Neurocultural Health and Wellbeing

Aim of this devoted book Series in neurology is to highlight the relationship between neuroscience and culture. Nowadays, there is more evidence of how our brain is influenced by the various artistic and cultural disciplines, both in the form of entertainment as well as – and above all – through the emotions and gratification which lead to wellbeing. The emotional mechanisms, the different cultural manifestations provided, are due to the activation of a perceptual and cognitive range that constitute the basis of the social behaviors. All this makes us aware of the benefits the arts have on personal and collective health.

This concept was already known to philosophers in ancient times, who were convinced that inner balance was influenced by culture and in particular by music.

During the centuries, men understood that the cultivation of the spirit, or humanitas, had a certain role on behavior and from the beginning of modern experimental science, in the fifteenth, the spread of the notions of neuroanatomy allowed artists to get closer to the knowledge of the brain’s mechanisms and reveal the emotional and empathic responses at the basis of creativity, and indeed of their own psychophysical wellbeing. A dialogue between the science of the mind and artistic disciplines was born. The results of this meeting made it possible to better define which mental processes are involved when we come into contact with the various humanistic disciplines, and how they can be applied, for instance, to the treatment of mental disorders and neuropsychiatric diseases.

The goal of this Series is both to prove the role of biological brain mechanisms and the influence of various artistic forms on clinical practice, especially in neuro-psychiatric disorders, as well as to trace different therapeutic and psycho-physical well-being applications based on scientific evidence from medical literature.

Volumes of the Series will be edited by experts under the supervision of an international editorial committee.  Each book, focused on a specific discipline, will provide knowledge on relationship between the brain activity and different forms of language, communication, art.  This close inter-relationship with specific focus on different forms of art will explain the effectiveness of this kind of approaches in neuro-psychiatric diseases.

This Series will allow to understand how the culture is one of the fundamental tools to improve general well-being, quality of life and motivation in neurological diseases.

This Series also find a correlation with SDG3 goal “ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages” for the progress of the health and wellbeing considering that neurological diseases are on the rise worldwide including in the developing countries.