About the Book
Therapists must rely on their clients' reporting of experience in order to assess, treat, and offer help. Yet we all experience the world through various filters of one sort or another, and our experiences are transformed through several nonconscious processes before reaching our conscious awareness. Science, philosophy, and wisdom traditions share the belief that our awareness is very restricted. How, then, can anyone accurately report their experience, let alone get help with it?
Neuropsychologist Aldrich Chan examines how our experience of reality is assembled and shaped by biological, psychological, sociocultural, and existential processes. Each chapter explores processes within these domains that may act as "veils." Topics in the book include: the default mode network, cognitive distortions, decision-making heuristics, the interconnected mind, memory, and cultural concepts of distress. By understanding the ways in which reality can be distorted, clinicians can more effectively help their clients reach their personal psychotherapeutic goals.
About the Author :
Aldrich Chan, PSYD, is a clinical neuropsychologist and founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness (CNC), a practice in Miami, Florida that provides neuropsychological and psychological services. He is an Adjunct Professor for Pepperdine University and conducts research on the default mode network and trauma at the University of Miami. He has publications on topics including Alzheimer’s disease, memory, imagination, mindfulness, play, and creativity.
Review :
A long overdue book outlining the importance of deeply understanding and incorporating our patient's total experiences with their world. It is absolutely in the best Kurt Lewin tradition; unraveling the intricacies of bi-directional person-environment interactions so fundamental to effectively helping people coming to us for therapy.--Barry Nierenberg, PhD, ABPP, Past President, APA Division of Rehabilitation Psychology, Board Certified, Rehabilitation Psychology, Professor, College of Psychology, Nova Southeastern University
Aldrich Chan has taken an incredibly complex set of topics and distilled them into an easily readable text. It is at once practical and theoretical, leading the reader to both understand the topics through relevant examples and envision how these models could impact future neuroscience and behavioral research. It is an enjoyable and thought-provoking read for anyone trying to better understand what drives human behavior.--Kenneth D. Hartline, PsyD, ABPP-CN, Board Certified Clinical Neuropsychologist, Los Angeles, CA
This outstanding book explores the ways that our perceptions of our own reality are colored by our personal experiences and the 'veils' of our minds. Dr. Chan is an expert in the default mode network, and as an erudite and versatile neuropsychologist provides a concise overview of contributions by major philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists on how the mind, consciousness, and brain work together.--Carolyn Drazinic, MD, PhD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, Florida State Mental Health Hospitals; Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences, Florida State University;
Where is our self? What is its existence? How is it related to the world? Can we provide therapy to the self? These are the questions that this book addresses. It does so in a novel and highly innovative way... Chan does remarkable work in unraveling a deeper layer of our self and its existence... A wonderful book that opens the deeper layers of our existence and provides novel inspiration for better psychotherapy.--Georg Northoff, MD, PhD, University of Ottawa, author of Neurophilosophy and the Healthy Mind and The Spontaneous Brain
[E]xpertly written, organized and presented study of meticulous and detailed scholarship, making it an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to professional, college and university library Clinical Psychology collections in general, and Cognitive Neuroscience/Neuropathology supplemental curriculum lists in particular.
-- "Midwest Book Review"
