Can a Neural Network Perspective Bring Coherence to Psychotherapy Theory? (With Dr. Warren Tryon)

The field of psychotherapy has splintered into multiple theoretical orientations and over 500 different forms of therapy - each with their own theory and often with their own famous founders and competing interests. Could broadening the perspective to the cognitive neuroscience mechanisms underlying all psychological change bring some sorely needed coherence?

My guest, Dr. Warren Tryon is professor emeritus of psychology at Fordham University. His book Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychotherapy: Network Principles for a Unified Theory outlines a cognitive neuroscience perspective on psychotherapy and clinical psychology. With computerized neural network models, it is becoming possible to simulate and study personality and processes of psychological change in ways that have not previously been possible in psychotherapy research.

Tryon argues a network perspective is a path to explaining the basic mechanisms of change across all major psychotherapy orientations and that it lays the groundwork for a common language not only between different psychological treatments but also with pharmacology and medical professionals. The conversation gets fully going about 20-30 minutes in.


Timestamps:
Learning, memory and neural network models (0:00)
Network understanding of exposure therapy (7:00)
Pharmacological and psychological change processes (15:00)
Connectionist models and solving the mind-body problem (20:25)
Unifying how we view different psychotherapies (24:10)
Professional identity and the problem of purple hat therapies (29:40)
How to get from 500 psychotherapies to basic core principles? (32:35)
Network principles (37:00)
Priming in networks and in psychotherapy (44:05)
Explanatory power in the science of psychology vs. the art of psychotherapy (50:50)
Network-based personality models gaining traction in social psychology (56:08)
Cognitive dissonance in psychotherapy (1:04:00)
Can philosophical differences between psychotherapies be overcome? (1:13:01)


Additional resources:
- Warren Tryon’s Psychology Today blog:  The Missing Link Between Psychology and Biology
- Warren Tryon's Fordham University page
- Warren Tryon on Elsevier SciTech Connect -blog

Related articles:
- Tryon, W. W. (2016). Transtheoretic transdiagnostic psychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 26(3), 273–287. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040041
- Explanation as Psychological Intervention (pdf) (Online supplement to Tryon, W. W. (2014) Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychotherapy: Network Principles for a Unified Theory. New York: Academic Press)
- Read SJ, Monroe BM, Brownstein AL, Yang Y, Chopra G, Miller LC. A Neural Network Model of the Structure and Dynamics of Human Personality. Psychological Review. 2010;117:61–92. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018131