Outline

How Neuroscience Can Enhance Therapy:

What (and Why) Clinicians Need to Know About the Nervous System

• Brain basics – structure and function
  • 12 structures you need to know
  • How the brain organizes
• Key pathways involved in common disorders
  • Pain pathway
  • Reward pathway
  • Fear-stress pathway
• Default Mode and Task Mode Networks
• Impact of relationships on our nervous system
  • Mirror neurons
  • Oxytocin
• Simple explanations and 3-D brain model for clients
• How neurobiology can help you to determine treatment methods and set goals
• ”Our brains” and objectivity in therapy
• Limitations of “brain-based” approaches

Neuroplasticity and the Potential for Change

• Hype vs. the “two-way” street of brain plasticity
• Physical vs. functional change – structural or at the synapse
• The strength of connections
• Timeframes for change
• How neuroplasticity can help you foster change
  • Explaining neuroplasticity to clients

Treatment Strategies and Interventions for Common Disorders (And the Neuroscience Behind Them)

Anxiety

• The neural bases of threat processing
• Key CBT concepts and techniques
• Combining cognitive work with:
  • Mindful awareness of emotions
  • Get physical – how using the body can ease anxiety symptoms
  • Breathing exercises and relaxation training

Depression

• The depressed brain – structural and functional
• The neural interrelationships of depression and anxiety
• Behavioral activation – get active!
• Mindfulness as an adjunctive approach
• Compassion, gratitude and depressive symptoms

Trauma

• Malleability of memory: implications for trauma treatment
• How childhood trauma changes the developmental trajectory of the brain
• Polyvagal Theory, trauma and the body – the research
• Imagery techniques – imaginal exposure
• Grounding and interoception

Stress

• How stress impacts the nervous system
• The adverse effects of long-term stress exposure
• The role of the stress/fear pathway
• CBT-based coping skills for stressful situations

Substance Use Disorders

• Brain areas involved in addiction
• Pleasure and pain pathways
• Prefrontal connections and judgement
• How addiction can change the brain
• Motivational Interviewing
• Contingency management

The Limitations of Neuroscientific Research and Potential Treatment Risks

• fMRI imaging – blood flow vs. neuronal activity
• How only looking at brain activations produces an incomplete picture
• Neuroscientific studies, sample size, and validity
• Animal research – directly applicable to humans?
• Psychotherapeutic techniques – specific limitations and risks