Neurobiology and its Applications to Psychotherapy

The Brain-Mind mechanisms of SEEKING: depression, aliveness, and the location of the core self with clinical implications

Panksepp continues to explain emotional primary processes as the (sub-cortical) origin of feelings. He suggests that psychotherapy can be more effective if drugs are used to dampen the effects of primary emotional systems, and discusses psychotropic treatments for depression. It is proposed that depression is a disorder of the SEEKING system, and by seeing it in this way we have the opportunity to create more effective treatments. Panksepp proposes that psychotherapy clients are often dealing with primitive emotions that have taken over the higher mind and that we therefore need to work in the domain of emotional primary processes. Pharmacological therapies focus on biological similarities; psychotherapeutic approaches focus on the unique experience that each patient brings. Panksepp is a passionate critic of “ruthless reductionism” and asserts that scientific facts are not useful unless combined with concepts. He emphasizes the plasticity of the brain – a key concept for understanding psychotherapeutic change.