Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What happens to your brain after you’ve survived war, buried your 19-year-old son and discovered that trauma can return years after the danger has passed?
Neurosurgeon and Iraq War veteran Dr Lee Warren believes we can actually change our brains by changing how we think.
After performing more than 200 brain surgeries in just 125 days in Iraq, Lee returned home carrying the unseen effects of trauma. Four years later, the PTSD hit.
Then his 19-year-old son Mitchell was stabbed to death.
In this deeply personal conversation with Luke Martin, Lee explores what war, grief and loss taught him about the brain, the mind and faith.
Are we simply our brains? Can neuroscience fully explain consciousness? Can our thoughts physically reshape the brain? And can we stop trauma from determining the rest of our lives?
Drawing on decades of neurosurgery, research and his Christian faith, Lee explains why he believes:
- our thoughts can change our brains
- many automatic thoughts are not necessarily true
- grief is not something we simply “get over”
- trauma does not have to determine our future
- prayer, attention and gratitude may affect the way the brain functions
- consciousness raises questions materialism still struggles to answer
mental-health labels can sometimes become limiting identities
Lee calls his approach “self-brain surgery”: learning to recognise, question and redirect patterns of thought before they begin running our lives.
This is a raw and hopeful conversation about PTSD, grief, neuroplasticity, anxiety, ADHD, consciousness, suffering and whether changing the way we think can change the way we live.
0:00 Can you actually rewire your brain? Dr Lee Warren’s extraordinary story
0:29 200 brain surgeries in 125 days: inside an Iraq war hospital
3:45 The PTSD that didn’t hit until four years later
9:22 “My 19-year-old son was stabbed to death”
11:46 How do you trust God after losing your child?
21:12 Why you never really “get over” grief
24:09 Are you more than your brain? A neurosurgeon answers
27:21 Scientists watch a thought change the brain
29:59 Has science really explained consciousness?
38:35 Can your thoughts physically rewire your brain?
46:59 Self-brain surgery: take back control of your mind
1:04:03 ADHD, anxiety and the danger of self-diagnosis
For Luke Martin: follow on X https://x.com/luke_s_martin
For Dr Lee Warren: https://share.google/1QCCRJtLQs1aatKbY
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What happens to your brain after you’ve survived war, buried your 19-year-old son and discovered that trauma can return years after the danger has passed?
Neurosurgeon and Iraq War veteran Dr Lee Warren believes we can actually change our brains by changing how we think.
After performing more than 200 brain surgeries in just 125 days in Iraq, Lee returned home carrying the unseen effects of trauma. Four years later, the PTSD hit.
Then his 19-year-old son Mitchell was stabbed to death.
In this deeply personal conversation with Luke Martin, Lee explores what war, grief and loss taught him about the brain, the mind and faith.
Are we simply our brains? Can neuroscience fully explain consciousness? Can our thoughts physically reshape the brain? And can we stop trauma from determining the rest of our lives?
Drawing on decades of neurosurgery, research and his Christian faith, Lee explains why he believes:
- our thoughts can change our brains
- many automatic thoughts are not necessarily true
- grief is not something we simply “get over”
- trauma does not have to determine our future
- prayer, attention and gratitude may affect the way the brain functions
- consciousness raises questions materialism still struggles to answer
mental-health labels can sometimes become limiting identities
Lee calls his approach “self-brain surgery”: learning to recognise, question and redirect patterns of thought before they begin running our lives.
This is a raw and hopeful conversation about PTSD, grief, neuroplasticity, anxiety, ADHD, consciousness, suffering and whether changing the way we think can change the way we live.
0:00 Can you actually rewire your brain? Dr Lee Warren’s extraordinary story
0:29 200 brain surgeries in 125 days: inside an Iraq war hospital
3:45 The PTSD that didn’t hit until four years later
9:22 “My 19-year-old son was stabbed to death”
11:46 How do you trust God after losing your child?
21:12 Why you never really “get over” grief
24:09 Are you more than your brain? A neurosurgeon answers
27:21 Scientists watch a thought change the brain
29:59 Has science really explained consciousness?
38:35 Can your thoughts physically rewire your brain?
46:59 Self-brain surgery: take back control of your mind
1:04:03 ADHD, anxiety and the danger of self-diagnosis
For Luke Martin: follow on X https://x.com/luke_s_martin
For Dr Lee Warren: https://share.google/1QCCRJtLQs1aatKbY
Subscribe & Support
👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡
🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast a www.premier.plus/unbelievable 🎙️
🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at premierunbelievable.com 📢
Follow us
Instagram: instagram.com/premierunbelievable
Facebook: facebook.com/premierunbelievable
Tik Tok: tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable
X: https://x.com/UnbelievableFE
