Neuropsychoanalysis in Practice links the psyche's different psychodynamic processes to specific neuronal mechanisms in the brain. The book focuses specifically on how the brain is organized and how this organization enables the brain to differentiate between neuronal and psychodynamic states, that is, the brain and the psyche.

This book focuses on the matter of neuropsychoanalysis. It shows how the neuropsychoanalytic approach makes it possible to begin to locate within the tissues of the brain some of the metapsychological abstractions that Sigmund Freud derived from his work with purely psychiatric disorders.

In the past few decades, we have accumulated an impressive amount of knowledge regarding the neural basis of the mind. One of the most important sources of this knowledge has been the in-depth study of individuals with focal brain damage and other neurological disorders. This book offers a unique perspective, in that it uses a combination of neuropsychology and psychoanalytic knowledge from diverse schools (Freudian, Kleinian, Lacanian, Relational, etc.), to explore how damage to specific areas of the brain can change the mind. Twenty years after the publication of Clinical Studies in Neuro-Psychoanalysis, this book continues the pioneering work of Mark Solms and Karen Kaplan-Solms, bringing together clinicians and researchers from all over the world to report key developments in the field. They present a rich set of new case studies, from a diverse range of brain injuries, neuropsychological impairments and even degenerative and paediatric pathologies. This volume will be of immense value to those working with neurological populations that want to incorporate psychoanalytic ideas in case formulations, as well as for those who want to introduce themselves in the neurological basis of psychoanalytic models of the mind and the broader psychoanalytic community.

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.

When the first edition of Clinical studies in Neuro-Psychoanalysis was published in 2000, it was hailed as a turning point in psychoanalytic research. It is now relied on as a model for the integration of neuroscience and psychoanalysis. It won the NAAP's Gradiva Award for Best Book of the Year 2000 (Science Category) and Mark Solms received the International Psychiatrist Award 2001 at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting. The authors have added a glossary of key terms of this edition to aid their introduction to depth neuropsychology. 'Freud, in his 1895 Project for a Scientific Psychology, attempted to join the emerging discipline of psychoanalysis with the neuroscience of his time. But that was a hundred years ago, when the neuron had only just been described, and Freud was forced - through lack of pertinent knowledge - to abandon his project. We have had to wait many decades before the sort of data which Freud needed finally became available. Now, these many years later, contemporary neuroscience allows for the resumption of the search for correlations between these two disciplines.

This comprehensive and well-curated collection explores how neuroscience can be integrated into psychoanalytic thinking and practice, reexamining the biological science within psychological (sexuality, pleasure, and dreams), social (pornography), and psychopathological (learning and attention disorders, anhedonia) phenomena relevant to therapists and analysts. Neuropsychoanalysis of the Inner Mind stands out for its focus on the emotional-motivational aspects of the mind, which are considered through the lenses of affective neuroscience, psychoanalytic theory and neuropsychoanalysis, and is important reading for scholars and psychologists interested in the topics originally addressed by Freud in his 1895 publication Project for a Scientific Psychology.