Rewiring Stigma: Understanding Mental Illness Through the Brain

by David Rock

Mental illness isn’t weakness. It’s biology, and understanding it changes everything.

In Rewiring Stigma, David Rock blends science, storytelling, and lived experience to reframe how we think about mental health. With decades of firsthand insight as a psychiatric nurse, foster parent, and person living with mental illness, Rock delivers a compassionate, evidence-based exploration of what really happens in the brain and how stigma distorts both care and identity.

This groundbreaking guide

How neurotransmitters and brain structures shape mental health

What psychiatric medications actually do and why they’re not “cheating”

How therapy, nutrition, exercise, and sleep rewire the brain for recovery

Why language and culture play a bigger role in stigma than most people realize

How we can change conversations and lives through understanding

Backed by the latest neuroscience and supported by powerful analogies and insights, Rewiring Stigma equips readers to move beyond fear, beyond labels, and toward empathy, healing, and change.

Whether you live with a mental health condition, love someone who does, or want to help transform public understanding, this book will leave you informed, encouraged, and empowered.

55 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2025

About the author

Dr. David Rock coined the term neuroleadership, and is the Co-founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Institute (NLI). The Institute is a 23-year-old cognitive science consultancy that has advised over 50% of the Fortune 100. With operations in 24 countries, the institute brings neuroscientists and leadership experts together to make organizations better for humans through science.

Dr. Rock has authored four successful books including Your Brain at Work, a business best-seller, and has written for and been quoted in hundreds of articles about leadership, organizational effectiveness, and the brain which can be found in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., USA Today, BBC, The Boston Globe and more.

Dr. Rock is originally Australian, though based in the US since 2010. He holds a professional doctorate in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University in the UK.