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Dr. Thomas Johnson discusses Harvard Medical School's A Guide to Cognitive Fitness, focusing on the impact of a positive outlook and sense of purpose on cognitive health.

A Guide to Cognitive Fitness Part Two
From Dr. Thomas Johnson, NCSP, CPQ
April 2025

Image from Canva

The Harvard Medical School’s A Guide to Cognitive Fitness: Part Two - Cultivate Positivity and Identify Your Purpose
Edited by Dr. Avaro Pascual-Leone

In a previous article written for All-Creatures.org, I reviewed Chapter 1 (Step 1) of The Harvard Medical School’s publication A Guide to Cognitive Fitness which focused on the importance of eating a plant-based diet in developing cognitive fitness. See the March 2025 issue discussing A Guide to Cognitive Fitness.

The last chapter (Step 7) in A Guide to Cognitive Fitness focuses on the importance of cultivating positivity and identifying your purpose in life and decision making.

The research findings which support this last chapter are very impressive:

“Research shows that maintaining an optimistic outlook and a sense of purpose in life translates to better health, including improved cognitive function and a reduced risk for dementia.”

That was the conclusion of a 2024 study published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics. The researchers followed 4,632 people for 28 years, from age 52 to age 80. They assessed participants’ purpose in life and cognitive function at three points over that span—at ages 52, 63–70, and 80. People who had greater purpose in life at the first two assessments had better cognitive function and verbal fluency at age 80 than those with less of a sense of purpose. Those who a lacked a strong sense of purpose, especially after age 60, were more likely to have dementia at age 80.

Similar findings emerged from the Barcelona.

Brain Health Initiative, is an ongoing study following more than 6,000 adults over time to identify factors that promote brain health and minimize the risk of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Data from this study revealed that a clear purpose in life not only has a direct impact on brain health, but also helps the brain cope with neural damage, boosting resilience.” (p. 48).

The authors go on to clarify mental health benefits such as the following:

“People with a clear sense of their purpose in life also have lower rates of depression and anxiety disorders, and they sustain better cognitive functioning into old age, particularly in memory and executive functions (such as reasoning, planning, abstraction, and mental flexibility.” (p.48).

Using my own experiences as an example, these findings are consistent with my development as a person and my practice as a health psychologist and educator. Providing students and clients with this information from A Guide to Cognitive Fitness can provide inspiration to students and clients alike as part of the counseling and educational process.

Much of my graduate work at Harvard, UC-Berkeley and Duke as well as CEU course work at Harvard Medical School and the Institute for Natural Resources focused on psychotherapy and counseling. Through my development and training, I concentrated on the positivity reflected in the Person-Centered approach of Carl Rogers (author of many books including Client Centered Therapy and On Becoming a Person). Rogers identified the following “core conditions” that help clients become more insightful and better able to move forward. Those conditions include empathy, unconditional positive regard and genuineness on the part of the therapist. These conditions allow the client to become more disclosing and open to positive change.

Another humanistic/existentialist approach is emphasized by Viktor Frankl (author of Man’s Search for Meaning). Frankl developed his logotherapy approach, in part, while he was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. He learned to identify a purpose in each person’s life, through one of three ways: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, or finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity.

Virginia Satir (author of Conjoint Family Therapy and Peoplemaking) is another person in this tradition. She is the founder of Conjoint Family Therapy and is often referred to as the “Mother of Family Therapy”. As a family therapist she discovered recurring modes of unhealthy communication patterns in her counseling with families. Those patterns included Blaming, Distracting, Placating and Intellectualizing. Once family members understand how their communication patterns are keeping the family stuck and in distress, they can be counseled into healthier patterns of communicating which reflect empathy, assertiveness (as opposed to aggression/hostility) and respect for self and others. They can then often become a healthier family with implementation of these insights. Some readers are likely to see these unhealthy modes of communication in other group dynamics including government representatives having disagreements using destructive blaming, distracting and placating modes of communication. In my judgement, these patterns are often divisive rather than collaborative.

I was fortunate in being able to have support for establishing the Maine Division of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). Also, I was able to receive support for introducing the course Introduction to Marriage and Family Therapy into our graduate studies programs at the University of Southern Maine.

As is pointed out in A Guide to Cognitive Fitness:

“Humans are, by nature, social creatures. We cluster in family units and groups of friends, searching for companionship, comfort, support, and familiarity in a big and sometimes overwhelming world. Social interaction can have profound effects on health and longevity, and feeling lonely has a huge impact on brain health.

Strong social interactions can protect your memory and cognitive function as you age. Research is demonstrating that people with strong social ties are less likely to experience cognitive declines than those who are alone” (p.40).

Additionally,

“having a strong network of people who support and care for you—and knowing that you can rely on them—can also lower your stress levels, which in turn affects cognition in multiple ways.” (p.41).

In my case I have found strong support and collaboration from longtime friends and colleagues such as Doctors Ken Hultman, Ken Shapiro (founder of Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—now called Animals and Society Institute), Bruce St. Thomas and Thomas Cushman. Additionally, strong support from family members including my sister Dr. Judith Johnson, my wife Mary Beth Johnson and daughter Kate Johnson has been extremely important.

Since discovering All-Creatures.org, I have clarified and supplemented my educational and consulting work with the philosophy underlying All-Creatures.org.

As a therapist and educator, it is my responsibility to encourage clients and students to develop their own value systems whether it reflects what I have discussed here or not. Also, I take responsibility for introducing students and clients to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and their client handouts such as the Vegan Starter Kits so that they are up to date on the latest scientific research on nutrition and health. Of course, each person can and should make up his or her mind whether to take advantage of this knowledge.

In summary and conclusion, I have tried to supplement my previous article on Eating a Plant Based Diet published by All-Creatures.org with this article on Cultivating Positivity and Finding your Purpose in Life. I have drawn heavily on my reading of the scientific literature, my training, and my personal development and education as a health psychologist and educator.

In addition to eating a plant-based diet, developing healthy sleeping practices, regular exercise, challenging your brain, nurturing your social contacts, and managing your stress, it is vital that we cultivate positivity and identify our purpose in life. Support from the right kind of counseling and education with this knowledge in mind can help most people improve and/or maintain healthy cognitive fitness.

Biographical Notes

Thomas B. Johnson completed his graduate studies at Brown University (US Public Health Fellowship in social psychiatry and medical sociology), Harvard University (master’s degree in counseling psychology), UC-Berkeley (doctor’s degree in counseling psychology) and Duke University (doctoral internship in psychological services). He is a licensed psychologist, nationally certified school psychologist and a health psychologist and certified by the National Register of Health Services Psychologists. He has served as a faculty member at Bates College, Rutgers University and the University of Southern Maine. He was a contributing editor of the NASP Communique for 10 years as their editor for alternative and complimentary approaches to health and learning. He has been providing a full range of psychological services over many years including assessments, consultations, education, psychotherapy, supervision and research. He now serves as a consulting psychologist.

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Posted on All-Creatures: April 11, 2025
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We began this archive as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a whole food vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician.