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              Doctor Melds Western Practices, Eastern Spirituality

   by Adam Phillips

   NEW YORK - The recorded sounds of chanting Tibetan monks many worlds
   away might seem out of place in a Manhattan psychiatrist's waiting
   room, but this is also the headquarters of the Nalanda Institute for
   Contemplative Science.
   ''
   Its director and founder, psychiatrist Joseph Loizzo, also holds a
   doctorate in religion and Buddhist studies. His new book, "Sustainable
   Happiness," details his decades of research and clinical practice
   combining traditional psychoanalysis, cutting edge neuroscience and
   Buddhism into a seamless whole.
   "The main problem in our human condition has to do with the fact that
   our natures were adapted for life in the wild, and that because of
   civilization, we are living in very unnatural conditions," says Loizzo,
   who believes this is the primary source of stress for most people. "The
   stress instincts are what prepare us to fight or fly or freeze
   sometimes in dangerous situations. But since civilization began to sort
   of take over our whole lives, these stress reactions are a less and
   less useful part of our makeup."
   However, it's difficult to control our reactions to stressful
   situations, such as when your supervisor at work tells you to produce
   something on a deadline you feel unable to meet. The shortness of
   breath, the sweaty palms, the adrenaline surge, the sense of wariness
   and unease come unbidden.
   According to Loizzo, that's because your nervous system instinctively
   bypasses your rational mind when your boss seems to be posing a threat
   to your well-being.
   "And because really what is challenging us is not a predator, but is
   another human being," he says, "whom we need to cooperate with and we
   need to negotiate with, essentially we become maladapted."
   '''
   Over time, that stress can lead to depression, chronic anxiety,
   hypertension, and heart disease. Loizzo says this is why he has
   incorporated meditation and other Buddhist techniques into his medical
   practice. Focusing on one's breath and learning to simply watch as
   thoughts, feelings and sensations arise and pass away not only relieves
   stress. The technique can actually re-train the brain.
   "The idea is that if you're mindful, you are able to assess things more
   clearly, and you are able to catch the misperceptions and
   over-reactions as they occur and opt out of them and choose the
   alternative [and] to see what is happening to you. Meditation becomes
   sort of a teachable simple pragmatic system for strengthening the parts
   of our mind and our brain that we need to be healthy and happy."
   But Loizzo says that Buddhist-based psychotherapy is more than
   meditation. Like classic psychoanalysis, it involves a deep and
   committed search for the meaning of one's life through personal
   storytelling.
   "That's the way our minds work. Our minds produce stories and images
   and things. And so some of the skills we teach have to do with learning
   to tell ourselves more constructive stories that empower us and help us
   to build the life that we really want to live - not the one we are
   trying to survive, or are afraid of being stuck in forever."
   Such methods have been life-changing for many of  Loizzo's patients.
   ''
   "Depression was a major problem for me," says one patient. "And through
   Joe's support and our interaction I've been able to connect myself with
   other people and develop a network of people who support me in more
   meaningful relationships, things like that. It's been a revolution in
   my life the way I think about myself and think about the world. I feel
   like I still have a long way to go but I've come a long way."
   Mindfulness techniques have been effective in other settings. For
   example, breast cancer patients whose disease has gone into remission
   often report PTSD-like symptoms long after treatment ends. Western
   medicine offers little to ease the continued fear and anxiety.
   For a pilot study, Loizzo taught 60 women in a 20 week course that
   included meditation instruction and group discussions. Afterwards, most
   reported feeling less anxious and more hopeful about their lives.  Dr.
   Mary Charson, Loizzo's colleague at Cornell Weill Medical College's
   Center for Integrative Medicine, was impressed with the results.
   "The reality is - if you look at the data, both the quantitative data
   and the qualitative data - people had a sense that it gave them their
   life back," she says. "Apart from curing and treating the disease, it's
   important that we improve people's quality of life."
   And that is the "sustainable happiness" Loizzo seeks to achieve by
   melding Western psychotherapy and Eastern spirituality.
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   n-spirituality/1351919.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/doctor-melds-western-practices-eastern-spirituality/1351919.html