PDF Summary:Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess, by Caroline Leaf

Do you need a mental detox? In Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess, Caroline Leaf presents her approach to healing your mind from trauma and toxic thinking. This approach, which she calls neurocycling, teaches you to exercise mental self-control and leverage neuroplasticity—your ability to literally rewire your brain for the better. Leaf argues that neurocycling is both innovative and effective: While traditional mental health treatments ignore the power of the mind over the body, neurocycling takes full advantage of that relationship, enabling you to become happier and healthier.

In our guide, we’ll first discuss mental toxicity, its sources, and its effects; then, we’ll dive into the science behind neurocycling and explain how you can practice it. In our commentary, we’ll explore evidence for and against Leaf’s approach and discuss ideas about mental health treatment from experts in anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and other disciplines.

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Poor brain health: Recall that according to Leaf, thoughts exist as both metaphysical energy and as physical structures—so mental toxicity can adversely affect the physical structure and function of the brain. As we discussed, Leaf measures this effect using brain mapping technology that measures coherence.

(Shortform note: In Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, psychiatrist Daniel G. Amen also identifies a link between mental health struggles and poor brain health. While Leaf says mental toxicity damages your brain, Amen takes the opposite perspective, arguing that brain injuries are at the root of many mental health problems. Amen uses another type of brain imaging, known as SPECT scans, to identify these brain injuries and suggest targeted treatment plans. For example, if you’re suffering from emotional distress, he recommends healing the brain region known as the limbic system.)

Increased inflammation: Leaf explains that mental toxicity can cause your body to produce and circulate higher levels of the stress hormones cortisol and homocysteine, which can lead to increased inflammation throughout the body. Leaf also says that physical thoughts have structural deformities that can increase inflammation in the brain. Inflammation in the brain and body can contribute to poorer physical and mental health—for example, it makes you more likely to get sick.

(Shortform note: Unhealthy thinking can contribute to physical inflammation, but neuroscientists disagree slightly with Leaf on how this happens. The stress hormone cortisol plays a role, as Leaf suggests—negative thoughts trigger cortisol, and over time, high levels of cortisol can cause inflammation. Mental stress also spikes homocysteine levels, which can lead to inflammation in the brain and eyes; however, homocysteine isn’t a stress hormone as Leaf says—it’s an amino acid. As we discussed earlier, neuroscientists agree that thoughts aren’t physical structures, so they can’t have structural deformities that increase inflammation. However, there are links between mental illness, inflammation, and physical illness.)

Vulnerability to illness: According to Leaf, the vast majority of illness results from mental toxicity. She explains that mental toxicity makes you more vulnerable to three kinds of illness: First, you’re more vulnerable to lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes due to the difficulty you have making healthy choices. Second, the chronic inflammation you suffer as a result of stress makes you more vulnerable to communicable illnesses like viruses. Third, toxic thoughts can unlock genetic predispositions to illness and rapid aging (which we’ll cover next) via a process called epigenetics, where your behaviors and environment influence the expression of certain genes.

(Shortform note: Medical experts agree with Leaf that there’s a relationship between unhealthy thinking and physical illness. Unhealthy thinking can create or exacerbate chronic stress, and studies suggest that chronic stress makes you sick. It contributes to lifestyle-related diseases including diabetes, makes you more vulnerable to communicable illnesses by suppressing the immune system, triggers the onset of some genetic conditions like autoimmune diseases, and shortens your lifespan by inducing more rapid aging. However, it may not be accurate to say that the vast majority of illness is caused by unhealthy thinking, since a complex array of physiological, psychological, and environmental factors impact physical health.)

Rapid aging: Leaf says her research shows that mental toxicity causes you to age more rapidly by shortening your telomeres (a part of your DNA whose length is correlated with biological age—in other words, how much your cells have deteriorated): Her research suggests that people with more mental toxicity had shorter telomeres than people with less mental toxicity. She also says that addressing mental toxicity lengthens your telomeres.

The Contested Science of Telomeres

Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of your chromosomes, keeping them from fraying (much like the plastic tips on shoelaces). The telomeres keep shortening as the cell divides, and once they become too short, the cell dies. Leaf says that longer telomeres are associated with longevity and that you can lengthen your telomeres by reducing mental toxicity. Let’s explore each of these assertions.

