For Immediate Release
New Understanding of Brain Plasticity May Lead to Novel Treatment Approaches
Contact: Jennifer Gatti
914-740-2149
jgatti@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, November 16, 2016—A growing understanding of the highly "plastic," changeable nature of the brain—from the level of DNA, proteins, neuronal connections and networks, up to communication across brain regions—is driving the development of new therapeutic approaches to treat chronic pain, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and a variety of other disorders described in an article in Alternative and Complementary Therapies, a journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Alternative and Complementary Therapies website until December 16, 2016.
In the article “Neuroplasticity and Healing: A Clinical Conversation with Norman Doidge, MD, and Robert Rountree, MD” Norman Doidge, MD, University of Toronto, Canada, and Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Columbia University, New York, NY, describes therapeutic interventions such as the noninvasive delivery of patterns of light, sound, or electrical energy to resynchronize damaged neurons in the brain that may be firing at an irregular or incorrect rate can be contributing to disease symptoms.
Neuroplasticity can occur at micro or macro levels of the brain and can allow one neuronal pathway or area of the brain to take over a function when another suffers damage from disease or trauma. Behavioral change and even bad habits are linked to neuroplasticity.
"Many of our bad habits, and even certain chronic pain syndromes, some psychiatric symptoms such as obsessions and compulsions, and many of the movements problems that people with strokes, dystonias, or Parkinson's have, are actually a function of neuroplasticity gone awry," says Dr. Doidge in the article in Alternative and Complementary Therapies.
About the Journal
Alternative and Complementary Therapies is a bimonthly journal that publishes original articles, reviews, and commentaries evaluating alternative therapies and how they can be integrated into clinical practice. Topics include botanical medicine, vitamins and supplements, nutrition and diet, mind-body medicine, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda, indigenous medicine systems, homeopathy, naturopathy, yoga and meditation, manual therapies, energy medicine, and spirituality and health. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Alternative and Complementary Therapies website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Medical Acupuncture, and Journal of Medicinal Food. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.