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William Miller, (505) 277-2384 Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821

October 26, 2001

UNM DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR FEATURED AT BOOK SIGNING
Quantum Change: Bridging the Schism of Between Science and Spirituality Focus of Book

University of New Mexico Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Dr. William Miller, will be the featured guest at a signing unveiling his new book, "Quantum Change: When Epiphanies and Sudden Insights Transform Ordinary Lives," at the new Barnes and Noble Book Store at Coronado Center on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m.

Psychologists talk about change all the time. They dissect the tiny steps of gradual change in order to help people quit smoking, reduce panic attacks, and ease depression. But psychologists have rarely addressed change that occurs spontaneously, in sudden large transformations that happen outside the context of professional help. Miller, along with co-author Janet C'de Baca, explore these Ebenezer Scrooge transformations that happen to ordinary people in everyday life.

"Quantum change is a vivid, surprising, benevolent, and enduring personal transformation, occurring over several minutes to several days," said Miller. "People aren't seeking such change and they don't expect it. It is not that values were slightly modified or amended, rather, the person's value system was often turned upside down. The biggest single change in values was in the central priority given to spirituality after a quantum change experience."

The book, from Guilford Press (2001), discusses through in-depth interviews and surveys, how lives are affected through quantum change. When asked what changed, the typical response from interviewees was 'Everything.' What seems to shift though is how a person understands and perceives reality.

The authors have developed five perspectives on how and why quantum change may occur.

The first is the Breaking point: For some, quantum change occurs at a point of desperation, where "something has to give."

2. Deep discrepancy: Like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, these people have no obvious crisis or personal pain-the change erupts into their lives uninvited. Only in retrospect is the "discrepancy" evident.
3. Personal maturation: Quantum change is also personal integration, a growth experience. Where once there was discord and conflict, these people gain peaceful acceptance and integrity.
4. Particular person: Some quantum changers were quite "intuitive," or they had survived suffering or trauma. A few had been diagnosed with a mental disorder. These characteristics may have made them more prepared for a quantum change.
5. Sacred encounter: Most participants understood what happened to them as something "sacred" - such as an encounter with God, though not all quantum changers used God language.

"It's a transcendent experience in that most of these people, regardless of the content of the experience, report something done to them," explains Miller. "They report being acted upon by something outside themselves. They have the experience of being in the flow of something larger than themselves."

The author of more than 25 books, Miller is an award-winning clinical researcher studying addictions, and the creator of the widely used "motivational interviewing" approach to helping substance abusers. He has been teaching at UNM for 25 years and his scientific publications reflect his interests in the psychology of change, the treatment of additions, and the interface of psychology and spirituality.

C'de Baca is a research scientist at the Behavioral Health Science Research Center of the Southwest in Albuquerque. Her interests include cross-cultural psychology and the prevention and treatment of addictive behaviors.

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