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The 15th Annual Congress of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society was held in New York City from July 24th to 26th, 2014 at the New School, followed by a post-congress discussion on 27 July at the Arnold Pfeffer Center of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The congress, entitled “Current Neuropsychoanalytic Research,” illuminated the achievements and challenges faced in the last 15 years by presenting an impressive array of research talks on a wide variety of topics. The event was attended by over 280 delegates from all over the world, including countries as diverse as South Africa, the UK, Japan, the Netherlands, and Puerto Rico, to mention just a few.
The congress began with an Educational Day on Thursday, 24 July. First, in a lecture entitled “Psychoanalysis for Neuroscience,” Ariane Bazan gave a clear overview of some central psychoanalytic concepts that neuroscientists might find recognizable in brain terms. She covered the concept of drive and traced its correspondence to the dopaminergic SEEKING system described by Panksepp (1998). Activation of the SEEKING system leads to exploratory behavior, which is needed whenever there are regulatory imbalances of a somatic source. These features are close to Freud's concept of drive, which lies at the “frontier” between body and mind. In terms of pleasure, Bazan reminded us of the experience of satisfaction that originates from the relief of tension, which Freud thought of as pleasure. Bazan spoke about how somatic needs are represented (Vorstellung) and become desires. She also mentioned the role of hallucination when an unsatisfied need is present, and how it later evolves into a fantasy. Bazan also addressed the topic of the primary process whose goal is to seek relief of tension through the most immediate and direct route. Objects to relieve tension through a specific action are found in external reality. The secondary process is present when the ego inhibits the immediate impulse toward disc