The self then is the sum of everything we are now, and everything we once were, as well as everything we could potentially become; it is the symbol of the ‘God within us’, that which we are as a totality. CG Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis.
“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
CG Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul
Andrea Scalabrini
Post-doctoral researcher
I’m a psychotherapist-psychoanalyst and a neuroscientist with a strong interest in the Self and its dynamic and topographical organization, Intersubjectivity, Psychopathology, Personality and Consciousness/Unconsciousness.
I’m also a fan of rock, grunge, stoner, new wave, cold wave, post-punk, electronic music, cinema, theater, design, literature, culture, arts and basketball. I enjoy mostly all forms of arts, creativity and vibes.
I received a BA in Psychology in Naples (University Federico II), a MA in Clinical Psychology in Milan (Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele), a specialization in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in Milan (CIPA-Centro Italiano Psicologia Analitica; IAAP – International Association for Analytic Psychology) and a PhD in Neuroscience and Imaging in Chieti (University G. D’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara). In 2011 I was a visiting fellow at PDI - Personality Disorder Institute of the Weill Medical College of Cornell under the supervision of Otto Kernberg and Frank Yeomans. From 2012 I work with Clara Mucci in bridging psychoanalysis and neuroscience and from 2016 with Georg Northoff at Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, University of Ottawa, Institute of Mental Health Research Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, Ottawa, ON, Canada. These encounters had a great influence on my clinical, scientific and personal life.
My field of interest comprises the study of the self (and sense of relatedness) from an interdisciplinary perspective that comprises clinical and psychodynamic psychology, psychoanalysis, and last but not least neuroscience. As an active clinician, I’m especially interested in disorders of the self, the role of trauma and dissociation in psychopathology and personality disorders. As a neuroscientist, I’m interested in the spontaneous activity of the brain and its relation to task-evoked activity, in the relation between the physiological and psychological baseline, i.e. “common currency” between brain and psyche. Following and trying to integrate the two paths I’m currently working on the neuro-mental activity of the sense of self and self-continuity (e.g. Episodic Simulation, Mental Time Travel, Mindwandering, Interoception), the spontaneous activity of the brain and spatio-temporal topography of psychopathology and psychiatric disorder (e.g. Depression, Anxiety and Personality Disorders)