Positive Psychiatry - with Rakesh Jain, MD

Rakesh Jain, MD
  • 5.0 (15)
  • MENTAL HEALTH

Positive Psychiatry with Rakesh Jain, MD explores the science and practice of fostering mental wellness, resilience, and flourishing through the lens of psychiatry. Join me as I discuss articles and opinions from expert clinicians, researchers, and thought leaders as they discuss emerging strategies to enhance well-being, purpose, and strengths—not just reduce symptoms. From gratitude and optimism to meaning and connection, this podcast brings evidence-based insights into the heart of mental healthcare. I am additionally a proud member of the Steering Committee of Psych Congress. This year's annual meeting is September 17-21 in San Diego, California.

Episodes

  1. 3D AGO

    Complement Giving & Receiving: How Praise Rewires The Brain And Strengthens Bonds

    A few well-chosen words can do more than lift a mood—they can change a brain. We dive into the neuroscience of compliments and show how authentic praise activates the same reward circuitry that responds to money and novelty, while empty flattery leaves those circuits cold. Drawing on recent fMRI and EEG research, we unpack why sincerity matters biologically, how the ventral striatum and vmPFC evaluate credibility, and what happens when dopamine lowers prediction error and lets new learning take root. From the receiver’s side, we trace the path from auditory decoding to valuation, salience detection, and identity encoding. Precise, earned compliments don’t just feel good; they strengthen memory consolidation and shape self-belief in lasting ways. We also explore the roles of oxytocin, serotonin, and endogenous opioids in trust, social warmth, and stress regulation, revealing how praise functions as a microdose of safety and belonging in a threat-heavy world. Givers aren’t left out. Naturalistic studies show that offering a sincere compliment activates reward and empathy networks in the giver, creating a vicarious boost that enhances connection and well-being. To turn science into practice, we share three rules for high-impact compliments: be precise, link to values and effort, and keep it earned and truthful. Walk away with a simple habit—one sincere compliment a day—that can transform relationships, culture, and mental health from the inside out. www.JainUplift.com

    31 min

  2. JAN 20

    Magical Sleep: The Ultimate Positive Psychiatry Intervention

    What if the strongest lever for mental health is the one most of us neglect every night? We make the case that sleep is not a luxury but the biological foundation that makes therapy, medication, and daily life work better. Modern lighting, screens, and social jet lag push a Paleolithic brain into chronic hyperarousal, turning insomnia from a nuisance into a driver of depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and even suicide risk. We unpack why insomnia often precedes psychiatric illness and how that reframes care from symptom-chasing to true prevention. You’ll hear how sleep loss derails prefrontal control, amplifies amygdala reactivity, blunts reward processing, and narrows cognitive flexibility—then we pivot to solutions. Treat sleep as a system, not a switch: align sleep drive and circadian timing, use light as medicine, and deploy CBT-I to recalibrate the nervous system. Stimulus control, sleep restriction, and cognitive decatastrophizing reduce conditioned arousal, while smart circadian habits and precise melatonin timing support natural onset. Medications have a place, but we discuss architecture trade-offs and how to use them thoughtfully. Beyond symptom relief, we explore sleep as human capacity building. REM functions like overnight emotional therapy, easing fear memories and restoring psychological flexibility. Deep sleep supports synaptic homeostasis, metabolic clearance, learning, and memory—fuel for creativity and problem-solving. We share practical strategies for adolescents and older adults, the promise of digital CBT-I for access and scale, and a positive psychiatry playbook that treats sleep as preventive medicine and a path to resilience and meaning. www.JainUplift.com

