Brains On Purpose™

Does finding your "true self" help you rewire your brain? Interview of Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz

Click to listen to an excellent interview of Jeff on Achieve Radio in which he talks about rewiring your brain and changing habits. He begins by describing how he lowered his blood sugar using his "mind alone." He talks about self-transparency, the benefits of finding your true self, your animal brain and how to talk back to it, his 4-step method, the 15-minute rule, the toxicity of all-or-none thinking, deceptive brain messages, focusing of attention, the difference between us and animals, the placebo effect, Hebbs Law, the difference between the mind and the brain, and much more.

Dan Siegel: The Human Mind & the Cultivation of Well-Being

Click to watch Dr. Dan Siegel speaking at USC School of Policy, Planning & Development. The presentation's title: "The Human Mind & the Cultivation of Well-Being." Click to go to Siegel's Web site.

November in Sydney: Jeffrey Schwartz, Edward de Bono, Susan Greenfield, Tony Buzan, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang

This year's Mind & its Potential will be held November 7-8. A Masterclass called "Unleash your creative potential" will be held November 6. From the conference Web site:

Change your mind: change your brain

How do we learn? How should we teach? How do we overcome adversity and disability? How should we live our lives? Join world leaders in science, education, psychology and the arts in exploring these profound questions at Mind & Its Potential 2011.

Be motivated and inspired by an amazing gathering of 40+ speakers! Keynotes include leading authority on creative thinking, Dr Edward de Bono, world renowned neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield, Mind Mapping guru Tony Buzan, acclaimed neuroplasticity researcher Dr Jeffrey M Schwartz and learning and the brain expert Dr Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.

Click for more information.

Interview with Jeffrey Schwartz, MD, on how to rewire your brain, problems with materialism in science, and his new book

Click to listen to an excellent interview [link is also below] in which Dr. Jeff Schwartz talks with Michael Ray Dresser about the new book You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life, and the many problems with thinking your brain controls who you are, what you think, and how you act.

Jeff says, "The brain can control your entire life if you let it." He then talks about why you would not want your brain to be in control, how to make sure you are not living a rat-like, habit-driven life, and the benefits of living life in a conscious, discerning, and mindful way.

The interviewer is very skilled and knowledgeable, and Jeff is articulate, passionate, and clear. Highly recommended!

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz-6-30-2011-Track 1

 

Conference: Mind & Its Potential

From the event Web site:

Change your mind: change your brain
How do we learn? How should we teach? How do we overcome adversity and disability? How should we live our lives? Join world leaders in science, education, psychology and the arts in exploring these profound questions at Mind & Its Potential 2011.

Be motivated and inspired by an amazing gathering of 40+ speakers! Keynotes include leading authority on creative thinking, Dr Edward de Bono, world renowned neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield, Mind Mapping guru Tony Buzan, acclaimed neuroplasticity researcher Dr Jeffrey M Schwartz and learning and the brain expert Dr Mary Helen Immordino-Yang.

The conference, to be held in November in Sydney, will include these programs:

• You are not your brain - Dr Jeffrey Schwartz
• The view from within the mind studied from without - Dr Baljinder Sahdra
• Outside the box: the neuroscience of creativity - Baroness Susan Greenfield
• Use your head – innovative learning and thinking techniques to fulfill your potential - Tony Buzan 
• The rewards of mental effort - exercising your imagination and creativity - Professor Erica McWilliam
• How to have a beautiful mind - Dr Edward de Bono

Click for more details about the conference.

