Neuropsychoanalytic Dialogues

This episode features Georg Northoff, a neuroscientist, philosopher, and psychiatrist, discussing spatiotemporal neuroscience and how these dynamics shape consciousness and mental illness. He explains depression, mania, and psychosis as disruptions in the brain's temporal organization, explores how early experiences influence neural functioning, and examines how psychotherapy, breathing, and music can promote psychological integration through relational synchrony. Contact: [email protected]

This episode features Daniela Flores Mosri, a researcher, clinician, and Editor-in-Chief of the Neuropsychoanalysis journal. She discusses her research on cannabis use in borderline pathology, the role of affect as a clinical bridge, and the complexities of neurobiological systems. She explores the history and growth of neuropsychoanalysis in Mexico, the peer-review philosophy of the journal, and how understanding basic emotion systems and subjective countertransference enhances clinical flexibility and therapeutic safety. Contact: [email protected]

This episode features Graham Music, a psychotherapist, author, and supervisor at the Tavistock Clinic in London, discussing the role of embodiment, somatic awareness, and non-verbal communication in understanding trauma, unconscious defenses, and therapeutic change. He explores body mapping, role-play, authenticity, countertransference, and the importance of balancing safety with challenge to foster insight, repair relational ruptures, and support lasting psychological growth. Contact: [email protected]

This episode features Andrea Clarici, a medical doctor and child neuropsychiatrist, who explores the integration of neuroscience and psychoanalysis through the lens of neuropsychoanalysis. Drawing on his background in neurophysiology, medical training, and clinical experience at the Tavistock and Anna Freud clinics, he argues that medicine and psychoanalysis are mutually dependent disciplines, with neuroscience providing scientific models of the mind and psychoanalysis offering crucial insights into subjective experience, emotion, and human relationships. He discusses key developments in neuropsychoanalytic theory, including the dissociation of dreaming from REM sleep, the proposal that the id is fundamentally conscious, and the reconceptualization of unconscious fantasies as automatized predictions. Clarici also examines the application of Bayesian models of mind to clinical practice and his ongoing work investigating the psychological dimensions of bodily illness within hospital settings.

This episode features Oliver Turnbull, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor of Neuropsychology at Bangor University and its North Wales Medical School, who explores how emotion forms the biological foundation of consciousness in both humans and other animals. Drawing on neuropsychology, developmental theory, and evolutionary science, he describes emotions as an ancient primary system from which thought, memory, and the sense of self emerge, while also examining possible oral components of early emotional life and the mistaken ‘confabulations’ of artificial intelligence.

This episode features Anne Alvarez, a pioneering figure in the psychoanalytic treatment of severely disturbed children who worked and trained at the Tavistock Clinic. She shares her journey from research psychology to developing revolutionary concepts like reclamation and vitalization for patients experiencing psychic deficits rather than just conflict.

This episode features an in-depth conversation with renowned neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Mark Solms, exploring the clinical and practical applications of Affective Neuroscience and Neuropsychoanalysis. We discuss how a deeper understanding of the brain’s emotional systems can transform therapeutic work—particularly through concepts like repression, transference, and defence. Contact: [email protected]