WEEK-ENDSEMINAR OM NEVROPSYKOANALYSE MED OLIVER TURNBULL
av
Instituttet arrangerte den 10. og 11. november 2006 et seminar om
nevropsykoanalyse med Oliver Turnbull. Her presenteres det innlegg av
The early
development of psychoanalysis was contemporaneous with the flourishing of the
The deficiencies in our
description would probably vanish if we were in a position to replace the
psychological terms by physiological chemical ones. … They may be of a kind
which will blow away the whole of our artificial structure of hypothesis
(p. 60).
Also for
psychoanalysis and neuro-physiology this reductionist scheme failed completely,
one reason for this being the limited precision of neurological observations at
that time.
Today the situation is changed.
Neuroscience now has quite other methods of observation; more subtle and
precise. In addition, the development of parts of the field, have moved in
directions that make an approach more interesting for psychoanalysis.
In key word form, I will underline three points that are important for the
relation between neuro-physiology and psychoanalysis and the cooperation between
the two fields.
First, the neurological conception is now that the brain in many ways functions
as a totality, and less so in isolated parts. This is isomorphic to the
psychoanalytical conception of psychic life; a structure where everything reacts
to everything else.
The second point is that emotions are given a central place in the neurological model of the
brain’s functioning. This too is isomorphic with psychoanalysis. In
psychoanalytic metapsychology in the last decades, emotions have moved into the
very centre of the psychoanalytic model of personality. Now, they are not only
phenomena that accompany drive life. Emotions are motivational forces in their
own right.
The third point of importance is the
attitude of the neuroscientific
approach to psychoanalysis. In contrast to the unity of science project with the
aim to reduce psychology to neurology; this attitude is marked by an invitation
to reciprocity and cooperation.
Neuro-physiology can offer methods of
observation and conceptualisations that are less loaded with subjectivity than
psychoanalysis can; and because of that, neuro-physiology can offer to
psychoanalysis elements of external validation that we sorely need (both
external correspondence and
coherence). And connected to this is support from a system of knowledge that is
fairly uncontroversial in academic science. Such a support is not easy conquered
for psychoanalysis by its own force; mainly because of methodological problems
to master the problem of subjectivity in observation and the problem of
circularity in conceptualisation (Zachrisson & Zachrisson, 2005).
So, neuroscience can give both observational and
conceptual support to psychoanalysis, for the present time restricted mainly to
external point validations, i.e.
specific neurological observations and concepts that confirm or coincide with
analytical conceptualisations. It is
extremely important for psychoanalysis to get such support, the more the better.
Now, this was promised to be a
reciprocal endeavour. What can psychoanalysis offer to neuroscience?
The neuropsychoanalytical project where Solms and Turnbull are active agents,
has the ambition to investigate, in depth and in detail, the connections and the
interactions between the brain and the inner world in man; between the material
world of neurological functioning and the psychic world of mental functioning;
in still other words, between neurological observations and concepts and the
subjective phenomena described and conceptualised by psychoanalysis. And,
according to these scientists, psychoanalysis offers the most elaborated and
sophisticated theory at hand, of human subjectivity.
So, psychoanalysis can provide neuroscience with concept formations (of man’s
subjective life), proposing points and areas of investigation and ways of
interpreting neurological observations.
Etter dette allmenne argument kommenterte Zachrisson enkelte begreper og
momenter aktualisert av Turnbulls fremstilling. Det dreier seg dels om
nevropsykologiske funn av direkte relevans for psykoanalytisk teoridannelse dels
om at enkelte for psykoanalysen sentrale begreper ikke uten videre eller på noen
enkel måte lar seg ”oversette” til nevropsykologiske undersøkelsesmetoder.
Drive and
emotion
Neuropsychological observations leave no doubt that the brain has activation
systems corresponding to the “classical” psychoanalytical concept of drives. This is a memento for present day object relation
theorizing.
The interplay between emotion and cognition is
central for the psychoanalytic conceptualisation of mental functioning. This
goes for creative processes, for intuition and for the working of defence
mechanisms. This interplay was clearly demonstrated in the observations and
experiments that Turnbull reported.
The quality of relations
In
psychoanalytic theory, the quality of relations - with caregivers in infancy and
childhood, with friends and mates later, with family members all the life – is
of outmost importance. This includes the variations in warmth, predictability
and stability of the relation, and affects quite a number of mental functions.
Can these variations be subjected to neurophysiological investigation?
The motivational theory of psychoanalysis
The
classical motivational conception was the seeking of pleasure and avoidance of
unpleasure. However, already Fairbairn (1963) stated that man is not primarily
pleasure seeking, but primarily seeking other human beings. Perhaps can the
motivational theory of psychoanalysis be formulated thus: Pleasure is sought in its own right (fulfilment of needs of different
kinds) and through relationships giving security, comfort, love, consolation
a.s.o. The first part, the pleasure seeking part of the concept is closely
associated with the drive concept and has strong support in neuropsychology. Can
the second part, the relation seeking “drive”, be investigated?
Internalisation and transference
Internalisation is a crucial learning and developmental mechanism in mental
life. Through internalisation, patterns of self-objects units with specific
emotional colouring are established. These units function as building blocks in
personality development. Transference
can be looked upon as an expression of our way to learn from experience. By
transference we activate and use old patterns for relating in new situations and
to new persons. It seems that psychoanalysis can supplement its understanding of
these processes by the new and quite specific knowledge about the neurological
basis for memory functions that neuroscience supplies us with.
Psychic conflict and defence mechanisms
In the
psychoanalytic theory of neurosis anxiety
is the crucial emotion. It acts as a signal system for starting defensive means,
which aims are to protect mental life from overwhelming anxiety. In several
defence mechanism described by psychoanalysis, the interplay and balance between
cognition and emotion is essential for the working of the defence. E.g.
isolation is marked by repression of affect. The person sticks to cognition
and isolates emotions from his ideation. In the
“hysterical” repression we have the opposite situation. The hysteric is
“sticking to affects” and excludes cognition from ideational life.
Can the emotional/cognitive “balance” in the brain be registered in ways
relevant for the psychoanalytic theory of defence mechanism? This question seems
to be related to the possibility to distinguish, on neurological level, between
experienced emotions and repressed emotions. And in the same line, can somatic
displacement of affects (psychosomatic states) be distinguished on neurological
level?
Language and interpretation
In the psychoanalytic conception of human
subjectivity, language is of immense importance. Language is a main structuring
tool of consciousness. Human subjectivity is saturated with meaning – and meaning can only be reached
by interpretation.
So, let me end these reflections in a combined mood, in a combination of
enthusiasm and sobriety. The line of research Turnbull has presented for us is
really thrilling. And I am sure that it will be of central importance for the
future of psychoanalysis as a science. At the same time we are wise, not to
underscore the enigmatic nature of the mysterious leap between body and mind.
This means to remember that neurological observations have to be interpreted
psychoanalytically to be relevant for a psychoanalytic discourse.
REFERANSER
Fairbairn, WRD (1963). Synopsis of an
object-relations Theory of the personality. Int J Psycho-Anal., 44:
224.225.
Freud, S (1920). Beyond the pleasure
principle. S.E. XVIII.
Zachrisson, A (1998). Transference:
polarities and paradoxes. Scand Psychoanal Rev, 21: 183-198.
Zachrisson, A & Zachrisson, HD (2005). Validation of psychoanalytic theories.
Towards a conceptualisation of references.
Int J Psychoanal, 86: 1353-71.