Product Description

In his work treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz made an extraordinary discovery: by focusing their attention away from negative behaviors and toward positive ones, his patients were able to make permanent changes to their own neural pathways. In The Mind and the Brain Schwartz explores this power -- the power of the mind to shape the brain.

Through research and case studies, he demonstrates the brain's ability to be drastically rewired, not just in childhood but throughout life -- a paradigm-shifting discovery that could transform the treatment of every neurological dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke.

Schwartz's landmark book challenges the idea that we are merely biologically programmed automatons and proves that we have the power to shape our brains and, consequently, our destiny -- a revolutionary insight that continues to provoke debate among those who care about the future of man's role in the universe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4536 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Released on: 2003-10-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Schwartz (A Return to Innocence), a UCLA psychiatrist and expert on treating patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), teams up with Begley, a Wall Street Journal science columnist, to explore the mind/brain dichotomy and to discuss the science behind new treatments being developed for a host of brain dysfunctions. Building on the work presented in Schwartz's first book, Brain Lock, the authors begin by demonstrating that OCD patients are capable of rechanneling compulsive urges into more socially acceptable activities and that, by doing so, they actually alter their brains' neuronal circuitry. By presenting a wide array of animal and human experiments, Schwartz and Begley show that similar neuroplasticity is possible in stroke victims, often leading to a return of function previously thought impossible. The medical results and treatments they summarize are exciting and deserve widespread attention. In a chapter entitled "Free Will and Free Won't," the authors turn to the philosophical, examining the implications neuroplasticity might have on the differences between mind and brain; they also discourse on the existence of free will. Unfortunately, their integration of quantum mechanics and Buddhism into a search for a mechanism to explain the patterns scientists have been discovering is too superficial to fully engage readers. Nonetheless, a great deal in this book is sure to motivate discussion and more research.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Schwartz's undergraduate major was philosophy, and that interest as well as Buddhism has broadened his outlook and makes this book potentially attractive to more readers than those habitually interested in "brain science." Psychiatrist Schwartz pioneered the use of positron-emission tomography in studying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The behaviorists' therapeutic use of the often-harsh exposure and prevention method with OCD struck Schwartz as brutal and unproductive. Searching for a new approach, he gradually developed the four-step method that he and science writer Begley thoroughly describe here. Employing the Buddhist idea of willful mindfulness, Schwartz and his colleagues enjoyed considerable research and clinical success. A long, informal collaboration with physicist Henry Stapp enabled Schwartz to overcome the problem of free will and moral action, and one of his major achievements was proving the neuroplasticity of the adult brain, thanks to which the formation of new transmission routes coincides with that of new neurons. Schwartz and Begley bring to life the thinking and work of many original investigators in a book that thoughtful readers will enjoy. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Jeffrey M. Schwartz M.D. is an internationally-recognized authority on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and is the author of the bestseller Brain Lock. He is a Research Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Customer Reviews

The Consilience of Neuroscience, Jamesian Psychology, Buddhism, and Quantum Mechanics
The Consilience of Neuroscience, Jamesian Psychology, Buddhism, and Quantum Mechanics


This excellent work reminded me of E.O Wilson's assertion that the sciences, humanities, and arts have one purpose: to give meaning to "a conviction, far deeper than a mere working proposition, that the world is orderly and can be explained by a small number of natural laws."

Dr. Jeffery Scwartz and Sharon Begley have, through a masterful integration and consilience of quantum mechanics, neuroscience, Jamesian and Buddhist psychology, done a wonderful job explaining issues in consciousness and why purposeful volition and awareness, "mindfulness" and the "power of mental force" works in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Speaking as someone with an engineering background, the authors are to be congratulated on making the scientific concepts, especially the physics concepts, such as the quantum, the Quantum Zeno Effect, and the Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment, accessible for readers who may not have a deeper knowledge often requires by other texts.

The book is illlustrated with several necessary diagrams to help the reader better understand the brain neuroanatomy, PET neuroimages, neurons, and so on.

Neocortical reorganization, or neuroplasticity, is a major relatively recent scientific finding.

This is one of the best works to holistically explain the basis for the newest rehabilitation physiotherapies and the third wave of mindfulness-based cognitive behavioural psychotherapies.

A fascinating exploration of mindfulness and neuroplasticity
This book was probably the most fascinating book I read about neuroscience and that's saying something since I find all of them fascinating. In this book the author explains neuroplasticity and how it continues to work in the brains of an adult as well as a child. The author also reviews many of the neuroscience experiments and projects done by various people as well as how those projects have confirmed the efficacy of mindful practices in controlling our habits and thoughts.

What I found really fascinating was how the author's work with OCD patients help them overcome that affliction by learning how to rewire the thought patterns. Equally interesting is the focus on how we can deliberately change our brains not only to heal, but also to continue sharpening our skills. For people interested in the intersection of neuroscience and magic, this book is a must read. 5 out 5

You can Change your mind
This book presents a scientific premise that though you may be born hard wired or predisposed to certain thinking patterns those patterns are change able. You are what you think and how you think will make you what you will be. Yes we can inherit certain traits and chemical imbalances can affect our attitudes , but we are not bound , we are not slave to these patterns of thought . We can change the way we think . The admonition of scripture " to let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus " is achievable . We can develop new thinking patterns . That is one of the great blessings of meditating (thinking in a specific manner) on scripture that by this we can develop the mind of Christ in us . We do not have to be bound by hatred of another . When we consistently pray for one ( not pray against ) who is a perceived enemy , with time and practice our perception will change , our attitude will change , our MIND will change , even though they may not change their attitude towards us( this is about changing ourselves "0UR own MIND"). We cannot always make people like us but we can chose to love them . This book presents the scientific facts concerning the plasticity of the brain (the ability to reshape our brains by the application of our mind (will). ) This book is a great encouragement for personnel change . Chemical imbalances affect the way we think , but the way we think affects the chemicals we release . Bitterness is rooted in our habits of thought and can only be rooted out by a new way of thinking (Jesus is the way the truth and the light). This book is not a theology book but The Bible will shed a lot of light on it . The heart of man ( how he thinks , our emotional seat )can be changed . With the help of Christ we can break the chains and habits of (the motions) miss thinking , negative thought life , lustful thinking(sin) . Some may call it "the power of positive thinking" , the Bible refers to it as righteous living or , doing what is right in the sight of God (as defined by scripture in the Bible). We can develope an attitude of gratitude for the blessings in our life even as we strive to over come the difficulties we daily face . The fact that there are now instruments that can register our mental activity and quantify mental changes is a bonus.