Celebrating Neuropsychoanalysis: 25 years of contributions to the ongoing dialogue between psychoanalysis and the neurosciences

Neuropsychoanalysis: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Psychoanalysis and the Neurosciences first appeared in 1999. Having Mark Solms and Edward Nersessian as its first editors, the journal created the first dedicated space for the emerging dialogue between psychoanalysis and the neurosciences. With a robust library of papers on topics such as affect, memory, defense mechanisms, consciousness, dreams, and the clinical implications of neuropsychoanalysis, among others, the journal houses many cutting-edge contributions of the intersection between our knowledge of the brain and various psychodynamic perspectives.

While original articles and clinical reports have been the predominant scholarly content of the journal, many issues have included Target Articles accompanied by commentaries, currently edited by David Olds. A regular feature is the Bulletin devoted to activities reported by the regional groups affiliated with the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society, edited by Maria Sonia Goergen, Ana Delgadillo, and Jane Abrams. Hessel Boerboom and Heather Berlin edit a Book Review section, while Jane Abrams edits the Research Digest. At present, the journal is privileged to have an editorial team that includes editors with different backgrounds that are relevant to neuropsychoanalysis, such as psychotherapy, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and psychology. Our associate editors are Ross Balchin, Virginia Barry, Rudi Coetzer, Paul Moore, Jose Fernando Muñoz Zúñiga, and Maggie Zellner. Richard Kessler and Iftah Biran are co-editors; Trevor Hjertaas recently joined the team as our production editor; and Daniela Flores Mosri is the managing editor. Two issues are published per year and readers can select online access and/or to receive hard copies.

The best way to celebrate our 25th anniversary is by reading the excellent collection of articles in this issue. To begin, the Target Article is a major contribution from Douglas Watt, titled “The Separation Distress Hypothesis of Depression – An Update and Systematic Review.” Many of us remember the impact of his first Target Article, co-written with Jaak Panksepp in 2009, advancing a hypothesis about the origins of depression in the history of evolution in the affect system in mammals (Watt & Panksepp, 2009). They proposed that depression emerges in the evolution of mammals, arising from the self-preserving benefit to early infants of a shutdown mechanism that is activated when they are separated from caretakers, usually mothers. In the second phase of the separation distress response, as the time of separation extends, the infant can stay alive longer with a shutdown mechanism that reduces energy output, maintaining life until possible discovery by the parent, and also allowing the infant to go silent and avoid discovery by predators. This mechanism would preserve the infant as an evolved trait, which would become useful in preserving life and future reproduction and the evolution of that trait. The authors reviewed evidence of a surprising but illuminating association between these evolved states and other traits including sickness behavior and hibernation, both of which tend to take the creature into a hiding state and out of danger. In the current Target Article, six years after Jaak’s death, Watt pursues the major implications of the earlier paper, and of our current understanding of more of the complex aspects, and the complexities of treatments, in the phenomenon of depression. The paper is followed by six thought-provoking commentaries by Paul Badcock and Karl Friston, Barton Blinder, Otto Kernberg, Christian Montag and Ken Davis, Stephen Siviy, and Howard Steele. Watt’s response to these rich commentaries will be published in the next issue of the journal.

The Original Articles in this issue also follow up on the legacy of Jaak Panksepp, as the Pankseppian understanding of the affective systems has long been a cornerstone in neuropsychoanalytic thinking. Accordingly, our understanding of how human emotions work has been significantly influenced by Panksepp's conceptualization of the subcortical basic affect systems, which categorize seven primary basic affects, with positive and negative valences. Figuring out how these affects manifest and interact with defense styles is crucial for comprehending how people act and feel. In their paper “Defense Styles from the Perspective of Affective Neuroscience,” Hosgoren Alici and colleagues delve into this intriguing issue, undertaking a comprehensive questionnaire-based study involving over 700 Turkish students. The study employed a dual-pronged approach, utilizing the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) to measure subcortical Pankseppian affects, and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) to assess defense styles. Their research found remarkable correlations, highlighting how the predominance of a positive affect, according to Panksepp, can be linked to employing higher-level mature coping styles, whereas while being in a negative affect state, people tend to rely on immature coping styles. Interestingly, neurotic coping styles increase with the simultaneous activation of both positive and negative affects. These findings help us see how our emotional experiences and our coping styles are interconnected. This understanding opens up new possibilities for customizing therapy to individual needs. We firmly believe that examining our defense mechanisms through Panksepp's conceptualization of the subcortical basic affect systems can significantly assist therapists, providing crucial insights to enhance the effectiveness of therapy. Additionally, this perspective has the potential to advance our understanding of personality psychology and how our minds work.

