GUEST SERIES | Dr. Paul Conti: How to Understand & Assess Your Mental Health

This is episode 1 of a 4-part special series on mental health with
psychiatrist Dr. Paul Conti, M.D., who trained at Stanford School
of Medicine and completed his residency at Harvard Medical School
before founding his clinical practice, the Pacific Premiere Group.
Dr. Conti defines mental health in actionable terms and describes
the foundational elements of the self, including the structure and
function of the unconscious and conscious mind, which give rise to
all our thoughts, behaviors and emotions. He also explains how to
explore and address the root causes of anxiety, low confidence,
negative internal narratives, over-thinking and how our unconscious
defense mechanisms operate. This episode provides a foundational
roadmap to assess your sense of self and mental health. It offers
tools to reshape negative emotions, thought patterns and behaviors
— either through self-exploration or with a licensed professional.
The subsequent three episodes in this special series explore
additional tools to further understand and improve your mental
health. For the full show notes, including articles, books, and
other resources, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors
AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman BetterHelp:
https://betterhelp.com/huberman Waking Up:
https://wakingup.com/huberman
Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps
(00:00:00) Dr. Paul Conti (00:03:46) Sponsors: BetterHelp &
Waking Up App (00:06:55) What is a Healthy Self? (00:10:41) Agency
& Gratitude; Empowerment & Humility  (00:16:13)
Physical Health & Mental Health Parallels (00:20:21) Structure
of Self; Unconscious vs. Conscious Mind; “Iceberg” (00:26:15)
Defense Mechanisms; Character Structure “Nest”, Sense of Self 
(00:31:27) Predispositions & Character Structure (00:36:01)
Sponsor: AG1 (00:37:27) Character Structure & Action States;
Physical Health Parallels (00:46:20) Anxiety; Understanding
Excessive Anxiety (00:53:12) Improving Confidence: State Dependence
& Phenomenology; Narcissism (00:59:44) Changing Beliefs &
Internal Narratives (01:06:04) Individuality & Addressing
Mental Health Challenges (01:11:21) Mental Health Goals &
Growth (01:17:32) Function of Self (01:23:00) Defense Mechanisms:
Projection, Displacement (01:30:14) Projection, Displacement,
Projective Identification (01:34:50) Humor, Sarcasm, Cynicism
(01:40:41) Attention & Salience; Negative Internal
Dialogue  (01:45:02) Repetition Compulsion & Defense
Mechanism, Trauma (01:58:55) Mirror Meditation & Self
Awareness; Structure & Function of Self, “Cupboards” (02:04:57)
Pillars of the Mind, Agency & Gratitude, Happiness (02:13:53)
Generative Drive, Aggressive & Pleasure Drives (02:21:33)
Peace, Contentment & Delight, Generative Drive; Amplification
(02:24:18) Generative Drive, Amplification & Overcoming
(02:33:00) Over-Thinking, Procrastination, Choices (02:42:20)
Aggressive, Pleasure & Generative Drives, Envy (02:49:46) Envy,
Destruction, Mass Shootings (02:55:38) Demoralization, Isolation,
Low Aggressive Drive (03:02:50) Demoralization, Affiliate
Defense  (03:09:32) Strong Aggressive Drive, Competition,
Generative Drive Reframing  (03:20:02) Cultivating a
Generative Drive, Spirited Inquiry of the “Cupboards” (03:26:06)
Current Mental Health Care & Medications (03:35:33) Role of
Medicine in Exploration (03:40:41) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube
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