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The position that brain and mind are separate entities was Rene Descartes’ greatest error, to borrow Antonio Damasio’s (1994) famous turn of phrase. Another of Descartes’ big errors was the idea that animals are without consciousness, without experiences, because they lack the subtle nonmaterial stuff from which the human mind is made. This notion lingers on today in the belief that animals do no think about nor even feel their emotional responses. Most who study animal brains have not yet learned how to discuss and study animal minds, especially their emotional feelings, as systematically and superbly as they study learned behaviours. Animals’ primal feelings are best studied ethologically—by monitoring their own emotional tendencies.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (Page 1)

As far as we know right now, primal emotional systems are made up of neuroanatomies and neurochemistries that are remarkably similar across all mammalian species. This suggests that these systems evolved a very long time ago and that at a basic emotional and motivational level, all mammals are more similar than they are different. Deep in the ancient affective recesses of our brains, we remain evolutionarily kin. This has long been evident in our body structures and biochemistries.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (Page 4)

Also, the mammalian brain is fundamentally a social brain, and it needs to be treated as such. (..). Thus, almost all mind-medicine interventions need to be complemented by appropriate psychosocial help, not only to trace and unravel the secondary- and tertiary-process derivatives of (perhaps lifelong) basic emotional imbalances, but also to guide, facilitate, and activate the desired primary-process affects. (..). Affective neuroscience highlights that the role of social emotions in all future therapeutic schools of thought must remain in focus in order for lasting improvements to be maximized.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (Page 1)

The psychoanalytic tradition was followed, during the behaviourist era, with highly focused "behaviour modification therapies," where both the cognitive and emotional issues were put aside and therapists sought to mold maladaptive behaviour patterns by adjusting reinforcement contingencies. With the cognitive revolution, the focus shifted to "cognitive behavioural therapies" (CBT) that were remarkably effective for some disorders such as specific phobias (Beck, 1976). Now, with the recognition that emotional tides lie at the core of psychiatric disorders, the winds are shifting again.

— Archaeology of Mind by Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven (1%)