In The Telomere Effect, biochemist Elizabeth Blackburn and psychologist Elissa Epel argue that your telomeres dictate how fast you age. They say that longer telomeres keep your cells youthful for longer, granting you a longer and healthier life, while shortened telomeres lead to accelerated cellular aging and are linked to age-related diseases that can hasten death. However, some studies suggest that the relationship between telomere length (TL) and longevity is not that simple. Both short and long telomeres have been linked to a variety of health conditions. Shorter telomeres may predict diseases like Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease, while longer telomeres may encourage the growth of cancerous tumors.

Like Leaf, Blackburn and Epel also argue that unhealthy thinking can shorten your telomeres by causing stress. They explain that stress causes your cells to divide more quickly, which damages your telomeres—so it’s important to protect your telomeres by reducing stress and negative thinking. Blackburn and Epel add that you may be able to lengthen your telomeres by embracing optimism. However, some research disputes this idea, suggesting that optimism may lengthen your lifespan, but not by lengthening your telomeres.

Blackburn and Epel’s research appears to support Leaf’s claim that addressing mental toxicity can inhibit rapid aging. However, Leaf doesn’t clarify the units of measurement she used in her study, which makes it difficult to tell if the TL changed significantly over time. Additionally, the changes in TL she reports could be attributed to natural variation: Everybody’s telomeres are of different lengths, and telomeres grow and shrink quickly over short periods.

Why Neurocycling Could Help You Overcome Mental Toxicity

Now that you understand mental toxicity and its impact on your health, let’s explore the program Leaf says can detoxify your mind and brain—neurocycling. We’ll describe the six-step program in detail later; for now, we’ll explain why this program could help you overcome mental toxicity. First, we’ll discuss the theoretical basis of neurocycling. Then, we’ll explore Leaf’s research on neurocycling.

The Theoretical Basis of Neurocycling

Leaf says that neurocycling is uniquely effective at clearing mental toxicity for two reasons: It overcomes the limitations of neuroreductionism, and it leverages directed neuroplasticity to positively shape the brain. Let’s explore each of these concepts in more detail.

Neuroreductionism

Leaf argues that historically, mental health experts have placed too much emphasis on the physical brain: They believe that every mental process, including mental dysfunctions and illnesses like depression, is determined by the brain’s material makeup—its structure, neurological wiring, chemical functions, and so on. She refers to this point of view as neuroreductionism since it “reduces” mental experiences to purely physical phenomena. Leaf argues that in reality, your mental state is a reflection of your identity, life experiences, and thinking patterns—your brain has no bearing on your mental health.

(Shortform note: Johann Hari makes a similar argument about neuroreductionism in Lost Connections, arguing that depression can’t be reduced to neurobiological deficiencies. But in contrast with Leaf’s view that mental illness results from unhealthy thoughts, Hari argues that depression is largely a response to various forms of disconnection in modern life. Experts say that both factors—your environment and the way you think—impact your mental health, but they disagree with Leaf that your brain has no bearing on your mental health. Research shows that problems in the brain can contribute to mental illness; for example, neurological abnormalities may contribute to schizophrenia, and PTSD may result from the impact of trauma on the brain.)

Leaf says that because neuroreductionists turn to physical explanations for mental processes, they tend to think of mental illnesses as biological problems that must be properly diagnosed and then treated pharmaceutically. Leaf says this can do more harm than good for two reasons: First, diagnoses can be stigmatizing and objectifying—you’re a complex person with more than just a brain, and reducing your experiences to a diagnosis can oversimplify your identity. Second, pharmaceutical drugs are ineffective because they can only suppress symptoms; they don’t treat the root problem (mental toxicity), so you’ll continue to suffer poor mental health. Leaf also suggests that mental health drugs can be dangerous due to their side effects.

