Reddit reviews The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force

Very interesting article, thanks for posting. A book by Jeffrey Schwartz called The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force draws similar conclusions. The book specifically examines how meditation and cognitive behaviour therapy affects the brain structure in people with OCD. Researchers in a variety of studies found that the prefrontal cortex is hypermetabolic in people with OCD, thus contributing to catastrophic thinking and cyclical thought processes. They saw that through meditation and an awareness of the origin of the thought processes could help, overtime, to return the prefrontal cortex to normal. Really cool stuff!

I've been getting through a book that touches on how our "minds" or will can change the physical structure of the brain, and has some discussion of this on people with OCD. (Check out the book: The Mind and The Brain) In this book, the people with OCD describe their experience as feeling like there is a part of them outside of the compulsion that sees the whole thing as illogical or silly, much like you do. This part of you is the "mindful observer". Point is, this is something you can work with if it is bothering you, and you may need someone to help you.

Seek out professional help if you think you need it, and read up on CBT and mindfulness. Research on mindfulness meditation (and the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Class) and what I read in this book has convinced me that mindfulness work is worth a try and that people can make changes to their own behaviors. See article: MBSR alters grey matter EDIT: Here is a pdf of the actual research on MBSR: PDF

A good start are the books: Mindfulness in Plain English (free online!), and Peace is Every Step

I've taken the MBSR class myself and it has made a big difference in the way I deal with stress and the way I worry about things. Perhaps there is a class in your area? The above books reinforce a lot of what I learned in the class, and I find that when I keep up with mindfulness either formally or informally, it is a great help. The class is useful in that it helps you commit to activities that reduce stress and experience a variety of techniques (ex: sitting meditation, "body scanning", yoga, walking meditation, etc.)

Check out r/meditation or r/30daysit sometime, if you like. It is a little bit of work to learn it and keep a daily practice, I hope you find something that works for you! : )