More on the Mind

In the 1/29/07 Time, Mind and Body Special Issue, I found the article 'How the Brain Rewires Itself" by Sharon Begley fascinating. An important finding of recent research about the brain is that of neuroplasticity which is "[t]he brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life." As the author notes,

For decades, the prevailing dogma is neuroscience was that the adult human brain is essentially immutable, hardwired, fixed in form and function, so that by the time we reach adulthood we are pretty much stuck with what we have...The doctrine of the unchanging human brain has had profound ramifications. For one thing, it lowered the expectations about the value of rehabilitation for adults who had suffered brain damage from a stroke or about the possibility of fixing the pathological wiring that underlies psychiatric diseases.

But new research has challenged these long-held dogmas and is beginning to revolutionize attitudes and strategies for addressing some of these problems.

As both a pastoral counselor and psychologist I find some of the findings about therapy especially interesting. Studies conducted with those suffering from OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) using cognitive behavioral therapy found that the brain "rewired" itself in the same way that taking medication for the disorder changes the pattern of brain functioning. When working with depressed individuals, the therapy changed brain activity but in different ways than medication.

Another experiment involved MRI scans of Buddhist monks meditating. One of the most significant findings concerned activity in the left prefrontal cortex, the location responsible for happiness. The study found that

[w]hile the monks were generating feelings of compassion, activity in the left prefrontal swamped activity in the right prefrontal (associated with negative moods) to a degree never before seen from purely mental activity...This suggests...that the positive state is a skill that can be trained.

While the study of neuroplasticity is in its infancy, I think the ramifications for this field are exciting and huge. Any thoughts about these new findings in neuroplasticity?