Is Mental Flexibility the Key to Mental Health?

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Many of us have an inner monologue that talks to us throughout our day, commenting on what's going on around us, how we are doing and feeling, and what tasks we need to accomplish. Controlled by a set of brain areas called the default mode network (DMN), this inner monologue can feel either very easy to dismiss, such as when something exciting is happening that captures our attention, or downright impossible, such as when we are feeling down and the thoughts won't stop.

When we focus our attention on something, whether it is a work project or a beautiful sunset, it shuts down the DMN and employs the central executive network (CEN). A third network, the salience network, helps us switch back and forth between these two modes of attention.

When we get stuck thinking the same thoughts over and over again, and have the same response patterns over and over again, we can slide into mental health states like depression and anxiety. Brain imaging studies show that individuals with depression and/or anxiety exhibit increased structural and functional connectivity both within the DMN and between the DMN and the salience network. The inner monologue becomes a powerhouse that can feel impossible to shut down.

The ease with which we can move our attention away from our inner monologue is being researched as a critical component of mental health treatment viability and success. For example, hypnotizability represents how easily a person can enter a hypnotic state, and how strongly they respond to hypnotic cues. Like other characteristics in the human population, it follows a normal distribution, with 10 to 20 percent being highly hypnotizable, 10 to 20 percent being not very hypnotizable at all, and everyone else falling somewhere in between.

Those who are easily hypnotizable, and therefore more likely to experience benefits from hypnosis, exhibit more functional connectivity between the CEN and the salience network, meaning their DMN is less dominant in their brains.

Another treatment option that is growing in popularity is psychedelics. Leading psychedelic researcher Robin Carhart-Harris, who coined the concept of rigidity, showed that psychedelics reduce activity in the DMN. In studies, the more the DMN shut down during the trip, the more participants experienced "ego dissolution," or the loss of a sense of separateness. Instead, they reported a kind of "oneness" with all that is.

When psychedelics disrupt the DMN and take it offline, it can have profound effects on individuals’ mental health symptoms and general well-being. In a small feasibility study, 12 people received psilocybin treatment for their persistent depression. These individuals had tried two or more depression treatments with no success.

The results were startling. Everyone showed improvements in their symptoms. Two-thirds of participants were depression-free after a week, and 7 out of 12 still showed improvement in their symptoms after three months.

Carhart-Harris theorizes that psychedelics disrupt those well-worn DMN pathways by creating a “hyper-plastic” state in the brain where rapid, profound changes can occur, creating new pathways and ways of being. Psychedelics may be a promising technique to dissolve the iron-clad grip that the DMN has on so many of our lives.

While psychedelics represent a sledgehammer approach to brain change, you can strengthen your CEN and weaken your DMN in small, everyday ways. Here are three suggestions:

1. When you find yourself caught up in your thoughts, switch your attention away. Stare out at the sky, focus on your breath, or talk with a friend. Every time you disrupt your inner monologue, you weaken it.
2. Prioritize activities you find naturally interesting. What activities easily capture your attention? The more you stay in an attentive, focused, CEN state, the stronger those networks become.
3. If you have a consistent, negative thought or belief, pressure-test it. Look for examples that prove the belief wrong. You may need to do this exercise with a trusted friend or therapist, who may see things more objectively than you can. For example, if you beat yourself up for having a messy house, a friend may come in and say, "Yes, but look at all the things you are doing. You are doing great at work, taking care of the kids, checking on your parents, etc. The one thing to fall by the wayside is the cleanliness of your home. That is good prioritization—not an inherent fault in you." Whereas the DMN makes every last thing the end-all-and-be-all, this exercise can contextualize the thought and loosen its strength.

To protect your mental health, exercise your mental flexibility. As you make your thoughts and attention more flexible, it can protect you from depression, anxiety, and believing things that just aren't true.