During a period of clinical depression, Brad Jacobs underwent two years of cognitive therapy. This process was a turning point, helping him reframe his perfectionistic "musts" and "shoulds" into mere preferences. This shift allowed him to accept reality, reduce stress, and operate more effectively.

Ferriss points to the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, where dietary intervention is used for severe mental illness. He cites cases where schizophrenia patients, after years of failed medications, get off all prescriptions by adopting a ketogenic diet. This approach stabilizes the brain by providing ketones as a clean energy source.

To overcome negative mental states like depression, focus on physical action rather than cognitive wrestling. Activities like intense exercise, clean eating, or even simple biological hacks like side-to-side eye movement directly alter your neurochemistry, offering a more effective path to change than thought alone.

Molly Carlson, who has Generalized Anxiety Disorder, finds that the three seconds she's in the air during a high dive are the most silent her brain ever is. The extreme physical risk and focus required create a temporary state of pure presence, making the dangerous act a powerful mental escape.

Many people use substances to treat anxiety or depression, not realizing the substance itself causes a dopamine deficit that mimics those conditions. Abstaining for four weeks allows the brain to reset its reward pathways and restore natural dopamine production, often resolving the symptoms entirely.

Counterintuitively, the brain's most relaxed state is not during passive rest but during intense focus on a single activity. Engaging in challenging hobbies that require full concentration is a more effective way to decompress and manage stress than traditional relaxation.

Neurofeedback is a non-invasive training method that reflects the brain's own electrical activity back to it. This teaches self-regulation and optimization without introducing external energy or compounds, making it a form of biofeedback specifically for the brain.

A Quantitative EEG (QEEG) or "brain map" analyzes brainwave patterns to identify cognitive struggles and even sleep quality. Practitioners can often describe a person's core challenges with surprising accuracy, providing objective data before any subjective report is given.

Tim Ferriss found combining accelerated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with the antibiotic D-cycloserine (DCS) made a single day of treatment as effective as a full week. DCS, a cognitive enhancer, appears to increase neuroplasticity, making the brain more receptive to stimulation and dramatically reducing treatment time.