AUTHOR=Solms Mark Leonard TITLE=The Neurobiological Underpinnings of Psychoanalytic Theory and Therapy JOURNAL=Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience VOLUME=12 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/behavioral-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00294 DOI=10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00294 ISSN=1662-5153 ABSTRACT=

This paper sets out the neurobiological underpinnings of the core theoretical claims of psychoanalysis. These claims concern (1) innate emotional needs, (2) learning from experience, and (3) unconscious mental processing. The paper also considers the neurobiological underpinnings of the mechanisms of psychoanalytic treatment—a treatment which is based on the aforementioned claims. Lastly, it reviews the available empirical evidence concerning the therapeutic efficacy of this form of treatment.