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Our group continues to explore psychological trauma from different angles, in an attempt to integrate psychoanalytic and neuroscientific observations and concepts. Recently we have explored this topic via neural networks, psychoanalytic theory of mental processes, and cortical and subcortical memory mechanisms.
How does the brain deal with sudden, unplanned events? On 15 January 2005, Elan Ohayon, of the University of Toronto Epilepsy Research Program, spoke on “Activity Initiation at the Boundaries of Neural and Social Networks.” Freud attempted neural-network models to explain the progression of mental functioning to more complex and sophisticated levels, which are less perturbable by outside influences. Epilepsy researchers are also seeking network models to account for observed clinical phenomena. Seizures can be seen as a “default” state of a network, which interacts with itself, progressing from state to state. Yet most of us do not experience seizures, which thus reflects the complexity and layering of our own central nervous systems. Computer modelling involves simplification, but it is impressive and thought-provoking to “watch” networks “behaving” on the computer screen. Units on the edges of two-dimensional neural arrays, in contrast to those in the middle of the array, which interact with more units, can have a marked influence over the entire network. There was a discussion of possible implications for the psychological sphere, adjusting various types of traumatic influences (sudden overwhelming events without prior warning) on the individual and on the social group.
On 5 March 2005, Dr. Joseph Fernando, President of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society, presented “More Principles
of Mental Functioning.” Starting from Freud's early and later works outlining the pleasure-unpleasure and reality principles, he discussed some of the confusions regarding more primitive mental functioning, generally involved in traumatic, overwhelming situations. While there can b