Quotes from Louis Cozolino

Like the shaman, a teacher has to have a clear vision so that a student can come to believe that he or she sees something real that can be shared. The teacher's message must be "I know something you don't know, something you don't have, but I am committed to sharing it with you and bringing you on this journey.

Conversely, we humans are born premature and highly dependent newborns whose brains are shaped through years of interactions with our caretakers and the environment.

demonstrated that, in general, students seem to learn better when information is presented in particular ways and at a certain pace. Proper nutrition does have a measurable impact on memory and learning, and physical activity does enhance learning.

Despite the fact that childbearing has been delayed into the 20s and 30s, the brain still expects this to happen at 12 or 13 years of age.

Reward systems, such as those mediated by dopamine, also destabilize during adolescence in order to allow for the creation of new attachments, behaviors, and goals. This search for purpose and meaning makes adolescents more vulnerable to good and bad social influences

Perhaps the postponement in modern culture of the historically relevant challenges of adolescents

such as mating, childbearing, and establishing an occupation, lead to confusion, emptiness, and psychological distress.

Education is cumulative, and it affects the breed. —Plato

Take, for example, the way in which physicians responded to the high mortality rates of children in orphanages early in the last century. Assuming that microorganisms were to blame, doctors separated children from one another and kept handling by adults to a minimum in order to reduce the risk of infection. Despite these mandates, children continued to die at such alarming rates that both intake forms and death certificates were completed at admission for the sake of efficiency.

consistent caretakers and allowed to interact with one another, that their survival rates improved (Blum, 2002). What better evidence is there that the brain is a social organ requiring positive human connection as much as food and water? Educational experts are guilty of a similar myopathy when they focus on curricular content and test performance rather than the social world of students and teachers.

of the diverse systems within our brains. Optimal sculpting of the prefrontal cortex through healthy early relationships allows us to think well of ourselves, trust others, regulate our emotions, maintain positive expectations, and utilize our intellectual and emotional intelligence in moment-to-moment problem solving. We can now add a corollary to Darwin's survival of the fittest: Those who are nurtured best survive best.

Humans, having the most complex brains and intricate society, have the most prolonged period of total dependency of any species (Cacioppo & Berntson, 2002). Compared with the young of other primates, human babies are born quite early relative to the maturity of their brains. In fact, the first 3 months of life have sometimes been referred to as the fourth trimester. If we followed the pattern typical for other primates, we would stay inside our mothers for 24 months (Gould

In listening to our clients, we reflexively analyze their narratives for inaccurate, destructive, and missing elements. We then attempt to edit their narratives in a manner we feel would better support their adaptation and wellbeing.

At its most basic level, psychotherapy is an interpersonal learning environment similar in many ways to proper parenting. In both, we tend to learn best when supported by a nurturing relationship with an empathic other, while being encouraged to confront life's challenges

An inclusive narrative structure provides the executive brain with the best template and strategy for the oversight and coordination of the functions of mind. A story well told, containing conflicts and resolutions, gestures and expressions, and thoughts flavored with emotion, connects people ad integrates neural networks

To establish a bridge of attunement, we rely on many neural systems that receive and send social and emotional information. We use all of this information to create theories about what is on the minds of others.

Clients with painful experiences and frightening symptoms are accustomed to living in a world where others avoid and reject them. Our ability to remain empathically connected to them through the expression of their suffering sets the stage for therapy to be a qualitatively different relationship experience–one where they are accepted, pain and all.

The extent of neural growth and learning during sensitive periods results in early experience having a disproportionate impact on the shaping of our brains.

Keep in mind that teaching in tribal societies is generally performed by biologically related, caring, and deeply invested elders, one on one or in small groups. In these naturally occurring, attachment-based apprenticeships, learning is interwoven with the behaviors and biochemistry of bonding.

contact—emotional networks integrate with sensory and motor systems to connect social and emotional meaning with behaviors.