Author: Shuvendu Sen, M.D.

Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

ISBN: 978-07573-1994-5

                                        Brain Technology and Alzheimer’s Disease

Well well!

Finally someone who seeks to address the very sensitive issue of meditation as a practical and inexpensive remedy for the treatment of neurological diseases in general, and Alzheimer’s Disease in particular. To do so, the author makes a comparative study of the methods used to treat most neural conditions, e.g. depression and dementia, but specifically Alzheimer’s. He states that the “deluge of CAT scans, MRIs and PET scans” precludes us from using the “primordial organs, viz. our eyes and ears with a finger on the pulse.”:  Adapted to Alzheimer’s, the mind, that is “the very fulcrum of human existence” is under attack. Clearly, the non-physical nature of the mind does not register directly on machines that have been designed to measure only physical quantities i.e. those that can be detected by the physical senses.

The problem with Alzheimer’s Disease is that there is a dearth of approaches that can be called upon as the disease progresses, because the functioning of the human brain is, as yet, not fully understood. With Alzheimer’s, unlike other conditions like tumours and heart problems, the brain and mind are affected. The paradigm underlying scientific methodology, viz. material measurability, is not sufficiently adapted to address issues related to the human brain. (The word “human” is key as emotions play a part, these emotions cannot be studied in mice brains). The one remedy that the author conjectures, that will work, is by enhancing our spiritual nature and putting it to work.

“To put  it succinctly, this (Alzheimer’s) is one fiend whose taming calls out for not just neuroscientists, philosophy, sociology, physics, and I dare add, spirituality”.

It is thus, holistic medicine comes into being, to complement the weakness of mainstream medicine, forming part of a health management system, where drugs do not appear to yield satisfactory clinical results.

The material in the book is arranged as follows:

The author starts the introduction to this book with a bird’s eye-view over the status of the conventional treatment of neurological diseases, the drugs used, the side-effects  to be reckoned with, the difficulty of conducting double blind studies for these conditions, the history of the use of meditation as a tool for research and how to rewire brain circuits by virtue of neuroplasticity among others. Caregiver burnout is also discussed.

One suitable candidate for therapy that helps neurological disorders is music therapy. Another is based on recreating an experience of a virtual reality, of a time  and place or situation that the patient sensed himself/herself as being very pleasant. Altogether, this section is a very detailed and semi-technological account, including several case studies.

That which follows  in the next chapter, is a fascinating and extensive history of some of the most effective drugs that have been used to work miracles, e.g. penicillin. This has created a mindset that suggests that every illness can be cured with the appropriate drug. Without decrying the benefits of mainstream medical drugs, the author shows how this approach cannot hold in the case of neurological diseases, especially Alzheimer’s Disease. He calls it “commodity fetishism”.

“We stand today in a no-man’s land where overlapping diseases  spew signs and symptoms for us to wash away with buckets of pills.

Having covered the use of drugs that seemingly work for neurological diseases, the author puts forth the concept of mindfulness as a way of meditating. One focuses on the awareness of the moment.

“Mindfulness meditation is a journey where awareness progresses from the movement of the body to the movement of the mind.”

In the next three chapters, the author presents a detailed account of the research in the area of meditation as a tool for studies for combating stress, with particular reference to depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s. Not only meditation, but also yoga and its efficacy  in healing heart disease and other ailments. Research around the role of music as a therapy has been taken up as well where specific sounds are used to allow pleasant memories to well up to the surface of a patient who has lost them. Simulating a virtual reality where the patient hears or experiences situations that are memorable, is also touched upon.

Summing up, the author points out, what studies also show, that wellness is a consequence of our spiritual nature. It is our alignment with our transcendental space that goes awry that disease comes in. Being aware of our transcendental self gives us the power to engage  in preventing dis-ease as the Buddha did. Neurological dis-eases are examples of a mindset that has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

This is a book that has been written with passion and a genuine desire to put forth for the reader, the kind of change in mindset that is needed for us to be disease free.To this end,he has tried to ground his assertions with the help of as many case studies and other research as is possible. This has made the book very readable,despite being a tad semitechnical. One can only admire his commitment to put forth the truth on a very controversial and sensitive subject.

A book that touches lives. Highly recommended.