Claim OwnershipPositive Psychiatry - with Rakesh Jain, MD
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© 2026 Positive Psychiatry - with Rakesh Jain, MD
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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.
12 Episodes
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What if the missing piece in mental health care isn’t more gravity—but more gentle levity? We take you inside the science of humor as a core psychological skill, not a distraction or denial. Drawing on research in positive psychiatry, Dr. Rakesh Jain explains how healthy humor works at the neural level to restore flexibility, ease anhedonia, and strengthen connection without minimizing pain. We break down the mechanisms that make humor a biologically efficient intervention. From benign predi...
The most common phrase we hear isn’t “I’m sad”—it’s “I can’t feel anything.” That missing spark is anhedonia, and it quietly blocks recovery even when mood scores look better. We put anhedonia at the center of care and walk through how to recognize it in real language, measure it with the right tools, and rebuild reward step by step so life becomes worth pursuing again. We break reward into its working parts—anticipation, motivation, effort, learning, valuation, and enjoyment—and explain why...
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 ta...
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 ho...
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 l...
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 l...
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 neuroscien...
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 f...
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 treatin...
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...
'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...
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 Univers...
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