Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives on Specific Psychoanalytic Concepts

Suggested Readings on Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives on Specific Psychoanalytic Concepts

In order to engage with the fascinating world of neuropsychoanalysis, it is very important to first have a firm grasp of the meaning of the core concepts and ideas that form the bedrock of the field of psychoanalysis. This compilation of readings is categorised around a number of key concepts that are of fundamental importance in psychoanalysis. This literature provides definitions of these concepts, and sheds light on them from a neuropsychoanalytic standpoint – from both clinical- and research perspectives.

Last updated: 15/11/2022

Note: the links provided in this list go to the “version of record,” and may require subscriptions in many cases. Due to copyright rules, we are unable to provide the PDFs of most of these papers. If you would like to recommend additional readings, have PDFs that are authorized for public sharing, or wish to make any suggestions for revisions, please email Dr Ross Balchin at
rbalchin@npsa-association.org.

Topics covered below:

Conflict Defenses Drive Dynamic unconscious Ego functions Id Identification Primary and secondary processes Projective identification Repetition Repression Resistance Superego Transference

Journal articles and book chapters

Conflict

Brenner, C. (2002). Conflict, compromise formation and structural theory. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 71, 397-417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.2167-4086.2002.tb00519.x

Canestri, J. (2005). Some reflections on the use and meaning of conflict in contemporary psychoanalysis. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 74(1), 295-326.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.2167-4086.2005.tb00209.x

Hopkins, J. (2013). Conflict creates an unconscious id. Neuropsychoanalysis, 15, 45-48.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2013.10773718

Siegel, P., & Peterson, B. S. (2012). Demonstrating psychodynamic conflict with a neuropsychoanalytic experimental paradigm. Neuropsychoanalysis, 14, 219-228.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2012.10773705

Smith, H. F. (2003). Conceptions of conflict in psychoanalytic theory and practice. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 72(1), 49-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.2167-4086.2003.tb00122.x

Westen, D., & Gabbard, G. O. (2002). Developments in cognitive neurosciences: 1. Conflict, compromise and connectionism. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 50, 53-98. https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651020500011501

Society members with subscriptions to Neuropsychoanalysis can click below to get journal access. (Note: This is a different username and password than the one for this website. Need a reminder? Email us at society@npsa-association.org.)

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Defenses

Lowental, U. (2000). Defense and resistance in the psychoanalytic process. Psychoanalytic Review, 87(1), 121-35.

Olson, T. R., Perry, C., Janzen, J. I., Petraglia, J., & Presniak, M. D. (2011). Addressing and Interpreting Defense Mechanisms in Psychotherapy: General Considerations. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 74, 142-165. http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/psyc.2011.74.2.142

Vaillant, G. E. (2012). Lifting the field’s ‘repression’ of defenses. American Journal of Psychiatry, 169(9), 885-887. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12050703

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Drive

Bazan, A. & Detandt, S. (2013). On the physiology of jouissance: interpreting the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward functions from a psychoanalytic perspective. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 709. 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00709

Compton, A. (1983). The current status of the psychoanalytic theory of instinctual drives. I: Drive concept, classification, and development. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 52(3), 364-401.

Compton, A. (1985). The development of the drive object concept in Freud’s work: 1905-1915. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 33(1), 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1177/000306518503300105

Falcão, L. (2015). Death drive, destructive drive and the desobjectalizing function in the analytic process. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 96, 459-476.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12362

Kernberg, O. F. (1992). New perspectives on drive theory. In, O. F. Kernberg (Ed.), Aggression in Personality Disorders and Perversions (pp. 3-20). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Peskin, M. M. (1997). Drive theory revisited. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 66, 377-402.

Pine, F. (1990). Drive, Ego, Object, and Self: A Synthesis for Clinical Work. New York: Basic Books.

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Dynamic unconscious

Auchincloss, E. L. (2015). Chapter 3: Evolution of the Dynamic Unconscious. In The Psychoanalytic Model of the Mind. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Berlin, H. A. (2011). The neural basis of the dynamic unconscious. Neuropsychoanalysis, 13(1), 5-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2011.10773654

McIlwain, D. (2001). The Dynamic Unconscious Revisited. In J. R. Morss, N. Stephenson, & H. Van Rappard (Eds.), Theoretical Issues in Psychology (pp. 379-392). Boston, USA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Shevrin, H., Williams, W. J., Marshall, R. E., Hertel, R. K., Bond, J. A., & Brakel, L. A. (1992). Event-related potential indicators of the dynamic unconscious. Consciousness and Cognition, 1(3): 340-366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1053-8100(92)90068-L

