Time and the Experience of Time: Psychoanalysis in Dialogue with History and Science

With particular reference to neurobiology and neuroscience, this book explores a psychoanalytic understanding of time and how ideas of time affect our experiences in clinical practice and in everyday life.

The contributions examine new perspectives on numerous phenomena associated with the perception of time. In addition to the physics-based discussion of whether time and a now exist at all, whether the existence of time can be proven neuroscientifically, or how historical forms of the relationship to time develop, the authors consider memory, forgetting or regression, the emergence of the past in the present, and the anticipation of the future, as well as mental development and the psychoanalytical process, particularly from the aspect of presence. The book shows how psychoanalysis can escape scientific isolation and develop further in a lively, mutually enriching exchange with other sciences.

Drawing on scientific insights as well as the latest psychoanalytic thinking, this is essential reading for all psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and anyone wanting a deeper understanding of the place of time in our lives.

Heribert Blass, Dr. med., is Training and Supervising Analyst for Adults, Children and Adolescents; Specialist in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Psychiatry, in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Leopoldo Bleger is supervisor analyst of the French Association of Psychoanalysis (AFP), France.

Joëlle Picard is Psychiatrist and Training Analyst (Supervisor) in Paris, France.