Neuroscience of Enduring Change


Book Description

Neuroscience of Enduring Change presents the first brain-based theory of how enduring change occurs in psychotherapy, the latest research evidence supporting it, a discussion of the application to several leading forms of psychotherapy, and a description of the research agenda going forward.




Neuroscience of Enduring Change


Book Description

Neuroscience of Enduring Change is founded on the premise that all major psychotherapy modalities producing enduring change do so by virtue of corrective emotional experiences that alter problematic memories through the process of reconsolidation. This book is unique in linking basic science concepts to clinical research and clinical application. Experts in each area address each of the basic science and clinical topics. No other book addresses a general mechanism of change in psychotherapy in combination with the basic science underpinning it. This book is also unique in bringing the latest neuroimaging evidence and cutting-edge conceptual approaches to bear in understanding how psychological and behavioral treatment approaches bring about lasting change in the brain. Clinicians will benefit from the detailed discussion of basic mechanisms that underpin their clinical interventions and will be challenged to consider how their approach to therapy might be adjusted to optimize the opportunities for enduring change. Researchers will benefit from authoritative reviews of extant knowledge and a clear description of the research agenda going forward. The cross-fertilization between the research and clinical domains is evident throughout.




Brainwashed


Book Description

Demonstrates how the explanatory power of brain scans in particular and neuroscience more generally has been overestimated, arguing that the overzealous application of brain science has undermined notions of free will and responsibility.




Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion


Book Description

This book, a member of the Series in Affective Science, is a unique interdisciplinary sequence of articles on the cognitive neuroscience of emotion by some of the most well-known researchers in the area. It explores what is known about cognitive processes in emotion at the same time it reviews the processes and anatomical structures involved in emotion, determining whether there is something about emotion and its neural substrates that requires they be studied as a separate domain. Divided into four major focal points and presenting research that has been performed in the last decade, this book covers the process of emotion generation, the functions of amygdala, the conscious experience of emotion, and emotion regulation and dysregulation. Collectively, the chapters constitute a broad but selective survey of current knowledge about emotion and the brain, and they all address the close association between cognitive and emotional processes. By bringing together diverse strands of investigation with the aim of documenting current understanding of how emotion is instantiated in the brain, this book will be of use to scientists, researchers, and advanced students of psychology and neuroscience.




Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy


Book Description

Most psychological disorders involve distressful emotions, yet emotions are often regarded as secondary in the etiology and treatment of psychopathology. This book offers an alternative model of psychotherapy, using the patient’s emotions as the focal point of treatment. This unique text approaches emotions as the primary source of intervention, where emotions are appreciated, experienced, and learned from as opposed to being regulated solely. Based on the latest developments in affective neuroscience, Dr. Stevens applies science-based interventions with a sequential approach for helping patients with psychological disorders. Chapters focus on how to use emotional awareness, emotional validation, self-compassion, and affect reconsolidation in therapeutic practice. Interventions for specific emotions such as anger, abandonment, jealousy, and desire are also addressed. This book is essential reading for clinicians practicing psychotherapy, social workers and licensed mental health counselors, as well as anyoe interested in the emotional science behind the brain.




Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain


Book Description

Cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to reveal that, contrary to popular belief, we have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. Recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to change in response to experience—reveal that the brain is capable of altering its structure and function, and even of generating new neurons, a power we retain well into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma, compensate for disabilities, rewire itself to overcome dyslexia, and break cycles of depression and OCD. And as scientists are learning from studies performed on Buddhist monks, it is not only the outside world that can change the brain, so can the mind and, in particular, focused attention through the classic Buddhist practice of mindfulness. With her gift for making science accessible, meaningful, and compelling, science writer Sharon Begley illuminates a profound shift in our understanding of how the brain and the mind interact and takes us to the leading edge of a revolution in what it means to be human. Praise for Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain “There are two great things about this book. One is that it shows us how nothing about our brains is set in stone. The other is that it is written by Sharon Begley, one of the best science writers around. Begley is superb at framing the latest facts within the larger context of the field. This is a terrific book.”—Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers “Excellent . . . elegant and lucid prose . . . an open mind here will be rewarded.”—Discover “A strong dose of hope along with a strong does of science and Buddhist thought.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune




