Huberman Lab

Dr. Casey Halpern: Biology & Treatments for Compulsive Behaviors & Binge Eating

Sep 26, 2022

02:11:00

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Episode guests

Casey Halpern

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Quick takeaways

Deep brain stimulation shows promise in treating compulsive and movement disorders, including binge eating disorders.

The nucleus accumbens plays a central role in reward processing and motivation, and targeted brain stimulation can restore normal function in this area.

Binge eating disorders can be influenced by a vulnerability to certain types of food and recurring stressful events.

Society's negative perception of binge eating disorders and obesity contributes to stigma and exacerbates the problem.

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques like transcranial magnetic stimulation and ultrasound hold potential for treating various brain disorders.

Deep dives

Introduction to the Huberman Lab Podcast

In this episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast, the host Andrew Huberman, a neurobiology and ophthalmology professor at Stanford School of Medicine, interviews Dr. Casey Halpern, the Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. They discuss the innovative approach taken by Dr. Halpern's laboratory to address eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Instead of relying solely on traditional therapies like medications and talk therapy, they focus on using engineered devices, including deep brain stimulation, to directly stimulate specific neurons in the brain. Dr. Halpern shares insights from their research on using deep brain stimulation to treat loss of control eating and the underlying role of the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain associated with motivation and reward-seeking behavior.

The Problem with Sustained Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

00:32

Understanding the 'Two-Hit Hypothesis' of Eating Disorders

01:30

Challenges in treating patients with addiction despite improved awareness

01:55

Neurosurgeons look for particular neurons by sound

01:17

Introduction

4min

Ate Sleep Mattress Covers - A Game Changer in Quality and Duration of the Night

3min

The Huberman Lab Podcast Is Now Partnered With Momentus Supplements

1min

Neurosurgery

5min

How Deep Brain Stimulation Can Help Parkinson's Disease

4min

Ocd

1min

Deep Brain Stimulation for OCD - What's the Difference?

5min

Is Deep Brain Stimulation a Good Therapies for OCD?

2min

What Brain Areas Are There Differences in OCD?

6min

10.

Athletic Greens - The Probiotic Drink That Covers All of Your Nutritional Needs

4min

11.

Ocd

3min

12.

The Relationship Between OCD and Reward Addiction

3min

13.

Treating Obesity and Eating Disorders

6min

14.

Is the Stimulation Providing a Stimulus Accumbens?

3min

15.

Does Binge Eating Disorder Come on Shockingly?

3min

16.

Anxiety and Binging

2min

17.

Neurosurgeons

2min

18.

Is It Related to Anxiety?

2min

19.

Eating Disorders - Is There a Predisposition?

5min

20.

Parkinson's Tremor

2min

21.

Identify Craving Cells Related to Obsessive Eating Disorder

3min

22.

Donuts Are Good. I Love Donut, I Love Cronuts

6min

23.

Using Conectomics in the Operating Room for OCD

3min

24.

N-R-X-E-a - The Mirror Image of Binge Eating Disorder?

3min

25.

Anorexia and the Nucleus Acumbens

4min

26.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

4min

27.

Getting Deeper in the Brain With TMS

3min

28.

Regulatory. Is That Really the Case?

2min

29.

MRI Guided Focus Ultrasound for Tremor

2min

30.

Is Focus Ultrasound for Tremor Effective?

5min

31.

UCSF and Baylor Trying to Target Electrodes in Depression

3min

32.

Ocd

5min

33.

Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Really Help Refractory Patients?

2min

34.

Is There a Role for Machine Learning in Suicide Prevention?

3min

35.

We Need Scalable Solutions

2min

36.

Neurosurgery

3min

37.

Do You Really Need a Personal Trainer?

2min

38.

Neurosurgery

2min

39.

Neurosurgeons - How to Still the Body and Still the Mind?

3min

40.

Neurosurgery

3min

41.

Neurosurgery

4min

42.

