Interpersonal neurobiology draws on a wide range of scientific, contemplative, and artistic disciplines to provide an interdisciplinary view of the human mind and the development of well-being. By viewing health-within an individual, relationship, or group-as emerging from the process of integration (the linkage of differentiated parts) we will explore how the rigidity and chaos of many mental disorders are examples of impaired integration.

Three human experiences have been documented as promoting well-being: secure attachment, mindfulness meditation, and effective psychotherapy. In this session we will explore how these systems have similar neural mechanisms and the implications that this has for both attaining a state of well-being and transforming the brain.

We will elaborate the concept of the mind as an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information - an approach that places the relationship between clinician and patient/client at the heart of the successful psychotherapeutic work - and we will explore how we can embrace this regulatory process in a scientifically grounded and practical way to offer new and effective approaches to psychotherapeutic clinical assessment and intervention.

Normal human development relies on the cultivation of relationships with others to form and nurture the self-regulatory circuits that enable the emotions to become powerful catalysts for the transformations that are at the heart of the healing process. We will consider the scientific basis of these processes.

Integration is defined as the linkage of differentiated parts of a system and when it is present, flexibility and harmony result; when it is absent, chaos or rigidity occur. When we transfer this model to the human mind, we find that that a lack of integration produces symptoms and syndromes that we might consider as the root of mental disorders. We will explore examples.

This presentation will propose that integration can serve as an organizing principle that illuminates the nature of resilience and well-being and as a central mechanism of health that can be revealed in clinical interventions. Specific "domains of integration" will be illustrated that enable us to direct therapeutic interventions toward integration-the linkage of differentiated elements. These domains include those of consciousness, bilateral, vertical, memory, and narrative, state, interpersonal, temporal, and transpirational. Working in each domain entails specific therapeutic interventions that will be highlighted and explored. The ultimate outcome of integration is the movement of the individual from the presenting states of chaos and rigidity and into the harmony and ease of well-being.

Studies of physical health, emotional well-being, longevity, happiness, and even wisdom suggest that our ability to be aware of our own internal world and feel deeply connected to others is at the heart of both resilience and mental health. Research in the field of development also illuminates how the capacity to perceive the mental sea inside - within ourselves and others - is a crucial element of healthy parent-child relationships. This ability to reflect on the mind, to be able to "mentalize" or be "mind-minded," has been the subject of much research in recent years. We will explore the characteristics of this ability.

When this capacity to see the sea inside is also focused on cultivating integration, we use the term "mindsight," a learnable skill that stabilizes the lens through which we come to sense energy and information flow within ourselves and among one another. Once this perceptual lens has been stabilized to see inside with depth and clarity, specific interventions to modulate the flow of energy and information toward integration can be initiated. This presentation will explore, through case discussions, how integration can be assessed, mindsight can be taught, and interventions applied across a wide range of domains. Ultimately, effective therapy stimulates neuronal activation and growth toward a more integrated state. From an interpersonal neurobiology perspective, we will see how the clinician can use the therapeutic relationship to cultivate the growth of new integrative processes at the heart of health and transformation.