A second paper, entitled “Defense Mechanisms: A Guide to Brain Functioning?” by Sandy Henderson, is also based on Panksepp’s affective neuroscience, and highlights the several attempts to give some sense of order to the mental operations psychoanalysis has come to call defense mechanisms. Henderson gives us a bold attempt to organize defenses by their site of action (whether they modulate attention, affect, or data), their impact on the different layers of consciousness (anoetic, noetic, or autonoetic), and the relationship with one of the negative basic emotions (PANIC/GRIEF, FEAR and RAGE). The resulting theoretical bridge, between authors such as Freud, Vaillant, Solms, Tulving, and Panksepp, gives intriguing insights and clinical hypotheses that deserve to be taken seriously.

Another paper grounded on Panksepp’s affective neuroscience is Barry Dauphin’s paper “Precursors of the Affective Neuroscience Project in the Writings of Melanie Klein,” a creative effort to connect what we understand about emotion systems to clinical theory and psychopathology. Whereas previous papers have provided preliminary hypotheses about the links between primary process affect systems and psychodynamic perspectives on psychopathology building on concepts advanced in drive theory, ego psychology, and object relations, this paper addresses the work of Melanie Klein. As he clearly articulates Kleinian concepts, Dauphin delineates the affective neuroscience precursors that can be identified in Klein’s writings. He explores each of the seven affective neuroscience primary process affects and the potential corresponding Kleinian concepts. The areas of conceptual congruence between the two systems should stimulate additional contributions to a broader consideration of the clinical utility of affective neuroscience, and may stimulate new clinical hypotheses for clinicians.

Lawrence Fischman’s thought-provoking paper “Acceptance, Connectedness, and Defensiveness: Psychedelic-assisted Psychotherapy in 3-D” posits that psychedelic experiences provide us with a novel opportunity to bidirectionally test theories of psychoanalysis and infant observation. In this context, Fischman observes connectedness, defensiveness, and acceptance in relation to the concept of self, suggesting that the dynamics of unitive feelings experienced during psychedelic-induced ego dissolution could resemble those of the pre-verbal infant-caregiver relationship. The pre-verbal infant-caregiver relationship becomes the template for connectedness in adulthood. Reviewing the literature, Fischman suggests that in deactivating the processes which enable the experience of self, psychedelics may reduce defensiveness, changing the way individuals experience events. These experiences – for example, a sense of smallness, or feelings of connectedness and authenticity – could provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy an opportunity for working towards reduced defensiveness, and increased acceptance.

Maria Sonia Goergen and Ana Delgadillo Hernández welcomed Jane Abrams as their coeditor for the Bulletin of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society. They are pleased to present the current reports from our international regional groups. In this issue, we have reports from Sweden, Mexico City, New York City, Paris, Liverpool, Monza, Madrid, and Manchester. The shared aim of these study groups is to continue to develop neuropsychoanalytic theory, with applications to a broad range of contemporary issues – from climate change and AI to the treatment of brain-injured patients and new insights into early childhood development. We appreciate the creativity of our colleagues and their commitment to the ongoing growth of neuropsychoanalysis.

Jose Fernando Muñoz Zúñiga makes an important contribution to our Research Digest with his review of the article “A Functional and Neuroanatomical Model of Dehumanization” by Mario F. Mendez (Mendez, 2023). Building on Mendez’ hypotheses regarding the brain regions involved in dehumanization, the withholding of empathy for others, Muñoz Zúñiga suggests a new direction for neuropsychoanalysis: forensic neuropsychoanalysis. He envisions a synthesis of neuroscience and psychoanalytic knowledge of primitive states that could be applied to the assessment and treatment of both violent offenders and patients who have brain lesions that affect their ability to experience empathy. Muñoz Zúñiga makes compelling arguments that Mendez’ research is especially relevant to our understanding of the ubiquity of mistreatment of the “other” and for the contributions that neuropsychoanalysis offers in this endeavor.

Our Book Review section offers a heroic commentary by Hessel Boerboom, in which he summarizes and examines Georg Northoff’s recent title, Neuropsychoanalysis: A Contemporary Introduction (Northoff, 2023). Boerboom offers a comprehensive overview of the contents of each chapter, while he shares his opinions about the temporospatial proposal by Northoff. Our readers will have a sense of what they can expect if they decide to read the text.

To close our 25th volume, we would like to thank all past and current editors of Neuropsychoanalysis, as well as all authors, reviewers, and members of our editorial board. We would also like to thank our publishers for their patient support. Last, a big thank you to all our readers. It is you that keep the project going. Happy 25th anniversary, Neuropsychoanalysis!