The Institute for Neurofunctional
PsychologyTM
Research & Framework
Neurofunctional Psychology & the Tri-Brain Model
"By distinguishing between functional domains (Tri-Domain) and their supporting neural substrates (Tri-Brain), Neurofunctional Psychology offers a whole-system framework that integrates biological regulation with lived experience."
- The INP White Paper
New Interdisciplinary Framework
Neurofunctional Psychology is an interdisciplinary educational framework that examines how nervous system regulation, development, stress, metabolism, and relational experience shape behavior, emotion, health, and aging across the lifespan.
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This framework integrates research from neuroscience, trauma science, developmental psychology, psychoimmunology, metabolic psychiatry, attachment theory, and relational neurobiology to understand how patterns of regulation and dysregulation emerge—and how coherence can be supported through education, awareness, and environments that promote safety and connection.
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The Tri-Brain System
Neurofunctional Psychology recognizes regulation as emerging from multiple interacting neural systems, not the brain alone.
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Neurofunctional Psychology recognizes the brain, heart, and gut as three semi-autonomous neural networks:
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The Central Nervous System (CNS)
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The Intrinsic Cardiac Nervous System (ICNS)
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The Enteric Nervous System (ENS)
Scientific literature documents that these systems communicate bidirectionally through autonomic, hormonal, immune, sensory, and electrical pathways. Together, they shape emotional experience, physiological regulation, intuition, attachment, resilience, and long-term health.
Rather than viewing these systems in isolation, the Tri-Brain model reframes them as an integrated neurobiological architecture that underlies human development and relational functioning.
From Fragmentation to Integration
For decades, psychology and healthcare have largely approached mental and physical health through fragmented models, often separating mind from body, trauma from behavior, and symptoms from underlying regulatory processes.
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Neurofunctional Psychology bridges this gap by offering a whole-system lens that connects:
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Early development and attachment
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Chronic stress and trauma exposure
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Nervous system regulation
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Metabolic and inflammatory processes
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Emotional intelligence and relational patterns
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Lifespan health and aging trajectories
This framework emphasizes understanding patterns not as failures, but as once-adaptive responses shaped by environment, stress, and development.
Education as Prevention and Resilience
A central principle of Neurofunctional Psychology is that education itself is a form of prevention.
When individuals, families, educators, and communities understand how the nervous system responds to stress and adversity, they gain the capacity to:
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Reduce shame and stigma
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Increase self-regulation and resilience
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Improve relational attunement
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Create environments that support healthy development
This educational approach supports long-term well-being at individual, relational, and community levels without requiring diagnostic labels or clinical intervention.
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Interdisciplinary Foundations
Neurofunctional Psychology integrates research and theory from:
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Neurofunctional Psychology synthesizes research from:
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Trauma and stress neuroscience
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Developmental and lifespan psychology
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Polyvagal-informed nervous system regulation
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Functional nutrition and gut–brain science
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Epigenetics and inflammation research
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Attachment and relational systems
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Intergenerational and societal trauma
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Mind–body integration and longevity science
This interdisciplinary synthesis allows complex scientific knowledge to be translated into accessible educational models.
Research, Education, and Public Benefit
The Institute for Neurofunctional Psychology advances this framework through:
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Educational research and interdisciplinary synthesis
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Public education and trauma literacy
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School and community-based programming
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Professional education and training
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Educational research and synthesis
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Public education and trauma literacy
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School and community programming
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Professional education and training
All materials presented within this framework are educational and research-informed, intended to support learning, awareness, and resilience across the lifespan.
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Relationship to INP Programs
The Neurofunctional Psychology framework informs the educational philosophy underlying INP’s programs, trainings, and public resources. Programs are designed to translate this research into practical, developmentally appropriate learning experiences for schools, families, and communities.
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​​For a comprehensive overview of the scientific foundations, interdisciplinary framework, and educational applications of Neurofunctional Psychology, download the full white paper below.
Core Principles
Connection is biology
Regulation is resilience
Education empowers healing
The body communicates continuously
Understanding precedes change
Nervous System Dysregulation: The Hidden Driver of Mental and Physical Health Across the Lifespan
This paper examines nervous system dysregulation as a central, often overlooked force shaping mental, physical, and relational health across the lifespan. Integrating trauma neuroscience, developmental psychology, and mind–body physiology, it reveals how chronic states of fight, flight, and shutdown disrupt attunement, intuition, and the body’s natural signaling systems. The paper presents a neurofunctional framework for recognizing dysregulation as the hidden driver of lifelong patterns and offers a pathway back to regulation, connection, and flow.
The White Paper:
A Whole-System Framework for Emotional Intelligence, Regulation, and Human Connection
This foundational white paper outlines the scientific framework behind Neurofunctional Psychology—integrating trauma neuroscience, developmental and lifespan psychology, functional nutrition, and the three-brain system. It presents the public-health urgency of trauma, the mechanisms of nervous system dysregulation, and INP’s evidence-based, whole-system model for healing and resilience across the lifespan.
Download to explore the full interdisciplinary framework.
This white paper is intended for educational and research purposes only.
The Return to Flow: Restoring Attunement, Intuition, and Embodied Connection Across the Lifespan
This paper explores how chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation disconnect individuals from their innate attunement, intuition, and embodied wisdom. Integrating trauma neuroscience, developmental psychology, and the three-brain system, it examines how survival states interrupt flow, disrupt emotional clarity, and sever the connection between mind and body. The paper outlines a neurofunctional pathway for restoring regulation and returning to flow and reconnecting individuals across the lifespan with presence, coherence, intuition, and the body’s natural intelligence.
Intergenerational Trauma: Transmission Pathways and Healing Through Attunement & Repair
This paper explores how trauma is transmitted across generations through nervous system patterning, relational dynamics, and implicit emotional communication. Integrating research in developmental psychology, epigenetics, attachment science, and trauma neuroscience, it reveals how children inherit not only stories but states and patterns of fear, vigilance, shutdown, or disconnection. The paper highlights the transformative role of attunement, presence, and relational repair in interrupting these cycles, offering a neurofunctional pathway for restoring safety, connection, and resilience across generations.