{"title":"A case for chaos theory inclusion in neuropsychoanalytic modeling","authors":"Alexey Tolchinsky","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2023.2191983","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2023.2191983","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper provides a review of the current evidence of chaoticity at various scales of the brain–mind as well as the application of nonlinear tools in clinical practice. Based on these data, a hypothesis is formulated that the brain–mind at various scales can operate in linear, nonlinear, or hybrid modes, such as chaotic functioning accompanied by noise. A thesis formulated by Mark Solms that living systems must minimize Shannon’s entropy of physical states (sensory entropy) is considered. Based on the data presented in this paper, minimization of entropy in that sense appears to be describing only a part of the complex brain–mind dynamics. Studies evaluating measures of entropy specifically developed for real living systems such as discrete timescale entropy (ApEn) suggest that a decrease in EEG entropy can be observed in some neuronal processes (e.g. progression from wakefulness to deep sleep); however, EEG entropy is observed to be increasing at other times and in other modes of brain–mind functioning (e.g. progression from deep sleep to REM to wakefulness; and from vegetative state to wakefulness). The clinical implications are discussed. This paper proposes that it would be theoretically and clinically beneficial for future revisions of neuropsychoanalytic models to consider including the chaos theory framework.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"25 1","pages":"43 - 52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44396442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Sonia Goergen, Ana Delgadillo Hernández, Prof. Rosario García Cordovilla, Professor Jean-Benjamin Stora, Fatma Gökçe Özkarar Gradwohl, M. Edlow, Orlando Uccellini, James P. Dowling, D. Priputnevich, Steven Richards, A. Tarabanov, Martin Hallberg, Alli St. John, Alexey Tolchinsky, I. Biran, Doria Cohen Langleben, K. Tiberg
{"title":"43rd Bulletin of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society","authors":"Maria Sonia Goergen, Ana Delgadillo Hernández, Prof. Rosario García Cordovilla, Professor Jean-Benjamin Stora, Fatma Gökçe Özkarar Gradwohl, M. Edlow, Orlando Uccellini, James P. Dowling, D. Priputnevich, Steven Richards, A. Tarabanov, Martin Hallberg, Alli St. John, Alexey Tolchinsky, I. Biran, Doria Cohen Langleben, K. Tiberg","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2023.2200413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2023.2200413","url":null,"abstract":"The collection of reports by the regional groups that comprise the 43rd Bulletin of the Society shows the knowledge and experience that our diverse groups around the world have developed. In recent times, the different groups have increasingly consolidated their interest in the integration of the neurosciences and psychoanalysis, working independently on various topics that contribute to clinical work. Some groups have studied Mark Solms’ ideas on consciousness to advance their own models, e.g. the group in Madrid, which has proposed a new understanding of the structure of the self. Groups in New York, Washington, and Turkey are studying relevant topics such as autism, ADHD, psychosis, and depression with an interest in neurodevelopmental issues and psychotherapeutic interventions. Regarding psychopathology, the group in Manchester is conducting studies on neurosis, while most regional groups report working on neuropsychoanalysis with a steady influence of Prof. Jaak Panksepp’s affective neuroscience and clinical applications of neuropsychoanalysis. We thank them for their inspirational approaches and we acknowledge their experience and valuable contributions.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"25 1","pages":"87 - 97"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46115696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The GeoCat 1.3, a simple tool for the measurement of Freudian primary and secondary process thinking","authors":"Ariane Bazan, L. Brakel","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2023.2169955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2023.2169955","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Linda A.W. Brakel et al. have developed a formal, non-verbal index of primary and secondary process mentation independent of the psychoanalytic clinical method, the GeoCat, and Ariane Bazan has made improvements to the original instrument, resulting into the GeoCat 1.3. The GeoCat is a forced-choice measure contrasting two types of similarity between geometrical figures. One of the two target figures consists of the same components as the master figure but in a different configuration; because this target figure is similar to the master figure in an “attributional” way, it is called the “ATT” figure. By drawing on associative operations to attain perceptual identity, ATT choices are proposed to index primary process mentation. The other target figure is made up of different components, but these are arranged in the same configuration; as this target figure is similar to the master figure in a configurational or “relational” way, it is called the “REL” figure. Configurational similarity is only accessible through spatiotemporal orientation, and therefore REL is thought to index secondary process mentation. Accumulating research on the validity of the GeoCat 1.3 shows good psychometric qualities, including internal consistency, inter-list variability, and both construct and convergent validity, with preliminary data showing high correlations with projective instruments. Even if the GeoCat does not deliver the rich clinical materials produced by projective tools, its easy inclusion in diagnostic assessment produces important, sometimes surprising, indications. As a research tool, it has proven pivotal in a variety of studies, from fundamental metapsychology and psychopathology to psychotherapy research.