Integration of clinical neuroscience into psychotherapy: A narrative review of neuroscience-informed psychotherapy models for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders

Yu Takizawa, Judith Murray, Matthew Bambling, Yuki Matsumoto, Yuma Ishimoto, Takahiro Yamane, Sisira Edirippulige

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

More than a century has passed since Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) proposed a need to investigate the neurological basis of psychotherapy and mental disorders. Investigation of the neurological basis of psychotherapy and mental disorders has accelerated over the last decades, especially with the advancement in neuroimaging technologies. To date, findings concerning clinical, cognitive, and behavioural neuroscience have already delivered a range of insights useful for improving the biopsychosocial understanding of humans and the practice of psychotherapy. Neuroscience has reinforced the understanding among psychotherapists that all mental processes—even the most elaborate psychological processes, such as perception, memory, mood, emotion, thoughts, and behaviour—derive from operations of the brain, and that the brain plays a key role in mediating between body and mind (Goss & Parnell, 2017; Raichlen & Alexander, 2017). Research studies have also identified that the operations of the brain are determined by neural networks that are plastic. Through the phenomenon known as neural plasticity, these networks responsively adapt to the environment by changing the strength and forms of connectivity through experiences. Therefore, plasticity is considered a key underlying mechanism of learning and memory (Butler et al., 2018).
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages21
JournalPsychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia
Volume10
Issue number
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Jul 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychotherapy
  • Mental illness
  • Depression
  • Anxiety

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