The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force [Hardcover]

Jeffrey M. Schwartz (Author), Sharon Begley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

The greatest scientific advances are never the result of strict adherence to convention. Often it takes an innovative maverick, someone willing to see things differently while possessing the determination and intelligence to substantiate his challenges to conventional wisdom. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D., a leading neuroscientist and Research Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, an international authority on brain diseases and author of the definitive work on obsessive compulsive disorder, Brain Lock, has defied convention again in his new book, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. The Mind and the Brain, written with Sharon Begley, formerly Newsweek's senior science writer and now science columnist for The Wall Street Journal, is a work as profound as it is provocative: a book that gives substantial proof that - contrary to popular scientific belief - the entity we commonly call "the mind" has the power to change the makeup of the physical brain. For years, there has been a division between the assumptions of hard science 'which contended that the brain functioned essentially as a machine' and our daily human experience, which seems to suggest that "the mind" is something different from the physical brain, a force we are capable of harnessing for our benefit. This was a conflict that always bothered Jeffrey Schwartz, who was responsible for the revolutionary Four Steps therapy that has helped patients around the world battle the effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). His therapy was grounded in cognitive-behavioural principles, which drew on a patient's own awareness of his state of mind, and involved the patient directly in his own therapy. Combining the revelations of more than two decades of research with a progressive approach influenced by the Buddhist principle of "mindful awareness," Schwartz's therapy was wildly successful but it also opened a door into a much more significant revelation: while reviewing his patients' brain scans, Schwartz discovered that their self-directed therapy was actually changing the wiring of their brains. This major discovery is at the core of The Mind and the Brain: that through the power of thought, by focusing attention, human beings can use their own minds to change their brains. The scientific implications of this discovery are manifold: victims of stroke may be able to use the discovery to help reassume command of their bodies and lives, and psychiatrists treating patients with mental disorders may be able to decrease their patients' reliance on psychiatric drugs. As a therapeutic advance, then, The Mind and the Brain offers a paradigm shift that promises new treatments for conditions from dyslexia to depression. Schwartz's discovery may amount to the most conclusive scientific evidence to date of the existence of free will 'that is, the power of human beings to take an active role in the choices they make. In the book Schwartz points accusingly at the "moral vacuum" created by the old, materialistic worldview and raises questions of personal responsibility in a new light. Infused with the insatiable curiosity of a scientific trailblazer and the passion of a crusader, The Mind and the Brain is a daring and groundbreaking work of research and vision - one whose conclusions are sure to make waves within the scientific community, and to affect profoundly the human race's understanding of itself.

Editorial Reviews

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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1St Edition edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060393556
• ISBN-13: 978-0060393557
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

201 of 221 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consciousness addressed by science, November 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force (Hardcover)

I was having a bit of a philosophical crisis when I went looking for a book on free will and determinism -- I had discovered that deep down, I really didn't believe in free will. That was a surprise, since consciously I thought the idea of fate was absurd. I always thought that my brain had been programmed to be the way it was through my genes and the way I was raised, and that the best I could do was to not get too upset about the way I am, do whatever came to me, and hope for some life-changing experience to make things better.

After some research on the internet I decided to do what William James and Abraham Maslow did and "act as if" I had free will, and see if I got the same extraordinary results they did (both had been depressed determinists and were "cured" once they gave free will an active try). I still wanted intellectual confirmation though, and I came across this book at the bookstore and bought it on a hunch.

This book has blown my mind. Schwartz' cognitive-therapy work with obsessive-compulsive patients leads us to ask the question, "How is it that a strictly mental process can result in measurable brain changes as shown on PET scans?" Is it caused by another part of the brain? Even if it is, that just postpones the question, because what caused that part of the brain to be any different this time? He makes the case that conscious experience isn't reduceable to anything more fundamental -- try having a colorblind researcher truly understand the color "red" by tracing physical and chemical changes in the brain. Combine that with the fact in quantum mechanics that observation affects which reality it is that shows up, and he proposes a kind of fundamental "mental force" and does a much better job of explaining it than I've done here.

One problem is that in the middle of the book there is a lot of scientific history of particular studies that would support his theory, but they aren't really necessary because they don't say much more than what he's already said, and there's lots of detail that isn't necessary for making his point. It can get dry and uninteresting in those parts, and it seems more like he's just trying to give these unsung scientists their due.

That can't negate, however, how great the rest of the book is. It has a very powerful argument against strict materialism, especially for this atheist/materialist who didn't believe in free will last week. (I can't *believe* how many things this book explains with regard to spiritual claims.) So, don't get discouraged by the scientific history if you get bored by it, and see the book through. And have fun.

104 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good and bad conclusions, January 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force (Hardcover)

I bought this book anticipating a different perspective on this timeless question. A different perspective is exactly what I found. Schwartz begins with a description of his research on obsessive-compulsive disorder. This section of the book is simply great. It is a nice example of how advances in neurobiological investigation have helped to elucidate the neural circuitry that underlies psychological states. Schwartz also gives a nice overview of the current views on conciousness.