    51 min

  3. JAN 5

    Positive Psychiatry Masterclass: How A Med Check Appointment Can Be UpLifted

    What if the most powerful tool in your exam room isn’t a prescription, but a better question?  We sit down with Professor Shailesh “Bobby” Jain, MD, MPH to reimagine everyday psychiatry through a positive lens—one that treats flourishing as a legitimate clinical outcome alongside symptom relief. Rather than racing through checklists, we explore how starting with “What does a good life look like to you?” shifts the room, clarifies values, and turns treatment into a collaboration. Bobby lays out a practical playbook for clinicians and curious listeners: identify strengths like perseverance, curiosity, humor, and compassion as data, not decoration; approach resilience as capacity for recovery, not a demand to “be tough”; and bring meaning and purpose into the plan because they modulate reward circuits, buffer stress, and predict long-term health. We dig into trainable positive emotions—gratitude, awe, humor, kindness—and how brief, intentional practices broaden attention, increase cognitive flexibility, and help the brain rehearse safety without denying pain. Relationships take center stage as core treatment, not an afterthought. We map belonging, ask who helps you feel seen, and treat connection-building with the same seriousness as dose changes. Hope reappears as an honest engine—belief that steps exist—while self-compassion helps separate identity from illness and quiets the body’s threat systems. We also look at why this approach protects clinicians from burnout: it restores meaning in the work, deepens rapport, and expands what success looks like for patients and providers alike. If you’ve ever felt that a visit focused only on symptoms leaves healing on the table, this conversation offers clear questions, concrete steps, and a refreshing North Star.  www.JainUplift.com

    29 min

  4. JAN 2

    How Positive Psychiatry Can Prevent Burnout And Restore Purpose - Perspectives from A Residency Program Director

    Our special guest today is Shailesh 'Bobby' Jain, MD, MPH, professor of psychiatry and residency and fellowship program director at Texas Tech University School of Medicine - Permian Basin.  What if the goal of psychiatric training wasn’t just fewer symptoms, but fuller lives? We sit down with Dr. Bobby Jain—program director and full professor—to examine how positive psychiatry reframes care for patients and preserves purpose for clinicians. The disease model gave us rigor and a shared language, yet it cannot teach identity after depression, relational repair after trauma, or meaning after remission. That’s where strengths, values, and purposeful routines step in—not as extras, but as essential parts of recovery. We dig into the tension residents feel: becoming expert problem-spotters while growing blind to what’s strong. Bobby names the hidden curriculum—sleep loss, moral injury, relentless evaluation—and explains why wellness is a professional competency, not a perk. He shows how a few evidence-based questions in the first interview shift outcomes: What helped you survive? Who gives you strength? What matters most now? These prompts surface adaptive data, boost engagement, and anchor plans in what patients value. We connect the dots to neuroscience and behavior: neuroplasticity, reward pathways, inflammation, and social connection all support strengths-based care. Then we reimagine supervision. Instead of only risk and paperwork, we build reflective space: Why did this case land so hard? What value was challenged? What did I learn about myself? That practice reduces depersonalization and grows clinical wisdom. Finally, we sketch a training redesign where positive psychiatry is woven into inpatient, outpatient, psychotherapy, and consults. Residents graduate fluent in diagnosis and well-being, and success metrics expand to include resilience, curiosity, and professional longevity. If you’re a clinician, educator, or trainee hungry for care that heals beyond remission, this conversation offers practical tools and a hopeful roadmap.  www.JainUplift.com