(Shortform note: Experts agree with Leaf that mental illnesses are often stigmatized, but receiving a mental health diagnosis isn’t always a negative experience. In many cases, it feels enlightening and liberating because the diagnosis provides clarity, validates your experience, and opens the door to effective treatment and support. Some experts also agree with Leaf that mental health medications don’t adequately treat mental illnesses and argue that these drugs often have adverse effects, like emotional numbness and loss of libido. However, for some people, the benefits outweigh the risks, as psychiatric drugs can provide relief from life-threatening mental illnesses and make it easier to function in day-to-day life.)

Directed Neuroplasticity

In contrast with neuroreductionist mental health treatments that aim to improve your mental health by changing your brain, neurocycling targets your mind for strengthening. Recall that Leaf says your mind is a complex energetic field that becomes toxic when you fail to process unhealthy thoughts. If you can learn to control this energetic field, eradicate any toxic energy that’s infiltrated it, and prevent further toxic energy from accumulating, you can treat the root of your mental health problems (mental toxicity).

As we’ve discussed, mental toxicity leads to poor brain health, thus treating mental toxicity via neurocycling improves brain health. Leaf describes this strategy as “directed neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity refers to your brain’s ability to change in response to external influences—in this case, your mind (recall that Leaf says it’s independent of the brain). Directed means that you’re shaping these changes in a particular way—in this case, you’re making positive changes by eradicating unhealthy thoughts. Through directed neuroplasticity, you can rebuild your brain’s neural networks (the structure of physical thoughts) and improve its electrical activity to achieve coherence (the measure of brain health that Leaf says reflects your level of mental toxicity).

How Neurocycling Compares With Other Mental Health Treatments

According to Leaf, neurocycling is effective because it strengthens your mind, which in turn promotes positive changes in your brain. This strategy is the basis of many other mental health treatments, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and self-directed neuroplasticity (SDN). Let’s explore how neurocycling compares to each of these approaches.

CBT: According to Judith S. Beck (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), CBT is a popular, research-backed treatment that helps you identify and change negative thought patterns to improve emotional regulation and develop healthy coping strategies. CBT has also been shown to improve brain health via neuroplasticity. CBT doesn’t attempt to clear the buildup of toxic metaphysical energy in the mind, but it shares with neurocycling the goal of improving mental health by reshaping your thinking.

ACT: As Russ Harris explains in The Happiness Trap, ACT teaches you to deal with negative thoughts and feelings by acknowledging and accepting them, without necessarily changing them. Research suggests that this approach changes the brain in ways that support mental health. As we’ll discuss, Leaf also emphasizes the importance of acknowledging your negative thoughts—but she doesn’t think you should accept them. Instead, she advocates replacing them with more positive alternatives.

SDN: In The Mind and the Brain, Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley describe SDN as an approach that involves actively directing your mental focus to rewire neural pathways and foster healthier brain function. SDN is very similar to neurocycling, but Schwartz understands the mind-brain connection differently than Leaf. While Leaf says that your mental activity determines how well your brain functions, Schwartz sees this as a two-way street where goings-on in the brain influence mental processes and vice versa.

Clinical Research on Neurocycling

In addition to describing the theory that underlies neurocycling, Leaf also describes a clinical study she completed to prove neurocycling’s effectiveness at treating mental toxicity. According to this study, neurocycling successfully reduces mental toxicity (measured in terms of brain coherence) and all of its negative effects, including depression and anxiety symptoms, inflammation, and rapid aging. Leaf says these results mean anyone can use neurocycling to improve their mental and physical health.

(Shortform note: As of August 2024, Leaf’s study on the clinical effectiveness of neurocycling had not been peer-reviewed. Peer review is a process where independent academic experts evaluate a study’s methodology, data, and conclusions to ensure the research is rigorous and reliable. Generally speaking, peer-reviewed studies are considered more credible and are more likely to be accepted by the scientific community. Leaf says her research will undergo peer review in the future.)

How to Clear Mental Toxicity With Neurocycling

Now that you know why neurocycling could help you overcome mental toxicity, let’s dig into the program’s logistics. In this section, we’ll describe the six steps of the neurocycle, explain when to practice the neurocycle, and discuss four ways the neurocycle could help you live better.

(Shortform note: Leaf says that the neurocycle has five steps, but this count doesn’t include an additional step she recommends—grounding yourself. For this reason, we’ll refer to the neurocycle as a six-step process.)

