The 19th Annual Congress of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society

Repression and Defence

Repression and defence are arguably the central concepts in Freudian psychology, yet many mysteries remain. In this Congress, we want to dive into the unknown together and see how new insights from psychoanalysis, neuroscience, psychology and philosophy can improve our understanding of these core psychodynamic processes. Here are some of the issues we will address:

• Most of us agree that repression is somehow related to memory. But how? And does therapeutic change really depend upon modifying a patient’s memory of the past?
• Which aspects of repression and defence can be investigated in psychological experiments, and which occur only in the clinical situation?
• What (conscious and unconscious) cognitive and affective factors contribute to repression and defence, and which neural mechanisms play a role?
• At which developmental stage does repression start? And how does repression relate to other mechanisms of defence?
• Repressed desires, conflicts, and trauma are central sources for the dynamic unconscious. But is repression fundamentally different from (conscious) suppression?

for details or to register, please click here.