    19 min

  5. JAN 2

    Positive Psychiatry and Glutamate: A Marriage Blessed by Neuroscience

    Positive Psychiatry and Glutamate: A Marriage Made in Heaven and Blessed by Neuroscience In this in-depth episode of Positive Psychiatry with Rakesh Jain, MD, Dr. Rakesh Jain examines a critical convergence in contemporary psychiatry: the alignment of Positive Psychiatry with advances in glutamatergic neuroscience. Traditional psychiatric models have appropriately emphasized symptom reduction—targeting mood, anxiety, psychosis, and behavioral dysregulation. Yet growing clinical and neuroscientific evidence suggests that symptom remission alone does not fully capture mental health outcomes that matter most to patients, including meaning, purpose, resilience, cognitive flexibility, and post-traumatic growth. Positive Psychiatry emerged to address this gap, grounding constructs such as optimism, gratitude, wisdom, and flourishing in measurable neurobiological systems. In parallel, neuroscience has undergone a major shift in its understanding of glutamate—the brain’s most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter—not merely as a mediator of excitotoxicity, but as the central regulator of synaptic plasticity, learning, and adaptive change. In this episode, Dr. Jain integrates these two domains, arguing that Positive Psychiatry and glutamate are not complementary by coincidence, but by necessity. Listeners will explore: Why flourishing depends on intact neuroplasticityHow glutamatergic signaling governs learning, updating, and cognitive flexibilityThe role of AMPA and NMDA receptor dynamics in experience-dependent changeWhy chronic stress and trauma impair plasticity at synaptic and network levelsHow depression can be conceptualized as a disorder of reduced adaptability rather than mood aloneWhy monoaminergic treatments modulate experience but often fail to restore plasticityHow psychotherapy, meaning-making, and strengths-based interventions are biologically plasticity-dependentImportantly, this episode reframes glutamate as a process rather than a molecule—one that determines whether experience is capable of altering brain structure and function. Positive Psychiatry, in turn, provides the directional framework that guides plasticity toward adaptive, meaningful outcomes. This conversation is not centered on a single treatment or intervention, but on a unifying model of psychiatric care—one that integrates neurobiology, psychotherapy, and human flourishing. For clinicians, researchers, and learners seeking a scientifically grounded yet forward-looking perspective on mental health, this episode offers a rigorous and hopeful re-examination of how change becomes possible in the human brain. www.JainUplift.com

    41 min

  6. 07/18/2025

    Schizophrenia: Using the Lens of 'What's Strong, Not What's Wrong'

    Shifting our perspective on schizophrenia means recognizing that people aren't defined by their diagnosis. This fundamental truth forms the foundation of positive psychiatry—a complementary approach that acknowledges the serious nature of schizophrenia while focusing on strengths, resilience, and possibilities for a meaningful life. Traditional psychiatry views patients through a deficits-based lens, treating them as collections of symptoms to be fixed. This creates a missed opportunity to foster purpose, resilience, and joy. Positive psychiatry doesn't ignore pathology but enhances treatment by asking deeper questions: What are this person's strengths? How can we support recovery through meaning-making? How do we improve their social connection and resilience, even during psychosis? The approach operates on the HERO framework—Happiness, Enthusiasm, Resilience, and Optimism. These pillars support positive human experience and exist in everyone, including those with schizophrenia. Practical applications include strategic medication selection that preserves cognitive function, character strength identification, peer support utilization, and positive psychology interventions like gratitude practices and savoring exercises. Research shows these approaches improve emotional regulation, quality of life, and social connection even when positive symptoms persist. Cognitive remediation becomes particularly important since cognitive difficulties are core symptoms of schizophrenia that can limit a person's ability to benefit from positive interventions. Physical exercise, proper nutrition, and sleep hygiene—all aspects of positive psychiatry—address areas where people with schizophrenia often struggle. The neuroscience of recovery connects directly with dopamine systems implicated in schizophrenia, highlighting why this approach makes biological sense. By shifting our lens from "what's wrong" to "what's strong," we acknowledge patients as complete human beings who happen to have a disorder, rather than being defined by it. Ask yourself daily: What can I do to help patients thrive, not just survive? That's the heart of positive psychiatry. www.JainUplift.com

    24 min
  7. Flourishing, Not Just Functioning: Top 10 Tips for Positive Psychiatry Practitioners

    07/07/2025

    Flourishing, Not Just Functioning: Top 10 Tips for Positive Psychiatry Practitioners

