Neuro-Psychoanalysis Group, Mexico

On 8-10 May 2003, the Mexican neuro-psychoanalysis group convened a scientific symposium in Guadalajara, Mexico, on the topic of “Brain: Emotion and Cognition,” organized by the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Guadalajara and the scientific commission of the Mexican Psychiatric Association. About 400 people came to the great event, because of interest in the interface between cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.

Professor Karl Pribram was our distinguished foreign guest, but there were many Mexican speakers presenting their scientific work. Among these was Dr. Carlos Rodríguez-Betancourt, Dr. Teresita Villaseñor-Cabrera, Dr. Claudia Castro-Delgadillo, Dr. Dante Medina, Dr. Fernando Moreno-Castillo, and Dr. Daniel Ojeda-Torres.

Professor Karl Pribram gave a lecture on “Freud in the Twenty-First Century.” The cognitive revolution linked with computational science brings a new approach to the old mind—brain problem. He proposes a holographic model, where neural mechanisms related to memory and learning play a role and the amygdala functions as the nodal point of the complex neuronal network controlling the instinctive behaviors that ensure the survival of the species.

Dr. Moreno-Castillo gave a talk on “The Frontier of Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience” and suggested that psychoanalytic thinking has been particularly valuable in recognizing the diversity and complexity of human mental experience, where factors of both a genetic and a social origin determine the mental representations of the world. The progress of cellular neurobiology can help to open new roads also within psychoanalysis.

There were also presentations by Dr. Rodríguez-Betancourt on “The Neurology of Nirvana,” Dr. Medina on “Neurodiscourse and Narrative,” and Dr. Castro-Delgadillo on “Language and Affectivity.”

With this scientific meeting we have taken our first step in constructing new bridges between psychoanalysis and neuroscience in Mexico.