1st Edition
Explorations Between Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience At the Edge of Mind and Brain
Explorations Between Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience brings together the life's work of David Olds, pioneering psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, philosopher, and key figure in neuropsychoanalysis.
Throughout the chapters, the reader is taken on a journey through Olds' theories on psychoanalysis and neuroscience as he develops new ways of examining the brain and human thought. Olds instills in the reader the importance of taking an interdisciplinary approach to psychoanalysis, psychiatry and working with patients. He expands upon his philosophical background and integrates evolutionary biology, neurobiology, cognitive science and semiotics to show the importance of dual aspect monism in neuropsychoanalysis. The theories developed by Olds and presented in this volume will help analysts working with patients facing issues with memory, affect, consciousness, cognition and trauma, among other difficulties.
This book will be essential reading to psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, as well as anybody interested in neuropsychoanalysis and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to analytic thinking and practice.
Introduction 1. Stagnation in Psychotherapy and the Development of Active Technique 2. The Behavioral Schema: an Integration of Modes of Learning 3. Brain Centered Psychology: A semiotic approach 4. Consciousness: A Brain-Centered, Informational Approach 5. The Physicality of the Sign 6. Connectionism and Psychoanalysis 7. Consciousness: a neuroscience perspective 8. A Semiotic Model of Mind 9. Affect as a Sign System 10. Identification: psychoanalytic and biological perspectives 11. Interdisciplinary studies and our Practice 12. Thinking about Curriculum: an Interdisciplinary Perspective Conclusion
Biography
David D. Olds, MD is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and a senior Training Psychoanalyst at the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center, USA. He has been leading and teaching courses in integrating the brain-mind relationship since the 1980s.
"This series of articles traces David Olds' personal journey to integrate neuroscience findings into psychoanalytic practice, contributing insights into our profession's realization of Freud's goal to unite brain and mind into a scientific psychology."
Bonnie Litowitz, Former Editor of JAPA
“At last, David Olds’ papers collected in one volume with his recent thoughts. Olds, a pioneer in the area of mind and brain relations, is a deep thinking psychoanalyst who here gathers his important contributions to the neurology of the mind including his seminal work in semiotics. He brings to neurology the complexity of psychoanalytic thinking and observations, and he brings basic science to psychoanalysis. He reviews the past 50 years of progress in this area, and in his own work, bringing it up-to-date in a beautifully written summary book. This is a foundational text for understanding neuro- psychoanalysis. It is the perfect text for any course attempting to teach complex, integrated models of mental functioning.”
Eric Marcus, Former Director of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center, and the author of Psychosis and Near Psychosis: Ego Function, Symbol Structure, Treatment: and Modern Ego Psychology and Human Sexual Experience: the Meaning of Treatment
