Judson Brewer Popular Books

Judson Brewer Biography & Facts

Judson Alyn Brewer (born 1974) is an American psychiatrist, neuroscientist and author. He studies the neural mechanisms of mindfulness using standard and real-time fMRI, and has translated research findings into programs to treat addictions. Brewer founded MindSciences, Inc. (now known as DrJud), an app-based digital therapeutic treatment program for anxiety, overeating, and smoking. He is director of research and innovation at Brown University's Mindfulness Center and associate professor in behavioral and social sciences in the Brown School of Public Health, and in psychiatry at Brown's Warren Alpert Medical School. Early life and education Judson Brewer is the son of Victor and Alice Brewer. As a boy he delivered papers for the Indianapolis News and received a college scholarship sponsored by that newspaper in 1992. He attended Brebeuf Preparatory in Indianapolis and earned an A.B. in chemistry in 1996 at Princeton University. He earned his M.D. in 2004 from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where in 2002 he had also earned his Ph.D. in immunology, working in the laboratory of Louis J. Muglia. His dissertation was titled The Role of Glucocorticoids in Immune System Development.Between 2005 and 2007 Brewer worked in the post-doctoral Neuroscience Research Training Program at the Yale School of Medicine. He was chief resident in 2007 at the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit of the Connecticut Mental Health Center, and he had a research training fellowship in substance abuse at Yale. In 2008 Brewer completed his residency in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. In 2009 he earned board certification in psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Career Academia In Brewer's early career he was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, and also a research affiliate in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as director of research at the Center for Mindfulness of the University of Massachusetts Medical School prior to joining the faculty at the Mindfulness Center of Brown University as director of research and innovation.Brewer began meditating to deal with stress while a graduate student at Washington University School of Medicine. In 2011 he and colleagues published a study reporting, "the brains of experienced meditators—those who have been meditating for at least 10 years—showed decreased activity in the areas linked to attention lapses, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and plaque buildup in Alzheimer disease. This effect was seen regardless of the type of meditation practiced. The areas in question comprise the default mode network, which consists of the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices."Michael Pollan wrote that in 2012, Brewer, "using fMRI to study the brains of experienced meditators, noticed that their default-mode networks had also been quieted relative to those of novice meditators. It appears that, with the ego temporarily out of commission, the boundaries between self and world, subject and object, all dissolve. These are hallmarks of the mystical experience."By 2013 Brewer's focus was on "neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interface between stress, mindfulness and the addictive process, and in developing effective means for the modulation of these processes to better treat substance use disorders." He was also developing measurements of mindfulness practice, using functional MRI methods with real-time feedback to examine effects of mindfulness-training on brain function and mental health.In 2012, Brewer founded MindSciences, Inc. to create app-based digital therapeutics programs based on the mindfulness training and research he pursued in his lab at Yale University. The company's apps are built on his research and the experiences of thousands of users both in clinical trials and real-world use. The apps include: "Unwinding Anxiety" for anxiety and stress reduction, "Eat Right Now" for dysfunctional eating and "Craving To Quit" for smoking cessation. Clinical research from 2017 showed a 40% decrease in craving-related eating after two months of using the "Eat Right Now" app. A study on the "Craving To Quit" app found a mechanistic link between reductions in brain reactivity to smoking cues and reductions in cigarette smoking that were specific only to mindfulness training, compared to the National Cancer Institute's QuitGuide app. A single arm study of Unwinding Anxiety published in 2020 found a 57% reduction in anxiety in anxious physicians. A randomized controlled trial of Unwinding Anxiety published in 2021 found a 67% reduction in anxiety in people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (vs. 14% with usual clinical care). In 2019, MindSciences launched a portal. In 2019 and 2020, MindSciences won the "Health Value Award in Behavioral Health Management", an award "to recognize outstanding services, products, and programs across 34 categories spanning the healthcare industry". Mindsciences was acquired by Sharecare Inc. (Nasdaq SHCR) in 2020. Key teachings Brewer uses Pandita's quote to illustrate the difference between dopamine secretions and joy: "In their quest for happiness, people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness." He advises using curiosity as a hack to move the brain's attention away from anxiety and cravings. Media appearances Markham Heid of Time quoted Brewer's explanation of his research findings in 2014: "Basically, meditation helps your brain get out of its own way... It's mostly about being aware of your thoughts and not running after them in your mind." Brewer also had begun to focus on "how mindfulness practice can affect learning processes leading to positive habit change", translating research findings into clinical use, specifically with clinical trials of smoking cessation using neurofeedback with mindfulness. Sandra Gray of UMass Boston wrote of "the striking impact of mindfulness on people trying to quit smoking", describing his interview with Meghna Chakrabarti on WBUR's Radio Boston. Brewer had said, "It seems that in experienced meditators some of these regions [associated with the brain's default mode network] get pretty quiet when they are meditating. There's an activity change in the brain. There's a lot more work to be done, but it's probably letting go of some of these pathways that are laid down each time someone uses."On 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper featured his own experiences at a mindfulness meditation retreat and visited Brewer "to learn more about the cutting-edge brain imaging research he is conducting to confirm that mindfulness can be an effective treatment for addictions to everything from food to tobacco to opioids—even to electronic devices like cell phones."In addition, Farrah Jarral of Al Jazeera noted in 2016 that traditional addiction treatments have a relapse rate of .... Discover the Judson Brewer popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Judson Brewer books.

