Neuropsychoanalytic activities in Cape Town are governed by the Neuropsychoanalysis Trust. They are based mainly in the Psychology and Neurology departments of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and at Groote Schuur Hospital. We offer theoretical instruction to postgraduate neuropsychology students at UCT and to candidates in psychoanalytic training with the South African Psychoanalytical Association.
We also offer occasional, ad hoc courses to psychotherapists belonging to the South African Psychoanalytic Initiative, under whose auspices we have for the past several years been running a research group on Instinct Theory. In this group, we consider ongoing psychoanalytic cases in the light of Jaak Panksepp’s theory of basic emotions, to see what new insights are gained regardi ng the diagnosis, psychodynamics and clinical process.
Numerous research projects are being undertaken at UCT, too many to list individually, focusing mainly on brain mechanisms of depression and of dreaming (but also with a special focus on testosterone and on dominance). We offer limited clinical training in neuropsychoanalystic rehabilitation, mainly to neuropsychology graduate students and early-career practitioners.
From 2016 onwards, we plan to greatly expand our rehabilitation services, when we move into the new Clinical Neurosciences Institute which is currently being built at Groote Schuur hospital. We regularly host interns from around the world, who are undertaking limited neuropsychoanalytic training and research projects with us. A recent initiative has been the production, together with the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation in New York, of a series of online educational resources.
Contact
Mark Solms, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701
South Africa
Email: mark.solms@uct.ac.za