The Science

Four veins of science underlie AureLisa. There is much of this to be found on my ResearchGate pages and in the AURELIS blog-wiki.

Neurocognitive science

This is a robust branch of hard-core scientific developments about mind and brain that has been going on for 40+ years and with increasing pace (*).

Unfortunately, tons of insights are kept inside this scientific silo without much influence on other silos: medicine, psychotherapy, sociology, pedagogy, and many more. Again and again, the reason is more related to social issues than science. The result is detrimental. Otherwise put, here lie immense possibilities for doing well through doing good. On the other hand, one can find many distortions in popular science outlets. It’s crucial to go to the scientific sources.

Meanwhile, humanity uses technological progress to make huge problems. We can use the same for solving them. AureLisa stands for a radical choice for the latter.

Psychosomatic science

This includes the science of the placebo effect. In an increasing number of domains, we see the placebo working in the brain (fMRI, optogenetics…). If seeing is believing, there is no other option.

There is also much progress in academic research about psychosomatic causality of symptoms and diseases in many domains, such as cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology, immunology, dermatology, etc. Time and again, if one puts this research together and looks at the result objectively, the picture is clear: robust and significant influence of the mind (**). Unfortunately, many domain experts focus heavily on the ‘mindless body.’ While the picture is crystal clear in research, one can easily – and understandably, given the culture – be so close to the organ (heart, lungs, skin…) that the total person isn’t noticed. The future – perhaps already 20 years from now – may look at the present state in this domain with as much astonishment as we look back to 200 years ago.

Science about non-specific factors in psychotherapy

Here also, we encounter the placebo. As repeated research has shown over more than a century, the conceptual backgrounds and methodologies of many diverse psychotherapies add less to effectiveness than the ‘non-specific factors,’ among which the self-fulfilling expectations that they do so (***). This doesn’t aid scientific progress. Also, there is little invitation of profound personal growth involved in the placebo. Any client should reflect on this. Is the primary goal a surface-level, and therefore in many cases temporary diminishment of symptoms? Or is it personal growth that starts deep inside, and toward which many mental symptoms show the need?

Another non-specific factor is empathy. Here too, we go in-depth. Being nice is okay, but not enough for the pesonal healing of significant issues at present or brewing for the future. AureLisa profoundly chooses for ’empathy beyond’ (the merely conceptual), where it ‘touches the soul,’ and is effective this way. As with many human-related things, ‘hard’ science – of which a lot is relevant toward Compassion – brings many insights but must be handled from the heart. Rationality and human warmth can go together if we make them do so, surely where people need mental support.

Experimental science using Lisa

This is not yet realized since Lisa is in development. However, we will put great emphasis on this aspect. Lisa is well placed to lead to tons of science, given the data from many users and the flexible A.I. means (****). Underneath, the scientific endeavor lies at the heart of the Lisa-coaching itself.

Of course, we not only plan to do the science but also to publish it, thereby being at the forefront of proving the rightful place of the human mind in several health domains.

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Notes

(*) See, for instance, these outstanding authors in the field: Patricia Churchland, Antonio Damasio, Paul Churchland, Terence Sejnowski, Michael Gazzaniga, David Eagleman, Lisa Feldman-Barrett, John Barge, Ben Goertzel, Daniel C. Dennett, Paul Nunez, Christof Koch, Massini & Tononi, etc.

(**) See my book Your Mind as Cure, including many references to related scientific articles.

(***) ‘The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work (Counseling and Psychotherapy)’ by Bruce E. Wampold and Zac E. Imel (Routledge, 2015).

You can find a great introductory lecture by Bruce Wampold at YouTube.

A related great lecture is by Stephen Bacon, also at YouTube. 

(****) You can find an article about this at ResearchGate.