Mental fragmentation is the thesis that the mind is fragmented, or compartmentalized. Roughly, this means that an agent's overall belief state is divided into several sub-states-fragments. These fragments need not make for a consistent and deductively closed belief system. The thesis of mental fragmentation became popular through the work of philosophers like Christopher Cherniak, David Lewis, and Robert Stalnaker in the 1980s, and has recently attracted increased attention. This volume is the first collection of essays devoted to the topic of mental fragmentation. It features important new contributions by leading experts in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and philosophy of language. Opening with an accessible introduction providing a systematic overview of the current debate, the fourteen essays cover a wide range of issues: foundational issues and motivations for fragmentation, the rationality or irrationality of fragmentation, fragmentation's role in language, the relationship between fragmentation and mental files, and the implications of fragmentation for the analysis of implicit attitudes.
Science journalist John Horgan presents a radical new perspective on the mind-body problem and related issues such as consciousness, free will, morality and the meaning of life. Horgan argues that science will never discover an objectively true solution to the mind-body problem because such a solution does not exist. Horgan explores his thesis by delving into the professional and personal lives of nine mind-body experts, including neuroscientist Christof Koch, cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter, child psychologist Alison Gopnik, complexologist Stuart Kauffman, legal scholar and psychoanalyst Elyn Saks, philosopher Owen Flanagan, novelist Rebecca Goldstein, evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, and economist Deirdre McCloskey.
The Fragmented Personality introduces a new model for diagnosing and caring for patients with personality disorder. This book reviews in detail the neuroscience of brain and mind development, including the neuroscience of psychoanalytic concepts, both for normal and disordered personalities. In contrast to the current static classifications of personality pathology, the authors' approach yields a dynamic and personalized diagnosis within a 3D diagnostic space in which each individual is uniquely positioned. In this model, two intersecting dimensions, one vertical, representing the person's qualitative level of mental functioning (the "how" of personality), and the other horizontal, representing his or her adaptive style (the "what" of personality) are cross matched in the unit of time. Such dynamic nosology is inherently sensitive to fluctuations in mental functioning over time and context, and gives the clinician precise milestones for monitoring progress in therapy. In this book, the authors analyze the impact of social transitions on adaptive tasks, personality and psychopathology. They argue that the conservative society, with strict socio-religious norms, favored the psychopathology of neuroses centered around guilt, including guilt for not fitting the preapproved norms. With the postmodern liberalization of normative pressures, the adaptive task has changed from "how to fit" into "what to choose" among many accepted alternatives, creating uncertainty of identity. This uncertainty, together with the non-directive society, favors the psychopathology of personality disorder, and indeed, the prevalence of personality disorder has increased in the postmodern period. Drs. Svrakic and Divac-Jovanovic argue that fragmented personality, a deep and early fragmentation of the mind at its nonconscious core of internalized object relations, represents a common denominator shared by all clinical variants of personality disorder. They conceptualize personality disorder as a homeostatic attempt by the fragmented early mind to heal itself by self-organizing into an unrealistic and fantasized but a more stable self-image, figuratively a "better any than no organization" strategy. In this invaluable text, the authors provide detailed practical guidelines for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment of individuals with personality disorder and answer practical questions that clinicians frequently ask about etiology, psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy of the syndrome.
From Mariano Azuela's 1915 novel Los de abajo to Rosamaría Roffiel's Amora of 1989, fragmented narrative has been one of the defining features of innovative Mexican fiction in the twentieth century. In this innovative study, Carol Clark D'Lugo examines fragmentation as a literary strategy that reflects the social and political fissures within modern Mexican society and introduces readers to a more participatory reading of texts. D'Lugo traces defining moments in the development of Mexican fiction and the role fragmentation plays in each. Some of the topics she covers are nationalist literature of the 1930s and 1940s, self-referential novels of the 1950s that focus on the process of reading and writing, the works of Carlos Fuentes, novels of La Onda that came out of rebellious 1960s Mexican youth culture, gay and lesbian fiction, and recent women's writings. With its sophisticated theoretical methodology that encompasses literature and society, this book serves as an admirable survey of the twentieth-century Mexican novel. It will be important reading for students of Latin American culture and history as well as literature.
