Analysis terminable and interminable.

Elements of Psychoanalysis

This article discusses how recent studies of the right brain, which is dominant for the implicit, nonverbal, intuitive, holistic processing of emotional information and social interactions, can elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the relational foundations of psychotherapy. Utilizing the interpersonal neurobiological perspective of regulation theory, I describe the fundamental role of the early developing right brain in relational processes, throughout the life span. I present interdisciplinary evidence documenting right brain functions in early attachment processes, in emotional communications within the therapeutic alliance, in mutual therapeutic enactments, and in therapeutic change processes. This work highlights the fact that the current emphasis on relational processes is shared by, cross-fertilizing, and indeed transforming both psychology and neuroscience, with important consequences for clinical psychological models of psychotherapeutic change.

The right brain is dominant in psychotherapy

Contribution of the psychopathology of psychotic states: the importance of projective identification in the ego structure and the object relations of the psychotic patient

This article focuses on the role played by developmental trauma in generating impairing feelings of shame as observed in several psychological disorders. An understanding of pathological shame is indeed critical for evaluating the psychic functioning of patients who have experienced parental neglect or abuse. A clinical vignette of a patient who suffered emotional neglect and intense role reversal during his childhood will help elucidate how developmental trauma can dramatically affect the patient's personality and behaviours, and ultimately lead to negative expectations towards interpersonal relationships, disturbing feelings of shame, and a sense of a defective self. Shame experiences deriving from the internalisation of bad or unworthy parents are subsequently linked to some psychopathological manifestations, such as withdrawal from social contacts, narcissistic rage, addiction and perversions.

Unveiling the hidden self: Developmental trauma and pathological shame

The Shadow of the Tsunami and the Growth of the Relational Mind by Philip M. BrombergRoutledge, New York and London, 2011 ; 215 pp; $39.95 Philip Bromberg’s work has been celebrated within certain ...

The Shadow of the Tsunami and the Growth of the Relational Mind

The author describes three different ways in which individuals in psychoanalysis may make use of the analyst. Each brings together affective and symbolic communication in a different way and draws the analyst into a different way of relating. It is suggested that these reflect three organizations of the individual's experience of the object and of himself in relation to the object. Though not encountered exclusively in creative artists, each of these organizations, which the author calls analyst-as-mental-function, analyst-as-medium, and analyst-as-audience/ interlocutor, is related to a specific aspect of the creative process.

Three psychic organizations and their relation to certain aspects of the creative process.

Reassessment of psychoanalytical education: controversies and changes.

(2003). Reassessment of psychoanalytical education: Controversies and changes: report of the tenth congress of training analysts. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis: Vol. 84, No. 1, pp. 143-150.

Reassessment of psychoanalytical education: Controversies and changes: Report of the tenth congress of training analysts

(2013). Arrogance and Surprise in Psychoanalytic Process. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly: Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 393-412.

Richard B. Zimmer

Papers

The Shadow of the Tsunami and the Growth of the Relational Mind

Three psychic organizations and their relation to certain aspects of the creative process.

Reassessment of psychoanalytical education: controversies and changes.

Reassessment of psychoanalytical education: Controversies and changes: Report of the tenth congress of training analysts

Arrogance and surprise in psychoanalytic process