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"25 1","pages":"5 - 15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49020591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Extending the theory of premature automatization: The fantasy as an abstract rule in hierarchical cognitive control","authors":"John Dall’Aglio","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2023.2183888","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2023.2183888","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The neuropsychoanalytic theory of repression as premature automatization is a major clinical contribution of neuropsychoanalysis. One of its clinical implications is that psychoanalysis works with (declarative) derivatives of the repressed to gradually automatize new non-declarative action plans that better meet one’s needs. This supposes a certain link between the repressed and its derivatives. However, the way derivatives are linked to the repressed has not been elaborated. Here, I propose a consilience between hierarchical cognitive control (instantiated in basal ganglia-prefrontal cortex loops) and the fantasy (as developed in Lacanian psychoanalysis). I claim that this structure provides the link between the premature automatized repressed and derivatives. Specifically, higher-order, abstract (non-declarative) rule systems govern the contextual selection of actions to achieve a goal-state. For premature automatized action plans, which have a generalized status and confidence, the abstract rule system in which they are nested is commensurately generalized, even though it does not work. This approach emphasizes how prematurely automatized motor plans are nested within a structuring hierarchy that effects their instantiations across various interpersonal and fantasmatic scenes.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"25 1","pages":"27 - 42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42796580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A neuropsychodynamic view of dreaming","authors":"F. Castellet y Ballarà, C. Spadazzi, R. Spagnolo","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2023.2197002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2023.2197002","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Functional neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques open fascinating new perspectives on the psychodynamic understanding of dreams. The article offers a review of the recent relevant neuroscientific and psychoanalytic literature, including the “inferential brain” model’s recent revolutionary approach. This model proposes a correlation between the neurophysiological and the clinical role of dreaming. A growing framework of animal and human research converge on the concept of the evolutionary role of dreaming in maintaining brain homeostasis. Functional recordings show that the same brain structures and circuits are involved in dreaming as well as waking states, thus proving that dreams are a particular form of consciousness, where the brain’s synaptic architecture is remodeled through memory retrieval and reconsolidation. The partial deactivation of cortical prefrontal regions during dreaming facilitates the emergence of emotional contents belonging to subcortical and limbic structures, allowing emotional self-regulation and a better emotional balance during waking states. According to the inferential brain model, a specific function of dreaming would be to organize and update a virtual reality model which informs both the body and the external world of the organism’s expectations. Moreover, the iconic and metaphorical language of dreams is neither bizarre and meaningless per se, nor does it hide a latent content to be revealed through interpretations. Instead, the manifest content of the dream needs to be “unraveled” into its emotional roots. In conclusion, within a framework which includes psychoanalysis, theoretical and affective neurosciences, dreams represent the via regia not to the unconscious but to self-awareness and emotional self/regulation.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"25 1","pages":"17 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47260858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implications of a neuropsychoanalytic formulation in the psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy of a non-neurological patient","authors":"Hadas Mor-Ofek","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2022.2127856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2022.2127856","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Neuropsychoanalysis is an interdisciplinary field that integrates neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Recently, a neuropsychoanalytic approach to clinical practice has been introduced by Mark Solms. The neuropsychoanalytic clinical formulation is based on identifying the main unmet basic emotional needs throughout the patient’s life, the predictions that have been generated in an attempt to meet those needs, and the defenses that have developed to deal with the sufferings resulting from these faulty predictions. The psychotherapeutic process is aimed to modify inefficient predictions via working through various manifestations of these predictions. The current clinical report presents implications of a neuropsychoanalytic formulation in the psychotherapy of a non-neurological patient in his late thirties. The patient’s background, as well as the treatment process and the transferential and counter-transferential dynamics, led to identifying PLAY as the main unsatisfied emotional need. Lack of PLAY compromised the patient’s ability to handle other emotional needs, especially PANIC/GRIEF. Manipulation, emotional pressure, and blurring the other’s needs were the themes that characterized the predictions the patient used in handling the unmet need. These faulty predictions resulted in suffering and frustration. Interpretations derived from that conceptualization and their influence on the patient and the treatment process are reported in this paper.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"24 1","pages":"159 - 170"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42479558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniela Flores Mosri, J. Abrams, Virginia C Barry, I. Biran, R. Coetzer, P. Moore, José Fernando Muñoz Zúñiga, M. Zellner
