ABSTRACT

This chapter reports that both clinicians and researchers were now shifting focus from left brain conscious cognition to right brain unconscious emotional and relational functions. It briefly presents interpersonal neurobiological models of attachment in early development, in the therapeutic alliance, in mutual therapeutic enactments, and in the therapeutic change processes. A large body of research now highlights the central role of insecure attachments in the psycho-neuropathogenesis of all psychiatric disorders. Transference-countertransference affective transactions are currently seen as an essential relational element in the treatment of all patients, but especially the early forming severe psychopathologies. The clinical work involved in traumatic re-enactments involves a profound commitment by both participants in the therapeutic dyad and a deep emotional involvement on the part of the therapist. Thus, psychotherapy, "a relationship of care", can alter more than the left-lateralized conscious mind; it also can influence the growth and development of the unconscious "right mind".