Synopses & Reviews
As a discipline, psychoanalysis began at the interface of mind and brain and has always been about those most enduring mysteries of life, of how it is that our most basic concerns are about finding, establishing, preserving, and mourning our relationships. Basic developmental neuroscience and psychology have also of late turned to these basic questions of affiliation. The joint program marked by this volume brings together psychoanalysts and developmental cognitive and neuroscientists to address these most basic mind-brain, body and mind issues with shared perspectives. This volume marks the establishment of a joint program of research, training, and clinical service between two institutions historically dedicated to the well-being of children and their families: the Anna Freud Centre in London and the Child Study Center. This joint program offers a new model of interdisciplinary empirical research to psychoanalytic approaches to children's development and mental health. This volume brings together psychoanalysts and developmental cognitive and neuroscientists to address these most basic mind-brain, body and mind issues with shared perspectives.
Synopsis
As a discipline, psychoanalysis began at the interface of mind and brain and has always been about those most basic questions of biology and psychology: loving, hating, what brings us together as lovers, parents, and friends and what pulls us apart in conflict and hatred.These are the enduring mysteries of life and especially of early development-how young children learn the language of the social world with its intertwined biological, genetic, and experiential roots and how infants translate thousands of intimate moments with their parents into a genuine, intuitive, emotional connection to other persons. Basic developmental neuroscience and psychology has also of late turned to these basic questions of affiliation: of how it is that as humans our most basic concerns are about finding, establishing, preserving, and mourning our relationships. These areas in broad strokes are the substance of mind and brain, and the last decade has brought much new science to the biology of attachment, love, and aggression. These are areas that practicing psychoanalysts have long been immersed in and have much to say about - and contemporary neuroscientists and developmentalists are recognizing the importance of understanding these basic issues at a deeper, and more subjective experiential level. The challenges before us are how to facilitate open discourse and collaborations among these perspectives and practitioners that often work at very different levels of discourse. This volume is not only a first step in that process but also, through the themes of the chapters and the pairing of discussants, a beginning illustration of how the cross-disciplinary discourse might work.