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Ego functions

Blass, R.B. (2012). The ego according to Klein: return to Freud and beyond. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 93(1), 151-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-8315.2011.00504.x

Boag, S. (2014). Ego, drives, and the dynamics of internal objects. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 666. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00666

Rizzolatti, G., Semi, A. A., & Fabbri-Destro, M. (2014). Linking psychoanalysis with neuroscience: the concept of ego. Neuropsychologia, 55, 143-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.10.003

Sklar, J. (2006). Splitting of the ego. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 2, 23-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02668738600700031

Sletvold, J. (2013). The ego and the id revisited Freud and Damasio on the body ego/self. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94(5), 1019-32.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12097

Wiest, G., Lurger, S., & Baumgartner, C. (2012). Free will, agency, and the synthetic function of the ego: An investigation using cortical stimulation. Neuropsychoanalysis, 14, 135-140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2012.10773697

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Sletvold, J. (2013). The ego and the id revisited Freud and Damasio on the body ego/self. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94(5), 1019-32.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12097

Solms, M. (2013). The Conscious Id. Neuropsychoanalysis, 15, 5-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2013.10773711

Solms, M., & Panksepp, J. (2012). The id knows more than the ego admits. Brain Sciences, 2, 147–175. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci2020147

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Identification

Braddock, L. (2011). Psychological identification, imagination and psychoanalysis. Philosophical Psychology, 24, 639-657. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2011.559619

Olds, D.D. (2006). Identification: psychoanalytic and biological perspectives. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 54(1), 17-46.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651060540012001

Schwartz, H.P. (2016). On the analyst’s identification with the patient: The case of J.-B. Pontalis and G. Perec. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 85(1), 125-154.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/psaq.12061

Simenauer, E. (1985). Identification in the theory and technique of psychoanalysis. Some thoughts on its farther reaches and functions. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 66, 171-84.

Zepf, S. (2009). Modes of identification: Freud’s concepts reorganized. The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 32, 44-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01062301.2009.10592640

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Primary and secondary processes

De Gélas, M., Parrent, A., & Bazan, A. (2017). Les processus primaires et secondaires selon Freud: actualité et pertinence du concept et de sa mesure pour la clinique. In analysis, 46-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inan.2016.12.008

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Projective identification

Feldman, M. (1994). Projective identification in phantasy and enactment. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 14, 423-440. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07351699409533995

Greatrex, T. S. (2002). Projective identification: How does it work? Neuropsychoanalysis, 4, 183-193. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2002.10773396

Issacharoff, A., & Hunt, W. (1994). Transference and projective identification. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 30, 593-604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00107530.1994.10746874

Lotz, M. (1991). Projective identification on different levels. The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 14, 19-38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01062301.1991.10592254

Lubbe, T. (1998). Projective identification fifty years on: A personal view. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 24, 367-392. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00754179808414825

Meissner, W. W. (2009). Toward a neuropsychological reconstruction of projective identification. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 57(1), 95-129. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003065108329564

Pantone, P. (1994). Projective identification: Affective aspects. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 30, 604-619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00107530.1994.10746875

Roth, P. (2005). ‘Projective identification’. In S. Budd and R. Rusbridger (Eds.), Introducing Psychoanalysis: Essential Themes and Topics (pp. 200-210). London: Routledge.

Waska, R. T. (1999). Projective identification, countertransference, and the struggle for understanding over acting out. The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, 8, 155–161. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3330531/

Widlöcher, D, (2014). Burial and resurgence of projective identification in French psychoanalysis. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 95(4), 757-69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12217

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Repetition

Bazan, A. & Detandt, S. (2015). Trauma and jouissance, a neuropsychoanalytic perspective. Journal of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research (JCFAR), 26, 99-127.

Halfon, S., & Weinstein, L. (2013). From compulsion to structure: An empirical model to study invariant repetition and representation. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 30(3), 394-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033618

Pally, R. (2007). The predicting brain: unconscious repetition, conscious reflection and therapeutic change. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 88, 861–881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1516/B328-8P54-2870-P703

Van de Vijver, G., Bazan, A., & Detandt, S. (2017). The Mark, the Thing, and the Object: On What Commands Repetition in Freud and Lacan. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2244. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02244

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Repression

Abrams, J. (2019). Neuropsychoanalysis and the repressed, rendering what is possible in long-term psychotherapy. In S. A. Lord (Ed.), Reflections on long-term relational psychotherapy and psychoanalysis (1st ed., Chapter 14). Routledge.

