repairing brain damage: with song!

Many people criticize the use of the term "brain disorder," but here is an example of why I find the term optimistic and not fatalistic:

Singing Therapy Helps Stroke Patients Speak Again

The brain is plastic: interacting with the environment and changed by experience. When there is damage, or developmental problems, or an individual is born with a predisposition to a mental illness there is hope through re-building and strengthening and skills-training.

Comments

  1. I have a very elderly lady at work who cannot speak due to a stroke, but she loves music and when she sings you can sometimes make out the occasional word-like sound. And quite apart from that she loves music and she likes me sitting with her for a few songs singing along with her or holding her hand if it's a sad one that reminds her of something she can't tell us about.

    Neuroplasticity gives me hope in all sorts of ways.

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  2. You know me, I preach Jill Bolte Taylor as an example for people to remember that they CAN heal. (she had a massive stroke, repaired her brain, etc. Find her on TEDTalks) all that to say: grateful you posted this article!

    For myself, when I underwent my healing-process from ED, what finally worked was: first taking time to repair my brain. I over-nourished to a certain extent during that time, with vitamin B's, protein, and fat being my main repair tools. After about 6 months of truly uncompromising nutrition I remember the very day I was able to read without having to re-read what I'd just read, I was able to play piano from memory, and I was able to have healthier emotional responses to life. One of the greatest surprises after these first 6 months of good nutritional was how much my attitude towards the things/people who I had long felt contributed to the development of my ED changed. As my brain healed, so did my 'need' to discuss-ad-nausea the 'causes' of my ED. I became more concerned with overcoming, rather than debating, whatever the 'causes' were. I attribute that shift to the nutrition that healed my brain which got me back to the healthy-thinking human being I was before my ED developed.
    When my brain began repairing the deduction became clear to me: healed is possible. Relapse is no longer something I need to be on guard for, no matter what comes my way, including weight-loss or vomiting if I were to catch the flu. I feel that's an important gift to (both cautiously and gracefully) give yourself (and others) when healing: the gift of no longer being on guard for the disease.
    (even if you feel your ED was genetically pre-disposed, I still believe you can be free from worry of relapse --if you have done a true healing-process)

    The brain is such an enigmatic, yet powerful and wondrous, gift that, even in 2011, I think we're just in the infant-state of comprehending its full potential. :)

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