Review: This is Your Brain on Joy by Dr. Earl Henslin

The book is a hybrid of self-help book and scientific paper. It is refreshing to read about hard science’s role in a field typically described as a soft science. The author explains with the use of SPECT scans (brain imagining scans) each major section of the brain and its chief responsibilities concerning moods and emotions. His goal was to make the brain easy to understand for the average person. However, at times the ‘dumbing down” is more confusing because the author assigns more than one name to various brain sections, the scientific and the folksy term. It would have been less distracting if he had chosen one and just stuck with it.

Indeed, the author takes on a difficult task in covering all of the treatment options, medical and holistic, that are available today. For example, common prescription drugs, supplements, music, cinema therapy, physical exercises, and aromatherapy are all covered. In addition, the author provides famous quotations, Bible passages, and case histories to motivate and sooth those with the discussed problems. The treatments are in easy to navigate tables and categories.

Despite the positive components of the book, I have two main criticisms. Firstly, the author should regard supplements with the same caution as he does prescription medicines. Herbal medicines and supplements could have interactions with other medications, not just anti-depressants. Secondly, the author’s attempts at humor in various sections of the book are at best distracting. In some cases, they are obnoxious and ungrounded. For instance, more than once PMS is called Pre-Monster Syndrome and at one point is likened to bipolar disorder.

This is Your Brain on Joy
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