Clinical musings on the nature of reality and “known experience.” Therapists must rely on their clients’ reporting of experience in order to assess, treat, and offer help. Yet we all experience the world through various filters of one sort or another, and our experiences are transformed through several nonconscious processes before reaching our conscious awareness. Science, philosophy, and wisdom traditions share the belief that our awareness is very restricted. How, then, can anyone accurately report their experience, let alone get help with it? Neuropsychologist Aldrich Chan examines how our experience of reality is assembled and shaped by biological, psychological, sociocultural, and existential processes. Each chapter explores processes within these domains that may act as “veils.” Topics in the book include: the default mode network, cognitive distortions, decision-making heuristics, the interconnected mind, memory, and cultural concepts of distress. By understanding the ways in which reality can be distorted, clinicians can more effectively help their clients reach their personal psychotherapeutic goals.

Clinical musings on the nature of reality and “known experience.” Therapists must rely on their clients’ reporting of experience in order to assess, treat, and offer help. Yet we all experience the world through various filters of one sort or another, and our experiences are transformed through several nonconscious processes before reaching our conscious awareness. Science, philosophy, and wisdom traditions share the belief that our awareness is very restricted. How, then, can anyone accurately report their experience, let alone get help with it? Neuropsychologist Aldrich Chan examines how our experience of reality is assembled and shaped by biological, psychological, sociocultural, and existential processes. Each chapter explores processes within these domains that may act as “veils.” Topics in the book include: the default mode network, cognitive distortions, decision-making heuristics, the interconnected mind, memory, and cultural concepts of distress. By understanding the ways in which reality can be distorted, clinicians can more effectively help their clients reach their personal psychotherapeutic goals.

The gold standard reference for all those who work with people with mental illness, Kaplan & Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, edited by Drs. Robert Boland and Marcia L. Verduin, has consistently kept pace with the rapid growth of research and knowledge in neural science, as well as biological and psychological science. This two-volume eleventh edition offers the expertise of more than 600 renowned contributors who cover the full range of psychiatry and mental health, including neural science, genetics, neuropsychiatry, psychopharmacology, and other key areas.

Couple psychotherapy can be significantly deepened and expedited by using present-time experience in the assessment process and by incorporating experiential interventions, says Fisher. Presumably a practitioner himself, he explains to fellow therapists how to do it, detailing the application of a b

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.

A clinical examination of the ways in which early neglect can impact adults throughout their lives, and suggestions for therapists on how to help. People who have experienced emotional neglect in the first months and years of life suffer negative consequences into adulthood. As adult psychotherapy clients, they require long-term work and delicate emotional attunement as well as a profound understanding of the experiences that have shaped their inner worlds. This book provides therapists with an in-depth view of the subjective experience of such “ignored children” and a range of possible theoretical models to help understand key features of their psychological functioning. Kathrin A. Stauffer presents do’s and don’t’s of psychotherapy with such clients. She draws on broad clinical experience to help psychotherapeutic professionals deepen their understanding of “ignored children” and outlines available neurobiological and psychological data to assist therapists in designing effective therapeutic interventions.