A personal perspective on the work of Jaak Panksepp

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Stuart Brown, trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research, Dr. Stuart Brown first recognized the importance of play by discovering its absence in the life stories of murders and felony drunken drivers. His years of clinical practice and review of over 6000 personal play histories affirmed the importance and need for healthy play throughout the human life cycle. His independent scholarship and exploration of the evolution and neuroscience of human and animal play have led to the establishment of the National Institute for Play. Dr. Brown's book: Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul has been translated into twelve languages. He co-teaches From Play to Innovation at the Hasso-Plattner School of Design at Stanford University. As the information base about play grows, it is evident that play is a public health necessity.

Our species, he says, ‘is built for play, and built by play.'