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V. 37 N. 2 (2026)
Tra molecole e mente: la neuropsicoanalisi come ponte epistemologico e strumento per una psicodiagnosi dinamica e personalizzata
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Pubblicato: 31 agosto 2026
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Il persistente divario tra le spiegazioni neurobiologiche e la comprensione clinica dell’esperienza soggettiva costituisce una delle sfide più profonde per la scienza contemporanea della mente. Questo articolo sostiene che la neuropsicoanalisi, intesa specificamente come quel programma di ricerca interdisciplinare che, ispirandosi al progetto originario di Freud e sviluppato in particolare da autori come Mark Solms, cerca di tradurre i costrutti della metapsicologia freudiana nei termini delle neuroscienze affettive e computazionali, fornisce un quadro epistemologico e metodologico robusto per affrontare questa frattura. Attraverso un’analisi approfondita della letteratura, dimostreremo come concetti fondamentali – inconscio dinamico, rimozione, meccanismi di difesa e pulsioni – possano essere operazionalizzati e investigati empiricamente, rivelando plausibili substrati neurali senza rivendicare un’identità riduzionistica. Nella seconda parte, articoleremo una critica sistematica dei sistemi nosografici, in particolare del Manuale diagnostico e statistico dei disturbi mentali, quinta edizione, text revision (DSM-5-TR) e dell’undicesima revisione della Classificazione Internazionale delle Malattie (ICD-11), estendendo l’analisi ai modelli dimensionali più recenti come il Manuale Diagnostico Psicodinamico, giunto alla sua terza edizione (PDM-3), che offre un quadro alternativo centrato sulla soggettività e sul funzionamento di personalità, in dialogo con i Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) e con la psichiatria computazionale. Verrà inoltre discussa l’importanza della plasticità cognitiva e neuronale indotta dalla psicoterapia, con particolare attenzione al disturbo post-traumatico da stress (PTSD) e al ruolo del cervello sociale, nonché una ridefinizione neuropsicologica dei disturbi di conversione alla luce dell’unità corpo-cervello-mente. Proporremo che la neuropsicoanalisi possa guidare lo sviluppo di approcci diagnostici basati su una formulazione dinamica e personalizzata del caso, illustrando questo punto con interventi basati sull’evidenza radicati in costrutti neuropsicoanalitici, come la terapia basata sulla mentalizzazione (MBT). Concluderemo che l’integrazione neuropsicoanalitica, nonostante le sue sfide, rappresenta un percorso necessario verso una psichiatria più umana e una psicologia clinicamente più efficace.
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Come citare
Tra molecole e mente: la neuropsicoanalisi come ponte epistemologico e strumento per una psicodiagnosi dinamica e personalizzata. (2026). Ricerca Psicoanalitica, 37(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/rp.2026.1165
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