Brain2Brain: Enacting Client Change Through The Persuasive Power Of Neuroscience

Brain2Brain: Enacting Client Change Through the Persuasive Power of Neuroscience applies the popular topic of neuroscience in mental health to everyday practice, showing therapists how to teach their clients brain-based strategies for making changes and improving their lives. Cutting-edge findings in neuroscience are translated into language that clients will understand, and sidebars provide therapists more detailed information relating to particular disorders. With a holistic approach that incorporates mental, spiritual, and physical skills, knowledge, and exercises, this book provides a clear, complete resource for incorporating neuroscience into therapy. Case examples illustrate how the material can be used with different types of clients and situations, and sample dialogues and client handouts help therapists easily incorporate these techniques into their practice.

Many clients forget that there is a biological basis for everything the brain does, and the ways that activity manifests everyday – good or bad, healthy or dysfunctional, the very core of human consciousness boils down to a series of electrical impulses. This book helps therapists bring neuroscience into therapy, to teach clients how to work with their brain's innate processes to reinforce progress and achieve healthier outcomes.

• Learn techniques for dealing with client resistance factors
• Discover phrases and memory aides that help clients apply what they've learned in therapy
• Facilitate higher client motivation to engage in the therapeutic process
• Teach clients about the brain's relevance to their particular problem
• Find tools for explaining the role of diet, exercise, and sleep in mental health

When a client's treatment revolves around eliminating harmful thought patterns or behaviours, the therapeutic process can feel like a battle against their own brain. By bringing neuroscience into the treatment plan, therapists can shift the client's perspective to a more collaborative mindset, focused on the positive aspects of change. Brain2Brain: Enacting Client Change Through the Persuasive Power of Neuroscience provides the guidance therapists need to chart a clearer path to good mental health.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xix

About the Author xxi

1 Applying Neuroscience 1

• Teaching Practical Neuroscience 2

2 Promoting Brain Health 33

• First S of Planting SEEDS 33
• First E of SEEDS 36
• Education 39
• D of SEEDS 40
• Second S of Planting SEEDS 50

3 Developing Memory Systems 63

• Memory Systems 63

4 Autostress Disorders 91

• Top Down and Bottom Up 91

5 When Anxiety Is Generalized 113

• Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System 114

6 Focalized Anxiety 129

• Facing Fear and Avoidance 129
• Phobias 141
• Panic Disorder 143

7 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 149

• Phase 1: Stabilization 150
• Phase 2: Memory Integration 157
• Phase 3: Posttraumatic Growth 177

8 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 183

• Describing the OCD Circuit 185
• ORDER 192
• Health Obsessions 198

9 Depression 201

• Gender and Depression 201
• Role of Infl ammation 202
• Anxiety with Depression 205
• Shifting to Action 211
• Social Lift 216
• Default Mode and Rumination 218
• Orchestrating a Broad Approach 220

References 225

Author Index 247

Subject Index 255