Neuroscientific principles are frequently valuable resources in counseling. The paper includes some introductory remarks on how neuroscience is adopted into the counseling relationship.

1. Neuroscience in Counseling
Stotler, 2020
Ingersoll & Rak (2016) list six different neurotransmitters in their textbook. There is no easy way
to distinguish these neurotransmitters. In the context of psychopathology three of these
neurotransmitters seem to have had a little less attention brought to them. The three
neurotransmitters being referred to are Glutamate (GLU), Gamma-aminobutyric Acid (GABA),
and Acetylcholine (ACH) (Ingersoll & RAK, 2016). Where the other three (covered in the
textbook) are key players known to be, within the mechanisms of action/focus of some drugs,
pharmaceuticals and disorders naming – Dopamine (DA) [Bipolar I] (Ingersoll & Rak, 2016),
Norepinephrine (NE) [Bipolar-I, Depression] (Ingersoll & Rak, 2016), and Serotonin (5H-T),
[Bipolar I, Seasonal Affective Major Depressive Disorder] (Harrison et. Al, 2017).
The other three neurotransmitters are not as frequently mentioned in the literature. GLU
is an amino acid / neurotransmitter. It is known that stress affects glutamate neurotransmission
(at glutamate release) (Popoli, Yan, McEwen & Sanacora, 2011), and therefore this process
would affect the brain directly, where it has been approximated that over 50% of the synapse in
the brain release GLU (Purves, et. Al, 2001). “GLU encourages neurons to fire.” (Ingersoll &
Rak, 2016; p. 28). GLU is important to brain functioning as GLU plays a role in sensory
functions and it is a precursor to GABA and is associated with cognition and emotion (Kaiser,
Schuff, Cashdollar & Weiner, 2005).
Another important though somewhat less popular neurotransmitter is GABA. GABA is
also an Amino Acid neurotransmitter. GLU is a precursor to GABA where GABA inhibits
neuron’s firing. People need neurons to be inhibited for many reasons such as when making

2. movements, concentrating, when inhibiting a response to stimuli, motor-control and even such
as delegating a certain area of the brain over another (Ingersoll & Rak, 2016).
One last lesser popular neurotransmitter is ACH. ACH neurotransmitters are thought to
be responsible for alertness and memory, and in Alzheimer’s patients it has been recorded that
ACH is of “short supply” (Britannica, 2020, p. 2). Another important role that ACH takes is that
that ACH is known to be present at the muscle-nerve connection for all voluntary muscles and in
many autonomic nervous system synapses. It is important further to the automatic nervous
system as it assists with the slowing of the heartbeat. (Britannica, 2020; Ingersoll & Rak, 2016).
Thus, its function depends on where in the body it is transmitted / transported.
Why is it important to be familiar with electro-chemical neurotransmission as a counselor
(with no abilities to prescribe)? Neurotransmitters and neurotransmission systems are important
to the counselor for many reasons. A good example is that of the neurotransmitter production
process that “picks up” when one begins to smoke. The neuroscience of how the body
increases production of the nicotinic receptors for the body to “feel the same effect” transfers to
counseling in three ways – biopsychosocially. The same nicotinic receptor process has been
found to ameliorate nicotinic receptors sometimes after months of quitting nicotine use.
The concepts and postulations of modernizing-neuroscience is very important. It allows
us to conceptualize the psychological, neurological and physiological changes that one may be
undergoing while being treated pharmacologically, and/or in any sort of disorder. It assists us to
understand applications and needs of clients. The neuroscientific theories / mechanisms that we
need to understand as counselors, may be infinite, as we can acknowledge that neuroscience
and neurotransmitting processes are readily founded or investigated daily. We may benefit
increasingly from neuroscientific principles in the future in counseling. The bridges between

3. these studies are intricate and all-encompassing, especially if when we practice CBT and if we
focus on our clients through a biopsychosocial approach. This then could lead us to ethno-
psychopharmacology and geographic neuro-psychology.
We also can apply neuroscience or neuroscientific postulations to most every aspect of
psychology and/or functioning. One, because these systems sometimes signify
psychological systems/changes that are hard to make (and they are also enacting/cycling), such
as how lithium is known to "extend the circadian cycle" (Ingersoll & Rak, 2016). This is huge, did
we even know that this cycle could "extend" before control trials on lithium?
Second, we can apply neuroscientific or neurotransmitter concepts to other situations, or
we can utilize the complexity to understand how some processes can be extravagantly
complicated and by and how systems can be augmented. An example is that that we read that
neurotransmitters can reuptake neurotransmitters, we learn about "loading doses" where one
drug is initiated in a larger dose to begin with (than is the normal dose) to increase the baseline
of the drug in the system fast, and even the lessons about how neurotransmitters. An important
lesson that we can integrate into counseling from neuroscience is that that not only do
neurotransmitters transmit, uptake, reuptake, and dispatch, but they can bind and be bounded
(Ingersoll & Rak, 2016).
These are extremely important lessons and applications that convert into better
counseling practices. The harder question would be “why should we steer clear of the
mechanism of action of psychotropic medications as counselors (whom have no privilege in
prescribing psychotropic medications)?”

4. Resources
Britannica Encyclopedia. (2020). Acetylcholine. Britannica Encyclopedia [online]. Retrieved
March 23, 2020 from https://www.britannica.com/science/acetylcholine .
Inigersoll, E. & Rak, C. (2016). Psychopharmcology for mental health providers. ed. 2.
Cengage. ISBN: 978-1-285-84522-7.
Kaiser, L., Schuffer, N., Cashdollar, N. & Weiner, M. (2005). Age related glutamate and
glutamine concentration changes in normal human brain: H MR spectroscopy study at 4
T. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved March 23, 2020 from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443746/ .
Popoli, M., Yan, Z., McEwen, B., Sanacora, G. (2011). The stressed synapse: the impact of
stress and glucocorticoids on glutamate transmission. National Review of Neuroscience
13(1), 22-37. DOI: 10.1038/nrn3138.
Purves, D., Augustine, G., Fitzpatrick, D., Katz, L., LaMania, A., McNamara, J. & Williams, S.
(2001). Nueroscience ed. 2. Sinauer Associates.
Harrison, S., Tyrer, A., Levitan, R., Xu, X., Houle, S., Wilson, A., Nobrega, J., Rusjan, P. &
Meyer, J. (2015). Light therapy and serotonin transport binding in the anterior cingulate
and prefrontal cortex. Acta Psychiatry Scandinavia, 132(5), 379-388. Retrieved March
23, 2020 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4942271/ .