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Active Inference Based Psychotherapy: What might psychotherapy based on first principles look like?

Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA
18 min readJul 4, 2024

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Working notes on a potential approach to psychotherapy and growth.

Copyright Grant H Brenner

NB This is not medical advice nor an established approach to psychotherapy. If you are concerned about your well-being or are in need of assistance, please seek professional evaluation right away. For crises, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides immediate support and resources.

"Active Inference Therapy" - What Might a Psychotherapy Based on First Principles Look Like?

Description: Active Inference presents a powerful framework for applying Bayesian epistemology to a variety of fields. Going beyond complexity theory, building upon it with computational models, opens up possibilities.

As “self-evidencing creatures” (Karl Friston — see below for podcast interview with Dr. Friston), we move through indeterminate spaces seeking greater adaptation. We have a model, and we use it. That model tends to be hidden, or implicit. Quite often the conscious reasons we think we make decisions are not actually the real reasons.

It shapes our perceptions and our actions. We have a prior belief about that model and then when we get new evidence as a result of our actions or the way our perceptions lead us to make choices, we then want to update that model. That is the posterior. In Bayesian…

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Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA
Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA

Written by Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA

Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst, Entrepreneur, Writer, Speaker, Disaster Responder, Advocate, Photographer

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