Science & Research

An alternative to the old talking cure is expanding the knowledge base of psychotherapy as we recognize the role that exercise, nutrition, spirituality... Read more

As neuroscience increasingly shows how wired we are to our intimate partners, an important question arises for therapists: Why do we primarily continue to see... Read more

Psychologist Darcher Keltner believes that underestimating our capacity for altruism does human nature a disservice. Read more

Plumbing the eternal question: Why are there bad people? Read more

Diana Fosha talks about why so many acronymic therapies—ADEP, DBT, IFS, ACT—resemble each other, and what that says about the therapy field today. Read more

While therapists may consider some intuitively appealing ideas about human development---like attachment theory---beyond dispute, the researcher's job is to... Read more

Fifty years of research has confirmed that the emotional quality of our earliest attachment relationships is central to our well-being as adults. Read more

Putting the power of neuroplasticity to work in the consulting room. Read more

Neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine has stirred up plenty of controversy by arguing that men and women have very different brains. Read more

While it's common knowledge that childhood trauma can have far-reaching consequences for adult mental health, its impact on adult physical health is less... Read more

Let's face it: love means something quite different to men and women. A look at other species of social mammals offers some remarkable insights into the... Read more

In the 1970s, the rise of Prozac, the DSM-III, and "evidence-based" therapies brought the appearance of coherence and order to mental health professions under... Read more

As we learn more about the brain, it becomes apparent that therapists need to pay at least as much attention to the body and nervous system (both their own and... Read more

For the firs time, we're beginning to understand how to directly delete emotional meanings attributed to disturbing past events. Read more

As unlikely as it may sound, the mathematics of complexity theory could offer us the key to the elusive secrets of mental health and personal well-being. Read more

How to get through to clients caught in fight-flight-freeze mode. Read more

More and more chronic pain patients are being referred to therapists after their physicians conclude that they show every appearance of being healed. Read more

The controversy over whether the ever-expanding number of recommended vaccines is putting children at risk for autism. Read more

Clinicians have long considered theories that emphasize inborn predispositions as antiquated and even reactionary. but the work of researchers like Jerome... Read more

This article first appeared in the September/October 2008 issue. Anyone who’s ever worked with trauma survivors knows the therapeutic challenge of... Read more

The human brain is an anachronistic menagerie that confronts the psychotherapist with the challenge of treating a human, a horse, and a crocodile, all... Read more

Our widespread fear of and disregard for darkness—both literal and figurative—may be the most overlooked factor in the contemporary epidemic of sleep... Read more

If you're a therapist these days, it's hard to open a publication—or your mailbox—without hearing about mindfulness. Are the Eastern wisdom traditions... Read more

As genomic science is increasingly able to map our future, therapists must help families make difficult decisions. Read more

All of us ruminate, bringing up the cud of old, unresolved problems. But far from being idle mind chatter, most of these mental distractions are actually the... Read more

How would it feel to sit completely still for a week, not communicating with anyone, just tuning in to the seemingly chaotic jumble of your own thoughts? A... Read more

In Washington, D.C., this fall, the Dalai Lama brought together a distinguished group of contemplatives and world-class scientists to explore the links between... Read more

As neuroscience was becoming the topic du jour of the therapy field, we sent Senior Editor Katy Butler to MIT on a mission. The result was, literally, a... Read more

Empathy may be the life's blood of good therapy, but scientifically, it's remained a rather fuzzy concept. Now a serendipitous lab discovery is showing how... Read more

Increasingly, neuroscience is making it clear that therapists rely too much on the consulting room drama of insight and not enough on good, old-fashioned... Read more