CLINICAL EXPERTISE: INTRODUCTION—THE PRIMACY OFAFFECT
There is currently a palpable sense that psychoanalysis
is undergoing a significant transformation, indeed aparadigm shift.
A powerful engine for the increased energy and growth in the field is the ongoing dialogue it is having with neighboring disciplines, especially the developmental sciences and neuroscience.
This mutually enriching communication is centered on common interests in the critical role of relational-emotional contact between humans, the impact of these processes on brain systems that regulate bodily-based survival functions, and the primacy of affect.
In a recent editorial of the journal Motivation and Emotion