ASK AN EXPERT
Got a question about a health story in the news or a health topic? Here's your chance to get an answer. Send us your questions about general health topics, diet and fitness and mental health. If your question is chosen, it could be featured on CNN.com's health page with an answer from one of our health experts, or by a participant in the CNNhealth community.




* CNN encourages you to contribute a question. By submitting a question, you agree to the following terms found below.
You may not post any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. By submitting your question, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your questions(s) and accompanying personal identifying and other information you provide via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNN Privacy Statment.
Thank you for your question!

It will be reviewed and considered for posting on CNNHealth.com. Questions and comments are moderated by CNN and will not appear until after they have been reviewed and approved. Unfortunately, because of the voume of questions we receive, not all can be posted.

Submit another question or Go back to CNNHealth.com

Read answers from our experts: Living Well | Diet & Fitness | Mental Health | Conditions

Mental Health Expert Archive

Follow this topic

Dr. Otis BrawleyDR. CHARLES RAISON Dr. Charles Raison, CNNhealth's mental health expert, is the Barry and Janet Lang Associate Professor of Integrative Mental Health at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He has a joint appointment in the College of Medicine and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and serves as Director of the Mechanisms of Emotion, Social Relationships and Health in the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences. Prior to coming to the University of Arizona, Raison was an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. He also serves as clinical director of the mind-body program and co-director of the Collaborative for Contemplative Studies.

His research focuses on how the brain and body work together, especially as related to depression in the medically ill, and on harnessing scientific understanding of the mind and body to enable more of us to enjoy happiness and health. He says that many people don't understand that the way they structure their thoughts, their relationships, and their physical conditioning will - over time - either promote well-being or contribute greatly to sickness and depression. His specific areas of study include how our immune systems play a key role in our emotional lives and using compassion meditation to prevent depression in college students by reducing stress-related inflammatory activity. He receives research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I am convinced that genuine happiness - because it makes people more peaceful, more giving, and more effective - has the power to change the world," Raison says. "True happiness depends on our ability to turn down stress and immune pathway activity in the brain and body - doing so allows us to take full advantage of the tremendous evolutionary advantage offered to species with a capacity for cooperation, compassion and altruism. So I am obsessive about studying ways to safely turn down activity in those pathways, whether it's pharmacological, psychological or spiritual."

Raison is also internationally recognized for his expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of interferon-alpha-induced depression and anxiety.

Latest

Ask a Question

Want to know more about this article or other health related issues? Ask your question and we'll post some each week for CNN.com reader to discuss or for our experts to weight in.

Ask a Question button
advertisement