Anderson, M. C., & Levy, B. (2002). Repression can (and should) be studied empirically. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 502-503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)02025-9

Anderson, M. C., Ochsner, K. N., Kuhl, B., Cooper, J., Robertson, E., Gabrieli, S. W., et al. (2004). Neural systems underlying the suppression of unwanted memories. Science (New York, NY), 303(5655), 232–235. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1089504

Axmacher, N., Do Lam, A. T. A., Kessler, H., & Fell, J. (2010). Natural memory beyond the storage model: repression, trauma, and the construction of a personal past. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 4, 211. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2010.00211

Bazan, A. (2012). From sensorimotor inhibition to freudian repression: Insights from psychosis applied to neurosis. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 452. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00452

Ceylan, M. E., & Sayın, A. (2012). Neurobıology of repressıon: a hypothetıcal interpretatıon. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 46(3), 395–409.
http://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-012-9197-8

Erdelyi, M. H. (1993). Repression: The mechanism and the defense. In D. M. Wegner & J. W. Pennebaker (Eds.), Handbook of mental control (pp. 126-148). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Erdelyi, M. H. (2006). The unified theory of repression. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29(5), 499–511– discussion 511–51. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X06009113

Kihlstrom, J. F. (2002). No need for repression. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 502. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)02006-5

Kikuchi, H., Fujii, T., Abe, N., Suzuki, M., Takagi, M., Mugikura, S., et al. (2010). Memory repression: brain mechanisms underlying dissociative amnesia. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(3), 602–613. http://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21212

Lambert, A. J., Good, K. S., & Kirk, I. J. (2010). Testing the repression hypothesis: effects of emotional valence on memory suppression in the think – no think task. Consciousness and Cognition, 19(1), 281–293. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2009.09.004

Mancia, M. (2006). Implicit memory and early unrepressed unconscious: their role in the therapeutic process (how the neurosciences can contribute to psychoanalysis). The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 87(Pt 1), 83–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1516/39M7-H9CE-5LQX-YEGY

Moss, A. C., Erskine, J. A. K., Albery, I. P., Allen, J. R., & Georgiou, G. J. (2015). To suppress, or not to suppress? That is repression: Controlling intrusive thoughts in addictive behaviour. Addictive Behaviors, 44, 65–70. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.01.029

Nardone, I. B., Ward, R., Fotopoulou, A., & Turnbull, O. H. (2008). Attention and Emotion in Anosognosia: Evidence of Implicit Awareness and Repression? Neurocase : Case Studies in Neuropsychology, Neuropsychiatry, and Behavioural Neurology, 13(5-6), 438–445. http://doi.org/10.1080/13554790701881749

Nesse, R. M. (1990). The evolutionary functions of repression and the ego defenses. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 18(2), 260–285.
http://search.proquest.com/openview/af3257df85adc2910f7640a83c0337ac/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1820984

Pope, H. G., Oliva, P. S., & Hudson, J. I. (1999). Repressed memories: The scientific status. In D. L. Faigman, D. H. Kaye, M. J. Saks & J. Sanders (Eds.), Modern scientific evidence: The law and science of expert testimony (Vol. 1, 1999 Pocket Part, pp. 115-155). St. Paul, Mn.: West.

Schacter, D. L. (2001). Suppression of unwanted memories: Repression revisited? Lancet, 357, 1724-1725. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04931-X

Schmeing, J.-B., Kehyayan, A., Kessler, H., Do Lam, A. T. A., Fell, J., Schmidt, A.-C., & Axmacher, N. (2013a). Can the neural basis of repression be studied in the MRI scanner? New insights from two free association paradigms. PLoS ONE, 8(4), e62358.
http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062358.s002

Schmeing, J.-B., Kehyayan, A., Kessler, H., Do Lam, A. T. A., Fell, J., Schmidt, A.-C., & Axmacher, N. (2013b). Can the neural basis of repression be studied in the MRI scanner? New insights from two free association paradigms. PLoS ONE, 8(4), e62358. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062358.s002

Shevrin, H., Snodgrass, M., Brakel, L. A. W., Kushwaha, R., Kalaida, N. L., & Bazan, A. (2013). Subliminal unconscious conflict alpha power inhibits supraliminal conscious symptom experience. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 1–12.
http://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00544/abstract

Talvitie, V., & Tiitinen, H. (2006). From the repression of contents to the rules of the (narrative) self: a present-day cognitive view of the Freudian phenomenon of repressed contents. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 79(Pt 2), 165–181. http://doi.org/10.1348/147608305X68057

Yovell, Y., Bannett, Y., & Shalev, A. Y. (2003). Amnesia for traumatic events among recent survivors: a pilot study. CNS Spectrums, 8(9), 676–80– 683–5. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852900008865

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Resistance

Leahy, R. L. (2001). Overcoming resistance in cognitive therapy. New York: Guilford Press.

