Review – Mindsight

Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation

by Daniel J. Siegel, MD, published 2010

Triune brain

Vertical integration, bottom to top

brainstem, regulates energy, fight-or-flight response, generates “drive” w/ limbic

limbic region, generates and evaluates emotion, forms relationships, “story-telling” experiences

cortex, 3D mapping and sensing of reality, conceptualizing, meta-thought

Horizontal integration (bilaterality)

left

right

Prefontal cortex functions:

1. bodily regulation, sympathetic (speed up) and para-sympathetic (slow down)
2. attuned communication, alignment of emotional states
3. emotional balance, appropriateness of emotional response, resilience in extremes
4. response flexibility, pausing to think before acting
5. fear modulation, cortical override of amygdala-driven fear
6. empathy, abbility to see from other’s point of view, you-maps
7. insight, connecting past, present and future, me-maps
8. moral awareness
9. intuition, connection of visceral data to rational decision-making

The Tripod of Reflection:

1. Openness, avoiding “should”, embracing “is”
2. Observation, placing the self in a larger context than just the moment
3. Objectivity, not personifying one’s thoughts or emotions as identity

Eight Domains of Integration:

1. Consciousness
2. Horizontal (left and right brain)
3. Vertical (senses, head to toe, brainstem, limbic and cortex)
4. Memory
5. Narrative
6. State
7. Interpersonal
8. Temporal

Secure attachment to parents largely driven by the parents’ autobiographical narrative of their own upbringing

Adult & Child Attachment

Adult Narrative, Infant Strange Situation Behavior

Secure, Secure

Dismissing, Avoidant

Preoccupied, Ambivalent

Unresolved/disorganized, Disorganized/disoriented