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The group has continued to meet at regular intervals once a month. There are two new members: Sabine Hoffman, M.D., neurologist, and Hans-G. Metzger, Psychologist and Psychoanalyst, Antoniusstr. 20, D-60439 Frankfurt, Germany, Tel./Fax: +49-69-557407.
Both have long been interested in a psychotherapeutic approach to brain-damaged patients and will now join the group's effort to provide a framework for taking patients into psychoanalytic treatment. As already has been reported, these patients should preferably show neglect as a major symptom. In order to elaborate the psychotherapeutic framework, the group (1) focused the theoretical discussions on the clinical phenomenon of neglect, and (2) made contact with neurological wards in various hospitals in the Frankfurt area. Based on Mark Solms's paper, “The Deep Psychological Functions of the Right Hemisphere,” the group discussed the related current neuropsychological literature, especially the psychodynamic interpretation and understanding of various clinical symptoms of such patients. Preliminary questions and hypotheses have been outlined, and will be worked on in the future. The group also found that the subjective view of the patient, his inner perspective, is missing very often in the overall neuropsychological way of approaching the patient and case documentation. This may mirror the need and the opportunity for a psychoanalytic approach to brain-damaged patients, and the challenge is to develop a psychoanalytic theory of the neglect syndrome, based on clinical findings. In November, a preliminary meeting took place with neurologists from hospitals in the Frankfurt area, to provide some information about the group's goals and theoretical background, and also to work out how the patients in question can be found and seen by members of the group.