Welcome back to The Gist. Last week we looked at how psychiatrist Dr. Jud Brewer helps his patients create a sense of integration between body and mind to heal from addictions and anxiety. He is able to guide patients towards newer, healthier behaviours as they work to overcome engrained negative patterns. This week we examine the work of Dr. Dan Siegel who extends this idea further. Siegel is also a psychiatrist and a pioneer in the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB for short). This field brings together multiple disciplines ranging from anthropology to biology and neuroscience to systems theory.
The central idea behind Dan's work is integration, both inside each individual and between people. Siegel sees integration as 'the essential mechanism of health as it promotes a flexible and adaptive way of being'. Dan's research and clinical work shows that integration leads to greater kindness, compassion and resilience, as well as overall well being. He has developed a framework of human experience with three parts - a coherent mind, an embodied brain and empathic relationships - and the flow of information and energy that is exchanged between these parts.
On a biological level, integration in the brain means that 'separated areas with unique functions, become linked to each other through synaptic connections' both in the brain itself and across the body. These links enhance certain capabilities such as 'insight, empathy, intuition and morality', and result in an embodied brain.
On a personal level, integration involves stronger connections between distinct elements of mental processing. For example linking 'thoughts with feelings or bodily sensations with logic', which leads to a coherent mind.
In relationships, Dan believes that integration means finding a balance between each of us needing a sense of autonomy and self differentiation, while still feeling connected to others through communication and interaction. This in turn forms empathic relationships.
In fact Dan goes even deeper to identify 9 domains of integration including memory integration to synthesize past events in our lives, narrative integration where we develop stories about our lives and temporal integration where we bring together experiences across time.
An important element of interpersonal neurobiology is mindfulness practice. Dan's brain imaging studies show that the act of paying attention to our thoughts and feelings changes the very structure and the wiring of our brains. Because, as Dan says, 'this state of attentional focus alters our relationship, our internal stance, toward our own mental processes'. Through consistent mindfulness practices like meditation we can develop greater self awareness. The shift in attention over time and with repetition has long term, positive impacts on our brains. This ability, to more clearly see and constructively redirect our thinking, is what Dan refers to as 'mindsight'.
At his Mindsight Institute, Dan continues to conduct fascinating research in this area. He believes that we can all learn the vital skill of mindsight, and realize that we are capable of freeing ourselves from our scattered, incessant thoughts. We can transform our automatic reactivity into a more discerning state of mind. Then our sense of self can come more from within (what Dan calls 'bottom-up' input) rather than being overwhelmed by the 'top-down' input of our external environments. Using our mindsight allows us to quieten old narratives about who we are and who we should be, and become more attuned to our direct, experience of life as it unfolds in the present moment.
I hope you've enjoyed learning about Dr. Siegel's work. If you want to delve deeper you can go to his website: https://drdansiegel.com/ or try one of his books including *The Developing Mind*, *The Mindful Therapist* and *Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation.
Wishing you a
