The Neuroscience of Psychological Therapies

The Neuroscience of Psychological Therapies summarizes knowledge of brain function and brain behavior relationships within the context of psychotherapy implementation. It describes how specific locations in the brain carry out specific activities, how the different activities are combined to yield normal and pathological behavior, and how knowledge of brain activities can guide psychological assessment and intervention. Specific topics include the influence of neural networks on discovery and change, the therapist’s neuroscience, communicating with patients using the brain as reference, and using neuroscience concepts to compare and integrate traditional schools of psychotherapy. Applying a neuroscience framework to conceptualization and treatment of depression is offered as an example, and specific issues associated with trauma and false memories are discussed. The book is aimed at anyone working within a psychotherapy framework and who wishes to discover more about brain function and brain/behavior relationships.

• Provides a framework that helps the clinician, as a new reader of neuroscience, understand how the brain as a whole works, particularly with regard to psychological therapies • Neuroscience concepts are presented in simplified form to maximise readability and understandability • Provides brain-based explanations of everyday personal experience to facilitate dialogue with clients

Contents

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Neuropsychological concepts; 3. Neural networks; 4. Memory and learning; 5. Affect; 6. Anxiety; 7. Processes of brain development; 8. Themes of brain development; 9. Basic concepts: summary and integration; 10. Introduction to neuroscience applications in psychotherapy; 11. Intake and assessment; 12. Neural networks in therapy; 13. Affect in therapy; 14. Memory and change; 15. Anxiety and change; 16. The experience of improvement in psychotherapy; 17. The therapist’s neuroscience; 18. Communicating with patients through neuroscience; 19. Integrating traditional therapies; 20. Applying neuroscience to depression intervention; 21. Neuroscience and psychotherapy: moving forward; Appendix 1. Neuroimaging and psychological therapies.

Review

'In this superb new volume, Rowland Folensbee functions as a tour guide to the reader. He takes his readers on an enjoyable and stimulating journey through the brain and contemporary neuroscience while avoiding both condescension and obfuscation. In an eminently readable prose style, he illustrates how an understanding of the brain can illuminate the dark recesses of the human mind that emerge in psychotherapeutic treatment.' Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., Baylor College of Medicine