Course Content

Clients often express frustration about their brain seemingly working against them during therapy, feeling like it's sabotaging their progress. This reflects the non-linear nature of psychotherapy, where old behaviors resurface, causing setbacks. This phenomenon is often explained as resistance, a common issue in therapy where clients unconsciously oppose change. Insight alone isn't always sufficient for lasting change; deep-seated behaviors often re-emerge under stress. Social behaviors, learned through operant conditioning, are deeply ingrained, often operating outside conscious awareness. The basal ganglia play a key role in forming and maintaining these behaviors. Resistance and relapse are influenced by the interplay between the basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex, with stress often undermining the prefrontal cortex's inhibitory control. Neuroscientific research supports the notion that psychotherapy can produce lasting change by reorganizing the brain, highlighting the importance of understanding the brain's multilayered structure and its implications for therapy.

  • Understand Resistance in Therapy: Define resistance and its manifestations in therapeutic settings. Explain why resistance occurs even when clients express a desire to change.

  • Insight and Behavioral Change: Discuss the concept of insight and its limitations in producing lasting behavioral change. Explore the role of self-monitoring and reactivity in behavior modification.

  • Role of Operant Conditioning in Social Behavior: Differentiate between classical and operant conditioning. Describe how social behaviors are learned and reinforced through operant conditioning. Identify the role of the basal ganglia in social behavior learning.

  • Impact of the Frontal Lobes on Behavior: Explain the functions of the prefrontal cortex in working memory, planning, and behavior adaptation. Discuss how stress affects the executive functioning of the frontal lobes and leads to resistance and relapse.

  • Neuroscientific Basis of Psychotherapy: Understand the brain's plasticity and its ability to reorganize through psychotherapy. Describe the multilayered structure of the brain and its implications for conflict between different neural systems. Explain how neurocognitive insights can help clients understand and manage their behaviors and emotional responses during therapy.

  • Application of Neuro-Education in Therapy: Discuss the importance of normalizing clients' experiences of difficulty in making changes. Explain how neuro-education can help clients be more patient and gentle with themselves during the therapeutic process. Highlight the significance of making unconscious processes conscious to facilitate behavioral and emotional change.

Course curriculum

    1. “Why does my brain hate me?” Resistance as relearning

    2. The Ubiquitous Phenomenon of Resistance

    3. The Ubiquitous Phenomenon of Resistance Quiz

    4. Insight Often Isn’t Enough

    5. Insight Quiz

    6. Social Behavior and Operant Conditioning

    7. Conditioning Quiz

    8. Social Learning, Operant Conditioning, and the Basal Ganglia

    9. Social Learning Quiz

    10. Resistance: Relapse, Relearning, and the Frontal Lobes

    11. Resistance Quiz

    12. Neuro-Education as Explanation, Not Excuse

    13. Neuro-Education Quiz

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