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A User’s Guide to Your Powerful, Fragile Prefrontal Cortex
Preserving your personality requires protecting the front of your brain. Here’s how.
“You be you” is one of the catchphrases of our time. But what on earth does that mean? Who else could you be? Even your decision to withhold aspects of yourself in any given situation is part of you being you.
What makes us human, and determines our individuality, can be addressed biologically, spiritually, socially, or psychologically. My impression (and I may be biased as a psychiatrist) is that what most Americans mean by “being themselves” refers to the psychological dimension.
Much of what we consider to be our personalities — our tendencies, tastes, avoidances, and patterns of behavior — are intimately tied to the circuitry of the prefrontal cortex. The cortex handles a broad range of cognitive, sensory, and movement functions, while the prefrontal cortex acts as the brain’s chief executive, focusing on problem-solving and directing and coordinating other areas of the brain.
Most of the time we just count on our brains to work well, and we don’t need to think about them too much. But the part of our brain that makes us most human is also a part that is particularly vulnerable to damage. None of us are issued a brain…
