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ОглавлениеThe Brain: Where It All Starts
Psychologists, philosophers, researchers, and others postulate that it is the physical brain that creates, or gives rise to, the ephemeral mind. This is in contrast to the ancients, who thought that the heart was the seat, not only of emotion, but thinking as well. It’s important to note that the mind is not synonymous with the brain. Instead, in our definition, the mind consists of mental states that include thoughts, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and images. The brain is the hardware that allows us to experience these mental states.
The human brain is an exceedingly complex and marvelous organ comprising a network of neural connections and approximately 100 billion nerve cells known as neurons.
But the human brain is much more than a collection of neurons. If that’s all it were, we wouldn’t be nearly as smart as an octopus, the brain of which can have as many as 150 billion neurons. And if numbers of neurons were the criterion, we certainly would not be as intelligent as dolphins, elephants, or sperm whales, the latter having brains almost five times the size of ours. Weighing in at a mere 2 percent of our total body weight, the human brain is one of the marvels of evolution. Within its many folds is an organic computer that rivals anything we may have on our desktop. It was the human brain, after all, that invented the computer.
Why should we be surprised, then, that when we consciously tap into that brainpower, we can use one of the greatest forces of nature to regulate the life processes that keep us healthy and disease-free? The interplay between the physical brain and the intangible mind is manifest in the interaction of the physical body and the mental aspects of health and disease. The health of the mind affects the body and the health of the body affects the mind.
The brain is the physical organ that gives rise to the mind, which in turn is the thinking and perceiving part of our consciousness. Our brains are like two-pound computers with empty files, ready to input data as fast as possible. Neural (nerve) connections sprout; and the more we’re stimulated and the more data we input during the first few years of our life, the more effectively those connections grow.
During the first ten years of life, the brain’s outer portion or cerebral cortex grows the most rapidly and undergoes the greatest amount of change. Therefore, a large amount of sensory input and education is essential for proper growth, development, learning, and memory. While the expression “use it or lose it,” is true at all ages when it comes to the brain, it’s especially true at this critical time of life. Children who are not held, cuddled, or adequately stimulated during infancy will not fully develop emotionally. At the other end of the age spectrum, older individuals who no longer perform regular mental activities will have increased memory loss and a decreased capacity in certain intellectual skills.
Throughout our lives, we’re constantly using our brain—both consciously and subconsciously—for a variety of functions, even during sleep. The old adage that we only use 10 percent of our brain is not true.
On the other hand, the mind refers to the collection of experiences, memories, feelings, and emotions that, together with our subconscious, make us who we are. The mind-body connection is sometimes called the brain-body connection because our brain is really the control center for every one of our organ systems and the catalyst that triggers the multitude of chemical reactions that control our lives from before birth until we take our last breath (at least).
We don’t fully understand the intricacies of how nerve networks operate, but we do know that the brain has an incredible ability to change connections in response to sensory stimuli. This ability is called neuroplasticity and is responsible for creating feelings and emotions and producing cognitive behaviors such as thinking and memory that change with our life experiences. Until recently, we didn’t realize the extent to which we’re consciously able to trigger the brain—with no external stimuli at all—into actions that can literally alter the thousands of biochemical reactions occurring in our bodies every second.
For example, visualization or imaging is being used along with traditional chemotherapy treatment to help patients destroy malignant cells. Prayer sessions are becoming a part of healthcare at many hospitals owing to the belief (supported by some research) that spirituality plays a vital role in a patient’s healing process. Both imaging and prayer are examples of how the brain, as a result of stimulation by our thoughts, can be mobilized to boost the immune system enough to influence diseases as life-threatening as heart disease and cancer.
Development of the immune system begins during the first few weeks after conception. Neural folds appear and release cells that form what is known as the neural crest. The neural crest then contributes to the proper formation of the thymus gland, which is necessary for the full and effective development of the immune system. Once the central nervous system (CNS)—consisting of the brain and spinal cord—develops, it begins to communicate with the immune system to create immune responses.
Individuals with poor brain development, or with psychiatric and neurological disorders, often have poor immune responsiveness, lowered antibody production, and impaired lymphocyte activity. Some of these individuals, particularly those suffering with psychiatric disorders, can be helped with the techniques described in this book. The sensitivity of the CNS is one reason prenatal care is so important. Unless the CNS develops and grows properly in an environment without toxins such as alcohol, nicotine, drugs, and other agents, the immune system will not develop properly either. Babies are then born who may have underdeveloped spleens, thymuses, and lymph nodes, with a subsequent decrease in white blood cell production. Many children whose mothers may not have known they were pregnant until the second or third month are born much more susceptible to infections and diseases.
