Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain ~ Paperback ~ Elaine Fox

Are you optimistic or pessimistic? Glass half-full or half-empty? Do you look on the bright side or turn towards the dark? These are easy questions for most of us to answer, because our personality types are hard-wired into our brains. As pioneering psychologist and neuroscientist Elaine Fox has discovered, our outlook on life reflects our primal inclination to seek pleasure or avoid danger inclinations that, in many people, are healthily balanced. But when our 'fear brain' or 'pleasure brain' is too strong, the results can be disastrous, as those of us suffering from debilitating shyness, addiction, depression, or anxiety know all too well. Luckily, anyone suffering from these afflictions has reason to hope. Stunning breakthroughs in neuroscience show that our brains are more malleable than we ever imagined. In Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, Fox describes a range of techniques from traditional cognitive behavioural therapy to innovative cognitive bias retraining exercises that can actually alter our brains circuitry, strengthening specific thought processes by exercising the neural systems that control them. The implications are enormous- lifelong pessimists can train tAuthor BiographyElaine Fox, born in Dublin, is a leading experimental psychologist and neuroscientist. Formerly Head of the Department of Psychology and Centre for Brain Science at The University of Essex, she is currently a Visiting Research Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. She has published widely in scientific journals and her work has been discussed in The Economist, New Scientist, New York Times, Guardian, The Times and others.