Articles and Essays

The Just One Look Method: The Act of Inward Looking and the Self-Directed Attention Exercise

Lindström, Niklas  - Student thesis

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology. February 9, 2021.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine personal experiences of an alternative method for improving mental health and well-being called The Just One Look Method (JOLM). Data were collected and analyzed by qualitative content analysis of eight semi-structured interviews of JOLM users resulting in three main themes: The Act of Inward Looking (AIL), The Self-Directed Attention Exercise (SDA) and Consequences of JOLM. The main results where that AIL may offer an additional aspect and definition of the concept of self, a kind of subjective sense of self with possible implications for the field of consciousness science. And that looking at that sense of self may influence attention with possible positive consequences for mental health and well-being. JOLM was contrasted theoretically with traditional attention-based methods for achieving better mental health with a particular emphasis on Buddhist meditation. Further research was suggested to investigate more causal relationships between AIL and SDA and between JOLM and mental health.

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The Radical Act of Inward Looking

Paul Freedman M.S.W., R.S.W. 
Jonathan Goldberg M.S.W., R.S.W. 
Jaak Reichmann M.D., FRCP(C)

Paul Freedman has been working as a therapist in outpatient psychiatry for the past 20 years. Prior to that, his clinical practice was largely focused on working within the Deaf community. Paul has been a hospital-based MBSR teacher for over 15 years and is now largely interested in exploring how non-dual practices can be integrated into evidence-based clinical work.

Abstract

In keeping with the new wave of context –focused treatment approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), we discuss an innovative behavioral intervention referred to as the Act of Inward Looking. The theoretical underpinnings of this intervention are based on the assumption that the primary cause of human psychological suffering is a pervasive fear of life which is established at birth and thereafter operates as an unconscious psychological context or schema. Problematic symptoms, negative behavioral traits and reactions as well as our attempts to get rid of them are seen as effects of this lifelong pernicious context. The Act of Inward Looking primarily targets and modifies this context and is thought to subsequently lessen or extinguish many of the aforementioned effects. The Act of Inward Looking is described in detail and viewed, in part, through the lens of In Vivo Exposure Therapy, as well as contrasted with mindfulness-based practices. The use of a trans-personal intervention within a behavior therapy framework (exposure) represents a unique integration of historically divergent theoretical camps.

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This paper was published on Undivided: The Online Journal of Nonduality and Psychology, vol. 1, Issue 4.