Using Your Brain To Improve Your Own Mental Health #WorldMentalHealthDay

October 10, 2024Leave a comment

The key to a happy life lies in transcending personal suffering, finding balance, and recognizing that the world has its own set of problems. Achieving this requires mental effort and self-awareness. Those who strive to better understand themselves and the world around them often emerge transformed—with greater peace of mind and a clearer way to live.

Fundamental or Accidental?

Our understanding of ourselves and the world is often limited by our perception of what is fundamental versus accidental. For example, the brain uses systematic thought patterns to create philosophy, science, mathematics, literature, and religious beliefs—guiding us toward new insights. Yet, these tools, essential as they seem, may not be as fundamental as we think. They are just methods our ancestors used to explore the unknown and push boundaries, all while acknowledging that our view of reality is just a fraction of what truly exists.

The Pitfall of Accidental Fundamentalism

In many cultures, particularly in the West, we tend to elevate truth as the highest value. While this pursuit is important, it pales in comparison to the power of belief. We are often born into religious or ideological systems that present themselves as the ultimate truth. However rigid adherence to these systems can stifle personal growth and impede the insights necessary for true peace of mind. Resisting the pull of these cultural norms is a crucial part of psychological growth, often referred to as self-actualization in psychology.

Recasting Reality

Self-actualizers—the people who achieve the highest levels of personal development—are those who challenge accepted cultural ‘truths’ and look beyond the norms of their time. Unlike most, who view life as a series of goals—acquiring material wealth, building a family, or advancing in a career—self-actualizers focus on personal growth and expression. They are ambitious, but only in the sense that they seek to fully develop and express their unique potential. Their freedom of mind and refusal to conform to societal pressures make them living examples of true autonomy.

Courage and Mental Health

Mental health requires courage—the courage to explore, adapt, and grow. Personal happiness is deeply tied to autonomy: the ability to break free from cultural expectations, guilt, or fear and embrace new ways of thinking and being. Achieving mental wellness is about mastering your own fate, learning what works for you, and being unafraid to change course when necessary.

What to Believe?

At its core, mental health is about two things: staying in touch with reality and being open to new experiences. However, it’s essential to remember that there is no one “reality”—only perception. Each of us views the world through a personal lens, shaped by our experiences, biases, and cultural conditioning. To achieve true mental clarity, we must recognize these filters and strive for a clearer understanding of the world.

Even in close relationships, the same action can be perceived differently. For example, one person may see paying the bills as a duty, while their partner views it as an act of love. Appreciating that your perspectives may be shaped by biases or cultural conditioning is crucial. Most importantly, ensure that the beliefs you choose to retain or adopt are grounded in verifiable facts and are open to scrutiny. Otherwise, any actions you take based on these beliefs may be built on shaky ground.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018Leave a comment

Image: Bansal et al., PLOS Computational Biology, October 2018.

Scientists are using computational models of the brain to simulate how the structure of the brain may impact brain activity and, ultimately, human behavior. The research focuses on interconnectivity, looking at how different regions are linked to and interact with one another.

Using a green filter helps to increase reading speed for children with dyslexia, researchers report.

Using three different training models, researchers report mental training, mindfulness and meditation can induce structural brain plasticity and reduce social stress.

A new study reports sleep helps improve learning performance in predictable processes.

A new brain imaging study reveals how the midbrain and striatum, two key areas of the dopamine system, become more active when a person updates their beliefs about the world around them.

Researchers report deep brain stimulation has little benefit for those suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Finally this week, a decade worth of data reveals people who multitask with different forms of media at once are worse at completing simple memory tasks.

Could this tactic help you give up smoking and other addictions?

February 8, 2016February 8, 2016Leave a comment

Over the past three decades I have visited high schools and colleges to talk on how addictive drugs affect the brain and to explain the many theories about why certain people become addicted. There are as many reasons why someone becomes addicted as there are addicts. This situation is not helped by the fact that we cannot yet predict who will become addicted, or how to cure it.

