Papers by Dr Joseph Dodds, PhD
Explorations in Climate Psychology Journal, 2024
Over a decade ago I wrote the book Psychoanalysis and Ecology at the Edge of Chaos (Dodds, 2011),... more Over a decade ago I wrote the book Psychoanalysis and Ecology at the Edge of Chaos (Dodds, 2011), so I was pleased to receive the invitations from CPA Explorations for an article on this theme. Since then, the world has changed almost beyond recognition, and I thought it would be useful to reflect on aspects of the theme of chaotic dynamics and the emergence of patterns and order from chaotic systems in the context of the current world, clinical practice, and psychoanalysis, including possible sources for hope in these difficult times. Chaos theory and complexity theory have much to offer us in our clinical work with patients, and in making sense of our world, including its ecological systems. It also offers us something to hold onto in the face of so much hate, pain, and despair. I find increasingly helpful the findings that complex and beautiful patterns and structures emerge from chaotic systems, especially at the boundaries, the ‘edge of chaos’. For a more theoretical and technical structured account on the role of complexity theory as foundational for ecopsychoanalysis, please see Dodds 2022a . Here I wish to provide something more personal and reflective.
The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2022
This paper attempts to join the dots between psychoanalytic and post-psychoanalytic perspectives ... more This paper attempts to join the dots between psychoanalytic and post-psychoanalytic perspectives in relation to climate change and the ecological crisis and to begin a discussion on the role of joy in sustaining ourselves in the face of the global catastrophe. There is a vital expanding psychoanalytic literature addressing itself to the environmental crisis but a striking absence on joy and what stands in its way. This paper explores what psychoanalysis has to offer in the context of planetary emergency and also asks psychoanalysis to look beyond itself and reimagine what it can be. Joy involves a simultaneous affirmation of both our uniqueness and our togetherness, not only as humans but with all forms of life and the web of life itself. If we were to allow ourselves to actually enjoy our lives, we just might fight harder against our extinction.
Download link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/4RJGYN7J8RJAG7GSNSSM?target=10.1111/1468-5922.12857
The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Philosophy, 2022
This chapters gives an overview of the development of ecopsychoanalysis, a new transdisciplinary ... more This chapters gives an overview of the development of ecopsychoanalysis, a new transdisciplinary approach to thinking about the relationship between psychoanalysis, ecology, ‘the natural’ and the problem of climate change, as well as viral pandemics such as COVID-19. It draws on a range of fields including, psychoanalysis, psychology, ecology, philosophy, science, complexity theory, aesthetics and the humanities. To do this, it is important to identify the different developmental lines and research traditions out of which ecopsychoanalysis is emerging. These include psychoanalysis first and foremost, but also ecopsychology (Roszak 1992; Roszak et al. 1995; Buzzel & Chalquist 2009; Rust 2008; Rust & Totton 2012; Winter & Koger 2004) and ecological thinking more generally; cybernetics and systems theory beginning with Gregory Bateson (2000, 2002); complexity theory and nonlinear dynamics; philosophical approaches to nature from deep ecology to post-nature and the new materialisms; postmodern and posthuman understandings of animality, human and nonhuman (Derrida 2008; Dodds 2012b, 2020a); the work of the Climate Psychology Alliance (Hoggett 2019); and the geophilosophy of Deleuze and Guattari (2003).
Dodds, J. 2022b. Ecopsychoanalysis and Climate Psychology, in Govrin, A. and Caspi, T. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, 508-522, Routledge.