    What if traditional psychiatry has been missing half the equation? While treating symptoms matters, patients ultimately want more—they want to flourish, not just function. In this groundbreaking conversation between Dr. Rakesh Jain and wellness expert Dr. Saundra Jain, we unpack ten transformative tips for clinicians seeking to master positive psychiatry. This isn't about replacing traditional approaches but enhancing them with evidence-based practices that nurture wellness alongside treating illness. You'll discover how shifting from a problem-centric to a wellness-centric mindset transforms the therapeutic relationship. Learn practical ways to incorporate strengths-based interviewing, turning routine appointments into opportunities for growth and hope. We explore how simple interventions like the "three good things" practice can produce measurable improvements in well-being, even when practiced for just one week. The conversation delves into neuroplasticity as a scientific foundation for hope, helping patients see themselves as "becoming" rather than broken. We examine how meaning-making accelerates healing and why lifestyle factors deserve recognition as primary psychiatric interventions. You'll gain insights into measuring flourishing—not just pathology—with tools like the PERMA profiler and WHO-5 wellness scale. Perhaps most importantly, we address why clinicians must embody these principles themselves. As Dr. Saundra Jain powerfully states, "Our presence, how we show up... that is the intervention, that is the medicine." Whether you're a psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, nurse practitioner, social worker, or simply curious about wellness, these science-backed approaches will expand your practice and uplift your perspective. Try implementing just one tip this week and witness how it transforms both your patient interactions and your own well-being. www.JainUplift.com

    38 min

  8. 07/04/2025

    Reframing ADHD: Beyond Deficits to Discovering Strengths

    Imagine a world where ADHD isn't just viewed as a collection of deficits but as a unique neurological variation with both challenges and remarkable strengths. That's the revolutionary perspective Dr. Rakesh Jain explores in this thought-provoking episode that challenges conventional thinking about one of the most misunderstood conditions in psychiatry. Drawing on over three decades of clinical experience, Dr. Jain proposes a fundamental shift from the traditional deficit model to a diversity model that acknowledges the full spectrum of human experience. "Differences aren't deficits—they're variations," he explains, "and every variation comes with strengths and weaknesses." While never minimizing the very real impairments that come with ADHD, this episode illuminates how positive psychiatry can complement traditional approaches by recognizing the creativity, spontaneity, and unique cognitive gifts often present in those with ADHD. The episode takes listeners on a three-part journey, first challenging conventional thinking about ADHD, then building a positive psychiatry toolkit specifically for ADHD care, and finally exploring how to build resilience and meaning. Dr. Jain shares practical strategies for clinicians and patients alike, including character strength assessments, mindfulness techniques, and ways to identify and enhance "flow states"—those moments of deep engagement where people with ADHD often excel. He also shares a moving personal essay written by a psychiatrist married to someone with ADHD, offering rare insight into living with and loving someone with this condition. Perhaps most powerfully, Dr. Jain encourages clinicians to help patients reframe their identity from "broken to brave," emphasizing how a genuine expression of admiration for a patient's tenacity can be "as powerful as any medication we can possibly offer." By the end, listeners will understand why the question "what's strong?" deserves as much attention as "what's wrong?" when working with ADHD patients. Whether you're a healthcare provider, educator, parent, or someone living with ADHD, this episode offers a refreshing perspective that could transform how you view neurodevelopmental differences. www.JainUplift.com

    35 min

  9. 06/28/2025

    Wellness Deficit Disorder: The Hidden Epidemic in Modern Psychiatry

    'Wellness Deficit Disorder':  Could we be missing something crucial in mental healthcare? Beyond the familiar symptoms that define psychiatric disorders lies a hidden dimension of wellness that most clinicians never address—despite it being what patients value most. I and Saundra Jain introduce the revolutionary concept of "Wellness Deficit Disorder," a condition not yet recognized in diagnostic manuals but profoundly present in clinical practice. Through compelling research, we reveals a startling disconnect: while clinicians focus primarily on symptom reduction, patients rank "feeling that life is meaningful" as their highest priority, with symptom reduction ranking only fifth on their list. This isn't just philosophical musing. Using the HERO Wellness Scale (measuring Happiness, Enthusiasm, Resilience, and Optimism), research shows individuals with psychiatric disorders score 18-25% lower on wellness measures compared to those without diagnoses. Even more compelling, neurobiological studies reveal separate neural circuits for positive emotions versus negative ones, challenging our fundamental understanding of psychological health. The implications transform how we should approach treatment. When patients engage with evidence-based wellness practices like nature reconnection, digital decluttering, nutrition optimization, and meaningful socialization, their psychiatric symptoms often improve more significantly than with symptom-focused treatments alone. In some cases, wellness deficits actually precede symptom emergence, suggesting preventative possibilities. This approach doesn't reject conventional psychiatry but enhances it, offering a more complete path toward psychological well-being. By addressing both the absence of illness and the presence of wellness, we can finally help patients achieve what they've been asking for all along—not just survival, but genuine thriving. Are you ready to expand your understanding of what comprehensive mental healthcare really means? www.JainUplift.com

