Psychology Help Today

"A movement known as the new old age is sweeping society.  The social norm for the elderly used to be passive and grim; consigned to rocking chairs, they were expected to enter physical and mental decline.  Now the reverse is true.  Older people have higher expectations that they will remain active and vital.  As a result, the definition of old age has shifted.  A survey asked a sample of baby boomers 'When does old age begin?' The average answer was 85.  As expectations rise, clearly the brain must keep pace and accommodate the new old age.  The old theory of the fixed and stagnant brain held that an aging brain was inevitable.  Supposedly brain cells died continuously over time as a person aged, and their loss was irreversible.  "Now we understand how flexible and dynamic the brain is, the inevitability of cell loss is not longer valid.  In the aging process--which progresses at about 1 percent a year after the age of thi...

"Five myths in particular have proved limiting, and obstructive to change.  All were once accepted as fact, even a decade or two ago. [Myth 1:] "The injured brain cannot heal itself.  Now we know that the brain has amazing powers of healing unsuspected in the past. [Myth 2:] "The brain's hardwiring cannot be changed.  In fact, the line between hard and soft wiring is shifting all the time, and our ability to rewire our brains remains intact from birth to the end of life. [Myth 3:] "Aging in the brain is inevitable and irreversible.  To counter this outmoded belief, new techniques for keeping the brain youthful and retaining mental acuity are arising every day. [Myth 4:] "The brain loses millions of cells a day, and lost brain cells cannot be replaced.  In fact the brain contains stem cells that are capable of maturing into new brain cells throughout life.  How we lose or gain brain cells is a complex issue.  Most of the findings are good...

"Consider stroke victims.  Medical science has made huge advances in patient survival after even massive stokes, some of which can be attributed to better medications and to the upsurge of trauma units, since stokes are ideally dealt with as soon as possible.  Quick treatment is saving countless lives, compared to the past. "But survival isn't the same as recovery.  No drugs show comparable success in allowing victims to recover from paralysis, the most common effect of a stroke.  ...with stroke patients everything seems to depend on feedback.  In the past they mostly sat in a chair with medical attention, and their course of least resistance was to use the side of the body that was unaffected by their stroke.  Now rehabilitation activly takes the course of most resistance.  If a patient's left hand is paralyzed, for example, the therapist will have her use only that hand to pick up a coffee cup or comb her hair. "At first these tasks a...

"When Albert Einstein died in 1955 at the age of seventy-six, there was tremendous curiosity about the most famous brain of the twentieth century.  Assuming that something physical must have created such genius, an autopsy what performed on Einstein's brain. Defying expectations that big thoughts required a big brain, Einstein's brain actually weighed 10 percent less than the average brain. ..."Super brain rests on the credo of connecting the mind and brain in a new way.  It's not the physical side that makes the crucial difference.  It''s a person's resolve, intention, patience, hope, and diligence.  These are all the a matter of how the mind relates to the brain, for better or worse.  We can summarize the relationship in ten principles. "Super Brain Credo- How the mind relates to the brain: 1. The process always involves feedback loop. 2. These feedback loops are intelligent and adaptable. 3. The dynamics of the brain go in and ou...