Do you struggle with negative thoughts? What is neuroplasticity and how does it work?
Mental toxicity leads to poor brain health, therefore, treating mental toxicity via neurocycling improves brain health. Dr. Caroline Leaf describes this strategy as “directed neuroplasticity.”
Find out how neuroplasticity can improve your mental health and strengthen your mind.
Directed Neuroplasticity
What is neuroplasticity and how does it work? In contrast with neuroreductionist mental health treatments that aim to improve your mental health by changing your brain, neurocycling targets your mind for strengthening. Leaf says your mind is a complex energetic field that becomes toxic when you fail to process unhealthy thoughts. If you can learn to control this energetic field, eradicate any toxic energy that’s infiltrated it, and prevent further toxic energy from accumulating, you can treat the root of your mental health problems (mental toxicity).
Neuroplasticity refers to your brain’s ability to change in response to external influences—in this case, your mind (Leaf says it’s independent of the brain). Directed means that you’re shaping these changes in a particular way—in this case, you’re making positive changes by eradicating unhealthy thoughts. Through directed neuroplasticity, you can rebuild your brain’s neural networks (the structure of physical thoughts) and improve its electrical activity to achieve coherence (the measure of brain health that Leaf says reflects your level of mental toxicity).
| How Neurocycling Compares With Other Mental Health Treatments According to Leaf, neurocycling is effective because it strengthens your mind, which in turn promotes positive changes in your brain. This strategy is the basis of many other mental health treatments, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and self-directed neuroplasticity (SDN). Let’s explore how neurocycling compares to each of these approaches. CBT: According to Judith S. Beck (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), CBT is a popular, research-backed treatment that helps you identify and change negative thought patterns to improve emotional regulation and develop healthy coping strategies. CBT has also been shown to improve brain health via neuroplasticity. CBT doesn’t attempt to clear the buildup of toxic metaphysical energy in the mind, but it shares with neurocycling the goal of improving mental health by reshaping your thinking. ACT: As Russ Harris explains in The Happiness Trap, ACT teaches you to deal with negative thoughts and feelings by acknowledging and accepting them, without necessarily changing them. Research suggests that this approach changes the brain in ways that support mental health. As we’ll discuss, Leaf also emphasizes the importance of acknowledging your negative thoughts—but she doesn’t think you should accept them. Instead, she advocates replacing them with more positive alternatives. SDN: In The Mind and the Brain, Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley describe SDN as an approach that involves actively directing your mental focus to rewire neural pathways and foster healthier brain function. SDN is very similar to neurocycling, but Schwartz understands the mind-brain connection differently than Leaf. While Leaf says that your mental activity determines how well your brain functions, Schwartz sees this as a two-way street where goings-on in the brain influence mental processes and vice versa. |
