The Brain That Changes Itself Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

by Doidge, Norman

• ISBN13: 9780670038305
• ISBN10: 067003830X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-15
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed—people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. 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. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

Author Biography

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst on the faculty at the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center in New York and the University of Toronto, as well as an award-winning writer. He has presented his scientific research at the White House.

Table of Contents

A woman perpetually falling ... resuced by the man who discovered the plasticity of our senses	p. 1
Building herself a better brain : a woman labeled "retarded" discovers how to heal herself	p. 27
Redesigning the brain : a scientist changes brains to sharpen perception and memory, increase speed of thought, and heal learning problems	p. 45
Acquiring tastes and loves : what neuroplasticity teaches us about sexual attraction and love	p. 93
Midnight resurrections : stroke victims learn to move and speak again	p. 132
Brain lock unlocked : using plasticity to stop worries, obsessions, compulsions, and bad habits	p. 164
Pain : the dark side of plasticity	p. 177
Imagination : how thinking makes it so	p. 196
Turning our ghosts into ancestors : psychoanalysis as a neuroplastic therapy	p. 215
Rejuvenation : the discovery of the neuronal stem cell and lessons for preserving our brains	p. 245
More than the sum of her parts : a woman shows us how radically plastic the brain can be	p. 258
The culturally modified brain	p. 287
Plasticity and the idea of progress	p. 313
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