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"Neuroscience: A New Direction for Solution-Focused Thinkers?"

2012-01-23T21:22:15-07:00

For those interested in Solution-Focused practices, this article may be thought-provoking.

Abstract:

The development of highly sophisticated imaging techniques in the past 20 years has made it possible for neuroscientists to study the brain like never before. The resulting findings, particularly about emotions, are challenging psychotherapists of all orientations to reevaluate their theories and practices. These considerations are a particularly daunting task for therapists whose work reflects the post-modern denial of objective reality, like that of Solution-Focused therapists. In this article, the authors have juxtaposed solution-focused theory and practice with some key neuroscientific ideas in order to explore fit and incompatibility. Possible benefits for Solution-Focused practice are discussed.

Excerpt from Conclusion:

Neuroscientists work in a domain in which the human body is a material reality. SF therapists work in a domain in which reality is a subjective experience constructed through language. It is difficult in this moment in time to imagine a theoretical integration of these very different domains. ...

SF therapists considers problems as subjective realities and believe that people have inherent resources to find solutions to these perceived problems. In this paper, we have explored some neuroscientific findings that suggest that the most evolved living systems (human beings) have mechanisms that allow for subjective realities and continuing change. When SF therapists say that

change occurs through language they mean verbal and nonverbal language. Verbal language is cognitively based; nonverbal language is usually out of awareness and ex- pressed through the body. Problems are subjective realities that are experienced cognitively and physically. Therefore, psychotherapy can be conceived of as helping clients both cognitively and physically. ...

...

The project we are engaged in continues to raise more questions than to provide answers. The most obvious question is what is to be gained by even thinking about this integration? Is it more than an exercise of translating the language of different domains? What about the boundaries of SF therapy? If neuroscientific findings were to be integrated into SFT, would it still be SFT? How would this affect therapists’ training? How can therapists reconcile more concrete concepts with subjective ones? Will neuroscientific information represent a step in the evolution of psychotherapy in general, or simply confirm existing ones, particularly pychodynamic therapy? Time and continuing research in neuroscience and psychotherapy will undoubtedly answer some of these questions at the same time that they may raise new ones. Some questions may never be answered, or just continue to confirm that the therapeutic relationship, rather than any methodol- ogy, makes the biggest difference (Lambert,1992). Be that as it may, we shall continue our project rather than accept that what we are presently doing is the best we can do for our clients.

Click to purchase "Neuroscience: A New Direction for Solution-Focused Thinkers?" (Journal of Systemic Therapies).

Guru of conflict coaching will be giving 4-day seminar in Colorado

2012-01-20T21:41:52-07:00

Cinnie Noble will be offering her Conflict Management Coaching Workshop on July 11-14 at University of Colorado at Boulder. From the flyer:

Conflict management coaching, also known as conflict coaching, is a specialized niche in the field of coaching and conflict management. It is a one-on-one technique, in which a trained coach assists people to effectively prevent or manage specific disputes and to enhance their conflict management skills. This process has wide application, in the organizational context and for coaching individuals to participate in mediation, negotiation and relational conflict.

Outcomes of the Conflict Management Coaching Workshop:

The outcomes of this workshop are that participants will gain:

the theory, principles and methods specific to delivering the CINERGY® model of conflict management coaching;
an introduction to and basic working knowledge of conflict management coaching using the CINERGY® model;
an understanding of the types of skills required to provide conflict management coaching;
experience of the coaching model as a coach, ‘client’ and observer;
ideas for the applications of this technique; an
suggested documents and information about the logistics of conflict management coaching.

Click to read the rest. Click for the registration form.

Here's a class I'd like to take! Law and Literature

2012-01-15T09:29:10-07:00

If only I could go back to college; my focus would be much different and my appreciation for the experience would be much greater. Today seeing the reading list for Law and Literature, being taught by Tyler Cowen (his TED video about storytelling has been very popular), made me want to return immediately to the role of student in the classroom.

Click to take a look at the reading list. An excerpt

The New English Bible
Oxford Study Edition Billy Budd and Other Tales, by Hermann Melville
The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka
In the Belly of the Beast, by Jack Henry Abbott
Borges and the Eternal Orangutans, by Fernando Verrissimo
Glaspell’s Trifles, available on-line
Sherlock Holmes, The Complete Novels and Stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, volume 1
I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov.
"John Keats's Attitude to Lawyers"

See why I am drawn to this class?

