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Please cite all information taken from my website in the following manner:

(Schmid, Gary Bruno (Year):
Chapter. www.mind-body.info (Month). Paragraph Heading, Subsection)

©Gary Bruno Schmid 2002
All rights reserved. No portion of this site may be copied without an express citation.

>> Last update: 27. December 2005 <<

Mind, Body, and Society

This site promotes enquiry and research into the mind-body-society interplay (parallels, connections, interactions etc.) and provides a forum for information and exchange on questions of the interface between mind, body, and society. One of the most significant general insights of modern science has been the "recognition that life experience can shape brain chemistry in significant ways, and that experience and neurophysiology form a seamless web. Contrary to the expectation that there would be strong causation from genes, through neurochemistry, to behavior, it turns out that gene expression itself is profoundly influenced by experience."1 Recent studies argue further that problems in information processing within neural networks, rather than changes in chemical balance, might underlie certain psychological disorders such as depression2 or psychosis3,4. It seems that mental health as well as mental illness are more a matter of information, rather than of chemistry.

Indeed, information, socially conditioned in the context of voodoo and tabu practices, can even kill an otherwise healthy individual (Schmid, G. B. (2000). Death by Imagination : The Secret of Psychogenic Death Cases (1. ed.). Wien-New York: Springer-Verlag.)! But if the power of imagination can end an otherwise healthy life, imaginative healing methods can just as well - under the proper conditions - rescue life from even a deadly (mental or physical) illness.

Literatur:

  1. Moss, H. (2002). The Biology of Violence. Update: New York Academy of Sciences Magazine, January/February, 11 (Mind, Brain and Society)
  2. Castrén, E. (2005). Is mood chemistry? Nat Rev Neurosci, 6(3), 241-246
  3. Schmid, G. B. (2005). Phantasy Therapy: A Novel Theoretic and Therapeutic Approach for the Special Treatment of Psychotic Patients in General Psychiatry. In M. E. Abelian (Ed.), Focus on Psychotherapy Research (2005, Chapter 1). New York: Nova Science ISBN: 1-59454-374-7
  4. Schmid, G. B. (2005). Phantasy Therapy: Use of Story in Group Psychotherapy. Psychiatric Times, XXII(14 (December)), 68-74.

Here's a run down on the chapters provided by my links above:

IMAGINATION

  • Enquiries and research into the power of imagination over life, health, sickness and death
  • Tips to optimize your mental and social attitude

CONSCIOUSNESS & SOCIETY

  • Enquiries and research into the origin, nature, meaning and consequences of conscious and unconscious mentation and its evolution
  • Enquiries and research into the meaning and relevance of individual consciousness to society
  • Enquiries and research into modern psychiatric & psychotherapeutic practice
  • Information about my own psychotherapy practice in Zuerich, Switzerland

PSYCHOSIS & DISTANT ANTICIPATION

  • Enquiries and research into the origin, nature, meaning and consequences of altered/unusual/pathological states of consciousness with a focus on psychotic mentation and distant anticipation in living systems
  • Discussion of the concept "Spiritual Crisis" as opposed to "Psychosis"

PHANTASY THERAPY

  • Introduction to a depthpsychologically oriented form of group psychotherapy for acute/stationary and remitted/ambulatory patients suffering from psychosis
  • Information about training workshops

BODY SHOP & MIND BOUTIQUE

  • Information about natural healing methods and products from alternative, complementary and academic medicine

LINKS

  • Selected links to mind, body, and societal issues

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