Therapists were doing helpful work long before neuroscience made its official debut and the field developed a collective case of “brain fever.” Good therapists have always known that to help people change the way they feel and behave, we have to help them change the way they use their brains every day, not tell them about their neural processes. By actively creating vivid, impactful therapeutic experiences, we can transform our clients’ perceptions of their own reality, shifting the way they think and feel about themselves and their capacity for change.

With all the buzz about brain science, is it possible to lose sight of the mind? Dan Siegel, pioneer in the applications of brain science to psychotherapy, wants to make sure we don't, reminding us that the mind is much bigger than the brain. It extends throughout the whole body and it also includes other people.

According to Dan Siegel, understanding the connection between the brain and the miraculously various operations of the human mind and body is the first step in applying the findings of brain science in clinical practice. In the following video clip, he explains why integration is the critical brain function for supporting that healing connection.

For nearly 50 years, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has claimed higher scientific authority among the vast legion of psychotherapy approaches as a result of having more research demonstrate its effectiveness than any other therapeutic method. But recent developments have raised questions about whether the effectiveness and scientific bona fides of CBT have been overstated.

According to trauma specialist Peter Levine, the body is the therapist's greatest tool in helping clients understand and heal from a traumatic event. So rather than focus on the event itself, Levine asks clients to focus on how their body manifests the trauma. In this brief video clip, he shares his method.

If you’ve got a client who frequently oversleeps, binges on junk food and alcohol, and passes up fresh air for hours in front of the television, there’s a good chance these bad habits will hinder any progress you make in therapy sessions.

According to therapist Bruce Ecker, a founding director of the Coherence Psychology Institute and co-author of Unlocking the Emotional Brain, the first step in helping clients understand why they have certain self-limiting thoughts that drive their behaviors in negative ways is getting to the root of those thoughts. That’s why Bruce uses the “overt statement” technique, which is useful in many therapeutic scenarios, but especially helpful where attachment injuries are concerned.

When clients are emotionally worked up, caught in fight-flight-freeze mode, all their hard-earned skills in empathic listening and responsible (and responsive) speaking go out the window. Nothing therapeutic is going to happen until they feel calm enough and safe enough to reengage with each other. But by teaching behavior that helps clients' brains release oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone which stimulates feelings of bonding and trust, and reduces fear and anxiety, we can create potent catalysts of psycho-physiological change.

What we clinicians have learned in recent years about the intricacies of the brain's implicit memory systems has certainly helped us better recognize the linkage between distressing or traumatic experiences and many of the previously puzzling symptoms clients bring to our offices. But now brain science is beginning ...

Neuroscience has yet to magically transform psychotherapy, making all that was opaque, hidden, and out of control now clear, open, and well regulated. Yet a new wave of neuroscience centered on memory reconsolidation offers us specific knowledge of the steps through which people change their subcortical minds deeply and transformationally, altering their understanding of how the world functions, what their most intimate relationships mean to them, and how to expand their ability to respond flexibly to life’s challenges.