This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg

Many of us experience moments of insecurity about our looks, but for some people, their reflection in the mirror becomes a source of severe distress.
Dr. Katharine Phillips is a leading authority on Body Dysmorphic Disorder,  (BDD) a condition that affects how individuals perceive their appearance. She has authored seminal books that have helped shape how this disorder is recognized and managed worldwide.
As a psychiatrist and researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine, she has dedicated her career to understanding and treating this often-misunderstood disorder. And her work has been instrumental in improving outcomes for patients struggling with this distorted body image.
 
For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit
https://thisisyourbrain.com  
For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit
https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Imagine a world where everyone looks the same and you can't recognize one person from another – even you own child! It sounds like a frightening episode from the "Twilight Zone", but it's just every day life for people with prosopagnosia, better known as "Face Blindness".  
We humans use parts of our brains to see, process and recognize faces that are different from recognizing anything else in our lives, which is not surprising when you consider how important faces are to understanding the situations we are in and the emotions of the people closest to us.
In this episode, Dr. Brad Duchaine, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College and one of the world's experts on face recognition, explains how how the face blind perceive the world, the strategies they use to mange their lives, and the unfortunate people who experience the rare (and almost unpronounceable) condition of "prosopometamorphopsia."
Plus, hear how "Super Recognizers" are using the opposite of face blindness to help fight crime. 

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit
https://thisisyourbrain.com  
For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit
https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

The human brain has a remarkable ability to recognize faces and decode identity, emotion, and intent almost instantly. But what happens when that ability breaks down? Our next guest Dr. Brad Duchaine is a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College and one of the world's leading researchers on how the brain processes faces. His work focuses on conditions that make it difficult or even impossible for people to recognize familiar faces, including those of close friends and family.  
For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit
https://thisisyourbrain.com 
For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit
https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Why do we sometimes drink too much, even when we know the risks? In this episode, surgeon, author, and recovering alcoholic Dr. Charles Knowles joins us to explore the neuroscience of alcohol use and addiction. Drawing from his book "Why We Drink Too Much" and his own lived experience, Dr. Knowles describes how alcohol alters the brain's reward pathways, and how drinking problems exist on a spectrum. Through neuroscience and deeply personal insight, he speaks to alcohol's impact on mental and physical health and gives inspiration to others through sharing his own journey to recovery.   
For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit
https://thisisyourbrain.com  
For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit
https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Alcohol is one of the most ubiquitous and celebrated substances on the planet. It is woven throughout our social lives and culture, often without acknowledgement of its impact on the brain or the impact of addiction.
Our guest, Dr. Charles Knowles, is a surgeon and Chief Academic Officer at Cleveland Clinic, London. His new book, "Why We Drink Too Much: The Impact of alcohol on Our Bodies and Culture", is his first popular science work, driven by a deeply personal reason, his own battle with alcohol.