dr norman doidge the brain that changes itself

The result is this book, a riveting collection of case histories detailing the astonishing progress of people whose conditions had long been dismissed as hopeless. Norman Doidge, MD, 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. 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. The brain is not, as was thought, like a machine, or “hardwired” like a computer. 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. It is a plastic, living organ that can actually change its own structure and function, even into old age. As we work them through, they go from haunting us to becoming simply part of our history.” We are often haunted by important relationships from the past that influence us unconsciously in the present. “Psychoanalysis is often about turning our ghosts into ancestors, even for patients who have not lost loved ones to death. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Whose mental limitations, brain damage or brain trauma were seen as unalterable.

Dr norman doidge the brain that changes itself