The Brain's Way of Healing

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 mental activity and exercise were seen as a waste of time.

The neuroplasticians, as I called the scientists who demonstrated that the brain is plastic, refuted the doctrine of the unchanging brain. Equipped, for the first time, with the tools to observe the living brain s microscopic activities, they showed that it changes as it works. In 2000 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for demonstrating that as learning occurs, the connections among nerve cells increase. The scientist behind that discovery, Eric Kandel, also showed that learning can switch on genes that change neural structure. Hundreds of studies went on to demonstrate that mental activity is not only the product of the brain but also a shaper of it. Neuroplasticity restored the mind to its rightful place in modern medicine and human life.

       

THE INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION DESCRIBED IN The Brain That Changes Itself was the beginning. Now, in this book, I tell of the astounding advances of a second generation of neuroplasticians who, because they did not have the burden of proving the existence of plasticity, have been liberated to devote themselves to understanding and using plasticity s extraordinary power. I hav

In this age of distraction and unnatural environments and actions like staring at screens all day brain science offers all kinds of useful techniques to care for our infinitely complex selves. Norman Doidge s work is a Michelin Guide to this hopeful new trove of knowledge and insight.
Boston Globe, USA
 
Stunning . . . The Brain s Way of Healing is another groundbreaking book by Norman Doidge. His style keeps you going into the deep dark secrets of how the brain works. . . . [H]is reframing of remarkable treatments that I had categorized as gimmicky left me fascinated and humbled. He brings a whole new level of insight into the body, brain, mind connection that will impact any reader.
 John J. Ratey, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and author of Driven to Distraction
 
Bold, remarkable . . . paradigm challenging. The Brain s Way of Healing is brilliantly organized, scientifically documented, and a beautifully written narrative that captivates the reader, who is left with the profound message that the brain, similar to other organs, can heal.  
Stephen W. Porges, PhD, Indiana University Bloomington and author of The Polyvagal Theory 

Doidge s book is filled with compelling stories about the power of ingenious technologies and disciplined awareness methods generated by innovators who transcended their own brain challenges, and who now use them to help others make radical improvements in conditions often deemed hopeless. It points to a future of remarkable and unprecedented brain healing.
Martha Herbert, MD, PhD, Neurologist, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital, author of The Autism Revolution
 
The Brain s way of Healing is a stunner the sort of book you want to read several times, not because it is difficult to understand, but because it opens up so many novel and startling avenues into our potential to heal. Norman Doidge enthralls us with a rich combination of lucidly explained brain research and pioneering new (and some not so new, but not widely known) approaches to recovery. With an eloquence reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, Doidge bolsters the latest advances in brain science with a series of extraordinary case histories of people for whom all hope seemed to be lost, but who healed as a result of great personal courage, and by changing the ways their bodies and brains processed sensations and movement. This hopeful book demonstrates that a variety of sensory inputs light, sound, electricity, vibration, movement, and thought can awaken the brain s attention processors, and thereby allow even the most afflicted to (re)gain ownership of their lives. 
Bessel van der Kolk MD, Medical Director, the Trauma Center, Brookline MA; Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine; Author of The Body keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the healing of Trauma

The book offers real hope to individuals suffering from diverse chronic conditions. It shows in terms of graphic personal stories that we truly do not yet know the limits of what is possible in rehabilitation. The book also has a number of creative integrations of the data that will be of interest to neuroscientists.
Edward Taub, Ph.D., Behavioral Neuroscientist, University Professor,University of Alabama at Birmingham, Director, UAB CI Therapy Research Group and Taub Training Clinic
 
Everyone who has a brain could benefit from reading Doidge s book.
The Columbus Dispatch
 
A vivid, robust and optimistic read . . . an essential addition to our growing understanding of the mind-brain-body connection. Doidge argues quite convincingly that when the brain is damaged or incompletely formed, whether from stroke, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, autism, ADHD or a host of other conditions, it s entirely possible to rewire the circuits by training a different part of the brain to take over the task. . . . He's positively elegant in his crystalline explanations of brain science for a lay audience.
Toronto Star, Canada
 
  This is a book of miracles: an absorbing compendium of unlikely recoveries from physical and mental ailments offers evidence that the brain can heal. Fascinating . . . brings to mind Oliver Sacks.
Guardian
 
Dazzling . . . In friendly vignettes reminiscent of Oliver Sacks s case studies, Doidge chronicles the heroic efforts of patients with a wide variety of apparently intractable ailments, from chronic pain to multiple sclerosis. . . . Each of Doidge s examples suggests tangible treatment ideas for patients who may have thought they were out of options. Doidge s penchant for considering unconventional approaches to healing offers hope for all.
Bookpage, USA
 
Beautifully written . . . inspiring . . . merging scientific information into timeless and fascinating personal stories . . . The Brain's Way of Healing grabs onto the reader at once and compels them to keep reading. This is an important and encouraging book.
The Vancouver Sun, Canada
 
Exhilarating science . . . In an era of ever-increasing medicalisation of the human mind, and the medication of it, the appeal of neuroplasticity outlined by Doidge is addictive. It is inspiring, page-turning stuff.
Sunday Times, London

A fascinating study on brain science that shows the way to major therapeutic discoveries.
Library Journal