By the way, she mentions Jeffrey Schwartz (wow, didn't he bought into intelligent design!) and his work with OCD patients using mindfulness practice to alleviate symptoms (rather than the traditional exposure therapy, which is often cruel), I highly recommend his book, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, which was written with Sharon Begley (somehow I hadn't noticed that before).
Brain Science Podcast #10 NeuroPlasticity (show notes)
Posted on April 20th, 2007 by Ginger Campbell, MD
In this episode of the Brain Science Podcast we explore the recent research that has established, contrary to long-standing dogma, that our brains our able to change throughout our lives, based on our experience.
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Show Notes
The reference for this episode is Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley. This book describes the 2004 meeting between the Dalai Llama and several leading neuroscientists. To learn more about these meetings go to the Mind and Life Institute website. All the studies that I mention in the podcast are referenced in the back of the book.
Here is a list of the some of the scientists and their work.
- Michael Meany- McGill University. He has shown that the way that a mother rat treats her babies determine which genes in the baby’s brain are turned on and which are turned off.
- Fred Gage- the Salk Institute His work with lab animals to showed that adult brains do change. (more from Google)
- Helen Neville-University of Oregon. She has shown that the auditory and visual cortexes are rewired in people who are born blind or deaf.
- Phillip Shaver-UC-Davis. He is a pioneer in attachment theory: how people’s sense of emotional security, acquired in childhood, effects their adult behavior including their response to other ethnic groups and their willingness to help others
- Richard Davidson-Wisconsin. He has done studies showing how the brain is changed by meditation
- Edward Taub- University of Alabama in Birmingham. He helped develop a revolutionary treatment for stroke victims
- Jeffery Schwartz-UCLA. He has used mindfulness meditation to treat obsessive compulsive disorder, showing that meditation can change the brain in beneficial ways.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn- University of Massachusetts. He has done many years of work using mindfulness meditation to treat stress related diseases.
- Michael Merzenich-pioneer researcher who also founded FastForward™ and Posit Science™.
More Links of Interest:
- Imposed Constraint Treatment for Stroke
- Treatment of Anxiety Disorders with Mindfulness Meditation
I am sure this list is incomplete. If you have a question or comment about a topic mentioned on the show, leave a comment below or send me email at docartemis at gmail.com
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
- Brain Changes are different from those caused by medications
- more Google links on how the brain changes
1 comment:
Especially in today's information-rich culture, when we're all so busy and connected, the practice of mindfulness can be enormously powerful. We have little downtime any more, too little time to be in the moments.
Interestingly, brain training can also aid in training mindfulness as long as it requires intensive attention on the training task.
Martin
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