Hypnotherapy: An Application of Neuroplasticity
Neuroplastic principles come together and are best depicted in the statement “neurons that fire together wire together”, Donald Hebb first coined this statement in 1949. He suggested that neurons become more efficient and operates as a unit when repeatedly and persistently stimulated together. *Lynne McTaggart. “The Bond.” Connecting Through the space between us, p.56 (2011).
This phase is fundamental in understanding that persons with disabling and harmful thought processes or behaviours like addiction can, in essence change and heal from these negative and potentially lethal thought, feeling and functionalities.
What I have learned from my readings and lectures by Dr. Don Merzenich is that it takes 21-30 days to create a new behaviour, so with practice and patients we realize that change is possible, positive or negative. It is with wilful intention and applied cognitive reattribution techniques and attentional re-contextualization, that with proper training and efforts people can systematically alter and change neural circuity associated with mental health and behavioural disorders that are frankly pathological.
An individual has access to these faculties by applying appropriate nutritional components into the diet, applied exercise, mindfulness training practice, meditation hypnotherapy, positive affirmations and emotional self-regulation skills. By changing the mental meaning of negative perception and experiences or environment into a new way of being or seeing thing in a new light, one can shift into their true self, their creative self.
The truth of this matter lies in the idea of transcending oneself from an ego mode of consciousness to a more creative mode of consciousness, The True Self. This is what I think Amit Goswami meant when he describes “collapsing the wave of possibilities.” The downward causational model of Quantum physics also portrays this idea.
With the science of neuroplasticity and neuropsychology we understand that the brain is in-fact plastic and ever changing. The mind can induce a state of conscious awareness that can be lifegiving and ease a person away from harmful ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.
Resources:
- Goswami, A. (2011). Quantum Doctor: A physicist’s guide to health and healing. Ahmedabad: Jaico Pub. House.
- Mikadze, Y. V. (2014). The principles of plasticity in Lurian neuropsychology. Psychology & Neuroscience.
- Schwartz, J. M., Stapp, H. P., & Beauregard, M. (2005). Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: A neurophysical model of mind–brain interaction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
- Rossi, E. L., & Rossi, K. L., (2016). A quantum field theory of neuropsychotherapy: Semantic mind-brain maps and the quantum qualia of consciousness. International Journal of Neuropsychotherapy.
- Merzenich, M. (2013) Soft-wired: How The New Science Of Brain Plasticity Can Change your life. Parnassus Publishing, LLC San Francisco.
