Affect-logics
Affect-logics or Affect logic is a biopsychosocial notion, introduced in 1988 by Swiss psychiatrist Luc Ciompi, relating initially to schizophrenia and other mental conditions, and later elaborated into a general meta-theory on the interactions between emotion and cognition, expanding from the individual level (psychology etc.)
The model represents a synthesis of empirical data and clinical information across psychology, psychiatry, neurobiology, sociology, psychoanalysis and evolutionary sciences, which highlight the omnipresence of selecting and filtering effects of emotions on all cognitive functions.
Affective states may be short or long lasting, strong or mild, clearly felt in body and mind or remain largely unconscious, continuing however to influence thought, behaviour and bodily functions.
These ongoing filtering and switching effets (so-called “operator-effects”) of emotions on cognition lead to selective generalizations such as “a wonderful country”, “a dangerous place”, “a nasty person” etc.
[5][6] Basic affects emerge in evolution as global psycho-physical states which are closely linked to situations and behaviours relevant to survival, such as flight or fight, defence or aggression towards enemies, exploring the environment,identifying secure or dangerous places and objects, bonding and sexuality, overcoming losses.
Through affects, body and mind are able to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions, by categorising between pleasant or unpleasant, harmless or dangerous, beautiful or ugly situations or objects, friends or enemies, food, shelter, etc.
[10][11] Similar phenomena do happen on all levels in the mental and social field : sudden outbreaks of violence, war, panic, freezing, or other disruptions under the impact of critically increasing emotional tensions.
Such an outbreak is understood as a typical bifurcation in the ordinary feel-think-behave patterns, which can occur in (genetically and/or biographically) vulnerable individuals, under the impact of overtaxing emotional tensions related to stressful situations or events.
[12] This hypothesis is strongly supported by numerous empirical studies revealing significant statistical relations between situations of so-called high expressed emotions and the outbreak of acute psychotic symptoms.
[16] Ciompi criticises aspects of contemporary treatment of psychosis, including excessively short bouts of hospitalisation combined with high neuroleptic medication intake, as well as, too often, trauma-inducing therapeutic settings characterised by discontinuity and violence.
Empirical research based on matched-pair comparisons has shown that outcome results over two years at Soteria Bern are objectively at least equivalent, and in the subjective experience better than traditional methods, with far less neuroleptic medication and at lower costs.
Some critics also argue that affect-logics places too much emphasis on emotions as the primary drivers of behaviour, and overlooks the role of cognitive processes in decision-making, as well as that of environmental stressors and genetic predispositions.
