Summary of Alex Korb, Ph.D.'s The Upward Spiral

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 Everyone has depressive tendencies to a varying degree. While most people have wellness tendencies that keep them from getting stuck in the downward spiral of depression, not everyone does.

#2 We don’t know what depression is exactly, but we do know the symptoms and many of the brain regions and neurochemicals involved. We don’t understand depression in the same detailed way we understand other brain disorders like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.

#3 The flow of traffic through a city is complex and dynamic. The same is true of the brain. In depression, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the brain. It’s simply that the particular tuning of the neural circuits creates the tendency toward a pattern of depression.

#4 Your brain is made up of billions of neurons, which transmit electrical signals that turn into chemical signals to communicate with each other. Each electrical pulse and resulting squirt of neurotransmitter is not an order commanding the next neuron’s actions but rather a vote on what the next neuron should do.