The Future

Streszczenie

Traditionally psychoanalysis has concerned itself with exploring the importance of the past by way of memory and the sense of the present by way of emotional states. Left out of this dialogue has been the sense of the future. Neuroscience has demonstrated that a distinct pattern of neural network activation occurs when the future is being contemplated. Thus the brain does not treat the future as a minor cognitive exercise but as an important function to which it devotes a specific network. Exploring an individual’s sense of the future is often ignored in psychoanalysis although many psychological conditions, clearly demonstrate dynamic interactions between expectations, current states and interpretations of the past. An exploration of an individuals “ sense of the future”, its role in an individual’s psychodynamics and how it can be used as a legitimate therapeutic tool is herein argued both from a neuro-cognitive and psychoanalytic perspective.