Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy

The Dawn of a New Era

By Ewerton Borba

E. Borba, 2015

We have come from whimsical ideas that overt conduct in later stages of life is prompted by fragmented events in its embryonic stages, to pragmatic assumptions that behavior is exhorted by alluring rewards.  We seem to have learned to accept these ideas, but not really bothering much to care about their differences—does it matter?

I entertain the idea that there is a common ground between people’s perception of the world, their actions and reactions to it, and where there will always be extra room to accommodate some know-how. 

We come from different towns; different cultures; different epochs; different backgrounds; different wombs; yet, we curiously behave in quite similar ways.

Without the intention to distill much of my own confirmation bias on the issue (I believe in brain plasticity), I want to say that well directed cognitive-behavior practices might do a decent job in bringing psychotherapy to a new level where diversity exist, but as part of a whole. 

It has taken some time for society to come to grips with the fact that humans are biosocial beings. The mind-body dualism is actually a reality that we can no longer rebut (Descartes initiated this discourse about 400 years ago). After intermittent philosophical battles and true titan wars triggered by yearnings to decipher the human mind, we saw the birth and rise of neuroscience. And that's where I think we're headed.

As we face the oppression of predatory systems that treasure the power of tangible commodities as opposed to the value of mental health, psychotherapy takes the nuances of the new era, with innovative gadgets crafted to stimulate the accessibility to treatments.

Married to neuroscience, modern psychotherapy will inevitably bear empirical fruits that will proliferate at the demanded rates. I certainly hope to live long enough not only to see the imminent progress to come, but also to partake in its glory.

References

Descartes, R. (1641) Meditations on First Philosophy, in The                Philosophical Writings of René Descartes (J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff 

   & D.  Murdoch, Trans.). Vol 2, pp. 25-26, 1984, Cambridge, UK:            Cambridge University  Press

[Photographs of Ewerton S. Borba]. (ma. 2015). Ewerton S. Borba (Personal    Archive). Boston, MA.