The DLPFC(Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex) is an area in the brain that becomes active when we’re making decisions, judgments, reacting emotionally, and reflecting. Too much activity here means we’re not doing any of these things very well and impulsivity increases, which is exactly what the subject reported. They felt like they were making poor judgments, overreacting emotion-ally, and reflecting in a destructive way. They also felt like they were becoming increasingly negative and nothing made them happy.
This overactivity across these two areas also reflects a disconnect between the amygdala (emotional library) and the DLPFC (decisions and judgments). This means that the correct perceptions in the perceptual library of the amygdala cannot be accessed by the DLPFC, which loses out on this wise input because the toxic mindsets are dominating the person’s thinking. This will have a negative effect on decision-making, switching attention, working memory, maintaining abstract rules, and inhibiting inappropriate responses. Picture a whole pile of books falling on top of us from the bookshelves in a library because we were trying to get too many down at once—that’s what was happening in the subject’s brain, contributing to their anxiety and affecting their ability to think clearly and with cognitive flexibility.
Uncontrolled, toxic thinking has the potential to create a state of low-grade inflammation across the body and brain, affecting cortisol levels, hormones, brain functionality, and even telomeres on the chromosomes, as we discussed earlier. This creates a toxic feedback loop between the mind and the brain and body, activating the “hamster wheel” of toxic thinking, feeling, and choosing.
This is true across the board, but why are Millennials having such bad luck? Many of them are facing physical and mental burnout at a young age and at alarming rates. There are a variety of factors that could be contributing to this problem, but a few are highly competitive work and living environments (without the opportunities previous generations had, and with little hope for the future), extreme living costs and unequal wealth distribution, increased isolation, and a narrow focus on what they don’t have alongside the desire for instant gratification-due, in large part, to social media, which may also be causing more issues with self-esteem and increased self-contempt. In fact, the instant universe that social media has created, which allows us to share information at lightning speeds without necessarily utilizing the tools and knowledge this information brings, has also led to many unrealistic expectations among people of all ages, and may be making Millennials unhappier and more anxious. These are just a few issues Millennials must deal with daily, and they’re having a dramatic effect; despair and lower levels of well-being are playing a key role in fueling premature death in this age group.
Another possible reason Millennials are more adversely affected could be the increasing awareness and conversation around mental health struggles that’s dominant in media, and other communication aimed at this age group, even though little or no effective and sustainable tools or techniques are presented to address the root causes. Though scaremongering may get good ratings, it can leave many people feeling hopeless and alone.
There would be no conscious experience without the brain, but experience cannot be reduced to the brain’s actions. The mind is energy, and it generates energy through thinking, feeling, and choosing. That means we generate energy through our mind-in-action 24/7, which is part of the activity we pick up with brain technology. When we generate this mind energy through thinking, feeling, and choosing, we build thoughts, which are physical structures in our brain. This building of thoughts is called neuroplasticity.
The mind is a stream of nonconscious and conscious activity when we’re awake, and a stream of nonconscious activity when we’re asleep. It’s characterized by a triad of thinking, feeling, and choosing. When we think, we will feel, and when w tehink and feel, we will choose. These three aspects always work together.
The conscious mind is awake when we’re awake and is limited in what it can pay attention to. The nonconscious mind is awake and working 24/7 and is huge and infinite. The subconscious mind is between the two, kind of like that tip-of-the-tongue feeling. The unconscious mind is when we’re knocked out or under anesthetic. We have a unique way we think, feel, and choose, which is our identity. When our thinking, feeling, and choosing are off for some reason, this will affect our identity.
When we think, feel, and choose, we create, and this creation is a thought. And we’re always thinking, feeling, and choosing. When we’re awake, we think and feel and choose to build thoughts. When we’re asleep, we sort out the thoughts we’ve built during the day.
The brain is an extremely complex neuroplastic responder. This essentially means that each time it’s stimulated by our mind, it responds in many different ways, including neurochemical, genetic, and electromagnetic changes. This, in turn, grows and changes structures in the brain, building or wiring in new physical thoughts. The brain is never the same because it changes with every experience we have, every moment of every day—and we control this with our unique thinking, feeling, and choosing. We use our mind to use our brain. We are the architect of our brain.
The mind is made up of trillions and trillions of thoughts. A thought is a real physical thing that occupies mental real estate in the brain and mind. A thought is built into the brain as we use our mind— that is, as we think and feel and choose. Thoughts look like trees. We say in neuroscience that a thought has an arbor-like structure. Look at the three images below to see the tree-like structure of thoughts.
Source : Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Caroline Leaf
Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54080933-cleaning-up-your-mental-mess
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