Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the nature of the divided brain and its relevance for contemporary psychotherapy. It shows how the relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain is central to our well-being and mental health, and examines both the practical and theoretical implications for therapy that the latest neuroscientific and psychoanalytic research has opened up. The book outlines the radical and transformative changes that altering the mode of attention brings. It shows how hemispheric processes lie at the heart of a number of different therapeutic approaches and modalities, from group and systems-centred therapy, to classical psychoanalysis, EMDR, embodied psychotherapy, and various gestalt and existential forms of engagement and treatment. The book illustrates the importance of this model for new dynamic apprehension of the reverberative quality of the integrated brain.