47 new studies in the January edition of MINDFULNESS RESEARCH MONTHLY

2012-01-11T13:47:54-07:00

From the current edition of the monthly newsletter:

In this issue

47 new studies including:

21 Intervention & Application studies

8 Etiology & Association studies

7 Theory & Processes studies

5 Review & Meta-analysis studies

6 Method & Measures studies

Also...

3 Clinical Trials

Another nail in the coffin of eyewitness testimony? At least reasons for more caution when using it?

2012-01-11T08:29:50-07:00

From "Your memory of events is distorted within seconds" (BPS Research Digest):

Memory isn't etched in neural stone. It's a creative process, sketched in sand. In one of the most dramatic demonstrations of this yet, Brent Strickland and Frank Keil have shown how people's memory for a video clip was distorted within seconds, to form a coherent episode "package". ...

...

The researchers said their findings have obvious implications for crime scene witnesses. Imagine a witness sees a man wielding a gun, and imagine seconds later they also see a person nearby falling from a gunshot wound - these new results show how easily the mind of the witness could invent a memory of having seen the moment the trigger was actually pulled. "In some circumstances," the researchers said, "conceptual packaging can induce the perceiver to insert unseen information in order to fulfil structural requirements. This was the case in the present study."

Click to read the rest.

Quick thoughts from US District Court Judge John L. Kane on the future of lawyers, law schools, the courts

2012-01-11T07:36:37-07:00

After sending Judge Kane a link to "Federal Judge Says Law Schools Need To Change" (CityTownInfo.com), I received this e-mail from him:

Law schools do need to change ---so does the profession, if nothing else by ending the billable hour---- and so do the courts, if nothing else by throwing out the present rules of procedure and coming up with an entirely new paradigm.

I don't think any of these changes will happen. What I think will happen is that legal education and the law as we know it will vanish as they become increasingly irrelevant. The Age of Administration is already here.

The universities have been ruined by the shift to administrators; the courts and lawyers continue to price themselves out of the market.

----But then, I'm an optimist. Imagine the whole system as a replication of the airline industry.

Posted with his permission, of course.

The "we" of leadership: If led this way, people will continue to act in a given direction even if the leader is absent

2012-01-10T22:27:21-07:00

Leadership is not my favorite topic in books, but I recommend a book I have been reading this week. It appeals to me because it stresses the "we" of leadership rather than identifying the traits of the "I" leader. Here's a short excerpt from The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power (Psychology Press):

[L]eadership is not about brute force, raw power, or “incentivization.” Indeed we suggest that such things are indicators and consequences of the failure of leadership. True, they can be used to affect the behavior of others. If you threaten dire punishment for disobedience and then instruct others to march off towards a particular destination, they will probably do so. Equally, if you offer them great inducements for obedience, they will probably do the same. But in either of these cases it is most unlikely that they will be truly influenced in the sense that they come to see the mission as their own. If anything, the opposite will be true. That is, they are likely to reject the imposed mission precisely because they see it as externally imposed. So, take away the stick—or the carrot—and people are liable to stop marching, or even to march off in the opposite direction in order to assert their independence. Not only do you have to expend considerable resources in order to secure compliance, but, over time, you have to devote ever-increasing resources in order to maintain that compliance.

In contrast, if one can inspire people to want to travel in a given direction, then they will continue to act even in the absence of the leader. If one is seen as articulating what people want to

do, then each act of persuasion increases the credibility of the leader and makes future persuasion both more likely and easier to achieve. In other words, instead of being self-depleting, true leadership is self-regenerating. And it is this remarkable—almost alchemic—quality that makes the topic of leadership so fascinating and so important.

...

[T]he structure of our argument can be summarized in terms of the following four principles:

First, we argue that leaders must be seen as “one of us.” That is, they have to be perceived by followers as representing the position that best distinguishes our in-group from other out-groups. ...
Second, we argue that leaders must be seen to “do it for us.” Their actions must advance the interests of the in-group. ...
Third, we argue that leaders must “craft a sense of us.” What this means is that they don’t simply work within the constraints of the pre-existing identities that are handed down to them by others. ... Good leaders need to be skilled entrepreneurs of identity.
Fourth, we argue that leaders must “make us matter.” The point of leadership is not simply to express what the group thinks.

Click to read the Preface from which that excerpt came [pdf].

A fun list on how to be more interesting (with some serious advice)

2012-01-10T10:57:03-07:00

I like this list! How about you? From "How To Be More Interesting (In 10 Simple Steps)" (Forbes.com):

1.Go exploring.
Explore ideas, places, and opinions. The inside of the echo chamber is where all the boring people hang out.

2. Share what you discover.
And be generous when you do. Not everybody went exploring with you. Let them live vicariously through your adventures.

