Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Neurodevelopmental and Neurofunctional Basis of Intersubjectivity

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents

  • 1533 Accesses

Abstract

Modern neuroscience has advanced significantly since Freud ’s initial Project for a Scientific Psychology, in which he hoped to apply scientific principles to the emerging discipline of psychoanalysis. As such, a sophisticated quest to understand the human mind—over the last 125 years—has led to the discovery of a radically different landscape than that which Freud had envisioned. In this regard, multimodal scientific investigations have openly questioned the validity of Freud’s concepts: “[Modern] science not only fails to support the central tenets of Freudian dream theory but raises serious questions about other strongly held psychodynamic assumptions including the nature of the unconscious mind, infantile sexuality, the tripartite model of the mind, the concept of ego defense, free association and the analysis of the transference as a way of effecting adaptive change”. Moreover, recent advances in neuroimaging and neurodevelopmental research have profoundly advanced our understanding of the key areas of “the relational brain,” the substrate for two-person relational psychotherapy. Herein, we will briefly review the historical developments of two-person relational psychotherapy, and in doing so, we will detail the specific advances in developmental psychology. Additionally, we will review the key theorists and researchers whose work and behavioral experiments made possible the neurophysiological investigations, which have, in turn, given rise to our nascent understanding of the neurophysiology of attachment and intersubjectivity.

Anatomy is destiny.

—Sigmund Freud

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alexander F, French TM, Bacon CL et al (1946) Psychoanalytic therapy: principles and application. Ronald Press, New York, pp 66–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander WH, Brown JW (2011) Medial prefrontal cortex as an action-outcome predictor. Nat Neurosci 10:1338–1346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allman JM, Hakeem A, Erwin JM et al (2001) The anterior cingulate cortex. The evolution of an interface between emotion and cognition. Ann N Y Acad Sci 935:107–117

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Altarac M, Saroha E (2007) Lifetime prevalence of learning disability among US children. Pediatrics 119:S77–S83

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Atzil S, Hendler T, Zagoory-Sharon O et al (2012) Synchrony and specificity in the maternal and the paternal brain: relations to oxytocin and vasopressin. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 51(8):798–811

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beckmann CF, DeLuca M, Devlin JT et al (2005) Investigations into resting-state connectivity using independent component analysis. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 360:1001–1013

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beers SR, De Bellis MD (2002) Neuropsychological function in children with maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry 159(3):483–486

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blackford JU, Avery SN, Cowan RL et al (2011) Sustained amygdala response to both novel and newly familiar faces characterizes inhibited temperament. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 6(5):621–629

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blackford JU, Allen AH, Cowan RL et al (2013) Amygdala and hippocampus. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 8(2):143–150

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blackford JU, Clauss JA, Avery SN, Cowan RL, et al. Amygdala-cingulate intrinsic connectivity is associated with degree of social inhibition. Biol Psychol 2014;99:15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby J (1999) Attachment, vol 1, 2nd edn, Attachment and loss. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyce WT, Ellis BJ (2005) Biological sensitivity to context: an evolutionary–developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Dev Psychopathol 17:271–301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buirski P, Haglund P (2009) Making sense together : the intersubjective approach to psychotherapy. Jason Aronson, Northvale

    Google Scholar 

  • Caspi A, Sugden K, Moffitt TE et al (2003) Influence of life stress on depression: moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene. Science 301(5631):386–389

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cheon BK, Im DM, Harada T et al (2013) Cultural modulation of the neural correlates of emotional pain perception: the role of other-focusedness. Neuropsychologia 51(7):1177–1186

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clauss JA, Cowan RL, Blackford JU (2011) Expectation and temperament moderate amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex responses to fear faces. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 11(1):13–21

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper S, Smiley E, Morrison J et al (2007) Mental ill-health in adults with intellectual disabilities: prevalence and associated factors. Br J Psychiatry 190:27–35

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Devinsky O, Morrell MJ, Vogt BA (1995) Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex to behaviour. Brain 118(1):279–306

