Dr Schiffer says visual stimulation with the special goggles he uses in therapy can activate one or the other side of the brain and therefore trigger either the calm and optimistic mind or the anxious and pessimistic mind. Dr Schiffer says the glasses help his patients get better by calling on their calm mind to help teach their anxious mind. So the glasses, really, through the eyes, help to isolate one part versus the other part. It's to get the healthy part to help the troubled part. Looking left or right in order to change our feelings or emotions is controversial.
Some neuroscientists are skeptical.
But many other experts believe that Dr Schiffer's theory is a logical extension of past studies showing that the two halves of our brain function quite differently. In other words, if our two halves can function differently, maybe they can feel differently. In 1995, Dr Schiffer decided to test that theory with an admittedly very low-tech experiment. And I didn't feel any different. But I went to the office that afternoon and, not expecting anything, I asked a patient to do it.