In this video I explore scientific and evolutionary evidence as to why our brains work they way they do and why they can be somewhat tricky. I also describe how we can get stuck in loops of feeling and thinking that can cause distress and suffering. And stop to the end of this video as I will also discuss methods to unhook from these unhelpful loops.

A core aspect of compassion focused therapy (CFT) is helping the client understand how evolution shaped our brains and how it can be a very complex and difficult brain to deal with. In CFT we use the term ‘tricky brain’ to reflect the problems that our brain can cause us.
One of the main reasons that we have a difficult and complex brain is because of the way it evolved. The old brain evolved millions of years ago. It evolved to keep our ancestors alive, to keep them safe, to find food, find shelter, form social bonds and to reproduce. The old brain is also designed to identify and respond to threats. Emotions such as fear and anger come from our old brain and prepare us to fight or flight, which is a protective response. Anger, sexual desire, your need to be loved and your need to form social bonds are all built into your old brain. These desires and motives have been written for us rather than by us.

About two million years ago the human brain evolved a number of new abilities for thinking, we call this our new brain. We became able to Imagine things, for example we can create images in our mind. We can also image social relationships, think about a recent interaction or plan a future event. Our new brain competencies allow us to imagine the future and potential scenarios and outcomes. We can plan for things that may or may not happen, today, tomorrow, next year and in 20 years . It’s not just the future we can think about, we can transport our minds back in time and think about our childhood or past events. We also became able to think about thinking, which is known as metacognition.

We can all get into old brain new brain loops that are unhelpful. I have provided two examples of thinking loops in this video and four suggestions for unhooking from loops.

🔵 TIME STAMPS

0:00 Introduction
0:28 Old brain competencies
1:40 New brain competencies
3:07 Examples of old brain new brain loops
6:01 Four tips to unhook from loops

🔵 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

☐ The Compassionate Mind By Paul Gilbert. [ Ссылка ]
☐ The Compassionate Mind Workbook by Chris Irons and Elaine Beaumont.
[ Ссылка ]
☐ Compassion Focused Therapy for Dummies by Mary Welford. [ Ссылка ]
☐ Mindful Compassion by Paul Gilbert and Choden. [ Ссылка ]
☐ Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. [ Ссылка ]

🔵 MINDFULNESS MEDITATIONS AND COMPASSION PRACTICES

There are large range of mindfulness and compassion practices on my YouTube channel. I have listed a small number below:

☐Mindful Breathing: [ Ссылка ]
☐The Body Scan: [ Ссылка ]
☐Three Minute Breathing Space: [ Ссылка ]
☐Soothing Rhythm Breathing: [ Ссылка ]
☐The Safe Place: [ Ссылка ]

🔵 ABOUT TERESA LEWIS

Teresa Lewis is the founder and Director of Lewis Psychology and a Senior Accredited psychotherapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Snr. Accred). Qualified in 1995, Teresa has been providing counselling and psychotherapy treatment for nearly 30 years. Teresa holds a masters degree in counselling and psychotherapy and is a qualified EMDR Practitioner having completed training accredited with EMDR Europe. Teresa is also a qualified adult educator and an accredited Mindfulness teacher As a recognised expert in her field Teresa is frequently asked to conduct editorial reviews and endorse counselling and psychotherapy books for international publishing houses.

☐ Email: teresa.lewispsy@gmail.com
☐ Buy Me A Coffee: [ Ссылка ]

🔵 WORK WITH ME

If you'd like to work with me, or a member of the Lewis Psychology team, please click on the links below:

☐ Lewis Psychology CIC (for face to face therapy): [ Ссылка ]
☐ Lewis Psychology Online (for online therapy): [ Ссылка ]

🔵 B-ROLL AND THUMBNAILS

All images and additional video segments contained in the Thumbnails and/or B-roll segments are used in strict compliance with the appropriate permissions and licenses required from Pixaby.com and Pexels.com in accordance with the YouTube Partner Program, Community guidelines and YouTube terms of service.

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