Eminent psychoanalyst Ronald Britton examines the position of psychoanalysis on a conceptual axis which puts physical and mental at opposite ends of a continuum - one which as yet does not meet in the middle. Currently the neurosciences are approaching from one end of this continuum and the mental sciences from the other.

In discussion with Peter Hobson, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at University College London, Dr Britton will explore the idea that psychoanalysis operates in the uncharted middle ground, studying mental life in much the same way as Darwin studied natural history before it was able to join up with the new science of the biology laboratory.

Ronald Britton is well known internationally as a psychoanalytic writer, teacher and clinician. His books include The Oedipal Complex Today, Belief and Imagination, Sex, Death and the Superego. He was President of the British Psychoanalytical Society, a Vice-President of the International Psychoanalytical Association and former Chair of the Tavistock Clinic's Department for Children and Families.

Peter Hobson is Tavistock Professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the University of London, based at the Tavistock Clinic and the Institute of Child Health, UCL.  He is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and has a PhD in Experimental Psychology.  His research interests converge upon the significance of interpersonal relations for understanding the course of human development. His most recent book is  The Cradle of Thought (2002, PanMacMillan).
 
Time: Lecture 6.00 pm, drinks reception from 8.00pm

Venue: Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR (nearest tube South Kensington)

Tickets available from 30 July from 020 7563 5016

From 30 July tickets can be booked online at www.beyondthecouch.org.uk 
or contact Marjory Goodall on 0207 563 5016.