Because neuroscience has shown us that from birth our experiences wire us to react a certain way to our interpersonal interactions, we find ourselves saying “that’s just the way I am”. Have you ever had someone tell you, “You’ll have to accept me for the way I am. I’ll never change.”?
Our brains are powerful! We can change. But only if we want to. Our brains have highways of “wiring” from our life experiences. Perhaps our experiences caused some faulty wiring! However, like a house, we can “rewire” our brains by building new highways (giving our brains new information and new ways to process our experiences).
Psychotherapy is a powerful tool to “rewire” our brains. We live in a world of interpersonal regulation. We have social brains and were designed for attachment and bonding. Psychotherapy can offer an environment that facilitates change in our brain’s circuitry. It does this by:
- utilizing multiple means of influencing the brain
- selecting and combining different treatments for particular clients
- educating our clients about brain functions
- encouraging the rewriting of self-narrative by recognizing the malleability of memory
- emphasizing optimism and growth as possible outcomes of satisfying relationships
One of the most powerful forms of psychotherapy that has proven results in the world of neuroscience is equine assisted psychotherapy (EAP). However, there are many forms of therapy that can help us “rewire” our brains to create a life full of fulfilling relationships. We are not stuck being “the way we are” if we want to change and have different results in our life.
What’s your experience of effective therapies that actually changed the way you see the world (and therefore your behavior in it?)
