Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis: Lecture Five " How to Treat the Mind" Why Seek Therapy

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WHY WE SEEK THERAPY............. It has been five years since my trip to Africa to learn more about human evolution. At that time I had spent a number of years studying evolutionary biology and it’s contribution to psychoanalysis. The big takeaway of the relationship between these two disciplines is we are motivated at a deep unconscious level to survive and successfully reproduce. We are driven at this unaware level by our genes that desire to get themselves into the next generation so that the human species can continue to exist. This happens over and over again and is testimony to the fact our earliest ancestors did just this, and they survived and we are the result of their survival and reproductive success. This is not really new information. Charles Darwin told us this in the 1800’s and Sigmund Freud reiterated it in the 1900’s when he created psychoanalysis and taught that we are all motivated by deep unconscious needs and desires. What is new for me is how I am now finding these older truths, updated with evolutionary biology integrated into neuroscience, so applicable to my work as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. In this lecture about how to treat the mind, I want to start by talking how neuroscience sheds light on why patients seek out neuropsychoanalytic treatment. >

Now my patients do sit down in the chair and say, “ Just yesterday I felt like I wanted to survive and reproduce in order to get my genes into the next generation." Nor do they say they are motivated to raise their children well so they will survive and reproduce and get their genes into the next generation. These motives are unconscious. We are not aware of them. We do not think them. They are innate and built into us. Nevertheless we are motivated by them at our deepest level and much of what we do is a result of these unaware of built in motives. For example take Parental Investment Theory: This theory says if you have children then your genes reside in each child. These genes want to get into the next generation. So there is a lot of hidden motivation that causes your children to want to survive to adulthood and successfully reproduce in order to have their own children.

So these hidden motives that are built into us are called distal motives. Distal means at a distance from our conscious minds. These distal motives lie behind what motivations we do feel, experience and think about—motives that we are very much aware of. And these are called proximal motives. Proximal means close to consciousness. So we do fee these motivations. For example we feel the motive of love for our children. This feeling we are very much aware of and this proximal motive is what causes most parents to do the best job they can in raising their kids.

Now we are talking desire and needs that indeed we do feel. For example we all need to feel safe ( FEAR when not met.) And when we do not feel safe we feel anxious or afraid, so we seek to deal with this danger, and if we do we feel better. If we cannot reduce the fear or anxiety we feel worse. This need for safety is also built into us. But we feel this need for safety very strongly, and if this need is not met we might seek a consult with a therapist.

Modern affective neuroscience has taught psychoanalysis that we have seven basic emotions/needs. These are: Safety(FEAR when not met.); Obstacle removal ( RAGE when not met.); attachment ( PANIC/GRIEF when not met.); SEEKING;LUST;CARE;and PLAY. These are emotional needs that all humans experience. (Psychoanalysis calls these needs drives or innate motivations.) I have mentioned the first of these seven emotional needs/drives which is Safety( FEAR when not met.) The second universal emotional need/drive is the need for love (Attachment or PANIC/GRIEF when not met.) We all need someone to love us. This need is first felt in childhood when we are seeking our parents’ love. But the need for love, closeness, and care from significant others continues throughout adulthood. What happens if this need goes unmet? We first feel panic anxiety and we seek to reconnect with our caregiver. If we are successful the panic feeling subsides. If we cannot reunite with our attachment figure then our panic anxiety turns to despair, grief, and even depression. Panic anxiety and grief often bring folks to therapy.

The third innate emotional need is the need to get our basic needs met. This requires the ability to remove obstacles that may stand in the way of our getting our needs met. When this need is not met we feel RAGE. RAGE can range from mild irritability to extreme anger to pure rage. Clients sometime seek out therapy when they are experiencing overwhelming anger. The fourth inbuilt need is the need to love others, especially our own offspring. We all need others to CARE for and nurture--especially our own offspring. When we are not able to express our love for others then we may feel unfilled or depressed and therefore need therapeutic help. The fifth emotional need is to find a mate. Everyone needs a significant other with whom they can meet their need for sexual fulfillment or LUST. . Many people come to therapy with sexual frustration, lack of desire or impotence.

The sixth deep emotional need is adventure. We all have a need to SEEK out new experiences, people, things, and ideas. We need to forage about looking for new and exciting ways to get our basic needs met. This is the search for novelty. When folks cannot get this need met they may feel frustrated, anxious, or despairing. These feelings may lead them to seek treatment. The seventh and final primal need is PLAY. All children need to play. All adults also need to play. Playfulness brings joy. Playing with others requires team work and social relationships. Competition, winners and losers, and social groups are all a part of the need to play. Those who cannot find playful pleasure with others often seek out psychotherapy.

These seven innate emotional needs(drives) and the resulting bad feelings we feel when they are not met in healthy ways, often motivate clients to pursue therapy. The therapist’s job is to help the client see that the way they are trying to get their need met is not working. That is why they feel bad. The way they are trying to meet their basic need is a childhood way that may have been their only choice as a child but clearly is not realistic as an adult. Childhood solutions do not work well for adults. We need more realistic ways to meet our needs.

For example if you find yourself throwing an emotional fit everytime you do not get a basic need met and acting like a petulant child, you probably will find that this act does not get you what you need. Such a childish solution just does not work very well in the real world of adulthood. Now with the help of a therapist you must come not only to recognize that this is not the way to get your need met, you must now learn new more mature ways to do so. And then you must actually change your behavoir over time to acting in more adult ways. This is what therapy is for, to help you see what your are repeating unsuccessfully in your adult life that may have been your only choice as a child. When over time you begin to see what you are doing, come to understand where it comes from, and how to change it, your therapy will come to an end. This will happen because now you have adopted new ways of feeling, thinking, and behaving that actually do work to get your needs met in the mature adult reality that we must all live within.

C. Alan Melton, D.Min., LPC

calanmeltonw@gmail.com