The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the brain has a mind of it's own. We are in possession of a miraculous organ in our bodies that can reason, act, sleep, create, dream, run a gazillion different bodily functions and cause us to cry when Old Yeller gets killed at the end of the movie. Humans with brains that they are in control of can accomplish anything. Anything. When the brain begins to change or to behave in strange ways then the human it controls also begins to act in strange ways. The forces that act on our brains have great impact on the neuro hormonal 'landscape' that the brain uses as it's triggers and pathways.One of the landmark behavioral studies was done using beagle dogs many years ago. The dogs were happy and friendly and well adjusted when the experiment started but due to the external forces that the dogs underwent during the course of the experiment the dogs behavior and overall health changed. This experiment called for the dogs to be placed in a cage which had a floor which could have a low intensity shock run through half of the cage leaving the other half without any shock. The beagle would be primed with a flashing light and within a predetermined number of seconds, the half of the cage would have a current run through it for a few seconds. The dogs remained happy and healthy because these variables were predictable and the dogs could control the stimulus by simply recognizing the signs and moving to the other side of the cage to avoid the shock.
The experiment changed after a time and the dogs were put in a chaotic situation. The signals were all mixed up, either side of the cage could now have a current run through it so from minute to minute the friendly beagles were subjected to intense stress. The stress then caused them to be anxious, sleepless, to lose weight and to develop other conditions that we now can find in humans.
Examples of social stress, substance abuse and all manner of insults to the brain have long been documented. We are really at the mercy of our brains and in the final analysis, the brain holds all the cards. This simplistic narrative is one I always consider when treating patients with chemical addiction. The neuro hormonal landscape has changed for these patients sometimes forever. When the brain is repeatedly introduced to cigarettes, alcohol or drugs (including many prescription drugs) it becomes acclimated to the substance and begins to make a place for the substance within the milieu of the brain. Too much substance causes change and change is a bad thing for the brain.
We are uncovering more and more about how our minds work and while I see many people each week for stress related illnesses, it is always important to try and help the patients to get to the root of the problem if possible and reduce the stress or the unpleasant condition that is causing the reaction if possible. People with many types of depression and anxiety, bipolar illnes and a hundred other conditions try to live each day with the neurons and synapses that they were born with. These people did not cause their conditions, they inherited them.
A healthy brain with all cylinders firing correctly can achieve great things. A person who struggles with mental health conditions often has the most devastating type of disease of all. When you can't trust your own internal compass to guide you and run your body reliably, the world becomes a very scary place indeed.
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