excellent post i missed last week

the whole post is worth a read, but here's an exerpt from psych pundit, the blog of a clinical psych professor and therapist:

If, as a psychologist, I can help change a patient's thoughts, I've also (by definition) helped change his brain. Changing behavior changes the brain. Changing feelings changes the brain.

In a nutshell: experience changes the brain.

Why is this important? Because when it comes to mental illness, so many people automatically assume, "Oh, well the doctor said I probably have a 'chemical imbalance' or something wrong with my brain, so that means I have to take drugs to fix it." But if we understand that experience changes the brain - that the mind and brain are flip sides of the same underlying reality - we won't make this logical error.

well said!

related news: meditation makes your brain bigger in areas of attention and sensory input.