Debugging Your Brain

by Casey S Watts

The human brain is buggy. Sometimes your mind distorts reality, gets frustrated with shortcomings, and spirals out of control. With practice, you can debug your brain. Catch those distortions of reality, transform those frustrations into insight, and short-circuit those downward spirals. Debugging Your Brain (DYB) is a clear applied psychology book and a concise self-help book. Whether or not you have a technical background, you will find the software development analogies approachable and insightful. You will likely reference and re-read DYB many times, each time discovering new insights. DYB is full of practical techniques. Each technique is condensed to its core idea, accompanied by just enough story to make it memorable . Each chapter has activities to help you put its techniques into practice. The chapters Modeling The Brain, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Introspection, Identifying Inputs, Experience Processing, Experience Validation, and Cognitive Restructuring. Your brain is a complex system. Patch the software that runs in your mind.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

94 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2020

Reviews

[Abi Olvera · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who really likes productivity and self-help books, I really enjoyed this book. It's concise, to the point, and uses good examples to break down what is actually going on when you find yourself hung up on something. It gives clear pointers on how to handle situations like when you're not sure why you snapped or overreacted. He uses examples that are very familiar to people in math, engineering, coding, etc. If you can debug or examine a problem systematically, then why not apply the same approach to your brain? He gives these techniques names that make them easy to implement and remember, like saying "whoop!" to notice when there's something off and you should examine how you're feeling. Also, looking at therapy as training, making new circuits and default actions, rewiring you. There's actionable steps after every chapter make sure you grasped the subject and also can review it later quickly. I highly recommend this book!

[Britt O'Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey Watts unpacks the processes of CBT with the empathetic expertise of a neuropsychologist and the methodological efficiency of a computer programmer. Debugging Your Brain is a pragmatic, digestible guide for all audiences.

He introduces techniques (like the WHOOP!) which have been super helpful personally. Especially during the past year of uncertainty/anxiety/depression.

The president is propagating misinformation and inciting discord? WHOOP! Upward comparisons to people on social media? WHOOP! Body image struggles? WHOOP! 2020 apocalypse bingo coming at you with another surprise? WHOOP!

20/20 would recommend this toolkit to combat cognitive distortions.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this short book Watts eloquently explains some psychology and CBT approaches to process challenges in life in a way that makes them easily to apply in reality. Some of the approaches were new to me. For example "Talk to a duck". But Casey makes it easy to understand how it could be helpful. For more familiar ideas like "talk to a friend" Watts digs into the nuance and complexity of being a good listener and validation. Easy to read and immediately practical. I highly recommend.

[Brian Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all have moments that feel just plain bad. It's human. Those moments can lead us into a downward spiral.

As a nonfiction reader, I was excited to find a book offering a compassionate look at momentary thoughts and feelings.

With a few simple strategies, begin to actively practice noticing your automatic thoughts, feelings, and external triggers.

I learned to use long-proven techniques used by therapists and experts with this insightful and actionable book.

These concepts help me catch my negative patterns.

If you're looking to be a better support system to your friends, family, and colleague, you'll be glad to hear in depth practical ideas here. These were new to me!

The validation chapter gives new ways to dig deeper into others feelings with support and emotional intelligence. How do you stay present? What should I consider when reflecting on their experience?

The book guides you through activities to put the techniques into practice. Every chapter ends with activities you can do in your real life.

[Samuel Taggart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and thought provoking book.

[Harry J. Foxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lightweight (easy/quick read) about metacognition, although the author oddly never mentions that term. Useful advice and practice for jumping out of mind-on-autopilot into necessary introspection:
What am I doing, why am I doing it? That's the essence.
Simple to understand, not so easy for some to practice that level of self-awareness. But worth trying.
Analogy to computer programming useful if you have that experience (I do).