The Neuropsychology of the Unconscious: Integrating Brain and Mind in Psychotherapy

The construct of the unconscious, in psychoanalysis, psychology, philosophy, and even neuroscience, has its origins in the late 19th century. For most of the ensuing 20th century these models remained unchanged, and somewhat static. But in the last quarter of that century emerging relational and intersubjective clinical psychoanalytic models triggered a significant transformation in Freud’s major contribution to human knowledge: a deeper explication of the human unconscious in all aspects of human functioning. As a result, psychoanalysis, the science of unconscious processes, is at this point in the 21st century undergoing a substantial reformulation. In parallel, scientific studies of essential “implicit” functions have shifted focus from a “cognitive unconscious” to an “affective unconscious.” As the reader will soon appreciate, a substantial driver of this transformation continues to be the integration of neuroscience with psychoanalysis. In this important volume, Efrat Ginot takes on the challenge of integrating psychoanalysis and neuroscience in order to continue this deeper exploration of the human unconscious. I believe she makes a substantial contribution in that effort.