Enriching Psychoanalysis Integrating Concepts from Contemporary Science and Philosophy, 2022
Complexity theory is foundational to the fi eld of ecopsychoanalysis ( Dodds,
2011 , 2012 , 2013 ... more Complexity theory is foundational to the fi eld of ecopsychoanalysis ( Dodds,
2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2019 , 2020 ; Dodds and Poenaru, 2021 ), a transdisciplinary
approach to thinking about the relationship between psychoanalysis,
ecology, ‘the natural’ and the problem of climate change. Ecopsychoanalysis
draws on a range of fi elds including psychoanalysis, psychology, ecology,
philosophy, science, complexity theory, aesthetics and the humanities,
with far reaching implications for psychoanalysis (clinical, theoretical and
applied), challenging some basic premises of our discipline. This chapter
seeks to demonstrate the centrality of complexity science to this endeavour.
Dodds, J. 2022a. Ecopsychoanalysis, Complexity and a Nonlinear Earth, in Turz, J. and Gargiulo, G. (Eds.) Enriching Psychoanalysis: Integrating Concepts from Contemporary Science and Philosophy, 68-86, Routledge.
BJPsych Bulletin, 2021
This paper focuses on climate anxiety and its role in the psychology of climate change, compared ... more This paper focuses on climate anxiety and its role in the psychology of climate change, compared with responses to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Four psychological hypotheses for why we do not act on climate change will be reviewed, and the role of anxiety for each, as well as potential solutions. Different types of climate anxiety both inside and outside the clinic will be explored, along with associated defence mechanisms and treatment.
In Analysis, 2021
It could be argued that psychoanalysis constitutes the ‘‘unconscious’’ of schizoanalysis, just as... more It could be argued that psychoanalysis constitutes the ‘‘unconscious’’ of schizoanalysis, just as Deleuze and Guattari’s writing might be viewed as exposing the unconscious of an overly hierarchical and authoritarian psychoanalysis. To paraphrase the ecopsychological formula (. . .), this might lead us to the strange position of claiming that ‘‘psychoanalysis needs schizoanalysis, and schizoanalysis needs psychoanalysis (. . .). We could thus understand psychoanalysis itself as at times functioning as what Deleuze and Guattari (2003) call a rhizome, with countless connections to diverse fields from neuroscience to economics, politics to gender theory, film studies to aesthetics, and the study of organizations and groups.’’. Joseph Dodds (2011, p. 112–113).
Neuropsychoanalysis, 2004
Stillpoint: Digital Magazine in the Eye of the Storm, 2020
'Nature is like a text into which generations of all beings write their vision', writes Varga, in... more 'Nature is like a text into which generations of all beings write their vision', writes Varga, in a sentence that helps to frame the entire work. Varga's process is deeply personal, reflecting his own struggle with the fragility of nature and an ecological vision of the web of connectivity, 'morphic resonsonances' through complex 'morphogenetic fields'. The attempt to record the passage of experiences, an intuitive connection to the floating pulses of nature, and the mental restrictions imposed by education and upbringing are all here. The art here also touches a chord with a much wider world, the collectives' fears, desires, hopes and anxieties for the future for the humanity, and to wider connections into the other than human web of life intimating at a new ecological vision. Art is needed here as a place to feel the feeling we don't want to feel, or don't know that we feel. Our fear, guilt, rage, loss, mourning, mourning for the loss of a world. This paper is an ecopsychoanalytic reflection on Jaro Vargas 'We don't know that we know' art exhibition.
Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 2019
Otto Fenichel, whose era coincided with a time of immense social and political upheaval, was well... more Otto Fenichel, whose era coincided with a time of immense social and political upheaval, was well known for his engagement in social as well as clinical spheres. In recent years, several psychoanalytic thinkers (e.g., Lertzman, 2015) have similarly crossed into the social by attempting to address perhaps the defining challenge of our own time: climate change and the environmental crisis. Human effects on planetary systems now rival the great forces of nature, with scientists proclaiming a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The psychological causes and consequences of this momentous fact are in urgent need of psychoanalytic investigation. This paper seeks to articulate the legacy of Fenichel and his ideas through a reading of several key papers and to layer his thinking onto the emerging psychoanalytic approaches to the climate crisis. Particular reference is made to Harold Searles, who provides a theoretical counterpoint.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2013
Neuropsychoanalysis explores experimentally and theoretically the philosophically ancient discuss... more Neuropsychoanalysis explores experimentally and theoretically the philosophically ancient discussion of the relation of mind and body, and seems well placed to overcome the problem of a “mindless” neuroscience and a “brainless” psychology and psychotherapy, especially when combined with a greater awareness that the body itself, not only the brain, provides the material substrate for the emergent phenomenon we call mind. However, the mind-brain-body is itself situated within a complex ecological world, interacting with other mind-brain-bodies and the “non-human environment.” This occurs both synchronically and diachronically as the organism and its environment (living and non-living) interact in highly complex often non-linear ways. Psychoanalysis can do much to help unmask the anxieties, deficits, conflicts, phantasies, and defenses crucial in understanding the human dimension of the ecological crisis.Yet, psychoanalysis still largely remains not only a “psychology without biology,” which neuropsychoanalysis seeks to remedy, but also a “psychology without ecology.” Ecopsychoanalysis (Dodds, 2011b; Dodds and Jordan, 2012) is a new transdisciplinary approach drawing on a range of fields such as psychoanalysis, psychology, ecology, philosophy, science, complexity theory, esthetics, and the humanities. It attempts to play with what each approach has to offer in the sense of a heterogeneous assemblage of ideas and processes, mirroring the interlocking complexity, chaos, and turbulence of nature itself. By emphasizing the way the mind-brain-body studied by neuropsychoanalysis is embedded in wider social and ecological networks, ecopsychoanalysis can help open up the relevance of neuropsychoanalysis to wider fields of study, including those who are concerned with what Wilson (2003) called “the future of life.”
Sies + Höke, 2019
The future already traces itself in the present. The future is a promise, and also a warning, and... more The future already traces itself in the present. The future is a promise, and also a warning, and a nostalgic longing not just for a lost past, but for the lost perfect image of the time to come. In doing so the past inscribes itself within the horizons ahead. There’s something coming we don’t want to see, it is hard to accept and feel, anxiety shifting at the edge of awareness, shadows in the dark. Even worse, it is already here. This paper is an ecopsychoanalytic engagement with the art exhibit, 'Future Perfect', by Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs.
PsyArt Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 2012
What is an animal? In addition to biological and ecological answers, the animal needs to be explo... more What is an animal? In addition to biological and ecological answers, the animal needs to be explored in its psychological and social dimensions. The animal has long been a symbol of human psyche and culture, from fairy tales to horror films, Oedipal pets to animal phobias, scapegoating and large-group symbols, philosophy to ideology and myth. This article explores animal symbols, totems and taboos, and their interaction with non-human nature, through the perspective of ecopsychoanalysis (Dodds 2011), combining, psychoanalytic, eco(psycho)logical and Deleuze-Guattarian modes of thought. Three animal-types are identified, and these are placed within Guattari’s ‘three ecologies’ of mind, society, and nature, seen as in constant, complex nonlinear interaction with one another. Expanding Bion’s ‘binocular vision’, we need to include along with individual psychology and social dynamics interactions with non-human nature. How does an idea or a phantasy impact on an ecosystem or social system? How do our own minds shudder upon collision with the hyperobject of climate change? These are some of the core concerns that ecopsychoanalysis seeks to address.
