Sublime

Just as surgeons must first learn anatomy, the future “Angst doctor” must first understand the relationship between the one who counsels and the one who is counseled. And, if I am to contribute to the science of such counseling, I must learn to observe the counseling relationship just as objectively as the pigeon’s brain.

The core of the theory was that maladaptive thoughts lead to maladaptive emotions, which in turn drive abnormal behavior.

Crucial for understanding trauma, the frontal lobes are also the seat of empathy—our ability to “feel into” someone else. One of the truly sensational discoveries of modern neuroscience took place in 1994, when in a lucky accident a group of Italian scientists identified specialized cells in the cortex that came to be known as mirror neurons.8

When those areas are deactivated, people lose their sense of time and become trapped in the moment, without a sense of past, present, or future.

When guilt or shame are attached to feelings, the conflict is internalized and creates a neurotic character.

The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain and professor of psychology at Pepperdine University, to learn what’s happening in the brain when our hearts are being put through a shredder. At the start of our discussion, he shared that the brain has but one primary mission: to keep us safe and ensure our