Oxford Neuropsychoanalysis

Tom Tomaszewski

This talk explores the relationship between memory and improvisation in clinical practice. Drawing on Jaak Panksepp’s affective neuroscience, Walter Benjamin’s philosophy of time, and Cristina Alberini’s research on early infant memory, it considers what happens when remembering is treated as a live act rather than a process of retrieval. The clinical focus is on momentum, surprise, and the therapeutic value of encountering the past differently rather than explaining it. Examples are drawn from Miles Davis, Richard III, and a lunch in Norfolk.