PSYART: an ONLINE JOURNAL for the PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY of the ARTS, 2011
Psychoanalysis touches many aspects of the 'two cultures' which seem so hard to reconcile and som... more Psychoanalysis touches many aspects of the 'two cultures' which seem so hard to reconcile and some analysts oppose neuropsychoanalysis as a dangerous biologizing of the mind (Blass and Carmeli 2007). It may seem that psychoanalytic applications to art and neuroscience are contradictory and pulling in opposite directions. However, the groundwork for a neuropsychoanalytic aesthetics has already begun (Oppenheim 2005, Holland 2003, 2007). Horror seems particularly appropriate for this interdisciplinary project, as it is prototypically a 'body genre' (Williams 1995) privileging affective bodily participation, and the centrality of powerful basic emotions such as FEAR (Panksepp 2004). Psychoanalysis has always had an affinity with horror (Day 1985, Schneider 2009, Creed 1993, Freud 1919, Jones 2008) but is increasingly challenged by new cognitive science approaches (Hasson et al. 2008, Price 2009). This article seeks to bring findings and methods of neuroscience into psychoanalytic film theory, and proposes a neuropsychoanalytic research programme into (horror) film spectatorship. Based on a presentation made at the tenth International Neuropsychoanalysis Congress, Paris 2009
https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/dodds-the_monstrous_brain_a_neuropsychoanalyti
Vital Signs: Psychological Responses to Ecological Crisis, 2012
We are in a planetary pyramid scheme, getting into an ecological debt from which there can be no ... more We are in a planetary pyramid scheme, getting into an ecological debt from which there can be no bail outs. We live on a finite planet with an economic system predicated on unending growth. Scientists estimate human demand already exceeded the biosphere's regenerative capacity in the 1980s (Wackernagel et al., 2002, p. 926), yet somehow this just doesn't hit home, our behaviour doesn't match our knowledge. Why? I draw on ideas from my recent book (Dodds, 2011) to explore the possibility of a nonlinear ecopsychoanalysis with which to respond to a climate at the edge of chaos.
Simulating the Mind: a technical neuropsychoanalytic approach, 2009
Research into computer simulation of group and cultural processes has expanded in recent years, i... more Research into computer simulation of group and cultural processes has expanded in recent years, including an important recent attempt to incorporate neuropsychoanalytic principles. This paper argues that in order to progress we need to start “taking the group seriously” and utilize psychoanalytic theories of group- level processes. Furthermore, those currently using such psychoanalytic perspectives in a variety of contexts have a lot to gain from computer modelling. This paper aims to elucidate the key elements of three foundational psychoanalytic theories of group dynamics, those of Freud, Bion and Jaques, with the goal of facilitating future computer-based implementation, and ultimately the formation of a new research field of artificial group psychodynamics.
The Living Document: Journal of the Institute of Counselling, 2010
What are the psychological dimensions of the world economic crisis? Mental health professionals h... more What are the psychological dimensions of the world economic crisis? Mental health professionals have of course seen its effects in their clients who seek therapy following the traumatic consequences of financial ruin, job loss, and rising uncertainty. But as well as helping to heal the psyche's of those wrecked on the rocks of the financial crisis, can psychoanalysis offer us any understanding of such events and how they occur?
Revue Psychoanalytická Psychoterapie, 2008
This paper reviews the contributions to psychosomatics and psychoanalysis of the Paris School (Ec... more This paper reviews the contributions to psychosomatics and psychoanalysis of the Paris School (Ecole de Paris), founded in 1963 by Pierre Marty, Michel de M'Uzan, Christian David and Michel Fain. The Paris School and the Paris Psychosomatic Institute (IPSO), building on classical Freudian theory, can be seen as a pioneering psychoanalytic approach to the psyche/soma and interesting forerunner of neuropsychoanalysis, to which it is now making significant contributions in the form of the French Group of Psychoanalysis, Medicine, and Neuroscience. The Paris School's work has been further developed by analysts such as Joyce McDougall (1974, 1989) and the so-called 'second generation' of Marilia Aisenstein (2006) and Jean Benjamin Stora (2007a). Originally published in Czech as 'Od psychosomatiky k neuropsychoanalýze: Přínos pařížské školy'
PSYART: A Hyperlink Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 2012
Lucian Freud (1922-2011) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the second hal... more Lucian Freud (1922-2011) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries, and someone who kept figurative painting alive. Many in the field of psychoanalysis are first drawn to Lucian because of his famous grandfather, but are then captivated by the depth and texture of bodies and their ability to portray the density and inner psychic truth of the individuals painted. The physicality of Lucian Freud's works are intriguing and powerful for anyone interested in the overlapping areas of psychoanalysis and art, mind and body, psyche and soma. This paper functions as a psychoanalytic obituary to a master painter of the subjective body, and explores concepts such as skin, abjection, the body, death and mourning, painting and therapy, as we are drawn in to a cartography of flesh. For both Lucian and Sigmund Freud, transience does not remove the power of life or art, its value or its beauty, and the importance of Lucian Freud’s creative works will endure well beyond the death of its creator.
