Welcome to the Brain of Presence.
A platform dedicated to psychotherapy, neuropsychology and the neuroscience of presence.
If you are looking for psychological support, perhaps you recognize yourself in one of these situations:
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You are constantly on alert, not able to relax.
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Some memories continue to overwhelm you despite the passage of time.
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You have experienced a difficult event whose effects are still present today.
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You feel as if your nervous system is stuck in a state of alert or exhaustion.
The support aims to help the brain reprocess these experiences: EMDR and trauma-focused therapies and emotional regulation, ACT therapy, schema therapy and contributions from contemporary neuroscience.
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Your attention span or your organization is making your daily life more difficult.
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You are wondering if ADHD is present in yourself or your child.
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Your child is experiencing academic difficulties despite their efforts.
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You want to better understand your own cognitive functioning, that of your child, or identify the resources you can rely on.
Neuropsychological assessment helps to better understand attentional, executive or learning difficulties in children, adolescents and adults.
Or perhaps you are here to explore a more fundamental question
You are interested in the brain, psychology, or neuroscience.
You wonder how the presence of others influences our emotions, our attention, our learning, or our mental health.
You are looking for content that connects scientific research and human experience.
My recent research focuses in particular on a simple question:
At what point does the presence of others begin to shape the brain?
It is this reflection that gave birth to the project of this platform The Brain of Presence, which I am delighted to share with you.
→ Discover The Brain of Presence.
Driss Boussaoud
Psychologist & Neuropsychologist
EMDR Therapist in Marseille
I am a neuroscientist, Emeritus Research Director at CNRS, clinical psychologist, neuropsychologist, and EMDR therapist based in Marseille.
My career brings together more than forty years of brain research and a clinical practice centered on psychotherapy, neuropsychology, and trauma. This dual experience forms the foundation of a neuroscience-informed approach, in which knowledge drawn from research illuminates the understanding of psychological suffering — and the conditions for change.
I work with adults, adolescents, and children across three main areas:
Trauma & EMDR — psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, panic attacks, relational difficulties, and emotional regulation.
Neuropsychology & ADHD — attention disorders, executive functions, learning difficulties, ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults.
Psychotherapy — depression, psychological exhaustion, personal or relational difficulties, development of new psychological resources.
Consultations take place in Marseille or via teleconsultation, in French and in English.
Book an appointment →
View consultations →
NEUROSCIENCE-INFORMED PRACTICE — FROM THE LAB TO THE THERAPY ROOM
You may be dealing with anxiety that's hard to explain, the lasting effects of a difficult experience, attention difficulties, or a sense that something in your relationships keeps repeating itself.
These experiences have a history — and that history can be understood, and changed.
After four decades of research on how the brain learns, pays attention, and responds to the presence of others, I now bring that knowledge directly into the therapy room. Not as a theoretical framework applied from a distance — but as a daily practice, shaped by what we now understand about how the brain develops, how it changes, and how it heals.
It is this question that gave rise to the project: The Brain of Presence — a project that is both scientific and clinical, one in which the rigor of research illuminates practice, and in which practice, in turn, nourishes and questions science.
Because clinical work is far more than a field of application: it is an irreplaceable source of understanding — of human experience in all that is most singular, most fragile, and most alive.
The Blog & Resources
Understanding to better navigate.
Articles on the brain of presence, emotions, trauma, and emotional regulation — for those who want to understand what they are experiencing before, during, or after therapy.
Read the blog →
The Newsletter →
YouTube →
Contact & appointments →
