Neuropsychoanalysis: A Contemporary Introduction

Georg Northoff presents the first introduction to neuropsychoanalysis and the search for a brain-based understanding and explanation of our psyche and its psychodynamic features.

This book covers the key features of psychodynamics, including the concepts of self, narcissism, defence mechanisms, unconsciousness/consciousness, attachment and trauma, energy/cathexis, and depression/schizophrenia. After reviewing past and current state-of-the-art models and their limitations, Northoff uniquely links these psychodynamic features to temporal and spatial features in the brain (and body). The key element in connecting brain and mind is dynamic, the pattern of change over time: from brain dynamic to psychodynamic - dynamic is thus shared by brain and psyche as their "common currency". This spatiotemporal approach offers novel and sometimes surprising insights into the elusive connection of brain and mind. Ultimately, this carries important clinico-therapeutic implications for psychodynamic psychotherapy in a spatiotemporal sense, such as through spatiotemporal psychotherapy.

This accessible volume will be of great interest to neuroscientists, neuropsychoanalysts, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and anyone interested in the brain-mind connection. Additional material for the present book including figures and tables as well as short talks about each chapter can be found on this website (www.georgnorthoff.com) including the author’s YouTube channel.

Georg Northoff is a philosopher, psychiatrist, and neuroscientist at the University of Ottowa, Canada, holding a Canada Research Chair for Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics. His research focuses on the brain-mind connection and its subjectivity; he has published numerous books and papers on his unique spatiotemporal approach. His website is www.georgnorthoff.com.