Messer, S.B. (2002). A Psychodynamic Perspective on Resistance in Psychotherapy: Vive la Résistance. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(2), 157–163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.1139

Miller, J. M. (1993). Resistance in child psychoanalysis. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 19, 33-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00754179308259379

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Superego

Grotstein, J. S. (2004). Notes on the Superego. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 24, 257-270. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07351692409349082

Holmes, J. (2011). Superego: an attachment perspective. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 92(5), 1221-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-8315.2011.00411.x

Milrod, D. (2002). The superego: Its formation, structure, and functioning. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 57, 131-150.

Roth, P. (2001). Ideas in Psychoanalysis: The Superego. Cambridge, UK: Icon Books Ltd.

O’Shaughnessy, E. (1999). Relating to the superego. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 80, 861-870.

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Transference

Axmacher, N., & Heinemann, A. (2012). Toward a neural understanding of emotional oscillation and affect regulation: investigating the dynamic unconscious and transference. An interdisciplinary study. Neuropsychoanalysis: an Interdisciplinary Journal for Psychoanalysis and the Neurosciences, 14(2), 141–155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2012.10773698

Beretta, V., Despland, J.-N., Drapeau, M., Michel, L., Kramer, U., Stigler, M., & de Roten, Y. (2007). Are relationship patterns with significant others reenacted with the therapist?: a study of early transference reactions. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195(5), 443–450. http://doi.org/10.1097/01.nmd.0000253766.35132.30

Berk, M. S., & Andersen, S. M. (2000). The impact of past relationships on interpersonal behavior: behavioral confirmation in the social-cognitive process of transference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(4), 546–562. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.546

Brockman, R. (2000). Transference, affect, and neurobiology. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 28(2), 275–288.

Brockman, R. (2010). Aspects of psychodynamic neuropsychiatry I: episodic memory, transference, and the oddball paradigm. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 38(4), 693–710. http://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.2010.38.4.693

Brockman, R. (2011). Aspects of psychodynamic neuropsychiatry III: magic spells, the placebo effect, and neurobiology. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 39(3), 563–572. http://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.2011.39.3.563

Corradi, R. B. (2006). Psychodynamic psychotherapy: a core conceptual model and its application. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 34(1), 93–116. http://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.2006.34.1.93

Gabbard, G. O., & Horowitz, M. J. (2009). Insight, Transference Interpretation, and Therapeutic Change in the Dynamic Psychotherapy of Borderline Personality Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(5), 517–521. http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08050631

Gallese, V., Eagle, M. N., & Migone, P. (2007). Intentional attunement: mirror neurons and the neural underpinnings of interpersonal relations. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55(1), 131–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651070550010601

Gerber, A. J., & Peterson, B. S. (2006). Measuring transference phenomena with fMRI. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 54(4), 1319–1325.
http://doi.org/10.1177/00030651060540040105

Høglend, P., Bøgwald, K.-P., Amlo, S., Marble, A., Ulberg, R., Sjaastad, M. C., et al. (2008). Transference interpretations in dynamic psychotherapy: do they really yield sustained effects? American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(6), 763–771.
http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07061028

Issacharoff, A., & Hunt, W. (1994). Transference and projective identification. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 30, 593-604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00107530.1994.10746874

Javanbakht, A., & Ragan, C. L. (2008). A neural network model for transference and repetition compulsion based on pattern completion. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 36(2), 255–278. http://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.2008.36.2.255

Levy, K.N., & Scala, J.W. (2012). Transference, transference interpretations, and transference-focused psychotherapies. Psychotherapy, 49(3), 391-403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029371

Pally, R. (2010). The brain’s shared circuits of interpersonal understanding: implications for psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 38(3), 381–411. http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jaap.2010.38.3.381

Stein, D. J. (2009). How we see others: the psychobiology of schemas and transference. CNS Spectrums, 14(1), 10–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852900020009

Vivona, J. M. (2009). Leaping from brain to mind: a critique of mirror neuron explanations of countertransference. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 57(3), 525–550. http://doi.org/10.1177/0003065109336443

Westen, D., & Gabbard, G. O. (2002). Developments in cognitive neuroscience: II. Implications for theories of transference. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 50(1), 99–134. https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651020500011601

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