Dr. Seiden is a Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist, licensed in New York and New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. and Masters from the Hofstra University Doctoral Program in Combined Clinical and School Psychology (APA Accredited), and interned at the South Nassau Communities Hospital Mental Health Clinic. He received specialized training in cognitive behavior therapy as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and as a Professional Associate of Psychology in Psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and completed training in hypnotherapy at the New York Milton H. Erickson Society for Hypnosis and Psychotherapy.
He was Founding President of the Cross-Cultural Behavior Therapy Special Interest Group of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy (now the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies); has published in books and journals on cognitive behavioral assessment and therapy; and has presented research at national and international psychology conferences. He was the invited author of the dictionary definitions for Cross-Cultural Behavior Therapy and Ethnocentrism in Key Words in Multicultural Interventions: A Dictionary (Mio, Trimble, Arredondo, Cheatham & Sue, 1999). In a recent article in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, he has proposed the theoretical and practical feasibility of a transpersonal behaviorism.
Dr. Seiden is on the Medical Staff of St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, NJ, as an Affiliate in the Department of Psychiatry. He is on the Editorial Board of the new Journal of Transpersonal Research, and has served as an invited reviewer for the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. He was formerly Director of the New York Family Studies Unit of the UCLA Center for Community Health, and has served as an NGO Representative to the United Nations for the International Union of Psychological Science. He is currently teaching and supervising in the Hong Kong Clinical Psychology PsyD Program of the California School of Professional Psychology; is an Adjunct Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University; and conducts a private practice in Central (CBTInstitute.com) in accordance with his integrated "Four Psychologies" approach to intervention: Preventive, Curative, Positive and Transpersonal (modified from Seiden & Lam, 2010). His model of "Integrated Cognitive Behavior Therapy" goes beyond a traditional focus on problems and illness by cultivating positive goals, exploring existential concerns such as life purpose and meaning, and teaching consciousness-raising practices such as meditation. Integrated CBT draws not only from cognitive behavioral theory and research, but as well from depth psychology; humanistic, positive, and transpersonal psychologies; lucid therapeutics; and the various Western and Eastern spiritual, meditative and contemplative traditions, especially the jnana yogic self-inquiry (“Who Am I,” Atma Vichara) of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunachala.
Clinical psychology; Transpersonal psychology; Psychotherapy-meditation integration; Induction, cultivation and applications of metachoric states of consciousness (e.g., lucid/conscious dreaming, out-of-body experiences).
As William James (the founder of the science of psychology and arguably the founder of transpersonal psychology) said over 100 years ago,
" . . . our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, 
and at a touch they are there in all their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of application and adaptation. No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. How to regard them is the question -- for they are so discontinuous with ordinary consciousness. Yet they may determine attitudes though they cannot furnish formulas, and open a region though they fail to give a map. At any rate, they forbid a premature closing of our accounts with reality." (William James, 1902, The Varieties of Religious Experience, pp. 378-379).
Now, the "requisite stimulus" that James personally applied happened to be nitrous oxide (not a controlled substance at that time), but there exist many safe, legal manners of inducing discrete altered states of consciousness (dASCs; Charles Tart, States of Consciousness, 1983/2000, p. 7) of potentially equal or greater interest than nitrous oxide intoxication. Given the applications of such states to important and diverse areas of human functioning (e.g., insight, creativity, innovation, life meaning, synergistic relationships with physical and social environments, psychological and physical healing, consciousness/spiritual evolution), my current areas of scientific interest accordingly center on the induction, cultivation and applications of one of these states which is both particularly remarkable and trainable, namely, the Metachoric State of Consciousness (MSoC), in which one has self-aware sensorimotoric experiences in perceptually realistic multidimensional environments, as fully realistic as the experience you're having right now, that are spatially or temporally different from the one in which the physical body is located.
