This course will offer a brief overview of psychoanalytic defense theory in order to share findings from the field of neuropsychoanalytic theory, as laid out by Dr. Mark Solms. Through clinical reflection, we will begin to see defenses not as psychic maneuvers to avoid unwanted content but instead as parts of the foundational function in self-organizing systems. We will define the concepts of entropy, homeostasis, and the Markov blanket (Solms, 2021) before connecting them to the psychoanalytic-psychotherapeutic process. Some questions we will consider: Why does the psyche defend itself against change with the same urgency a living organism defends itself against death? And why do some psyches seek out and engage with a process like psychoanalysis - a process that could be described as a voluntary movement toward increased entropy? The course will close by connecting this framework to the clinical encounter: the moment-to-moment negotiation between connection and separateness that defines the therapeutic relationship.
Much value is to be gleaned from the knowledge that successful analytic work defies the imperatives to resist entropy and preserve homeostasis. This enigma is what reminds us of the indefinable art of connection in psychoanalytic relationship-building.
Dates and Time:
Monday, December 7, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Monday, December 14, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Location: Online via Zoom
(Your instructor will provide a Zoom link as the first class approaches.).