The Adolescent Brain

Brains are like race cars: Powerful, innovative, dynamic, tough, and function like well-oiled machines. Sometimes, however, steering a race car can be hard to maintain control of. Brains are not that different.

Our brains have their own accelerator as well as a brake like any car. The brain's "brake" is called the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is largely responsible for higher and more complex brain functions such as reasoning, planning, understanding, and processing language and problem-solving. This part of our brain becomes crucial in decision-making and regulating social behaviors.

Development of the prefrontal cortex takes time. On average, the process takes 25 years. Research using MRIs shows that the brain experiences a surge of growth right before puberty (1), after which the brain spends about a decade or so rewiring itself (1). During adolescence, the rewiring of the brain specifically strengthens the prefrontal cortex, which allows for improved problem-solving and enhanced ability to process complex information. During this time, it is an opportunity for adolescents to develop interests, passions, and healthy habits that they will then bring into adulthood.

Until this process is complete, the brain's "brake," the prefrontal cortex, is not fully programmed, which leaves the "accelerator" unchecked for some time. In this case, the “accelerator” is the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, which is much more reactive in its danger-driven responses without the prefrontal cortex to help process and plan how to proceed (2). As a result, for many adolescents, there is more risk taking, meaning more potential for danger, since they do not yet have their “brake” in place. Over time as the prefrontal cortex develops and the structural connection to the amygdala strengthens, individuals are less likely to engage in high risk behaviors (3). Instead, they are more likely to think through what might happen, and avoid acting in ways that might be more dangerous. Additionally, with the prefrontal cortex online, there is more of a drive towards “safe” behaviors as well as becoming healthy social and emotional adults.

There are some actions we can take to promote development in this region. One such action is mindfulness, which can activate the frontmost part of the brain and strengthen the connections in the prefrontal cortex (4). Mindfulness practices can be a first step towards improving our attentional control, emotional processing, and emotion regulation that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for.

Understanding prefrontal cortex development and how to shape it, during or after adolescent years, can help you get into the driver's seat to steer toward your life worth living.

[1] Arain, M., Haque, M., Johal, L., Mathur, P., Nel, W., Rais, A., Sandhu, R., & Sharma,

S. (2013, April 3). Maturation of the adolescent brain. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment.

Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/

[2] Baxter, M. G., & Croxson, P. L. (2012, December 14). Facing the role of the amygdala in

emotional information processing | PNAS. Facing the role of the amygdala in emotional

information processing. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1219167110

[3] Jung, W. H., Lee, S., Lerman, C., & Kable, J. W. (2019, April 18). Amygdala functional and

structural connectivity predicts individual risk tolerance. Neuron. Retrieved January 19, 2023,

from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29628186/

[4] Kang, D.H., Jo, H.J., Jung W.H., Kim S.H., Jung Y.H., Choi C.H., Lee U.S., An S.C., Jang

J.H., Kwon J.S. (2013, January 8). The effect of meditation on brain structure: Cortical thickness

mapping and diffusion tensor imaging. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. Retrieved

January 19, 2023, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22569185/

The Mindful Brain

The practice of mindfulness can transform us from a rote state to an intentional state. Like a caterpillar morphing into a beautiful butterfly, mindfulness can help transform you into a happier and healthier version of yourself. Yet, what is mindfulness doing in the brain to get us to this point of metamorphosis?

In Dialectical Behavior Therapy, mindfulness practice starts off every group and in fact is the first module taught in DBT. The core mindfulness skills are critical in helping us reduce reactivity, increase happiness, reduce suffering, and are essential tools for building a life worth living.

Many of us think of meditation when we think of the word mindfulness. We often use these words interchangeably, and while they are related, they are not the same. Meditation is a practice that uses mindfulness techniques to focus the mind for a specific period of time with the intention of limiting the impact of distracting and wandering thoughts. The DBT Core Mindfulness skills help us develop intentional awareness of the here and now without judgment of the present moment. If you have ever been in the "flow" while completing a task or engaging in an activity, you have experienced being mindful.

Engaging in a mindfulness practice can result in many desired "side effects." It can decrease suffering, increase happiness, increase self-awareness, and help to regulate what we feel and what we do. Researchers have found that people who participated in mindfulness-based interventions experienced changes to brain structures fundamental to emotion regulation. These structures include the amygdala, the insula, and the prefrontal cortex (1). Here’s what happens for each of them when mindfulness begins to take root:

Amygdala:

As mentioned in the last blog post, individuals who participate in DBT experience DECREASED activation of the brain's fear center, the amygdala, partly due to the impact of mindfulness. Additionally, those individuals have much less intense reactions to distressing emotions when they occur (2).

Prefrontal cortex (PFC):

Mindfulness INCREASES activation in the prefrontal and insular cortex (1). The PFC is our brain's control center for planning, decision-making, problem-solving, emotion regulation (!), and other higher brain functions. Another role of the PFC is to step in with the amygdala, preventing it from turning up distressing emotions when they occur (3).

Insula or Insular cortex:

The insula's primary involvement in our brain is to process the emotions that are unique to the human experience. One of the main jobs of the insula is to experience and perceive the state of our bodies at any one time (4). This is important for mindfulness practice, as an essential component of it is being able to notice our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations.

