Abstract

Through a warm and passionate investigation of the most fundamental properties of human behaviour, Psychotherapy and Science shows how a scientific foundation for psychotherapy is both necessary and feasible. Addressing psychotherapy's need for a coherent theoretical grounding, the book argues that there are striking parallels between the emotion-processing mind and phenomena that have been scientifically observed and charted in the areas of evolution, the immune system and the brain. The idea that scientific theories might be applied to psychotherapy is thoroughly explored in a surprisingly accessible manner. Throughout the book, the ways in which science has a bearing on the clinical techniques and practice of psychotherapy are emphasized, and priority is given to the needs of psychotherapists to focus their theoretical and clinical efforts on understanding the deep, evolved factors behind human suffering, deception, self-limitations and death anxiety. This rare and engaging insight into a scientific quest for better psychotherapeutic knowledge offers a truly original way through the current impasse of ever-divergent theories, and is one of the most cogent challenges to psychotherapy in recent times. It is essential reading for all training and practising psychotherapists, and for those involved in related research.