Site Index
|
Voicemail: |
|
Email:
|
A review of Dr. Fredrick Schiffer, MD, based on his book Of Two Minds. The Revolutionary Science of Dual Brain Psychology. The Free Press. New York, NY. 1998.
According to Schiffer, "there is overwhelming evidence that each side of our brain possesses and autonomous, distinct personality – with its own set of memories, motivations, and behaviours." By significantly altering someone’s visual field and stimulating specific regions of the brain we can activate the specific areas that harbour both traumatic and joyful memories.
p. 15. " a healthy left and right mind with a respectful, cooperative relationship between them can lead to a life of greater meaning, creativity, productivity, and fulfillment. Only when the relationships within yourself are in harmony are you best able to sustain a healthy relationship with another person."
p.212 Psychotherapists have a term that describes a troubled mind’s reluctance to change: resistance. …I see resistance as the troubled side’s distrust of anything that challenges what it believes to be true. Often it was traumatized or disturbed by some past events, and it remains vigilant, even any years later, against the anticipated recurrence of the disturbing situations. Sometimes this side will influence situations so that they end up recreating the feared circumstance, just as Harold almost did before dual-brain therapy. It is not that the troubled side wants to repeat the trauma; rather, it is highly motivated to avoid repeating the painful experience. This minds believes that it knows the traumas will be repeated, and it anticipates the repetition of the trauma. When the trauma does not occur, the troubled minds feels not relief but more anxiety because it "knows" the trauma will recur and becomes even more expectant as the anticipated trauma gets "delayed".
If this mind believes that the recurrence of an unbearable pain is inevitable, it will remain preoccupied with it, and any effort to reassure it will be seen as imprudent advice, to be avoided at all costs. Getting this troubled side to reconsider what it believes it "knows" getting it to trust someone else (a mature-sided mind or a friend or therapist), letting it consider that what happened in the past need not be repeated in the future – all this is extremely difficult, but it is the essential task in helping (the split between the minds that are controlling various aspects of ones life and creating the undesirable results) (Parenthesis Karen’s addition) troubled minds.
p. 214 "Education can help empower the more mature mind. We need to be familiar with and open to the ideas of others. Yet we also need to retain our ability to challenge intelligently those ideas by processing them through our own judgment.
p. 215 Work on the relationship between your two minds. When you are in a focused frame of mind, decide if you a willing to direct your energies toward becoming able to tolerate distressing feelings or memories, impulses, and urges without taking immediate action. You will need to make a conscious effort to try to be more mature and wise. Toward your troubled side you will need a very caring, patient attitude. If you can help your more troubled mind become strong, healthy ally, then your life will be remarkably improved.
[ Top ]
DUCT TAPE, GOGGLES AND THE ENERGY THERAPIES
Without a doubt, the most exciting and inspiring workshop I attended at the 2nd Annual International Conference on Energy Psychotherapies was the one with the strangest title. Duct Tape, Goggles and Energy Psychotherapies. After hearing a 60 second "infomercial" by the presenter, I decided this workshop might help me understand how to be more effective with some of my more difficult clients. Little did I know that it would lead me to a whole new way of understanding the complexities of the human mind
And all because of a demonstration using two pairs of plastic safety goggles with ¾ of their visual fields taped over with duct tape!
John invited a volunteer from the audience, someone who was suffering emotional stress when thinking about a disturbing issue. A middle-aged woman volunteered, described the issue and then, as with any of the energy therapies, she rated her Subjective Units of Distress (SUDS) on a scale of 0 – 10. She was feeling a 6/10. John then asked the volunteer to place a pair of safety goggles over her eyes, so that she could only see out of ¼ of the field with her right eye and think about her issue. As soon as she did so she began to look visibly uncomfortable and stated that she was having trouble leaving the goggles on, as she felt very anxious and upset - 9or10/10. She removed the first pair and replaced them with a second pair, that only allowed her to see out of half of the left visual field. Within moments of putting them on she became visibly relaxed, sighed, and stated that she felt much calmer and was actually looking at the issue in a much different light. She rated her distress as around 3/10. This demonstration illustrated a phenomenon discovered by Harvard Psychiatrist Dr. Frederick Schiffer that he has called the Dual Brain Theory.
Dr. Schiffer has published a fascinating book, "Of Two Minds. The Revolutionary Science of Dual Brain Psychology. The Free Press. New York, NY. 1998. Here he records the history of his discovery of this amazing phenomenon that seems to help to explain the possible pathology behind many mental illnesses and mental health problems. Essentially, what Dr. Schiffer believes is that we can possess two very distinct and fully functioning "minds" and that while one of these may be extremely intelligent, capable and insightful the other may sabotage or interfere with the more mature or healthy functioning. He believes this "split" occurs when traumatic events cause a literal separation between the two hemispheres that helps the individual "protect" themselves from further trauma. Unfortunately, the actual result of this "protection" is often to recreate events that increase the likelihood of repeating the trauma.
Healing the schism between the mature and immature minds is a process that can be promoted by helping the client to see the separate ways in which he views the distressing issues. For many, this is facilitated by the use of the goggles and duct tape, where they can, within a few seconds, witness their own distinct and often dramatically different viewpoints and feelings about a situation. Schiffer even has conversations with the separate aspects of the person that encourages them to "communicate". Often flashbacks to traumatic events will occur when the "anxious hemisphere" is stimulated. This will aid the client in understanding why the defences may have been created.
A participant in one of my recent workshops has such and "enlightening" experience while working on her "obsession with note taking and getting all the facts". When she put on the glasses that stimulated her anxiety she cried out "Oh my, I am in that dark anatomy classroom in premed. The instructor is ruthless about getting it all correct and I am so anxious that I will not get into medical school. I can almost smell the classroom." She had not previously recalled the trauma of that time. However, she admitted that she had cloistered herself in her room for months, studying in order to meet the demands of this professor. Unfortunately, although she had gone on to become a medical doctor, she had never let herself loose from the pressure she had created in his classroom twenty years before!
In his workshop at the Conference, John , a practicing energy psychotherapist, demonstrated a way to combine the deep insights of "goggle therapy" with the "tapping therapies". As a student of Thought Field Therapy he uses a combination of kinesiology to test for the hemispheric dominance in relation to the distress and TFT
He has found that having the client treat themselves for their emotional distress on the issue while wearing the goggles activating the "healthier" hemisphere, will hasten the integration and remove the trauma from the "unhealthy" hemisphere. This he demonstrated in his workshop with the volunteer, who went from a 9 -10 / 10 to zero distress. And I have had similar results in my private practice. and with they physician who was still functioning as if she were back in medical school.
The implications …
[ Top ]
*********************** Private Therapy in person, by phone or on SKYPE.
Free consultations email karen
*******************
FREE Showing of Documentary Operation: EMOTIONAL FREEDOM
Wed. April 25th - 7pm doors open 6:45 Royal Jubilee Hospital Begbie Hall, 2101 Richmond Rd. Victoria, B.C. Pay Parking - get 2.5 hrs in Bay St. parkade
For more info about any of these workshops or private therapy please contact me email karenledger or call 250 598-4126
************************* Tapas Acupressure TechniqueTM Therapy Call for workshop information: 250 598-4126
To purchase products from THE TAT LIFE STORE click on this link
TAT Training DVDs
TAT Card Decks for Trauma & Weight Loss