Brain

Until recently, the impact of brain science on the everyday work of most therapists has been pretty limited. According to Rick Hanson, that’s because we’ve... Read more

How can therapists acquire neuroscientific knowledge without becoming brain scientists themselves? Even more pressing, what real-life practical therapeutic... Read more

For nearly 20 years, psychiatrist Daniel Amen has led a controversial crusade to make brain imaging an accepted part of psychotherapeutic practice. Read more

Twenty-five years ago, we believed that helping trauma survivors dig into dark and unspeakable horrors would set them free. But in this new age of trauma... Read more

To get through to clients in our increasingly ADD culture, therapists must learn to evoke a deeper, more visceral engagement with them. At this year’s... Read more

Brain games and grad prospects Read more

The increasing popularity of neurofeedback is based on the growing evidence that a wide variety of psychological disorders can be understood as firing mistakes... Read more

Therapeutic skeptics still cite the possibility of stirring up intense transference and countertransference responses as a compelling reason not to use more... Read more

Jeff explains the tools he uses to make therapy a true experience—including trance, novelty, and precision in his use of language, and resonant gestures that... Read more

In the late 1970s, before mindfulness exercises caught on in psychotherapy, mindfulness meditation was making inroads into the medical community. This was... Read more

In this clip Stephen Gilligan talks about one of the techniques he employs to help new clients be more specific in setting their therapy goals. Read more

It’s the very fact that both emotion and reasoning ability are held hostage by their body’s continuing physical reaction to trauma that makes healing so... Read more

What’s happening when a client suffering from symptoms of depression is willing to follow the therapist’s voice with eyes closed? According to Zindal Segal... Read more

Zin Segal discusses how clients can achieve mindful awareness of their emotional states in just three minutes. Read more

Michael Yapko lays out a variety of reasons why antidepressants are not the solution for every client suffering from depression. Read more

It’s an article of faith among many somatically-oriented practitioners that the body knows more, knows it more directly, and expresses it more honestly than... Read more

More and more therapists have begun wondering how far all our impressive-sounding talk about the brain has gone in improving therapy’s effectiveness. After... Read more

Labeling behavior in fancy neurophysiological terms can make what we do sound more scientifically rigorous than the notoriously fuzzy language of... Read more

Most of us put much too much faith in the power of our conscious minds to bring about lasting change. Instead of looking up the higher branches of... Read more

If therapists are going to bring genuine insights—not just soundbites—from neuroscience into the practice of therapy, they need the nuanced, sophisticated... Read more

More than any other positive emotion, love resides within connections. It extends beyond personal boundaries to characterize the vibe that pulsates between and... Read more

Much can be made of the power of positive thinking, but the real question is, why do we tend toward the negative in the first place? Read more

Therapists of the '70s and '80s saw meditation as either a fading hippie pursuit or a nonvaluable relaxation method. On the other hand, meditation teachers... Read more

Changes in the habitual attitudes and behaviors that shape our lives rarely happen as the result of psychological epiphanies or emotional catharsis. Most... Read more

Some people can drink to excess for years without experiencing the negative consequences that can destroy their lives. So when does someone cross the tenuous... Read more

Most clients have automatic habits of thinking, feeling, and verbalizing experiences that imprison them in a world of gray sameness. How do we help them... Read more

How do you help 200 teenagers who’ve had to flee their country find a path to peace in a new place? A psychiatrist who’s traveled across the world to help... Read more

Although the idea that the mind and body are inextricably linked is widely accepted in our field, many clinicians remain too focused on words to hear the... Read more

Pat Love explains how the brain engages and reflects with the emotional state of others and why it comes down to gender. Read more

For decades therapists have been taught that there are two sides of the autonomic nervous system complementing each other. But according to Stephen... Read more