The brain always attempts post-lesion reorganization even when it fails

Evidence

The idea of cellular renewal, repair, and resourcefulness as auxiliaries of synaptic plasticity brings to light the power of healing—treatment, scarring, compensation, regeneration, and the capacity of the brain to build natural prostheses. The plastic art of the brain gives birth to a statue capable of self-repair. We know full well that the functioning of the brain can be disturbed by numerous pathological causes, the best-known being cranial trauma, strokes, encephalitis, and neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s). But the nervous system always demonstrates plasticity after such handicaps or lesions, whether or not these efforts are crowned with success: the affected structures or functions try to modify themselves so as to compensate for the new deficit or form a new and abnormal organizational schema that restores normalcy. — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 102

Categorization

• DEFINE: Reparative plasticity — the brain’s self-healing capacity — is the mechanism where plasticity gives form back to damaged structures.
• XREF: connects to: Destruction provides the only proof that cerebral auto-affection exists — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1070; Narrative repair of wounds mirrors neural repair and sustains it. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 3893