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Decety J, Chaminade T (2003) When the self represents the other: a new cognitive neuroscience view on psychological identification. Conscious Cogn 12:577–596

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Greck M, Shi Z, Wang G et al (2012) Culture modulates brain activity during empathy with anger. Neuroimage 59(3):2871–2882

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado SV, Wassenaar E, Strawn JR (2011) Does your patient have a psychiatric illness or nonverbal learning disorder? Curr Psychiatry 10(5):17–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Delgado SV, Strawn JR (2014) Difficult psychiatric consultations: an integrated approach. Springer, Heidelberg

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dick DM, Meyers JL, Latendresse SJ et al (2011) CHRM2, parental monitoring, and adolescent externalizing behavior: evidence for gene-environment interaction. Psychol Sci 22(4):481–489

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • du Vigneaud V, Ressler C, Trippett S (1953) The sequence of amino acids in oxytocin, with a proposal for the structure of oxytocin. J Biol Chem 205:949–957

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Emde RN, Harmon RJ (1984) Entering a new era in the search for developmental continuities. In: Emde RN, Harmon RJ (eds) Continuities and discontinuities in development. Plenum, New York, pp 1–11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Emde RN (1987) The effect of relationships on relationships: a developmental approach to clinical intervention. In: Hinde RA, Stevenson-Hinde J (eds) Relations between relationships within families. University Press, Oxford, pp 354–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud S (1895) Project for a scientific psychology. In: Strachey J (ed) The standard edition, vol 1. Hogarth Press, London, pp 295–343

    Google Scholar 

  • Frodl T, Skokauskasm N (2012) Meta-analysis of structural MRI studies in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder indicates treatment effects. Acta Psychiatr Scand 125(2):114–126

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gogtay N, Giedd JN, Lusk L et al (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101(21):8174–8179

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guastella AJ, Mitchell PB, Dadds MR (2008) Oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region of human faces. Biol Psychiatry 63(1):3–5

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herringa RJ, Birn RM, Ruttle PL et al (2013) Childhood maltreatment is associated with altered fear circuitry and increased internalizing symptoms by late adolescence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(47):19119–19124

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill SY, Tessner K, Wang S et al (2010) Temperament at 5 years of age predicts amygdala and orbitofrontal volume in the right hemisphere in adolescence. Psychiatry Res 182(1):14–21

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hobson JA, Pace-Schott EF, Stickgold R (2000) Dreaming and the brain: toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states. Behav Brain Sci 23:793–1121

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iacoboni M, Molnar-Szakacs I, Gallese V et al (2005) Grasping the intentions of others with one’s own mirror neuron system. PLoS Biol 3(3)

    Google Scholar 

  • Institute of Medicine (2000) From neurons to neighborhoods: the science of early childhood development. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, pp 31–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosfeld M, Heinrichs M, Zak PJ et al (2005) Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature 435(7042):673–676

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lai CH (2013) Gray matter volume in major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of voxel- based morphometry studies. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 211(1):37–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li W, Mai X, Liu C (2014) The default mode network and social understanding of others: what do brain connectivity studies tell us. Front Hum Neurosci 8:74

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lin A, Adolphs R, Rangel A (2012) Social and monetary reward learning engage overlapping neural substrates. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 7:274–281

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lotto AJ, Hickok GS, Holt LL (2009) Reflections on mirror neurons and speech perception. Trends Cogn Sci 13:110–114

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons-Ruth K, Bruschweiler-Stern N, Harrison AM et al (1998) Implicit relational knowing: its role in development and psychoanalytic treatment. Infant Men Health J 19(3):282–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons-Ruth K (1999) The two-person unconscious: intersubjective dialogue, enactive relational representation, and the emergence of new forms of relational organization. Psychoanal Inq 19:576–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClure EB, Monk CS, Nelson EE et al (2007) Abnormal attention modulation of fear circuit function in pediatric generalized anxiety disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64:109–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin KJ, Gomez J, Baran SE et al (2007) The effects of chronic stress on hippocampal morphology and function: an evaluation of chronic restraint paradigms. Brain Res 1161:56–64