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Papers by Dr Joseph Dodds, PhD
Download link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/4RJGYN7J8RJAG7GSNSSM?target=10.1111/1468-5922.12857
Dodds, J. 2022b. Ecopsychoanalysis and Climate Psychology, in Govrin, A. and Caspi, T. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, 508-522, Routledge.
2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2019 , 2020 ; Dodds and Poenaru, 2021 ), a transdisciplinary
approach to thinking about the relationship between psychoanalysis,
ecology, ‘the natural’ and the problem of climate change. Ecopsychoanalysis
draws on a range of fi elds including psychoanalysis, psychology, ecology,
philosophy, science, complexity theory, aesthetics and the humanities,
with far reaching implications for psychoanalysis (clinical, theoretical and
applied), challenging some basic premises of our discipline. This chapter
seeks to demonstrate the centrality of complexity science to this endeavour.
Dodds, J. 2022a. Ecopsychoanalysis, Complexity and a Nonlinear Earth, in Turz, J. and Gargiulo, G. (Eds.) Enriching Psychoanalysis: Integrating Concepts from Contemporary Science and Philosophy, 68-86, Routledge.
https://stillpointmag.org/issue/004-apocalypse/
https://stillpointmag.org/articles/elemental-catastrophe-ecopsychoanalysis-and-the-viral-uncanny-of-covid-19/
https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/dodds-the_monstrous_brain_a_neuropsychoanalyti
Download link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/4RJGYN7J8RJAG7GSNSSM?target=10.1111/1468-5922.12857
Dodds, J. 2022b. Ecopsychoanalysis and Climate Psychology, in Govrin, A. and Caspi, T. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, 508-522, Routledge.
2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2019 , 2020 ; Dodds and Poenaru, 2021 ), a transdisciplinary
approach to thinking about the relationship between psychoanalysis,
ecology, ‘the natural’ and the problem of climate change. Ecopsychoanalysis
draws on a range of fi elds including psychoanalysis, psychology, ecology,
philosophy, science, complexity theory, aesthetics and the humanities,
with far reaching implications for psychoanalysis (clinical, theoretical and
applied), challenging some basic premises of our discipline. This chapter
seeks to demonstrate the centrality of complexity science to this endeavour.
Dodds, J. 2022a. Ecopsychoanalysis, Complexity and a Nonlinear Earth, in Turz, J. and Gargiulo, G. (Eds.) Enriching Psychoanalysis: Integrating Concepts from Contemporary Science and Philosophy, 68-86, Routledge.
https://stillpointmag.org/issue/004-apocalypse/
https://stillpointmag.org/articles/elemental-catastrophe-ecopsychoanalysis-and-the-viral-uncanny-of-covid-19/
https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/dodds-the_monstrous_brain_a_neuropsychoanalyti
Artificial Intelligence has tried to implement functions of human psyche. The reached achievements are remarkable; however, the goal to get a functional model of the mental apparatus was not reached. Was the selected direction incorrect?The editors are convinced: yes, and they try to give answers here. If one accepts that the brain is an information processing system, then one also has to accept that computer theories can be applied to the brain’s functions, the human mental apparatus.
The contributors of this book - Solms, Panksepp, Sloman and many others who are all experts in computer design, psychoanalysis and neurology are united in one goal: finding synergy in their interdisciplinary fields.