In this educational lecture, we will explore the ways in which the “global workspace” theory of Stanislas Dehaene and colleagues might be integrated with recent proposals by Solms and Panksepp on the “conscious id” and the “unconscious ego.” These proposals have great potential for creating an integrated metapsychology – by looking at the brain networks which mediate consciousness and unconscious processes, self and other, perception and simulation, memory and prediction, we can build ever more solid bridges between the major organizational principles of brain function and our fundamental concepts in psychoanalysis.
We will speculate about ways in which internalized object relations can fit into the “conscious id/unconscious ego” framework, and extend the dialogue about the role of defense and resistance in everyday life and psychotherapy. We can also extend our discussion about how moments of awareness, within the interpersonal relationship in the psychotherapy process, can facilitate change.