Most of us experience the world through competing perspectives. A job or a religion seems important and fulfilling when looked at in one way, but from a different angle they seem tedious or ridiculous. A friend is obtuse from one point of view, wise from another. Continuing to hold both views at once can be unsettling, highlighting conflicts between our own judgments and values and undermining our ability to live purposefully and effectively. Yet, as Jennifer Church argues in this book, inner conflict can be a good thing, and not just as a temporary road bump on the road to resolution. This book describes several desirable types of “double consciousness” – or being of two minds – and explains why and how they should be maintained. Church looks critically at some common ideas about identity, including a popular belief about narratives that suggests our lives should “make sense” as a story. She also examines how empathy can helpfully cause us to be of two minds, and how various forms of irony and laughter enable us to benefit from holding onto opposing views. Finally, Church shows the merit of acknowledging reality while sometimes being guided by fantasy. Why It’s OK to Be of Two Minds is for anyone who’s held two opposing views simultaneously, which is to say it’s for everyone. Key Features • Argues against a long-standing philosophical idea: that it is important to resolve inner conflicts that result from competing systems of beliefs. • Examines the role of empathy and friendship in maintaining a valuable form of double consciousness. • Considers how irony and laughter allow us to dedicate ourselves to our particular projects while acknowledging their ultimate insignificance. • Shows how fantasies that conflict with our beliefs can make a positive contribution to the way we live our lives.

AS SEEN ON THIS MORNING 'a fascinating and moving account of life working with people who too often society wants to forget' Dr Amanda Brown, author of THE PRISON DOCTOR 'excellent and enlightening' Jonathan Levi and Emma French, authors of INSIDE BROADMOOR 'thought provoking' Gwen Adshead, author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW Shocking, eye-opening and grimly fascinating, these are the true stories, patients and cases that have characterised a career spent treating mentally disordered offenders. As a forensic psychiatrist, it's Dr Das's job to treat and rehabilitate what the tabloids might call the 'criminally insane', many of whom assault, rob, rape, and even kill. His work takes him to high-security prisons and securely locked hospital wards across the country, as well as inside courtrooms, giving evidence as an expert witness. From the young woman who smothered her two-year-old nephew in a flash of psychosis, to the teenager who set his house on fire with his mother locked inside, Dr Das must delve into the minds of these violent offenders to elicit their symptoms of mental illness, understand their actions and prevent future atrocities. In this honest, revealing and at times humorous memoir, Dr Das shares stories from his fifteen years as a psychiatric doctor working with this dangerous clientele, detailing some of his most extreme, heart-breaking and bizarre cases - and how he's learned to live with his mistakes when the worse happens. Compelling, enlightening and candid, if you enjoyed Unnatural Causes, Dark Side of the Mind or The Prison Doctor, you'll love IN TWO MINDS.

Follows the adventures of two royal teenagers who possess extraordinary mental powers.

Most people experience themselves as two sided, but have you ever wondered if there are really two minds in each of us? Schiffer gives us overwhelming evidence that each side of our brain possesses an autonomous, distinct personality. This brilliant, provocative book illustrates how the interaction of these two minds actually determines our psychological nature and the emotional problems we may experience. OF TWO MINDS transforms our understanding of how and why we experience emotional distress, and suggests a path to a more harmonious relationship between our two selves.