Best Seller Judson Brewer Books of 2024

  • 30 Days 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety synopsis, comments

    30 Days 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety

    Bev Aisbett

    From the bestselling anxiety expert, Bev Aisbett, comes a proven and practical workbook to help people manage their anxiety, with simple daily strategies for work and for home. A c...

  • Living With It synopsis, comments

    Living With It

    Bev Aisbett

    The classic guide for panic attack sufferers now fully revised and updated. Panic attacks approximately 5% of the population will experience them at some time or another. The dre...

  • All of It synopsis, comments

    All of It

    Bev Aisbett

    Bev Aisbett's simple and humorous illustrated selfhelp books have provided guidance on anxiety, depression, selfimage and selfworth issues for thousands of readers over the past 18...

  • Deshacer la ansiedad synopsis, comments

    Deshacer la ansiedad

    Judson Brewer

    Estamos atravesando uno de los períodos de más ansiedad que cualquiera de nosotros pueda recordar. Ya sea que enfrentemos problemas tan públicos como una pandemia o tan personales ...

  • Get Over It synopsis, comments

    Get Over It

    Bev Aisbett

    Got difficulties? Get over it... GET OVER IT is the perfect resource to help you feel more grounded in your ability to face the difficulties in your life. Finding Release From the ...

  • Unwinding Anxiety Summary synopsis, comments

    Unwinding Anxiety Summary

    Instant-Summary

    Unwinding Anxiety New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind A Comprehensive Summary The first section of the book is titled: “Introduction”...

  • Unwinding Anxiety Summary synopsis, comments

    Unwinding Anxiety Summary

    Summary Life

    Unwinding Anxiety New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind A Comprehensive Summary The first section of the book is titled: “Introduction” th...

  • The Beauty of Discomfort synopsis, comments

    The Beauty of Discomfort

    Amanda Lang

    Why do some people drive change while others are blindsided by it? Why are some people able to adapt and thrive?How can we make change easier?Truly successful people don’t merely t...

  • The Book of Burnout synopsis, comments

    The Book of Burnout

    Bev Aisbett

    Australia's bestselling anxiety and mental health expert, Bev Aisbett, tackles a growing mental health emergency: burnout.Burnout happens when we take on too much, when we think we...

  • The Highly Sensitive Person synopsis, comments

    The Highly Sensitive Person

    Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.

    The 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the original groundbreaking book on high sensitivity with over 500,000 copies sold. ARE YOU A HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON?  Do you have a keen...