The Truth About Neuroplasticity and How to Use Your Mind to Heal Your Brain

BY HAYLEY NELSON, PHD

The other day, my childhood friend (let’s call her Jodi), who is currently going through a nasty divorce and has very low self-esteem, asked me, “What can I do if my brain is broken?”

As a neuroscientist and professor of Psychology, I will never call someone’s brain broken because one of the most beautiful things about the brain is that it is moldable and plastic. So, her question to me should have been, “How can I heal my brain from all the damage that has occurred through the years?”

Unfortunately, because of early childhood traumas and the current chaos in her life, Jodi’s brain was likely altered to accommodate the chronic and toxic stressors in her life. You may have heard of the term neuroplasticity, which is precisely what this is - our nervous system and brain changing and creating new connections through experience.

But, just as the constant stress and traumas altered the trajectory of Jodi’s brain development, Jodi can now regain control and change her brain to function differently because the brain is so moldable. One recommendation I gave Jodi was to practice positive affirmations, which we’ll discuss later.

First, let’s understand a bit more about neuroplasticity. I like the analogy of a stream going down the side of a mountain. This stream is not going to flow up the mountain or try to cut through trees. Instead, it will want to go along the path of least resistance.

Like this stream, our nervous system also wants to flow along the path of least resistance. Through repetition, neural pathways are created to maximize and automate our actions and thoughts, which become the path of least resistance in our nervous system.

So if you grew up in a chaotic environment like Jodi, your nervous system is adapting to this repetition of constant chaos. The more you experience this environment, the stronger the neural connections become. Further, the emotions tied to those experiences are also being repeated.

As such, the more you experience these environments, especially if there’s an emotion tied to it, those pathways become even stronger. Your nervous system becomes primed to automate your response to these constant stressors. Consequently, those thoughts and behaviors become the automatic responses you will find yourself dealing with as a child and throughout your life.

For example, you might find yourself, just as Jodi did, falling into destructive patterns of negative self-talk, leading to lowered self-esteem, and being stuck in an abusive relationship. Or maybe you’re dealing with social anxiety, eating disorders, or substance use. Such behavior patterns are quite common in individuals with a history of trauma.

Importantly, when your nervous system is following the path of least resistance, it will mark this environment as familiar and safe. In Jodi’s case, the chaos and stress are familiar, so her actions and thoughts will work hard to continue following this path.

From an outsider’s perspective, it makes no sense: Why would you do this? Why would you make your life harder? Why can’t you just stop? Maybe consciously, you want to, but your nervous system is fighting against you, and you feel a strong resistance to this change, just like a stream trying to flow up a mountain.

Like the stream, your nervous system wants to do whatever it’s always done and follow that familiar pathway. In fact, there are regions within the brain that are impacted by chronic stress, especially trauma. Specifically, there’s an area deep in our brain called the amygdala, which is our emotion center.

When the amygdala recognizes a threat in the environment, whether it’s a gunshot or a challenging task at work, it will activate your stress response system. However, when this stress is chronic and perpetual, your amygdala takes over and “runs the show.”

As a result, your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus become underutilized and physically become smaller and less active. You can think of the hippocampus as a filing cabinet that is not emotionally charged, while your prefrontal cortex oversees our executive functioning and decision-making.

Because of these brain changes, new memories and decisions you make throughout your life are now being processed by your overactive amygdala instead of being controlled by your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex as they typically would. This can explain why emotionally charged decisions and behaviors continue to occur.

For example, maintaining our selfesteem and confidence is one of the many jobs of our prefrontal cortex. If the prefrontal cortex is not functioning properly, you may end up speaking negatively to yourself, which could lead to lowered self-esteem and mood. In turn, this now becomes the path of least resistance.

So, back to Jodi’s question: How can we stop this? How can we make that stream go up the mountain and work against the resistance we feel when we try to change?

The first step is awareness. Once you have that, you’ll need to commit to changing things that you can control, like how you speak to yourself. By consciously choosing to stop negative self-talk and replacing it with positive self-talk, over time and through repetition, the brain will rewire itself to make this the new path of least resistance.

There are many tools to facilitate such brain changes, so I encourage people to expand their toolbelt, so to speak, and search for what is the best fit for their unique needs. One simple technique I commonly recommend is practicing gratitude journaling and positive affirmations daily, especially if you can look at yourself in the mirror and tie emotions to them.

Think about how it makes you feel knowing that you are valued and loved and that people want to be around you (or whatever your specific affirmations are). Couple that emotion with your affirmations. Over time, by changing your mindset, you can change your brain and see it rewire itself and heal what was “broken”.

Remember that these actions go against what you have always done, leading to resistance. There’s going to be a temptation to quit and go back to what’s familiar because, hey, you survived up until this point, right? However, my wish for Jodi and everyone else reading this is that we don’t just learn to survive, but we feel empowered to use neuroplasticity to allow us to thrive and become the best version of ourselves.

About the author:

Dr. Hayley Nelson is a neuroscientist, tenured Psychology Professor, and international speaker. She is also the founder of The Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience and Be Well with Dr. Hayley, where she is passionate about making neuroscience approachable.

She earned her PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences from The Johns Hopkins University and has over 20 years of teaching experience with students from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Nelson also has several peer-reviewed research publications and previous research and faculty appointments with The National Institutes of Health, The Johns Hopkins University, and The University of Pennsylvania.

By creating Certification Programs with The Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Dr. Hayley combined her knowledge of the human mind and brain health with her passion for education, teaching, and consulting to truly make neuroscience accessible.

For more information about Dr. Hayley and the Certification Programs in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, visit: https://www.academyofneuro.com/ and https://www.academyofneuro.com/ certifications