Neuropsychoanalysis: what is it and how does it study the human mind?
A summary of neuropsychoanalysis, a research current inherited from Sigmund Freud.
Although the general idea of psychoanalysis is that it has nothing to do with neurosciences, the truth is that the subjective aspect of Freud's current and the scientific study of the brain allow us to have a fairly complete vision of the human being.
Neuropsychoanalysis is a psychological current that has combined psychoanalysis and neuroscience in order to have a scientific and closer understanding of the human being. to have a scientific and closer understanding of the human mind, something that for a long time was not believed to be possible.
Next we will try to explain more in depth what are the foundations of this current, its current lines of research and its historical origins.
What is neuropsychoanalysis?
Neuropsychoanalysis is a variant of the current of psychoanalysis that integrates neurosciences with psychoanalytic postulates. This current is relatively new, having its conceptual foundation at the end of the 20th century, although since Sigmund Freud's time we can glimpse the relationship between the scientific study of the brain and the psychological theorization of the mind. the relationship between the scientific study of the brain and the psychological theorization of the mind..
This current of thought is considered a fairly balanced and equitable proposal, since it is not extremely subjective with respect to the idea of consciousness and mind, nor does it abuse scientificity as some neurosciences do. By combining psychoanalysis and neurosciences it obtains an approach to the mind and its neurobiological foundation considered by some as a fairly reliable description of human reality.
History
Neuropsychoanalysis cannot be understood without paying attention to the figure of Sigmund Freud and his early psychoanalytic theories.. One aspect that is perhaps little known about the Austrian psychoanalyst is that he was a neuroscientist and neurologist during the first two decades of his professional life. Perhaps not in the way we understand it today, but certainly his interest in the brain and how it relates to consciousness brings him closer to the premises of neurology than one might think.
The origins of neuropsychoanalysis can be traced back to one of Sigmund Freud's leftovers, Project for a Scientific Psychology of 1895. In this text Freud developed his theories about the neurobiological function of memory, claiming that it had to be found in the brain, but without knowing exactly what the function of memory would be.but without knowing exactly what the region would be. Freud speculated that psychodynamic theories and neurobiology would eventually join forces over time, becoming a single field of study combining the biologist's study of the brain and the psychoanalyst's study of the mind.
The famous psychoanalyst attempted to carry out a scientific program of mapping the human mind (metapsychology), which would (metapsychology), which for him were closely related to the structure and functions of the human brain. Despite his efforts, Freud himself insisted that the brain sciences of his time did not have the conceptual or technical tools necessary to be able to carry out such a mental mapping. As a consequence, Freud adopted a purely psychological method.
In the second half of the 20th century advances in neuroscience led to the neglect of the subjective study of the human mind.. In the 1930s electroencephalography was invented, which made it possible to see the brain as it had never been seen before, and even live. Later, it was possible to test how the brain functioned by performing different types of activities, which areas were activated and how lesions disturbed the neuronal systems.
In 1999, after years of advances in neuroimaging techniques such as computed tomography, electroencephalography and structural magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychoanalysis was born.. Thus arose the union of two fields of the study of the human mind and brain, considering that one was incomplete without the other. Among its founders are such important figures in psychology as: Antonio Damasio, Eric Kandel, Joseph LeDoux, Helen Mayberg, Jaak Panksepp, Oliver Sacks and Mark Solms.
Theoretical foundations: dual monism
The first problem that can be mentioned when neuropsychoanalysis is mentioned is the problem of how mind and brain are related, considered as the great problem of neurosciences. Basically, how is itow is it possible that the brain can settle the mind and consciousness in general terms?.
Indeed, one of the questions posed by neuropsychoanalysis is whether the mind is being reduced too extremely to the brain. Is the mind being explained convincingly or is it simply correlating the functioning of the mind and the brain? If so, what would be the causal basis for this correlation? would the mind really be found in the brain? where would it be located? is the mind an emergent property of the brain?
The fundamental conceptualization of neuropsychoanalysis is that of dual-aspect monism.. Freud points out that the real nature of the mind is unconscious, an idea that can be related to Kant's philosophy. For Kant, the subjective being, the thing that is perceived when we look inside ourselves is not the mind itself. The mind itself cannot be perceived directly. The mind can only be known via our phenomenal consciousness, which provides an indirect and incomplete representation of the mental apparatus and its functioning.
The actual ontological nature of the mind is epistemologically unknowable. One can infer its nature from one's own conscious observations, and thus expand the boundaries of consciousness, which is the goal of the psychoanalytic method. However, it will never be possible to know the mind directly. One has to resort to abstractions derived from inferences and construct figurative models.This is something that Freudian metapsychology has tried to explain with its notions of the economic, dynamic and topographical points of view.
Other branches of psychology, regardless of their degree of scientificity, also have epistemological limitations when trying to describe the inner workings of the mind. An example of this are the multiple models that attempt to explain the functioning of memory, dual-route reading, or the divergent visual systems models involved.
The relationship between neuroscience and psychoanalysis is that of, as we have mentioned, relating the brain as a Biological entity to psychological functions and human behavior. Neuropsychoanalysis aims to overcome overcome the classical exclusion of neurosciences with respect to the concept of the mind, seen as something excessively subjective..
The mind is an indisputably subjective entity, since it is made up of sensations, thoughts, consciousness and feelings. This conception can be seen as too contrary to the scientific spirit motivated by the natural sciences, in particular neurobiology and other neurosciences.
However, the classical idea that brain and mind are related has been well established since the time of Descartes, who argued that they were two different but connected entities. He is the inventor of the dualism of the mind, the dichotomy of mind and body. The body is an object, one thing, while the mind, also called spirit or soul in his time, is another, but in one way or another they are related. A lesion in the brain implies dysfunction in that mind.
Main lines of research
At present, neuropsychoanalysis has several lines of research open, especially focused on the more scientific study of the idea of consciousness and what structures compose it..
Research is also being done on what dreams are, what they might mean, how confabulations and other types of expressions of thought occur, which, although modern psychology has rejected that they might have some kind of meaning, it is difficult to accept the idea that they appear totally randomly. Among the ideas that have been put forward for their appearance is the loss of executive control in the mesocortical and mesolimbic systems.
The Freudian concept of libido has been related to the dopaminergic systemand, undoubtedly, the ideas of instinct and pleasure seeking proposed by early psychoanalysis have their neurobiological counterpart. This search for pleasure is related to the instinct for survival and reproduction, which is a fundamental aspect for the continuation of the human species.
Bibliographical references:
- Mark Solms and Oliver Turnbull (2013) What is neuropsychoanalysis? University Psychiatry. 9(2), 153-165.
- Damasio A. (2011). Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain. London: Heinemann
- Freud S. (1915). The unconscious. Standard Edition, 14
- Freud S. (1950 [1895]). Project for a scientific psychology. Standard Edition, 1: 175
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)