Home > Author > Jeffrey M. Schwartz
181 " It’s like one obsession propels another that propels another. "
― Jeffrey M. Schwartz , Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior
182 " Consciousness is more than perceiving and knowing; it is knowing that you know. "
― Jeffrey M. Schwartz , The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force
183 " In other words, what Libet was saying is that you really can’t decide or determine what will initially grab your attention—your brain does. However, his research also indicated that once your initial attention is grabbed, you can determine whether you keep your attention focused on that object (and act on it) or veto it based on the principle of Free Won’t. "
― Jeffrey M. Schwartz , You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life
184 " We now know beyond a reasonable doubt that it doesn’t go away because it’s due to a medical condition, a biochemical imbalance in the brain. By Reattributing the pain to this medical condition, you strengthen your certainty that it is not your will, not you, and that it won’t take over your spirit. You are still intact and able to make conscious, considered decisions in response to your pain. "
185 " Why is it that no neurons other than those in a brain are capable of giving the owner of that brain a qualitative, subjective sensation—an inner awareness? "
186 " the harmful strategies used to avoid and escape those uncomfortable sensations vary depending on the content of the deceptive brain messages and the patterns you have developed to attempt to deal with distress. The range of possible responses is endless and includes feeding an addiction, getting into an argument, avoiding a situation, shutting out the world, or endlessly checking something. "
187 " If there is a single fundamental underpinning in the intellectual tradition of Western scientific thought, it is arguably that there exists an unbridgeable divide between the world of mind and the world of matter, between the realm of the material (which is definitely real) and the realm of the immaterial (which, according to the conventions of science, is likely illusory). "
188 " Having OCD has made me a more intense, sensitive, and compassionate human being. I have been humbled by my disorder. It has built character even while tearing at my soul, my heart, and my self-esteem. It has enabled me to fight harder, to strive for the good and the truth inside me. It has made me less critical and judgmental of others who suffer in their lives. "
189 " Years after birth, even well into adolescence, the human brain is still forming the circuits that will determine how we react to stress, how we think, even how we see and hear. The fact that (even) adults are able to learn and that learning reflects changes in synapses tells us that the brain retains some of its early dynamism and malleability throughout life. The adult has the ability not only to repair damaged regions but also to grow new neurons. Even the adult brain is surprisingly plastic. Thus the power of willful activity to shape the brain remains the working principle not only of early brain development, but also of brain function as an ongoing, living process. "
190 " Like all of modern science, the field of psychiatry, especially in its current biological incarnation, has become smitten with materialist reductionism, the idea that all phenomena can be explained by the interaction and movement of material particles. As a result, to suggest that anything other than brain mechanisms in and of themselves constitute the causal dynamics of a mental phenomenon is to risk being dismissed out of hand. "
