I have been following with great interest the dialogues between Western neuroscientists and physicists and the Dalai Lama and Buddhist monks for many years. Particularly, the neuroimaging research on the effects of meditation (including meditations of compassion) on neural functioning. The following websites have information on this research:
http://www.mindandlife.org
http://www.psyphz.psych.wisc.edu (this is the affective neuroscience lab at University of Wisconsin at Madison )
I am re-posting a piece which I wrote on this issue years ago.
In a fascinating new volume of a scientific dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Western scientists ("Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? : A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama" narrated by Daniel Goleman, 2003, Bantam Books), Tibetan monks have been subjected to various neuroimaging techniques (eg, fMRI) in order to explore the effects of such processes as meditation, e.g., on compassion for all beings including enemies, on neural functioning. Richard Davidson, of the Keck Lab for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior at the Madison campus of the University of Wisconsin , along with Paul Eckman at the University of California at San Francisco , were some of the investigators. In brief, what they found was quite astonishing. Some of the many findings were that the startle response (to a gunshot) was completely suppressed [with implications for therapy of persons with PTSD as well as other affective disorders-personally I thought of the P50 evoked potentials observed in schizophrenia research-according to a meta-analysis of the neurobiological & neuroscience literature by R. Walter Heinrichs in his "In Search of Madness: Schizophrenia and Neuroscience" published in 2001 by Oxford University Press-showing this measure to be the most reliable in distinguishing persons with schizophrenia from controls, even more than any neurobiological finding such as ventriculomegaly]. The researchers also found that a compassionate state of mind shifts neural activation from the right middle frontal gyrus [associated with chronic states of dysphoria, eg, depression and anxiety], to the left middle frontal gyrus [associated with states of pleasure, happiness, etc]. Compassion, as the Dalai Lama pointed out is also good for the one who experiences and acts compassionately towards others. I believe this is what Harold Searles noted in his concept of patient as therapist and the need for the therapist to see and acknowledge the patient's psychotherapeutic strivings, often underlying what seems to be destructive attacks on the analyst. His concept of the psychotherapeutic impulse (which we have adopted as our newsletter logo for ISPS-US) is quite in line with this new research. The therapeutic symbiosis has a profound stabilizing effect on our neurofunctioning (which could have been guessed based on evolutionary theory and research on altruism which is a corrective to a simple "selfish gene" approach-see "Research on Altruism & Love: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Studies in Psychology, Sociology, Evolutionary Biology, & Theology" edited by Stephen Post et al in 2003 for the Templeton Foundation Press for an indepth review of these issues-one pointing to the altruistic trend as non-reducible to simple self-protection-I think of the valor so many individuals displayed on 9/11 staying within the towers in order to comfort and rescue the wounded knowing full well at the time of the gravity of the situation).
The same destructive processes at work in ourselves at an individual level are also operative on a collective basis (see Finnish psychiatrist-psychoanalyst Martii Siirala's work on collective splitting which he has applied to racism, genocide, even severe mental illness). War and attacks on other countries often arise from great fear and anxiety as well as collective ignorance. Hatred and violence breeds greater hatred and violence in return as we are currently witnessing in various regions of the world. It is interesting to note that in the neuroimaging studies of the Tibetan Buddhist monks in dialogue with hostile, confrontational & difficult interlocutors, the latter calmed down dramatically when encountering warmth and openness on the part of the monks [is this not what we see in psychoanalysis when the therapist is being containing and non-retaliatory when the patient is engaged in a process of emotionally violent projective identification].
Tenzin Gyatso, the Dali Lama, noted:
"...these days we human beings are very much involved in the external world, while we neglect the internal world. We do need scientific development and material development in order to survive and to increase the general benefit and prosperity, but equally as mich we need mental peace. Yet no doctor can give you an injection of mental peace, and no market can sell it to you. If you go to the supermarket with millions of dollars, you can buy anything, but if you go there and ask for peace of mind, people will laugh. And if you ask a doctor for genuine peace of mind, not the mere sedation you get from taking some kind of pill or injection, the doctor cannot help you. even today's sophisticated computers cannot provide you with mental peace. Mental peace must come from the mind. Everyone wants happiness and pleasure, but if we compare physical pleasure and pain with mental pleasure and pain [I have heard many a patient say they prefer the physical pain of self-cutting to mental anguish and dread], we find that the mind is more effective...Thus it is worthwhile adopting certain methods to increase mental peace, and in order to do that it is important to know more about the mind. When we talk about preservation of the environment, it is referred to many other things.Ultimately the decision must come from the human heart. The key point is to have a genuine sense of universal responsibility, based on love and compassion, and clear awareness." within the towers in order to comfort and rescue the wounded knowing full well at the time of the gravity of the situation).
For those who would accuse me of 'warm & fuzzy' thinking and that this research has little relevance to our work with persons with schizophrenia, I would highly recommend the phenomenological research on recovery from severe and chronic schizophrenias being done by Larry Davidson and his colleagues at Yale University in New Haven. In his "Living Outside Mental Illness: Qualitative Studies of Recovery in Schizophrenia" published by New York University Press in 2003, Davidson has demonstrated the importance in recovery for the patient to have the experience of being able to care for another human being as well as feeling deeply cared for outside of more clinical, institutional forms of caring. This is in line with what such schizophrenia researchers as John Strauss and Courtenay Harding have been long advocating: the co-construction of a viable, functional & valued sense of self along with the opportunity for social inclusion (as opposed to social exclusion and stigmatization).
To conclude with a quote from Tenzin Gyato (1989), the current Dalai Lama:
"May all sentient beings, oneself and others, find constant happiness through love and compassion associated with wisdom."
I would also like to share the following Tibetan prayer with our group:
For as long as space endures, for as long as sentient beings exist,
May I remain until then, and relieve the suffering of other beings.
For as long as even a few sentient beings are not liberated from suffering,
May I remain in the world to serve them, even though I may attain complete enlightenment.
The heart, filled with love and compassion for all beings, may I be able to cultivate it,
May it never degenerate, may it continue to flourish forever.
May all sentient beings find lasting happiness, may the suffering of all beings come to an end.
May the wishes of those dedicated solely to serving others be fulfilled, whoever and wherever they may be.
I would like to thank my friends and colleagues, particularly Drs. James Ogilvie & Sara Weber for re-stimulating my interest in Buddhism.
Brian Koehler
80 East 11th street #339
New York NY 10003
212 533-5687
brian_koehler@psychoanalysis.net
