Why "Amygdala.de"?

 

The amygdala (named after their almond like shape) is an area of brain nuclei in the medial part of the temporal lobe of our brain and part of the so called limbic system. This interconnection of specific brain parts is the core unit in charge of processing our emotions and feelings. The task of the bilateral amygdala in this ensemble is the handling of our anxiety and panic impulses. Without them, no fear would anguish us, and we would run into dangerous situations without a warning. It is a central security agent monitoring our inner and outer environment - a guardian of our well being.

I chose this name for the domain because it is my firm belief that our psychic constellations are rooted in the biology of the body and the brain. Brains and personalities change in the course of biological development through the interaction with the environment from birth onwards throughout life. Perception of and attitude to the world are embodied in neural networks and influence our existence deeply. Our conscious feelings and thinking make up only for the smallest part of our psychic being. They feed on a source of unconscious processes that lastly arises from the highly individual bodily reaction to the environment we call "reality". The separation of mind and body is an artificial one. Psychoanalysis with its elements of transference and countertransference, regression, free association, dream analysis (to name only a few) and its goal to make unconscious motivations and conflicts conscious is, like no other psychotherapeutic approach, in itself based on biologic principles like, e.g., natural selection. In the encounter of analyst and analysand, framed in a well defined setting, an unconscious scenery can evolve that is responsible for pain and suffering in a person's life. Only by realizing the connection between unconscious motivation and explicit behavior this scenery can be accessed and worked through.
I therefore found it reasonable to express my belief by naming this domain "amygdala.de".