Dan Siegel knows science. In fact, he has a profound appreciation for the ways that diverse disciplines from physics to ecology can inform and enhance psychotherapeutic practice. Challenging therapists to question reductionist thinking, Siegel teaches us how all DSM diagnoses are better understood as problems clients have integrating brain centers. Instead of chasing symptoms in our assessment, diagnostic and treatment protocols, he provides insights and tools with which therapists can rebalance the flow of energy and information within and between people.
Our minds are exquisite reflections of complex brain processes and to Siegel, psychotherapists can and should be students of the brain. He proposes that by so doing they will understand that as a complex system, the brain has the property of “emergence,” the capacity to learn and grow. As a therapist, this discussion will help you appreciate how somatic and mindfulness-based techniques help clients tap into this emergence to build self-awareness, self-regulation, and freedom from rigidity and chaos. In the process, you will learn to guide clients in replacing symptoms of substance abuse, mood, anxiety and even psychotic disorders with self-awareness, self-regulation and happiness.
