This book covers recent advances in the understanding of brain structure, function and disorders based on the fundamental principles of physics. It covers a broad range of physical phenomena occurring in the brain circuits for perception, cognition, emotion and action, representing the building blocks of the mind. It provides novel insights into the devastating brain disorders of the mind such as schizophrenia, dementia, autism, aging or addictions, as well as into the new devices for brain repair. The book is aimed at basic researchers in the fields of neuroscience, physics, biophysics and clinicians in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, psychology, psychiatry.

Theoretical Alternatives to the Psychiatric Model of Mental Disorder Labeling is the fourth Volume of the Ethics International Press Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry Series. Understanding the current systems of psychology and psychiatry is profoundly important. So is exploring alternatives. The Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry Series presents solicited chapters from international experts on a wide variety of underexplored subjects. This is a series for mental health researchers, teachers, and practitioners, for parents and interested lay readers, and for anyone trying to make sense of anxiety, depression, and other emotional difficulties. Theoretical Alternatives recognizes and appreciates those who have contributed to the abundance of literature critiquing the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the biomedical model of mental health, and the practice of psychiatric diagnosing. It intends to move past that discourse, and present macro and system-level alternatives to DSM and the ICD diagnosing (the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems), in the form of conceptually developed frameworks, taxonomies, and models to guide clinical work and theory.

In psychotherapy and psychiatry, mental illness diagnostics is limited to the description of symptoms and has nothing to do with assessing the state of the organ that performs the mental functions. In other branches of medicine, any diagnosis aims to answer the question about the physical disturbance of the internal technology of the body. But the Mind remains outside of this correct approach. As a result, all systemic mental pathologies are currently incurable. This absurd situation is due to the lack of a physically grounded theoretical model of the Mind. Without it, practical treatment of the disorders remains ‘wandering in the dark.’ How can we fix something if there is no understanding of what it is and how it works? Within the Teleological Transduction Theory developed in the previous volumes of the series, harmony of the Mind is a physical concept of normal functioning. Respectively, when the pathologies are described as dissonances, it is not a metaphor but a reference to the physical malfunction leading to the disintegration of the Mind. The book proposes a new approach to the diagnosis and classification of mental pathologies, based on an assessment of the state of the physical mechanism of the Mind and violations of the technological algorithm of the brain. The goal is to create the concept as a universal tool that can be used in various pathologies. The book offers a model of systemic pathologies such as autism and schizophrenia, which reveals the essence of the physical problem that causes the observed symptoms. This could be the beginning of a project that will overcome the current chaotic state of the field of psychopathology and harmonize our diagnosis and treatment of mental illness as disorders of the brain.

It is widely accepted in science that the universe is a closed deterministic system in which everything can, ultimately, be explained by purely physical causation. And yet we all experience ourselves as having the freedom to choose between alternatives presented to us -- 'we' are in the driving seat. The puzzling status of volition is explored in this issue by a distinguished body of scientists and philosophers.

Bestselling author B. Alan Wallace delivers the long-awaited followup to his Stilling the Mind: Shamatha Teachings from Dudjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence (2011). This companion volume stems from an oral commentary Düdjom Lingpa gave to the next section of the Vajra Essence, in which he elucidates the cultivation of contemplative insight, or vipashyana, into the nature of existence as a whole. The revelation appears in the form of a fascinating dialogue within Düdjom Lingpa’s own mind: various aspects of his mind pose questions to his own primordial consciousness, and the pithy and provocative replies tap into the very ground of being. The ensuing dialogue explores every stage of the path to buddhahood in this lifetime, from the very beginning to the unexcelled result of the rainbow body, signifying enlightenment. Everything you need to know to attain buddhahood is complete in this text. As Wallace continued to reflect on Dudjom Lingpa’s writings and their relevance to the modern world, he was inspired to elaborate extensively on his original commentary. The book includes new introductory essays and an afterword, revealing the texts’ contribution to the contemplative revolution triggered by the discoveries of Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein.

This scholarly monograph initiates an open dialogue with an open mind, with scientists, philosophers, and social activists on symbiosis of science and spirituality. It discusses the generation of innovation in Science for human survival. Part I investigates creativity in science, Part II explores symbiosis of science and spirituality, Part III deals with science, education, and ethics. Part IV- discusses A New Vision on Earthquake and Tsunamis.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The book has a virtual third coauthor in Henry Stapp, whose research into the foundations of quantum mechanics provided the physics underpinning for JMS’s theory of directed mental force. #2 The UCLA Department of Psychiatry holds grand rounds, at which an invited researcher presents an hour-long seminar on a topic of clinical relevance. One afternoon in the late 1980s, I saw an announcement that a leading behavior therapist was going to discuss her work with obsessive-compulsive disorder. #3 Exposure and response prevention, or ERP, was a perfect expression of behaviorist tenets. In ERP therapy, the patient is almost completely passive. The therapist presents them with triggers of varying intensity, and they have to rank the level of distress those objects cause. #4 I was becoming more and more convinced that a patient undergoing behavior therapy didn’t need to do anything that a normal, healthy person would object to doing. I was beginning to suspect that the treatments based on the principles of behaviorism were missing the boat.