Norman Doidge, M.D., a psychiatrist and researcher, set out to investigate neuroplasticity and met both the brilliant scientists championing it and the people whose lives they’ve transformed.

The result is an amazing book - The Brain That Changes Itself.

This book a riveting collection of case histories detailing the astonishing progress of people whose conditions had long been dismissed as hopeless. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, a woman labeled retarded who cured her deficits with brain exercises and now cures those of others, blind people learning to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, painful phantom limbs erased, stroke patients recovering their faculties, children with cerebral palsy learning to move more gracefully, entrenched depression and anxiety disappearing, and lifelong character traits altered.

The fact that the brain can change itself is a truly wonderful discovery. This work is helping me to cnhabge my brain and my life.

It is a plastic, living organ that can actually change its own structure and function, even into old age. Arguably the most important breakthrough in neuroscience since scientists first sketched out the brain’s basic anatomy, this revolutionary discovery, called neuroplasticity, promises to overthrow the centuries-old notion that the brain is fixed and unchanging. The brain is not, as was thought, like a machine, or “hardwired” like a computer. Neuroplasticity not only gives hope to those with mental limitations, or what was thought to be incurable brain damage, but expands our understanding of the healthy brain and the resilience of human nature.

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Well, it’s been a few months since I have been blogging.

There’s been a lot going on in my life. In particular my head injuries - subtle acquired brain injury - has come back to haunt me and wreck havoc in my life. And I’ll be writing more about that in the coming weeks, the car accident 8 years ago and other head trauma.

I was introduced to a wonderful book The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge, M.D. and it has proven to be a blessing.

 This book lead me to renowned neuroscientist Dr. Michael Merzenich and a company he co-founded called Posit Science and their wonderful products the Posit Science® Brain Fitness Program Classic™, and Posit Science® Cortex™ with InSight™. The Brain Fitness Program helps you think faster, focus better, and remember more by targeting the brain’s auditory processing (listening). InSight does the same for the visual system (seeing).
 
I’ve begun working with these programs.

In a couple of weeks I go in for a brain scan, a SpectScan. And I’ll be writing more about that in the coming weeks. So lots to write about.

Technorati Tags: abi, car accident, Dr. Michael Merzenich, neuroscientist, tbi, Traumatic Brain Injury, traumatuc brain injury

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

An insult to the brain caused by a direct blow to the skull via closed or open head injury.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

An injury to the brain secondary to trauma, stroke, post surgical complications, and/or certain disease processes (tumors, aneurysms)

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