# Can the brain understand itself? My thoughts on the brain: its functions and diseases Page: Feed: --- ## [The Black Dog’s Sibling: Or What Happens When Your Heart Is Broken](https://smedler.substack.com/p/the-black-dogs-sibling-or-what-happens) _2026-06-22 · Dr Erik Smedler_ In my previous post, I wrote about depression and how it has affected me throughout my life. It is both interesting and a dubious privilege to experience, within the same year, two different states that are commonly referred to as depression: severe biological depression on the one hand, and grief on the other. ## [The black dog](https://smedler.substack.com/p/the-black-dog) _2026-06-02 · Dr Erik Smedler_ Many of us, like Winston Churchill, have lived our lives with an unwelcome guest in the form of a black dog. ## [The Eyes Are the Mirror of the Soul](https://smedler.substack.com/p/the-eyes-are-the-mirror-of-the-soul) _2026-01-06 · Dr Erik Smedler_ Look into your neighbor’s eyes. ## [Consciousness, Intentions, and the Social Game](https://smedler.substack.com/p/consciousness-intentions-and-the) _2025-09-02 · Dr Erik Smedler_ In the previous post I wrote about consciousness and how one might think about where it begins; that it is like a wave without a clear start or end. ## [Chasing One’s Shadow](https://smedler.substack.com/p/chasing-ones-shadow) _2025-06-09 · Dr Erik Smedler_ Reflecting on the existence of the universe, the origins of life, and why life became conscious is something most people do now and then—some more than others, and perhaps especially when young. ## [A medical mystery](https://smedler.substack.com/p/a-medical-mystery) _2025-03-30 · Dr Erik Smedler_ The other evening, I rewatched the excellent film Awakenings, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. ## [Psychiatric diagnostics 8](https://smedler.substack.com/p/psychiatric-diagnostics-8) _2025-03-23 · Dr Erik Smedler_ This is a continuation of my series of posts on psychiatric diagnostics. ## [In the eye of the beholder](https://smedler.substack.com/p/in-the-eye-of-the-beholder) _2024-12-31 · Dr Erik Smedler_ Happy new year! ## [Days come and go in our lives](https://smedler.substack.com/p/days-come-and-go-in-our-lives) _2024-12-23 · Dr Erik Smedler_ I don’t want to miss a single day ## [Stream Torrents & IPTV Instantly (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/FlpH1qLfPLcB) _2024-12-23 · **Sponsored**_ Search magnet links and stream movies, music, books, and live TV in-browser ## [Rise, take up your bed, and walk: catatonia](https://smedler.substack.com/p/rise-take-up-your-bed-and-walk-catatonia) _2024-09-01 · Dr Erik Smedler_ In the Gospel of John in the New Testament, it describes how Jesus heals a paralyzed man at Bethesda.