The Six Steps of the Neurocycle

Recall that mental toxicity results from repeated failures to process unhealthy thoughts. With neurocycling, you remedy that by giving yourself opportunities to do that processing. According to Leaf, the six steps of the neurocycle are as follows:

1) Ground yourself: Leaf says neurocycling can be taxing, so it’s important to begin from a calm, grounded place. Grounding yourself entails connecting with your body or the present moment to stabilize your emotional state. You can use any number of grounding techniques at this stage; one that Leaf recommends is deep breathing.

(Shortform note: You may also find it beneficial to do grounding exercises at the end of a neurocycle. Psychologists recommend grounding techniques when you experience something upsetting (like processing intense or difficult thoughts and feelings), as they help you transition from a heightened emotional state to a calmer, more balanced one that can carry you through the rest of your day.)

2) Notice your mental state: Confront your unhealthy thoughts by acknowledging them and embracing the opportunity to begin healing them. An unhealthy thought may be obvious if it’s attached to a dysfunctional behavior, or you may have to listen to subconscious hints like physical or emotional pain or tenderness. Leaf says noticing your mental state may be uncomfortable at first, especially if you’re not used to this kind of self-awareness, but the unhealthy thought’s power and any associated discomfort should start to dissipate.

(Shortform note: Psychologists say you can ease the discomfort from observing your unhealthy thoughts by creating distance between yourself and your thoughts. To do this, you can think of your thoughts as fleeting experiences—they come and go like passing clouds in the sky. This perspective helps you observe your thoughts without becoming overwhelmed by them, which reduces their emotional impact enough for you to confront them head-on.)

3) Understand your mental state: When you notice your mental state, you bring an unhealthy thought from your nonconscious mind to your conscious mind. Next, you’ll explore your nonconscious mind further, examining the network of memories and events associated with the unhealthy thought. Leaf recommends asking yourself a series of questions about how you formed the thought, how it’s impacting you, and whether the thought is accurate.

(Shortform note: In The Happiness Trap, Russ Harris refers to this process as defusion. He explains that thoughts are merely stories that your brain tells you to help you survive—they may not be based in fact, and they may not actually be useful. Additionally, they only have as much power as you give them; if you dig deeply into a thought and decide that it isn’t healthy, accurate, or helpful, you can choose to let it go or shift your focus to more constructive thoughts and actions. If a thought is healthy, accurate, and helpful, you can use it to guide your decisions in the future.)

4) Journal about your mental state: Once you understand your mental state, Leaf recommends writing about it to deepen your understanding. She says studies show that writing helps you organize and simplify your thoughts, which makes them easier to work with going forward. Writing about your unhealthy thoughts also externalizes them—instead of being trapped in your mind where they can fester, they’re transferred onto paper, where they’re controllable.

(Shortform note: Psychologists say that there’s a right way and a wrong way to journal about your thoughts. Journaling is effective when you evaluate your thoughts critically, identify patterns, and seek solutions. It becomes less effective if it turns into a repetitive cycle of venting or self-criticism without moving toward problem-solving or constructive insights. To maximize the benefits of journaling, focus on exploring your emotions, understanding their origins, and actively working on strategies to address and resolve your mental challenges.)

5) Correct your thinking: When you’ve put your thoughts down on paper, it becomes easier to view them objectively and identify any distortions or inaccuracies. In this step, you use this perspective to challenge or even totally deconstruct your unhealthy thoughts. Then, you imagine healthier, more constructive alternatives. According to Leaf, correcting your thinking physically weakens your unhealthy thoughts by interrupting a process called protein synthesis, which she says is integral to a physical thought's structure.

(Shortform note: CBT experts refer to this as cognitive restructuring and offer several techniques for replacing unhealthy thoughts with healthier alternatives. One strategy is to evaluate the evidence for and against an unhealthy thought, which helps you arrive at a more balanced conclusion. Another is to immediately counter negative thoughts like “I’m stupid” with an opposite thought like “I’m smart.” Although Leaf claims that cognitive restructuring weakens unhealthy thoughts by interfering with protein synthesis, neuroscientists have yet to confirm this. Protein synthesis may play a role in long-term memory, but the relationship between cognitive restructuring, memory formation, and protein synthesis is unclear.)

