By Shirley Davis, CPTSD Foundation, Oct 3, 2019
To understand the treatments for complex post-traumatic stress disorder, it is helpful to understand the interaction between neuroplasticity and mindfulness.
What is Neuroplasticity?
Until the 1960s, mental health professionals and researchers believed that once we reach adulthood, our brains do not change. It was thought that after early adulthood what we had at that time regarding brain structure and size was permanent.
A book The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science written by Norman Doidge, there is a possible explanation for these erroneous beliefs.
Norman Doidge wrote about the ancient belief that the brain could not grow and change and how these beliefs came from observations that people with brain damage often couldn’t recover. Physicians were unable to see the activities that occur microscopically in the brain, and this limitation kept researchers focusing on early childhood changes and not on what happens in adulthood.
However, modern research shows that the brain is not static after early adulthood, but a vibrant and changing organ which changes as we encounter new experiences.
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For more information on CPTSD, including resources and materials to help in healing and living with Complex PTSD symptoms, head over to CPTSDfoundation.org.
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