Cognitive Science and the Unconscious

Although current cognitive-behavioural therapies and psychopharmacological treatments have the remarkable ability to resolve and manage many psychiatric problems, these methods are not universally successful. Unconscious patterns and conflicts seem to be at the root of many patients' difficulties and warrant psychodynamic approaches. Unfortunately, the fact that the unconscious and the structure of the unconscious mind are impervious to laboratory analysis and scientific proof makes psychoanalysis a dubious, unreliable treatment option in some professional circles. The burgeoning, interdisciplinary field of cognitive science, however, offers new ways to approach the unconscious and the potential for the empirical testing of psychodynamic theories and methods. Written by a group of researchers and clinicians, this text surveys a major strand in the fresh research to identify the essential characteristics and effects of the unconscious: the formulation and testing of psychodynamic claims using the approaches of contemporary science. It examines those aspects of the unconscious mind most relevant to the psychiatric practitioner, including unconscious processing of affective and traumatic experience, unconscious processes in dissociative states and disorders, and cognitive approaches to dreaming and repression. While the backbone of the book is cognitive psychology, many of the contributions illuminate relevant work from the fields of artificial intelligence, linguistics and biology.

About the Author :
Dan J. Stein, M.B., is Director of Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa.

Review :
[A] very readable introduction, and should be of interest to students, clinicians and psychotherapy researchers seeking to orientate themselves to this significant emerging field. Characterized by broad coverage of the discipline and an unusually high quality of writing, the eight chapters that comprise this book are sure to be well received and widely cited by clinicians and researchers whose interests touch upon the role of unconscious processes in human mental life. . . . The volume will serve as an excellent introduction to this area of research, even for clinicians unfamiliar with the myriad theoretical models and sundry methodological quandaries that characterize this field today. . . . Stein's book stands as a noteworthy contribution in an important and controversial area of research. It will interest a wide audience of practitioners and researchers, and should stimulate continued investigation of this important issue. This timely edited book explores conscious and unconscious processing from both cognitive science and psychoanalytic perspectives. . . . Recommended for upper-division undergraduates, and of particular interest to clinical practitioners because it addresses the fundamental issue of unconscious processing of affective and traumatic information.