|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
The Mind and The Brain, Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force
By Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D.
Introduction:
The Mind and The Brain, Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D. & Sharon Begley is included not because it is a relationship book but because the book is the only real real psychological book, while also providing one of my most significant resources.
This book is the only modern resource available that fully quantifies the half of the working of the mind not included in any of the relationship books written, the thinking side.
Importantly, the only way modern scientists are going to be able to rid themselves of the shackles of the biology conclusion is through scientific proof that the mind does, in fact, exist. Proof is required not only for the existence of the mind, but also that the mind controls the brain.
The most significant problem with the biology conclusion is that it places the mind in a subordinate position to the brain; thinking is assumed to be nothing more than the effect of different brain states.
Details:
Amazingly, Dr. Schwartz discovers the point in history where the question of biology or psychology started. Freud didn’t discovery the biology conclusion he merely propagated it. As Jung stated in his autobiography, Freud’s greatest contribution to modern science was in introducing “psychology into psychiatry”. Well, unfortunately for modern psychology, he proceeds then to introduce biology into psychology.
The source, though, of the biology conclusion was a seventeenth century French philosopher by the name of Rene’ Descartes (1596-1650) who concluded that there exists two entities between the ears of humans, the mind and the brain. The function of the mind is the energy behind our thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, the brain is the physical activity behind our thoughts and feelings.
Interestingly, his hypothesis was introduced at the time when the Church was fighting a life and death struggle over its very existence, a threat caused by the emergence of science. In essence what happened was the Church was supposed to take over the responsibility of understanding of the mind, the spiritual realm. Common sense would indicate that the Church with its notion of God and immortality would eventually be able to understand the working of the mind, but this has never occurred.
This has unfortunate consequences for us today from the perspective of the relationship because the Church is in a very inadequate position to help out troubled relationships. After all, Catholic priests are still not allowed to marry. This hypothesis was also introduced at the beginning of modern science, so science took over the research of the brain. Dr. Schwartz’s book finally provides scientific, empirical, ironclad proof that the mind not only exists, but that it controls the brain. Finally!
The other most interesting aspect of Dr. Schwartz’s work is that the genesis behind his interest in solving this nearly four hundred year old question was his discovery of the psychotherapeutic methods for using the feeling side of the psyche to “cure” the disease of thinking. The disease of thinking is called obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), where the patients get negative thoughts “stuck in their head,” so to speak, resulting in a sever inability to handle everyday life.
The most common OCD disorder is an obsessive concern over cleanliness. OCD patients who constantly think their hands are dirty will literally wash them until they turn raw. And what is the psychological therapy for these kinds of patients? Believe it or not, the therapy, referred to as exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, requires OCD patients obsessed with cleanliness to literally wipe feces and urine on their bodies, their clothes, their belongings at home and at work, even trips to public restrooms where the patients wipe their hands on public toilets, followed with the therapist preventing the patients from cleaning themselves! Expose them to their emotional pain and prevent them from rectifying it. Now is that logical?
Dr. Schwartz was able to discover a cure, proven through non-intrusive brain imaging technology, by helping the patients think about something else. For example, he frequently describes gardening. What he teaches his patients, which he readily admits is not an easy task, is that when the negative intrusive thoughts enter consciousness the patients are to think of something positive. The therapy is obviously much more difficult than that. He comments that recovery takes around nine weeks and the brain scans show the disappearance of the old OCD circuit. His discovery was only the beginning of his scientific quest that thinking is an active process of the mind.
Dr. Schwartz’s book was one of the most fascinating and enlightening of all the resources used in the research for Equality.
|
|
|
Read Relationship Book Reviews and Books on Relationships
Men Are From Mars Women
Are From Venus
By John Gray, PhD.
Relationship Rescue
By Phillip C. McGraw, PhD.
Radical Honesty
By Brad Blanton, PhD.
Can Love Last: The Fate of
Romance Over Time
By Steven P. Mitchell, PhD.
Getting To “I Do”, The Secret of Doing Relationships Right
By Patricia Allen, PhD.
Getting The Love You Want, A Guide For Couples
By Harville Hendrix, PhD.
The Mind and The Brain, Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force
By Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D.
Etc. |
|
Home 
