Philosophers, biologists, physiologists, and neurologists have argued for years that each hemisphere contains sections of the brain that perform different functions. The concept of brain laterality is based on an extensive body of scientific theory. As early as the 1970s, Roger Sperry demonstrated the existence of distinct "minds" in humans and in animals in which communication between the hemispheres was disrupted. He received a Nobel prize for this work. Clinicians have written about the subsconcious, alter ego, the two selves, the inner child and the unconscious mind for a long time. According to Hirschfeld, Dr. Schiffer takes the thesis one or two steps further. The symmetry or "harmonious interaction," as Schiffer calls it, is vital to good mental health, and, if we are to believe this review, Schiffer has been able to successfully rebalance the two brains.
Schiffer's theory indicates that these dualities are primarily a function of brain architecture, and based on this theory, he has devised a method of communicating with one part and not the other. His approach was based largely on the early German experiments involving the elicitation of emotions and their variations between hemispheres.
The most obvious byproduct of Schiffer's research is the equipment he devised: eyeglasses. One pair had lenses that were opaque except at the extreme left side and another pair had lenses that were opaque except at the extreme right side.
The result is equipment that is highly reliable in accessing input from a single hemisphere of the brain. One clinical trial calls for research participants to put on one set of glasses and tell the investigator what they experienced. Research participants then are asked to put on the other set of glasses and tell the investigator what they experienced.
After several years of investigation, Shiffer observed that for a substantial number of research participants who were traumatized, one set of glasses tended to have a calming effect (relaxation reflex), whereas the other set caused patients to feel depressed, edgy, anxious, or agitated (a stress reflex).
Dual Brain Therapy (DBT) was used first to identify the troubled mind with the glasses and then, as Hirschfeld notes, "Schiffer developed a psychotherapeutic approach that involved speaking directly to the troubled mind (hemisphere)." The purpose of the therapy is to ". . . mend the archaic, destructive ideas and emotions of the mind on the troubled side, to teach it that it is safer and more valuable than it learned during some traumatic experiences." According to Hirschfeld, Schiffer claims to "teach patients how to recognize and listen for the mind in their troubled hemisphere, and then how to speak to it -- out loud!" On the basis of these experiences, he reasons that there are two minds, each with a distinct personality associated with one hemisphere, and that an imbalance between them is responsible for mental illness. Thus, everyone is a multiple personality (at least two minds).
Schiffer postulates that major psychiatric illnesses can result from problems with brain laterality. For example, depression may stem from an experience in early childhood, a time of extreme vulnerability, defenselessness, and dependency. Trauma during this period, according to Schiffer, is retained in the mind of one hemisphere. Depression comes from the defensiveness and the despondency associated with the memory of this experience in the one hemisphere. Treatment involves communicating directly with the troubled hemisphere by using the eyeglasses in a healing manner. When both sides of the brain are healthy, the depression subsides.
The New England Journal of Medicine's review notes that the book is "bold, interesting, and ambitious." Yet, it cautions blind adaptation of the application of split brain theory to mental illness without "substantially more elucidation."
Not mentioned in the review or any discussion of Schiffer's methods is the obvious link to the popular treatment of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Moreover, the traditional theories of Gestalt, Psychodrama, Neurolinguistic Programing (NLP), Thought Field Therapy Technique, Video Rewind Technique and several techniques used in standard Cognitive Behavioral Therapy all facilitate communication and coordination of the hemispheres. If only the concepts and theories utilized by these approaches would adopt the same concepts and axioms, it would allow more effective comparisons among them. Perhaps Schiffer's theory will lead to more coordination of treatment theories.
Charles R. Figley, Ph.D.
Editor