Brave New Brain

Brain View , a photo by Suranga's Photo Collection - InstagramSriLanka on Flickr.

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The revolutionary findings about your brain's remarkable ability to change itself are barely a decade old.

In the 1990s, scientists rocked the field of neurobiology with the startling news that the mature mammalian brain is capable of sprouting new neurons in the hippocampus and the olefactory bulbs, and that it continues to do so even into old age. This process is called neurogenesis.

Scientists also confirmed what was long suspected: your brain is not hardwired. It can reinvent itself, as it were, by creating new pathways to reroute, readjust, and otherwise change the networking and connections, sometimes even substituting one area for another. 

Your brain also changes to reflect what you learn, do, and think. In fact, your brain is physically rearranging its networks just about every minute of every day. That's neuroplasticity.

Then they discovered that your actions, thoughts, feelings, or environment can change your genes - more specifically, whether certain genes are expressed - altering brain fuction; character traits; and risk of some diseases, from cancer to schizophrenia. That's epigenetics. 

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They showed how neglect, abuse, and bullying in childhood can stunt brain development, and they gave some credibility to age-old concepts of positive personal transformation through religious experiences, meditation, self-help programs, and even positive thinking and your own will. They also explain how and why talking cures such as psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy can change lives.

The Scientific American Brave New Brain
Judith Horstman
2010
Wiley USA

Emotional Disclosure

'Just as being unaware of one's feelings can lead to illness, knowing and attending to them can have a positive impact on health. In one study, Holocaust survivors spoke for one to two hours about their experiences during World War II. The investigators then measured the extent to which they had talked emotionally about traumatic events (Pennebaker, Barger, & Tiebout, 1989). The more emotion they expressd as they recounted the events, the better their health for over a year later. In another study, patients with painful arthritis spoke into a tape recorder for 15 minutes a day about either stressful or trivial events (Kelley, Lumley, & Leisen, 1997). Those who spoke about stressful events were in better emotional and physical shape three months later, and, the more unpleasant emotion they experienced while discussing stressful events, the less painful their joints were three months later. The moral of the story? No pain, no gain.

Researchers have been tracking down some of the precise mechanisms through which emotional disclosure affects health (Pennebaker, 1997a, 1997b; Pennebaker & Seagal, 1999). Writing about stressful or unpleasant events has been shown to increase the functioning of specific cells in the immune system (the system of cells in the body that fights off disease). Disclosure also decreases autonomic reactivity that keeps the body on red alert and takes its toll over time.

Perhaps most importantly, disclosure permits a change in cognitive functioning that allows the person to rework the traumatic experience in thought and memory. People who benefit from disclosure tend to begin with disorganised, disjointed narratives about the event, suggesting emotional disruption of their thinking. After writing, their narratives become more coherent. The more complex and coherent people's narratives after disclosing traumatic events, the more their health improves (Suedfeld & Pennebaker, 1997).'

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Drew Westen, Lorelle Burton, Robin Kowalski  2006

Psychology

Wiley, Australia

'In Search of Stones'

Sorginetxe.undefined, a photo by Roberto Cacho on Flickr.

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'Labouring under the illusion that it was my responsibility to make Lily happy in life, her depressions were almost daily reminders of my failure.

Entering psychotherapy with genuine intent is always an act of considerable courage.

The most painful thing for me back then was that she couldn’t talk about her depressions. Her feelings were too overwhelming for her to talk, too overwhelming for her even to be able to think.

Psychotherapy has its detractors, and not without reason. Some psychotherapists are good, some mediocre, some poor, and some even harmful. Sometimes psychotherapy is attempted when the chances of success in the best hands are less than one in a hundred. Occasionally patients enter therapy with spurious motives.

Substantial psychotherapy is successful  … only when it becomes a way of life.

As psychotherapy becomes a way of life, one becomes a contemplative: a person who focuses at least as much upon her inner world as upon the outer one. Daydreams, night dreams, thoughts and feelings, insights, intuitions, and understandings all assume ever-increasing importance.

It is not that external realities – other people, social problems, dirty dishes, and deadlines – are neglected; it is that more time is spent in comprehending them. Contemplatives become more thoughtful. Yes, they need to withdraw from the world to a certain extent. They need, in comparison to others, much solitude. As a consequence, they may in some sense do less, but that which they do, they do thoughtfully, and in the long run they may end up actually accomplishing more.'

Scott M. Peck, 1995, In Search of Stones

Simon & Schuster, London