Why are we obsessed with psychotherapy and neuroscience?
Well, here it is. I gave my first talk at a scientific panel.
Although it wasn’t exactly about the title you just read, I still wondered.
Is it just me or are we collectively becoming more fascinated by the implications of neuroscience? Of course, now we have tools like ChatGPT and the humanoid robot NEO. They are marvelous creations that are not quite new. However, their applications in our daily lives are new and powerful. What a combination, isn’t it? I think about the times when we didn’t have ChatGPT, and I could almost feel it in my bones. How present I was, scrolling through Google’s search pages and surfing through the web. I felt like my brain was on a quest, that I had to find something. Anything to get through my classes or fulfill my insatiable curiosity. Did our parents feel that way when they breezed through volumes of books and papers? Well… perhaps not exactly breezed through, but you get my point.
Maybe because of the roles these advances play in our ordinary lives, we delve deeper into psychotherapy and neuroscience. Not that we didn’t before. But perhaps trying to figure out where we fit in a world that is rapidly changing is turning out to be more of a challenge than we expected. We want to figure out how our brain works, why we have a certain thought, why we seem not to focus or ruminate, why some people seem happier all the time or why we can’t get to the point where we want to in our lives? In this “modern” world, everyone’s looking for a sense of normality. Perhaps that desire is where we go wrong but I’ll save that discussion for another time.
Of course, these questions are complex and multilayered. Even if find the one single reason, we might not be too satisfied.
At our panel, we discussed brain networks, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) — a third-wave psychotherapy —and scientific experiments regarding both.
So what did we say?
Well, from my own experience and the scientific literature, the four key elements that work are these:
1. Compassion
2. Mindfulness
3. Being contextual and process-based
4. Exposure
But what do these mean?
In a nutshell, compassion is when you can hold space for your pain, your flaws, and still root for yourself — and sometimes do things that are hard. So it is not just the warmth of compassion that we need, but also its strength.
Mindfulness is what tells our brain where our feet are, where we are, right this second. Not in the future, not in the past, but right now. Here. Where am I? What am I feeling? What am I doing? What are my senses filling me with? Colors? Textures? Tightness? Relaxation? How does my breath feel? Where does it reach in my body?
Being contextual and process-based means, at least in psychotherapy, we don’t stick to rigid treatment plans but understand people in their context. Their voices and their stories. If something is workable, we don’t intervene.. Like a thought or a behavior, if it is working, we let it be. If it’s not, and it is making a person’s life more challenging, pushing them away from what matters, then we intervene.
Exposure is not forced. Yes, it can carry anxiety, fear, guilt, anger. But it is never forced. It is when we show up with those uncomfortable, feelings. Do things that have meaning for us. Say things that matter to us. Go to places or environments that are meaningful for us. Even if we haven’t been able to before. It is the last step, where we actively claim our lives back and begin living. A life of our own, not just one dictated by our protective mind.
If you are to take away two things from this short piece, let it be these:
To live your best life, either let these qualities in, or work with someone that will help bring these to your table.
And then may you be yourself, in a life of your own, as the whole of you. Maybe then we’ll finally understand why we are so obsessed with psychotherapy and neuroscience.
Best,
