The Dr. Jud Podcast

Title:Mindfulness Training for Addictions: Has Neuroscience Revealed a Brain Hack by Which Awareness Subverts the Addictive Process?Description:Can mindfulness offer a revolutionary approach to overcoming addictions? In this episode, we dive into Dr. Jud Brewer’s 2019 review article exploring how mindfulness-based interventions target reward-based learning mechanisms to interrupt addictive behaviors. Discover how awareness and curiosity can transform the cycle of craving, making mindful curiosity a “more rewarding reward.” We’ll discuss:•The science of reward-based learning and its role in addiction.•The orbitofrontal cortex as a key brain region in value assignment.•How mindfulness subverts habitual behaviors without relying on willpower.This episode highlights the intersection of neuroscience and ancient mindfulness practices, providing actionable insights into breaking free from habit loops.Full Reference:Brewer, J.A. (2019). Mindfulness training for addictions: has neuroscience revealed a brain hack by which awareness subverts the addictive process? Current Opinion in Psychology, 28, 198-203. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.01.014.Let's connect on Instagram

Being empathetic with patients is important for their recovery but it has its limits.In this podcast, you will learn:- How empathy fatigue can lead to burnout. - How to recognize coping behavior strategies employed by clinicians to protect from patients’ suffering that become habits and contribute to exhaustion.- How to name the core elements of the process of reinforcement learning in habit loops. - To identify new strategies to step out of unhelpful habit loops.Empathy is all about feeling our patients' pain in order to help them heal. Pain is a signal for danger and our natural response is to do something to get away from or protect ourselves from it. We develop different protection and coping strategies that become habits via the cue behavior result process of reinforcement learning. Common habit loops include: 1. Over-empathizing loop:  your patient is feeling anxious, frustrated, angry, hopeless. You empathize. You feel these feelings. 2. Self-protection loop: You armor up or distance yourself so that you don’t get burned.3. Fix it loop:  You jump into action, you have that strong urge to do something, anything.4. Take it home loop:  You worry, you can’t stop thinking about your patient or your decisions.  5. Anger loop: You get frustrated or angry and lash out at your patient, staff, or family. Recognizing the loop is the first step in stepping out of it. The home practice of module 1 is recognizing when you are in a habit loop and in which one you are and mapping its 3 elements: cue (what activated your behavior), behavior and reward (the result of your behavior). You can use the habit mapper to help you map these loops out.Click here to download the habit mapper: https://drjud.com/mapmyhabit-clinicians/To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.judLet's connect on Instagram

Compassion is a way to feel patients’ suffering without being emotionally exhausted by it. In this podcast, you will learn:-        How to differentiate between empathy and compassion.-        How to stay with patients’ suffering without being consumed by it. A way to feel patients’ suffering and not be consumed by it is to not take it personally, by removing the “me” element: not getting stuck in their story (i.e. throwing them a rope instead of jumping in the river). Compassion allows us to be with the experience of suffering while keeping patients’ story separate from our own so we can be moved to help. Empathy and compassion are siblings with different patterns of activations in the body and mind. Empathizing with someone’s pain feels contracted and closed, whereas compassion feels more open. There are two home practices for module 2: (1) Exploring the difference of being in an empathy habit loop or compassion habit loop and noticing the feelings of being contracted, closed or expansive and open. (2) The 3-step process to step out of the empathy loop and go into compassion action. 1. Take a first deep breath and see in which loop you are in. 2. Take a second deep breath and name the loop and acknowledge the behavior. 3. Take a third deep breath and step out of the empathy loop and go into compassionate action, focusing on the fact that your patient is in pain, without entering in their story. GUIDED MEDITATIONS- H.A.C.K., Habit, Awareness, Curiosity, Kindness meditation (5min)  Click here HACK    - Self-compassion meditation (5min)  Click here Self-compassion To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.judLet's connect on Instagram

Intrusive thoughts are distracting and can cause great distress. In this podcast, you will learn:-        How our minds deal with intrusive thoughts.-        To apply skills to manage intrusive thoughts in clinical settings and private life.We have no control over our thoughts. One thought can lead to another until we are overwhelmed by a train of thoughts. The harder we try to stop these thoughts, the more the mind fights back and keeps going. But we can control how we relate to our thoughts. By naming or noting these thoughts, we can choose to get on the thought train or not. In that way physicians can manage more skillfully intrusive thoughts during their clinical practice and life.The home practice for module 3 is noting thoughts and seeing what happens when we get on or we step off the thought train and come back to the present moment.GUIDED MEDITATIONSAnchoring In The Present Moment Meditation (10 min) https://drjud.com/anchoring-in-the-present-moment-meditation/Sitting Meditation (15 min) https://drjud.com/dr-jud-sitting-meditation/Working With Thoughts  (27 min) https://drjud.com/working-with-thoughts-meditation/Reboot meditation (5min) click here Reboot To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.judLet's connect on Instagram

Self-judgement gets in the way of doing our own tasks and interacting with patients and it contributes to exhaustion. In this podcast, you will learn:-How to name the core elements of the habit loop of self-judgment.-New strategies to step out of habit loop of self-judgment.-How to practice kindness toward oneself and others.Self-judgment gets in the way of being grounded in the present moment, being connected with ourselves or patients like intrusive thoughts and it contributes to exhaustion. Like in any other habit loop, we can be caught up in self-judgment because our brain thinks that punishing ourselves will help us learn for the next time. However, we can step out of the self-judgment loop by noticing and naming it. Kindness can be our at-home detox that makes us feel good and open like compassion.The home practice for module 4 is noticing the difference between self-judgment and kindness loops and exploring how it feels in the body and mind when we judge ourselves or when someone is kind to us. To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerGUIDED MEDITATIONS Loving Kindness Meditation (8 min) https://drjud.com/loving-kindness-meditation/P.F.C. Pause, Feel, Care meditation (5 min). Click here PFC P.A.C.E., Pause, Acknowledge, Care & Expand meditation (5min). Click here PACEClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.judLet's connect on Instagram

