Changing Your Mind

This installment of David Suzuki's CBC-aired series The Nature of Things examines ways the human brain can change. As Dr. Norman Doidge (The Brain That Changes Itself) explains, the medical community has long accepted the idea that illness and injury can alter brain function, but neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to adjust to trauma—is a relatively new concept. Doidge begins with the example of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which used to be seen as intractable. Patients know that their behavior is irrational, but they are unable to resist the impulse to clean and scrub relentlessly. The more they give in, the more they reinforce the pattern. UCLA psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz, however, has helped people take control of the problem through an analytical approach. Instead of cleaning, they do something else or think about something else, and if this happens often enough, the brain can essentially be reset. It sounds too easy to be true, but patients attest to its effectiveness, and MRI images confirm changes in the brain. Similarly, individuals with PTSD relive traumatic events in a fashion similar to the way that people with OCD repeat unnecessary actions, so treatment is aimed at moving the event to the past, where it belongs—a process that combines therapy with the drug Propranolol. As with the OCD solution, clinical psychologist Alain Brunet is surprised by the approach's success, because it's "deceptively simple." Lastly, the program looks at psychiatry professor Sophia Vinogradov's schizophrenia study, in which cognitive training has been used to help patients lead more productive lives, although those with the briefest history of the disorder are most likely to benefit. An eye-opening introduction to the healing potential of neuroplasticity, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)