We can now Build a Better Brain

Dr.Mary Zemansky spoke to the support group in Valparaiso on Wednesday evening. It was wonderful to have such a knowledgeable speaker join us. She spoke on Cognitive Rehabilitation. This is extremely important for not only those who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, but also those who are aging or whose medications have caused some cognitive dulling. You can teach an old brain new tricks or at least make it better able to recall the ones you have already taught it.

Dr.Zemansky spoke about retraining attention which consists of four basic steps. Orientation- remembering simple things like your name, age, date.
Selective attention- blocking out stimuli
Alternating attention- multitasking
Divided attention- doing 2 or more things at once. This is the one that your brain has to train the most for.
Rote Practice is the best way to accomplish these things. That is what we learned in third grade...repeat and review until you have it down. Your brain has to practice to get better at remembering. Keeping your brain active is the best training. Reading, word searches, crossword puzzles, and games are all great for keeping your brain healthy. The older we get the longer it will take to learn things and sometimes to remember them, but practice and patience will prevail.

Building a Better Brain. Wednesday July 7th 6pm Porter-Starke

The next meeting of the DBSA of Northwest Indiana will be a speaker meeting. Dr. Mary Zemansky will be joining us to discuss how to better organize the compartments of the brain. It should be a beneficial discussion for anyone that needs a little more memory and a better functioning brain. I can't imagine anyone who couldn't benefit from that.

Dr.Zemansky is in practice with Dr. Robert Walsh in Chesterton at Comprehensive Psychology Services, PC. She also lectures at Ivy Tech. It will be an informative and educational discussion and I hope you will join us. If you are unable to attend you will find a summary of the lecture on DBSA blogspot the next day.

Please don't forget to join us for the lively discussion group for Teens and Young Adults on the second and fourth Tuesday's of the month. Encourage the young people in your life to join us, even if they don't suffer from depression or bipolar disorder, it is a chance to get together with others and talk about what is important to them.

I would be remiss if I also didn't remind you to join the group in Merrillville on July 12 and 26 for their regular discussion meetings.

Keep and eye on this site for an interesting article about people who are addicted to suicide. It is in the works and should be here in the next few days. See you at a meeting.