Two neuropsychological models and their psychotherapeutic implications

Two neuropsychological models of normal brain functioning--cerebral laterality and hierarchical brain organization--are reviewed and their implications for psychotherapy are discussed. The purpose is not to reduce or translate complex psychological phenomena into neural terms or to suggest that psychopathology will ultimately be viewed as neuropathology. Rather, the effort is to point out convergences in findings of the two disciplines and to discuss the possible neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the resolution of psychopathology through psychotherapeutic interventions.