I am Turning on Music

Tired, foggy brain? Confused while completing simple daily tasks? You may not have undergone chemotherapy treatment, but Chemobrain as its called, is a foggy and confused brain after chemotherapy, specifically a drug called 5-fluorouracil's effect on healthy brain cells.

There are several techniques in the rehabilitation of the mind after chemo-treatment. The one I found the most interest in is External Self Talk. A process where the actor or person verbally announces their action: "I am turning on the music," or "I am adding two scoops of sugar to my coffee."

The External Self Talk technique can be carried over to a variety of purposes, but essentially it comes down to strengthening the mind, "the therapy isn't just for cancer survivors. Anyone who is experiencing memory loss could benefit from the treatment."

Learning a procedure, or adding an element to your schedule effectively requires cognitive behaviour to link the new action to your pre-existing state. Announcing you are "taking my medication this morning" or "shortening my coffee break by five minutes to beat the line-up at the gym" provides a cognitive attachement to a simple action, in your complex life.

In my recovery, one of the most effective tools has been coaching myself to divert attention away from the previous situation. Through a simple yoga and upper-body regimen I was able to focus on achieving a different result. Not only did this speed up my recovery greatly, it empowered me. I am sure that many others could benefit from this technique as well.

Cognitive Self Talk and other mind-strengthening excersises can be incorporated very easily into your daily life-pattern. One I've read through Jakob Lodwick's site (link on side) is repeating 'QUIET' in the mind to disuade an over-active mind. There is also a technique called tapping that I have found to be quite effective as well. But as my Media-planning Prof. said daily, repetition is the essence of learning.

The original story was done by Dr. Karl Kabaselli for CityNews, click through for a short video and more indepth information.

More mind strengthening excersises can be found here.