Relevant to Asperger syndrome. Neuroplasticity

http://www.mentalhealthforum.net/forum/ ... n-Recovery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFbm3jL7CDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJxASN-_ ... re=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDTiZpPy ... re=related

Oh, so you mean being told I would need medication for the rest of my life due to my symptoms was a load of crap?
That's very interesting stuff. I've read of many documented cases of neuroplasticity; one of the first times I saw a case was a little girl who had an entire hemisphere of brain removed when she was 3 or 4 to help treat her seizures. Over time, it was seen that her brain was regrowing into the space that was left vacant. With this regrowth, the negative aspects of having half a brain were essentially cancelled out and she continues normal physical and psychological development. However, this was before people knew that neurons grew back in an adult brain as well, and her recovery was attributed to being so young at the time.
Ah. It would seem it was the girl in one of the video links.

yep, brains are pretty bangin organs.

zausel wrote:yep, brains are pretty bangin organs.

But that's messy...

Grossenschwamm wrote:

zausel wrote:yep, brains are pretty bangin organs.

But that's messy...

lolz, wut?

Grossenschwamm wrote:Oh, so you mean being told I would need medication for the rest of my life due to my symptoms was a load of crap?
That's very interesting stuff. I've read of many documented cases of neuroplasticity; one of the first times I saw a case was a little girl who had an entire hemisphere of brain removed when she was 3 or 4 to help treat her seizures. Over time, it was seen that her brain was regrowing into the space that was left vacant. With this regrowth, the negative aspects of having half a brain were essentially cancelled out and she continues normal physical and psychological development. However, this was before people knew that neurons grew back in an adult brain as well, and her recovery was attributed to being so young at the time.
Ah. It would seem it was the girl in one of the video links.

Yep, there is hope also for aspies. But I think one must actively do all kinds of stuff if one is going to change. Being passive wont change much.

The little girl did NOT grow the half hemisphere back as I understood. But the other hemisphere adapted so it could take over the functions for the missing one. So one hemisphere now worked like two.

Yes, the brain is amazing. And you are NOT completely stuck with the brain you were borned with, you can change it and improve in many aspects including intelligence and numerous psychiatric "chronic" disorders.

I think petrossa have point when he reasons that there are forces in psychiatry which actually like teh fact that these disorders are chronic and uncurable because then they can continue to sell thousands of tons of medications and collect a few thousand billion dollars over many years.

Medications do work yes, but with all teh bieffects etc and not open up for other alternative treatments it seems quite obvious also to me that psychiatry and medications are one of the biggest businesses in the world...

They will soon have enough money to buy several countries or the moon..

When I saw that girl first, it was a few years back. She was the subject of an entire documentary on an as yet undocumented property of the brain, to the effect of partial regeneration. It wasn't full hemisphere regrowth as I saw it, but significantly more than nothing in the documentary. It was like the neurons were branching out from the right side to fill the empty space because they had new connections to form and space to do it in. "Branching" is actually rather appropriate.

I honestly figured that the behaviors I had been learning over the course of my life to help deal with othe people were doing something, because there are things I used to do constantly that were typical traits of autism that I simply don't do anymore. I don't have to think about not doing them, either. I just work differently now. I still have some detriments, to be sure, but I feel at this point my strengths outweigh my weaknesses. I'm still trying to improve, however.

I completely agree with the pharmaceutical company issue. They want their products to remain relevant so people continue to buy them. It's good business to convince people they can't change, and coincidentally you've got a pill that can help. One good case is how cannabis is still illegal. If it was legalized across the country, there'd be a severely reduced need for asthma medications, pain relievers, anti-inflammatory drugs, and general psych meds. Generally, the side effects are only psychiatric in nature, but not life threatening unless you take 40,000 times what could get you "high." That number is generally more than a given person weighs in pure THC...and is therefore impossible to smoke by any means. You could get to a point where you're so high you pass out, but then you've stopped smoking and you've still only got a couple grams in you at most. There's actually a cannabinoid that reduces psychosis (cannabidol), so it could be a treatment for schizophrenia and associated disorders

I just realized something shortly before editing this post;
If long term disorders and conditions can be repaired, gay people can't argue their "I was born this way! I can't change who I'm attracted to!" point anymore. This could result in a horrible backlash against homosexuals.