Click to read the rest.

Cartoon Counsel: Try this for improving your ability to hold various points of view in conflict, making a decision, or puzzling out a problem

2012-01-09T09:12:08-07:00

I learned several valuable exercises from the late Harry Sloan when I took from him a 10-day course in psychosynthesis. (The 10 days were a part of a two-year intensive I took in mediation from Gary Friedman.) For those of you not acquainted with psychosynthesis, I highly recommend the book What We May Be; or books by Roberto Assagioli, founder of psychosynthesis: The Act of Will and Psychosynthesis. (For other books on psychosynthesis, see below; click for past posts related to psychosynthesis here, here, and here.)

One of the exercises learned from Harry which I will describe in a minute may seem simple, silly, and maybe not worth your time. That was my first reaction until I participated; our group spent a half day digging into this process! You don't need to spend hours, but I think you might benefit with even a few minutes. Since learning it in the '80s, I have used the cartoon process a number of times over the years, both myself and in workshops.

As explained below, this process (and the whole of psychosynthesis) can help conflict professionals to feel at ease with ambiguity and contradictory points of view. (That is, of course, one of the main reasons we took 10 days of psychosynthesis in our mediation intensive.)

Below is the process as I recall it from memory and my notes, and is probably just a bit different from how Harry presented it.

Here are each of the steps of the Cartoon Counsel process—my name, I can't recall what Harry called this exercise. (As you will see, it could also be spelled Cartoon Council.)

In preparation, for a week or more, collect cartoons that you find especially funny. Choose one of
your cartoons and apply this process to it. (If you want to try it out right away, find a cartoon you find especially amusing, and then collect others as time passes.)
As an example to help explain the steps, I will use a Far Side cartoon. In it, six clowns are sitting on couches facing each other. One clown is smiling and saying, “Gee, am I the only one here who’s laughing on the outside and the inside?” The other clowns are looking at him with serious expressions. The caption under the cartoon reads: "Clown Therapy Sessions."

I will illustrate some of the steps with responses of a hypothetical person I'll call Ruby to show how it is done.

A. Step into the cartoon and identify with a central focus.

Ruby identified with the smiling clown who has spoken. As him, she said, "I am feeling a little weird here. I seem to be different. The others are not even smiling. It is five against one. Maybe I don’t belong in this group."

B. Step into the cartoon again and identify with another aspect of the cartoon which is antithetical to the first.

All the clowns are antithetical to the first so Ruby chose one she found extremely serious and who looks most disapproving. As him, she said to the first clown, "What is your problem, Buster? We are here with awful problems to discuss and all you can say is you are smiling on both the inside and the outside? That is not a problem, you joker. Are you making fun of us? Get that smile off your face. Unless you have a dreadful problem, leave us now."

Note: The aspects do not have to talk with each other if talking does not seem to fit with your two. You can identify with each in whatever way seems most fitting or comfortable.

C. Bring attention back to the first aspect.

"I think my smile is gone now. You guys don’t have to be so mean. I wouldn't be here if I didn’t feel I had a problem. Whenever I am around you clowns, I feel as if I am different and that hurts."

D. Attention to the second aspect.

"See you are now more like us. That is good. We would not want to share with someone who was telling us how different she was, how happy. Especially not someone who smiles! Happiness is quite unusual and I doubt that you really are. How do you know you are happy? What does it feel like anyway?"

E. Continue on with the dialogue between the two aspects for several minutes.

Note: I recommend that you write your dialogue down.

F. What issue in your life is being discussed by the dialoging aspects? This is going to be one of the reasons you found the cartoon funny.

An issue Ruby has often dealt with is feeling the focus of scrutiny and that she was being judged for being different from those doing the judging.

G. How do you experience yourself in that issue?

She had gotten much stronger and more able to catch herself when feeling judged, but it was still something that could be triggered in the right circumstances.

H. Who or what in your environment puts you into the issue.

Note: I think you can follow the rest of the instructions without need of further example. They are easy to understand.

I. Assume the issue will never change. How does that make you feel?

J. Focus on that voice that reinforces this assumption that the issue will never change. What does it say?

K. Become that voice and say more.

L. If you buy what that voice has to say, where does that leave you?

M. Imagine how the two aspects might help you change the issue.

Kay Brownfield mentioned this exercise in her tribute to Harry, written after he died at the age of 47, much too young to leave. She wrote:

He had the best collection of insightful, funny cartoons I have ever seen, and they provided the foundational piece to his teaching about subpersonalities. He taught us to tolerate, even welcome, "two antithetical thoughts or feelings in the same moment without creating closure," thus helping us learn how to tolerate dissonance-as a practice.

