Neuroaesthetics and the Art of Transformation

Deer Trails Through the Woods

Marcia Brennan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN: 9781040679371
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Abnormal Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Through an imaginative engagement with neuroaesthetics, this vividly illustrated book presents the imagery of the forest as a creative metaphor for re-envisioning the structures of the brain, distressing mental health conditions such as anxiety and OCD, the potential for transformation, and the process of finding a new pathway forward.

The book offers a highly innovative and accessible framework for approaching basic neuroanatomy and related mental processes. The metaphorical imagery of deer trails through the woods provides a suggestive means to visualize what it might look like if a person could see inside their own brain when they are peaceful and content, and to view the pathways that form through the repetition of their thought patterns. This would be like having a window into the inner world of the mind and the brain. Within the human nervous system, neurons are nerve cells that transmit information, and all thoughts leave a neuronal trail. Both the trails and the information that passes through them provide the building blocks of a neuroaesthetic fairytale. Divided into three parts, the book examines the structural similarities between the forest and the brain, tells a story about getting lost in the woods and finding your way back again, and then builds on resonant themes of growth, transformation, and finding a new path forward.

Featuring exercises including imaginative visualizations, reflective journaling questions, and creative writing prompts, this book will be a useful supplement to those already practicing, and those studying to be expressive arts therapists, educators, therapists, counsellors, social workers, and psychologists, as well as people who wish to utilize this material for their own journey.

This book builds on the insights and aesthetic approach featured in the author's previous books The Colors of Life: Exploring Life Experiences Through Color and Emotion and Approaching SEL Through Emotion and Color with Advanced Learners: A Companion to The Colors of Life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• About the Author and Illustrators
• Acknowledgments
• Note Regarding Issues of Confidentiality
• Part I: The Brain and the Forest: A Neurocognitive Fairytale
• Part II: The Art of Holding On by Letting Go: Reenvisioning Anxiety and OCD
• Part III: Deer Trails Through the Woods: Finding a New Path Forward
• Index