A podcast is a digital audio file that you can listen to at home, when you’re out for a walk and so on. “Our Brains Aren’t Broken, Our Society is” is hosted by Alexis Haines and is joined by Johann Hari. This podcast talks about mental health and how much human connection can have a positive affect on our well-being.

I really liked the structure of this podcast as they covered some interesting facts. For example, I liked how they explained drunken values and that people tend to look for happiness in the wrong places. They also added how we can change this to help our mental health and well-being. 

 The stories they told were powerful in adding context to their points.There was one story that explained how different countries perceived what an antidepressant was.  

Another topic I found interesting was about self-help and whether self-help actually works? To an extent, I personally think it does. However, just like this podcast explains, that love and connection with others helps with recovery, at some point we need to reach out for support.  

They went on to say about a research project that was carried out about happiness and what people think makes them happy. This was carried out in four counties and participants were told to do 2hrs of consciously making themselves happier each day to find out if this does make people happier.  

The results came back and it was found that in 3 out of the 4 countries it did work. The country that it didn’t work for was the USA. This was because people in the USA used the 2hrs to do something for themselves but the other three countries did things for other people.  

I found that this research made me think that overall doing things for other people made you happier. However, there are exceptions and it’s always good to do something for yourself now and then too. 

Overall, speaking about these stories and research allows people to realize the importance of love and connection which allows us to value much more in life. 

The podcast mentioned that lockdown is making us rethink our life schedule to see if they work for us, and I completely agree with that. Lastly, what I’m taking away from the podcast is that we are powerful when we are together.

Listen To “Our Brains Aren’t Broken, Our Society Is” Podcast Here!