    1h 2m

  10. 06/22/2025

    Beyond Symptoms: The Promise of Positive Psychiatry

    Psychiatry finds itself at a crossroads. For decades, we've focused on symptom reduction—targeting depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges with medications and traditional therapies. But something crucial has been missing from this equation. In this inaugural episode of Positive Psychiatry with Rakesh Jain, I reveal what patients truly want from mental health treatment—and it might surprise you. Drawing from groundbreaking research by Zimmerman and colleagues at Brown University, I share how patients rank their priorities differently than clinicians expect. While symptom reduction matters, patients place even greater importance on regaining life satisfaction, finding meaning, and recapturing joy. As a psychiatrist with over three decades of experience, I've witnessed firsthand both the triumphs and limitations of traditional approaches. That's why I introduce the concept of positive psychiatry—not as a replacement for conventional methods, but as their essential complement. I explain how psychiatric disorders don't just cause negative symptoms; they actively erase positive psychological traits like optimism, resilience, enthusiasm, and happiness (the "HERO" traits). The science behind positive psychiatry is compelling. Brain imaging studies show optimistic people have larger gray matter volumes in key regions and different activation patterns in emotional regulation centers. Even more fascinating? Positive emotions can actually lower inflammation markers in the body. This isn't just feel-good psychology—it's neurobiologically sound medicine. I also introduce evidence-based interventions that work, including Well-Being Therapy and the Wild 5 Wellness Program, which has demonstrated remarkable results in just 30 days: 51% increases in enthusiasm, 63% improvements in resilience, and 43% reductions in depressive symptoms. Join me on this journey to expand our definition of successful treatment beyond symptom elimination toward cultivating true wellness. Subscribe to future episodes as we explore practical strategies to help patients—and ourselves—build lives filled with meaning, joy, and resilience. Zimmerman M, et al. Am J Psychiatry. 2006;163(1):148-150 Demyttenaere K, et al. J Affect Disord. 2015;174:390-396. Jeste DV, et al. J Clin Psychiatry. 2015;76(6):675-683. Becker KD, et al. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2011;38(6):440-458. Gallup and Sharecare Announce 2017 State Well-Being Rankings. www.well-beingindex.com/2017-gswbi-state-rankings. Accessed August 21, 2018. Jain S, et al. Presented at: 29th Annual US Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress; October 2016; San Antonio, TX.  Spinhoven P, et al. PLoS One. 2015;10(10):e0139912.  Menezes AM, et al. PLoS One. 2013;8(11):e80370. Burgdorf J, et al. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(2):173-187.  Loonen AJ, et al. Med Hypotheses. 2016;87:14-21.  Berridge KC, et al. Neuron. 2015;86(3):646-664.  Kringelbach ML, et al. Trends Cogn Sci. 2009;13(11):479-487.  Berridge KC, et al. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013;23(3):294-303. Greenberg T, et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015;10(4):605-611. Yang J, et al. Neurosci Lett. 2013;553:201-205. Matsunaga M, et al. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2011;32(4):458-463 www.JainUplift.com

    22 min
  • 10 Episodes

5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Positive Psychiatry with Rakesh Jain, MD explores the science and practice of fostering mental wellness, resilience, and flourishing through the lens of psychiatry. Join me as I discuss articles and opinions from expert clinicians, researchers, and thought leaders as they discuss emerging strategies to enhance well-being, purpose, and strengths—not just reduce symptoms. From gratitude and optimism to meaning and connection, this podcast brings evidence-based insights into the heart of mental healthcare. I am additionally a proud member of the Steering Committee of Psych Congress. This year's annual meeting is September 17-21 in San Diego, California.

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