Erika Zazzu
The Process Behind Therapy: How Change Actually Happens
For the curious, the sceptical, and the deeply thoughtful , this page is for you. Whether you're someone who needs to understand how and why things work, or you're simply cautious about anything that sounds too abstract, I get it. I created this page because I, too, have always needed more than just reassurance. I need the science, the evidence, and the deeper context. Here you'll find the research and frameworks behind the therapeutic approaches I use from nervous system regulation to attachment, neuroplasticity, and the power of human connection.
Although is is extremely difficult to explain the power of change that can happen in therapy as it is relational and change takes place within that relationship, through being in the relationship. Therapy can help you to build trust and love with another person and yourself. The majority of people who attend therapy are struggling with relationships in some capacity to themselves or others, so the way to repair these wounds is through relationship, with your therapist (if they're safe and trustable). The way you relate to yourself and others, will be noticed and explored within our relationship, the nuances and repair are so important.
That's why I try to be vulnerable, open and honest so you can sense my willing vulnerability to be with you alongside your pain and admit my own flaws. So we can really witness together how you exist in the world and relationships and how that is influencing your reality, relationships, self esteem and much more. I know this can feel confusing at times because these interactions are hard to explain as they are something experiential that happens in such a unique way for each person/relationship and their conditioning and attachment wounds.
The nervous system, therapy, attachment and healing.
Therapy isn’t just “talking about your feelings.” Behind it lies a deep foundation of neuroscience, psychology, and relational theory. Here are the key frameworks that explain how therapy, especially person-centred and somatic work creates real, lasting change.
The brain is not fixed. It’s adaptable.
-Neuroplasticity refers to your brain’s ability to rewire itself based on experience.
-Repeated patterns of stress, criticism, or trauma can build strong “survival” pathways (fight, flight, freeze, fawn).
-But in therapy, especially in safe, regulated relationships, new patterns can be formed.
-With time, support, and repetition, the brain can build pathways for calm, connection, self-worth, and trust.
Research:
Norman Doidge (2007) – The Brain That Changes Itself
Siegel, D. (2012) – The Developing Mind
We don’t just think our feelings - we feel them in the body.
-Somatic therapy draws on the understanding that the body stores emotional and traumatic experiences.
-When a threat isn’t resolved, the body often stays stuck in survival mode - even years later.
-Tools like grounding, breathwork, orienting, and gentle body awareness help shift the body from threat to safety.
-Once the nervous system feels safe, the thinking brain can come back online, and real reflection and healing can occur.
Frameworks:
-Polyvagal Theory (Dr. Stephen Porges): Explains how our nervous system shifts between fight/flight, freeze, and social engagement states.
-Somatic Experiencing (Dr. Peter Levine): Focuses on completing survival responses stuck in the body.
-Window of Tolerance (Dr. Dan Siegel): Describes the zone in which we can process emotions safely.
Emotional connection literally wires the brain in early life.
-As infants, our brains develop in response to the people around us, especially our caregivers.
-Secure attachment (feeling safe, seen, soothed) builds strong foundations for emotional regulation, identity, and self-worth.
-Inconsistent, neglectful, or frightening caregiving can lead to insecure or disorganised attachment patterns that echo into adulthood.
-Therapy offers a new kind of relationship- one that is attuned, present, and non-judgmental. This can create new relational templates.
Research:
Bowlby, J. (1969) – Attachment theory
Schore, A. (1994+) – Early relational trauma and brain development
Cozolino, L. – The Neuroscience of Human Relationships
Being with someone regulated helps us regulate.
-Mirror neurons are brain cells that activate both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else doing it.
-This explains why co-regulation is powerful: being with someone calm, attuned, and grounded can help shift your own nervous system.
-In therapy, your therapist's presence, tone, and nonverbal cues offer a new experience of safety and emotional resonance.
Insight:
It’s not just about what we talk about, it’s about how we are with each other in the room.
Person-Centred Therapy: Safety and Trust Heal
Change happens in the context of relationship.
-Developed by Carl Rogers, person-centred therapy is grounded in empathy, unconditional positive regard, and authenticity.
-The client is not “fixed” by the therapist. Instead, healing arises from being deeply seen, heard, and accepted, often for the first time.
-This relational safety allows defences to soften and the real self to emerge.
Core Principles:
-You are the expert on your own experience.
-When met with warmth and presence, people naturally move toward growth and healing.
Trauma isn’t just what happened ... it’s how your body had to respond to survive.
-Trauma can leave emotional “imprints” in the nervous system, even when we can't consciously remember the event.
-Emotional flashbacks, people-pleasing, hypervigilance, and chronic anxiety can all be responses to unresolved trauma.
-Therapy helps these implicit memories surface gently, at your pace, so the body can complete old responses and finally feel safe.
Key Insight:
You don’t have to relive trauma to heal but the body needs to know the danger has passed.
Therapy is not about “talking in circles,” and it’s not about being fixed.
It’s about:
-Working with your biology, not against it
-Reconnecting with what got cut off for survival
-Creating real, felt shifts in how you think, feel, relate, and show up in the world
-Learning how to move from self-protection to self-connection
While talk is powerful, safe, appropriate physical connection from a handshake to co-regulated breathing also has physiological effects. Oxytocin, often called the "bonding hormone," is released in moments of trust and warmth. It reduces cortisol (stress), slows the heart rate, and enhances neuroplasticity. This is part of why human contact or even felt connection supports healing.
Across modalities, the consistent factor in healing is not a specific technique but the relational field and the safety of the therapeutic container, where the brain and body can risk doing something different and be changed by it.
One of the foundations of my work comes from Carl Rogers’ Person-Centred Therapy. Rogers believed that every person has an inner capacity for growth and healing, much like a seed already carrying the blueprint to become a tree. For that potential to unfold, we need the right conditions. Empathy, unconditional positive regard, and authenticity. In therapy and coaching, I aim to create those conditions: a relationship where you feel safe, accepted, and truly understood. Within that environment, change often happens naturally, as the nervous system relaxes, self-criticism softens, and new possibilities for growth begin to take root.
Neuroplasticity: Your Brain Can Change
The Nervous System: Your Body Remembers
Attachment: Your First Relationships Shape Your Brain
Mirror Neurons: We Learn Through Connection
Emotional Memory + Trauma
Touch and Connection
Person-Centred Therapy
Contact
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