Can the Brain Change?

Abstract

This review of Margaret Wilkinson's book Changing Minds in Therapy: Emotion, Attachment, Trauma, and Neurobiology, highlights some of the recent meaningful contributions of psychoneurobiology to the understanding of how psychotherapy works that Wilkinson explores in her book. Wilkinson emphasizes what Jung repeatedly pointed out, namely, that it is the quality of the relationship between analyst and analysand that brings about healing. Furthermore, because the brain retains its plasticity throughout life, no matter what early trauma has occurred, the brain is capable of repairing the damage provided the individual receives appropriate relational psychotherapy. Wilkinson explores, with clinical examples, the profound effects of early relational trauma from a psychoneurobiological perspective and illustrates how relational psychotherapy based on the principles of analytical psychology can bring about healing.

Keywords:

• attachment theory
• attunement
• brain plasticity
• corpus callosum
• early trauma
• implicit and explicit memory
• C. G. Jung
• preverbal wounding
• psychoneurobiology
• Margaret Wilkinson

Notes

References to The Collected Works of C. G. Jung are cited in the text as CW, volume number, and paragraph number. The Collected Works are published in English by Routledge (UK) and Princeton University Press (USA).