Catatonia is featured by complex symptoms combining motor, affective and behavioral phenomena as well as by its syndrome character with trans-diagnostic occurrence. It paradigmatically shows the limits of current forms of psychopathology like affective and cognitive approaches with respect to both clinical symptoms and brain mechanisms. We therefore suggest Spatiotemporal Psychopathology (STPP)...
When we are awake and relaxed, various memory-scenes come up in our mind by spontaneous activation of memory engrams. We find ourselves in the memory-scene longing for it by the present self. The memory scene is also recollected by sensory inputs from the surrounding world for learned behavioral decisions. It is well experienced that odorants act as strong cues in remembering associated memory....
Aspects of hypnosis and its application in psychotherapy, psychosomatics and medicine are examined and contextualized in the 250-year history of hypnosis. Imagination as an essential element of hypnotic treatments appeared as early as 1784 as an argument rejecting the theory of animal magnetism of Franz Anton Mesmer. In somnambulism of German romanticism, another proto-form of hypnosis after...
This essay engages with online posting as a machinic beyond, observing how networks increase the proliferating potential of memetic egregores. What is like to post like a machine? To relinquish monolithic identity and build new multiple ones, as if trained by the collective intelligence of online rings via collective posting swarms, questioning traditional copyright frameworks while celebrating...
People commonly cope with chronic low back pain (cLBP) by ignoring and distraction. Can mindful interoceptive exposure to the pain sensation itself and its phenomenological components be an alternative approach? Single-arm feasibility study in patients with cLBP using a 2-minute attention exercise guided by a smartphone app several times per day over 8 weeks. We assessed feasibility, pre/post...
Integrative oncology combines conventional and complementary, or integrative, therapies for a holistic treatment of cancer patients. Yoga is increasingly used as a complementary therapy for cancer patients, but there is no direct evidence for its effect on cancer pathophysiology like tumor response, or patient outcome like overall survival. In this narrative review, we present in detail...
In this reflection on my sociological practice and academic leadership across four decades, I discover abiding themes otherwise hidden by the keywords featured most prominently: solidarity, martial arts, and contemplative practices. Articulations across knowledge cultures and leadership responsibilities distinguished by place, emphasis, spirit, and (non-)violence move me to conclude with an...
Mental disorders are increasingly understood as involving complex alterations of self that emerge from dynamical interactions of constituent elements, including cognitive, bodily, affective, social, narrative, cultural and normative aspects and processes. An account of self that supports this view is the pattern theory of self (PTS). The PTS is a non-reductive account of the self, consistent...
Subjective experience is central to the nature of mental illness, yet it has not played a central role in most empirical approaches to psychopathology. While phenomenological perspectives in psychiatry have seen a recent resurgence, there remains a need for more detailed models of psychopathological processes based on explicit phenomenological and enactive foundations. We present a framework...
The Bhagavad Gita concentrates on awakening, which serves as the scripture’s overarching core theme. Meditation and expanding one’s consciousness can help one achieve self-realisation. Reflection and self-awareness are crucial in realising one’s true nature and achieving self-actualisation. The Bhagavad Gita generally gives a complete and multifaceted view of self-realisation. This notion...