The nervous system is the first system to be visible during early embryonic development. Once it begins to form, everything else follows. The endocrine and lymphatic organs, together with the brain and nerves, form the neuro-endocrine-immune system, which controls the healing process and keeps us healthy. Some of the brain’s structures, such as the hypothalamus and pituitary, play an especially critical role in our ability to respond to events happening around us. The manner in which we respond, however, is the result of brain conditioning, much like the conditioning of our muscles during physical exercise or training.
Figure 1.1: Main Components of the Developed Brain
Hypothalamus/Pituitary: The Brain’s Thermostat
The lower area of the brain contains a section called the hypothalamus. Known as the body’s thermostat, the hypothalamus maintains homeostasis, the constant state in which our body operates. Functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, growth, metabolism, electrolyte balance, hunger, sleep, wakefulness, and breathing are controlled by signals generated by this area of the brain.
In order to function properly and direct the brain, the hypothalamus receives signals from the skin, eyes, nose, peripheral nerves, and the multitude of internal receptors that respond to changes in temperature, fluid concentration, and pressure. Because it’s so sensitive to stressors and environmental signals, the hypothalamus is also involved in an immense number of biochemical reactions, and is the reason why stress can have such a deleterious effect on so many different organ systems. Altering the hypothalamus surgically, for example, can literally destroy the immune response.
Directly below the hypothalamus is the pituitary, which releases more hormones than any other endocrine gland. But although it’s the principal gland that releases hormones (it’s called the master gland of the body), the pituitary cannot do so without chemicals produced by the hypothalamus. The anterior pituitary is involved in many of the reactions occurring during stress, anxiety, and physical trauma. A pathway comprising the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal gland plays an important role in how we deal with both physical and emotional stressors and is discussed in the next chapter.
The posterior pituitary releases two hormones, one of which, vasopressin or antidiuretic hormone (ADH), is important in regulating the body’s fluid balance. During stress, it also contributes to the release of cortisol, which depresses the immune system and makes us more prone to illness and disease. In the case of major depression, both vasopressin and cortisol levels are very high. Oxytocin, the other posterior pituitary hormone, is mainly involved in muscle contractions, especially the uterine muscles during the final stages of pregnancy and the mammary gland cells during suckling in order to eject milk. In males, oxytocin increases contractions of the prostate gland and the vas deferens, the vessel that transports sperm.
Recently, a team of scientists from Heptares Therapeutics, a medical company in Hertfordshire, England, discovered the structure of what has been called the brain’s “misery molecule.” According to the scientists, CRF-1, a protein found in the brain and pituitary cells, triggers the release of stress hormones and may actually contribute to our feelings of stress, anxiety, and even depression. Chief scientific officer Fiona Marshall said that “Stress-related diseases such as depression and anxiety affect a quarter of adults each year, but what many people don’t realize is that these conditions are controlled by proteins in the brain, one of which is CRF-1 found in structure of class B GPCR corticotrophin-releasing factor receptor 1.” The team soon hopes to develop drugs that can block CRF-1 and blunt the release of chemicals responsible for stress reactions.1
A network of nerves above the hypothalamus, the limbic system is often referred to as the emotional brain. It has a large number of sensory receptors and the greatest concentration of the brain’s opiate receptors. The rush or feeling of euphoria one gets after taking an opiate such as heroin or morphine is caused by the binding of such drugs to these opiate receptors.
The limbic system controls and regulates emotions such as fear, rage, love, hate, sexual arousal, aggression, pleasure, and pain. Located here are the so-called punishment and reward centers, believed to be important in learning and in triggering the motivational systems behind behavior that seeks to avoid pain and pursue pleasure. Different areas of this system elicit different responses. Some years ago, I worked with a research scientist who was investigating how tobacco additives could be used to stimulate the areas of the limbic system that produce pleasure responses.
One part of the limbic system important in learning and memory is the hippocampus. Whenever we learn something new, structural changes occur that allow us to remember. New evidence from Alzheimer’s patients shows that there is considerable atrophy of the hippocampus, which would explain the loss of memory and the inability to recognize even recent experiences. Neuroplasticity is essentially lost, and the brain can no longer file away information.
It’s also believed that the limbic system is the part of the brain most involved with violent behavior. For example, as part of a classic medical experiment, a woman had an electrode inserted in one section of her limbic system and received a mild current. She immediately became angry and violent. When the current was switched off, she again became pleasant and cooperative. There’s agreement among neuroscientists that disruption of nerve impulses within the limbic system may be responsible for at least some cases of violent behavior.
Like all other areas of the brain, the limbic system is affected by a number of external signals from the environment, as well as by internal signals we send to ourselves because of the way we think and how we perceive events. No organ is more prone to suggestions than is the brain; and no organ in the human body is more responsive to how the body responds to those suggestions. Fighting a cold or eliminating a tumor often depends in part on the positive signals we send, which in turn unleash a wave of chemicals that trigger the massive immune response that stops disease in its tracks.
