Neurobiology for Psychotherapists

This chapter introduces the reader to neurobiology that is relevant to and informs a neurosequential framework and emphasizes the importance of using this to shape psychotherapeutic interventions for young children, adolescents, and adults so that corrective, developmentally appropriate, and creative experiences can be identified and offered. Planning appropriate, sequential interventions requires that account is taken of the age of the client, their stage of development, any developmental trauma issues, and their clinical presentation. The environment shapes neurobiological development and attachment formation; a creative neurosequential approach to therapy maximizes potential for healing and promotes new neurological development by attending to what we now know about neuroscience, interpersonal neurobiology, memory, the stress response system, and the biology of both attachment and arousal. Therapeutic presence, underpinned by an understanding of neurophysiology, allows the therapist to make effective use of self, fully meet their client, facilitate a felt sense of safety, and be both receptive, and available as a co-regulator and active therapeutic agent.