A journey into one’s Self: One’s Self – A fragile unity of the body, mind and spirit?
Healthy people are in harmony with their Self (A sound mind in a sound body) – or so goes the saying. However, as estimated by experts, every fifth person at least once in their life suffers from a serious mental disorder. The consideration of how this abnormal condition can be corrected often inevitably leads to questions such as, “what can bring the consciousness so out of step” and “what does the Self actually perceive”. Answers to these and other key questions of human self-awareness can be found in “The Embodied Self”.
“That ‘one is identical with oneself’ seems so self-evident to each one of us in our daily life that we do not even think upon it”, so says Professor Fuchs from the Psychiatric University Clinic of Heidelberg. Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression or borderline personality disorders allow this entity of Self to become brittle, or even to shatter, which brings the scientists then into rumination. What is the Self? Is it perhaps an illusion created by the brain? Is our autonomy just a delusion? What role does the body and the environment play? “The Embodied Self” is the quintessence of many years of research by the international research group DISCOS (Disorders of Coherence of the Embodied Self - Defects and unity of the embodied self), that has dealt with human personality and its pathological disturbances using an interdisciplinary approach.
The aim of DISCOS is to overcome the limitations of single theoretical approaches and therapies, and to merge particular natural sciences and humanities perspectives into holistic knowledge. The resulting deeper understanding into “self-awareness” which is gained should contribute in improving the treatment of mental diseases. Nine European universities from seven countries have joined forces under the leadership of The University of Heidelberg in this multinational research project, for which the EU is the official sponsor. Schattauer Publishers, located in Stuttgart Germany, is exclusively responsible for the media communications regarding the project, the preparation and publication of results, as well as all public relations. More information on DISCOS can be found at: 
www.discos-rtn.eu
Fuchs, Thomas / Sattel, Heribert / Henningsen, Peter (Hrsg.)The Embodied Self – Dimensions, Coherence and Disorders
2010. 352 pages, 16 figures, 15 charts, hardcover
€ (D) 34,95 / € (A) 36,-
ISBN: 978-3-7945-2791-5
Schattauer GmbH
A free review copy of this book can be requested viastefanie.albert(at)schattauer.de.
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stefanie.albert(at)schattauer.de