Bodymind
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Bodymind is a compound conjunction of body and mind, which, in scientific disciplines, researchers have begun studying in order to move beyond the dualist conceptions of body and mind. [citation needed]
Conceptions
John Money develops a conception of 'bodymind' as a way for scientists, in developing a science about sexuality, to move on from the platitudes of dichotomy between nature versus nurture, innate versus the acquired, biological versus the social, and psychological versus the physiological[1], both for science and in gender and sexuality studies. He suggests that all of these capitalize on the ancient, pre-Platonic, pre-biblical conception of body versus the mind, and the physical versus the spiritual. In coining the term bodymind, in this sense, Money wishes to move beyond these very ingrained principles of our folk or vernacular psychology, in understanding sexuality, and aspects of humanness. Money suggests that the concept of threshold - relating to the release or inhibition of sexual behavior - is most useful for sex research as a substitute for any concept of motivation.[2] It confers a great of advantage of continuity and unity, to what would otherwise be disparate and varied. It also allows for the classification of sexual behaviors. For Money, the concept of threshold has great value because of the wide spectrum to which it applies. "It allows one to think developmentally or longitudinally, in terms of stages or experiences that are programmed serially, or hierarchically, or cybernetically (i.e. regulated by mutual feedback)."[3]
Herbert Benson MD has pioneered bodymind research, focusing on stress and the "relaxation response" in medicine. In his research, the mind and body are one system, in which meditation plays a significant role in reducing stress responses (Benson 1972).
Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret M. Lock have developed a concept of bodymind for medical anthropology to provide a basis for research that is not limited by the view that the body and mind are distinct from one another.[4]
See also
Notes
- ^ Money 1988, p. 116
- ^ Money 1988, p. 115
- ^ Money 1988, p. 116
- ^ Scheper-Hughes, Nancy, and Margaret M. Lock, The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology
References
- Benson MD, Herbert. 2000 (1975). The Relaxation Response. Harper. ISBN 0380815958
- Bracken, Patrick & Philip Thomas (2002) "Time to move beyond the mind-body split", editorial, British Medical Journal 2002;325:1433-1434 (21 December)
- Gallagher, Shaun. 2005. How the Body Shapes the Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199204160
- Keinänen, Matti. 2005. Psychosemiosis as a Key to Body-Mind Continuum: The Reinforcement of Symbolization-Reflectiveness in Psychotherapy. Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 1-59454-381-X.
- Mayer, Emeran A. 2003. The Neurobiology Basis of Mind Body Medicine: Convergent Traditional and Scientific Approaches to Health, Disease, and Healing. Source: http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/MindBody.html (accessed: Sunday January 14, 2007).
- Money, John. 1988. Gay, Straight, and In-Between: The Sexology of Erotic Orientation. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505407-5
- Rothschild, Babette 2000. The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. W W Norton & Co Inc.
- Scheper-Hughes, Nancy, and Margaret M. Lock. 1987. The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology with Margaret Lock. Medical Anthropology Quarterly. (1): 6-41.