Dr. Casey Halpern and Neurosurgery

4min

My guest is Casey Halpern, M.D., Chief of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Halpern’s research and clinical practice focus on using deep brain stimulation to treat compulsive and movement disorders (e.g., binge eating disorders, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Parkinson’s disease essential tremor, dystonia). We discuss using deep brain stimulation to help patients who suffer from movement and compulsive disorders and applying this treatment to patients afflicted with binge eating. We also explore applications of this technology to other conditions such as OCD, anorexia and tremor, and the future therapeutic directions of the use of non-invasive brain stimulation approaches, including transcranial magnetic stimulation and ultrasound, for the treatment of other psychiatric illnesses and conditions. This episode will interest those curious about the biology of eating, anorexia, bulimia, compulsive thoughts and behaviors, and movement.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman

LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab

Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman

Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman

Timestamps

(00:00:00) Dr. Casey Halpern & Disordered Eating & Brain Stimulation

(00:03:35) Sponsor: LMNT

(00:08:28) Neurosurgeon’s View of the Brain, Neurosurgery Specialization

(00:13:05) Deep Brain Stimulation & Other Unexpected Positive Effects

(00:17:20) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Prescriptions & Cognitive Therapies

(00:25:40) Brain Areas in OCD, Risk, Rewards & Addiction

(00:29:30) Sponsor: AG1

(00:32:27) Facial and Vocal Ticks, Stimulants, Stress & Superstition

(00:39:28) Nucleus Accumbens, Reward Circuits, Eating Disorders & Obesity

(00:47:18) Stimulation of Nucleus Accumbens, Continuous vs. Episodic Stimulation

(00:49:49) Binge Eating Disorder & Loss of Control Eating

(00:53:02) Developing Binge Eating Disorder: Predisposition, Environment, Stress

(01:02:07) Electrodes in Nucleus Accumbens, Identifying “Craving Cells”

(01:11:41) Effects of Stimulation, Interrupting Craving, Intermediate Stimulation

(01:16:46) Anorexia, Obesity & Compulsions, Potential Treatments for Anorexia

(01:23:14) Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

(01:32:27) MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound: Tremor, Essential Tremor & Parkinson’s

(01:36:40) Future of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Epilepsy & Depression

(01:41:51) Pre-Behavioral States in Compulsion & Awareness, Mood Provocation

(01:48:02) Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence & Compulsion Predictions

(01:53:05) Neurosurgeon Hands, Resistance Training & Deadlifts

(01:59:00) “Neurosurgeon Calm,” Quality Time & Prioritization, Neurosurgeon Training

(02:09:53) Daily Habits: Sleep, Exercise, Mediation

(02:11:59) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous Supplements, Neural Network Newsletter, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

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Huberman Lab

Dr. Casey Halpern: Biology & Treatments for Compulsive Behaviors & Binge Eating

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Introduction to the Huberman Lab Podcast

Understanding OCD and its Brain Circuits

Exploring Binge Eating Disorder and Obesity

The Role of Nucleus Accumbens and Reward Circuits

Factors contributing to binge eating disorders

Stigma and societal impact

Exploring deep brain stimulation

Ultrasound for Non-Invasive Brain Treatment

The Role of Awareness and Self-Reflection in Neurosurgery

The Problem with Sustained Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Understanding the 'Two-Hit Hypothesis' of Eating Disorders

Challenges in treating patients with addiction despite improved awareness

Neurosurgeons look for particular neurons by sound

Thank you to our sponsors

Timestamps

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Huberman Lab

Dr. Casey Halpern: Biology & Treatments for Compulsive Behaviors & Binge Eating

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Introduction to the Huberman Lab Podcast

Understanding OCD and its Brain Circuits

Exploring Binge Eating Disorder and Obesity

The Role of Nucleus Accumbens and Reward Circuits

Factors contributing to binge eating disorders

Stigma and societal impact

Exploring deep brain stimulation

Ultrasound for Non-Invasive Brain Treatment

The Role of Awareness and Self-Reflection in Neurosurgery

The Problem with Sustained Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Understanding the 'Two-Hit Hypothesis' of Eating Disorders

Challenges in treating patients with addiction despite improved awareness

Neurosurgeons look for particular neurons by sound

Thank you to our sponsors

Timestamps

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