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A Theory of Dialectical, Integrative and Holarchic Hemispheric Relationship
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Neurophenomenology Of Spiritual Development
Contemplative neuroscience and the philosophy of mind
by Eric Thompson
Over the last 20 years, science has discovered how deeply the human brain is impacted by both human experience and the environment, and not only early in life but throughout the lifespan as well. This new understanding of the brain's capacity to change and develop, often referred to as neuroplasticity, offers new inroads to personal development that once seemed impossible. According to Sharon Begley (2007), by making the best possible use of brain plasticity through attentional training, "the goal is not merely the absence of mental illness, which seems to be all that psychiatric and psychological therapies strive for these days, but the enduring presence of robust mental and emotional health" (p. 221, emphasis mine).
The research on neuroplasticity clearly shows that specific kinds of mental training can influence how our brains operate, which strongly implies that our emotional and mental well-being can indeed be cultivated through mental discipline. The evidence seems clear: Our individual emotional set-points can be shifted toward higher levels of well-being. Conventional psychiatry, on the other hand, typically approaches treatment by treating the symptoms of mental and emotional discomfort through psychopharmacology, without necessarily addressing the deeper causal issues behind such discomfort.
The conventional emphasis, as such, seems to be on the manipulation of neurotransmitters to alleviate symptoms, relegating the people who are suffering from such discomfort to the role of victims of brain chemistry and physiology, sentenced as it were to rely for the rest of their lives solely upon psychopharmacology for any hope of future relief. Furthermore, such medication often requires additional medication simply to counteract its own distressing side effects.
Before I go any further, allow me to be very clear: I'm not against psychopharmacology, psychiatry, or the use of medication. The development and use of such medication has greatly contributed to the world in which we live. While the use of psychopharmacology is often necessary in the short-term treatment of symptoms (and in some cases may actually be necessary for long-term treatment), it is by itself incapable of offering long-term treatment with the potential of teaching the brain new and healthy neurological habits. Contemplative training and meditation, on the other hand, are capable of such long-term treatment.
So why, in fact, does psychiatry often assume that the primary cause of mental and emotional dysfunction is biological in nature? Our inward, subjective experiences are usually not considered as causal agents in conventional psychiatry because the very basis for such experiences-the mind-is often reduced simply to brain processes. Mental causation, as such, is often viewed as uni-directional, originating only in the brain and resulting in psychological experience and consciousness itself.
Contemplative neuroscience agrees with the basic view that biology plays a role in causation. In this view, many of the thoughts and feelings experienced in our daily lives are indeed seen as the result of habitual neural processes. However, contemplative neuroscience makes the claim that causation between brain and mind is not merely uni-directional but bi-directional, and thus acknowledges the mind's capacity to influence and change the brain, particularly when it is systematically and consistently trained over a long periods of time.
In this view, while the brain influences attention and mental functioning, attention and mental effort can in turn influence the brain. This, of course, raises the issue of dualism between mind and body, otherwise known as the mind-body problem. A common approach to solving this problem, used by a growing number of contemporary neuroscientists, is to simply compress the mind and virtually all mental processes to mere neural processes. In other words, in this view, virtually all thought originates in and is produced solely by the brain. However, by making such a simplistic reduction, many neuroscientists find it difficult to even consider the possibility that attentional training can liberate the brain's higher potential by way of mental causation. This aptly illustrates how our assumptions about the ultimate nature of reality can and do influence and determine the course and quality of the treatments we are willing to be involved with. Our assumptions likewise predetermine and limit our methodologies for researching further treatment possibilities. Simply stated, philosophical and metaphysical assumptions can and often do limit the spectrum and quality of treatment offered by psychiatrists and psychologists to suffering clients and patients.
This being the case, contemplative neuroscience often strives to empower us by giving us the tools to become the masters of our own minds, to awaken the greater potentials of our brains and thereby experience more wholeness, more joy and more peace. By granting the mind its own reality, as well as acknowledging the mind's power to transform the brain and liberate higher potentials, contemplative neuroscience offers a scientific worldview capable of radically changing what we believe is possible for our lives and the lives of future generations.
Sources
Austin, James H. (2006). Zen-Brain Reflections. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Allen, K. B. (2004). Assessments of mindfulness by self-report: The Kentucky inventory of mindfulness skills. Assessment, 11(3), 191-206.
Barnhofer, T., Duggan, D., Crane, C., Hepburn, S., Fennell, M., & Williams, J. (2007, May 7). Effects of meditation on frontal alpha-asymmetry in previously suicidal individuals. Neuroreport, 18(7), 709-712.
Begley, Sharon. (2007). Train Your Mind Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves. New York: Mind and Life.
Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., et al. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564-570.
Goleman, Daniel. (2003). Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? New York: Bantam Dell.
Lazar, S., Bush, G., Gollub, R., Fricchione, G., Khalsa, G., & Benson, H. (2000, May 15). Functional brain mapping of the relaxation response and meditation. Neuroreport, 11(7), 1581-1585.
Lazar, Sara W., Kerr, Catherine E., Wasserman, Rachel H., Gray, Jeremy R., Greve, Douglas N., Treadway, Michael T., McGarvey, M., Quinn, Brian T., Dusek, Jeffery A., Benson, H., Rauch, Scott L., Moore, Christopher I., Fischl, B. (2005, November 28). Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport. 16(17), 1893-1897.
Lutz, A., Greischar, L., Rawlings, N. B., Ricard, M., Davidson, R. J. (2004). Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude synchrony during mental practice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101, 16369-16373.
Siegel, Daniel J. (2007). The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being. New York: W. W. Norton.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Science of How Meditation Changes Your Brain
Meditation & the Brain
Welcome to this lens dedicated to sharing the latest scientific research on how meditation can change the brain through the training of attention. You'll find information, videos, slides and links on how science describes the influence of meditation on the brain, as well as resources for making positive changes that will profoundly influence your brain, mind and spiritual wellbeing. I sincerely hope you enjoy this lens, and I'd love to hear from you.
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