Book Description
Most people experience themselves as two-sided: one side
seems mature and stable, the other emotional and impulsive.
But have you ever wondered if there really are two minds in
each of us? If so, do traumatic as well as ordinary
experiences affect the way our minds grow and interact?
According to Fredric Schiffer, a leading Harvard psychiatrist
and researcher, advances in science prove what many of us
have always intuited is true: We are of two minds, each one
with a different degree of maturity, and each one associated
with the left or the right brain. This brilliant, provocative
book illustrates how the interaction of these two minds --
whether they sabotage each other or work in harmony --
actually determines our psychological nature and ultimately
the emotional problems or progress we may experience in life.
Drawing on his own twenty-five years of research on the
brain and behavior, Schiffer gives us overwhelming evidence
that each side of our brain possesses an autonomous, distinct
personality -- with its own set of memories, motivations, and
behaviors. In working with his patients, Schiffer discovered
that strategically altering someone's visual field can
positively or negatively affect that person's sense of
well-being. He shows how using this technique of visual
stimulation can activate the specific regions of the brain
that harbor both traumatic and joyful memories. This dramatic
breakthrough demonstrates how it is possible to access,
isolate, and work with the memories encoded on one side of
the brain.
Dr. Schiffer's dual-brain approach has yielded remarkable
results with a wide range of emotional disorders, from
anxiety and depression to addiction and stress-induced heart
disease -- offering an exciting new perspective on therapy.
Just as earlier investigations of the brain and its cognitive
functions revolutionized our understanding of how we think, Of
Two Minds transforms our understanding of how and why we
experience emotional distress and conflicts, and suggests a
path to a more harmonious, balanced relationship between our
two selves.
