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Introduction to Neurocognitive Learning Therapy

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Neurocognitive Learning Therapy: Theory and Practice

Abstract

Neurocognitive Learning Therapy (NCLT) is a therapeutic system which targets disorders of mental health. It is designed to work with and make use of our understanding of how the human brain processes and learns information. It is unique in this regard. Some mental health therapies were developed in response to specific etiological hypotheses (psychoanalysis) or operant learning principles (applied behavior analysis). Others had no etiological basis at all but relied on healing concepts such as self-actualization. NCLT is based on information processing theory and mathematically derived brain network models organized along small word hub principles. It incorporates 16 principles that reflect what is known from both learning theory and neuropsychological research. Whatever you call the result of the particular learning that occurs in therapy, self-actualization, behavioral change, spiritual growth, destruction of maladaptive gestalts, or behavior change, the result of therapy should be that the individual engages in more adaptive behavior at the end than when they began. This inevitably means that the individual has learned new ways of behaving.

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Wasserman, T., Wasserman, L.D. (2017). Introduction to Neurocognitive Learning Therapy. In: Neurocognitive Learning Therapy: Theory and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60849-5_1

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