Dr. Siegel's "Mindsight", a Non-Jungian Presentation of a Very Jungian Concept

I've been reading Mindsight (2010) by Dr. Daniel Siegel, a psychiatrist at UCLA. After seeing him speak at the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference last December, during which I could barely sit in my seat listening to him talk, I have been awaiting the release of this new book. Upon reading, my suspicians are further confirmed: He's a Jungian and he doesn't even know it!

According to Dr. Siegel, "Mindsight is the ability to see the internal world, to notice what is going on inside of yourself, and inside of other people."

This new concept which he presents in his book offers a way to support healing mental illness. Dr. Siegel suggests that all mental illness can be seen as categorized as either problems of Rigidity or of Chaos (p. 67), whereas mental health would look like Integration (p. 69). Dr. Siegel's definition of terms seem to state that integration is the goal result of using the tools of mindsight.

The presentation of his ideas is strongly correlated with the Jungian concept of the ego-Self axis, the active link between the ego -- the conscious aspect of ourselves with which we navigate the world -- and the Self -- the imaginal, physical, sensory, spiritual, relational everything else in which we live. Like Dr. Siegel's suggestion that all mental illness can be seen as either too much rigidity or too much chaos, Jungian psychology holds that the strength of the ego-Self relationship indicates either Alienation or Inflation, too much distance from Self or too much immersion in it. What is necessary, like Dr. Siegel's concept of integration, is a healthy working relationship between the two. Perhaps analogous to couples' relationships, two people can either be too distant from one another (rigidity / alienation) resulting in a cold, distant feeling between them, or they can be too enmeshed (chaotic / inflated), identifying too closely with each other and resulting in chaotic, over-blown emotional reactions. Neither of these states is ideal. Mental health, like relationship health, suggests a proper differentiation of both the ego and Self (Jungian language) or of both partners, while also allowing for clarity of communication and feeling between them. This is, I think, similar to what Dr. Siegel is saying regarding integration.

Dr. Siegel suggests that once patients have done the work of mindsight, strengthening the ability to see the inner world, or what I would call the work of strengthening the ego-Self axis,

Their identity expands: they become aware that they are part of a much larger whole. In various research explorations of happiness and wisdom, this sense of interconnection seems to be at the heart of living a life of meaning and purpose. This is the promise of mindsight and integration. (p. 76)

What I cannot help but write in bold letters in my book (in pencil of course!) is that it is also the promise and concept of Individution! While Dr. Siegel claims that no field can define mental health or a concept of integration, I argue that this was the central premise of all of Jung's work.

The work of Jungian psychology is centered around first creating a strong ego that can be out in the world, and then an ego that is in dialogue and live relationship with Self. (A concept that can also perhaps be seen physiologically as an active bridge between the left and right sides of the brain). Indeed, this is the very reason that I cannot subscribe to any other modality of mental health in its entirety, because, as Siegel states, no other field knows exactly what they are working towards in terms of health other than simple symptom alleviation.

There is far more in this area of the correlation between Dr. Siegel's work and that of Jung's that I hope to explore. (In addition to the quarterlife crisis and consequent path towards individuation that Dr. Siegel himself seems to have taken mid-career in medical school, p. 47).

As I will blog about another day, for the last two years, I have been thinking about a possible physiological correlate to the ego-Self axis in our bodies and in the world. I am astounded that Dr. Siegel's work seems to offer me a clear suggestion that the hypothesis I have been working on is sound. I hope to someday be able to talk with Dr. Siegel about this work and explore how my theories are enhanced by his work, and his by Jung's.

Rethinking Diagnosis

I woke up this morning thinking about diagnosis for some reason. It's something I've given a lot of thought to in the past after training in the use of the DSM, the psychological bible for diagnosing just about any mental/psychic ailment that one can suffer from. The only problem is that the book is all mixed-up. While some of the diagnoses are paramount to cancer or even the common cold, others are simply the translation of symptoms into "disorders" -- like calling a runny nose that might result from a cold an illness unto itself and then treating it as such.

The Jungian approach to psychology, like the Chinese medicine approach to treating the body, brings the question of balance to the forefront. Implicit in all explorations of psyche from a Jungian standpoint is "what is out of balance in your psyche?", "what needs more or less attention?" Certainly, questions of Major Depressive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder etc. are woven into the work and typically treated with standard forms of treatment (by law and ethics, they need to be). But in general, symptoms are seen as indicating that something is out of balance, not that something is implicitly wrong. Chinese (and Tibetan) medicine does the same thing with the body: stomach problems, skin problems, pain, things that would be treated directly in Western medicine are seen instead as indications of something being out of balance so that the root cause can be treated, instead of the symptom.

I hope someday to be able to explore common diagnoses in regards to the relationship between aspects of psyche to seek to understand what, in each case, is out of balance. The base line for this exploration would be what is known as the Ego-Self axis, the relationship between the ego complex in psyche and the Self, the archetype of wholeness, the sort of catch-all name for the expanse of everything else in psyche out of which our individual personality (ego) is born. This developmental relationship can get thrown-off throughout growth (or due to biological causes) and can produce narcissistic (ego too distant from Self), psychotic (ego too immersed in Self), or borderline traits (ego mixed-up a little in between). The ideal is for a strong, independent ego that can take cues from Self and accept that it is not the single actor in the landscape of psyche. This is the core component of the inner space of a healthy psyche. A diagram of healthy ego-Self axis development (albeit rather simple) is here, in addition to some further discussion on this topic.