From the unfaithful husband to the binge eater, from the secret cross-dresser to the pilferer of worthless items, there are those who seem to live two lives, to be divided selves, to be literally of two minds. This division or "vertical split" appears in a person at odds with himself, a person who puzzles over, and even heartily dislikes, that parallel person who behaves in so repugnant a manner. In Being of Two Minds, Arnold Goldberg provides trenchant insight into such divided minds - their origins, their appearances, and their treatment. Goldberg's inquiry into divided minds leads to a return to the psychoanalytic concept of disavowal, which forms the basis of the vertical split. Goldberg explores the developmental circumstances that tend to a reliance on disavowal, provides numerous examples of the emergence of disavowal in the treatment situation, and considers the therapeutic approaches through which disavowal may be addressed. He is especially perceptive in discussing the manner in which the therapist's own tendency to disavow may collusively interact with that of the patient. Goldberg considers the full range of splits to which disavowal gives rise, from circumscribed instances of dissociation to the much-debated multiple personality disorders. He gives special attention to the role of the vertical split in patients with behavior disorders; here his thoughtful insights point to a treatment approach that significantly differs both from the simple ascription of a 'self disorder' and from the usual pedagogical emphasis on issues of self-control and/or punishment. As Goldberg shows, the repugnance felt by many therapists for offensive behaviors emanating from the patient's parallel self are frequently shared by the patient, who commonly despises misbehavior that he is unable to understand. Being of Two Minds begins to formulate just such understanding, to the great benefit of patient and therapist alike.

Connie's ability to share "mental visits" with the prince of Thulgaria proves useful when he's mysteriously kidnapped.

Starting with research by Nobel laureate Roger Sperry into split-brain patients, this book sets out the evidence that there is a conscious mind in each hemisphere of the human brain. Two forms of consciousness are distinguished, and the difference in the consciousness of each mind revealed. The two different pathways within the human visual system and their effect on human behaviour are described, as well as differences in the memories formed by each mind. Evidence for two minds in the intact human brain is analysed, including psychological experiments and every-day experiences such as sleep-walking and driving on "automatic pilot". Reasons are suggested to explain why the evidence from split-brain patients has been largely ignored, and the views of six authors who have addressed the issue are considered. The presence of two minds - each with its own memories, thoughts, desires, and decisions that are inaccessible to the other - has important implications for all those whose work involves the mind, including psychologists, psycho-therapists and lawyers.

With sharp and soulful insight, T. M. Luhrmann examines the world of psychiatry, a profession which today is facing some of its greatest challenges from within and without, as it continues to offer hope to many. At a time when mood-altering drugs have revolutionized the treatment of the mentally ill and HMO’s are forcing caregivers to take the pharmacological route over the talking cure, Luhrmann places us at the heart of the matter and allows us to see exactly what is at stake. Based on extensive interviews with patients and doctors, as well as investigative fieldwork in residence programs, private psychiatric hospitals, and state hospitals, Luhrmann’s groundbreaking book shows us how psychiatrists develop and how the enormous ambiguities in the field affect its practitioners and patients.

Society is in a state of chaos; yet almost all life stresses are human-made. Our species is literally making itself sick. In A World in Two Minds, Kenny Jamieson considers the two complex adaptive systems behind the chaos &– the individual mind and the global mind &– and how the latter emerges, in the form of culture, from the former. We have a global cognitive imbalance due to the dominance of the mechanistic worldview of scientific materialism, which is strongly rooted in the left mind and Western culture. Over centuries, this bias has gradually dissociated us from the right mind, lowering consciousness, denaturing the human condition and negatively impacting our health. Today, life offers the human race both opportunity and danger. Our global mind could evolve to a higher cognitive plane where harmony, health and happiness prevail, but it could just as easily disintegrate, leading to catastrophic conflict. Our future is unknown but whatever we bring forth will be the output of the global mind we collectively create. Critically, everyone has a role to play. Any one of us could be the final catalyst which tips our whole human system into a new era.

Kit Mackenzie, a brilliant young CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, is on trial for the murder of her mother. Was it self-defense or homicide? After the prosecutor discovers a secret brain operation in her past, he believes Kit has a strong motive for murder. His discovery begins one of the most unusual trials in American history. Media from all over the world descend on the courtroom to cover a story they find too astonishing to believe. Mackenzie must depend on her renowned attorney and the insights of a skilled neuro-scientist in the fight to prove her innocence and gain the acceptance of a man she has always wanted.