Neurobiology and its Applications to Psychotherapy

The Early Bonds of Mutual Love: a neuroscientific exploration

In this lecture, recorded in 2013, Allan Schore first discusses classical conceptions of mutual love by Darwin, Freud, Winnicott, Bowlby, Fromm, Stern, and Harlow. He frames an interpersonal neurobiological perspective of both low arousal “quiet” and high arousal “excited” mother-infant love, focusing on the role of right brain-to-right brain communications. This lecture integrates current neuroscience research with developmental psychodynamic models in order to propose that the earliest emergence of mutual love occurs at 2-3 months, and that the right amygdala acts as a deep unconscious system in mother-infant relationship.