NEUROPLASTICITY

 What Is Brain Plasticity and Why Is It So Important?

Neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, is the brain's ability to regulate its connections or make new connections. Without this ability, no brain, not just the human brain, can develop from infancy to adulthood or recover from any brain injury. Unlike a computer, what makes the brain special is; It is the parallel processing of sensory and motor signals. The brain has many neural pathways that can take over the function of another, so minor errors in development or temporary loss of function due to damage can be easily corrected by rerouting signals along a different neural pathway.

However, errors that occur in development -- for example; Like the Zika virus that affects the brain development of the baby in the womb, or damage from head bumps -- it's pretty serious. Still, even in these examples, when the right conditions are created, the brain can overcome the downsides to improve some functions.

Due to brain anatomy, certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain tasks. This is something predetermined by our genes. For example, there is a brain region that allows us to move our right arm. Damage to this part of the brain causes loss of movement in our right arm. But with a different part of the brain, you can process the sensation coming from your arm, you can feel your arm but you cannot move it. This "modular" arrangement; means that a region of the brain unrelated to sensory or motor function cannot take on a new role. In other words, neuroplasticity; is not synonymous with the brain being infinitely soft.

Part of the body's ability to track brain damage; it can be explained by rehabilitating the damaged area of ​​the brain, but much of it is the result of neuroplasticity -- the creation of new neural networks. In a study conducted on Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode (threadworm) species used as a model organism in research, it was concluded that the loss of sense of touch strengthens the sense of smell1. This suggests that the loss of one sense reshapes another. In humans, it is known that losing the sense of sight at an early age strengthens other senses, especially hearing.

In a developing baby, the key to the development of new connections is environmental enrichment based on sensory (sight, hearing, smell, touch) and motor stimuli. The more sensory and motor stimuli a person receives, the more likely they are to recover from a possible brain injury. For example, some types of sensory stimuli are used to heal paralyzed patients -- for example; such as visual environments, music therapy, and physical movements that provide mental fitness.

The basic structure of the brain is formed by your genes before birth. However, its continued development is largely based on a process called developmental plasticity, where the processes of change of neurons and synaptic connections take place. In an immature brain, the formation or loss of synapses involves the transport of neurons through the reorientation and sprouting of the developing brain or neurons.

In an adult brain, there are very few places where new neurons are created. Exceptions are the dentate return4 of the hippocampus (an area associated with memory and emotions) and the sub-ventricular region 5 of the lateral ventricle, where new neurons are generated and then transported through the bulbus (area responsible for processing the sense of smell). The generation of new neurons in this way is not considered an example of neuroplasticity, but may contribute to recovery from brain injury.

Growing and Pruning

 As the brain grows, individual neurons mature by increasing the number of synaptic contacts, first through multiple branches (axons that transmit information from the neuron and dendrites that receive information) and then through specific connections. At birth, each "baby" neuron in the cerebral cortex has about 2500 synapses. By the age of two or three, the number of synapses per neuron increases to about 15,000 in the process of synaptogenesis, a process where a baby explores the environment and learns new abilities. But in adulthood, the number of synapses is halved in a process called synaptic pruning.

Opening New Paths 

We maintain our ability to learn new languages, abilities and new activities until old age. This retention capability requires the brain to have a mechanism that can be used to remember, thus storing information over time for future retrieval. This is another example of neuroplasticity, possibly involving structural and biochemical changes at the synapse level. Reinforcing or repetitive activities will eventually cause the adult brain to remember the new activity. Through the same mechanism, the enriched and stimulating environment offered to the damaged brain will eventually lead to recovery. But if the brain is so elastic, why doesn't everyone with a stroke fully recover? The answer to this question also depends on age (younger brains have a better chance of recovery) and the size of the damaged area, and more importantly, the treatments offered during the healing process.

Why do we get depressed? 1

 Why do we get depressed ?

Psychologists focus on two points when explaining depression. The first is how we attach meanings to events and our emotions. For one person, divorce is a tragedy, for another it is salvation. For some people, anger feels powerful, while for others, anger is frightening. The second point is how we deal with the challenges we face. Some people struggle to solve their problems with the manageable blueprints they use, seek help from others, make plans to overcome difficulties, while others feel overwhelmed, do not share their troubles and prefer to avoid problems.

How we interpret events and how we deal with them are the key points of the treatment we call cognitive therapy. The approach of cognitive therapists is as follows. For example, if an apple fell on your head and you were depressed, you might think: 'If I'm sitting under a tree, it's natural for something to happen to me'. If you're an optimistic person, you say, 'Thank God it's not a coconut'. If you are a Newton, you will discover gravity and become world famous.

Cognitive therapy helps us see that there are hundreds of meanings that can be attributed to events, some of which are meanings that increase the likelihood of developing depression. More importantly, when we learn to challenge negative emotions, we begin to take better control of our emotions and moods.

According to the cognitive approach, there is a different way of thinking for all kinds of problems.

