The Choice To Change

Phenotypic Plasticity: Our Superpower and Our Kryptonite

Introduction

A while back, I came across the interesting concept of “phenotypic plasticity”, which seems so very relevant to many of our discussions. If we take the definition of “phenotype” as:

“an organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological properties, its behavior, and the products of behavior”,

and then “phenotypic plasticity” as:

“changes within a individual’s lifespan from environmental factors having a strong influence on the particular phenotype that develops”,

then it seems to me that having almost limitless degrees of phenotypic plasticity, an ability to be continually moulded and transformed by our experiences, is both our human super-power, but perhaps also our super-vulnerability, within the animal kingdom.

Indeed, I believe it is this super-power that has led to us to filling almost every niche on the planet, and to have been able to adapt, survive, and thrive, in such a wide variety of environments.

Choosing to Change

What may be totally unique about us humans is, perhaps unlike any other animal, we can and do actively chose to create plastic phenotypic changes in ourselves, without actually changing the external environment at all.

We can chose to change:

• our morphology and physical form and structure, e.g. via the amount of calories ingested, body building, fascia decompression, piercings, plastic surgery;

• our development, e.g. birthing, parenting and schooling methods and styles;

• our biochemistry, e.g. through ingesting alcohol, psychedelics, drugs/pharmaceuticals, supplements, dietary options;

• our behaviours and how we manifest in the world, e.g. through psychotherapy, meditation, biofeedback, neuroplasticity, altering habits, developing a growth mindset.

The Downside of Extreme Phenotypic Plasticity

Unfortunately, our super-power also makes us highly susceptible to the external environment and other people creating unwanted phenotypic alterations in us, which can be very hard to change back. Trauma is, I believe, a prime example, and, indeed, our super-vulnerability to this type of unwanted phenotypic plasticity may be why humans appear to suffer so very much more from lingering post-traumatic issues than other animals seem to be.

Chronic illness is another example, where, if we employ Sela Weavers's Threshold Model of Chronic Disease, negatively impacting environmental factors add up over a lifetime, until a very radical shift in phenotype occurs, which manifests as symptoms, requiring a diagnosis. Addiction is another example, where repeated exposure to a substance or behaviour causes physiological and psychological alterations, spirals out of control and results in permanent negative neuroplastic changes.

Hyper-Novelty

Even more curiously, when it comes to the “products of our own behaviour” mentioned in the definition of phenotype, this super-power also gives us the ability transform our own environments and living conditions, and at an ever faster pace. This seems to make us very prone to vicious circles and negative feedback loops, creating for ourselves modern societies that are maladapted to our physiological and psychological needs. The result is precisely the hyper-novelty phenomena we are all currently facing, in which we are now making changes faster than even our own super-levels of phenotypic plasticity can possibly keep up.

Healing Transformation

I believe the good news, however, is that, if we ever choose to explore it and use it wisely, our superhero levels of phenotypic plasticity provide us with unrivalled super healing powers too. I believe we are even now only scratching the surface of the degree to which we are able to alter our morphology or physical form and structure, our developmental processes, biochemical and physiological properties, our behavior, and the products of our behavior, for healing purposes.

For me, the choice to change, i.e. voluntarily undergoing and creating transformation, is the fundamental and most vital part of healing trauma and chronic illnesses. Indeed, in my first ever substack article, I keep a master-list of suggestions of the changes we can make in our ourselves and in our lives, which can all add up to progressive symptom reduction.

This article was inspired by the book: “A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life”, by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein. I will be reviewing this book fully here on substack soon.

To learn more about how our experiences get written into our bodies, take our free online course on “Body Memories and Fascia (Connective Tissue)”:

Then take the next step with the Stress Test, to determine your stress phenotype, and find out about some of the changes you can choose to make, to help your transformation into the Calm type: