Psychoanalytic Explorations Program: The Emotional Brain: Neuropsychoanalysis and Clinical Practice (12 CE credits, IL)

Course Title: The Emotional Brain: Neuropsychoanalysis and Clinical Practice (12 CE credits, IL)

Instructor: Derrick Hassert, PhD

Meeting dates (2026): Wednesdays 3/4, 3/11, 3/18, 3/25, 4/1, 4/8

Meeting time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM CST

Location: via Zoom

Course Description:

This course will discuss the essential theoretical contributions that have emerged from the incorporation of neuroscientific findings into psychoanalytic thought and clinical work. After reviewing the basics of brain functioning and Freud’s early work in neurology and neuroscience, participants will discuss key concepts derived from the work of Mark Solms, Jaak Panksepp, Allan Schore, and Jeremy Holmes. We’ll also appraise Otto Kernberg’s recent reflections about the implications of these findings for certain theoretical and clinical concepts, notably those regarding the centrality of emotion in clinical work and in the formation of the concept of the self in early life.  Finally, participants will consider how debates in psychoanalysis have influenced research in the affective and cognitive neurosciences.            

Biographical Information:

Derrick Hassert, PhD is Visiting Faculty at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, Faculty at the Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy at Loyola University Chicago, and Professor of Psychology at Trinity College in Palos Heights, Illinois. Derrick received his psychoanalytic training through the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and is a Clinical Fellow of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society. Derrick received previous training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy through the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology and the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He maintains a private practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy in Matteson, Illinois and by telehealth.