In research studies, nearly one-third of patients given nothing more than a placebo—often a sugar pill or a distilled water and salt solution—improve their condition. Why? Obviously something powerful takes place in the brain of the patient. As Dr. Robert DeLap, then head of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Offices of Drug Evaluation explained in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of the FDA publication The Healing Power of Placebos, “Expectation is a powerful thing. The more you believe you’re going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that you will experience a benefit.” This is exactly why placebos are used when testing a new drug’s medical benefit. If patients on the new drug fare significantly better than those taking a placebo, the study helps support the conclusion that the medicine is responsible for improvements in patients’ condition and not the power of positive thinking.
For centuries, unorthodox treatments have produced astounding improvements in health that could not be explained in traditional terms. During the last few decades, researchers have been studying how the placebo effect triggers the mind to regulate and control the body. In 1955, a groundbreaking paper “The Powerful Placebo” demonstrated that 32 percent of patients responded to placebos. Ten years later, breakthrough studies demonstrated that placebos sped up pulse rate, increased blood pressure, and improved reaction speeds when participants were told they had taken a stimulant, but had the opposite effects when participants were told they had taken a sleep-inducing drug.
It’s hard for many people to accept the notion that just thinking about curing a disease will often be enough to actually do it; that we can respond as well to an inert pill as we can to an actual drug. But according to Dr. Michael Jospe, a professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, who has studied the placebo effect for more than twenty years, our belief system gives us more healing power than we realize. Jospe points out that all normal people experience physiological reactions to anticipation and stress that help them cope and survive. Each time you experience something and react to it, you learn from it and condition yourself to react before the event even occurs. So the relationship between a thought and a negative reaction is something we experience daily.
That goes for positive associations as well. Also, in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of the FDA publication The Healing Power of Placebos, Dr. Jospe adds, “The placebo effect is part of the human potential to react positively to a healer. You can reduce a patient’s distress by doing something that might not be medically effective.” He gives the example of children and adhesive bandages. If the adhesive bandage you put on a child’s wound has stars or cartoons on it, it can actually make the child feel better by its soothing effect, though there’s no medical reason it should make the child feel any better than a plain adhesive bandage. The positive reaction of the child to the images on the bandage seems to make the difference.
In some cases, the placebo may be as good as the actual treatment. One study found that placebos do as well as antidepressants in the majority of patients treated. Other studies have shown that multicolored placebo pills work best overall, green placebos produce better results in anxious or phobic patients, red or orange ones perform better as stimulants, blue ones as sedatives, and yellow ones for depression.2 Barring some of our new miracle drugs, there are few medications today that have the power of our body’s own chemicals.
Amazingly, placebos are also organ-specific. They work exactly the way the actual drug is supposed to work on precisely the body part or organ they’re intended to affect. So a placebo taken for joint pain will alleviate the pain in that particular joint, and one taken for a digestive problem will work on the stomach or intestines. One of the best examples of this was illustrated in a Canadian prostate study where more than half the men who had benign enlargement of their prostates were given placebo pills and reported significant relief from their symptoms, including faster urine flow. Researchers theorized that their patients’ positive expectations of the drug’s benefits caused therapeutic smooth muscle relaxation by decreasing nerve activity to the bladder, prostate, and urethra. In another major placebo study (reported in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of the FDA publication, The Healing Power of Placebos), two-thirds of subjects given a pill they were told would produce severe stomach activity quickly experienced strong stomach churning.
Does the placebo effect work on everyone? No. The answer may lie in individual differences in personality and attitude. Patients who visualize positive outcomes, eliminate stress, and participate in their own healing are the most successful. Those who dwell on the negative and believe that there’s no hope experience the “nocebo effect,” a negative reaction that depresses the immune system and makes one even more vulnerable to disease. The placebo effect helps prove that having a positive attitude and the will to get better triggers the release of brain chemicals needed for spontaneous healing.
How exactly does the interplay of psychological and physiological mechanisms trigger a healing process that can be as effective as most medicines we take? Today’s brain imaging techniques lend support to the theory that thoughts and beliefs not only affect one’s psychological state, but also cause the body to undergo actual biological changes. Together, the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems stimulate the release of chemicals that, during emotional responses, sets the healing process in motion.
When you think about it, the human body is an immensely complex system of molecules, which stimulates nerve connections that respond to our mental suggestions. So it makes sense that the placebo effect is really nothing more than a normal immune response. How else can we explain what some people call miracle cures but what more and more doctors refer to as “unexplained spontaneous healing?”
I believe the phenomenon of spontaneous healing occurs because something within us triggers a major response in our immune system, which literally floods our body with increasing white blood cells that attack and destroy whatever is causing the illness. We shouldn’t be at all surprised that this happens as often as it does. Without such a response, we’d be dying of diseases at a much more rapid rate. What should surprise us is that we know so little about how to use the mind-body connection to strengthen immunity and spontaneously heal ourselves in the process.
