Go beyond traditional talk therapy.
Neuropsychotherapy for the grieving brain in Exeter, NH.
Rewiring the brain. Rebuilding the heart.
You’ve tried everything you can think of to feel better, but nothing’s sticking.
There may be any number of things you have already tried — attending a grief share, journaling, reading a self-help book or listening to a podcast about grief. These resources can all be very helpful and that is a positive thing in your life right now. However, without tuning into what grief is really asking for on a deeper level it is hard to feel a sense of lasting peace within your mind, body and soul.
You’re still feeling…
Like you are in 2 worlds - one where you know you have had a loss and the other where your brain and body don’t believe it.
Like your body is on high alert.
Like it is hard to focus and make decisions.
Like sleep and rest seem like they would help, but they don’t.
Four Ways Neuropsychotherapy works
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Loss disrupts the brain’s attachment circuitry, shifting your amygdala (your brain’s smoke alarm) into a chronic state of hypervigilance.
Neuropsychotherapy uses somatic regulation techniques, sensory grounding and autonomic nervous system interventions to signal safety to the lower part of your brain. This calms your body’s baseline physiological distress before working on high-level cognitive processing.
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Acute grief inhibits prefrontal cortex activity which causes “grief brain” - cognitive fatigue, memory lapses and brain fog.
Neuropsychotherapy provides cognitive restructuring exercises that help to restore focus, emotional regulation and decision-making abilities over time.
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The intense longing or searching you feel when grieving is tied to your brain’s reward system reacting to the absence of your loved one.
Neuropsychotherapy guides you through meaning-making and narrative synthesis to shift your connection with your loved from and external search to an internalized bond.
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Grief stems from a mismatch between your brain’s internal map (which expects your loved one to still exist) and reality.
Neuropsychotherapy helps update these implicit memory models through reconsolidation. By safely activating loss-related neural networks in the therapeutic setting, the brain gradually adjusts its spatial-temporal neural predictions without triggering a severe emotional flooding.
Neuropsychotherapy helps relieve symptoms of grief and trauma by integrating cognitive behavioral principles in therapy with neuroscience. It treats grief as a whole-brain, neurobiological state. It addresses the fact that the loss you have experienced has in actuality altered your neural pathways, brain chemistry, and somatic stress responses.
At the end of the day…
I want you to know that every journey with grief is unique to the individual and their personal story of loss and trauma.
Whatever it is that you’re experiencing, you are not alone.
Is Neuropsychotherapy the right fit for you?
Neuropsychotherapy can help you work directly with your brain and engages it as part of your healing journey.
Grief is not simply 5 stages you go through. It is not biologically the same thing as depression. It cannot be pathologized. There is no medicine that can treat it. Rather, grief is a human experience at its core that sometimes follows a normative process and often is more complex and traumatic.
No matter the cause of your grief, it must be fully experienced and expressed. Its energy must be processed and released in a way that allows your brain to create a new reality of your world without your loved one physically in it.
What you’ll gain
Neuropsychotherapy helps you …
Improve your “Grief Brain.” Yes, it is a real thing and you are not crazy.
Work on the neuroplasticity of your brain and its ability to form new neural pathways.
Learn how to use grounding and somatic (body-based) practices to actively lower the physiological stress you are experiencing.
No longer feel overwhelmed by “what ifs” that keep your nervous system trapped in stuck thoughts and painful loops.
Gain coping skills to manage even your toughest waves of grief.
Get in touch
Change is possible.
Click this link to choose a day and time for a free, confidential consultation with me, Holly W. Smith.
I’ll ask a little bit about your story and what you’re looking for in a Grief Therapist. I’ll share how we can work together based on what matters most to you. If you decide to schedule your first session, we’ll set that up on the calendar right away!
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
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Neuropsychotherapy is an overarching integrative framework rooted in neuroscience (pioneered largely by Klaus Grawe and Pieter Rossouw). It combines, somatic, relational, and behavioral therapies with an understanding of how brain networks functions. It’s main goal is to optimize basic psychological needs - such as safety, control, attachment, and self-esteem - to rewire neural pathways over time.
EMDR is a specific protocol-driven intervention developed by Francine Shapiro. It relies on bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps or tones) to help the brain reprocess stuck, traumatic memories so they lose their emotional charge.
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Broader scope and holistic focus
Neuropsychotherapy treats the whole person across multiple life domains (relationship, self-worth, emotional regulation, habit loops) by addressing core psychological needs.
EMDR is narrower in scope, designed primarily to target specific traumatic memoires, phobias, or distressing beliefs.
Works in conjunction with other modalities
Neuropsychotherapy allows the therapist to integrate talk therapy, somatic exercises, mindfulness and cognitive tools dynamically based on a client’s real-time needs. There is opportunity for open-ended exploration during memory reprocessing.
Focuses on flourishing not just symptom relief
Neuropsychotherapy aims to activate “approach” systems in the brain rather than just “avoidance” systems, helping clients build resilience, vitality, and a positive neural network in their brain.
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Neuropsychotherapy evolved in distinct waves over the past 3 decades rather than emerging from a single moment. Its timeline spans from early theoretical foundations in the 1990s to a recognized clinical framework today.
"There is no normal way to grieve except for how we each do it" ... and Grief Brain is a real thing! Melvina Young
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"There is no normal way to grieve except for how we each do it" ... and Grief Brain is a real thing! Melvina Young —