Further information

The Neuropsychoanalytic Study Group, Kyoto

The Japanese translation of The Brain and the Inner World, the introductory book of neuropsychoanalysis by Mark Solms and Oliver Turnbull, was published in July 2007. Our group, the Neuro-Psychoanalytic Study Group, Kyoto, was established on this occasion.
This monumental book has now been published in seven languages, but this is the first time that it has been translated in Asia. There is now a great distance between psychological (subjective) and biological (objective) perspectives in Japan, too, which can be seen, for example, in the discrepancy between trends in biological psychiatry strongly promoting pharmacotherapy and traditional psychotherapy schools. Not a few people involved in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy have voiced concerns about this situation. We hope that this book and the field of neuropsychoanalysis itself will be able to help Japanese people who are interested in bridging the gulf between those perspectives.

The activities of our group is as follows:

1. Clinical work

We are currently studying Clinical Studies in Neuropsychoanalysis by Mark Solms and Karen Kaplan-Solms and discussing clinical methods integrating neuroscience and psychoanalysis/psychotherapy, namely from both objective and subjective perspectives. Since most of us are psychiatrists/physicians and psychotherapists, we try to practice what we learn in our daily clinical work from the dual perspective.

2. Research

Most of us are engaged in studies of patients with psychiatric disorders from the viewpoint of affective and social neuroscience. We have recently investigated the relationships between brain and social cognition, such as mind-reading or empathy, using MRI. These mental functions are intimately associated with interpersonal relationships in psychotherapy—for example, transference. Thus we believe these studies will help us to understand how psychotherapy works.
We also plan a clinical study designed for the combination of pharmacotherapy (modulation of serotonin or dopamine) and psychotherapy (subjective experience) with neuroimaging methods (objective brain function).

3. Education

We plan educational lectures and conference in order to provide up-to-date information about neuropsychoanalysis.

For more information, please contact Dr Kazuyuki Hirao at kazhirao@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp