How Neuroscience-Based Therapy Uses Two Brain Pathways for Healing

How Neuroscience-Based Therapy Uses Two Brain Pathways for Healing

Your clients need both safety and growth, and new neuroscience may help explain why.

As therapists, we’ve long known that healing happens in the balance between stability and change. Clients need to feel grounded enough to stay present, yet flexible enough to explore new ways of being.

Now, new research from the University of Pittsburgh adds biological depth to this familiar truth. Published in Science Advances (2025), the study offers a microscopic view of how the brain may maintain stability and adaptability at the same time — a finding that echoes what Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) has emphasized for decades.

The Discovery Worth Noticing

In the lab, this balance appears at the very site where neurons communicate: the synapse.

Researchers studying mouse visual cortex discovered that neurons use two distinct transmission modes at separate sites within the same cell — a finding that challenges decades of assumptions about how the brain’s communication system works.

Previously, scientists believed all synaptic activity — both the steady background “hum” of ongoing activity and the active bursts that support learning — occurred through the same transmission sites. This study revealed something different:

· Spontaneous transmissions maintain steady, consistent neural activity and provide continuity — like a reliable baseline.

· Evoked transmissions activate during new experiences and learning — like sparks of electricity that create growth.

Even though this work was conducted in the developing mouse cortex, it introduces a compelling model for understanding how biological systems might hold continuity and adaptability within the same structure.

Science Note: The study by Yang and colleagues (2025, Science Advances) examined synaptic transmission in mice. While these results can’t be generalized directly to humans, they illustrate how distinct mechanisms of stability and change may coexist in complex systems like the brain.

Why This Matters for Your Practice

For clinicians, this discovery conceptually reinforces what IPNB practitioners have observed for years: healing depends on supporting both stability and flexibility.

It mirrors Dan Siegel’s River of Integration metaphor, in which one bank represents chaos (instability) and the other rigidity (over-stability). Health flows between them.

When clients feel too unstable, they can’t access growth. When they’re too rigid, they can’t change. True integration — both neurobiological and relational — lives in that dynamic middle.

Putting It into Practice

While neuroscience can’t yet directly map these microscopic findings onto psychotherapy, the model of “stability and change working together” provides a helpful way to conceptualize clinical pacing, intervention, and repair.

Example Flow Session 

Opening (Stability Focus): “Let’s start by noticing your feet on the floor and taking three breaths together. This is your safe space.”

Middle (Change Focus): “Now that you’re grounded, let’s explore that conversation differently. What would it feel like to respond from curiosity instead of defensiveness?”

Integration (Both Pathways): “Notice how you can hold both — feeling steady in your body while considering something new. That balance is the foundation of growth.”

The Bigger Picture

Science continues to evolve, but this study offers an encouraging parallel: the brain (and perhaps the therapeutic process) may depend on both steadiness and change as essential forces of adaptation.

Like a river flowing over rocks, health arises when we can hold steady and keep moving forward at the same time.

When therapists create safe, attuned relationships, they help clients strengthen stability. When they invite exploration and flexibility, they activate change. Integration is what happens when both pathways work together.

Bring This Science into Your Practice

Your brain’s dual modes aren’t just theory—they offer a way to visualize how healing unfolds between safety and exploration. 

Reference

Yang, Y., et al. (2025). Distinct transmission sites within a synapse for strengthening and homeostasis. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads5750