Clear and compelling articulation underkying the science of will and attention and one's ability to change behaviors by and because of altered neutal pathways...indeed the brain is plastic if only you are willing...if only you attend
I know a masterful book when I am compelled to read owing to excitenent and wonder!

One of the hardest-to-read books I have completed in my life. It is a very rewarding as a true brain food in terms of deep insights, sophisticated analysis and bright ideas it presents.

Enjoy!

Jeffrey M. Schwartz debunks the myth that was held for centuries in medicine that the adult brain cannot grow and significantly alter its structure and function. Neuroplasticity has become an overused word in the neurosciences, but he describes how, through modern imaging, new structural changes can be demonstrated. This opens up many possibilities for treatment, such as his personal experience with obsessive-compulsive disorders, depression, and stroke victims. Much can be done for these individuals. He further explores the relation between the mind and the brain and the place of mindfulness.

Jeffrey Schwartz has written an impassioned argument for the neuroplasticity of the brain, based on his work with OCD patients and his practice of Buddhism. I have enormous admiration for anyone who brings together Eastern and Western ideas with skill and thoughtfulness, as Schwartz has done here, but when the work creates a genuine breakthrough in treating mental illness, then the originator deserves the highest possible praise. Millions of people suffer tragically from OCD, and the desensitization work of behavioral therapists often borders on the cruel -- and it's only partly effective. Drugs have huge limitations and of course side effects. So Schwartz has given humanity a gift by figuring out how to use the Buddhist concept of mindfulness to help people recognize and ultimately reject OCD thoughts, while at the same time making a larger argument about the plasticity of the brain, and the connection between mind and brain. A path-breaking work.

This book was really interesting, he makes the case that the mind is not merely an illusion, but it can have a causative force on the brain, which is quite a controversial stance to take in the scientific community. Personally it was quite a pleasure to hear Schwartz opposing the materialistic, deterministic and behaviorist view point which are still orthodoxy in the cult of scientific naturalism. But yeah, a lot of the book is the history of brain science and how a couple of folks accidentally stumbled upon how neuroplasticity still happens in the adult brain. Now what is amazing is how these findings utterly enraged the scientific community, for assumptions didn't allow for any changes in the brain. it seems way to much of the scientific community takes the "To hell with truth! Don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!" stance, for they fought against it, like scientist today oppose intelligent design. This just confirmed to me all the more that the common talk about the scientific community being so open minded and always pursuing truth no matter where it leads, is a bunch of B.S. the the discovery of Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force has brought so much good to the world, but those who proposed it to begin with were practically crucified. Whats more it is interesting that the ones who stumbled upon it were not educated by the current paradigm, so they were actually open to the scientific findings from their experiments. But yeah, I ought to shut up now.

The mind has its own separate science. Sometimes it thinks apart from logic. Whenever we give an order to our believer, the mind lives in its own separate world without overcoming the idea. Logic is two different aspects of mind. Sometimes we also think about what the conscious and subconscious mind have to do with each other, but this thinking is a contradiction. In spite of the failure of the conscious mind, our subconscious mind can repulse everything that the worldly attendants present before us. In reality, the mind has a different existence of its own, it is so powerful that it does not need to be ordered.

Personally, I have realized this myself that the power of the mind is ready to overcome all challenges. A very good example of this is Persistence yoga. Based on mythological beliefs in our Indian culture, it is believed that cure of incurable diseases is also possible with the power of mind. Not only this, by persistence yoga we can also achieve what science today calls impossible. From this book also we get to know the strength of mind and mind. Next, after reading this book, it turns from concept to belief that neurological disturbances can be overcome by the power of the mind.

Very interesting and perhaps a bit controversial.
Certainly very interesting.
leaves you thinking

I really really wanted to like this book and there were certain neuro psych chapters that had me turning each page as fast as I could but alas I couldn’t figure out how such a steep jump into quantum mechanics was made.

I reread and tried over and over again, perhaps I will come back to those chapters at a later time. It just seemed so odd, being a science communicator is difficult so maybe if the information was communicated in a different way I would have understood it better.

I definitely recommend people giving this a read though because it’s important to judge for yourself and you will learn at least something new and fascinating in one of the chapters!

Jeffrey M. Schwartz wrote the book in 2002, and it's about neurology and brain studies. I don't know if the book is still relevant or accurate. That said, let's begin with the review.

The brain is a complicated organ. It's so complex that it's a cliche. It is three pounds of gelatinous material but uses twenty-five percent of the body's glucose.

For a time, we thought the brain was immutable. If you had a stroke and lost use of your left arm or something, there was a short window where you could attempt to restore function, but after that window closed, you were out of luck.

Schwartz studied patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. When he began his studies, the predominant paradigm of treatment was Exposure Therapy, which sounds barbaric when you spell it out now. You would take the stimuli that prompted the behavior and expose the person to it. Sometimes, it led to some dangerous situations. One example from the book is a patient obsessed with hitting something with their car. Don't misunderstand. They would hit a bump in the road and think they hit a person or an animal. Then, the patient would circle the block, looking for what they hit. What did the doctor do in this case? They removed the rearview mirror. Great idea, am I right? Sarcasm doesn't come through in the text too well.

Schwartz developed four basic techniques to redirect the OCD patient's negative or obstructive thoughts: Relabel, Reattribute, Refocus, and Revalue. These techniques have a basis in Buddhism and mindfulness. While doing these practices, Schwartz realized he was forcing the brain to rewire itself. There are countless applications to the idea. For example, they helped patients with dyslexia. Dyslexia has a phonological basis, where the brain doesn't distinguish between similar sounds well. Someone had the idea to slow down the sounds enough for the patient to follow them with a computer program.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

This book has really good information it's just a bit of a drudge to get through. The narrator almost sounds robotic in a sense which makes it a struggle to finish.

Outstanding! Schwartz while working with OCD patients and developing a therapeutic intervention for them discovered what he calls "self-directed neuroplasticity" (mental force). He works with the physicist Henry Stapp to establish the mechanics of self-directed neuroplasticity in quantum physics and connects this with the Buddhist practice of mindfulness.In all of this, he makes a case for the human mind and human will having impact on the human brain: in other words, the mind can change the brain.

This book offers a very interesting explanation on how the mind works and the factors that affect the thoughts we have. The author gives insight on neuroplasticity and numerous examples on how this was studied in order to have the understanding of it we have today. Certainly a curious reading that introduces the theory of quantum physics and how it affects our thought process. At times it was difficult to understand however a re-reading of particular chapters helps.