6) Put your healthy thoughts into practice. In the final step of the neurocycle, you complete activities based on the healthy alternatives to your unhealthy thoughts that you came up with in the previous step. For example, if your unhealthy thought was "Nobody likes me," you might replace it with "My loved ones value me." To put this healthy thought into practice, you could spend time with a loved one or say an affirmation like “I’m likable” aloud. Leaf says that taking action in this way physically destroys the unhealthy thoughts you’ve been weakening over the course of the neurocycle: The choice to change your behavior generates energy that attacks your unhealthy thoughts, and then that energy is diverted to strengthen your healthy thoughts.

(Shortform note: In The Happiness Trap, Harris suggests that instead of trying to align your actions with healthy thoughts, you can enhance your well-being by acting on your values. As a proponent of ACT, Harris rejects the idea that you can or should destroy all your unhealthy thoughts. In his view, it’s more effective to define what’s truly important to you and commit to actions that reflect those values. Say you value compassion—it may be unreasonable to expect to think compassionately all the time, but you can act with compassion regardless of your thoughts. Neuroscience suggests that over time, enacting your values could become second nature, as the neural connections that support that behavior get stronger with repeated use.)

When to Practice the Neurocycle

Leaf provides specific instructions regarding when and how often to practice the neurocycle. She says that according to her research, the neurocycle takes 63 days to become effective. For the first 21 days, you go through all the steps of the neurocycle for 30 minutes each day (Leaf recommends limiting this time to 30 minutes because neurocycling is taxing). Over the remaining 42 days, you practice the final step (putting your new healthy thought into practice) multiple times a day. This kind of consistent repetition allows the healthy thought to accumulate enough energy to become firmly cemented in your brain and easy to access as you live your life, ensuring that you won’t relapse into old, unhealthy thought patterns.

Leaf says that if you skip a day at any point in the 63-day cycle, you must start over from scratch. Missing a day depletes the healthy thought of energy, which will kill it.

(Shortform note: Research on habit formation suggests that on average, it takes about two months of daily practice for a new behavior to become deeply ingrained and automatic, which supports Leaf’s recommendation to practice neurocycling consistently for 63 days. However, studies suggest that in general, the exact amount of time it takes for a new habit to form varies from person to person—so you might find that it takes you less or more than 63 days to integrate neurocycling into your routine and start seeing results. Additionally, you may not need to start over if you skip a day—James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says it’s OK if you get off track as long as you find your way back quickly.)

Four Applications of the Neurocycle

According to Leaf, the neurocycle is useful for achieving four kinds of goals: daily mental health maintenance, habit replacement, trauma processing, and education. You can create your own neurocycling routine to support any combination of these goals. For example, if you’re a student, you may want to focus on mastering a certain subject and building productive study habits. You could practice two overlapping neurocycles to achieve both of these goals.

(Shortform note: If you want to use the neurocycle to achieve multiple goals, consider starting with just one; then, once you’ve established a solid routine, you can gradually incorporate additional goals. Setting too many goals at once quickly leads to overwhelm, which can cause you to give up on all of them—this is one reason many people struggle to accomplish their New Year’s resolutions.)

Let’s explore Leaf’s tips for each application of the neurocycle.

Daily Mental Health Maintenance

According to Leaf, daily neurocycling allows you to consistently process your thoughts and emotions as they come up, preventing the buildup of mental toxicity. This supports mental clarity, emotional stability, and overall well-being. It also makes you more resilient: Since neurocycling prevents unhealthy thinking patterns from becoming entrenched in your mind and brain, you’ll navigate life's challenges more effectively and prevent traumas from wreaking havoc on your mental and physical health.

(Shortform note: Studies support the idea that regular mental health maintenance enhances well-being and resilience. Many people maintain their mental health by practicing self-care activities, like getting enough sleep, eating well, and exercising. Other self-care activities target mental health more directly—for example, some people keep mood diaries to be better aware of their emotional states, while others engage in mindfulness practices to manage stress and improve focus. If you struggle with negative thinking, you could make neurocycling part of your self-care regimen, or you could explore alternative ways of keeping your thoughts in check, like CBT worksheets and exercises.)