He then goes on to discuss the topic of neuroplasticity citing the case of the Silver Springs monkeys. You get a nice history lesson in addition to a summary of some hard won facts about the brain. He also gives plenty of examples of neuroplasticity in humans. He uses this as the physical basis of his own stylized treatment for OCD. His treatment is based on the concept of a mental force (a nebulous concept if there ever was one) that is able to change the brain through the principles of quantum mechanics. He devotes the rest of his book to discussing the quantum mind as well as some implications of the theory as it applies to consciousness.

It is the last third of the book that attempts to explain the concept of a mental force that interacts with the physical substance of the brain (through quantum mechanics) to ultimately produce behavior. The problem as I see it, is that Schwartz believes that consciousness is an emergent property of the brain, in that it is more than the sum of its mere physical parts. He seems to be unable to accept the idea that our mental lives are reducible entirely to physical processes. Many of Schwartz's conclusions in this book are based on his a priori assumption that the mind is more than the brain. He interprets the results of a variety of experiments as proof that the mind is not reducible. Granted, many of the experiments he alludes to are fascinating--neuroscience is fascinating by definition, of course--but that does not mean they HAVE to be the product of something greater than the brain. A good example of this is his discussion of Libet's experiments that revealed a readiness potential as proof of free will (and thus a rejection of the "philistine reductionist" viewpoint that all human behavior is caused because as we all know a lack of volition would just be the absolute-ruin-of-the-world-as-we-know-it GAG!). I also found Libet's experiments intruguing; however, I see them as simply raising more questions, not providing a death-blow to materialism.

Finally, Schwartz has a habit of quoting all over the place. He is especially fond of William James, and why not? James was ahead of his time. His contribution to our understanding of the mind is known by every student of psychology. However, Schwartz is using James's insights as an appeal to authority. He also quotes Roger Sperry among others as if to say, "well, these great thinkers think the mind is more than the brain so it must be so!"

Then there is the whole quantum mechanical (QM) brain theory. I'm not a physicist so I will refrain from commenting too much on it. To Schwartz and his physicist buddy Stapp, QM is the mechanism by which the immaterial affects the material. There is a lot of hype in the section of the book and some interesting proposals as well. However, it simply doesn't deliver in the end.

In the end, it is Schwartz's mixture of hard neurobiological facts with immaterial hocus-pocus conclusions that CAUSES me to give it an average evaluation. It's hard to believe that a scientist would be so quick to credit certain discoveries as irrefutable evidence of his own biased opinion. Contrariwise, these perplexing phenomenon are merely the beginnings of further lines of investigation. A scientist must assume he or she is working to uncover some material process. How would one go about trying to prove a physical process is the result of something immaterial?

If you have OCD, you will enjoy the first third of the book. If you are a student of the neurosciences you will enjoy the first two-thirds of the book. And if you're a dualist you will probably enjoy all three.

58 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall, a very worthwhile read, September 10, 2005

By 

Larry H in Austin (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force (Hardcover)

There's a lot of interesting and useful information in this book, but it's not without it's flaws. On the positive side:
- The descriptions of experiments on the brain are fascinating. So are the descriptions of experiments in quanta mechanics and the resulting paradoxes.
- I find the conclusions regarding the brain's ability to rewire itself quite inspiring.
- I also find very interesting the idea that Buddhist meditation may be driving neuroplastic changes; it is implied that this physiological change--unbeknownst to the practitioner--is what is actually gained through meditation.
- I admire authors' drive to bring science to questions regarding sentience, although it isn't clear how successful they are; as others have said, taking the evidence provided to the conclusions provided requires a leap of faith. In any case, it's a start from which others may build.

On the flip side:
- I found myself reading reworded versions of the same idea over and over. It was as if the authors were themselves trying to rewire the reader's brain through repetitive exercises. Unfortunately, this makes the reader lose attention, thus undermining this goal.
- There is a lot of text that attempts to add a human interest perspective. Maybe this was considered important to the commercial appeal the book. But, for this reader, it only diluted the value.
- As mentioned by many others, the authors do not provide convincing evidence to support their conclusions on free will. For example, the authors provide very interesting details about quanta mechanics and the evidence that the universe is not deterministic. While I agree that a deterministic universe eliminates the possibility of free will, the inverse is not true: proof of a non-deterministic universe does not result in proof of the existence of free will.

On the whole debate over free will, I have concluded there are two levels at which people discuss this question: (1) a real-world, practical view and (2) a theoretical view. In the real-world view, as long as one consciously believes he has the ability to make choices, he has free will. There may be a perspective that exists, maybe from the view of deities or the afterlife, in which it is clear that free will is just an illusion; this possibility is the theoretical view. But this theoretical view just doesn't matter in the real world. The answer to the theoretical view of free will, whatever it is, has no moral implications to this world (the book is very concerned that the answer has deep moral implications). The fact is, sentient creatures believe that they make decisions under their own volition and believe that these decisions have consequences to themselves and others.

The authors start out with the theoretical question and proceed to prove only the real-world view. But I don't know if the real-world view of free will needs proving. Doesn't everyone believe they experience volition?