Dr. Kwon Hye-kyung, founder of the psychological counseling platform Counselor Korea, gave an opening talk titled "The Impact of Trauma on the Human Mind" at the "2022 Seoul Relax Week Meditation Conference" on October 1, followed by a lecture on "The Latest Psychological Therapy Techniques Based on Neuroscience."
Dr. Kwon emphasized that the most important discovery neuroscience has brought to psychological therapy is neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to grow and change throughout life based on new learning or experiences. She explained that psychological therapy not only soothes the mind but also creates new neural networks in the brain and changes the brain itself, thereby proving the effectiveness of psychological therapy.
She also discussed the recent trend of collaboration between neuroscience and psychological therapy, citing Dr. Stephen Porges, who developed the Polyvagal Theory. Dr. Porges was the first neuroscientist to propose the influence of the vagus nerve on human health, growth, and recovery, emphasizing safety as an essential condition. In addition to the fight-or-flight defense mechanisms, he provided the neurobiological mechanisms of dissociation and shutdown that occur when we perceive life-threatening danger. This scientifically put an end to absurd misunderstandings about trauma victims, such as why they did not respond actively or whether they enjoyed sexual assault or tacitly consented.
Dr. Kwon explained the evolution and development of psychological therapy, stating that the first generation of psychological therapy, starting with Freud, was cognition-centered. The limitation of this cognition-centered therapy, where symptoms did not improve despite understanding one’s problems, led to the second generation of therapy focused on emotional expression. However, she noted that going beyond the range of emotions can be more dangerous and counter-therapeutic. Finally, the third generation of psychological therapy techniques, which emphasize body and emotion regulation, has become mainstream, and recently, the fourth generation of therapy that deals with trauma joyfully and without pain has begun to emerge. Representative third-generation therapy methods include IFS therapy and EMDR therapy, which cover many trauma therapy approaches, while the fourth generation includes the Flash Technique.
Now, psychological counseling is no longer an abstract service where clients simply share their inner thoughts and feel better because the therapist empathized without knowing why. Instead, it has become a tool to more concretely understand the client’s difficulties and help build the necessary new neural networks. Therefore, Dr. Kwon advises that when seeking a counselor, it is important to check whether the counselor is aware of and follows these new trends.
Dr. Kwon’s opening talk and lecture will be available for replay through the Seoul Relax Week and Psychology Korea websites.
Dr. Kwon Hye-kyung launched an educational institution called Psychology Korea to teach Korean mental health professionals the latest third- and fourth-generation psychological counseling techniques based on neuroscience. Through this, she produced skilled counselors and established the counseling platform Counselor Korea. Additionally, Dr. Kwon is the Korean partner of the Polyvagal Institute, founded by the world-renowned scholar Dr. Stephen Porges, who was the first speaker at this conference. She is also the Korean partner of the IFS Institute and the person who introduced the globally acclaimed official IFS therapy training and the Flash Technique, a fourth-generation psychological therapy method, to Korea.
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