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff A (1995) Understanding the intentions of others: re-enactment of intended acts by 18-month-old children. Dev Psychol 31:838–850

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff A, Gopnik A (1993) The role of imitation in understanding persons and developing a theory of mind. In: Baron-Cohen S, Tager-Flusberg H, Cohen DJ (eds) Understanding other minds: perspectives from autism. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 335–366

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell JP, Macrae CN, Banaji MR (2006) Dissociable medial prefrontal contributions to judgments of similar and dissimilar others. Neuron 50(4):655–663

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Musser ED, Kaiser-Laurent H, Ablowa JC (2012) The neural correlates of maternal sensitivity: an fMRI study. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2:428–436

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powers KE, Somerville LH, Kelley WM et al (2013) Rejection sensitivity polarizes striatal-medial prefrontal activity when anticipating social feedback. J Cogn Neurosci 25(11):1887–1895

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti G, Craighero L (2004) The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev Neurosci 27:169–192

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruby P, Decety J (2001) Effect of subjective perspective taking during simulation of action: a PET investigation of agency. Nat Neurosci 4(5):546–550

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M, Kim-Cohen J, Maughan B (2006) Continuities and discontinuities in psychopathology between childhood and adult life. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47(3–4):276–295

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff AJ, Emde RN (1989) Relationship disturbances in context. In: Sameroff AJ, Emde RN (eds) Relationship disturbances in early childhood: a developmental approach. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sander L (1985) Toward a logic of organization in psychobiological development. In: Klar K, Siever L (eds) Biologic response styles: clinical implications. APA Monograph

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopf V, Windischberger C, Kasess CH et al (2010) ICA of resting-state data: a comparison. MAGMA 23:317–325

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schore AN (2002) Advances in neuropsychoanalysis, attachment theory, and trauma research: implications for self psychology. Psychoanal Inq 22:433–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoner R, Chow ML, Boyle MP et al (2014) Patches of disorganization in the neocortex of children with autism. N Engl J Med 370(13):1209–1219

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strawn JR, Dominick KC, Doyle CD et al (2014) Neurobiology of pediatric anxiety disorders. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 1:154–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas A, Chess S (1982) The reality of difficult temperament. Merrill-Palmer Q 28:1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • van den Heuvel MP, Hulshoff Pol HE (2010) Exploring the brain network: a review on resting-state fMRI functional connectivity. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 20:519–534

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vyas A, Mitra R, Shankaranarayana Rao BS, Chattarji S (2002) Chronic stress induces contrasting patterns of dendritic remodeling in hippocampal and amygdaloid neurons. J Neurosci 22:6810–6818

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vyas A, Jadhav S, Chattarji S (2006) Prolonged behavioral stress enhances synaptic connectivity in the basolateral amygdala. Neuroscience 143(2):387–393

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Webster RI, Erdos C, Evans K et al (2008) Neurological and magnetic resonance imaging findings in children with developmental language impairment. J Child Neurol 23(8):870–877

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yamasaki H, LaBar KS, McCarthy G (2002) Dissociable prefrontal brain systems for attention and emotion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99:11447–11451

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zatorre RJ (2013) Predispositions and plasticity in music and speech learning: neural correlates and implications. Science 342(6158):585–589

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Sergio V. Delgado MD

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Jeffrey R. Strawn MD

  3. Division of Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry Division of Child Neurology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Ernest V. Pedapati MD, MS

Authors
  1. Sergio V. Delgado MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeffrey R. Strawn MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ernest V. Pedapati MD, MS
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Delgado, S.V., Strawn, J.R., Pedapati, E.V. (2015). The Neurodevelopmental and Neurofunctional Basis of Intersubjectivity. In: Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40520-4_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40520-4_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40519-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40520-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation