Neurocognitive dynamics, cognitive flexibility, and constraints on thought

The ebb and flow of thought throughout one’s day is an experience most of us are familiar with. Usually, our thoughts are able to adapt and reroute in response to our experiences, like a stream in response to a landslide. However, in many clinical conditions, the flexibility of thought is diminished. In this chapter, we use the Dynamic Framework of Thought (Christoff et al., 2016) to discuss characteristic alterations in thought across depression, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We argue that these clinical conditions are marked by strong constraints on thought contents and dynamics, coupled with inflexible neural dynamics. We connect the alterations to thought across these conditions to their underlying neural correlates, demonstrating their overlap with diminished cognitive flexibility. We also present evidence that successful treatment of these conditions may restore flexibility in thought, neural dynamics, and neuroplasticity. This perspective emphasizes the importance of thought dynamics in characterizing cognitive flexibility in mental disorders. Restoring the flexible ebb and flow of thought may be crucial for clinical improvements.