The Case for Therapy

Ideas are powerful and so are words. Putting the two together is, essentially, what is done in psychotherapy. I'm always interested in articles that tell me why or how something works, and so it was when I began reading a professional article on our brain's lifelong ability to reorganize itself simply by new experience. If experience is the best teacher, this article has certainly made another case for that distinction.

Remember what you've heard about the brain and how we were always being told that it had all the cells it ever would have and that there was little hope for building a better brain for ourselves? I can recall nothing but negative comments in terms of hope for the brain in this increasingly stressful world of ours. It seemed that what was there when we were born would be all we'd get, and we'd just have to learn to tend that garden lovingly and hope to keep it producing year after year. I learned a few years ago that the brain actually has a hidden reserve of cells deep within it that could, if scientists are correct, make it possible to grow entire sections of whatever brain cells we needed. I found that extremely hopeful.

The authors of the paper not only indicated that brain growth and strengthening of connections through experience (therapy), aided by medication, could foster greater growth (neurogenesis) in adults. The results of their investigation also provided a key to the role that stress plays in defeating this brain growth by decreasing the availability of something called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). It is this factor which is responsible for much of the brain's ability to grow and adapt. The technical term for it is neuronal plasticity, meaning those little cells are able to serve us if we only train them.

So, decreasing stress levels is not only good for your physical and mental health, it's beneficial to your brain and your ability to adapt to whatever comes your way.


Related Topics: Antidepressants May Boost Brain Growth,Stressed Out!

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