I was reminded of Cartoon Counsel when reading the new book Understanding Language through Humor. An excerpt:

[I]n our interpretations of jokes, cartoons, and comedic bits, we often assume that laughter springs from incongruity (or from similar notions such as ambiguity or contradiction): in other words, a joke (or cartoon or comedic bit) typically combines two or more incongruous meanings into a single sound, word, expression, or situation.

Click to read more of an excerpt from the book.

One of the most useful benefits psychosynthesis provides conflict professionals is enhanced ability to sit with seemingly contradictory points of view, either within oneself or between the parties to a dispute. Cartoon Counsel can help those professionals to achieve higher comfort and facility with that ambiguity and contradiction. When I have presented this exercise to mediators, I have each time been astounded by its richness. Let me know your experience with your cartoon(s)!

Note: Two more books that I recommend on psychosynthesis are

A Psychotherapy of Love: Psychosynthesis in Practice - (Don't let what could seem a sentimental title dissuade you from giving it a read)

Unfolding Self: The Practice of Psychosynthesis

Another attorney who turned to writing for her life after law

2012-01-08T09:34:19-07:00

Susan Cain's forthcoming book shows some signs of being a hit. It is ranked high on Amazon before it has been released (approaching the top 100 today), and, in my little part of the world, there is a long waiting list for it at Denver Public Library.

From her bio page:

Before I became a writer, I practiced corporate law for seven years, representing clients like JP Morgan and General Electric, and then worked as a negotiations consultant, training all kinds of people, from hedge fund managers to TV producers to college students negotiating their first salaries. My clients have included Merrill Lynch, Shearman & Sterling, One Hundred Women in Hedge Funds, and many more. I went to Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

From all this you might guess that I’m a hardcore, wonderfully self-confident, pound-the-table kind of person, when in fact I’m just the opposite. ...

The book is titled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. From early indications, one might guess there are lots of introverts out there, and they like to read!

I wish Cain all success with her writing life after law.

Click to read other stories of life after law.

Interview with Jason Meek about mindfulness in the teaching of law

2012-01-05T21:21:29-07:00

Click to listen to Scott Rogers of the Institute for Mindfulness Studies interviewing Jason Meek who teaches law at UC Hastings Law and at Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt Hall).

If you are interested in the contemplative approach to both teaching and practicing law, I recommend that you listen to what Meek says. He talks about his own story, how he teaches, and recommended resources and practices. He also discusses challenges experienced by the students in balancing competition and contemplation.

Bonus: Click to read a different interview of Meek in the The Mindful Law Professor.

Note: It was pleasing to me to hear him acknowledge Gary Friedman for the value Gary provided to Jason's path of mindfulness in the law. He found particularly helpful Gary's ability to integrate his personal and professional self. As I've several times mentioned here, I was fortunate to take a two-year intensive in mediation with Gary, and will always be grateful for what I learned from him.

A leader is more than an action hero, more than a pretty face: Let's move away from facelift leadership

2012-01-05T12:20:03-07:00

In his classic book Psycho-Cybernetics, plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz wrote that many of his patients were not helped by his surgery because what was getting in their way of happiness was "more than skin deep."

It was as if personality itself had a "face." . . . If it remained scarred, distorted, "ugly," or inferior, the person himself acted out this role in his behavior regardless of the changes in physcial appearance. If this "face of personality" could be reconstructed, if old emotional scars could be removed; then the person himself changed, even without facial plastic surgery. Once I began to explore this area, I found more and more phenomena which confirmed the fact that ‘self-image’, the individual’s mental and spiritual picture of himself, is the real key to personality and behavior. ...

Dr. Maltz explained why he changed his professional direction.

These observations led me into a new career. ...I became convinced that the people who consult a plastic surgeon need more than surgery and that some of them do not need

surgery at all. If I were to treat these people as patients, as a whole person rather than as merely a nose, ear, mouth, arm or leg, I needed to be in a position to give them something more. I needed to be able to show them how to obtain a spiritual face lift, how to remove emotional scars, how to change their attitudes and thoughts as well as their physical appearance.

This plastic surgeon developed a method of working with people's thoughts and attitudes, and then wrote a book that's sold millions of copies and been in print for decades.

For a couple of years, I have been thinking about how many of us (myself included) live at the level of facelifts. Odd as it may seem, I first applied the facelift concept when talking about why I wrote my book on designing funerals. When describing funerals that did not satisfy, that were cookie-cutter, that missed the essence of the deceased, I coined the term "facelift funerals." (Click to watch a short interview of me about that kind of funeral at The Family Plot.)