Psychiatrist Judson Brewer studies the relationship between mindfulness and addiction — from smoking to overeating to all those other things we do even though we know they’re bad for us. In this short video, you will learn more about the mechanism of habit development and discover a simple but profound tactic that might help you beat your next urge to smoke, snack or check a text while driving.

Inside The Compassionate Brain

May 12, 2015Leave a comment

Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., is the science director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. In this video for the Mindfulness and Compassion conference, Dr. Simon-Thomas explains the neurological mechanisms that support compassion – and why mindfulness meditation can help support the growth of compassion.

Weekly Neuroscience Update

September 13, 2014Leave a comment

The study revealed that EGFR signaling is suppressed in a subset of glioblastomas. This image is for illustrative purposes only and shows an MRI brain scan of a person with glioblastoma brain cancer. Credit The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

Researchers have found one of the keys to why certain glioblastomas – the primary form of a deadly brain cancer – are resistant to drug therapy. The answer lies not in the DNA sequence of the tumor, but in its epigenetic signature. These findings have been published online as a priority report in the journal Oncotarget.

It has been proposed that green tea extract may have a beneficial impact on cognitive functioning, suggesting promising clinical implications. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this putative cognitive enhancing effect of green tea extract still remain unknown.

According to researchers at the University of Montreal, the regions of the brain below the cortex play an important role as we train our bodies’ movements and, critically, they interact more effectively after a night of sleep.

Researchers find that the risk of future stroke is 39% higher among patients with cognitive impairment than those with normal cognitive function, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

A study is shining new light on a sleep disorder called “sleep drunkenness.” The disorder may be as prevalent as affecting one in every seven people. The research is published in Neurology.

A mindfulness-based therapy for depression has the added benefit of reducing health-care visits among patients who often see their family doctors, according to a new study.

In what may be the largest study of sleep problems among individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at UC Davis have found that widely undiagnosed sleep disorders may be at the root of the most common and disabling symptom of the disease: fatigue.

Scientists have provided the first evidence that the lack of a naturally occurring protein is linked to early signs of dementia.

Set your Brain to Meditate: Part 3

January 27, 2011

This is the third part in this series on mindfulness and today we will be taking a look at our mental images and preconceived ideas, more on mindlessness, the power of imagination and the role of intuition in our lives.

Ms. Havisham in Dickens’s Great Expectations

We need to be careful not to hold on to outmoded opinions and attitudes – false frozen mental images – best exemplified in Ms. Havisham in Dickens’s Great Expectations – who continued to wear her wedding dress in which she was abandoned many years before and which hung in torn and faded threads over her aged body.

Even a child can fall into this trap – for instance by regarding all old men as grumpy after just one experience with a grumpy old man and this impression may even be carried into adulthood. In not bothering to change this perception in later life – a person can be locked into a false perception in later life that is likely to be reflected in their own experience – they will turn into an old grump too! – and this of course applies to other aspects of life.

Context is everything

Mindlessness results when people accept information without taking the context into account. However in mindfulness context is everything! In fact, psychologists argue that all pain is context dependent. Getting a bruise out on the football pitch will matter much less to us than if we sustain one at home.

The power of imagination

Imagination is the key to perceiving things differently. The Birdman of Alcatraz stuck in his prison cell for over 40 years managed to make his life a rich one by taking care of injured birds. The message is simple – you can put up with anything as long as it is within a positive context – and with a personal vision everything can be put into perspective. In the famous words of Nitzche “If you have a WHY you can put up with almost any HOW”.

It’s not what you do – it’s the way that you do it!

Another key characteristic of mindfulness is a focus on process before outcome – doing rather than achieving. We look at a text book and assume that the author must be a genius …but this is a faulty comparison. With rare exceptions most successes in life are the result of years of work that can be broken down into stages. Before you face any task no matter how daunting – ask not ‘can I do it? – But – HOW can I do it?’ This type of approach sharpens your judgment and leads to increased self confidence.

