Neuroscience-Informed Psychoeducation for Psychotherapy: Understanding How Therapy Supports Brain-Based Change
Abstract
Psychotherapy can be conceptualized as a structured, experience-dependent process of learning supported by neuroplasticity. Although psychotherapies differ in theory, technique, and therapeutic entry points, they may engage overlapping functional domains of therapeutic learning and change. This chapter presents a transdiagnostic, domain-based framework in which neuroplasticity provides the biological capacity for change and learning serves as the overarching therapeutic process. Five interacting domains organize the framework: emotion regulation and threat learning; cognitive control and belief updating; memory updating and integration; motivation, reinforcement, and habit learning; and social and relational learning and co-regulation. These domains are conceptual organizers rather than discrete mechanisms common to all psychotherapies. Repeated and emotionally meaningful experiences may support changes in expectations, emotional responses, memories, behavior, self-understanding, and interpersonal functioning. The framework also provides a practical structure for neuroscience-informed psychoeducation (NIPE). Connecting therapeutic activities with accessible explanations of relevant neuroscience may clarify the treatment rationale, reduce self-blame, support engagement, and foster realistic expectations about change. Consistent with a biopsychosocial perspective, the framework integrates neurobiological processes with meaning, agency, relationships, and environmental context rather than treating them as competing explanations. Domain-based NIPE may help bridge neuroscience and psychotherapy, although its effects on treatment engagement, therapeutic alliance, persistence, and clinical outcomes require empirical evaluation.
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BibTeX
@misc{copersino2026neuroscienceinformed,
title = {{Neuroscience-Informed Psychoeducation for Psychotherapy: Understanding How Therapy Supports Brain-Based Change}},
author = {Marc L. Copersino and Jamie Berry},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/8m2cw_v2},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8m2cw_v2/},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Neuroscience-Informed Psychoeducation for Psychotherapy: Understanding How Therapy Supports Brain-Based Change
AU - Marc L. Copersino
AU - Jamie Berry
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/8m2cw_v2
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8m2cw_v2/
AB - Psychotherapy can be conceptualized as a structured, experience-dependent process of learning supported by neuroplasticity. Although psychotherapies differ in theory, technique, and therapeutic entry points, they may engage overlapping functional domains of therapeutic learning and change. This chapter presents a transdiagnostic, domain-based framework in which neuroplasticity provides the biological capacity for change and learning serves as the overarching therapeutic process. Five interacting domains organize the framework: emotion regulation and threat learning; cognitive control and belief updating; memory updating and integration; motivation, reinforcement, and habit learning; and social and relational learning and co-regulation. These domains are conceptual organizers rather than discrete mechanisms common to all psychotherapies. Repeated and emotionally meaningful experiences may support changes in expectations, emotional responses, memories, behavior, self-understanding, and interpersonal functioning. The framework also provides a practical structure for neuroscience-informed psychoeducation (NIPE). Connecting therapeutic activities with accessible explanations of relevant neuroscience may clarify the treatment rationale, reduce self-blame, support engagement, and foster realistic expectations about change. Consistent with a biopsychosocial perspective, the framework integrates neurobiological processes with meaning, agency, relationships, and environmental context rather than treating them as competing explanations. Domain-based NIPE may help bridge neuroscience and psychotherapy, although its effects on treatment engagement, therapeutic alliance, persistence, and clinical outcomes require empirical evaluation.
ER -