Habit Replacement

Leaf says the neurocycle can help you understand the unhealthy thought processes underlying unhealthy habits, challenge those thoughts, and replace them with thoughts that promote healthy habits. For example, say you spend too much time on social media. The unhealthy thought driving this behavior might be, "I need to be constantly updated to feel connected." When you use the neurocycle to challenge this thought, you might arrive at a healthier perspective on connection, such as "I can connect meaningfully with others through personal interactions and quality time." With practice, this could lead to healthier social habits.

(Shortform note: The neurocycle’s approach to changing habits by addressing underlying thought processes is similar to the Allen Carr method, famously used for quitting smoking. The Carr method also focuses on changing the mindset behind the habit, such as the belief that smoking relieves stress. By debunking this and other myths, the Allen Carr method aims to eliminate the desire to smoke, making it easier to quit. Both methods highlight the importance of cognitive restructuring to facilitate lasting behavioral change.)

Trauma Processing

Leaf argues that the neurocycle provides a structured approach to confronting and healing from past traumas. By systematically addressing and reframing traumatic thoughts (including your memories of trauma), you can reduce their emotional impact and develop a healthier perspective of your life experiences. (Shortform note: Studies suggest that mental health treatments based on cognitive restructuring, like CBT and neurocycling, may not be effective for processing trauma. Trauma has a physiological impact that changes how survivors perceive and respond to stress, so challenging trauma-related thoughts isn’t always as simple as reasoning your way through them.)

Leaf recommends focusing especially on forgiveness as you reframe your unhealthy thoughts; she says if you don’t forgive those who’ve hurt you, your unhealthy thoughts will remain strong due to quantum entanglement (a law of physics that holds that two related entities will influence one another). (Shortform note: Experts say that forgiveness isn’t necessary to heal trauma—and that pressuring trauma survivors to forgive those who’ve hurt them is counterproductive, since it implies that they’re to blame for their own suffering. Additionally, Leaf’s recommendation to forgive may not be supported by the law of quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement describes how physical particles influence each other, but this law doesn’t apply to individual thoughts.)

Education

Although the other applications of neurocycling are focused on your internal experience, you can also adapt the neurocycle to master external information. Neurocycling enables you to think deeply and reflectively about a variety of topics—a skill Leaf says many people are missing in the digital age, which feeds you a constant stream of information without encouraging you to process it. Leaf says everyone should develop this skill because learning strengthens your mind—the wiser you are, the easier it is to combat unhealthy thoughts. It also strengthens your physical brain by energizing all your neurons; Leaf says when you aren’t in the habit of learning, you don’t use some neurons, which makes them vulnerable to infiltration by unhealthy thoughts.

(Shortform note: Although Leaf suggests that practicing deep, reflective thinking helps you think more positively, some research indicates the opposite—intelligence and critical thinking may contribute to depression and anxiety. This could be because wise people have greater awareness of environmental threats and therefore have stronger negative feelings about reality. However, psychologists support Leaf’s idea that it’s healthier to process information than to mindlessly consume an endless stream of it—consuming too much information can overload your brain and lead to anxiety. As for Leaf’s claim that some of your neurons may be underutilized, science disputes this—experts believe you use 100% of your brain every day.)

Leaf says that to use the neurocycle for education, follow the first step (grounding) to clear your mind of distractions. Then, instead of noticing, understanding, and writing about your mental state in steps two through four, apply the same processes to a subject you want to learn. In step five (correct your thinking), consider whether you truly understand the subject and supplement your understanding with additional reading or contemplation. Finally, put what you’ve learned into practice by teaching it to someone else—if you can’t teach the subject effectively, that suggests you’re not done learning about it.

(Shortform note: To maximize learning, consider combining the neurocycle with other experts’ learning tips. For example, during the grounding stage of the neurocycle, it might be helpful to focus on embodying a growth mindset. According to Carol S. Dweck in Mindset, having a growth mindset means believing that your abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence. This instills confidence in your ability to learn, which may be particularly helpful if you’re trying to master an intimidating subject. We cover this and other expert advice on learning in The Master Guides: Learn Anything.)