Intuition is effortless and it works!

Sometimes it’s good to drop old habits and expectations and try something that may go against reason. Intuition is an important path to mindfulness. It may surprise you to know that the best scientists are intuitive – many spending years methodically validating what appeared to them in a flash of intuitive truth.

Intuition is achieved by escaping the heavy single minded striving of everyday life. It is believed to occur on those rare occasions when both hemispheres of the brain – the logical left side and the holistic right side – have a brief uninterrupted conversation. Intuition gives valuable information about our survival and success – ignore it at your cost.

The mindful person will go with what works even if it doesn’t make sense!

In summary, the beauty of mindfulness is that it is not work. It leads to greater control of your own thinking and can create a sense of quiet excitement about what is possible.

Try it and see for yourself!

Set Your Brain To Meditate

Part 1

Part 2

Set your Brain to Meditate: Part 2

January 25, 2011January 28, 2011

Image: Photostock

The Buddhist understanding holds that meditation is a mindful state that leads to ‘right action’. When combined with mindfulness it has the same effect not just for the health of the individual but also for greater society.

Our tendency to look at the negatives, to put outcomes ahead of actually doing things and by making faulty comparisons with others can leave us like feeling like robots at the mercy of daily events. In essence mindfulness is about preserving our individuality – through openness to the new, reclassifying the meaning of our knowledge and experience and by an ability to see our daily actions in a bigger consciously chosen perspective.

When good categories turn bad

Rather than always look at things afresh and anew – we create categories – and let things ‘fall into them’. We do this for the sake of convenience. These categorisations can be small such as defining a flower as a rose, a person as a boss – or a wider categorization – such as a religion or a political system. These categories help to give us psychological certainty and save us from the effort of constantly challenging our own beliefs. In this way we define animals as ‘livestock’ or ‘pets’ so that we can feel OK eating one and loving the other.

Shhhh….there’s a secret to being a genius

Mindlessness is when we accept these categories without really thinking about them. In contrast, mindfulness is about questioning old categories and creating new ones. In fact ‘genius’ has been described as perceiving things afresh, in a non habitual way.

Let me leave you with a quote from Marcel Proust’s great novel In Search of Lost Time Past to illustrate what I mean and check back in later this week for Part 3 of this meditation series.

We commonly live with a self reduced to its bare minimum; most of our faculties lie dormant, relying on habit; and habit knows how to manage without them.

Read the first part of this series here

Set Your Brain to Meditate

January 22, 2011January 28, 2011

Ms Ursula Bates, keynote speaker, UL Research Forum and Professor Billy O'Connor

I was delighted to host the Fourth Annual University of Limerick Medical School Research Forum last Wednesday, 19 January, where over twenty researchers from the University of Limerick and local teaching hospitals made presentations on topics ranging from pharmaceuticals, biomedical devices, medical technology, community health, gastrointestinal and vascular surgery, psychiatry and communications.

A leading clinical psychologist and Director of Psychosocial and Bereavement Services at Blackrock Hospice, Dublin, Ms Ursula Bates, delivered the keynote address “Mindfulness Based Interventions in Oncology and Palliative Care and Bereavement-Research Advances”.

Ursula’s talk has prompted me to explore in more detail the nature of mindfulness and how its practice can lead to improved brain function and mental health.

Let’s start by taking a look at the latest scientific research which has shown that the practice of meditation actually changes the shape of the brain, allowing specific areas in the brain to grow or change. This finding has established a new field of contemplative neuroscience – the brain science of meditation – and helps to explain how meditation acts to improve brain function and mental health.

Mindfulness and mindlessness

Have you ever written a cheque in January with the previous years date? …for most of us the answer is probably yes. Scientists now know that these small mistakes are actually the tip of a mindlessness iceberg! Mindfulness harnesses one of the great themes in all self help literature – the need to be free of unconsciously accepted habits and norms.

Five qualities of a mindful person