Our brain does not like uncertainty and this causes stress and anxiety.In this podcast, you will learn:-             How the brain works with uncertainty.-             How to reduce stress and anxiety for uncertaintyInformation is like food for our brain. Uncertainty is like that hunger signal telling us that we don’t have enough information, and need to gather it.  Uncertainty can cause stress and anxiety. And these can be learned as habit loops. For example, anxiety tricks our brains into thinking that worrying is rewarding because it makes us feel in control of the situation or prepares us for action. As Seth Godin put it, “worry is not preparation, and anxiety doesn’t make you better.” Like any other habit, the anxiety loop can be unlearned when we are aware of its result.  The home practice for module 5 is noticing the anxiety loops and exploring how it feels in the body and mind when you are anxious. GUIDED MEDITATIONSWorking With Anxiety (4 min) https://drjud.com/working-with-anxiety-meditation/Working With Stress (10 min) https://drjud.com/working-with-stress-meditation/To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.jud  Let's connect on Instagram

Emotional contagion is unconscious and can be toxic when we interact with other people. In this podcast, you will learn:-        How emotional contagion impacts on the interactions with patients and colleagues.-        How to use curiosity against the maladaptive effects of emotional contagion.     Emotions can be unconsciously spread from one person to another through facial expression, tone of voice and body language. Emotional contagion occurs everywhere, at any distance (e.g. through social media). Clinicians can be infected by patients’ or colleagues’ emotions and overreact as well as they can infect patients and colleagues without being aware of the contagion. Compassion, kindness and curiosity can be an effective mental vaccination against anxiety, frustration or any other stressful feeling.   The home practices for module 6 are to recognize emotional contagion and to explore what happens when you inject curiosity into the moment. Turn “Oh, no!” into “Oh?!” with an upward inflection of the voice. Or hmmm your way into awakening your inner child: curiosity.GUIDED MEDITATIONS Curiosity (5min) https://drjud.com/curiosity-5-min/Curiosity (10min) https://drjud.com/curiosity-10-min/Curiosity (20min) https://drjud.com/curiosity-20-min/To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.jud Let's connect on Instagram

Pain is subjective and several factors influenced the diagnosis and treatment of pain in patients.In this podcast, you will learn:-        The complexities involved in diagnosing and treating pain.-        How to recognize and deal with our own biases in the diagnosis and treatment of pain.      Diagnosing and treating pain are not straightforward because pain is a complex and subjective experience composed of both physical and emotional dimensions. The way we perceive our own pain and others’ pain is influenced by several factors, such as mood, emotional states, cognitive fatigue, sleep deprivation and ethnic and gender biases. Taking into account this complexity can lead to effective diagnosis and treatment. Recognizing this helps us learn to recognize how we unconsciously get in the way. And recognizing our own habits helps us step out of them. The obstacle becomes the way. There are two home practices for module 7. (1) Noticing the bias loops when you are diagnosing or treating pain in patients. (2) Noticing and turning toward your own pain instead of running away from it via curiosity and kindness.GUIDED MEDITATIONSG.A.I.N., Grounding, Acknowledge, Interest, Need meditation (5min). Click here Dropox link  Grounding meditation (5min). Click here Grounding To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.judLet's connect on Instagram

In this podcast, you will listen to the summary of all we have explored in the course.To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewerClick here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6bQu-Df7Wh2x3gFT5a8awBuild your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices.Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-by-dr-jud/id1472340683For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dr.jud Let's connect on Instagram

In today’s episode, you’ll learn the following:-Why people have been buying what seems like a decade’s worth of the toilet paper in the grocery store, and why when you see them, you suddenly feel the urge to buy toilet paper yourself.-The mechanics of reward based learning, which underpins all of our anxious thinking and behavior.-The role of the neocortex in anxiety. The neocortex is the part of the brain involved in thinking and planning.-Why a lack of information leads to anxiety, and how fear + uncertainty = anxiety-The role of social contagion and why it leads to anxiety and panic spreading more rapidly-The problem with your prefrontal cortex going offlineYou’ll also learn how to practice good mental hygiene. There are 3 key steps to this:-1) take a deep breath (or 3). This helps you literally calm your nervous system so your brain can have time to stop spinning out and get back online. 2) Ground yourself in the present moment by feeling into your hands or feet. Your feet aren’t the place in your body where you feel anxiety, so they’re a safe place to help you ground in the here and now3) Rinse and repeat.To ask questions or suggest future topics, please comment below or connect with me on Twitter @judbrewer Click here to subscribe to my Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6b...By subscribing, you’ll be notified of future daily updates and of my free weekly "office hours" anxiety Q&A session on Mondays at noon eastern US (12:00 EST) Build your body awareness using mindfulness practices, like those in the free "Breathe by Dr. Jud" app, available on both Apple and Android devices. Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe... Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de... For even more resources on anxiety, including free mindfulness exercises, visit my website: https://www.drjud.comFollow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/judbrewerFollow me on Instagram Let's connect on Instagram