The Upward Spiral Quotes

“The lack of perceived progress can be de-motivating. On top of that, not believing you can achieve your goals increases feelings of hopelessness.15 Thus, it’s important to have at least a few goals that you believe you can achieve. Creating specific, meaningful, and achievable long-term goals can be a powerful way to reverse the course of depression.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“With each little bit of exercise I did, each time I chose to move a little more, everything became easier. My brain was juicing up on all those good neurochemicals—all that serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine began making things happen. The BDNF was silently working away. As a result, not only did I have a bigger appetite, but food tasted better, and I wanted to eat healthier foods. I didn’t worry about things as much, and my sleep improved. I felt like I had more free time and even felt younger. Then exercise became more appealing, and slowly I became intrigued by the thought of a marathon.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Keep an exercise plan. Add exercise on your to-do list or calendar and check it off when you complete it. Planning activates the prefrontal cortex, and checking it off the list releases dopamine. Win-win.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“In the late 1940s, the writer Albert Camus, suffering a bout of tuberculosis, journeyed from war-ravaged Paris to seek warmth and solace in his birthplace of northern Algeria. In a gray, rainy December, he found everything had changed and bitterly recognized the folly of hoping to relive his younger days. And yet he realized that the warm joy of his youth lay still untouched in his memory, writing, “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me is an invincible summer.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Whether playing an instrument or listening to the radio, music increases heart-rate variability, though making music has a stronger effect.4 Music engages most of the limbic system, including the hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and nucleus accumbens, which is why it can be motivating and enjoyable and can help regulate your emotions.5 It can also be soothing, lowering blood pressure6 and reducing stress.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Yes, that’s a silly example of how worrying can get in the way of living your life, but then again, almost all our worries look ridiculous to a third party. It’s hard to explain exactly why you worry about some things, but you do, and it gets in the way of your well-being.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Understanding is powerful in itself because knowing what's going on creates a better sense of control. Understanding also provides a step toward acceptance, and until you accept how things are now, it is difficult, if not impossible, to change.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“We have to constantly remind ourselves that our brains may be skewing the unknown toward the negative, so we don’t miss out on the potentially awesome rewards on the other side.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“You know that depression is a dysfunction in frontal-limbic communication. You know that the prefrontal cortex helps manage your emotions and desires so that you can plan for the future. The dorsal striatum acts out old habits, and the nucleus accumbens controls enjoyment and impulses. The anterior cingulate manages attention to the negative or the positive, and the insula is responsible for emotional sensations. The amygdala mediates anxiety. The hypothalamus regulates numerous hormones and controls the stress response. The hippocampus is closely tied to the amygdala and hypothalamus and is essential to learning and memory.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“In the beginning, it was just an impulse to eat, but eventually it became deeply ingrained as a routine. Once a routine, pleasure was no longer a part of it, nor was attention, but it still provided a sense of control in a crazy world. It became an addiction.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Awareness does not require emotion, because emotion and awareness are mediated by different brain regions. Noticing a mistake might automatically trigger the emotional amygdala, but becoming aware of your own reaction activates the prefrontal cortex, which calms the amygdala.25”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Finding ways to calm the hypothalamus is therefore one of the best ways to reduce stress.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Interestingly, if you try to do too much exercise or feel forced to do it, it may not have the right effect.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Decision making in the prefrontal cortex, which is a high-level brain process, affects the lower-level sensory processes.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“Fear is a response to actual danger that is right here, right now, while anxiety is concern for events that only might happen—events that may be unpredictable and that you may lack control over.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“nonjudgmental awareness—the process of being aware of the present, without attaching emotional reactivity to it.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“But enough about the individual chemicals involved; let’s get to the circuits.”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

“In Japan, a young man pedals a stationary bike as scientists use infrared light sensors to monitor the blood flow in his brain. Just fifteen minutes of biking is sufficient to increase activity in circuits responsible for emotional control and to raise levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin.2”
― Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time