Neuropsychotherapy as an integrative framework in counselling psychology:The example of trauma

Purpose This article sets out to describe the neuropsychotherapeutic perspective, and to illustrate its application to psychotherapy through the example of trauma. Methods A number of recent publications which present different aspects of the neuropsychotherapeutic perspective are discussed. How such perspectives might help our understanding of trauma is then considered. The authors illustrate the points they seek to make through the description of four recent cases which arose in the clinical work of the middle author. Results/findings It is suggested that a number of dilemmas which are evident in the trauma literature, for example delayed onset and lack of universal susceptibility, can be explained through the comprehensive integrative framework offered by the neuropsychotherapeutic approach. In particular, notions of representational space can explain why some clients struggle to integrate traumatic memories into their elaborated long-term memory structures. Discussion/conclusions The neuropsychotherapeutic perspective seeks to make use of principles and findings from neuroscience to inform research and practice in psychotherapy. Given the current prominence of neuroscience within psychology, this may be a theoretical framework to which many counselling psychologists are able to relate. It is suggested that such an approach could be very fruitful in helping us to conceptualise the issues and processes which arise in psychotherapy. It may allow researchers to make novel and detailed predictions about client issues such as trauma, leading to productive avenues for future research.