Our brains are more powerful than we ever realised.

Too often, we assume that people’s natures are fixed, immutable. For sufferers of depression, anxiety, ADHD, addiction, or the after-effects of stroke, this can be a difficult thought. For those with extreme conditions, such as locked-in syndrome or psychopathy, it can feel as if there is no hope at all.

However, in Your Brain Knows More Than You Think, leading neurobiologist Niels Birbaumer turns these assumptions on their head, arguing that neuroplasticity — the virtually limitless capacity of the brain to remould itself — is enough to overcome almost any condition, however life-limiting it seems.

Like the fathers and mothers of psychiatry, Birbaumer explores the sometimes-wild frontiers of a new way of thinking about our brains and behaviour. Through actual cases from his research and practice, he shows how we can change through brain training alone — and without risky drugs — if we simply open our minds.