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Question
71: I have read Dr. Schwartz books, "The Mind and the Brain"
and "Brain Lock". So far, he is the only reference I've
read that says that his....method can actually affect the brain physically,
and reduce significantly the symptoms of TS Tics. What is your opinion
of Dr. Schwartz's work? Do you know or think that his methods work?
I think the question comes down to this; How 'physical' is TS as relates
to the brain, and how much can the physical abnormalities that define
TS actually be changed by non-physical means....as opposed to resorting
to drugs or surgery? DHK, FA, USA.
Good evening
sir!
I am unfortunately
not familiar with Dr. Schwartz's work, no, however I certainly concur
with the idea that non-medicinal (such as psychological) methods can
affect the brain physically just as readily (and sometimes with greater
precision and effectiveness, and with fewer side-effects) than more
invasive techniques. A variety of studies demonstrate this. For example,
it has been found that both behavioural therapy and drug therapy result
in similar symptom reduction and similar neurochemical and metabolic
rate changes in patients. The reference is:
Baxter,
LR Jr, Schwartz, JM, Bergman, KS, Szuba, MP, Guze, BH, Mazziotta, JC,
Alaxraki, A, Selin, CE, Ferng, HK, Munford, P, and et al. "Caudate
glucose metabolic rate changes with both drug and behavior therapy for
obsessive-compulsive disorder." Archives of General Psychiatry
49.9 (1992): 681-689
In a sense
this should not be at all surprising, or revolutionary to either medical
doctors or the general public. After all, if environmental and psychological
factors could not change neurology we would not ever grow or evolve
as individuals. Take school for instance: with each attended class new
connections and patterns are learned on the psychological level and,
at the neurological level, our synaptic densities increase. Ongoing
research such as that at McMaster University with Dr. Larry Roberts
also continues to demonstrate the plasticity of the brain as well.
Given
this, many non-physical (to use your term) treatments can be discovered
and used to change the physical. Habit Reversal Training, for instance,
has been showed in many studies to be far superior to drug therapy in
eliminating problem tics. The problem is that research like this largely
goes unnoticed (and unfunded) given that there is a lot more money to
be made in pharmaceuticals. Psychological treatments, while life-long
and generalizable, also tend to require more work and time than many
in our "ignore it, minimize it, drug it, or fix it quick somehow
so I don't have to think about it anymore" society of 2002 finds
palatable.
Thank
you for an intriguing email sir! Have an excellent evening,
Dr. Dunc.
