Recent Developments in Neuropsychoanalysis

Thomas S. Taylor, PhD, LCSW-R

Friday, 10 July
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM ET

This talk will provide an introduction to a model that, in recent years, has become increasingly integrated into neuropsychoanalytic thinking: the “free energy principle” proposed by Karl Friston. A central idea in the free energy principle is that all living organisms must maintain homeostasis and therefore have to manage uncertainty effectively, through an “internal generative model” that continually helps us to predict what’s going on out there in the world, and what might happen next. Our predictions shape our perceptions of the world and guide our relationships. Concepts in the free energy principle support long-standing psychodynamic perspectives, including the focus on transference and other relational patterns; the importance of early development; and the value of bringing thoughts, feelings, and fantasies into awareness during the working-through process; and more. This talk will introduce some of the fundamental concepts in the free energy model, such as “prediction error” and “precision,” by describing them in user-friendly language with experience-near examples.  

Please click here for further information and to register.

Dr. Maggie Zellner has a reputation for being able to describe complex and foreign information about the brain and neuroscience in terms that therapists can understand and relate to. She is the Executive Director of the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation in New York City also the associate editor of Neuropsychoanalysis and author of numerous works on neuropsychoanalysis, and most recently, collaborating in the Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Neuropsychoanalysis in Neuropsychoanalysis, 26(1) (2024).

Discussant Dr. Mary Edlow has served for the past 25 years on NPAP’s Edith Laufer Neuropsychoanalytic Clinical Study Center, and is currently co-chair. Also, Dr. Edlow is a Clinical Fellow of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society and has contributed papers to the journal, Neuropsychoanalysis.

Both Drs Zellner and Edlow are faculty and senior members of NPAP.