New Books in Psychoanalysis Adrian Keith Perkel, "Unlocking the Nature of Human Aggression: A Psychoanalytic and Neuroscientific Approach" (Routledge, 2023)
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Mar 12, 2025 Dr. Adrian Keith Perkel, a clinical psychologist from Cape Town, discusses his insights on human aggression, linking psychoanalysis with neuroscience. He argues that aggression often aims to restore psychological balance rather than seek conflict. Perkel highlights the subjective nature of threats shaped by experiences and memory. He also delves into concepts like trauma's impact on aggression, the dynamics of identity, and the complexities of maternal aggression. His work emphasizes the crucial role of understanding repressed aggression in psychotherapy.
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Victim-Perpetrator Role Inversion
- Adrian Perkel shares his experience as a political detainee under apartheid, noticing the inversion of victim and perpetrator roles.
- This observation sparked his lifelong inquiry into the nature of aggression and its paradoxical expression in human interactions.
Aggression as Homeostasis Guardian
- The aggressive drive aims not to initiate conflict but to restore internal homeostasis following need frustration.
- This drive acts much like the immune system, mobilizing only to defend and regain balance, not to seek aggression itself.
Free Energy Links Freud and Neuroscience
- Freud's concept of 'free energy' aligns with neuroscience's free energy principle; both describe the psyche's need to bind unbound energy.
- Psychopathology often arises when aggressive drives fail to restore homeostasis, leading to fixation on old defensive mechanisms.
