Freudiaanse elektrische hersenstimulatie een historische kruisbestuiving

This case study article describes the to many unlikely historical collaboration between psychoanalysis, brain research and biological psychiatry that took place in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. Neuroanatomist Paul MacLean developed a theoretical synthesis between prevailing evolutionary-neuroanatomical, psychosomatic and psychoanalytic thought. Inspired by this, two psychoanalysts interpreted their experiments with electrical brain stimulation from a psychoanalytic perspective. Lawrence Kubie thought he was bringing repressed memories back to consciousness by stimulating the temporal lobe. George Mahl tried to break down defense mechanisms through electrical brain stimulation, allowing unconscious irrational and conflictual processes to manifest consciously. Their work shows that even in times of increasing polarization between biological and non-biological approaches within psychiatry, some clinicians and researchers continued to see added value in collaboration between supposedly incommensurable subdisciplines.