The metachoric state (a term coined by Green C. & McCreery C., 1975, in their book Apparitions)has been receiving increasing scientific attention in its interpretations as a "Lucid Dream," "Out-of-Body Experience" and "Near Death Experience." It has a long tradition of cultivation in religious, spiritual, esoteric and mystical systems under other appellations including but not limited to "astral projection" in Western esotericism; as "pathworking" in the Western Mystery Tradition; as "Dream Yoga" in the Tibetan Bon and Buddhist traditions; as the kundalini awakening in yoga; as the Egress in Taoist Internal Alchemy; and as the "Vision Quest" in shamanic cultures. However much research is conducted into virtual reality technology (which is where all multimedia is clearly headed) which feeds the brain an externally designed environment with which to interact, at least as much research could fruitfully be devoted to investigating the innate ability of the human brain/mind/consciousness to create or tune in to a fully multisensory imaginal environment (an internally-generated "organic virtual reality," or perhaps a nonphysical locale consistent with quantum physics and multiverse theory) with which to interact for purposes of self-knowledge, innovation, healing, spiritual evolution, entertainment or otherwise.
Some current modalities of training this ability include
While some degree of controlled scientific research on these is taking place, and a great degree of self-experimentation is evident from the postings of various internet-based communities, there is a clear need to identify, using the scientific method, the most effective and reliable means of attaining the MSoC and subsequently using it for its various known and yet to be discovered purposes.
The effect of metachoric consciousness training on drug and alcohol abuse (Metachoric consciousness as a healthy and rewarding alternative to altered states produced by alcohol and illegal drugs).
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Seiden, D. Y. & Lam, K. N. (2010). From Moses and monotheism to Buddha and behaviorism: Cognitive behavior therapy’s transpersonal crisis. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 42(1), 89-113.
Sabourin, M., Galetter, F., Garcia-Estevez, M., Seiden, D. Y., Ilitis, C. E. (2001). The U.N. [United Nations] activities of the International Union of Psychological Science in 2001. International Journal of Psychology, 5(36), 341-350.
Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Seiden, D. Y., & Lam, K.N. (2001). Translating cultural observations into psychotherapy: A functional approach. In J. F. Schumaker & T. Ward (Eds.), Cultural cognition and psychopathology (pp. 193-212). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Seiden D. Y. (1999). The effect of research on practice in cross-cultural behavior therapy. A single case study: You're the case. the Behavior Therapist, 22(10), 200-201.
Seiden, D. Y. (1999). Barriers to effective cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy. In J. S. Mio, J. E. Trimble, P. A. Arredondo, H. E. Cheatham, & D. Sue (Eds.), Key words in multicultural interventions: A dictionary (pp. 28-29). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Seiden, D. Y. (1999). Cross-cultural behavior therapy. In J. S. Mio, J. E. Trimble, P. A. Arredondo, H. E. Cheatham, & D. Sue (Eds.), Key words in multicultural interventions: A dictionary (pp. 55-56). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Seiden, D. Y. (1999). Ethnocentrism. In J. S. Mio, J. E. Trimble, P. A. Arredondo, H. E. Cheatham, & D. Sue (Eds.), Key words in multicultural interventions: A dictionary (pp. 111-112). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Seiden, D. Y. (1999). Cross-cultural behavioral case formulation with Chinese Neurasthenia patients. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY.
Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Seiden, D. Y., & Lam, K. N. (1996). The Cross-Cultural Functional Assessment (CIFA) Interview: A strategy for culturally informed behavioral practice. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 3, 215-233.
Seiden, D. Y. (1994). Behavior and cognitive therapies in France: An oral history. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25(2), 105-112.
Seiden, D. Y. (2011, May). Karmic traces, psychodynamics and cognitive behavioral conditioning as theories of psychopathology: Lucid dreaming, Tibetan dream yoga, and their relevance to counseling and therapy for anxiety, depression and other life predicaments. Invited presentation to the Department of Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado
Seiden, D. Y. (2010, November). Transpersonal Behaviorism: At the interface of scientific psychology and the perennial way. The Science of Consciousness Forum. Panel conducted at the Asia Consciousness Festival, Hong Kong.
Seiden, D. Y. (2010, November). A group wake-back-to-bed experiential trial of psychological and nutriceutical-based induction of shared lucid dreaming. Invited address at Shifting Hong Kong, 2012, with Ervin Laszlo. Asia Consciousness Festival, Kadoorie Institute, Hong Kong.
Seiden, D. Y., Lam, K. N., & Tanaka-Matsumi, J. (1998, July). Cross-cultural behavioral assessment research: Design, implementation, analysis and dissemination. In G. Y. Iwamasa (Chair), Cognitive behavioral clinical work, training and practice. Symposium conducted at the World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Acapulco, Mexico.
