The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain

The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain

Book Outline

Dr. Cozolino, the clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Pepperdine University updated his book in the year 2002 with the name Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain. This book was previously named as Building and Rebuilding the Human Brain. In the recent edition several current studies of science have been included, that were not used in the previous edition. The thesis of Dr. Cozolino related to brain's plasticity that was presented in his book Neuroscience of Human Relationships (2006) is repeated here in this book.

Cozolino gets difficult subject fields like physiology and neuroanatomy and applies those subjects in practical and useful manner. The writing of Cozolino in this book involves attraction and the book is improved from its previous editions as it offers some relevant quotes at the beginning of every section, for instance “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions. Leonardo da Vinci” (p. 86) and also in the discussion of mirror neurons, “Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.” Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (p. 187).

Cozolino has provided 76 pages in order to carry his thesis and has shaped various visual images of neuroanatomy and figures describing complex physiological results in the nervous system.

Present studies utilizing the newest in medical views provide support to the thesis of Cozolino; however, he is not at all times clear about the actuality that few of the studies have been conducted on animals in laboratory rather than on the humans. Cozolino does recognize the complexity in performing such types of persistent studies on subjects of human.

Part One

The part one of the book is the summary of how psychotherapy and neuroscience intersect. In this part, there is discussion that learning about thinking in a different way transforms the brain physiologically and structurally. In this part of the book, several healing school of thoughts are provided along with how the provided approach can bring about the physical changes in the brain. In this part of the book, systems therapy and Murray Bowen are presents as an effort to incorporate left and right hemisphere of the brain and enhance networks of processing and also the neural link from the left brain to right brain. In this part the Cozolino has described that the higher degree of affect impede thinking, while moderate degree improves the processes of neuroplasticity, which as a result support emotion and cognition. The concept of right hemisphere to left hemisphere, as well as cortex (top) to amygdale and brain stem (bottom) neural links growing in excess of evolutionary period is a persistent theme in the whole book.

Parts Two and Three

The part two and three of the book delve into the physical brain's evolution and also that why disorders of psychiatry might contribute themselves to psychoanalysis. If depression and anxiety are to some extent the outcome of partiality towards processing of right hemisphere, then any kind of successful therapy ...