The birth of a new science.-Unlocking the key to neuroscience terminology.- What is the Mind and Brain?.- Learning from brain damaged individuals.- Neuroimaging technologies.- Modeling the Brain.- Neurons and Neurotransmitters.- Brain structures.- Brain Pathways.- Neural Networks: How Neurons Think and Learn.- Evolution of the Brain over Ions of Time.- Brain Development through the Life Span.- Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis: Changing Moment-by-Moment.- Principles for incorporating the Brain into Treatment.- Working with Attention.- Regulating Emotions.- Reconsolidating Memory.- Maximizing the Social Brain.- How Psychotherapy Changes the Brain.- Relieving Anxiety.- Finding a Better Balance for Depression and Bipolar Disorder.- Recovering from Addiction.
C. Alexander Simpkins, PHD and Annellen M. Simpkins, PHD are psychologists specializing in neuroscience, psychotherapy, meditation, and hypnosis. The Simpkins have specialized in the unconscious in their research, clinical work, and workshops. They are authors of 26 books, many of them bestsellers. Their most recent books on neuroscience are The Dao of Neuroscience (Norton, 2010), and Neuro-Hypnosis (Norton, 2010). They have also written about meditation for healthy mind-brain change: The Tao of Bipolar Disorder (forthcoming from New Harbinger, 2013), Zen Meditation in Psychotherapy (Wiley, 2012), Meditation and Yoga in Psychotherapy: Techniques for Clinical Practice (Wiley, 2011), and Meditation for Therapists and Their Clients (Norton 2009). Their books have over 20 foreign editions and have won numerous awards. Drs. Simpkins have been practicing psychotherapy for more than three decades, and have taught their meditative and hypnotic methods to facilitate mind-brain change to people of all ages. They have been involved in neuroscience for 15 years and have been integrating it into treatments and helping to bring the most recent research findings to practitioners. They present seminars at professional conferences, state mental hospitals, university campuses, and to popular and professional audiences around the world. They have performed psychotherapy research and are currently doing a neuroscience study of unconscious movement. They studied with psychotherapy masters, including Milton H. Erickson, Jerome D. Frank, Carl Rogers, Lawrence Kubie, and Ernest Rossi, and neuroscience innovators including Vilayanur Ramachandran, Jaime Pineda, Paul and Patricia Churchland, Stephen Anagnostaras, and William Bechtel. Their Eastern philosophy influence along with their commitment to continual learning and therapeutic effectiveness has helped them to see therapy through the crystal of a unique vision, which they bring to you with warmth and clarity in their books and seminars.
From the reviews:“This book is a terrific introduction to basic
neuroscience, as a prelude to understanding the current
excitement surrounding the neural basis of mind – body interactions
“
VS Ramachandran, Center for Brain and Cognition , UCSD
"Psychotherapist of all persuasions need to understand and
apply principles of modern neuroscience. Drs Simpkins provide
an eminently readable introduction to the practicalities that
will advance treatment regardless of one's theoretical
orientation. "Neuroscience for Clinicians" should be required
reading."
Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D.
The Milton Erickson Foundation"A comprehensive overview of the
field of neuroscience is a daunting task. The field is one in
which divergent viewpoints are supported by emergent
technology. State of the art discoveries are both
enlightening and confusing, as each produces only a facet of
understanding in a larger picture that has not been fully
developed. Drs Alex and Annellen Simpkins straightforward easily
understood language gives succinct explanations to describe the
rationale and viewpoints that confound limits of clarity.
The narrative style is effective in capturing the readers’
attention for the way that science builds upon prior knowledge. A
well-outlined eleven and half page table of contents, so detailed
as to make the included index almost un-necessary, is followed by
information that flows with intuitive logic. Beginning in ancient
times, the development of neuroscience is traced by highlighting a
long series of significant investigations and key discoveries. The
progression from historical foundations to clinical applications
and research frontiers is done in a style that the reader is able
to follow with appreciation. Building on scientific
discoveries, physiological, developmental information, the book
explores the process of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.
Research and clinicalevidence are integrated throughout the book
and support both the descriptive platform as well as the treatment
approaches. Explanations are offered in logical sequence that
facilitates a broader understanding of this complex topic while
leading to clinical directions, the emphasis of the latter half of
the book. While the potential for application is seemingly
endless, the Simpkins have chosen to emphasize a few broad areas
including: focus of attention, emotional regulation, anxiety
as well as some specific areas including depression and
addictions. Each topic addressed is explored utilizing models
for application built upon the information base provided in the
first half of the book.
The book is a resource that a professional may read for pleasure,
keep as a reference, or use to stimulate his or her own thinking
about possibilities for clinical approaches. Clinicians seeking to
work with a specific problem are likely to find not only possible
directions, but also solid rationale to support the
directions. The generous inclusion of illustrations is of
benefit in elucidating concepts.
While advancing technology has illuminated a great deal about the
interplay of the brain and consciousness, much remains unknown; the
dynamic inter-related elements of thought, behavior, and structure
are elusive even to the most educated. Clinicians are
continually seeking resources that will help us to understand what
is known and provide rational solid foundations for what we will
continue to learn. The Simpkins writing style combines textbook
clarity while fostering interest. Neuroscience for Clinicians is an
overview that provides a badly needed compass for navigation in
territory that has become so dense with information that many
clinicians have lost their bearings. The combination of explicit
descriptions and acceptance for limits of what is not yet
understood allows the reader to find direction as we continue to
explore what the future willhold."