PROBLEM...Panic
IDEA...I'm going to die from these signs of tension

PROBLEM...Social phobia

IDEA...I'll do something to make myself look stupid and everyone will blame me

PROBLEM...Depression

IDEA...I am a bad/weak/incompetent person, I have no hope for the future

PROBLEM...Paranoia

IDEA...People follow me

PROBLEM...Anger

IDEA...Other people are bad and deserved to be punished.

By focusing on thoughts about various problems, people will see how their depressed moods lead them to interpret events negatively. Cognitive therapy allows people to test facts about their thoughts and generate alternatives. For example, we may feel powerless and frustrated at problem solving, thinking that bad events are caused by our personal inadequacies or simply by bad luck. By learning how to test the accuracy of these thoughts, thinking of alternatives, avoiding harmful negative beliefs about ourselves (like I'm a useless person), we can feel better when we are depressed and cope with external problems more easily.
So depression is a period when we have different ways of thinking. This begs another question. How do we start thinking negatively in the first place?
OUR PREVIOUS LIVES AND SETTLEMENT BELIEFS

Previous experiences make people biologically susceptible to certain stressors. According to the cognitive approach, we develop basic and core beliefs about ourselves, the world, and others during our youth. As time passes, these core beliefs begin to influence our thinking and our approach to certain events. For example, if children are constantly told that they are not good at sports, they will develop such a point of view about themselves. Because they think like this, they will stay away from sports, so they will not be able to improve themselves in this regard and this thought will be reinforced. These children will continue to stay away from sports when they become adults, giving up because they think they will look funny or fail when they think of trying again. Such early-acquired beliefs have powerful effects on people's feelings and behavior later in life.
CORE BELIEFS

The core belief is the belief that you consider to be your foundation. For example, I know this, I say this, I sincerely believe that..., it just feels like this... When these beliefs come to life, they bring with them strong emotions and feelings. If we fail, we may feel inadequacy or feel shame. It is the emotions that strike us first, and we realize later that these emotions stem from our core beliefs and thoughts about ourselves. When our lover ends the relationship, we start to think about where we went wrong. If you have negative thoughts about yourself from childhood, the emotional shock of the end of the relationship will activate these negative core thoughts and you will have a deep feeling that you are not loved, and you will take a blow from here.
Our negative thoughts about ourselves or some of our abilities may have entered a waiting period to be revived later. But if some important events occur, such as the end of a valued relationship, these thoughts and ideas that we formed in our childhood come back again. Then, under the influence of our core beliefs and sadness about this separation, we comment that "this relationship is over because I am not a person worthy of love" . A negative thought developed long ago has an impact on our interpretation of current events, negative interpretation of new information reinforces old negative thoughts. Our thoughts can make it easier for us to get depressed. When we get depressed and stressed, our thoughts start to become more negative and we get a little more depressed.
THE ROLE OF EARLY TRAUMA

One of the important reasons why some individuals do not understand their own values ​​is the painful experiences they had in their childhood. For example, if they have been sexually abused, the belief that sex is bad, dirty, and dangerous may develop. Sometimes they think that they are dirty or that their sexual desires are dangerous. After all, trauma affects their sex life and prevents them from feeling better.
Sometimes parents can't cope with frustration, and when blood pressure rises, they blame the children, giving them some names. This is painful for children. Because it's hard for them to understand that it's because their parents have lost their tolerance for frustration, they start to blame themselves and think they're really bad. Sometimes parents do not show physical closeness to their children. One of the saddest things is that there are still families who think that physical closeness to the child, especially the boy, will make them sissy.

Lovelessness and excessive control

Studies have shown that when depressed people look back, they find that they lacked love in their early life. Families may have high expectations and controlling attitudes. Because when we are children, most of us cannot see that our parents may have their own problems, and we think that some of their behaviors are the result of our own mistakes. If they are constantly critical of us, we continue this custom and begin to criticize ourselves constantly. With insight and some effort, we can change some of our habits and be more flexible with ourselves.
RELATIONS AND SOCIAL NEEDS

Lack of positive experiences such as love, attention and protection can cause depression. The reason for this is that our brain needs certain levels of positive information input and reduces the stress level by secreting some chemicals. There are some common situations in which all people in the world feel happy or unhappy.
Situations that create happiness

..to be loved and wanted
..be close to others
..To be accepted and to belong
..having friends
..belong to a group
..Being valuable in the eyes of others
..to be appreciated, to be admired
..Attractive to others and to yourself
..Having a status and being respected

Situations that cause unhappiness

..to be disliked and disliked
..To be abandoned
..disapproval
..be friendless
..be excluded
..have little value in the eyes of others
..not being appreciated
..Not appearing attractive to others and to yourself
..Losing status or being forced into a lower status
The above list is associated with low stress hormone levels. These are feel-good things. The following list is about increased stress. The brain craves things that feel good. People who achieve this are socially successful people who can do what others cannot. These people are more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the future. So, we are biologically inclined to do the things listed above and avoid the following. Social success is linked to our emotions. The more our thoughts shift towards the list below, the more unhappy we become.