Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy Consultant

• I want to begin this post with the resources  I use in  consulting with psychoanalytic clinicians  interested in neuropsychoanalysis/psychotherapy: 

I first ask the therapists to my " Nine Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy", published here on my on my Bog. Then, in follow up Zoom consultation sessions we discuss and explore these readings. These didactic consultation sessions around the readings will provide you with a sufficient introduction to the theory and technique of neuropsychoanalysis/psychotherapy.  You  can then take this knowledge and apply it in your work with  patients/clients. 

In addition to working through the Blog Lectures together, I encourage the therapists to further read the works  of Mark Solms (the creator of neuropsychoanalysis), Jaak Panksepp (the creator of affective neuroscience),  and others. I will also share my Selected Bibliography with you.   

If you are such a psychoanalyst/psychotherapist interested in learning neuropsychoanalytic  psychotherapy theory and technique by reading and discussing  my Lectures with me, please leave a comment here on this  Blog  post and I will contact you. Or, you can email me directly at calanmeltonw@gmail.com. I am happy to offer this consultation as a Clinical Fellow of the International  Neuropsychoanalytic Society.

Why I Love Science

Science is a wonderful thing! It took me a long time to realize that. I spent the first half of my life  in the Christian theological circle (Tillich's term). I went to seminary and got a Masters of Divinity degree followed by a Doctor of Ministry degree. From the seminary I became an associate pastor and then a pastor.  While serving in Ministry I studied the progressive theologians--especially Paul Tillich, but also the Process Theologians--John Cobb and David Ray Griffin.  Moving to the edge of the theological circle,  I became  a panentheist ( see Charles Hartshorne).   

From there I  began to explore the philosophical circle-- especially Existentialist and Evolutionary Philosophy, and the History of Theology and Philosophy.                                       

Then, around the age of 40, I began to more fully embrace the  scientific circle. In this new circle I read Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan and others. These studies led me to eventually become a pantheist (See the God of Spinoza and Einstein, which equates God and nature).              

Once I moved into the scientific circle, I realized that my first exposure  to the sciences had actually begun in college-- these were the social sciences of sociology, psychology, political science, and cultural anthropology . But it was much later that I began to study the  natural sciences, ie psychoanalysis ( some disagree it is a natural science but I am of the camp that believes it is), neuroscience , biology, biological anthropology, paleoanthropology, earth science and astronomy. (Physics is my latest challenge, but so far I find it the most difficult to understand!)

Fully embracing science has taught me so much about human nature, including my own, and the nature of the universe And the good news is that what I have learned is based in evidence. That is what I like the most about science as a source of truth. It is not based in Revelation like religion. Nor  is it  based only in rational reason and logic as is philosophy.  Science is based in evidence, in facts proven by the scientific method.  A great example of scientific fact finding is the called " Theory"  of Evolution In Darwin's Day, Evolution was a theory. Now it has become a fact. As Richard Dawkins says, "Evolution is a fact, and the evidence for it is as strong as anything we have in science." And Stephen Gould wrote," Evolution is a fact. And the theory of natural selection is one of several mechanisms that explain the fact of evolution." Finally, Carl Sagan said," Evolution is a fact, not a theory.... and the fossil record and the molecular biology all confirm it."

What I also love about science is that  science is not a fixed set of beliefs that are accepted as immutable Truth. Science, even more than philosophy, which is based in reason and logic, is based in observation, hypothesis, experiment and confirmation. And as such its findings are trustworthy because they are based in evidence.

The other beauty of science is it is always open to change and alteration. If a better scientific theory comes along and can be shown to be superior to an established one, the new theory wins. Moving from the Flat Earth Theory to the Round Earth Fact was one example of just such a scientific shift. Christopher Columbus experimented with the theory that the earth was round rather than flat. And, by getting in a boat and sailing to what he thought was India (actually the Americas), he proved his theory correct! His theory, through scientific evidence, became a fact. No one today doubts the earth is round.

To me, this makes science the best source of knowledge we have for discovering truth. That is because in science " facts reign supreme" ( Brenner). And the scientific method is the best tool we have to establish what the facts truly are, because it is based in evidence and proof.

I could go on about why I truly love science, but I think my point has been made. I will simply conclude by saying, science has been a continuous source of trustworthy knowledge for me for the last 36 years. And I look forward to what truth, based on evidence, it will teach me in the future!

Supervising Psychoanalytic and Neuropsychoanalytic Students

My first supervision of psychoanalytic therapy students shortly after I began practicing as a psychoanalytic psychotherapy.  I prepared to do supervision by obtaining five years of analytic therapy supervision myself, followed by a year of supervision of my supervision. Supervision of your supervision means an experienced supervisor coaches you in providing supervision to students. I also was approved by the State Board of Counseling to be a LPC Supervisor....... I remember a student who was doing a masters degree in counseling in order to become an LPC ( Licensed Professional Counselor.) As in most LPC training programs, the students are taught the dozen or so major theories of psychotherapy, and the common principles of psychotherapy technique. Psychoanalytic theory and practice is just one of those twelve orientations to psychotherapy. Luckily this student was quite interested in psychoanalytic work.

