Like with physical health, there are exercises we can do to help build capacities that can protect us from mental health disease and increase our resilience in copng with difficult life events. These same exercises contribute to our overall life satisfaction. This article provides you with a practical exercise. It also explains how like physical exercise that contributes to the body’s ability to grow, strenthen and heal, mental health exercise can tap into the brain’s ability to change. Kind of like how to put your brain into shape through mental health exercise.

Neural plasticity is a word that has reached the mainstream vocabulary but has broad and ambiguous definitions. At its most broadest level it is the scientifically proven ability of the brain to change throughout an individual’s life.

How Plasticity Supports Mental Illness and Well Being

As a therapist the effect of the evolutionary “fight-flight” system gone wrong are often what is presented in therapy, whether it be through trauma or mental health disorders such as anxiety. The presenting issue is often a result of neural plasticity gone wrong as trauma has strengthened the parts of our brain that are sensitive to threats and increased their effectiveness. Effectively creating trauma like responses to non-traumatic events. The brain has in fact changed to cope with expected further occurrences of trauma.

Aside from treating mental disease, the principles of neural plasticity can also be used as part of increasing one’s overall life satisfaction. The concept of “Broaden and Build” is an example of this. The research and thinking, behind this suggests that practicing positive thinking is one way of increasing the strength and use of access to cognitive resources available only when we are in positive emotional states. In negative emotional states the brain attempts to increase resources available to potential “fight-or-flight” situations and will close down other paths not required for these responses. Also, those who in response to anxiety or trauma have adopted a negatively biased thought process will also find these paths more accessible and others less so. These resources can include the range of emotional responses and our degree of sensitivity to a particular emotion.

There are a number of positive psychology interventions designed to build this capacity, but one I wanted to discuss here is an easy one to try. It is based on building your ability to experience positive emotions via a mental imagery exercise. Research suggests that maximum benefits are gained based on two factors. One is the level of detail you can remember, and the other is your ability to experience it from the perspective of being there, rather than as an observer of yourself. Research suggests there is a strong association with mental health disorders and reviewing memories from an observer perspective. It would seem that it is easier to access negatively biased thoughts from this perspective.

Mental Imagery Exercise

Put yourself somewhere you are not going to be distracted.

Recall an event from your life that you associate with strong positive emotions. Try to do this from the perspective of you being in the event, and not from a perspective of observing yourself.

Try using the questions below as a way of cuing your memory and in particular accessing more detail and feelings associated with the memory.

Imagine the event.

Was it a sunny or a rainy day?

Was there a clear view?

What can you see?

Where are you?

Who else is present?

Where were you at the time of the event?

Which sounds can you hear?

Try to imagine what your surroundings looked like.

Which body sensations can you sense?

Visualize the clothes you were wearing at the time.

What can you smell?

Is the air fresh?

Can you sense a draft?

Which thoughts are in your mind?

Which mood are you in?

What are you doing?

How do the other people react on it?

What does that make you feel like?

Try to relive the scene as intensely as possible

As you are learning a new skill you may find it difficult so please expect progress might be slow, and any progress is success.

In finishing

The “Broaden and Build” perspective suggests that positive psychology interventions can be used to increase access to a wider range of cognitive resources, which include the ability to experience positive emotions. Neuroscience and work on plasticity suggests that the more we experience positive emotions then access to this becomes easier, and it can reduce previous sensitivities to negative emotions.

Please try the exercise above and I would appreciate any feedback on your experiences and whether or not you feel it has benefited you.

Thanks

Scott

Other Suggested Articles that include Mental Health Exercise Ideas

Using Attention Control to Regulate your Emotions

Mental Flexibility – Beyond resilience