Abstract
The basic scientific discovery made by Pavlov, namely the differentially associated paired system comprising related positive and negative conditioned signals based upon inborn reflex systems, has been applied to normal, neurotic and psychotic states.
A hypothesis is suggested as to the causation of neurotic and psychotic disorder. The differentially associated paired systems based upon the reproductive reflexes have to be reversed at puberty in the course of maturation and this disrupts normal function. This is not incompatible with Freudian ideas where “unconscious incestuous wishes, drives and guilt” are believed to be potent factors in the production of functional disorders.
Freudian “life instincts” are equated with normal differentially associated paired systems and “death instincts” are equated with those paired systems in a state of reversal (ultraparadoxical phase).
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References
Adrian, E. D.: The Physical Background of Perception. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1947.
Gordon, W. W.: “Cerebral physiology and psychiatry.”J. Ment. Sci.,394: 118–132, 1948.
Pavlov, I. P.: Conditioned Reflexes. University Press, Oxford, 1927.
Pavlov, I. P.: Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes. 2 vols. Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1940 and 1941.
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Gordon, W.W. A pavlovian approach to psychiatry. Conditional Reflex 1, 125–134 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001094
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001094