Episode Description

For episode 260, we are launching a new Anxiety Series on the Metta Hour. Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. To launch the series, Sharon sits down with Dr. Jud Brewer MD, Ph.D. Dr. Jud is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large. Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, and a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this conversation Sharon and Dr. Jud discuss:

• The neuroscientific definition of anxiety

• Fear of the future

• How we simulate the future

• The difference between planning and worrying

• Anxious feeling versus thought

• Qualifiers for mental health diagnoses

• The research behind Mental Noting

• The antidote to anxiety is curiosity

• Exploring gratification to its end

• How much does worrying help?

• Thinking isn’t what changes behavior

• We’re wired for happiness

• Neuroscientists don’t talk about willpower

• Internet myths about anxiety

• Deprivation curiosity

• How misinformation fuels anxiety

• Collective anxiety

• Default Mode Network

• Five Finger Breathing

• Noticing our “oh no” moments

• Kindness and curiosity are best friends

• The Unwinding Anxiety App

Additional Resources

The conversation closes with a short guided curiosity practice. You can learn more about Dr. Jud’s work and get a copy of his book, Unwinding Anxiety, right here and learn more about his Mindshift Recovery App right here.

This is Dr. Jud’s second appearance on the Metta Hour. His first appearance was in 2019 in Episode 104, which you can hear right here.

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