Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:1395-1402
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Will neurobiology influence psychoanalysis?
AM Cooper
Neurobiologic research has begun to elucidate brain mechanisms of affective
states and behavioral patterns. Discussions of anxiety and sexual identity
demonstrate how these researches lead the psychoanalyst to broader views of
behaviors that were previously considered entirely psychological in origin.
While introspection and extrospection are distinct realms of investigation
and conceptualization, they share common boundaries and areas of
interpenetration. Psychoanalytic theory is challenged to accord with newer
findings in biology and to provide important questions for further
research. Neurobiologic advances will continue a centuries-old process of
confining the realm of psyche, but there is no danger that mind will
disappear.