{"title":"Clinical writing in neuropsychoanalysis","authors":"Daniela Flores Mosri, J. Abrams, Virginia C Barry, I. Biran, R. Coetzer, P. Moore, José Fernando Muñoz Zúñiga, M. Zellner","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2022.2140068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2022.2140068","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As the knowledge derived from the dialog between neuroscience and psychoanalysis has provided relevant insights in topics such as affects, instincts, consciousness, memory, dreams, and many others, the question of its clinical applications has gained increasing interest. Using psychoanalytic techniques with neurological patients has gradually become a more common practice. However, integrating neuropsychoanalytic perspectives into work with non-neurological patients has represented a challenge that is being taken with caution. Case reports have been crucial for the development of psychoanalytic ideas. Based on this principle, progress in the clinical applications of neuropsychoanalytic knowledge can also benefit from case presentations. Nevertheless, the neuropsychoanalytic perspective entails added challenges. Hence, the editorial team of this journal gave a clinical writing workshop in February 2022. We present here brief essays that cover some of what we consider the most important topics involved in clinical writing in neuropsychoanalysis.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"24 1","pages":"171 - 191"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42302776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"42nd Bulletin of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society","authors":"Maria Sonia Goergen, Ana Delgadillo Hernández","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2022.2144935","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2022.2144935","url":null,"abstract":"After two years of an in-person pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 21st International Neuropsychoanalysis Congress was held in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Important approaches to the clinical applications of neuropsychoanalysis were presented. Some regional groups of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society have carried out various activities regarding this topic. Groups such as Madrid, Ireland, Manchester, Sweden, Lithuania and the United Kingdom have organized or participated in events, readings and research with approaches to theoretical and clinical aspects of neuropsychoanalysis. Other groups have also organized seminars to read Prof. Mark Solms’ book The Hidden Spring (Solms, 2021) both as individual groups and together with other regional groups. This bulletin reports on these and other exciting activities carried out by regional groups all around the world.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"24 1","pages":"211 - 219"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44020249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Zellner, Daniela Flores Mosri, Cristina I Peña-Vargas, Joshua Kellman, K. Radwan, David Baron (chair), Bryn W Jessup, Pete Myers, M. Losoff, Giles Yeates, Ann Rose Simon, Yacov Rothman, I. Biran, Lisandro Vales, L. Ouss, S. Bembich, Elena Castelpietra, L. Travan, Yuli Fradkin, Eugene Steingold, Katya Sverdlov, Francy Wang, Efraín J. Ríos-Ruiz, Virginia C Barry, J. Abrams, John Dall’Aglio, Kent F. Davis, G. Waldhauser, Irith Barzel-Raveh, O. Turnbull, Gökçe Özkarar Gradwohl, M. Garrett, Alexey Tolchinsky, Peter Smith, Francisco E. Ramos Rivera, N. Itkin
{"title":"Research and Symposium Abstracts from the Congress of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society, 2022","authors":"M. Zellner, Daniela Flores Mosri, Cristina I Peña-Vargas, Joshua Kellman, K. Radwan, David Baron (chair), Bryn W Jessup, Pete Myers, M. Losoff, Giles Yeates, Ann Rose Simon, Yacov Rothman, I. Biran, Lisandro Vales, L. Ouss, S. Bembich, Elena Castelpietra, L. Travan, Yuli Fradkin, Eugene Steingold, Katya Sverdlov, Francy Wang, Efraín J. Ríos-Ruiz, Virginia C Barry, J. Abrams, John Dall’Aglio, Kent F. Davis, G. Waldhauser, Irith Barzel-Raveh, O. Turnbull, Gökçe Özkarar Gradwohl, M. Garrett, Alexey Tolchinsky, Peter Smith, Francisco E. Ramos Rivera, N. Itkin","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2022.2140695","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2022.2140695","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, the amount of content related to clinical work has continued to increase in our Congresses and meetings. With the development of neuropsychoanalytic course materials such asMark Solms’ clinical workshop, Andrea Clarici’s seminar, and others, together with numerous neuropsychoanalytic clinical case groups, the elaboration of clinical applications of neuropsychoanalysis is now flourishing. In our recent Congress, given the theme of our meeting, numerous research presentations naturally focused on clinical work, and can be explored in the abstracts presented here. Readers can see, just from these brief summaries, the scope of topics within clinical practice that are being addressed around the world. As always, we also welcomed research talks and symposia on any topic of relevance to neuropsychoanalysis. Readers can therefore get a taste of the wide range of empirical and theoretical work being done in our international community on infant development, gender studies, brain injury, memory, trauma, and much more.","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"24 1","pages":"193 - 210"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41963650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neuropsychoanalysis of the inner mind: A biological understanding of human mental function","authors":"José Fernando Muñoz Zúñiga","doi":"10.1080/15294145.2022.2138958","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2022.2138958","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39493,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychoanalysis","volume":"24 1","pages":"221 - 223"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43581891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}