Bliss Brain


Book Description

Award Winner in the Science category of the 2020 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest Award-winning author and thought leader Dawson Church, Ph.D., blends cutting-edge neuroscience with intense firsthand experience to show you how you can rewire your brain for happiness-starting right now. Neural plasticity-the discovery that the brain is capable of rewiring itself-is now widely understood. But what few people have grasped yet is how quickly this is happening, how extensive brain changes can be, and how much control each of us has over the process. In Bliss Brain, famed researcher Dawson Church digs deep into leading-edge science, and finds stunning evidence of rapid and radical brain change. In just eight weeks of practice, 12 minutes a day, using the right techniques, we can produce measurable changes in our brains. These make us calmer, happier, and more resilient. When we cultivate these pleasurable states over time, they become traits. We don't just feel more blissful as a temporary state; the changes are literally hard-wired into our brains, becoming stable and enduring personality traits. The startling conclusions of Church's research show that neural remodeling goes much farther than scientists have previously understood, with stress circuits shriveling over time. Simultaneously, "The Enlightenment Circuit"-associated with happiness, compassion, productivity, creativity, and resilience-expands. During deep meditation, Church shows how "the 7 neurochemicals of ecstasy" are released in our brains. These include anandamide, a neurotransmitter that's been named "the bliss molecule" because it mimics the effects of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. It boosts serotonin and dopamine; the first is an analog of psilocybin, the second of cocaine. He shows how cultivating these elevated emotional states literally produces a self-induced high. While writing Bliss Brain, Church went through a series of disasters, including escaping seconds ahead of a California wildfire that consumed his home and office and claimed 22 lives. The fire triggered a painful medical condition and a financial disaster. Through it all, Church steadily practiced the techniques of Bliss Brain while teaching them to thousands of other people. This book weaves his story of resilience into the fabric of neuroscience, producing a fascinating picture of just how happy we can make our brains, no matter what the odds.




Change in Emotion and Mental Health


Book Description

This book summarizes how awareness of one's emotions, emotion regulation, emotion appraisal, emotionally laden memories, and emotional competencies influence mental health. Each component is discussed with regard to mechanisms, development, and their impact on psychotherapy. The first part of the book discusses theories linking emotional processes, psychopathology, and mental health. The second part of the book discusses the developmental pathways of change in emotional processes over the lifespan. The third part of the book discusses pathways of change in emotional processes during psychotherapy and includes different forms of treatment of psychological disorders. - Reviews how emotion affects mental health and vice versa - Identifies how emotional processing changes during psychotherapy - Examines emotion awareness and understanding, appraisal and reappraisal, regulation, memories, and emotion competencies and transformation - Includes theory and research




Handbook of Episodic Memory


Book Description

Episodic memory is the name of the kind of memory that records personal experiences instead of the mere remembering of impersonal facts and rules. This type of memory is extremely sensitive to ageing and disease so an understanding of the mechanisms of episodic memory might lead to the development of therapies suited to improve memory in some patient populations. Episodic memory is unique in that it includes an aspect of self-awareness and helps us to remember who we are in terms of what we did and what we have been passed through and what we should do in the future. This book brings together a renowned team of contributors from the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and behavioural and molecular neuroscience. It provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of recent developments in understanding human episodic memory and animal episodic-like memory in terms of concepts, methods, mechanisms, neurobiology and pathology. The work presented within this book will have a profound effect on the direction that future research in this topic will take. - The first and most current comprehensive handbook on what we know about episodic memory, the memory of events, time, place, and emotion, and a key feature of awareness and consciousness - Articles summarize our understanding of the mechanisms of episodic memory as well as surveying the neurobiology of epsidodic memory in patients, animal studies and functional imaging work - Includes 34 heavily illustrated chapters in two sections by the leading scientists in the field




The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain (Second Edition)


Book Description

How the brain's architecture is related to the problems, passions, and aspirations of human beings. In contrast to this view, recent theoretical advances in brain imaging have revealed that the brain is an organ continually built and re-built by one's experience. We are now beginning to learn that many forms of psychotherapy, developed in the absence of any scientific understanding of the brain, are supported by neuroscientific findings. In fact, it could be argued that to be an effective psychotherapist these days it is essential to have some basic understanding of neuroscience. Louis Cozolino's The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, Second Edition is the perfect place to start. In a beautifully written and accessible synthesis, Cozolino illustrates how the brain's architecture is related to the problems, passions, and aspirations of human beings. As the book so elegantly argues, all forms of psychotherapy--from psychoanalysis to behavioral interventions--are successful to the extent to which they enhance change in relevant neural circuits. Beginning with an overview of the intersecting fields of neuroscience and psychotherapy, this book delves into the brain's inner workings, from basic neuronal building blocks to complex systems of memory, language, and the organization of experience. It continues by explaining the development and organization of the healthy brain and the unhealthy brain. Common problems such as anxiety, trauma, and codependency are discussed from a scientific and clinical perspective. Throughout the book, the science behind the brain's working is applied to day-to-day experience and clinical practice. Written for psychotherapists and others interested in the relationship between brain and behavior, this book encourages us to consider the brain when attempting to understand human development, mental illness, and psychological health. Fully and thoroughly updated with the many neuroscientific developments that have happened in the eight years since the publication of the first edition, this revision to the bestselling book belongs on the shelf of all practitioners.