Roxanna Erickson Klein, RN, PhD"Wow! Imagine two of the best
therapists in the world writing a book where they lovingly and
intentionally used implied meanings to assist you to feel better,
recognize more of your competency, and encourage you to be an even
better clinician and person, as you learn cutting-edge
neuroscience! You will be very delighted with what you will
now understand.
In this 345-page book, the Simpkins have created a classic that
doesn’t just tell the history of neuroscience, help you to
understand the brain, and how to use that knowledge for your work,
but they have also given you a series of gifts. They have used
their linguistic skills to evoke your creativity while indirectly
supplying bits of clinical expertise based upon neuroscience in the
volume proper, that you will be glad you know.
I love how the Simpkins made understandable some very complex
material, and I especially enjoyed how their book inspired me to
become a better person. On page 245, the information they offer was
speaking on several levels. Relating a study about mirroring
neurons with monkeys that seems to imply that monkeys understood
intent, and how the Simpkins put it speaks to us on at least three
levels. Recognizing the use of their craft and what they were
saying, I felt inspired to become a better person.
The first part of the book set the stage for what was coming next,
and, it was chock full of philosophy, biology, and the Simpkins’s
unique blend of nurturing information. I found myself thinking of
clients, friends, and colleagues that I wanted to tell about what I
was learning, and I smiled at the implied messages the Simpkins
left almost like a series of gifts, for you to find.
However, the middle part of the book got even better. Not only were
they doing more of the same, they ramped it up, and made the
information even more relevant, were more obvious about the
positive implied meanings they were offering youthe reader. They
began to also add in exercises that teach you experientially in
overt ways, that you can easily repeat, as well as observations
that you will find useful. The last third got even more intense for
clinicians as they were offering so many practical observations,
and information that will inspire your creativity as well as give
you tools for working better with your clients. I made notes,
marked up the book and in general became inspired, had eureka
moments, and felt all warm and cared about being a therapist. The
Simpkins were intentional about causing you the reader to have
those types of experiences. Yours will be uniquely your own but you
will have them when you read the book.
When the Simpkins offer practical exercises from meditation or ways
to prescribe it for particular issues, they are speaking from
another area of their expertise where they have authored several
books. They do not call attention to their genuine wisdom and
knowledge of meditation they simply state what they know.
In summary, you have a wonderful treat awaiting you that has gifts
liberally offered so that you will have a positive emotional
experience and learn important information about neuroscience. I am
recommending it to every clinician I know, and quoting the
information they give to clients, therapists and myself, over and
over."
Reviewed by John Lentz, DMin
Shepherdsville, KY“This work provides an introduction to the
history, theories, and applications of neuroscience for practicing
therapists and other psychological clinicians. The book is divided
into six parts, with multiple chapters in each. The table of
contents helpfully provides a breakdown of each chapter in
one-to-two-page increments and serves as the primary organization
for the book, while the index leads users to more specific
concepts. … Useful for libraries supporting a clinical psychology
or psychiatry program. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate
students,researchers/faculty, and professionals.” (R. Borchardt,
Choice, Vol. 50 (9), May, 2013)
"C. Alexander Simpkins’ and Annellen M. Simpkins’ book Neuroscience
for Clinicians is the book I have been waiting for. Milton Erickson
admonished us to create unique models for each client. I found this
a rather tall order. While Erickson gave perspectives and hypnotic
techniques, he taught us to rely on our own observations and
understandings to create specific interventions for each individual
client. What I wanted was a book that helps us see our clients at
multiple levels so we can create interventions from top-down and
bottom-up. Neuroscience for Clinicians is such a book.
The book is divided into six parts with the first four parts laying
the groundwork for the treatments. Parts one and two demystify the
arcane world of neuroscience by reviewing it as a set of
discoveries and explorations. The Simpkins make esoteric terms
logical and easy to assimilate. It reads like a fascinating
documentary. Standing on the shoulders of the first two parts, part
three gives a clean overview of our current knowledge of how nerves
work, individually and as networks. Part four introduces us to
neuroplasticity and its relationship to change.
Part five moves us into creating clinical applications. It shows us
how understanding brain processes allows us to develop effective
treatments. I especially like the six key principles provided in
Chapter 14.
Part six brings it all together. Here, the Simpkins show us how
psychotherapy can change the brain, in the most frequently
diagnoses disorders. This section includes examples of suggested
exercises for therapeutically altering brain function in
depression, anxiety, addictions, and bipolar disorders.
It is an amazingly easy read for a book on the applications of the
neurosciences. The six parts are logical progressions that lead
from understanding to intervention. Each chapter within eachpart is
a natural extension of the previous chapter. Within each chapter,
each step interconnects with the one that came before. The book
flows effortlessly from one logical level to the next. It is
artistry.
I recommend this book for those of us who identify ourselves as
Scientific Humanists. (How is that for an apparent oxymoron?) We
want to know why as well as how. It provides answers for both the
beginning and experienced clinician given that it satisfies each
need that the two levels seek.
In Neuroscience for Clinicians, the beginning therapist can use its
easy-to-learn overview of general brain functioning to gain
confidence and meaning in the impact of his or her professional
interventions. It allows the therapist to develop a greater
understanding of the deeper function of therapeutic technique. For
the more experienced therapist, Neuroscience for Clinicians
provides a review of pertinent elements we can use to incorporate
in our perspectives and create new techniques. I especially like
how it provides handy pegs for me to hang my ideas on. And, on
those days when my intuition is a bit sluggish, it provides a
framework for me to systematically build my models.
Among all the books on my shelves, Neuroscience for Clinicians is
an exceptional book, and I highly recommend it."
Richard E. Landis, Ph.D.
The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newsletter, Vol. 33, No. 1
Spring 2013
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