General CONSULTATION

INFORMED BY PSYCHOANALYSIS AND NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH INTO ATTENTION AND WELL-BEING

BACKGROUND From birth we learn-by-doing how to interact with the world and others in relationships; first with our parents and family, later school, education, work and the wider world. All along we build up short- and long-term memories of feeling-based experiences. Our Action Choices at any moment are then based on our current situation and "inputs" against this increasingly complex background of memories and prior experiences. Much of the processing behind this "choice" is unconscious and reactive, and we are far less in control than we would like to believe. In neuroscience this is known as "active inference", while in ancient Buddhist psychology it is known as "dependent origination".

Diagram showing brain inputs influencing actions and choices.

FREEDOM AND AGENCY AND THE ROLE OF ATTENTION What is described above is a repetitive moment-to-moment cyclical process where much of our day-to-day interactions are reactive rather than fully conscious. Depending on prior experiences the outcomes from our "action choices" are as likely to be uncomfortable, dissatisfying or even traumatic as compared to positive and leading to satisfaction and happiness.

In deep meditation states such as the Jhānas it is possible for a person, at least temporarily, to step out of such cycles into a more expansive and "freer" state of awareness and "presence". Intensive attention-training is fundamental to such practices, and is described in more detail in the follow-up book Jhāna Consciousness (Shambhala Publications, 2022). A leading neuroscientist and psychiatrist reviewer of that book described this "control of the brain’s attentional processes [as] the holy grail of many psychotherapies—a holy grail that we now know exists".

SELF-TRAINING This central role of attention can be harnessed (albeit to a lesser degree than in deep meditation), using simplified techniques based on the research described in these publications.

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The Value of Attention Training

Problems with attention are often associated with mental health disorders. Anxiety, for example, causes the body to go on high alert often with strained or rapid breathing, making it difficult to focus or keep attention on anything except what you are anxious about. The same applies to panic attacks and OCD, as well as Depression which is often linked to anxiety. The ability to control attention can be a significant mitigating factor helping a person to become more resilient to these processes.

REFERENCES

General CONSULTATION

INFORMED BY PSYCHOANALYSIS AND NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH INTO ATTENTION AND WELL-BEING

The Value of Attention Training

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