An Introduction to Neuropsychoanalysis with Pam Howard

An Introduction to Neuropsychoanalysis: Integrating the Neuroscience of Emotions into Psychodynamic Practice

Presented by Pam Howard, Principal Lecturer in Psychotherapy, University of Brighton

This advanced seminar offers an in-depth exploration of ‘neuropsychoanalysis’—an interdisciplinary field that seeks to integrate findings from affective neuroscience with the contemporary application of psychoanalytic theory.

Drawing on the foundational work of the late Prof. Jaak Panksepp and Prof. Mark Solms amongst others, the seminar will examine how neuroscientific research into primary emotional systems challenges and enriches classical psychoanalytic models of the mind. Participants will be introduced to current evidence that revises, clarifies and updates key psychoanalytic assumptions and supports a neurobiologically informed approach to understanding unconscious processes.

A key focus will be the presentation of a clinically relevant model of formulation, grounded in both neuroscience and psychoanalysis, that informs and clarifies the focus for the joint endeavour between psychotherapist and client needed to bring about therapeutic change.  This training day is open to qualified counsellors and psychotherapists with an interest in the theoretical and clinical implications of integrating brain-based evidence into psychoanalytic practice.

Facilitator: Pam Howard is Principal Lecturer in Psychotherapy and Subject Lead for Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Brighton. A UKCP registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, she is also a Clinical Fellow of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Association, with a longstanding interest in interdisciplinary approaches to the mind in the context of early life development.