interaction. Successful interviewing and counseling help clients develop new and useful
connections. Neuropsychology’s research on emotion validates past counseling and therapy
theory and research from a new perspective. In chapters 0 and 0, you will read about mirror
neurons, central in empathic understanding of the client.
We have already learned from neuroscience that here and now meditation and exercise
help rewire long-term memory; they have become critical aspects of mental practice. We have
evidence that a positive approach is more helpful than a “problem-centered” system as
the new connections developed with positive thinking enable the brain to deal with stress
more eff ectively. Children who experience abuse, neglect, and deprivation typically have
long-term damage to their brains. Th is fi nding suggests that social justice and community
action for prevention are a critical part of a complete counseling practice.
Particularly important for you as you build counseling microskills is the following from
brain imaging research by Restak (0000, p. 0):
[Th is research] carried out weekly fMRIs on volunteers while they learned a sequence of
fi nger movements. Within three to four weeks of training, [the researcher] could discern
changes in activity patterns in three progressive parts of the brain: the prefrontal cortex,
which is responsible for the intention to carry out movements; the supplementary motor
cortex, responsible for organizing the sequencing and coordination of the muscles
involved in carrying out the action; and the primary motor cortex that gives the “orders”
for the movements to take place.
Th e basis of microskills training is systematic step-by-step learning. Step-by-step skills
training is used in ballet, music, golf (Tiger Woods uses it!), and many other settings. If there
is suffi cient practice, new connections in the brain may be expected, and increased ability in
demonstrating these skills will appear in areas ranging from fi nger movements to dance—and
from the golf swing to interviewing skills. “Predictions of whether a particular therapy will
work for a given patient may depend more on the individual’s brain than how an individual
may be diagnosed” (Etkin et al., 0000, pp. 000–000).
As you go forward to further study and professional work, you can expect brain research
to be an increasingly important part of our fi eld. We have placed some key information about
neuroscience within several of the research boxes in each chapter. Consider what you read
here a beginning and an opening to a future in which the relationship between microskills,
helping theory, and brain functioning will become increasingly clear.
SUMMARY: MASTERING THE SKILLS AND STRATEGIES OF INTENTIONAL
INTERVIEWING AND COUNSELING
Welcome again to the fascinating fi eld of interviewing, counseling, and psychotherapy! You
are being introduced to the basics of the individual counseling session, but the same skills are
essential in group and family work. And now we know that skills training and eff ective interviewing,
counseling, and therapy aff ect brain development, thus resulting in longer term
change in our clients.