the nature of things............changing your mind episode

[Alita]

Hi all,
I recently watched Nature of Things. The episode was on changing your mind. It covered topics like ptsd, ocd, and other mental health concerns. Wow! It was amazing to watch and learn. A must see for all of you who have not seen it. It made me basically, step outside my anxiety, and see the real me. The anxiety was my brain, which can be retrained and get better with time. Anyone who watches this show and episode, let me know how you feel about it. It was so interesting, that I watched it twice! Take care, Alita

[tailspin]

Hi Alita, That program sounds really interesting. Can you give a bit more info about it. Who made it? What channel was it on? Etc. Thanks.

[Ponder]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z0flgLs614

watching it now.

Your such an inspiration to me Tailspin :)
Say Hi to Dahila for me, if I don't make it back anytime soon - or I say it now .... HI DAHILA :)

[Ponder]

Neuroplasticity ... COOL ... the next step after visiting Luminosity :) ... No doubt it's been out for a while now, but great to hear it pitched the way it was. One of my Schizophrenia buddies used to explain how they would require him to take part in such tests, however I got the impression it was too much effort on his part. Two things on just that. First - the emphasis on Schizophrenia at the end of the show, should be taken to mean that this is NOT just for Extreme mental illness. I stress this, because I know how well, we tend to cling to our labels and or diagnoses. The reason there was so much emphasis on the extreme end with Schizophrenia, was to show just how effective this type of brain training is across the whole board of mental illness.

I was thinking about how obvious certain traits, between the OCD - PTSD - and Schizophrenia where very much a part of my own "debilitating thinking habits!" Notice how hey they were saying that Neuroplasticity is not our friend due to the fact that the repetitive cycles works both ways - positive and negative! OK about the other part of my sentence in the above paragraph -> The effort is takes! This kind of treatment is only as good as the participant is will to make it ... and it also takes time! BUT - WOW - it was good to hear it like that once again!!!! Education and Understanding is also another Key to this working and or being more effective!!!! I can see how people may negatively play this stuff down - but that's all I will say about that. People Cling to their labels, and far be it for an actual method to break the cycle!

Interesting about the clinging to labels - I see that often and I probably do it myself - people take them on board like fads, and I also think the professionals need to realize the broader scope of how different symptoms cross from one disorder to another and at different intensities - Aspergers symptoms / dyslexia / ADHD / ADD / OCD / GAD ... and other symptomatic behavioral changes come about from exposure to events and environmental conditioning - People have to understand that this is just another form to help us live with such symptomatic challenges and that the method is not just about sitting down and doing tests - but majorly understanding the process. Notice how mindfulness comes to light in the beginning for the OCD symptomatic issues -> great connection to how the mind is largely at play here - I like the emphasis on Miss Fire in the brain with the continually getting STUCK - and not being able to move on - AGAIN - you don't have to be OCD to see the correlation. Whilst one may recommend to tell oneself it's OCD - I see a danger in people holing on to only being OCD, but I do get what they mean in reminding one self it's just the mind playing tricks.

It's great stuff - but It's just a tool - and a great one at that! But for me - It will not do much to curb the wider issue, that the normality of the current ways of living is still destined to be "pissing in the wind" - so to speak. I fully recomend learning about how the brain works with such repetitive thinking and look up more on Neuroplasticity. Just like - getting on the treadmill - same kind of thing or sitting down all day. How much do you want to beat the beast? If so, yep - this is a great tool indeed.

PS .. also loved how the PTSD guy was getting back into nature after going over his story- again and again. Kind of like how many of us in these forums go over ours. Well ... I know that is that case for me. Makes perfect sense! Right now - I'm kind of still fighting the stress and BS that I see - but this method - is right on with meditation and all those things I love - when it comes to shaking those bad chemicals.

Good Steer ...

We watched it on the PS3 in the lounge room - that's how good I thought it was :)

[tailspin]

Thanks, Dave!!! I will for sure check this out later on today.

[tailspin]

Wow, this was a really informative program. Thanks for posting about it, Alita, and thanks Dave for finding it on youtube.

I thought the segment on their treatment for PTSD was fascinating. Very interesting too to be reminded that the brain's neuroplasticity is both a positive and a negative thing. Because, obviously, you can make your own brain much worse, eg, in OCD. So the plasticity aspect is definitely a bit of a double-edged sword.....

I totally agree with what you say here, Dave:


The effort is takes! This kind of treatment is only as good as the participant is will to make it ... and it also takes time!

This is, honestly, where it gets a bit daunting. The amount of repetition that is necessary to replace the negative pathways with positive pathways........That is no mean feat. I really like the idea of strengthening that mental gear stick. That's a great image.

I might buy the book that is mentioned "The Brain That Changes Itself". I do think that the methods explored in this program are right on the money. It was definitely very well worth watching. Thanks again!

[BlessedMom]

oh I totally believe that!! I am very capable of changing my situation IF I set my mind to it, otherwise I can lay down and die and have every alignment in the world lol I laugh, but we are all intelligent and we know we suffer from a disorder if we are actually here discussing it.....we have powerful brains, that's all ;)