Integrating Psychotherapy and Psychophysiology : Theory, Assessment, and Practice

In recent years there has been growing interest in exploring how psychophysiology can be used to enhance psychotherapeutic interventions, and it is becoming more common for psychotherapists to use psychophysiological approaches such as biofeedback as a part of their therapy. Integrating Psychotherapy and Psychophysiology explores how these fields can be integrated to improve therapy outcomes, and to provide a guide to professionals in the field. Structured in three parts, the first part focuses on theories underlying psychotherapy/psychophysiology integration with chapters on the neuroscience of mind, evolution and compassion, heart rate variability and mind/body integration, and affect and understanding the world. The second part focuses on assessment aspects of psychotherapy/ psychophysiology integration with chapters on the NIH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approach to assessment of psychopathology from a psychophysiological perspective, personality as a central factor in stress and cardiovascular reactivity and using the RDoC framework to understand and conceptualize personality. Finally, the third part focuses on approaches to integrating psychophysiology into psychotherapy, emphasizing heart rate variability biofeedback. The book will be valuable for all psychotherapists who are looking to improve their practice by integrating effective mind/body principles into their therapeutic approach.