MARK SOLMS - SOUTH AFRICA / UNITED KINDOM
The drive to play.
Summary
In this talk I will introduce the mammalian drive to play and its implications for human development. I will focus in particular on the implications of this drive for object relations theory, the theory of the Oedipus complex, and the concept of narcissism.
FRANÇOIS ANSERMET - SWITZERLAND
Neuronal plasticity: infancy and the paradoxes of an ever-changing brain
The neurobiological evidence for plasticity, which demonstrates that experience leaves a structural and functional trace in neuronal networks, introduces a new dialectic between the biological and psychological causality of mental phenomena. Such evidence has inspired current views that posit that psychological events may shape synaptic organization.
Plasticity shows that neuronal networks remain open to change, to contingency: the brain must thus be thought of as a highly dynamic organ in permanent interaction with the environment as well as with the psychological life of the subject. Thus, plasticity always modifies what has come before and therefore keeps the subject open to the unpredictable and facilitates the construction of individuality. Here, I make the argument that evidence for plasticity entails moving on to a new paradigm. If neuronal networks are constitutively endowed with the capacity for their own modification, and if the subject participates in his/her own emergence, then it follows that neuroscience embodies, like psychoanalysis, the notions of uniqueness and diversity. As such, neuroscience and psychoanalysis converge on the question of the emergence of individuality, a point where these two fields can mutually instruct one another.
I will discuss the power of the paradigm shift brought about by the evidence for plasticity, through which contingent experience constantly modifies not only the brain, but also the process of becoming for each evolving subject.
JUAN PABLO JIMENEZ - CHILE
Interpersonal affective regulation: From the early mother-baby relationship to the analytic relationship. An interdisciplinary approach.
Summary
Daniel Stern coined the distinction between the "clinical infant" and the "observational infant", inaugurating a prolific line of research that has had a great impact on psychoanalytic theory and practice. Following this distinction, MIDAP has been developing research on the "observational therapeutic relationship", whose methods, results and clinical applications are summarised in this presentation. In the same way, the study of early life adversities and disturbances in critical periods of development has given rise to a new discipline, developmental psychopathology. Another line of MIDAP research focuses precisely on the study of the epigenetic impact of such disturbances on adult mental health pathology. We will present a pilot study showing how psychotherapy is able to transform epigenetic indicators, inherited from early adversity, in a sample of borderline adolescents in psychotherapy. Thus coming full circle: the therapeutic relationship can be an opportunity for healing from early trauma.
