Essay, Research Paper
The Brain That Changes Itself
Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science NORMAN DOIDGE, M.D.
For Eugene L. Goldberg, M.D., because you said you might like to read it
Contents
1 A Woman Perpetually Falling . . . Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses 2 Building Herself a Better Brain A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself 3 Redesigning the Brain A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems 4 Acquiring Tastes and Loves What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love 5 Midnight Resurrections Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again 6 Brain Lock Unlocked Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, OPsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits 7 Pain The Dark Side of Plasticity 8 Imagination How Thinking Makes It So 9 Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors Psychoanalysis as a Neuroplastic Therapy 10 Rejuvenation The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our Brains 11 More than the Sum of Her Parts
A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be Appendix 1 The Culturally Modified Brain Appendix 2 Plasticity and the Idea of Progress
Note to the Reader
All 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 both the chapters and the appendices.
Preface
This book is about the revolutionary discovery that the human brain can change itself, as told through the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have together brought about these astonishing transformations. Without operations or medications, they have made use of the brain's hitherto unknown ability to change. Some were patients who had what were thought to be incurable brain problems; others were people without specific problems who
Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science NORMAN DOIDGE, M.D.
For Eugene L. Goldberg, M.D., because you said you might like to read it
Contents
1 A Woman Perpetually Falling . . . Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses 2 Building Herself a Better Brain A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself 3 Redesigning the Brain A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems 4 Acquiring Tastes and Loves What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love 5 Midnight Resurrections Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again 6 Brain Lock Unlocked Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, OPsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits 7 Pain The Dark Side of Plasticity 8 Imagination How Thinking Makes It So 9 Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors Psychoanalysis as a Neuroplastic Therapy 10 Rejuvenation The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our Brains 11 More than the Sum of Her Parts
A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be Appendix 1 The Culturally Modified Brain Appendix 2 Plasticity and the Idea of Progress
Note to the Reader
All 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 both the chapters and the appendices.
Preface
This book is about the revolutionary discovery that the human brain can change itself, as told through the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have together brought about these astonishing transformations. Without operations or medications, they have made use of the brain's hitherto unknown ability to change. Some were patients who had what were thought to be incurable brain problems; others were people without specific problems who