Abstract:

Self is a core concept of psychological counseling and therapy. With respect to psychoanalytic, behavior, and cognitive therapies, the concept of self is only focused on behavioral and cognitive levels, and the newly emerging mindfulness based therapy extends the concept to body and perception. Findings for embodied cognition and cognitive neuroscience research suggest that body, perception, and cognition are inseparable, and they are closely connected with self. By incorporating extant evidence from psychotherapeutic theories and empirical studies, the current paper proposed an integrate concept of self, comprising rationality (symbolic function, cognition and emotion), sensibility (non-symbolic function, sensation and perception) and body (physiological function).

Key words: psychotherapy, mindfulness, embodied cognition, self diamond structure