If mindfulness sounds like a daunting practice to undertake, know that you are not alone. It takes time and practice for these brain regions to come online and stay online. With practice over time, we become able to build up the mindfulness "muscles" in our brains, much like how weight training and flexing strengthen our muscle tone. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, why not start your practice today?

[1] Wheeler, M. S., Arnkoff, D. B., & Glass, C. R. (2017). The neuroscience of mindfulness: How mindfulness alters the brain and facilitates emotion regulation. Mindfulness, 8(6), 1471–1487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0742-x

[2] Iskric A, Barkley-Levenson E. Neural Changes in Borderline Personality Disorder After Dialectical Behavior Therapy-A Review. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Dec 17;12:772081. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.772081. PMID: 34975574; PMCID: PMC8718753.

[3] Dixon ML, Thiruchselvam R, Todd R, Christoff K. Emotion and the prefrontal cortex: An integrative review. Psychol Bull. 2017 Oct;143(10):1033-1081. doi: 10.1037/bul0000096. Epub 2017 Jun 15. PMID: 28616997.

[4] Haase L, Thom NJ, Shukla A, Davenport PW, Simmons AN, Stanley EA, Paulus MP, Johnson DC. Mindfulness-based training attenuates insula response to an aversive interoceptive challenge. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016 Jan;11(1):182-90. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu042. Epub 2014 Apr 8. PMID: 24714209; PMCID: PMC4692309.

Science & Society: The DBT Brain

In the previous blog post on The Neuroplastic Brain, we began to explore how our environment can influence our brain's development through neuroplasticity. Have you ever considered how this plays out in your life? Well, if you are currently or previously engaged in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), or know someone who has, you might be interested to learn that there has been some fascinating research on the impact that DBT can have on our brain and the billions of connections within.

Although psychology emerged centuries ago, we are continually learning more about what happens in the brain when we engage in psychotherapy (1). We now know through this research that psychotherapy CAN transform our brain's neurobiology.

The developer of DBT, Marsha Linehan, states in her Biosocial Theory that invalidating environments can lead to the development of pervasive emotional dysregulation for those of us who are more biologically and emotionally vulnerable. Environments that are limited in their ability to meet our needs can include people in our daily lives such as our caregivers as well as larger systems such as schools, office spaces, communities, and society. The transaction between the invalidating environment and our biological, emotional vulnerability is a recipe for diagnoses such as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) to develop, where the central challenge is to regulate emotions in healthy ways.

DBT has become widely known as the gold-standard treatment for individuals with BPD. Thus far, several studies have looked at individuals with a BPD diagnosis both before and then after completing DBT. The research suggests that DBT has the ability to change our brains. This is where neuroplasticity comes in! Our brains are physically able to change as a result of therapeutic learning via the remapping of connections between neurons—the building blocks of our brains. Specifically, these studies found that the brain's fear center, the amygdala, had much less intense reactions to negative emotions in those who completed DBT(2). This is important, as research has also found that in individuals with BPD and similar conditions, the amygdala is in fact overactive in comparison with individuals who do not have BPD.

While these physical changes are not necessarily noticeable unless under a microscope or on a brain scan, it can still be validating to know that while our brains get built during our developmental years, they can be rebuilt through psychotherapy. And you will also be able to experience these changes as you develop your toolbox of DBT skills! What we have observed in this research is testament to the fantastic work that clients and clinicians put into therapy, showing us all that hard work pays off to truly build from the brain up, your Life Worth Living.

[1] Airenti G. The Place of Development in the History of Psychology and Cognitive Science. Front Psychol. 2019 Apr 24;10:895. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00895. PMID: 31068874; PMCID: PMC6491641.

[2] 1 Iskric A, Barkley-Levenson E. Neural Changes in Borderline Personality Disorder After Dialectical Behavior Therapy-A Review. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Dec 17;12:772081. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.772081. PMID: 34975574; PMCID: PMC8718753.

Science & Society: The Neuroplastic Brain

Not everything about a person can be explained just by what is happening in their mind. Every day each of us interacts within many systems, some of which are invisible, that can have subtle influences on our neurobiology. We can think about the interplay between our environment and our genetics as a relationship between nature and nurture that is constantly developing over time, with both equally important in shaping who we are and who we grow to be.

Scientific research over the past several decades has supported the argument that human behavior is determined by both genetics (nature) AND the environment (nurture), and has often shown up in clinical mental health study and practice. In fact, it influenced Marsha Linehan's model of the Biosocial Theory, which is used to explain how pervasive emotional dysregulation and similar issues develop over time.

There is no perfect recipe for development. We all respond to the world around us differently. Neuroplasticity is a neuroscience concept that describes how the brain can adapt and change by reorganizing its structure, function, or connections within the brain. What happens in our environment creates these changes in the brain, specifically the building blocks of our brain called neurons. While the billions of neurons in our brain shape our perception by making sense of what is happening in our world around us, we are experiencing society's influence on our neurons through neuroplasticity. Sometimes it can feel like we have no control over these changes since they often happen without us directly noticing them. However, what we know through neuroscience research can help us understand ways to promote healthy neuroplastic changes by doing things like exercising several times a week, meditating, or even engaging in a treatment such as DBT. You might be doing some of these things already! So even though sometimes it feels like society is "brainwashing" us, both figuratively and literally, know that you have the power to reclaim how society shapes your personhood and instead build your own chosen life worth living.