Short description of self-directed neuroplasticity

As you will recall, when you have a brain on purpose, or change your brain with your mind, you are engaging in self-directed neuroplasticity (SDN). A quick overview of seminal work in SDN is given in a new article "The Neurobiology of We" (Parabola):

The breakthrough in imaging techniques led Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, now a research psychiatrist at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles and author of The Mind & The Brain, to wonder two decades ago, “What kind of internal experience is generated by the neuronal activity captured on a brain scan? Even more important, how can we use scientific discoveries linking inner experience with brain function to effect constructive changes in everyday life?”1 A student of Buddhist meditation, he developed a form of therapy to change the faulty chemistry of a well-identified brain circuit: that of the patient with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. (OCD is

A reminder that one role of a dispute professional is attention choreographer

Click to watch a video in which neuroscientist Jeff Schwartz describes research looking at the power of linguistic labeling of emotion to calm our amygdala. (Here's a blog post about this same research on labeling the affect.) The cognitive use of language to manage emotions is one of several topics he covers in this short clip from a talk he recently gave at the Mayo Clinic entitled "The Quantum Brain and Self-Directed Neuroplasticity."

He also explains the statement "the brain puts out the call; the mind decides whether to listen." Whether to listen and how we listen determines if we just follow the brain's commands in an animal-like way or if we activate the frontal cortex. If we do the latter, we can decide not to mechanistically follow the brain.

Of course, in order to label our emotions or to make the decision not to heed the brain's call, we need to be paying attention to what we are paying attention to. In order for our clients to make those decisions to move from reactive to reflective, they need to be paying the same kind of attention.

As you watch, you will see that attention is a main theme of this talk excerpt. Jeff also explains the quote from William James: "Volitional effort is effort of attention." He looks at the value of directing our attention, especially under circumstances of painful or emotionally evocative stimuli. As we all know, conflict often involves such stimuli. Attention is a key skill in handling pain and emotion.

Listening to this short clip can remind you why conflict professionals can be more effective by seeing themselves as attention choreographers.

4 steps to banish bad habits: Interview of Jeffrey Schwartz about his upcoming book YOU ARE NOT YOUR BRAIN

In this interview, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz discusses obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and his new book You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life. In the book, he and co-author Dr. Rebecca Gladding show readers how they can apply the 4 steps for OCD treatment to other conditions, habits, and symptoms, such as overeating, procrastination, and excessive drinking. Click for previous post about the book.

Topics of the interview, in addition to the 4 steps, include: overuse of drugs and the alternative of using one's capacity to direct attention for treating conditions, the empowerment of a person's will to change his or her brain, the role of mindful awareness, consultation with one's inner wise advocate, and Leonardo DiCaprio's development of OCD in the filming of The Aviator. The interview begins with a clip of Jeff's address to the United Nations about the challenges faced by non-materialists.

Jeff wrote his book Dear Patrick: Life is Tough - Here's Some Good Advice with Annie Gottlieb. Here is what she says on her blog about this interview of Jeff:

My fascinating friend Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz — very serious, ebullient and funny — may be doing some of the most important thinking and discovering on the planet.  You Are Not Your Brain is the title of his next book, coming out in June.  This long video is completely enthralling to me.  It’s about basic stuff like mood, addictions, and overeating, and how much choice and control we actually have.

Click to read the rest of Gottlieb's post. Click to watch the interview of Jeff. Click to pre-order You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life.

Note (added January 4, 2011): Click to read a news release about You Are Not Your Brain.

 

Excerpt from ARE WE BORN RACIST? leaves out one key to lessening in-group/out-group response

It is not news that our reactive brains respond in predictable ways to those we see as different from us. Those ways are not the same as how we respond to members of our in-groups. You can read about some of that research in this excerpt (AlterNet) from Are We Born Racist?: New Insights from Neuroscience and Positive Psychology.

Unfortunately the role that self-awareness, attention, mindfulness, can play in facilitating a person's being more reflective, less reactive, when interacting with those different from him or her is not mentioned. With training in self-awareness, attention, mindfulness, we do not need to be slaves to our brains.

