The DOSE Effect: Optimize Your Brain and Body by Boosting Your Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins (2025) TJ Power
TJ Power is a neuroscientist based in the UK who developed a protocol to help himself change his life, addressing his personal challenges with anxiety and depression utilizing the information he had learned about neuroscience and psychology while in school. After applying these tools consistently for about 3 months in his early 20s, he was able to make significant shifts and started sharing his protocol with others and developing a research lab to continue to deepen the research.
Powers presents a metanalysis of research on each of the individual neurotransmitters, followed by a handful of exercises one can practice to increase a sustainable and healthy balance of this neurotransmitter in the brain, as well as identifying present-day factors that are likely interfering with a consistent release of these neurotransmitters and creating mood imbalances (usually related to screen time and other technology that we know is designed based on comparable research to hijack these same neuro functions to be addictive).
As always, I get a little skeptical when folks make sweeping generalizations guaranteeing that what worked for them “will work for you too!” as opposed to acknowledging that this worked well for him, there’s a lot of neuroscience to support why it worked for him, so try it and see if it works for you too… (and there are a handful of statements like that in this book). Additionally, Powers is good at acknowledging that not all of the body-based activities that are recommended in this book are going to be a good fit for every body and to consult with a doctor first, but I don’t recall him offering the same caveats as he suggests that these activities will help you heal your own struggles with anxiety, depressed mood, or addictions. So let me just do that now: in the event that these suggestions are not enough, please reach out to a mental health and/or addictions specialist to help you navigate your healing process further.
How was this book recommended to me? My sister, who is a functional medicine provider.
Would I recommend this to my colleagues? Yes
Would I recommend this to my clients? Yes, and I have already
How do I apply this content to my work: The brain and body are interconnected. And something Powers says in the book that I appreciate was that we talk about “mental health”, but “mental health” is not focused solely on the brain–it includes the body too, as well as relationship to context and relationships with others. And out of the 20 exercises he presents, many include body-based, interpersonal, and/or environmental contexts in addition to cognitive. While there is a lot of research supporting the validity of theoretical models such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, I find that modalities such as this can be fairly limited and siloed when used on their own. And when I introduce them (or techniques from these modalities), I do so as part of a wider bio-psycho-social-spiritual context. Additionally, I love the neuroscience because I find it provides a nice cognitive anchor to the more ambiguous experience of emotional and somatic experiences, and helps my clients “wrap their brain” around the modalities I am offering (that often focus on the body) to allow for an integrative approach (for me)/integrated experience (for them).
If you live in WA state and feel like you need a mental health and/or addictions professional to help you navigate your challenges with anxiety, depression, and/or addiction , contact me. Let’s schedule a free 15-minute consultation and see if we might be a good fit to work together.
