Of Two Minds: The Revolutionary Science of Dual Brain Psychology

This method is probably one of the finest therapies I have been lucky enough to come across. Aside from the fact that the book is well written and easy to understand the concept is workable. From a clinical point of view the method is well researched but from a personal point of view the method is invaluable. There is a joke at the hospital that I worked at that the mental health doctors were as crazy as the patients but I think that in order to truly understand them you need to see the world through their eyes. Dr Schiffer seems to be able to do this. My father has severe depression and my brother Cerebal Palsy. So this book is not just professional but personal. I tried the glasses on my brother and for the first time I saw the difference. He is on occasion unable to control low-level fits. It took approx 30 secs for his brain to quiet itself and I also got to see a side of him I've never seen before. My brother has a genius IQ and two degrees and yet is unable to control his brain till now. He actually asked me for the glasses the other day when it flared again. Dr Schiffer you don't know me but thank-you from the bottom of my heart. You have helped me and my family. I hope that anyone that reads this book is helped as I have been.

Alexei Lebedev wrote a very thoughtful review that I would like to respond to. First, the psychological ideas I present are built upon a large literature on cerebral laterality. In our laboratory at McLean Hospiital we have used placebo controlled studies to rule out the suggestion that very rightly concerns Mr. Lebedev. The glasses have been used also to predict which patients with severe depression will respond to transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left forehead. When I use the glasses in the office the way I describe in the book, then no doubt suggestion has some role, but there I am looking for a therapeutic response and am not conducting an experiment. As I reported, about a third of my patients have no response to the glasses, an other third had a mild response and the last group have rather profound responses along the mature/childish dichotomy. In our laboratory we have found that retesting subjects two times, a year apart, there was a very high correlation between trials. In the book, I describe patients who had the more dramatic responses. In patients who do not have responses, the findings from other patients can still be applied to them and can be very helpful in giving them a better concept of why they are suffering. That Mr. Lebedev did not have a profound response showing the mature/childish dichotomy is not surprising. Mr. Lebedev's idea of blocking the ear is a good suggestion. I did not know when I wrote the book that Paul Green, Ph.D. had done considerable work using ear plugs to help patients with different conditions, and I have occassionally used them. The ears are not as strongly lateralized to the different hemispheres and the auditory ares are not as large as the visual areas, so auditory stimulation would not be expected to be as strong as visual stimulation. In my experience, I have found the visual stimulation to be much stronger in terms of eliciting different psychological responses. I do not believe as my book led Mr. Lebedev understand that the visual information goes only to one side. Rather, we now have fMRI evidence showing that the glasses induce a large increase in brain blood flow in the opposite hemisphere. The lateralized glasses stimulate the opposite hemisphere as will contracting muscles on one side. Also I don't believe that the problems are "just in one hemisphere." Rather, from our EEG, evoke potential, and fMRI studies, and the psychological responses observed in placebo controlled studies, I believe that the glasses stimulate different sets of neural patterns that are associated in some way with the different hemispheres and with different psychological perspectives. So I believe there is much science behind my hypothesis. A number of scientific papers from our laboratory are posted at SchifferMD.com. More importantly, I continue to find these ideas to be extremely helpful in my clinical practice. Fredric Schiffer, M.D. Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry Harvard

The book describes how you can easily stimulate one side of your brain and how this can affect your mood - and it works. After seeing Doctor Schiffer on 20/20, I tried for myself the simple test he described on TV and explains in the book. In less than a minute after covering all but my extreme left visual field, I was in tears. Trying the other side took away all my stress just as quickly and made me feel self-confident. The results of the two hemisphere theory Schiffer explains in this book worked for me. I've since shared the same test with friends and relatives. Without any previous explanation, they experience the same effects as the book predicts. This book outlines a real, practical and simple way to reduce stress. I highly recommend the book and encourage you to make your own pair of glasses as he describes. Just get a pair of $4 safety goggles and tape the lenses. My wife and I can really open up to each other by following the conversation techniques in the book, while wearing homemade pairs of glasses. I know we must look silly, but it works. My only complaint about Schiffer's book is that he focuses primarily on the theraputic value of his research. It would have been nice if he had explored the other possibilities of his discoveries. At least this book is not just another theoretical work. It has techniques in it that you can try yourself. Whether or not you believe his conclusions, you will experience the effect.

I saw a piece on 20/20 by Dr. Timothy Johnson on Dr. Schiffer's goggle therapy. I have tried this method and it really works. As with many things in life, this is a case where an unorthodox manner of treatment that may at first seem strange offers impressive benefits. Anyone who is suffering from depression should read this book and incorporate its teachings.

Don't mistake this book for another tedious explanation of what it means to be right-brained or left-brained. This is a wonderful user's manual to our personalities, and specifically to why we get sad or anxious. Schiffer explains clearly and engangingly, at a level I found easy to understand (I'm not in the mental health field), how each of us essentially harbors two people in ourselves, and why we sometimes suffer because of it. Schiffer throws in plenty of convincing research and examples, and lays out a clear approach to identifying our two personalities, showing how one of them tends to cause us problems, and then dealing with it (there's a simple vision trick that can help). It's already helped me understand a lot about myself. Somehow, it's a fun read, too.