A Right Brain Approach to Counseling

By: Dr. Suzanne LaCombe & Terry McGraw, June 2006.
Updated: March 14, 2007.

Let me give you an example of how a right brain approach might work in counseling.

Terry was telling an acquaintance about an scary event that happened in fourth grade. He had to represent his class at an awards ceremony. He described who attended (his folks, Granny, Uncle Joe and Daniel, his buddy who lived at the end of his street...the world essentially), what he had to say (the honour, the gratitude...big concepts for a little tyke), and he smiled as he recalled how nervous he was.

Can you imagine how it turned out?

His version of the event, as he spoke to the guy, was essentially an objective description of his experience. There was little emotion in his voice. We could describe his thoughts and reflections as a product of left brain functioning.1

If he were relating this story in his counseling, he would describe verbally what happened and how he felt, but would also try to experience the same emotions and body sensations that occurred, moment by moment.

For example, he might feel his stomach tighten, his heart pound, and all the other sensations that he experienced on that day.

His counselor might draw his attention to these sensations, encouraging him to recall the experience as it was actually lived, moment by moment (i.e. to use his right brain's capacity).

To deepen his learning the psychotherapist might encourage him to visualize (i.e. using a right brain strategy) how he would have liked the event to unfold.

He replayed the "reconstructed" event moment by moment in his imagination. As he did so, his body relaxed. Reflecting on it later, he felt a little less intensely about this event than before.

And, when I had you imagine how it ended for him, I was triggering you into a right brain moment!

(Remarkably, it wasn't just that Terry felt calmer about that incident, he felt calmer overall! In the course of counseling this result is even more significant than overcoming stage fright. More on this topic in upcoming articles.)

P.S. Terry overcame his stage fright and went on to become a courtroom lawyer defending the bad guys in front of judge and jury.

Tips for Counseling

Right brain-based counseling focuses on emotions and creativity. Left brain-based counseling, better known as "talk therapy" can be enhanced by bringing the emotions and body sensations into play. To optimize counseling, you need to work from both the left and right sides of the brain.

Counseling that includes the following strategies and treatment modalities gives you the best chance of making fundamental changes because they engage the right brain in the process:

1 Most of us become somewhat emotional when we tell our stories. In doing so, it is thought that we move deeper into right brain functioning. I am taking a small liberty here by creating a scenario whereby the least amount of emotion is being triggered as Terry tells the story.

Related Topics

The Right Brain

The Left Brain