Clinical psychology
According to current academic psychology, we function as a machine regulated by educational, social, genetic, biological and physiological processes, although it insists mainly on the last three, due to their ease of being subjected to the scientific method (which can be measured, reproduced and repeated). So we will talk about emotions as their behavioral, autonomic and endocrine components.
According to research using neuroimaging techniques, emotional regulation occurs mainly in the areas of the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, although the insula and the cingulate cortex also play a role.
"What we see changes what we know. What we know changes what we see."
The amygdala not only decides on the response, learning and emotional modulation, but stands out for being decisive in terms of the fear we experience. In this sense, it is essential to know its two processing routes (slow and fast), and the regulatory role that, thanks to the first, the prefrontal cortex exercises.
The prefrontal cortex adapts our emotional response to the context (social, ethical, values) in which we live, evaluating moral judgments, attending to pros and cons, thus reducing the conditioning of fear and harmful behaviors. This is precisely the area we exercise during the therapy sessions.