Implicit memory and early unrepressed unconscious: their role in the therapeutic process (how the neurosciences can contribute to psychoanalysis).

The author discusses memory from the point of view of the neurosciences and molecular biology, proposing an integration with the psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious. The discovery of the implicit memory has extended the concept of the unconscious and supports the hypothesis that this is where the emotional and affective--sometimes traumatic--presymbolic and preverbal experiences of the primary mother-infant relations are stored. They could form the ground structure of an early unrepressed unconscious nucleus of the self. Identifying the unconscious with the memory leads to a theory about its morpho-functional organization. The unrepressed unconscious can be brought to the surface in analysis through the 'musical dimension' of the transference, characterized by the voice (its intonation and rhythm) and the prosody of the language. Dreams can symbolically transform pre-symbolic and preverbal experiences, so that they can be put into words and thought about even without their recollection. Dreams can also create images to fi ll the gap of the absence of representation which characterize the unrepressed unconscious. The description of a segment of analysis of a patient suffering from death anxiety provides a clinical illustration of the theories discussed. The interpretation of her voice and of the prosody of her language, besides the work on dreams, reproduced the emotional essence of the analysand's traumatic childhood experiences. This reconstruction enabled her to speak and think about them even without the actual recollection.

Dream actors in the theatre of memory: their role in the psychoanalytic process.

The author notes that neuropsychological research has discovered the existence of two long-term memory systems, namely declarative or explicit memory, which is conscious and autobiographical, and non-declarative or implicit memory, which is neither conscious nor verbalisable. It is suggested that pre-verbal and pre-symbolic experience in the child's primary relations is stored in implicit memory, where it constitutes an unconscious nucleus of the self which is not repressed and which influences the person's affective, emotional, cognitive and sexual life even as an adult. In the analytic relationship this unconscious part can emerge essentially through certain modes of communication (tone of voice, rhythm and prosody of the voice, and structure and tempo of speech), which could be called the 'musical dimension' of the transference, and through dream representations. Besides work on the transference, the critical component of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis is stated to consist in work on dreams as pictographic and symbolic representations of implicit pre-symbolic and pre-verbal experiences. A case history is presented in which dream interpretation allowed some of a patient's early unconscious, non-repressed experiences to be emotionally reconstructed and made thinkable even though they were not actually remembered.

Wittgenstein's personality and his relations with Freud's thought.

In this contribution the author examines the connections between Wittgenstein's personality and his attitude to Freud's psychoanalytic theories in the light of biographies of the philosopher, published exchanges of letters between him and his sisters, his 'secret' diaries from the time of the First World War, his diaries from the nineteen-thirties and the writings in which he discusses Freud and psychoanalysis. The paper quotes liberally from all these sources. Following an account of Wittgenstein's cultural and family background in Vienna and his subsequent peripatetic life, hypotheses are presented concerning his personality, sexuality and 'internal' theology, together with some ideas about his relationship with his family (in particular, his parents and sisters) and his critique of Freud's theories, with particular reference to dreams and their interpretation. Wittgenstein emerges as a highly original philosopher who is, however, emotionally disturbed and restless. His personality is found to have narcissistic aspects that moulded his behaviour and thought, and the author contends that his mental suffering caused him to apply psychological and psychoanalytic categories to his philosophy.

Sleep, but not febrile responses of Fisher 344 rats to immune challenge are affected by aging.

Sleep is altered in response to infection and immune challenge in humans and non-human animals. Although there are changes in sleep and facets of immune function with aging, sleep responses of aged subjects to immune challenge have received little, if any attention. To test the hypothesis that aging affects sleep responses to immune challenge, intracerebroventricular injections of interleukin 1 (IL-1) were given to young and aged rats and subsequent sleep-wake behavior was determined. Under basal conditions and in the absence of an immune challenge, sleep patterns of young (3 months) and aged (25-27 months) Fisher 344 rats did not differ. In young animals, IL-1 (2.5 ng) enhanced non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, inhibited rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and induced fever. In aged animals, IL-1 administration did not alter NREM sleep, but REM sleep was inhibited and brain temperature increased to the same extent observed in young animals. These results show that alterations in sleep following immune challenge are impacted by aging, whereas febrile responses are not. Since it has been postulated that enhanced NREM sleep may facilitate recovery from microbial infection, the present results also suggest that the lack of NREM sleep responses of aged rats to immune challenge may contribute to the increased infection-induced morbidity and mortality of aged organisms.