The brain's way of healing : remarkable discoveries and recoveries from the frontiers of neuroplasticity

425 Pages·2015·2.47 MB·English

by  Norman Doidge

A N D
LSO BY ORMAN OIDGE
The Brain That Changes Itself

VIKING
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Illustration by Laura Hartman Maestro - - Doidge, Norman.
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGING IN PUBLICATIONDATA
The brain’s way of healing : remarkable discoveries and recoveries from the frontiers of neuroplasticity /
Norman Doidge, M.D.
pages cm
“A James H. Silberman Book.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-69819143-3
1. Neuroplasticity. 2. Brain. 3. Healing. I. Title.
QP363.3.D66 2015 612.8—dc23 2014038471
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate Internet addresses and other contact information
at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for
changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not
assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual
reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for
consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Neither the
author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any
information or suggestion in this book.
Version_1
For Karen, my love
Just as the hand, held before the eye, can hide the tallest mountain, so the routine of
everyday life can keep us from seeing the vast radiance and the secret wonders that fill the
world.
Chasidic saying, eighteenth century
Life is short, and Art long; opportunity fleeting, experience misleading, and decision
difficult. It is the duty of the physician not only to provide what he himself must do, but
to enable the patient, the attendants, and the external circumstances to do their part as
well.
Hippocrates, father of medicine, 460–375 BC
Contents
Also by Norman Doidge
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Note to the Reader
Preface
Chapter 1
Physician Hurt, Then Heal Thyself
Michael Moskowitz Discovers That Chronic Pain Can Be Unlearned
Chapter 2
A Man Walks Off His Parkinsonian Symptoms
How Exercise Helps Fend Off Degenerative Disorders and Can Defer Dementia
Chapter 3
The Stages of Neuroplastic Healing
How and Why It Works
Chapter 4
Rewiring a Brain with Light
Using Light to Reawaken Dormant Neural Circuits
Chapter 5
Moshe Feldenkrais: Physicist, Black Belt, and Healer
Healing Serious Brain Problems Through Mental Awareness of Movement
Chapter 6
A Blind Man Learns to See
Using Feldenkrais, Buddhist, and Other Neuroplastic Methods
Chapter 7
A Device That Resets the Brain
Stimulating Neuromodulation to Reverse Symptoms
I. A Cane Against the Wall
II. Three Resets: Parkinson’s, Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis
III. The Cracked Potters
IV. How the Brain Balances Itself—with a Little Help
Chapter 8
A Bridge of Sound
The Special Connection Between Music and the Brain
I. A Dyslexic Boy Reverses His Misfortune
II. A Mother’s Voice
III. Rebuilding the Brain from the Bottom Up: Autism, Attention Deficits, and Sensory
Processing Disorder
IV. Solving the Mystery at the Abbey: How Music Raises Our Spirits and Energy
Appendix 1
A General Approach to TBI and Brain Problems
Appendix 2
Matrix Repatterning for TBI
Appendix 3
Neurofeedback for ADD, ADHD, Epilepsy, Anxiety, and TBI
Acknowledgments
Notes and References
Index
Note to the Reader
ALL OF THE NAMES OF people who have undergone neuroplastic transformations
are real, except in the few places indicated, and in the cases of children and their
families.
The Notes and References section at the end of the book includes comments
on finer points in the chapters.
Preface
THIS BOOK IS about the discovery that the human brain has its own unique way of
healing, and that when it is understood, many brain problems thought to be
incurable or irreversible can be improved, often radically, and in a number of
cases, as we shall see, cured. I will show how this process of healing grows out
of the highly specialized attributes of the brain—attributes once thought to be so
sophisticated that they came at a cost: that the brain, unlike other organs, could
not repair itself or restore lost functions. This book will show that the reverse is
true: the brain’s sophistication provides a way for it to repair itself and to
improve its functioning generally.
This book begins where my first book, The Brain That Changes Itself,
ended. That book described the most important breakthrough in understanding
the brain and its relationship to the mind since the beginning of modern science:
the discovery that the brain is neuroplastic. Neuroplasticity is the property of the
brain that enables it to change its own structure and functioning in response to
activity and mental experience. That book also described many of the first
scientists, doctors, and patients to make use of this discovery to bring about
astonishing transformations in the brain. Until then, these transformations had
been almost inconceivable, because for four hundred years, the mainstream view
of the brain was that it could not change; scientists thought the brain was like a
glorious machine, with parts, each of which performed a single mental function,
in a single location in the brain. If a location was damaged—by a stroke or an
injury or a disease—it could not be fixed because machines cannot repair
themselves or grow new parts. Scientists also believed the circuits of the brain
were unchangeable or “hardwired,” meaning that people born with mental
limitations or learning disorders were in all cases destined to remain so. As the
machine metaphor evolved, scientists took to describing the brain as a computer
and its structure as “hardware” and believed the only change that aging hardware
undergoes is that it degenerates with use. A machine wears out: use it, and lose
it. Thus, attempts by older people to preserve their brains from decline by using