So we began. He started as a practicum student, remained on as an intern, and then decided to do his residency with us as well. All of this supervision took five years. Having little experience in supervising student therapists through these various competency levels, I was not confident in how to proceed. So at first I basically supervised him and others the way I was supervised. I did read a half dozen books on psychoanalytic supervision along the way. I will share those titles later. The structure I decided on was this: We would meet weekly for an hour. The first week would be didactic, and I would teach him psychoanalytic theory and psychotherapy technique. The second week would be more traditional supervision where he would bring in his therapy cases for us to discuss. We would precede with that format for the full five years. Of course to pass the LPC Exam in VA you have to know the other eleven therapy orientations as well. We agreed to explore those orientations enough to pass the Exam! My supervisee's patients were patients in our Center. He had his own office and got great experience in group private practice. 

I supervised the above trainee for 5 years. After him, I was fortunate over the years to be able to supervise 13 more interns and residents in analytic therapy. 

About 2017, I started studying neuropsychoanalysis/psychotherapy.  By 2025 I felt I knew enough to supervisee trainees in neuropsychoanalysis/psychotherapy. I used my unpublished book/training manual, which was a compilation  of my blog posts on the subject, as the basis for the training. I still today in 2026, and in semi retirement,  consult with other psychoanalytic  clinicians interested in learning neuropsychoanalysis/psychotherapy. If you are interested in this consultation, leave a comment here on my blog or email me at calanmeltonw@gmail.com.

How to Find My, " Nine Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy", Here on My Blog

​If you are interested in reading my posts entitled "Nine Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy", scroll down to their beginning with my PREFACE, dated June 27, 2026.                         

The lectures are  in chronological order. I hope you are successful at locating all of them,  and I look forward to your comments and questions regarding these lectures.  

C. Alan Melton, D. Min., LPC          

Blog Link: calanmeltonw.blogspot.com

Clinical Fellow, International Neuropsychoanalytic Society

Clinical Member, The American Psychoanalytic Association

Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy; Lecture Nine; Neuropsychoanalytic Diagnosis ( Part 5 )

Again, your unpleasant feeling ( in your case,  grief/depression),  results from a  faulty, unconscious, repressed, childhood prediction (ego compromise/solution) that failed to adequately resolve your  childhood conflicts or trauma. At times you may have been able to make the depressive feeling go away, by using various defense mechanisms. It is usually when these defenses fail to eliminate the depressive  feeling that you come to therapy.                                              

Your neuropsychoanalytic diagnosis also includes assessing the three levels of defenses that are utilized in the three levels of emotional disorders:  Neurotic defenses, narcissistic/borderline defenses,  and psychotic defenses. The higher level neurotic defenses are more likely to succeed in defending against the unpleasant feeling than are the  narcissistic/borderline ones. And the narcissistic/borderline defenses are more successful at defending against the bad feeling than are the psychotic ones.

When any of the above defenses fail, you experience the "return of the repressed" in the form of the unpleasant  feeling returning to consciousness.  Again, it was  this depressive feeling that likely  brought you to treatment. 

Since this unpleasant feeling is the result of an unmet basic emotional need/drive (id), which results  from the faulty childhood prediction (ego) mentioned above, it is the discovery  of this faulty prediction that is the key difference  in neuropsychoanalytic diagnosis and the descriptive diagnosis found in the DSM.                                   

Neuropsychoanalysis believes that the faulty prediction is the underlying problem. It is the cause of your  mental illness/emotional disorder. Once your faulty prediction is  properly discovered, you can proceed in treatment to eventually change it to a workable prediction. This neuropsychoanalytic treatment will help you to eventually  create a healthy and workable prediction .  Finally, gradually implementing this new prediction will result in your having a more  joyful life, that is no longer hampered by the feeling of depression.

  

Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy; Lecture Nine; Neuropsychoanalytic Diagnosis ( Part 4 )

 As your therapist, when I begin to wonder further with you about your neuropsychoanalytic diagnosis, I will seek to look BENEATH your unpleasant  feeling/symptom to what is CAUSING it. Neuropsychoanalysis believes your unpleasant feeling is caused by the failure to meet a  basic emotional need. In your case of major depression it may  be your attachment need ( PANIC/GRIEF  when not met) that is not being met. And the  failure to meet this need is the result of your faulty, childhood,  repressed unconscious prediction.  To assess this faulty prediction we begin to look at  your transference patterns--both with me as your therapist and your significant others. These transference patterns in the present lead  to inferences  about your early childhood experiences, and how those experiences have resulted  in the faulty prediction that is not working to  sufficiently meet your PANIC/GRIEF need.....(Or any other of the seven basic emotional needs. You will recall from previous posts these seven needs/drives are: FEAR, PANIC/GRIEF, CARE, RAGE, LUST, PLAY and SEEKING).     

                                         

1David Moore

Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis/Psychotherapy; Lecture Nine; Neuropsychoanalytic Diagnosis (Part 3 )

Given your DSM symptom based diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder, I may decide that you need both therapy and an assessment by a psychiatrist for possible medication. Your psychiatrist will talk with you about what antidepressant medication might be best in helping to reduce  your painful symptoms, and will prescribe that medication for you.                             

So let's say your Psychiatrist prescribes you the anti depressant drug Lexapro while also affirming  your doing neuropsychoanalytic psychotherapy with me.  As I said earlier, when you come to see me for your first few sessions,  I will also learn about what unpleasant feeling you are suffering from. In your case your depressive feelings (DSM Major Depression)  will likely predominate.  But,  neuropsychoanalytic diagnosis GOES BEYOND the descriptive diagnosis of the DSM, to assess the underlying cause of your unpleasant feeling/symptom. This is the KEY DIFFERENCE in the two types of diagnosis!

1Natalie Melton