The Self-Healing Mind

Brian J. McVeigh has an MA in anthropology, an MS in counseling, and a PhD in anthropology. He is a licensed mental health counselor in private practice and a scholar of Japan and China where he lived and taught for 16 years. For ten years he taught in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. The author of 16 books, he has an interest in how humans adapt, both through history and therapeutically. His current projects include The Psychology of Ancient Egypt: Reconstructing a Lost Mentality.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsNotes to readerPrologue: Searching for the Active Ingredients of the Self-Healing Mind PART 1: The Adaptive Mind, Consciousness, and Implications for TherapyChapter 1: Purposes and Premises: The Therapeutic Properties of SubjectivityChapter 2: What is Consciousness? Clarifying the Stuff of Mind PART 2: The Benefits and Costs of Conscious InteriorityChapter 3: The Advantages of Conscious InteriorityChapter 4: Runaway Consciousness: The Price of Scaled-up CognitionChapter 5: A Brief History of the Interiorization of Psychotherapy PART 3: The Meaning of Mental Health and How the Psyche AdjustsChapter 6: Treating Mental Illness and Facilitating Mental WellbeingChapter 7: The Nature of Self: Systemized, Serialized, DramatizedChapter 8: The Self-Organizing Mind: Rhythms, Routines, Rituals PART 4: Applications, Approaches, and InterventionsChapter 9: Using Conscious Interiority as a Therapeutic ToolChapter 10: Key Therapeutic Skills and Conscious InteriorityChapter 11: Groups and Families as Therapeutic SystemsChapter 12: Emotions and Conscious InteriorityChapter 13: Hypnosis and Meditation: Suspending and Modulating Conscious InteriorityChapter 14: Human Diversity, Social Adaptation, and Psychotherapy Epilogue: Final Thoughts AppendicesA: Synopsis of Positive PsychologyB: Synopsis of Common FactorsC: The Historical Birth of Conscious InteriorityD: What Conscious Interiority is NotE: Psyche-Biological Hardware or Cultural Software?F: Examples of Metaphoric CreativityG: Five Perspectives on Conscious Interiority: A SummaryH: Developmental Stages of the Lifespan and FOCI Glossary: A Jaynesian Therapeutic Perspective on Techniques and InterventionsReferencesIndexAbout the author

This book provides a refreshing, insightful view of the role of the mind in the therapeutic process. The author introduces readers to the concept of conscious interiority and describes ways to utilize the mind's ability to reformat itself...The book is intended for counseling students, counseling supervisors, supervisees, and counselor educators.