CLARISSA MOSLEY ~ PSYCHOLOGIST
  • Home
  • Psychotherapy
    • Gestalt Therapy
    • Know Thyself: Ego work
    • Transpersonal Counselling
    • ADHD
    • Mindfulness
    • Brainspotting Trauma Therapy
    • Ketamine Assisted Therapy
  • Bio-Mood
    • Pyrrole Disorder
    • Methylation
    • Gut - brain - microbiome and mood
    • BioBalance
  • Couples
    • PACT Couples Counselling
    • Communication Problems
    • Sex therapy
    • Individual relationship counselling
    • Getting the most from couples counselling
  • About
    • Psychotherapist or Psychologist, what is the difference?
    • Resources
  • Contact
    • First Session Information
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Medicare & Health Fund Rebates
  • Workshops

Ah-Ha! The value of insight in Psychotherapy

13/9/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Among the many nuances of the therapeutic journey, insight, often known as the Ah-Ha experience, is certainly one of the most prized pearls. 

“The term “insight” describes an experience that is related to a state of understanding, which emerges into one’s conscious awareness with sudden abruptness.”

Therapist's should relish the moments when clients have insight into their problems.  These ah-ha moments can move therapy forward in leaps and bounds, but like anything good they cannot be rushed or manufactured. As experiences therapists we often know (or at least think we know) the underlying issues and causes related to a problem a client presents with. We want to solve problems, its one of the reasons we do what we do, so we often fall prey to analysing and interpreting so as to edge the client toward a moment where they connect the information or pieces of their story in such a way that they fall over the truth. This is not necessarily wrong, but client generated insight far more valuable. 

If I have lead a client toward a particular insight I will always check out, “does that feel right to you?” The days of analysts telling a person what their problem is are long gone. Now we know if it doesn’t FEEL right to a person then it is not the right answer for them. What we didn’t know years ago we can now actually observe happening in the brain. Moments of insight light up different areas of the brain and create new neurological connections. This can only occur if something has meaning to the person, it is an internal state that cannot be created. An ah-ha is a moment in time where previously unconnected yet related neuronal pathways connect with another related yet previously unconnected neural network to form a spontaneous powerful synergistic moment of new knowing. Like a mathematical problem finally making sense, this great leap in understanding is created in this moment and results in permanent neurological change. 

Picture
“Brain activation was simultaneously obtained using fMRI. Neuro-imaging results revealed that “Aha!” events exhibited more activation in the anterior part of the left lateral PFC and other brain areas than “non-Aha!” events, and the difficult-to-comprehend events.'
“Insight, as a problem-solving process, is not trial-and-error but a sudden and gestalt understanding of the problem’s elements.”

Have you ever seen a true gestalt image?  When you first look at the image all you can see is one thing - two faces staring at each other OR a vase. Eventually you force a change in your perception and make yourself see the vase. Once you see it you cannot un-see it. You can never go back to only seeing the 2 faces. Its the same with insight. Once you have insight into an issue its hard to keep doing the same thing the same way. Just as your perceptual framework was altered once you discovered the hidden image, your conceptual framework has been altered at the neurological level once you have had an insight. 

Good and timely insights that are client generated (or if therapist generated feel “right” to the client) basically rewire old circuitry in the brain. Things are re-filed under the new system. The mind has been changed and it can never go back to being quite the same way again. 





Reference
Psychological & Cognitive Sciences May 2013  Vol.58  No.13: New advances in the neural correlates of insight: A decade in review of the insightful brain. SHEN WangBing1, LUO Jing2,3*, LIU Chang1* & YUAN Yuan1 

Posts regarding integrative medicine, human behaviour, psychotherapy, gestalt therapy, bio-chemical disorders; pyrrole, methylation, copper and zinc imbalances, child behaviour, family relationships, parenting.
2 Comments
J Pop Revolution link
14/11/2023 03:10:52 am

Appreciate you bloggiing this

Reply
Shreveport Gay BDSM link
18/6/2025 07:02:34 am

I find it fascinating how insights can lead to permanent changes in our brain.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author 

    Clarissa Mosley

    Categories

    All
    7 Habits Of Highly Successful People
    Ah-Ha Experiences & BrainSpotting
    Ah-Ha Insight Experiences
    BrainSpotting
    Brain Spotting Trauma Therapy
    Business Success
    Child Behaviour
    Codependence And Compulsive People Pleasing
    Crazy Tip For Letting Go Of Family Christmas Woe
    Emotional Freedom Technique
    Forgiveness
    Gut-brain Connection
    Ho'oponopono
    Kids Behaviour
    Leaving A Bad Relationship
    Love Addiction
    Methylation & Mood
    Mood Swings
    Mystical Meeting With Dr.Joe Dispenza
    New Years Resolutions
    People Pleasing
    Pyrrole Disorder
    Re-parenting Yourself With Compassion: Stopping Negative Self Talk
    Self Esteem
    Self Regulation
    Specialisation
    Why I Chose This Career

    Archives

    November 2022
    January 2020
    December 2019
    May 2019
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
  • Home
  • Psychotherapy
    • Gestalt Therapy
    • Know Thyself: Ego work
    • Transpersonal Counselling
    • ADHD
    • Mindfulness
    • Brainspotting Trauma Therapy
    • Ketamine Assisted Therapy
  • Bio-Mood
    • Pyrrole Disorder
    • Methylation
    • Gut - brain - microbiome and mood
    • BioBalance
  • Couples
    • PACT Couples Counselling
    • Communication Problems
    • Sex therapy
    • Individual relationship counselling
    • Getting the most from couples counselling
  • About
    • Psychotherapist or Psychologist, what is the difference?
    • Resources
  • Contact
    • First Session Information
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Medicare & Health Fund Rebates
  • Workshops