PRAYER IS NOT ALL HOCUS POCUS, NOR IS PSYCHOTHERAPY -- CHARLIE ROSE -- BRAIN SERIES -- EPISODE NINE!

PRAYER IS NOT ALL HOCUS POCUS, NOR IS PSYCHOTHERAPY – CHARLIE ROSE – BRAIN SERIES – JUNE 22, 2010

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© June 28, 2010

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Charlie Rose, the ubiquitous and eclectic interviewer of our times, has a twelve part series on the BRAIN on PBSTV. He brings together the best minds on all aspects of brain research in hour-long discussions.

Episode Nine was on mental illness. You can download a transcript of this program on google if you like. Type in “Charlie Rose, Brain Series, Episode Nine.”

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My purpose here is to mention that there is apparently evidence that psychotherapy can be identified with certain “biological markers” in the brain. In other words, that talking cures not only connect people but may also change brain chemistry.

Two people on the panel, who had once been psychotic but are now leading productive lives, provide evidence that talking cures are also biological. If this is true, then it doesn’t take much of a leap to suggest that prayer can change brain chemistry as well.

Not to confuse my point, these two professional people have had extensive psychiatric care, taking prescribed medications in addition to participating in psychotherapy.

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The impression you get from this series is that we not only have a thinking brain but a quite daunting emotional brain as well. Mind maps are all a matter of biology.

That said prayer is perhaps the most powerful psychedelic drug in our possession, and a doctor or a pharmacist does not dispense it.

As for psychotherapy, if you are good listener, and can get past your own vanity when a person is confiding in you, that person will find connection, and connection is what life is all about.

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