Dr. Casey Halpern: Biology & Treatments for Compulsive Behaviors & Binge Eating

My guest is Casey Halpern, M.D., Chief of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Halpern’s research and clinical practice focus on using deep brain stimulation to treat compulsive and movement disorders (e.g., binge eating disorders, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Parkinson’s disease essential tremor, dystonia). We discuss using deep brain stimulation to help patients who suffer from movement and compulsive disorders and applying this treatment to patients afflicted with binge eating. We also explore applications of this technology to other conditions such as OCD, anorexia and tremor, and the future therapeutic directions of the use of non-invasive brain stimulation approaches, including transcranial magnetic stimulation and ultrasound, for the treatment of other psychiatric illnesses and conditions. This episode will interest those curious about the biology of eating, anorexia, bulimia, compulsive thoughts and behaviors, and movement. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr. Casey Halpern & Disordered Eating & Brain Stimulation (00:03:18) ROKA, Eight Sleep, InsideTracker (00:07:19) Momentous Supplements (00:08:28) Neurosurgeon’s View of the Brain, Neurosurgery Specialization (00:13:05) Deep Brain Stimulation & Other Unexpected Positive Effects (00:17:20) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Prescriptions & Cognitive Therapies (00:25:40) Brain Areas in OCD, Risk, Rewards & Addiction (00:31:11) AG1 (Athletic Greens) (00:32:27) Facial and Vocal Ticks, Stimulants, Stress & Superstition (00:39:28) Nucleus Accumbens, Reward Circuits, Eating Disorders & Obesity (00:47:18) Stimulation of Nucleus Accumbens, Continuous vs. Episodic