Have you ever wondered about the relationship between your brain and your mind? How does that wrinkled, gel-like matter in our head dictate our understanding of ourselves and the world?

On today’s episode of Doorknob Comments, Grant and Fara are joined by Dr. Tom Froese, a cognitive scientist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) who researches the origin and nature of the human mind by integrating philosophy of mind, computational modeling, and human subjects research.

In this episode of Doorknob Comments, Grant and Fara chat with Dr. Tom Pollak about the complex relationship between the immune system, the brain, and mental illness. Dr. Pollak is a NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London and a specialty trainee general adult psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust with a specialist interest in neuropsychiatry. Listeners will learn how doctors distinguish true autoimmune brain disorders from primary psychiatric conditions, why tests like spinal fluid analysis are complicated but sometimes crucial, and how both “it’s all psychological” and “it’s all biological” explanations can miss the bigger picture. Their conversation offers a nuanced look at how mind, brain, body, and environment interact, and why good psychiatric care requires holding all of those pieces together.