ABSTRACT
The models for human memory that have emerged from brain research are based on data that were largely unknown when the original psychoanalytic formulations about psychotherapy were made. Many psychological and behavioural functions central to psychotherapy theory are mediated by cells joined by synapses and working together. The implications of the new findings about memory are several. For one, patient data that psychotherapists rely on, almost exclusively, is information about the patient’s experiences in the past. Memory, a function only rarely mentioned in most psychotherapy formulations, becomes one of the most critical functions in our understanding of the human mind. Applying the new neuroscientific findings to how the therapist’s memory works should also allow for a better understanding of what happens for the patient. Psychodynamic formulations can be traced to an older explanatory model, depth psychology.
