Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, attended the 8th National Integrative Psychotherapy Congress organized by the Psychotherapy Institute. Tarhan, who delivered a presentation titled “Brain Connections of Psychotherapy,” emphasized that psychotherapy's ability to reshape the brain is effective not only at a behavioral level but also at a biological level. Tarhan, who addressed brain connections under five headings, stated that psychotherapy involves repairing errors in these connections. Tarhan also pointed out that recent brain studies have shown a ‘reciprocal link’ between the brain and emotion, thought, and behavior.
The congress, held at the Psychotherapy Institute Bayramoğlu Education and Congress Center, attracted great interest. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan also attended the traditional congress this year.
“It is not possible to understand psychotherapy without a broader perspective”
In his speech, Tarhan mentioned the existence of a reality beyond matter and the necessity of thinking according to this reality; “We need to see the whole universe. There is a universe beyond matter, a reality beyond matter. It needs to be seen. They ask Einstein, ‘How did you discover this reality?’ He says, ‘I thought about how I would do it if I were in God’s place, and that’s how I found it.’ So, when we analyze human psychology right now, we can only understand it if we look at it by thinking about how the creator of this universe created it. But if we reduce it only to the brain, we cannot understand it. If we reduce it only to matter, we cannot understand it. But as Jung said, ‘Beyond space and time, there is a part of the human soul.’ We need to think about that part. What is that part? How does that part come to be? How does the creator of this universe connect with us with what kind of information? With what kind of information can we connect with it? We need to ponder this. Therefore, it is not very possible to understand psychotherapy without this broader perspective.”
There is a ‘reciprocal link’ between the brain and emotion, thought, and behavior
Tarhan drew attention to the types of psychotherapy; “These affect the brain's neural pathways and structure differently. Recent brain studies have shown that the brain is a network and relational organ, and there is a ‘reciprocal link’ between the brain and emotion, thought, and behavior. It was a great discovery that the limbic system, while transferring amygdala-centered emotional information to the decision algorithm in the prefrontal lobe for decision-making, operates the left hemisphere cortex for mathematical thought and analysis, hippocampi for memory, and the right hemisphere for music, art, aesthetics, and a holistic perspective, like an orchestra. It would not be an exaggeration to say that psychotherapy is nothing but repairing the errors in these connections.”
Psychotherapy shapes the brain not only at a behavioral level but also at a biological level…
Emphasizing that psychotherapy's ability to reshape the brain is effective not only at a behavioral level but also at a biological level, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan discussed the brain connections of psychotherapy under five headings. Tarhan:
1. Neuroplasticity: Psychotherapy, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), has been shown to cause neuroplastic changes. This means it can help rearrange neural pathways and create new connections in the brain that improve mental health.
2. Functional and Structural Changes: Studies using brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans have shown that psychotherapy can lead to both functional and structural changes in the brain. For example, regions associated with emotion regulation, such as the prefrontal cortex, may show increased activity and connectivity after psychotherapy.
3. Reduced Amygdala Activity: Psychotherapy, especially in the treatment of anxiety or trauma, has been associated with a reduction in hyperactivity in the amygdala, the brain's emotional processing center. This leads to a more balanced emotional response.
4. Connectivity Between Brain Regions: Long-term psychotherapy can increase connectivity between different brain regions, particularly the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system, which are involved in emotional regulation and cognitive control. This strengthens emotional resilience and cognitive processing.
5. Epigenetic Effects: Some studies suggest that long-term and frequent psychotherapy can affect gene expression related to brain function and stress responses. This means that psychotherapy could potentially alter how genes related to mental health are expressed and promote long-term psychological well-being.
“Our brain is an organ capable of multitasking”
Tarhan pointed out that therapy is about managing the brain's chemical laboratory; “What happens if you overload your short-term memory with too much information? The computer slows down. If you try to do everything at once, you get blocked. So what will you do? You will think categorically and intelligently. You are doing therapy, listening to 10 boring stories, and problems a day. If your mind stays on the previous one after one ends, you will need treatment yourself, but a person who thinks categorically considers a topic, then puts it on the shelf and moves on to another topic. At that moment, they categorize to that topic. Accordingly, they can conduct therapy for 5-10 people in a day without positive or negative effects on each other. Our brain is an organ capable of multitasking. Therefore, you need to know how to manage it. If you think about the same thing from morning till night, you will ruin yourself. We look at patients with depression, etc., who come to us. Instead of thinking about negative thoughts for 5 minutes, they think about them for 15 minutes. They constantly think about the same thing for 60, 50 minutes. The brain gets blocked. In such situations, the network in the brain gets disrupted. In fact, what we call therapy is, in a way, like sculpting our brain and managing the chemical laboratory in our brain.”
“Adding emotion to thought is important in therapy”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the brain accepts what it believes as reference information and underlined the importance of being careful about reference information. Tarhan; “Positive thought does not overly activate the brain. Positive emotional state activates it. If emotion is added to thought, it activates it. If emotion is not added to thought, that thought comes and goes. It enters one ear and exits the other. Therefore, being able to add emotion to thought is actually important in therapy. There is negative thought, but if you add emotion to it, if you believe in something negative, it happens when you believe it. When you believe, emotion is added to thought. In such situations, negative thinking occurs. A person stands in the middle of a room. They say, 'Will my head spin, will it spin?' They start swaying. Yet there is nothing. A wrong belief about an illness brings forth symptoms related to that illness in the person. It's not what you think, it's what you believe. When the brain accepts thought plus emotion as a belief, the brain now accepts it as reference information. It makes decisions based on that reference information. Therefore, we need to be careful about our reference information because perceptions are formed based on it. We take a stance based on it. We make decisions based on it, and we unconsciously invite what we believe.”
“Religion and science complement each other”
Tarhan stated that ego wars break up families and that the complementarity of husband and wife is also present in the synthesis of science and religion. Tarhan; “The solution found by the West says, if you cannot do it together, separate. However, they chose the easy path to do it together while heading towards a goal. This same thing also exists culturally. The West used the thesis 'if you cannot do it together, separate' to end the religious wars in the Middle Ages. And it was successful. 'End the religious wars. Religion and science do not coexist.' They separated religion and science separately. Then the church there was very clever and established a university within the church. The church took ownership of the university, abandoning state administration. It established a university and created a synthesis, creating peace. Secularism emerged this way. We, for example, could not do this. We, as the Ottomans and others, could not. For us, religion and science are not separate, they don't completely disconnect. And we couldn't bring them together and integrate them. A war has emerged, and we are currently experiencing cultural breakdowns because of it. This is also important, but in the West now, religion and science have become holistic science. As I said at the beginning, religion and science complement each other. They are not rivals, but rather complementary. This is also true in a family; husband and wife are not rivals, but complementary to each other. This is a point of view.”
“Their biggest problem is pursuing instant gratification”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan highlighted the importance of resilience training; “We provide resilience training to individuals. In therapies, we identify the person’s strengths and weaknesses. Here, the person can postpone their feelings. Or the skill of delayed gratification works. If a person develops the skill of delayed gratification, they are actually activating their orbitofrontal cortex, similar to how antidepressant medications work. Bad behavior intensifies in the first few instances when the reward is not received. Thinking about the future reward creates something here again. I even gave the example of physical therapy. A lady is undergoing physical therapy. Physical therapy is also a very painful thing. You stretch your arms and legs, and the pain makes you writhe. The physical therapist says, ‘Sister, you have no pain at all. You're not making a sound.’ She says, ‘My child, how can I not have pain? It hurts so much, but I think I will feel better in the future. I endure it.’ For example, what is she doing in a way? Delayed gratification, thinking about a future reward. The biggest problem of today's youth is that they are chasing instant rewards. However, if they practiced delayed gratification, like in the famous marshmallow test, those individuals would receive a bigger reward a year or two later. Teaching this is something. It is called resilience training.”
6 virtues important in every person's life…
Tarhan mentioned that strengthening personality in a positive way psychologically activates the immune system; “Our brain is currently interacting with the quantum universe. Consciousness studies show the necessity of quantum consciousness. Here, the right brain is called the spiritual hemisphere of the brain. The left brain, as you know, is logical, rational, analytical, detail-oriented, planned, and solves problems. It breaks down and solves problems, the left brain. The right brain solves problems holistically. The left brain is the masculine brain, the right brain is the feminine brain. The left masculine brain breaks down and solves, that's why the male brain is what it is. A quick perspective. It converges on the whole, cannot see holistically. This feminine brain looks at the situation more holistically. That is, emotional, intuitive, music, art, aesthetics for the right brain, which is why there is Gardner's theory of character strengths. These are six: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence, six virtues, and under these six virtues, 24 values have been placed. Leadership, citizenship, fairness, forgiveness, spirituality, these have actually emerged in positive psychology. This is important in psychotherapy. If we strengthen our personality in a positive way, if we activate these areas of our brain, that person spontaneously overcomes illness because they activate their psychological immune system. And this is a very fast and short therapy method.”
