The Upward Spiral
Alex Korb · 2015
The Upward Spiral (2015) is a book by Alex Korb on Neuroscience of Depression. A UCLA neuroscientist explains depression as a self-reinforcing loop between the thinking and feeling brain, then shows how small changes to exercise, sleep, decisions, gratitude and touch reverse the spiral.
A neuroscientist's case that depression is a circuit stuck in a loop, and that tiny, unimpressive actions are enough to bend the loop the other way.
Two of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of The Upward Spiral pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first two.
- Depression isn't a broken brain, it's a working brain tuned to a bad setting. The prefrontal cortex and limbic system fall into a self-reinforcing pattern, which is why the same circuits that trap you can also carry you out.
- Worry and anxiety are different animals. Worry lives in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate as thinking about a bad future; anxiety is the amygdala's bodily alarm, which is why reasoning with anxiety fails and why calming the body works.
The other 5 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 9 chapters
The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.
- A Map of the Depressed Brain
- The Downward Spiral: Worry, Anxiety, and the Negative Filter
- Why Nothing Feels Fun Anymore
- Exercise: The Closest Thing to a Wonder Drug
- Decide Something, Even Imperfectly
- Sleep as Circuit Maintenance
- Biofeedback: Steering the Brain Through the Body
- The Gratitude Circuit
- Other People, Therapy, and the Compounding Effect
Finish The Upward Spiral tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 11 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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