Seiden, D. Y., Tanaka-Matsumi, J., & Lam, K. N. (1998, July). Cross-cultural cognitive-behavioral case formulation and treatment planning: Decision content and interclinician agreement. In J. Tanaka-Matsumi (Chair), Cross-cultural functional assessment. Symposium conducted at the World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Acapulco, Mexico.
J. Borrego, R. C. Fudge, C. R. Martell, T. Sbrocco, D. Y. Seiden, & A. R. Wolfson (invited panelists). In G. Y. Iwamasa (Chair), S.C. Hayes & R. M. Suinn (Discussants). Behavior therapy and cultural diversity: Is there a commitment? Panel discussion submitted for presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT), Washington, D. C., November, 1998.
Seiden, D. Y., Lam, K. N., & Tanaka-Matsumi (1998, February). Behavioral case formulation as an alternative to Western and "culture-bound" diagnostic classification. In R. Bonier (Chair), Improved methods of diagnosing mental illness. Symposium conducted at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston.
Lam, K. N., Seiden, D. Y., & Tanaka-Matsumi, J. (1997, November). Using the Culturally-Informed Functional Assessment (CIFA) Interview for case formulation with "culture-bound syndromes." In D. Y. Seiden, (Chair), Cross-cultural behavior therapy: Research and practice. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Annual Convention of the Association for advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT), Miami.
Seiden, D. Y. (Chair). (1997, November) Cross-cultural behavior therapy: Research and practice. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT), Miami.
Seiden, D. Y., & Tanaka-Matsumi, J. (1997, November). An agenda for research on cross-cultural behavioral case formulation. In D. Y. Seiden, (Chair), Cross-cultural behavior therapy: Research and practice. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT), Miami.
Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Seiden, D. Y., & Lam, K. N. (1996, November). Cross-cultural functional analysis: A strategy for culturally informed clinical assessment. In M. M. Antony & R. C. Fudge (Chairpersons), Obsessive compulsive behavior, cultural diversity in behavior therapy. Poster session conducted at the meeting of the Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT), New York.
Seiden, D. Y., Lam, K. N., & Tanaka-Matsumi, J. (1996, June). Teaching cross-cultural abnormal psychology: A framework for organizing research from diverse disciplines. Participant idea exchange at the 3rd Annual American Psychological Society Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, San Francisco.
Seiden, D. Y., Lam, K. N., & Tanaka-Matsumi, J. (1996, February). Taijin Kyofusho: Cultural context of social phobias in Japan. In J. Draguns (Chair) & H. Fabrega, Jr. (Discussant), Social Phobia, Taijin Kyofusho and Anthropophobia: Three disorders or one? Observations in China, Japan and the United States. Symposium presented at the Society for Cross-Cultural Research, Pittsburgh.
Xydas, M., Lam, K. N., Tanaka-Matsumi, J., & Seiden, D. Y. (1995, July). Implications of "wrong" responses in facial recognition of emotion. Poster presented at the Fourth European Congress of Psychology, Athens, Greece.
Xydas, M., Lam, K. N., Tanaka-Matsumi, J., & Seiden, D. Y. (1995 March). Nonrandom "errors" in facial recognition of emotion: Relative versus absolute judgment. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston.
Seiden, D. Y., Hernandez, J., & Kondo, T. (1995). Help-seeking preferences of international students for personal problems and symptoms of Major Depressive Episode. Unpublished manuscript, Hofstra University.
Tanaka-Matsumi, J., & Seiden D. Y. (1994, November). Functional analytic approaches to cross-cultural therapy. In G. Y. Iwamasa & D. W. Nangle (Chairpersons), Ethnicity and cultural diversity in AABT: Are we doing enough? Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT), San Diego, California.
Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Seiden, D.Y., Xydas, M., & Lam, K. N. (1994, July). Method factors in judgment studies of facial expressions: Implications for the universality hypothesis. Symposium paper presented at the International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Pamplona, Spain.
Seiden, D. Y. (1993, November). Behavior therapy in France. In H. Kassinove (Chair), The state of behavior therapy around the world: Russia, France, Greece and Japan. Symposium paper presented at the 27th Annual Convention of the Association of Behavior Therapy, Atlanta, Georgia.
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