In a review of the literature on the development of leaders, I realized that the adjective "facelift" could also be applied to leadership. In fact, one of several reasons I am critical of many books and articles about leadership is that they focus on leadership at the level of facelift. They are surface, focused on the wrong goals, and ultimately useless.

Television and movies play a part in facelift living, facelift leadership. Just as television can (and often does) give law students a woefully inaccurate idea of the day-to-day life of a lawyer, so do the media give budding leaders a skewed and unhelpful notion of the role of a true leader. Just like the articles and books I mention above, the media often portray and promote facelift leadership.

At the blog of IEDP (International Executive Development Programs), Roderick Millar writes about the media abetting a skewed idea of leadership. From "The Sherlock Holmes Approach to Problem Solving":

The lesson that is of interest to us here though, is that what makes good cinema - and takes us away from the rather more frustratingly paced progress of real life - is the reverse of good management and particularly good leadership. We want to follow leaders that we can trust - this is well documented as a key facet of good leadership and nine times out of ten, probably ninety-nine times out of one hundred, we trust leaders that do not shake up the world for no reason other than to aggrandise themselves. ...

Millar blogs that the version of Sherlock Holmes in the new Holmes movie is not true to the books.

[Director Guy] Ritchie's trademark approach to films is based around violence and gang culture - but Holmes was very much the antithesis of this. What makes the deer-stalker and cape wearer so interesting is that he solves his cases by identifying the clues and piecing the jigsaw together as a cerebral not a muscular task.

Sherlock Holmes was not a facelift detective.

While we may not want to go and watch this style of movie - it is regrettable that a great reflective role-model is being morphed into another action-hero so shifting the balance yet further away from the leadership styles we need.

Of course, the contemplative role model, the mindful detective, even the self-aware leader, would not make for good box office or headlines. So we get the more brash, adrenaline-propelled, muscular-instead-of-mindful characters starring on our screens and in our news. The media typically give us facelift leadership. Instead of the soul, we get the surface.

Where do we go to find role models with a Holmesian nature? Role models who are thought heroes? Role models with deeper-than-skin character? Your thoughts?

Note (added January 19, 2012): Here's a related article about the negative response some may have to older people trying to look younger: "Act Your Age" (Association for Psychological Science). They may see it as deceit. This sensing of deceit, of inauthenticity, are likely responses from followers of a facelift leader, too.

3 articles on meditation from academic publications

2012-01-03T17:54:38-07:00

In June, Upaya is offering "ZEN BRAIN - Emotions, Equanimity, and the Embodied Mind" (click to learn more). As preparation for the seminar, three articles are recommended. All of them are downloadable at the seminar Web page:

"Mental training as a tool in the neuroscientific study of brain and cognitive plasticity"

"Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise"

"Meditation, Mindfulness, Cognition, and Emotion: Implications for Community-Based Older Adult Programs"

Here's an excellent opportunity if you are interested in psychosynthesis

2012-01-02T10:25:25-07:00

If you are a mediator or other conflict resolution professional, a coach, a lawyer, a therapist, or someone seeking increased personal self-awareness, I strongly recommend that you learn more about psychosynthesis. I took a refresher course in it this year and was reminded of its value.

In fact, I typically refer people to professionals who know and use psychosynthesis in their practices (or who use related approaches, such as Bonnie Badenoch's aligned methods).

Here's a way to learn more about psychosynthesis and more particularly study a book (on my top ten list of best books I've ever read) that can increase your self-knowledge and ability to facilitiate effective change—in yourself and others.

And at no cost! From the announcement:

The beginning of the year, when so many of us make New Year's resolutions, is a very good time to read The Act of Will. Most people have had the experience of making resolutions and then not carrying them out. Then we complain about not having enough will power. If you have had this happen in your life, perhaps you would like to engage in the upcoming "Book Study Plus."

We will read Roberto Assagioli's The Act of Will, over a period of 10 weeks, followed by an 11th week of summing up and evaluation. We will discuss the book, dialog about it, and also choose and carry out a "real-life application" of what we learned (that's the 'Plus'). Book Study Plus begins on January 24, 2012. ...

Click to read the rest. Email Carla Peterson for more information. The time the calls will be held is 11 AM Pacific, noon Mountain, et cetera.

Note: I have a growing list of people in the Denver area who are interested in a study group focused on how psychosynthesis applies to conflict resolution. Email me if you are interested.