neural plasticity

Why MDMA-assisted psychotherapy may become an FDA-approved treatment for PTSD within 2 years

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For peo­ple with post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der, recall­ing mem­o­ries of phys­i­cal or sex­u­al assault, com­bat or dis­as­ter-relat­ed events can induce intense anx­i­ety or pan­ic attacks as well as debil­i­tat­ing flashbacks.

In the U.S., about 7% of peo­ple suf­fer from PTSD and lose an aver­age of about four work­ing days each month as a result. Trau­ma-spe­cif­ic psy­chother­a­py, like cog­ni­tive pro­cess­ing or “talk” ther­a­py, is the cor­ner­stone of treat­ment for PTSD. But for approx­i­mate­ly half of peo­ple, these tra­di­tion­al approach­es are inef­fec­tive at ful­ly address­ing PTSD symp­toms over the long term. Anti­de­pres­sant drugs are fre­quent­ly used if psy­chother­a­py fails, or in com­bi­na­tion with it, but the effects are usu­al­ly mod­est. [Read more…] about Why MDMA-assist­ed psy­chother­a­py may become an FDA-approved treat­ment for PTSD with­in 2 years

Study: Psychedelics can promote neural plasticity in the prefrontal cortex and expand pathways for mental health

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– Cred­it: Cell Reports 2018 23, 3170–3182DOI: (10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.022). Copy­right © 2018 The Authors

Psy­che­delics in Neu­rol­o­gy: Poten­tial for Improv­ing Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty (Neu­rol­o­gy­Times):

“Back in the 1950s, research was prov­ing that psy­che­del­ic agents could be effec­tive in the treat­ment of var­i­ous neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, just as sci­ence was explor­ing their ben­e­fi­cial effects, the coun­ter­cul­ture was explor­ing and embrac­ing their effects. Slow­ly but sure­ly, psy­che­delics were asso­ci­at­ed with rebel­lious youth and the tumul­tuous anti-war move­ment. As a result, the gov­ern­ment shut down most of the research.

The 1990s saw renewed inter­est in psy­che­del­ic com­pounds as a means to address neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders. Research explored the ben­e­fits of MDMA and ket­a­mine to treat mood dis­or­ders and post­trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der. Now, a new study sheds even more light on the promise these agents might pro­vide. [Read more…] about Study: Psy­che­delics can pro­mote neur­al plas­tic­i­ty in the pre­frontal cor­tex and expand path­ways for men­tal health

Kids for life? Pros and cons of lifelong neuroplasticity, as seen via our emotional development

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– Win­dows of plas­tic­i­ty in brain devel­op­ment. Adapt­ed from Hen­sch T.K. (2005). Crit­i­cal peri­od plas­tic­i­ty in local cor­ti­cal cir­cuits. Nature Reviews Neu­ro­science, 6(11), 877–888

The Brain’s Emo­tion­al Devel­op­ment (Dana Foun­da­tion’s Cerebrum):

“Humans are like­ly the most emo­tion­al­ly reg­u­lat­ed crea­tures on earth. Com­pared to oth­er ani­mal species, we can mod­u­late and mod­i­fy emo­tion­al reac­tions and expe­ri­ences, even very intense ones, through a large and sophis­ti­cat­ed emo­tion reg­u­la­tion reper­toire that includes skills of dis­trac­tion, reap­praisal, lan­guage, pre­dic­tion, social inter­ac­tion, sup­pres­sion, and more. At times, these skills require effort, and at oth­er times, they seem reflex­ive and auto­mat­ic. [Read more…] about Kids for life? Pros and cons of life­long neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, as seen via our emo­tion­al development

Why “Untrained Brains Are A Bit Like Puppies,” And How To Put Together the Building Blocks of a Smarter, Happier Mind

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As a child, I was con­vinced that my dad just went to work to play. My father was a neu­ro­sci­en­tist at Bay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty, and his office was full of bright­ly col­ored blocks to test intel­li­gence, books by MC Esch­er to study per­cep­tion, and even a sound­proof room cov­ered in blue foam that I thought was for gym­nas­tics [Read more…] about Why “Untrained Brains Are A Bit Like Pup­pies,” And How To Put Togeth­er the Build­ing Blocks of a Smarter, Hap­pi­er Mind

Study: Brain training game can improve prospective memory and activities of daily living

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virtualweekb‘Vir­tu­al Week’ brain game has poten­tial to help old­er adults remain inde­pen­dent longer (press release):

“An inter­na­tion­al team of sci­en­tists has demon­strat­ed that just one month of train­ing on a “Vir­tu­al Week” com­put­er brain game helps old­er adults sig­nif­i­cant­ly strength­en prospec­tive mem­o­ry — a type of mem­o­ry that is cru­cial for plan­ning, every­day func­tion­ing and inde­pen­dent liv­ing [Read more…] about Study: Brain train­ing game can improve prospec­tive mem­o­ry and activ­i­ties of dai­ly living

Transcript: Paul Nussbaum on Meditation, Neuropsychology and Thanksgiving

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Below you can find the full tran­script of our engag­ing Q&A ses­sion yes­ter­day on holis­tic brain health with clin­i­cal neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist Dr. Paul Nuss­baum, author of Save Your Brain. You can learn more about the full Brain Fit­ness Q&A Series Here.

Per­haps one of the best exchanges was: [Read more…] about Tran­script: Paul Nuss­baum on Med­i­ta­tion, Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy and Thanksgiving