The Healing Brain &Ndash; Forget What You Have Been Told About The Brain

Try this one for size; the brain can heal itself.

A brain that can recover from almost anything does in itself sound like something out of science fiction, but a new book ‘The Brain that Changes Itself’, has revealed fascinating research that is leading the way to finally understanding some mysteries of the brain, in a field called neuroplasticity.

The study of neuroplasticity focuses on the theory that the brain can change itself; memory fixed, stroke victims recovered, blind people who can see, people who can function with half a brain. The possibilities of the brain are remarkable, according to research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D.

“For 400 years, we thought of the brain as like a complex machine with parts. And our best and brightest neuroscientists really believed that. And it turns out the brain is not inanimate, it’s animate and it’s growing, it’s more plant like than machine like and it actually works by changing its structure and function as it goes along”, he says.

Doidge’s book also raises some important questions about misconceptions we have about the brain, including that the brain cannot function if somehow it becomes damaged.

The research in ‘The Brain that Changes Itself’ proves that neuroplasticity is not just a theory, but for some individuals, their brains can be modified, even heal itself.

“I spoke with people who had had strokes decades before and had been declared incurable who were helped in recover with neuroplastic treatments”, Doidge says in his book.

Strokes are amongst the most common neurological diseases that affect the nervous system. The impact of the brain from strokes was previously believed to be irreversible, that is until now.

However, while the brain may be very resourceful and can overcome incredible odds, it also is very vulnerable, Doidge says, to outside influences that can limit repair in the brain.

Neuroplasticity may not be the cure for curing brain damage, but it does offer hope for millions around the world, and with it, the remarkable possibilities of humans.

The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D. is published by Scribe Publications, RRP, $24.95.