In recent years, neuroscientists have begun to investigate topics that traditionally have been the preserve of psychoanalysts (e.g., consciousness, unconscious mentation, dreams, affect, drive, psychopathology). The explosion of new insights into numerous problems of vital interest to psychoanalysis has not yet been reconciled and coordinated with existing psychoanalytic knowledge. Similarly, neuroscientists tackling these complex psychological problems for the first time have much to learn from a century of psychoanalytic inquiry.
What is needed is a rapprochement between researchers and clinicians belonging to these historically separate disciplines, a time and a place where they can learn about and enhance each other's perspectives and knowledge on matters of mutual interest. Throughout the 1990s, the New York Psychoanalytic Institute has undertaken substantive initiatives toward meeting this need. It is now well positioned to become the leading international center in this extremely important growth area for contemporary psychoanalysis and neuroscience.
In 1990, a psychoanalysis-neuroscience study group was convened under the chairmanship of Arnold Pfeffer. This group was formed to study the implications for psychoanalysis of new findings about the physical correlates of mind emerging from the neurosciences. During the first two years, the members of the group acquainted themselves with the current status of the neurosciences. James Schwartz of the Columbia University School of Medicine, who was the study group's visiting scholar, invited eminent scholars in the basic neurosciences to make presentations. Among the 20 presenters were Michael Gazzaniga, Joseph LeDoux, and George Ojemann. In 1992–93, ten more meetings were held, led by outstanding cognitive neuroscientists including Andrew Kertesz, Daniel Schacter, and Karl Pribram. These meetings were convened by Jason Brown, of New York University Medical Center, who succeeded James Schwartz as visiting scholar to the group.
Having in this way prepared themselves to tackle the relationship between the neurological sciences and psychoanalysis, the study group invited Mark Solms of St. Bartholomew's and The Royal London School of Medicine to present a series of lectures on the neurological correlates of the mental functions that concern psychoanalysts. During his tenure as visiting scholar, Solms gave an eight-lecture series in 1993–94, “An Introduction to Depth Neuropsychology.” This was followed in 1994–95 by a series of interdisciplinary dialogues with leading analysts (Martin Stein, Jacob Arlow, Theodore Shapiro, and Paul Rosenbaum) on the neurological correlates of the structural model.
Simultaneously, Solms and his colleague Karen Kaplan-Solms began to present clinical psychoanalytic studies of patients with circumscribed brain lesions. Their aim was to make direct empirical observations on the deep psychological consequences of damage to different parts of the brain. First, they presented psychoanalytic psychotherapy process notes from four cases of deep bilateral frontal lobe damage. Then similar data from five cases of right perisylvian damage was compared with four equivalent cases of left perisylvian damage.
These meetings, still ongoing, are attended by members of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and members of other psychoanalytic societies in the New York area (e.g., Columbia, NYU). Neuroscientists also attend, in growing numbers. The meetings of this group are characterized by unusually lively discussions which sometimes continue for three or four hours after the formal presentations.
More recently, the New York Psychoanalytic Institute has expanded its activities on five major fronts:
It has established a course on psychoanalytic aspects of neuroscience for its senior candidates.
It is establishing a number of specialist research groups on neuroscientific topics of interest to psychoanalysts (e.g., psychopharmacology, autobiographical memory, schizophrenia). These groups will be led by such eminent neuroscientific scholars as Marcel Kinsbourne, Jason Brown, and James Schwartz.
It is offering a series of lectures led by Mark Solms on psychoanalytic topics of interest to neuroscientists.
It is providing fellowships for young neuroscientists seeking training in psychoanalytic theory and technique. The first such candidates have already been selected and will begin the full clinical program in September 1998. We hope that this new breed of candidates will eventually be in a position to make significant contributions to the development of our field.
It is promoting a new journal devoted to interdisciplinary studies in psychoanalysis and neuroscience.
This journal, Neuro-Psychoanalysis, will be published in 1999 by International Universities Press. Its editorial advisory board includes an international group of prominent neurologists, neuropsychologists, and basic neuroscientists (Joan Borod, Jason Brown, Antonio Damasio, Wolf-Dieter Heiss, Nicholas Humphrey, Eric Kandel, Marcel Kinsbourne, Joseph LeDoux, Benjamin Libet, Detlef Linke, Rudolfo Llinas, John Marshall, Jaak Panksepp, Karl Pribram, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Oliver Sacks, Todd Sacktor, Michael Saling, Daniel Schacter, James Schwartz, Wolf Singer, and Max Velmans) and psychoanalysts (Jacob A. Arlow, Charles Brenner, Luis Chiozza, Donald Cohen, Robert Galatzer-Levy, Andre Green, William Grossman, Use Grubrich-Simitis, Otto Kernberg, Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber, Fred Levin, Arnold Modell, Peter Neubauer, David Olds, Barry Opatow, Mortimer Ostow, Arnold Z. Pfeffer, Morton Reiser, Theodore Shapiro, Martin Stein, Riccardo Steiner, Arthur Valenstein, and Daniel Widlocher). The neuroscientific board will also act as an advisory panel to NYPI for its entire neuroscientific program in general.
The journal will publish unsolicited original articles on topics that facilitate the integration of psychoanalytic and neuroscientific knowledge. In addition, the journal will commission target papers on selected themes from leading researchers and publish the papers together with invited commentaries from both psychoanalysts and neuroscientists. In the first issue, an eminent neuroscientist working on the neurobiology of emotion will critically evaluate Freudian affect theory in the light of modern brain research.
Reader participation will be encouraged, using interactive electronic media. The journal will have its own Web site. There will be a section for the regular publication of clinical case material of interdisciplinary interest. In addition to reviews of pertinent books, a feature of considerable educational
Arnold Z. Pfeffer, M.D., and Edward Nersessian, M.D., are chair and assistant chair, respectively, of NYPI's Neuro-Psychoanalysis Program. Both are NYPI training and supervising analysts. Pfeffer is a former president of the institute; Nersessian chairs its Educational Committee and is a former president of the New York Psychoanalytic Society. Mark Solms, Ph.D., is a lecturer in neurosurgery at St. Bartholomew's and The Royal London School of Medicine and a visiting scholar to the Neuro-Psychoanalysis Program.
value will be regular summaries of selected research reports in current psychoanalytic and neuroscientific journals that are thought to be interesting or important for both disciplines. Finally, space will be made for regional study groups to publish brief bulletins on their scientific and educational activities. The journal will be edited by Mark Solms and Edward Nersessian.
With all these developments, the New York Psychoanalytic Institute has moved into a new era in the scientific development of our discipline. We invite our colleagues in other institutes to join us in this important quest by joining our study group or one of our research groups and by subscribing and contributing to the new journal. Please address all inquiries to Arnold Z. Pfeffer, M.D., 39 East 74th Street, New York, NY 10021. Telephone 212-288-2830 or fax 212-988-5683.