Describing the neuroscientific basis for effective psychotherapy, Professor Holmes draws on the Free Energy Principle, which holds that, through 'active inference' -- agency and model revision -- the brain minimises discrepancies between incoming experience and its pre-existing picture of the world. Difficulties with these processes underlie clients' need for psychotherapeutic help. Based on his relational 'borrowed brain' model, and deploying his capacity to communicate complex ideas to a wide audience, Holmes shows us how the 'talking cure' reinstates active inference and thus how therapy helps bring about change.

"As one of the architects of the free energy principle, it was a true joy - and something of an eye opener - to see how mathematical intuitions can be artfully unpacked to explain our transactions with others. This book renders problems such as these in a new, grounded and revealing light."; Professor Karl J. Friston, Scientific Director, Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, UCL; "This book is a visionary tour de force. It will serve as a guide to every clinician's thinking. It takes a significant step towards realizing Freud's ambition of establishing a viable neuroscientific model for psychotherapy. It is one of the most valuable contributions to the field this Century." Professor Peter Fonagy OBE, Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science, UCL; "If Sigmund Freud were working now, he would be advising us to read this rich and thought-provoking new book. The examples are profound and beautiful; and Jeremy's work is a reminder that psychotherapy will always be both an art and a science." Dr Gwen Adshead, Consultant forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist; "The Free Energy Principle is the cutting edge of modern neuroscience. It is also notoriously difficult to grasp. Here, Jeremy Holmes explains it in terms that psychotherapists can understand so easily that it feels as if we always understood it." Professor Mark Solms, University of Cape Town