Neuro-psychotherapy is a new and exciting theory which integrates neurobiology and psychotherapy. It is scientific and is based on the brain, its structure, the neurons and how it all wires together.

Simply put, the brain develops from the bottom up and from the inside out. Specifically this means that the primitive brain is fully functional first, then the impulsive brain and finally the smart brain.  The impulsive brain takes 25 years to be fully developed.

The primitive brain controls your heart and breathing and other basic functions.  The primitive brain is fully developed from birth and serves to protect you from danger. When you experience fear, the primitive brain readies your basic functions to save your life by giving you the energy and muscle strength to fight, or flee the danger.

How does it know you are in danger? It receives signals from the thalamus in the impulsive brain. The thalamus receives signals from your senses. Frequently, the stimuli are misread because of a past experience and the fight and flight response is set off when there is no real danger.

For example, let’s say that once when you were a baby a puppy jumped on you. You got a fright and so did your mum who screamed “Get off her!”. From that time onward, you would associate puppies and dogs as a cause for fear. Therefore, every time you see a dog, your impulsive brain triggers the primitive brain to set off the fight or flight response.

fear-of-dog

On a neurobiology level, you developed a memory loop that associates a dog with fear and danger. Neuropsychotherapy teaches us that it is possible to undo that memory loop and form new wholesome loops so that you are no longer afraid of dogs.

This is great information. In the past, it was believed that your brain was hard wired. Now we know that our brains have plasticity which means that even entrenched neural wiring can be undone over time. Even if you have been afraid of dogs for years, it is entirely possible that with the correct treatment you can become fearless.

What does this science mean for you on a practical level?

It means that you have cause to be optimistic if you suffer from anxiety or depression because you can change your brain. However, a few conditions are essential for change to occur.

  1. You must feel safe with your therapist
  2. You must feel connected to your therapist
  3. You must be prepared to give your treatment time – time, consistency and practice facilitate change.

Businessman at psychoanalysis

At Anxiety Solutions CBT we are committed to providing a safe, consistent environment. We set regular appointments and start and end punctually. You can rely on us to be there. We also understand the importance of having a good connection with your therapist. That is why we have an initial assessment period.  If your first therapist does not feel like a good fit, we are happy to swap to the person you feel most comfortable with.

We are skilled at IPT (interpersonal therapy) as well as CBT (Coginitive Behavioural Therapy). This means that we can tailor our treatment to your level of stress and anxiety.  If you need a bottom up approach we can deliver effective counselling.  Should you be ready for a bottom down approach, we have our exclusive CBT program.

cognative-therapy

We are also committed to keeping up with the latest in science and psychology so that we are certain we are providing evidence based, effective treatment.

Do not stay stuck in your negative memory loop.  Give us a call. Change your life for the better today.