Psychoanalysis: A General Theory of Psychical Structure Formation and Pathogenesis

Theory, in many instances, is the microscope without which we could not grasp certain clinical states at all and assess their meaning. It is therefore decisive that psychoanalysis, as a science, develop a theory of structural ontogenesis as a binding basic concept and reference system. Without such a basic theory psychoanalysis will suffocate from theoretical entropy. The crucial phenomenon, in any case, is that the brain is giving itself a fundamental representational structure--one which directly results from the system properties of the representation-bound perception, and thus from experience. Each and every study of brain function must reckon with this autonomous structure which is the structural frame within which mental functioning occurs and consciousness
originates. This representational world is the field of psychoanalysis.

PETER ZAGERMANN, PHD, is an IPA child, adolescent and adult psychoanalyst living and
working in Munich, Germany.

Peter Zagermann revisits, describes and combines with theore$cal crea$vity a range of psychoanalyyic concepts and ideas that open a wide perspec$ve on the structure of the human mind, on the drives, on the complex early dialec$c between self and not-self, on the natural developmental processes and on their some$mes tragic failures. An essay which courageously explores the object rela$onship at its deepest origin, witnessing the constant advancement of the contemporary psychoanaly$c theore$cal research

--STEFANO BOLOGNINI, MD, Past President, International Psychoanalytical Association

It is a pleasure to comment on the new text on psychoanaly$c theory by Dr. Peter Zagermann. It is a radical reformula$on of basic theore$cal concepts that form part of psychoanaly$c metapsychology. . . . The present text represents a complex tracing of psychic developments, leading to the dominance of the oedipal conflict .. . The rela$onship between neurobiological structures and the development of earliest psychic experiences and func$ons s$ll challenge us with many unknown and poorly understood processes, and efffforts such as Dr. Zagermann's original thinking are welcome contribu$ons to this fascina$ng fifield.
--OTTO F. KERNBERG, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Past President
of the Interna#onal Psychoanaly#cal Associa#on