Written by professionals of multidisciplinary backgrounds, this book provides stimulating and though-provoking evidence-based research across a comprehensive range of topics, from problems of cultural sensitivity and resilience to the use of cognitive behavioural therapy and the prevention of secondary trauma among carers and healthcare providers.
Fragmented, dissociated consciousness can characterize the mind in both wake and sleep states. Dissociative symptoms, during sleep, include vivid dreaming, nightmares, and alterations in objective sleep parameters (e.g., lengthening of REM sleep). During waking hours, dissociative symptoms exhibit disparate characteristics encompassing memory problems, excessive daydreaming, absentmindedness, and impairments and discontinuities in perceptions of the self, identity, and the environment. Llewellyn has theorized that a progressive and enduring de-differentiation of wake and dream states of consciousness eventually results in schizophrenia; a lesser degree of de-differentiation may have implications for dissociative symptoms. Against a background of de-differentiation between the dream and wake states, the papers in this volume link consciousness, memory, and mental illness with a special interest for dissociative symptoms.
In his acclaimed columns in the London Times and Prospect, A. C. Grayling often responds to provocative questions posed by editors and readers. These questions serve as the basis for the essays in Thinking of Answers, among them searching examinations of the following: - Are human beings especially prone to self-deception? - If beauty existed only in the eye of the beholder, would that make it an unimportant quality? - Are human rights political? - Can ethics be derived from evolution by natural selection? - If both sides in a conflict passionately believe theirs is a just cause, does this mean the idea of justice is empty? - Does being happy make us good? And does being good make us happy? As in his previous books on philosophy for the general public, including Meditations for the Humanist and Life, Sex and Ideas, rather than presenting a set of categorical answers, Grayling offers suggestions for how to think about every aspect of the question at hand and arrive at one's own conclusion. Nobody can read Thinking of Answers without being fully engaged, for Grayling challenges with his intellect and inspires with his humanity.
From page to page the attentive reader will not escape a stir of one‟s inner essence regarding the fundamental issues of life. He opens the lid to life‟s essentials, inviting thorough considerations to the origin of the universe, the potential vested in each human life and the bubble of the evolution theory and so-called science. This discourse is for those searching for answers and inspiration. It will call the frivolous soul to attention and demand duty from its bearers. It‟s a wakeup call to the slothful and a harsh reminder to the proud. But it‟s more than that; this book identifies with all who are poised to accomplish their dreams. It unleashes a strong sense of purpose that would resurrect lost aspirations and ignite flames of achievement and eternal outcomes. The issues raised demand your thorough attention if you will profit from the wisdom shared. They are instructive to the thinking mind. This book is a treasure field. But it must be mined. So while you read, heed the urge to purposefully pause, reflect, and precipitate the cogitations of your mind. It will do you eternal good.
Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors integrates a neurobiologically informed understanding of trauma, dissociation, and attachment with a practical approach to treatment, all communicated in straightforward language accessible to both client and therapist. Readers will be exposed to a model that emphasizes "resolution"—a transformation in the relationship to one’s self, replacing shame, self-loathing, and assumptions of guilt with compassionate acceptance. Its unique interventions have been adapted from a number of cutting-edge therapeutic approaches, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness-based therapies, and clinical hypnosis. Readers will close the pages of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors with a solid grasp of therapeutic approaches to traumatic attachment, working with undiagnosed dissociative symptoms and disorders, integrating "right brain-to-right brain" treatment methods, and much more. Most of all, they will come away with tools for helping clients create an internal sense of safety and compassionate connection to even their most dis-owned selves.
