Advances in neuroscience have given us a lot of fascinating information about the brain that we didn’t previously know and this knowledge has the potential to profoundly change the way that we think about ourselves. It also has interesting implications for psychotherapy.
Some of these advances cover the way the brain develops and is influenced by our life experiences. Previously, we did not have a lot of detailed understanding about how the brain functioned, but we made a lot of advances in the later years of the 20th century.
This was at the same time as rapid progress in computer science, and the idea emerged that ‘computers should be like brains’. This was pretty inevitable; both computers and brains are very complex and seemingly do the same sorts of things – solve complex problems using a variety of inputs. However, an unintended effect of linking the two concepts was the complimentary idea that ‘brains are like computers’. It was assumed that memories were stored in something like a computer’s memory or hard disk and that like a computer our brains were hard-wired for certain types of thoughts. Unfortunately this led to some confused ideas about the way we think and, more importantly, how we change.
This brain-computer analogy simply does not stand up to the evidence – our brains are physically quite different to computers. Perhaps the most profound example of this is research that shows that the physical connections within our brains are built depending on the experiences and thoughts that we have; that they are strengthened by repetition; that some connections are lost if they are not used; and that changes happen throughout the lifetime. A computer isn’t constantly changing; our brains are.
This understanding has some very interesting repercussions for psychotherapy. Firstly, since brain activity is related to brain structure, any significant change in our thinking will require a physical change in brain structure. This change in brain structure takes time; in other words, it’s going to take time for the change to happen.
Secondly, since brain structure is strengthened by repetition, it will probably take a number of similar experiences for change to take place. It also means that repeating some thinking or experiences in your past has caused your brain to be structured in a particular way. Don’t be too concerned if you keep making the same mistake; repetition of a different pattern will cause a new neural path to form.
Thirdly, change in brain structure can happen at any point in life. Even though you may feel you are set in your ways, your brain actually has the capacity to change.
Taken together, this is good news: change will take time; change will take repetition; but change can come to anyone.
Image credit: Raycat
