Dimensional Systems Model

The Dimensional Systems Model explains how learning occurs and memories are stored in the brain. This, in turn, led to a completely new approach to psychotherapy known as Clinical Biopsychology. The theory proposes that negative emotional states, such as depression and anxiety, can be understood on the basis of brain structural organization.

The new approach views the brain as having two separate and distinct minds, the right and the left cortex. The left side allows humans to understand spoken language and is where we verbally talk to ourselves, being what most people consider conscious thought. The other side controls our emotional processing and leads to our emotional reactions. Each side stores its own memories, leading to the conclusion that we not only have a native spoken language, but also a native emotional language.

Based on clinical biopsychology an emotional problem such as depression can result from one or a combination of three different areas: (a) ongoing situations (e.g., an argument) or state (e.g., pain); (b) activation of previously stored memories with negative emotion (e.g., traumatic event, history of difficult parents or peers) stored in the right cortex; and (c) an inability to activate previously stored memories (e.g., loss of loved one, loss of physical functioning).

Memories leading to a negative emotion are associated with feelings of lost control and/or those associated with feelings of personal inadequacy/personal responsibility are those that continue to affect us later in life. It has been shown that both of these factors lead to the largest increases in sympathetic nervous system (called the fight or flight system) activity. Moss (2007)suggests that the increased arousal leads to enhanced memory storage. When the memories are activated by current situations/factors, then the associated negative emotion tied to the memories activates leading to an emotional problem such as depression.