Table Of ContentNeuropsychoanalysis of the
Inner Mind
This comprehensive and well-curated collection explores how neurosci-
ence can be integrated into psychoanalytic thinking and practice, reexam-
ining the biological science within psychological (sexuality, pleasure, and
dreams), social (pornography), and psychopathological (learning and atten-
tion disorders, anhedonia) phenomena relevant to therapists and analysts.
Neuropsychoanalysis of the Inner Mind stands out for its focus on the
emotional- motivational aspects of the mind, which are considered through
the lenses of affective neuroscience, psychoanalytic theory and neuropsy-
choanalysis, and is important reading for scholars and psychologists inter-
ested in the topics originally addressed by Freud in his 1895 publication
Project for a Scientific Psychology.
Teodosio Giacolini, Psychologist, Clinical Supervisor and Docent in psycho-
dynamic psychotherapy in Postgraduate School in Child and Adolescent
Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Poli-
clinico Umberto I-Sapienza University Hospital of Rome. Full member of
Italian Psychoanalytical Society (SPI) and International Psychoanalytical
Association (IPA). Member and Coordinator (together C.P.) of the regional
group of The International Neuropsychoanalysis Association (NPSA). Au-
thor of books and papers in national and international journals.
Cristiana Pirrongelli, MD, Psychiatrist specialized in both basic and clini-
cal research, author of national and international publications. She is a full
member of Italian Psychoanalytic Association (SPI) and International Psy-
choanalytic Association (IPA). Since 2014, she has been teaching Ethics in
Psychoanalysis and is part of the Deontological Board of SPI. Member and
Coordinator (with T.G.) of the regional group of The International Neu-
ropsychoanalysis Association (NPSA). Editor of SPIWEB (National Web-
site of the Italian Psychoanalytic Association), Research and Neuroscience
section.
Neuropsychoanalysis of the
Inner Mind
A Biological Understanding of
Human Mental Function
Edited by
Teodosio Giacolini and
Cristiana Pirrongelli
First published 2022
by Routledge
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© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Teodosio Giacolini and Cristiana
Pirrongelli; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Teodosio Giacolini and Cristiana Pirrongelli to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Giacolini, Teodosio, editor. | Pirrongelli, Cristiana, editor.
Title: Neuropsychoanalysis of the inner mind : a biological understanding of
human mental function / edited by Teodosio Giacolini and Cristiana Pirrongelli.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “This comprehensive and
well curated collection explores how neuroscience can be integrated into
psychoanalytic thinking and practice, reexamining the biological science
within psychological (sexuality, pleasure, dreams), social (pornography), and
psychopathological (learning and attention disorders, anhedonia) phenomena
relevant to therapists and analysts. Neuropsychoanalysis of the Inner Mind
stands out for its focus on the emotional-motivational aspects of the mind, which
are considered through the lenses of affective neuroscience, psychoanalytic
theory and neuropsychoanalysis, and is important reading for scholars and
psychologists interested in the topics originally addressed by Freud in his 1895
publication Project for a Scientific Psychology”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021027255 (print) | LCCN 2021027256 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032056920 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032056937 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003198741 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Psychoanalysis—Methodology. | Neuropsychiatry. |
Neuropsychology.
Classification: LCC RC506 .N487 2022 (print) | LCC RC506 (ebook) | DDC
616.89/17—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027255
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027256
ISBN: 978-1-032-05692-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-05693-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-19874-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003198741
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
In memory of Professor Jaak Panksepp,
pioneer of Affective Neuroscience
Contents
Foreword ix
MARK SOLMS
List of contributors xiii
PART ONE
General aspects 1
1 Motivational/emotional systems: synoptic tables 3
CRISTIANA PIRRONGELLI, CHIARA DI MAGGIO, FRANCESCA
FIORIELLO, SARA RIEZZO, AND TEODOSIO GIACOLINI
2 The evolutionary roots of Neuropsychoanalysis: the Instinct in
Darwin and Freud 45
TEODOSIO GIACOLINI
3 John Bowlby: from attachment to affective neuroscience 63
TEODOSIO GIACOLINI
4 ‘What’s left of sex’: a critical review of psychosexuality in the
light of neurobiological research and affective neuroscience 82
AMEDEO FALCI
5 Pornography, psychoanalysis and Affective Neuroscience 94
CLAUDIA SPADAZZI
6 Applied affective neuroscience and psychoanalytic practice 104
FRANCESCO CASTELLET Y BALLARÀ
viii Contents
PART TWO
Clinical aspects 123
7 The usefulness of the endo-psycho-phenotypic approach in
diagnosis and treatment from a neuropsychoanalytic perspective 125
CRISTIANA PIRRONGELLI
8 The experience of pleasure: a neuropsychoanalytic perspective 143
LORENZO MOCCIA, MARIANNA MAZZA, LUIGI JANIRI
9 Anedonia and emotional-motivational systems 156
ANATOLIA SALONE
10 Motivational systems in child development: a
neuropsychoanalytic perspective on disorders of
attention and learning 177
ANDREA CLARICI, ANDREA ZANETTOVICH, ANTONIO ALCARO
11 The motivational trigger and the affective function
in infantile dream 222
CLAUDIO COLACE
Index 249
Foreword
Mark Solms
The late Jaak Panksepp (1943–2017) and I co-chaired the International
Neuropsychoanalysis Society since its inception in 2000 at its first annual
Congress held in London, the topic of which was “Emotion”. We decided
to start our scientific and mutually educational journey with this topic, the
very foundation of our two sister disciplines, Affective Neuroscience and
Psychoanalysis.
I welcome the efforts of the colleagues that co-authored this book, who
recognize the necessity, power and utility of a phenomenal level of analysis
of the mental apparatus. We trust that the neuropsychoanalytic study of
psychological states can profoundly enrich a fully integrated cross-species
affective neuroscience, thereby illuminating many mental and neurobiologi-
cal processes in humans.
The foundation of psychoanalysis by Freud was preceded by his deep in-
terest in the neurobiological functioning of the mind, of which The Project
for a Scientific Psychology (1895) represented his most complex effort. Freud
soon gave up on the ideal of studying mental functions on a physiological
basis, given the limited development of neuroscience at the time. Conse-
quently, he proceeded to study the mental organ through functional instru-
ments and categories, which he named Metapsychology. In my recent work,
I wrote: “Freud’s ‘Project for a Scientific Psychology’ is the Rosetta Stone
of neuropsychoanalysis. It was the foundational text for the whole of what
became known as metapsychology….(it) was the first attempt – Freud’s own
attempt – to achieve what the whole interdisciplinary endeavour called neu-
ropsychoanalysis is trying to achieve today.” (Solms 2020, p. 1). Freud gave
particular importance to an element derived from the biological sciences and
from the study of Darwin’s work, making it the fulcrum of his theoretical-
clinical construction: the function called drive. Therefore, in 1933, he wrote
in New Introductory Lectures On Psychoanalysis: “The theory of the drives
is so to say our mythology. Drives are mythical entities, magnificent in their
indefiniteness” (Freud 1933, p. 95). A few years earlier he had written: “No
knowledge would have been more valuable as a foundation for true psycho-
logical science than an approximate grasp of the common characteristics and
possible distinctive features of the drives. But in no region of psychology were
