This Is Your Brain On Joy - A Review

Dr. Earl Henslin’s latest book, This Is Your Brain on Joy, incorporates cutting edge research in a work designed to help readers balance their mood and restore their brain’s health. Using SPECT technology (SPECT stands for single photon emission computerized tomography!), Henslin has been able to identify major regions of the brain and decipher the causes of many of our mood swings and other erratic emotions.

That fancy technology maps the brain, allowing trained professionals to understand human behavior from a very technical perspective. Dr. Henslin does a marvelous job, in this book, of simplifying his findings down to a level that is easily understood. His goal is not to sound impressive; rather, he works very diligently to keep his explanations as accessible as possible.

What Dr. Henslin found is that there a few major areas in the brain that control how humans behave. When a certain area of the brain becomes activated, certain actions result in that person. The book helps readers to understand that causal relationship, but it goes futher. Dr. Henslin’s book helps readers to understand themselves in terms of how their brain works.

Each of the brain areas is given a major chapter, in which Dr. Henslin describes what effects it has on a person. Then, there are detailed instructions on how to heal that portion of your brain. Those instructions cover everything from diet to aromatherapy to cinematherapy (Yes, he actually suggests movies to sooth each area of the brain!).

Dr. Henslin’s book brings a complicated scientific procedure to an accessible level of writing, although the cost of the procedure itself leaves it outside the range of most people’s budget. Because the SPECT scan is so expensive, Dr. Henslin’s book is written in such a way that the reader can safely predict what a result would show for them, based on how they answer a lengthy questionnaire. Henslin’s goal is that every reader will answer those questions, thereby discover which areas of their brain need healing, and take his suggestions for how to accomplish that healing.

After taking his questionnaire, I identified the areas in my brain that are most in need of work, and I learned something about myself by studying the chapters on those areas of my brain. I hope to put some of his suggestions into practice and experience some of the healing he writes of.

In all, I was pleased with the easy reading level of the book, having feared that the technicality would go over my head, and I was easily able to grasp the ideas Dr. Henslin shares. I was, though, left with a bit of uncertainty as to how significant an impact those ideas will have in my life. Dr. Henslin is, clearly, fascinated with the SPECT technology, and I don’t doubt that it greatly increases the effectiveness of his psychiatry practice; but I was left wondering whether his questionnaire and suggestions might not be a little too simple. I enjoyed the book, and it was a quick read. It fits well into the self-help genre, and I think that, if read and put into practice, it could help a reader to bring their emotions to a more consistent level.

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