Most broadly, “gender” and “sexual orientation” refer to the biological / evolutionary, societal / cultural and interpersonal / inter-subject-object-ive dimension (continuum) of the female – male (feminine – masculine) and how it manifests and functions as a cluster of specific i-states within one’s uniqueness. “Gender” points to where and…
Analysis of Uniqueness (AoU) is a foundation and the first step in the transformation of one’s uniqueness and related psychopathology (treatment). It involves (i) identification (cataloging, mapping) of one’s internal / interpersonal states (i-states) including (a) typical and / or desired ones; (b) relevant non-pathological disruptions and (c) pathological…
Suffering of body-consciousness is universal, Caused by desire for existence / nonexistence of “I” and “self”, Transcendence of suffering is possible, On the path of true Practice-Insight-Wisdom-Compassion. (Siddhartha Gautama) [1] Transformations of psychopathology Psychopathology is a facet of uniqueness and, historically, has often been conceptualized as a “biopsychosocial” problem…
In general, ipsocentricity refers to one’s focus on one’s own uniqueness where one is both the “subject” and the “object” of one’s own activity. Ipsocentric i-states include (i) ipsocentric consciousness and (ii) ipsocentric acts – both focused predominantly on the four Registers of one’s own uniqueness. Ipsocentric consciousness refers to…
Severity of psychopathology (level of disruption of the here-now), both in general and disorder-specific, has often been conceptualized by referring to frequency of recurrence, intensity of distress, chronicity (duration), level of functional impairment, prognosis and treatment outcomes. Perspectival aspects of psychopathology add another vantage point from which…
Psychopathology is an aspect of uniqueness (p-i-state) which is perceived (experienced) by one and / or others as a breakdown (disruption, failure) of a natural (adaptive, healthy, normal) i-state within the here-and-now of one’s location and attributed to a (known) mental disorder (syndrome, illness). For any i-state (event) to be…
The physical world (universe) does not get “ill” or have “symptoms”, it is normal (“healthy”) as it is. Life, however, with survival, adaptation and learning (memory) at its core, brings in the possibility and the inevitability of dysfunction, illness (disorder) and demise (death). Physical disorders (illness, dysfunction) are part of…
“Personality”, the “Self “and the “I” are three distinct aspects of one’s UNIQUENESS. “PERSONALITY” is a neurocognitive endophenotype embedded in one’s body and the brain, the “SELF” is an aggregated representation of oneself (image, schema, narrative, identity) encoded in one’s memory and the “I” is one’s awareness (sensory representation) of…
We are threatened with suffering from three directions: from our own body, which is doomed to decay and dissolution and which cannot even do without pain and anxiety as warning signals; from the external world, which may rage against us with overwhelming and merciless forces of destruction; and…
Summary: Relational vulnerability is a continuous epigenetic dimension of interpersonal psychopathology (“disorders of personality”) manifesting in four main endophenotypic clusters based on (i) disordered HOMEOSTATIC REGULATION (High / Low) and (ii) maladaptive RELATEDNESS (High / Low). Currently used categories (diagnoses) of “personality disorders” correspond to one of the four clusters…
Psychopathology is an epi-ontogenetic disturbance (disorder) of associative integration manifested in impairments (symptoms, signs) of Homeostatic Regulation (activation, emotionality, neurocognitive integration) and Interpersonal Relatedness (Self-Others, intersubjectivity). Homeostatic dysregulations are associated with the biophysical (biological) aspects of psychopathology and dysregulated Relatedness underlie its interpersonal manifestations. Ipsocentricity (focus on oneself) is a…
Fundamentally, psychopathology is a sequence of events within and across all four registers of an I-STATE. In time, a unique internal / interpersonal configuration (position, state) develops, aspects of which are perceived (by one and others) as a maladaptive dysregulation (dis-order, impairment) of a “normal” (typical, expected) or desired way…
In the society, one’s being is viewed from at least three perspectives: (i) subjective – how one experiences and represents oneself; (ii) interpersonal – how one is represented in the experience of others and (iii) public – how one is represented in and marked by the official public records, including…
Prototypical configurations of the four registers correspond to unique patterns (styles) of being and experiencing (representing) oneself and others (“identity”, “personality”) . For instance: The six prototypical [Lxxx] configurations (LBEP, LBPE, LEBP, LEPB, LPBE, LPEB) correspond to a style (pattern) focused on location, including (i) tangible proximal events (entities, things)…
Codes of uniqueness and representation The four registers of UNIQUENESS – LOCATION, BODY, EXPERIENCE and PERSON anchor and contextualize being and being human in a “reality” of what it means to “exist”, both in each moment of “here and now” and throughout the space-time (of the post Big Bang…
‘Disorders of personality” “Personality” is a neurocognitive aspect of UNIQUENESS. It underlies and regulates unique features of one’s biophysicality, cognitions, emotionality and behavior across multiple contexts and locations. “Personality Disorder” is an epigenetic neurocognitive dysregulation of personality endophenotype manifested in discrete configurations (syndromes) of phenotypic signs and experienced symptoms…
Psychopathology is (i) an expression and (ii) a study of maladaptive dysregulation (dis-order, impairment) of one’s BODY (biophysical functions, appearance, behavior) and EXPERIENCE (sensations, affects, awareness, ideation), in a PERSON among others, across multiple LOCATIONs. It is (i) subjectively experienced and represented in one’s consciousness as symptoms; (ii) observed and…
The world is the totality of facts, not of things. (L. Wittgenstein) Tractatus notwithstanding, reality (world) is neither things nor facts but rather the totality of events and relations. Event is any change in the physical world. Relation is how events interact. Three types of events are pertinent to the…
The PERSON is how one “exists”, outside of one’s body, in the consciousness of others. It is the totality of markers (names, labels, signifiers, attributes, descriptors, signs) used to refer (point) to, denote and describe a particular individual and her / his life. It is how one is (i) recognized,…
LOCATION is a progression of points in space-time marked by a trajectory of its coordinates. It is a spatiotemporal representation (memory, map, record) of all specific locations of one’s body since its conception to the present moment. Human beings have evolved to experience and construe LOCATION relative to the surface…
Sum, ergo cogito.
In reversing Descartes’ dictum we acknowledge that, in most respects, it is being (existing) that makes experience (cognition) possible.
I am therefore I experience.
Uniqueness is a fundamental constitutive attribute of being and being human. Beings and things (objects) “exist” and manifest as such to the extent they are distinct and different in relation to each other. Uniqueness is, essentially, about (the question of) how one “is” as a human being among others.
Buddhism liberates, offers a glimpse into the absolute, a sense of transcendence in the realization of fundamental emptiness, realization of the emptiness of the present moment, the emptiness of existence and mind, psychotherapy gives one skills to unlock the mind, to diagnose the symptoms, unearth their causes and to heal them.
Psychology, psychoanalysis and Buddhism are three distinct and yet inextricably interwoven traditions, each of them defined by their unique endeavor to grasp the nature of the mind, to alleviate human suffering and to enhance capacity for wellbeing, happiness, generativity, love and compassion.
(…..Waiting for American Dogen ) Buddhas usually appear as “this very moment”, however perceived or defined. Being always “just that…..” Buddhas may or may not be perceived as Buddhas by others, nevertheless, they always continue being Buddhas just as they are. However, since the “as they are” is inherently empty…