Dr Aaron T. Beck is 90 years old today! Happy Birthday Dr. Beck we honour all that you have done for our profession.

Our latest Psychobabble features an article written by Dr. Beck “The Importance of Meaning in Our Reactions’.

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Study shows practice may have potential to change brain’s physical structure

 
Two years ago, researchers at UCLA found that specific regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger and had more gray matter than the brains of individuals in a control group. This suggested that meditation may indeed be good for all of us since, alas, our brains shrink naturally with age.

Now, a follow-up study suggests that people who meditate also have stronger connections between brain regions and show less age-related brain atrophy. Having stronger connections influences the ability to rapidly relay electrical signals in the brain. And significantly, these effects are evident throughout the entire brain, not just in specific areas.

Eileen Luders, a visiting assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues used a type of brain imaging known as diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI, a relatively new imaging mode that provides insights into the structural connectivity of the brain. They found that the differences between meditators and controls are not confined to a particular core region of the brain but involve large-scale networks that include the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes and the anterior corpus callosum, as well as limbic structures and the brain stem.

The study appears in the current online edition of the journal NeuroImage. [continue reading…]

In the New York Times Paula Span reviews A Bitter Pill: How the Medical System Is Failing the Elderly : John Sloan M.D.

“We do a rotten job in society, a terrible job, of looking after the frail elderly,” Dr. John Sloan says.

Dr. John Sloan, is a family physician who cares for elderly patients in their homes here in Vancouver, British Columbia.

After consulting with patients and their families, often at length, Dr. Sloan often finds that what works better is to make comfort the top priority. “They don’t want to be physically and mentally miserable,” Dr. Sloan said of his patients. “My answer is to take the emphasis off the high-tech, expensive, futile health care system, and be a little kinder.”

Here is someone who has taken a long hard look at how we should be treating the elderly. Who doesn’t see the sense in intervention when “comfort” and “function” should serve as a priority.

It occurs to me that Dr. Sloan is quite a unique physician, and those in his care are very fortunate. “House calls” are somewhat of a bygone era. Many elderly experiencing emergencies only have the option of trips to an ER dept. At a time of life when the advantage of a family physician or geriatrician who is aware of their history presents great advantages.

For each of us the time will come when we will be faced with such decisions. In our culture, accepting that all interventions to preserve life in the face of preventing death is not easy. We often hold on to just one more procedure or intervention which will save a life.

The ambiguity of aging makes family decisions more difficult. The challenge is how we should be focusing on the needs and comfort of the elder rather than on our own anguish.

This is one book that I am definitely going to add to my bookshelf.

Source: New York Times