universal
1:03:42 – The Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis
1:06:50 – Spectrums vs. Phase Transitions in Depression
1:11:14 – Rethinking How We Define ‘Normal’ Mood
1:14:22 – How Definitions Shape Mental Health Treatment
1:18:35 – The Brain–Body Conversation We’re Not Having Enough
1:22:14 – Quantum Mechanics, Continuums, and Consciousness
1:25:33 – Why Theories of Mind Matter for Cures
1:28:56 – What Science Still Doesn’t Know About Mental Health
1:33:44 – The Next Big Breakthroughs We Should Be Chasing
1:37:02 – Final Thoughts & Where Mental Health Science Goes Next
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