As we have often pointed out here, there are those in the science community who do think we are clueless, helpless, hapless slaves. From "Missing Persons" (The Catholic Thing):

Many scientists have for some time denied the old view of what really distinguishes human beings: that we have the ability to know the truth and the freedom to choose right and wrong. It’s odd that modern science – which has given us so much knowledge about the world and useful technologies in medicine and other fields – should deny our ability to know and will. But no small segment of modern scientists regard the human capacity for knowing not, as in the past, as a kind of miracle, something of a different order than everything else we observe in the universe. For them, human knowledge is merely a kind of higher evolutionary reaction to stimuli. Indeed, if you look at the statements of some neuroscientists, they have started to call it a “folk view” that we know things and can act freely. For them, it’s determinism all the way down. We dummies – the non-neuroscientists – just don’t know it yet.

What we each think about determinism and reductionism, whether or not we think we can override our brain to be in alignment with our values, is important. It affects how we see the rights and responsibilties of our clients, and more important, what, in our own behavior, we believe we can and cannot change. Even if we are born racist, I believe we have the power to overcome reactive responses. Do you?

Sure, our brains may react and act up in ways that our reflective mind may find upsetting, even horrifying. Through self-awarensss and attention training, by increasing mindfulness skills, our reflective minds can steer. Remember: "The brain puts out the call, the mind decides whether to listen."

I'm pledging to finish the primer on the brain and mind in conflict and resolution by November's end

On Thursday, I gave the opening keynote and a breakout at this year's Colorado State Bar ADR Conference [pdf]. Both presentations focused on the mind and the brain and what the current research tells us that can be helpful for dispute resolution professionals. The attendees were enthusiastic and thoughtful, and I have received some nice e-mails about the programs.

I mentioned in the afternoon program the booklet I've been planning for too, too long. It will be a quick and easy overview of brain- and mind-friendly conflict resolution that can be given to clients. Because they would like to use the primer with their own clients,  I was urged by several people in the breakout to complete the project.

Their urging will be one motivation for completion. The other is WNFIN, or Writing NonFiction in November. This project is supporting people in writing 50,000 words this month. I don't know how long that many words translates into, but think it may be longer than a booklet? Anyway, I am not going to worry about the word count, just the timing.

The first draft will be done by November 30!

Do you have any nonfiction projects that cry to be completed? Join me in a word flurrry this month?

Come hear my keynote & breakout on neuroscience of conflict resolution at this state ADR conference

I'll be presenting the keynote address at the annual Colorado Statewide ADR Conference. In addition to the keynote, I will also be presenting one of the breakout sessions at this 4th annual conference titled "Evolving Frontiers of ADR." The event, to be held in Denver, is November 4. The early-bird registration ends October 21.

My topic: "The Mind and the Brain: 21st Century Insight for the ADR Professional."

Click to read the brochure with all the details [pdf].

I hope to see some of you there.

4 steps to changing your brain, your unwanted habits, your stress level

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz is one of the the pioneers in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In his book Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior, you may read about his four-step method of treatment and learn how they can change your brain.

Early next year, a new book he and Dr. Rebecca Gladding are writing will be available. For those of us who want to make positive changes in our lives—and brains, this book will be a valuable tool and guide because the the authors have broadly expanded the use of the four steps beyond the realm of OCD.

For a brief taste of the new book, I recommend that you read an interview of Jeff by Dr. Elisha Goldstein about how to use the four steps to reduce stress. An excerpt from this just-posted interview:

Elisha: In your book Brain Lock you present a four step process for working with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that has gained prominence and is being used by therapy centers around the world. Tell us a bit about this 4 step process and why it works?

Jeff: The four steps came out in brain lock published in 1996. I have a new book that’s going to be out in the beginning of 2011 and the co-author, Rebecca Gladding, is former Chief Resident in Psychiatry at UCLA and now UCLA faculty. In this new book we apply these same 4 steps in OCD to a much broader application and really use it as a means for stress management.

I’ll give you both versions.

First step is the same in both, Relabeling. There’s been great work by Matthew Lieberman OF UCLA on the tremendous power of labeling on emotional faces and other things to manage Amygdala hyper-responsiveness, in other words to manage fear and stress responsiveness. This research says if we put a label on our emotion, we can help manage our response to it. So Step 1 is Relabel.

Step 2 is called Reattribute ... .

Click to read the rest of the interview.