Several theoretical perspectives presented in peer reviewed papers and books are advancing the way that key aspects of mental illness and other phenomena are understood, including:
Defense mechanisms once seen as quaint psychoanalytic formulations actually consist largely of two main templates—positive cognitive distortions and dissociation—that work by diminishing the impact of negative emotions. Antidepressants and psychotherapy act in part by enhancing these defensive processes.
Hypomania overrides depression in the moment to restore adaptive functioning, with dysfunctional mania arising from defective regulation over the hypomanic defense.
Psychosis represents another instance of defective regulation, in this case over psychotic level cognitions and sensory perceptions, allowing them to intrude into the conscious and awake state.
Schizophrenia consists of psychosis and negative symptoms (deficiencies in human specific cognitive capacities), with the disease process underlying negative symptoms damaging regulation over psychotic level cognitions.
Repetitive maladaptive patterns of behavior (repetition compulsion) are reformulated into non-traumatic and traumatic versions, with the former derived from an evolutionary-based process of acquiring patterns of behavior, and the latter a dissociative defensive process to protect conscious system functioning.
Personality disorders are conceptualized as extreme and enduring expressions of defense processes that are adaptive in a milder and less persistent form.
Depression and other mental illnesses are shown to be continuous in nature, in contrast to the discrete focus in major diagnostic systems.
Departing from mental illness, motion sickness is postulated to represent a negative reinforcement based mechanism to discourage aberrant motion that could lead to injury or predation.
Sexual orientation is reframed as separate homoerotic and heteroerotic dimensions, with erotic fantasy activating dimensions, and social construction largely deactivating the dimension inconsistent with one’s sexual orientation identity.
Consciousness is postulated as evolving on the basis of time distinctions, providing a way of maximizing the actualization of adaptive potential occurrences and minimizing the actualization of maladaptive potentialities.
Below are my peer reviewed articles with the full title, followed by the pdf link. Click on the pdfs that interest you to gain a new perspective on the topic.
Psychological Defense Mechanisms: A New Perspective
How Psychiatric Treatments Can Enhance Psychological Defense Mechanisms
Hypomania: A Depressive Inhibition Override Defense Mechanism
Motion Sickness: A Negative Reinforcement Model
Personality Disorders: A Dimensional Defence Mechanism Approach
Repetitive Maladaptive Behavior: Beyond Repetition Compulsion
A Cognitive Regulatory Control Model Of Schizophrenia
Psychosis: A Synthesis Of Motivational And Defect Perspectives
Augmenting Behavioural Activation Treatment With The Behavioural Activation And Inhibition Scales
Therapeutic Dissociation: Compartmentalization & Absorption
Cognitive Regulatory Control Therapies
Depression: Discrete Or Continuous?
What Is Sexual Orientation All About? Explaining An Evolutionary Paradox
A Four-Component Model Of Sexual Orientation & Its Application To Psychotherapy
Sliding Scale Theory of Attention and Consciousness:Unconsciousness
Consciousness & Time: A Time-Based Model Of The Evolution Of Consciousness
The Rational Unconscious: Implications For Mental Illness And Psychotherapy
A New Perspective On The Universe-Actualization Of Potentialities
Visit my theoretical research site, THE CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL RESEARCH IN PSYCHIATRY & CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, for further information.